CHAPTER 10.1: The Teeny Tiny Slip Up

Calvin smiled happily as he walk into Club Secrecy where his friends welcomed him with their open invitation to their table that was already occupied with drinks.

“Finally! What took you so long?”

Jiro asked as he slide a drink over to him.

“Where could he have gone? He went to that girl... Genie Zhou right?”

Wu Chun knew that something spontaneous must’ve happened to Calvin.

When he joined their table, with the biggest smile a dork can pull off, he knew it. Aaron had a hunch but he didn’t know that he and that girl was going to head into an relationship so early in the game. Considering that they have not known each other for long, was he rushing into this relationship too quickly?

Aaron grabbed his drink and gulped it down. “What’s with him?” Calvin asked as Jiro and Wu Chun smirked.

“Marriage problems.”

“ALREADY?!”

Aaron glared over to Jiro as he clicked his tongue.

“Sorry, sorry, my bad. When Aaron went to fetch his girl up from school, she ditched him with another guy and that’s why our buddy here is sulking.”

“I am not sulking.”

“Yes you are.” Wu Chun answered as he drank a sip of scotch.

“You have a habit of saying the opposite of what you want to say.”

Jiro and Calvin nod in agreement as they call the bartenders, giving their signal to start another round of drinks.

“No I am not, she is the one who decided to ditch me. ME! Do you have any idea how that affects my rep? I went to her school and I said that I would be there to pick her up. I thought we agreed that I was going to be driving her back but no, she decided to ditch me. She even saw me and I thought she was going to come over but no, she walked away with this guy. Wouldn’t you guys be irritated as well?”

Aaron grabbed Jiro’s drink and drained it empty.

“MY DRINK!” Jiro called out as Calvin pushed his drink over to him. “Have mine.”

“Oh? Since you have a girlfriend, are you going to quit drinking?”

Calvin smirked, “It’s not that serious, I am just going to start slow with Genie. I want her to feel comfortable around me so I am going to limit the alcohol dosage.”

“What a boyfriend.” Wu Chun put his arm on his shoulder. “More like a sissy, BE A MAN.”

Jiro stood up from his seat to take a  look down at the clubbers tonight. “YEAH!” Jiro screamed out as the entire club hollered in unison. He turn back to his buddies and clicked his tongue, “they agree with me.”

Calvin and Wu Chun smirked as Jiro walk back to his seat and glance over to Aaron. “Seriously, why so gloomy? Tonight is ALL about having fun and forgetting all that troublesome stuff.”

Calvin look over to Aaron and smiled. “Wu Ying Jie trouble?”

“You guessed it.” Wu Chun nodded as he watch the bartender drop the Scotch bottle on the table and several tequila shots.

“But then again, if I was Aaron, I would be mad too. I mean, if I told her to wait for me afterschool so that we can go back together, I would be furious if she decided to leave me.” Jiro said as Calvin look over to his two friends.

“I know! She doesn’t give a rat’s about me. She is the one who is going around saying ‘oh let’s be friends, let’s get along,’ but right now, it all seems like a load of bullsh!t to me.”

“It does... from your perspective.”

Calvin interrupted their rant as he spoke in between them, which brought his friend’s attention.

“I mean, I don’t think you can blame this entirely on Ying Jie. I think she purposely doesn’t want to approach you is because she is afraid of getting close to you.”

“What is there to be afraid of? I’m not going to bite.”

Jiro smirked as he made a puppy sound but that only irritated Aaron even more. Wu Chun laughed at Jiro’s way of joking around so he turn to look at Calvin.

“That reminds me, didn’t she say she dislike players?”

“Yeah, Genie told me a quick story behind her trauma for them.”

“Oh? Tell us.”

“What are you guys going to do with the information?” Calvin picked up his glass of Scotch and grinned widely.

“It depends on what you give me.”

Wu Chun responded, convinced that they were going to hear the story behind Ying Jie’s hatred for players.

Calvin glance over to Aaron who became fascinated with twirling the liquid in his glass around. He knew Aaron was trying to act as if he wasn’t interested in hearing the story but they have been buddies for so long, if he couldn’t decode him, it would be a big problem.

As Wu Chun have previously pointed out, Aaron does the opposite of what he is feeling and because of his habit, it was easy to decipher him.

“Ever since she was young, everyone around her used her because she was rich. It made it hard for her to make friends so she let them use her. She knew what their motives were but she thought it was okay for her to use so but everything turned upside down when the boy she had a crush on decided to use her.”

Flashback

“What do you know? You are the girl who puts on disguises, so what are you afraid of? That someone is going to use you and buy your friendship? Well at least I don’t hide my true face. Unlike you, I like to show off, I want those to see the real me. Because unlike you, I am not ashamed of who I am.”

“You think I am ashamed of myself?”

“Aren’t you? I don’t know why you need to hide yourself when you are so... not ugly. If my actions don’t make any sense to you, yours don’t make sense either. Versus hiding myself or to play, I choose to play. At least I am not hiding my true self.”

End of Flashback

Aaron stare at the glass blankly, he didn’t know how to respond. How could he say that to her? Was it because he was drunk?

“But the player part.. I still don’t understand her fear for players. If I was a girl, I would be falling all over for players. I mean, don’t girls want to feel like a princess. We pamper and treat them like the world if they want us to, I just don’t understand why someone will hate players to this extent.”

“If I were a girl, I would run away.” Wu Chun stated as Jiro grinned.“C’mon.”

Jiro took off his sweater to reveal his muscular arms.

“Take a loooong look, if you run away, you will be missing out on all the action.”

“That is a territory I will never enter.”

“Girls yearn to be embraced by me. You guys are just jealous.”

“So how did this player hatred even start?”

Aaron broke their bickering to look over to Calvin whose lips curve into smirk.

“She had a crush on this guy and when he invited her to a party, she found out who he really was so she swore she will never fall in love with a player.”

Everyone look over to Aaron as he smiled. “That’s it?”

“I could’ve given you the whole story with details but I think you can easily grasp the story without me having to tell you all the juicy details.”

“So she is scared of falling in love with a player?”

“Yes, she is scared of falling in love with someone who will give her a big heartache in return. Truthfully, I can see where she is coming from. She has been rejected by both sides in friendship and love and having to deal with people that used her because she comes from a rich family, I can feel her pain.”

Calvin stated as Wu Chun and Jiro leaned back to think.

“I agree with Calvin. If I was her, I would probably take on a double identity since I want to find people who likes me for who I am and not what I have in my wallet.” Jiro said as Wu Chun crossed his arms. “Really Jiro? I don’t think you can keep up with impersonating an double identity. I picture you as someone who will come out of your shell and demand them to treat you with respect because you are the son of Mr. Chief Wang, one of the notorious restaurants since your father has built many high class restaurants nationwide; and is currently looking quite positively at expanding overseas.”

“Quite true, man, whose the er that has been feeding you all these information?”

Jiro smirked, Wu Chun leaned back, satisfied.

“Are you forgetting? My father owns a law firm so it’s a given that these simple news will fly past me don’t you think?”

Jiro clicked his tongue, looking over to Aaron. “Hey Aaron, do not fall in love with her. She is too innocent for you.”

“At times like this, it would benefit both of you if you know where that fine line is. Like what Jiro said, she is different from us, she wants a guy who can be there and protect her like a man. This man we are talking about is the guy who can give her everything and love her. Whereas us, we are still young and we aren’t the type of guy she is looking for. She demands a man who will only look at her, but you know how we are, we have lots of different girls each night. We like the owning the game as first players versus being second. S