Once they retired to their room later in the afternoon, they were so exhausted that they flopped down dead on their beds. It turned out Ms. Payton had the entire day at the museum planned out. She made them do a treasure hunt and that was TIRING! They ran here and there and everywhere. Not only that, she made them take notes and then held a friendly competition to see who can answer the most questions. Whichever team wins, wins a prize: deserts for lunch!

The Four Seasons didn’t win the prize, but it didn’t affect them much. They had fun. It was probably the best museum trip they had ever been to.

Once they reached their beds, Lia grabbed her notebook and a pen and began scribbling ferociously inside.

“What are you writing?” Rylee asked.

“A letter to my parents,” she replied.

“Oh.”

Paige and Rylee decided to go to sleep. Shervonne, who was so exhausted, decided not to. Once she was sure the other two had fallen asleep, she turned to Lia. “You can’t hide it from them forever,” she told her. “They’re our friends. They’d understand.”

But Lia was shutting down. “Shervonne, I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Coming here isn’t going to help you find them,” Shervonne persisted. “I know what’s going on. I know why you seem sad. I know that when you said you were writing to your parents, it’s not Samuel and Jessica.”

Lia shook her head and began to cry.

Shervonne jumped off from her bed and walked over to Lia’s bed. She wrapped her arms around her. “Lia,” she said softly, “let go. Samuel and Jessica love you. They care for you. You’re part of their family now.”

“What about my real family, Sher? I can’t just forget about them.”

“They abandoned you, didn’t they?”

Lia shook her head. “No,” she said, her voice quivering. “They didn’t.”

“They didn’t?” Shervonne was confused. “But you told me —”

“My family and I went to Melbourne for a family holiday,” she explained, her head hung low. “We went to the beach. It was sunny, so I went to swim out in the sea. All of a sudden, there was a big storm and I got washed away in the currents. The last I remembered was a big cruise ship before I out.

“When I woke up, I was at the hospital. My family was nowhere to be found. I was scared. I was only five. No one could find them. And being in a different country that young was scary. Nonetheless a police officer, Officer Charles, put me in an orphanage. He told Samuel and about me and because Samuel and Jessica had always wanted a little girl, they adopted me.”

Shervonne was speechless. “Wow . . . why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was too embarrassed,” she replied. She sniffed.

Rylee and Paige woke up then, looking a bit guilty. They had heard the entire conversation.

“Sorry,” Rylee said sheepishly. “It’s just that I woke up when Lia started to cry.”

Paige nodded just as shamefully. “Lia, I’m so sorry. We had no idea.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry for keeping it from you guys. I know I lied, saying I did not remember anything about my birth parents and that Samuel and Jessica adopted me as a baby.”

 “It’s understandable,” Rylee replied with a reassuring smile. “Of course you wouldn’t want to tell us. It’s a bit traumatizing. And of course Shervonne would know because she grew up with you.”

“Group hug,” Paige declared and they all wrapped their arms around Lia, who sobbed even harder.

“Do you at least remember how they look like or where you used to live?” Rylee asked.

Lia shook her head. “I was five. How do you expect me to remember?”

“Right.”

“Nevertheless, you’ve got us,” Shervonne said gently. “We’re going to make sure this is the best trip you’ve ever had! And you’re gonna ever forget about your problems during the week while we’re here.”

Lia smiled, grateful for wonderful friends like them. What would she do without them? She didn’t know. “Thanks, you guys,” she said quietly. “It means a lot.”

They hugged again.

After the Four Seasons finished bathing, they still had a lot of time until it was dinner so they went to sleep, setting the alarm to seven. When seven came round, they drowsily woke up from their nap and got ready to go down for dinner.

“I’m not hungry,” Lia said as they lined up to get food at the buffet. She stepped out of the line. “I’ll go reserve a table.” She walked off.

The others shrugged. Once their plates were filled with food, they went to find Lia. Apparently she wasn’t alone. Dylan Chiu was sitting with her. The two of them looked up when they saw the other girls coming toward them, sitting up straight. Dylan stood up and muttered something to Lia before walking off.

“What did he want?” Shervonne asked. “He didn’t have to go off so fast. He could have stayed for awhile. No rush.”

Lia shrugged and smile. “You know what Dylan is like. He’s painfully shy.”

“But awfully smart,” Paige said enviously.

“Which leads to his arrogance at times,” Shervonne muttered as they settled down next to Lia and began to dig in.

“Sure you don’t want to eat?” Paige asked.

Lia nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m sure. I’m cool. Just eat.” She stood up. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Rylee asked.

“Toilet.”

