By the time Hebe arrived in from of her condo complex after her hours long of walk from the business district, the novelist has already recomposed herself and shelved her emotions far behind the flawless facade. Because she had just moved into the building the securities has yet to get familiar with her face, for she has to borrow the complex’s phone to call Genie down. Everything was a hassle but this is the securities’ job, and they are doing a great job, which is what she had paid for; and they were nice about it , so there was no reason for her to throw any fit or attitudes. Plus, her soul was too distress to even care if the world is ending.

It took a few minutes for Genie to come down; when she walked out of the elevator with an annoyed expression Hebe knew in instant that the next several words coming from her assistant’s mouth would be corrosive.

“God! I thought you got lost somewhere, fell into a hole and will never come back!”

“You’re too lowly of a being to live with a God, stop the dreaming.” Indeed there will always a flaw in her assistant’s sarcasm to make fun of. Hebe nodded to the securities with courteous, and then follow her assistant into the elevator; still bickering like cats and dogs.

The bickering gradually died down as they stayed in the elevator since it is universal to not reveal too much in the public, especially of places with cameras; there were just too many faults for people to find.

When Genie opened the door Hebe was greeted with a room of dust and disorder, and a ruffled blanket on the ivory L shaped sofa; that is the evidence of the product from someone’s slacking. Hebe gave her assistant a look.

“What? Don’t give me that look! You were the one who ran off on me, leaving me to take care of everything. I’m human, not a centipede.” A string of excuses came flying out of the young woman’s lips.

“I didn’t say anything, and you’re already rambling your already-prepared paragraph of ‘explanation’” she paused, and then smiled mischievously, “How diligent.”

“I’m the best of the best.” Genie went along shamelessly. The novelist can only laugh.

The novelist snuggle in the warm blanket as she received a cup of warm tea from her assistant.

“Thanks.”

“Hey! That’s my blanket!” The assistant pouted, immediately regretting her benevolent act just a few seconds ago.

“Shut it, I got it for you.”

“Stingy .”

“By the way, where did you run off to today?” Genie joined the novelist into the blanket, and snuggled, “You almost freaked me out for a second back then.” Lie. She was beyond freaked out; she almost had a heart attack from the novelist’s drained devastated state when she ran out. However, from the various odds that has been occurring constantly, Genie knew she needs to feign calm in order to make the novelist speak with ease, even if the responses might mostly like be lies.

“Nowhere in particular, I was just lurking around the area to get the shock out of my system.” Her words were true, but they were not the whole story; a story that no one should learn off.

Genie condoned Hebe’s brief explanation, and the topic was never brought up again, because the assistant herself was also shocked from the accident earlier.

“Oh! I just noticed, the lights are on, electricity!” The novelist gleamed at her belated notice of the electricity existence.

“Yeah, I called the company, and they told me everything was already set up in the building all I had to do was register with them for the bills.”

“Awesome! I’m going to take a warm shower, I’m dying.”

“Yeah, you stink.”

The novelist gave her assistant a gruff glare.

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Selina Ren is a woman of schedule, and a sought after photographer. She was actually booked for the entire month for a major project with the model from previously; because it was a professor of hers who recommended her for the job she had pushed off all her schedule for the month (with the exception of the gallery show) just to focus on the project. But after two weeks of tolerating the model’s horrible work ethic, the photographer had called it quit on the day Hebe first visited her at the studio. Which explains why the photographer is now leisurely enjoying her time at a gallery that she happened to noticed while wondering around the city with extreme boredom.

Strangely upon the first piece that she laid her eyes on when she first entered the studio she knew that her time here would be extremely long. The pieces captured her entirely with an unexplainable nostalgic feeling of déjà vu. Additionally, she must admit, the angle, lighten, and emotion of every single pieces were captured with perfection; these were masterpieces from someone whose skills are far above Selina herself. All were familiar yet there was also areas of differences.

The photographer allowed herself to be absorbed by the photographs, it takes time to appreciate and understand art is what the photographer herself believes. It seems like every piece is telling a story of its own, and for some unknown reasons she could picture these stories in her head; and strangely she put it all together as one whole story. The gallery is telling a story, one story.

In a flash, as if lightening had struck her, the photographer froze in front of a particular piece. It was nothing special, and obviously not the limelight of the gallery as many people only pass by it with a glance; it was a picture of the intimation between a man and woman in what it seems like a stuffy small room, in black and white. Pleasure and paradise revolved around them, but Selina could also see another aspect that the photographer of the piece had captured, it was sin and guilt; the man was another woman’s lover. Suddenly, Selina felt extremely dirty herself, and in truths, the photographer knew very well that she is the worst. Selina Ren is sinful.