“I’ll come with you,” she offered cheerfully. She began to stand up.

But Lia shook her head. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to follow. I’ll be back real quick.” She hurried off.

Her friends could only stare after her, wondering where she could possibly go.

The next morning, the Four Seasons went through the same routine except that they woke up a little later than usual now that they didn’t have to paint their nails.

Rylee as usual threw on her grey, baggy T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and baseball cap. She didn’t bother to brush her hair, ignoring the impatient clucks Shervonne was making with her tongue.

Paige got dressed in a simple pink tee, a grey vest and jeans. She draped her long, white beaded necklace over her neck twice, slipped her white bangle into her right hand next to her charm bracelet and neatly braided her hair. She then put on comfy flats.

Shervonne was wearing a golden halter-neck T-shirt, black silk pants, with lots of silver bangles on her left arm. On her ears were silver dangly earrings and a silver stud necklace. Her hair was swept up in a messy but it looked so sophisticated on her. It was so something she would wear. She grabbed her bag and slipped her silver heels on.

Lia got dressed in a red-and-white polka dots, V-neck laced, spaghetti strapped shirt, throwing in her dark blue skinny jeans and purple cardigan. She wore a pair of long earrings with a red almond shape hanging off. She looped her long, pink beaded, candy-like necklace twice around her neck. On her left wrist was a small, beaded bracelet in many colors of pink. Then she slipped into her black gladiators.

She walked out onto the balcony and was greeted by a gush of wind. “Ugh,” she muttered, hurrying inside. She grabbed her pink knitted beret and placed it on her head. “Better keep my head warm.” She turned to her friends. “You ready for our morning stroll in the park?”

Her friends nodded. “Let’s go!”

Unknown to the rest of the Four Seasons, a nagging feeling inside of Paige left her wondering what sort of secret is Lia hiding from them now.

Ms. Payton allowed them to wander off freely at the park called Lake Crystal after breakfast as long as they return two hours later. The girls were delighted. This gives them enough time to snap even more pictures and to gaze upon the park. They were awed. The park was just so beautiful!

The reason why it was called Lake Crystal was because the water really did look like crystal, especially when the sun rays shone down on them. The grass and trees were greener than in other parks as they were well-maintained, with the wind whispering softly to the rustling of leaves.  The crickets sang their love songs and the birds chirped a sweet melody in their nests. It was as if the scene was taken out from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

They were walking along the pathway near the lake when suddenly they saw a cluster of reporters and photographers crowding around one area.

Quizzically, the Four Seasons exchanged glances. What is going on?

Known for their curiosity, they headed toward the way of the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of what the spectators were seeing.

Shervonne, being the tallest, gasped when she was able to see what the people were looking at. She grabbed hold of Rylee’s sleeve, squealing. “Ohmaigosh! I can’t believe it!”

“What? What? What do you see?” Paige and Lia said in frustration, being the shortest, tiptoeing and craning their necks.

“It’s Big Bang!” Shervonne squealed. “I can see TOP’s face — well, he is the tallest. Ohhh, he’s so handsome!”

Paige and Lia began to squeal as well. “They’re here! Here! Big Bang! In Lake Crystal! They’re here! Ohmigawd. Aaaahhhhh!”

Rylee rolled her eyes. “Leave it to the three crazies to go crazy over a Korean boy band.”

“Grab your camera!!” Paige exclaimed. She patted her hair to make sure it was in place.

Shervonne rushed to grab her camera but fumbled with it and it dropped back into her bag. “Ugh, butter fingers! Why now?!”

“Noooo,” Lia wailed.

“Uh, guys? You better stop freaking out,” Rylee said, “because they’re heading this way.”

“Everybody, stay calm and act cool!” Lia said and almost immediately, the three girls quieted down and tried their very best to not do anything embarrassing.

Rylee couldn’t stop laughing. Her friends looked so hilarious. But she did stop as the crowd began to open and Big Bang began walking pass. She got to admit, Seung Ri and Dae Sung looked hot, while Tae Yang, TOP and G-Dragon looked all right.

Shervonne’s heart was beating fast as she saw TOP walking by. He was so close and so handsome with that white jacket, black pants and his hair spiked up. Maybe if she reached a little further, she’d be able to touch him. . . . Nope, no such luck.

Paige was squirming as she watched Tae Yang passed by. He looked so handsome, so hot. She wanted to run up to him and kiss him. She had to restrain herself from doing so.

Lia, on the other hand, managed to stay calmer than her friends as she watched her favorite member of Big Bang, G-Dragon passed by but it was almost impossible when she saw his smile. She felt like she was melting with happiness.

And then it happened.