“You seem to be the only one in this gallery that takes notice of this piece, what intrigues you?” A deep voice startled the woman, not because it was sudden, but because it was hauntingly familiar.

“Jiro.”

The man named Jiro was taken back upon hearing his name coming from the woman that stands before him. Selina Ren in the flesh is standing in front of him.

“Hey.” He tried to play it off cool and smiled, it was an awkward smile.

“You’re… When did you come back?” was dry, and her heartbeat double in speed.

“I’m here for business with a collector of mine, and my gallery show.” Jiro shoved his hands back into his pockets and glance around before his eyes landed back on the woman.

“This is your gallery?” She too, took a fast glance around before chuckling, “Of course this is your gallery. I should’ve known from the moment I step in here. How careless of me.”

The male photographer smiled, “How do you like it so far?”

“Amazing.”

“That’s it? How vague.”

Selina turned back to the picture that is in front of them, “How did you manage to capture this?” Unconsciously she allowed her fingers to glide on the picture.

“I was working at France, and met these two models. They were just like us.”

Selina quickly withdraw her hand away from the picture as if it were plagued. Her eyes rooted at the picture, avoiding the suffocating gaze from the man next to her.

“I still have some business to tend to. It’s a nice seeing you again.” There was no ‘see you later’ and then she left abruptly without looking at him; but his gaze stayed on her until she disappeared out the door. He took one last glance at the picture before walking away with a forlorn expression.

And he never asked about her occupation, because he thinks she has succeeded her dream and entered the fashion field.

And she never told him she is also a photographer.

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“Oh my gosh, you can’t be serious!” Genie exclaimed at the two visitors. Hebe was also dumbfounded at her two friends.

The four women are sitting on the ivory fur carpet of Hebe and Genie’s condo with papers, notebooks, and laptops spread all over the place. They were doing some serious planning.

“Of course not, I was dead serious when I said party.” Selina winked at the assistant.

“But you’re making it too wild and exclusive. Bartenders, alcohol and a disco?!” Genie is about to go crazy.

“It’s not a party without alcohol!” Ella cheered. But Hebe knew her married friend just want to party and get wasted; it’s all an excuse.

“You’re going to turn our house into a club!” Genie persisted with her argument.

“It's a P-A-R-T-Y little girl.” Ella wrapped her arm around Genie’s shoulder.

The assistant pouted at the “little girl” label, she’s twenty-four years old! But since she is the youngest out of the four she really have nothing to say.

“But it’s just a house warming party.” Hebe finally joined in.

“We know.” Ella and Selina confirmed together.

“You have a party planned for at least 50 people.” The novelist continued

“Yeah around that number.” Ella checked her list.

“Who are you going to invite?” Hebe raised an eyebrow.

“I already have the list prepared!” the married woman flashed the lengthy list at the novelist.

“Think Ella think!” Hebe finally exploded at her friend’s lack of consideration, “It’s only a house warming, and I don’t even know these people!”

“Yeah, privacy much. Its our home.” Genie added.

“Oh…right.” Ella agreed dumbly, and Selina smack her own forehead for being so inconsiderate. “Then what should we do?”

The four women remained quiet.

“Hm… How about a barbeque? “ Genie suggested, “We have a pretty nice balcony. It’s perfect for barbeque.”

“I like that.” Selina gave Genie a thumb up.

“I second.” Ella cheered.

Hebe shrugged.

“Since it's a barbeque, I think we should just invite a few close friends.”

“I think we’ve already got that point across awhile ago.” Hebe witted at her friend, and earned a kick from the photographer.

“Since you two just came back to the country, and Genie doesn’t know anyone, I think we should just invite people who she knows.” Selina continued.

“Besides from us, she only knows Chun and Aaron.” Ella pointed out, and studied Hebe’s reaction as she suggested Aaron’s name.

“Sure, it’s better than you inviting 50 people here to trash my house.” The novelist shrugged her approval; although a part of was a bit nervous due to the previous incident with the businessman. She was not exactly in her right mind back then.

“OOOKAY!” the photographer clapped her hands together pleasantly, “Everything is all set, then let’s clean this mess up, and begin to prepare for the barbeque.” And the women begin to tidy up the floor of messy papers while Ella went to call for their guests.

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“Hey baby, what’s up.” After the second ring Ella was greeted by his husband’s sweet talk, the woman smile in paradise.

“Nothing much, we were just at Hebe’s planning for her house warming party.” Ella took a look at the girls who are preparing outside the balcony, “And we were thinking of only inviting you and Aaron since Genie only knows you too.”

There was a short paused from the other line, and Ella knew her husband was hesitating on how to reply her.

“Hebe seems to be fine with Aaron, how about you ask Aaron about it and see how he reacts. If he truly dropped it, then you should drop it too.” She convinced her husband with gently.

“Okay, hold on for a few minutes.”

Ella waited patiently on the phone for her husband. This is not only for the house warming party, but also for the sake of everyone’s comfort. They used to be a group of close friends, and Ella really want to resolve all the bitterness between Aaron and Hebe, and Chun’s view upon Hebe. She’s going to fix this.

“Baby are you there?” Chun finally got back on the line.

“Yeah, so how was it?”

“He seems to be really keen about going, so I guess I was the only one who held on to the past.”

“It’s okay, I still love.” Ella smiled heartedly, and then she bid goodbye to her husband before running to the balcony and help her friends.

“Girls! Hurry up, they’ll be here in two hours!”

The three women looked at Ella as if the woman had grown a third eye, and then just chuckled.

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“Man, I still can’t believe your brother is whipped by Ella.” Calvin chortled watching Chun on the phone with Ella in a corner.

“Me neither, and they drives me insane too.” Aaron shook his head and clash bottle with his friend.

The three businessmen were having their night since Chun actually have the golden opportunity to be away from Ella for one night due to Ella’s all day planning at Hebe’s. An opportunity like is quite rare. And it is has been awhile since the three last sat down together with beers and talk.

Calvin laughed at his friend’s rant.

“Aye Aaron, Ella just called, she wanted us to go to Hebe’s house warming. Do you want to come?” Chun came back with his task from Ella, and covered the receiver of his cell phone while he waited for his brother’s reaction and reply.

“Hebe? Is that your ex from college?” Calvin’s curiosity came.

“Yeah.” Aaron answered Calvin before turning to his brother with a composed expression, “Sure why not, it kind of to be with two men and beer without real food for the whole night.” Aaron joked, and Calvin punched his arm, also laughing.

Chun made sure to study his brother’s reaction closely, and found that Aaron was indeed fine, it seems like he was the only one that wasn’t able to let go of the past.

“Okay, let me tell her.” And the Chun walked back to the corner.

Calvin who had witness a pretty ty state of his friend from previously gave Aaron a questioning look. “Aren’t you eager.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were just wasted because of her last time, and now you want to go to her house warming party?”

“I was just confused, it was not because of her. I’m fine. Ex-lovers can be friends too.” It’s true, Aaron really wants to become friends with the novelist again after the incident from before. He has reflected on himself after the novelist ran off from him, and concluded that he might have been too much. Even if the woman was wrong, it has been ten years and he already have a loving girlfriend. He should let go of all grudges. The novelist was right, his declaration from the gallery show contradicts too much with his action. Since action speaks more than words, he decided to go with his actions instead.

“Okay then.”

“Aaron, let’s go. They’ve already started preparing, Ella wanted us to buy a few things on our way there.” Chun called from the doorway, already putting on his shoes. “And Calvin, you should come too.”

“Nah, I don’t really know her.”

“Oh c’mon, you two have meet a few times back in college when she used to come to our dorm.” Aaron threw a coat at his friend, and made a joke at his friend, “And alone is not healthy.”

“ you,” Calvin stood up and flew an emptied bottle at Aaron, “Fine, I have nothing to do anyway.”

“Hurry up, we have a lot to buy!” Chun urged.

“I thought you said only a few things!” Aaron complained.

“He is so whipped.” Calvin added.

And the three men headed out to their respective cars.

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“COMING!” The door bell rang and Ella rushed into the living room for the door.

“Hey, I brought Calvin along since we were together, He knows Hebe it’s okay right?” Chun gave his wife a kiss on the cheek.

“I hope I’m not intruding, it gets lonely by myself.” Calvin smiled.

“Oh don’t worry about it, the more the merrier.”

“So where do we put these?” Chun asked; He and Calvin both held up their two arms of heavy goods from the super market.

“Out at the balcony,” Ella pointed out at the balcony where the women are, “C’mon, this way.”

The men follow obediently.

“Hello.” The two men greeted as they entered the balcony, where the women were already begin barbequing.

“Oh the food!” Selina cheer at Chun before turning to Calvin, “Hey Calvin.”

“Hi.” Genie smiled amiably.

“Ugh! Ella! Help me with the firing, it’s pissing me off!” Hebe who was in charge of the fire complained, before acknowledging the two visitors, “Oh, Chun you came, and Calvin too.”

“Gee Hebe! It’s just a fire, how hard can it be!” Ella went over to help the useless novelist.

“Oh, Genie this is Calvin Chen, a good friend and business partner of mine.” Chun introduced, “Calvin this is Genie.”

“Nice to meet you,” The two response to each other.

“Where’s Aaron?” Selina asked, realizing his absent.

“Oh, he had to wait for parking, he should be coming up in awhile.” Calvin answered.

“Someone needs to go down for him, I only told the security that there are two people coming tonight.” Genie pointed out, “The building’s security is pretty tight.”

“I’ll go, you guys can start first.” The novelist volunteered and quickly disappeared out of the balcony.

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Hebe wrapped her hoodie tight to herself while she stepped out of the building towards the parking lot, and spotted the businessman taking bags of groceries out of his car. She fastened her pace over to help the man.

“Hey, need any help?” the novelist stood awkwardly.

Startled, the businessman allowed a few seconds of silence to linger before speaking, “Yeah sure. Can you help me with those” And the two began to take things out of the car side by side.

There was a pregnant of silence before the novelist spoke again, “Hey… about the other day, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s fine.” The businessman gave her a short glance, “You don’t seem like yourself, is everything okay?”

“Yeah…I just got into a minor car accident with Genie, and you were driving pretty fast so I got kind of paranoid and freaked out.” Her lies went smoothly.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m the one who should say sorry.”

The two decided to stop what they’re doing and looked at each other.

“You know, about what you said…” the businessman scratched the back of his head, “You were right, I was contradicting myself. I apologize for my behavior at Selina’s gallery show. I really want us to be friends again.”

The novelist took awhile before smiling, “Apology accepted.”

“So friends?” the businessman reached out his hand.

“Friends.” And the novelist took it. “Oh, we better hurry up or else they’ll finish the food without us.”

“It’s fine, we still have a lot with us.” The two laughed their way into the building.

But neither of them mentioned the kiss.

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Ever since Aaron and Hebe made up with each other the two have indeed became friends again, and has been hanging out a lot. It seems like everything has been resolved, and things were back to how they were ten years where Hebe is accepted back to the group, with Calvin and Genie included.

“Oh my god, I never knew Taiwan’s winter is so cold.” The novelist held on to her warm coffee tight.

“Aren’t America’s weather a lot colder?” Aaron asked. The two have just got their drinks from a local coffee shop.

“No, I was in San Francisco, the weather rarely changes.”

“You have been spoiled too much.” The business unraveled his scarf and wrapped it around the novelist. “Here, better?”

The novelist touched scarf, her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a tint of blush rush on her checks. But luckily the scarf was thick around her to cover her face, “Thanks.” He didn’t use any cologne, it smells like him, the novelist thought. She tugged the scarf closer to herself.

“You really need to get yourself some winter wears if you want to live through the winter.”

“I did, I got this winter cardigan.”

“Only one.”

“You’re starting to sound like an old grandpa.”

“What?”

“You’re so naggy!” the novelist made a childish face at the man.

“Say that again?” the businessman flicked the woman’s forehead with his fingers.

“Ouch! That hurts!” she rubbed her forehead and pouted, “NAGGY!”

The businessman prepared to flick the novelist’s forehead once more; however the novelist dodged it this time, and stuck her tongue at him. “Naggy.”

“Shorty.” He grabbed her warm drink out of her bare hands and held it high, he just declared war!

“Aye! GIVE IT!” She jumped, trying to reach for it, but sadly she is in converse today, its flat.

“Get it then.” The businessman smiled victoriously.

The novelist place her hands on her hips and glared at the man, “You’ve just declared war!” and she began to poke his abdomen.

“Hey.” The businessman chuckled amusingly, and began to back away from the novelist’s continuous attack.

“Give it give it give it!” The two meddled on the streets like kids as they roar in laughter.

Heedless to the two, the novelist has droved the businessman a bit out of the road, and suddenly a car came by. Shocked, the novelist quickly pulled the businessman back in the sidewalk; however, the businessman weights more than her causing the novelist to used too much strength, as a result her steps tumbled back after she had successfully pull the businessman in.

“Wow, are you okay.” Just when the novelist was about to lose her balance the businessman was quick to hold on to the wobbly woman and stabled her.

“Yeah,” the novelist grabbed onto the businessman’s arm for support as she stable herself, “That was scary.”

“That’s why you’re never suppose to play on the street,” the businessman patted her head and smiled.

Heat rushed on the novelist’s face, and she turned her head sideway in embarrassment. Her heart is beating once again.

Realizing his actions along the way, the businessman quickly withdraws his hands and shoved them into his pockets. “Ahem,” he paused awkwardly, “We should get going.”

“Yeah.”