The beeping sound of the alarm clock is beginning to irritate him. Chun groaned and leaned towards the small table near his bed to turn it off. However, unlike usual, his arm unable to reach it, as if something or particularly someone prevent him from doing so.

He looked to his side to find Ella, still sleeping with her head rested on his chest. The blanket that covered her body has fallen, exposing her chest that is slowly moving up and down.

Chun smiled upon seeing her figure and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, hoping not to wake her up so that he can continue observing her for a little longer.

Unfortunately for him, Ella is a light sleeper. She smiled as she felt he retreated back from the kiss. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with Chun’s dazzling stare.

“Sorry to wake you.” He said.

“No worries. I need to go to class too.” She answered.

“Do you want to take a shower first?” he asked.

Ella nodded. Chun quickly got off from the bed and helped her. The moment she sat up straight, she suddenly squints.

“What’s wrong?” Chun asked.

“I don’t know. My stomach, it hurts. I think this is what they call by sore.” she answered while placing her hand on her lower abdomen, trying to ease the pain.

“I guess I should have been gentler last night.” he said while running his hand through his hair.

“But you did.” she said.

“Well, I guess we should have stop after the first one.” he said with a smirk.

“Like you can.” she said mockingly.

“Hahaha…” he laughed. “May I remind you that it was you who asked for the second one?” he said while pinching her nose.

“Ouch!” she shouted while trying to stop him. “Yeah, but the later ones are always started by you.”

Chun just smiled knowing that it is the truth.

“I’m going to take a shower first then.” He said while messing up her hair and proceeded to the bathroom.

When Chun came back from the shower, he found Ella still lying on his bed, , and only covered by blanket. And what is worse, she is sleeping.

‘I guess she is really tired from last night.’ Chun thought as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Chun slowly leaned closer and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Being the light sleeper that she is, Ella woke up once more and ended up staring at him.

“Are you going to take a shower or are you going to just stay in bed all day?” he asked.

“Can I just skip class today? I’m too sore to even sit up.” She answered.

Chun just chuckled before tucking her in. “Okay. Sleep tight then.”

“Thanks.”

Chun quickly prepares his bag for class and once more gave her a final peck on her lips before finally leaving the room.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Campus was hectic that day, so Chun had not got a chance to go back to the dorm to check up on Ella until late afternoon.

“Elle, I bought some snack.” he said as he entered the room.

To Chun’s surprise, Ella was nowhere to be found. He looked around the room and the bathroom, but everything is empty. He tried calling her but she did not pick up. Panic washed over him. He looked at the empty room; everything seems to be the same, but a lot cleaner. That is when he realized that Ella’s part of the bedroom seemed a lot emptier. He looked at her desk and found all the books and stationaries have magically disappeared, only leaving a white envelope.

Chun quickly grabbed it and looked at it carefully. It is addressed to him. Slowly he pulled out the letter from the envelope and without a doubt he knew it was her handwriting.

‘Chun,
By the time you are reading this, I am no longer in Taiwan. I’m sorry to leave you and everyone else like this, but as you may have noticed I’m at good byes. I’m sorry that I cannot say good bye to you directly and I’m sorry that I have not being completely honest with you.
The truth is the reason I disguised myself as a boy and went here is to win a bet against my mentor and in return my mentor will give me a contract and all the necessary things I need till I debuted as an actress. The problem with this bet is the contract that bounds me to it.
I’m sorry Chun, I know you love me and you know that I love you just as much, but we cannot be together. As much as I love you, I have come to realize that my love for acting is far more greater than anything I’ve ever experience.
I don’t expect you to forgive me and I’m okay with you being mad at me or even wanting to have nothing to do with me, but I just cannot help but to say I’m sorry.
I hope you have a good life. I’m off on my way of achieving my dream and so should you. Please send my regards to the others, I just can’t bear to say good bye to them as well.
Good bye, Chun. Hope we meet again someday on a more favorable situation.
Love, Ella.’

Chun did not even think twice and immediately left the room. Though he is frantic, he can still think and usually what he thinks is correct. First, Ella is probably heading back to Shanghai. Second, flights to Shanghai from Taipei is not that often, usually only once or twice a day, so all he needs is to find that and stop her. Well maybe not stop her but at least demand some explanation from her. Third, he knows that as fast as a person is, she would not been able to reach the airport plus due all her packing in such short time to take an earlier fight. So hopefully Ella is still in the airport right now.

Chun just ran as fast as he could. The sooner he can get out from the campus, the sooner he can get a cab and head straight to the airport.

“Chun, why are you rushing?” Aaron asked as Chun passed him and Jiro.

“Airport. Elle’s leaving.” Chun answered quickly before dashing off.

“Leaving?” Jiro asked. But before he can get an answer, Chun had already gone.

“I got this.” Aaron said while fishing out his phone from his pocket.

He quickly pressed the keypads and immediately dialed the number.

“The number you are calling is not answering. Please try again later.” He heard from the other line.

“Who do you call?” Jiro asked as Aaron typed another number.

“Elle. But he’s not answering. I guess he really ran away from us.” Aaron answered before putting his phone back to his ear. This time the call managed to get through.

“Wei?” Aaron said when the other line picked up.

“Aaron, what’s up?” the other person said.

“Gui, do you know something about Ello leaving today?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah. He told me this morning. Didn’t he tell you guys?” GuiGui asked.

“Well, apparently not. Chun is frantic and practically rushing over to the airport right now.” Aaron said.

“Aish. Xue zhang hasn’t change a bit. Have you tried calling him?”

“He’s not answering. Did he say anything?” Aaron asked again.

“Nothing much, just saying that she will be heading back to Shanghai on the afternoon flight. He’s probably already on the plane right now.” She answered.

“Oh okay. I’ll go tell Chun. Can you call me whenever you got an update from him? Chun looks VERY unhappy with him leaving without a trace.” Aaron said.

“Yeah sure.” GuiGui said.

“Okay, bye. Call you tonight, okay?”

“Okay, bye.” She said before she hung up.

As soon as Aaron put his phone down, he immediately looked at Jiro who is looking at him with bewildered eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“‘Call you tonight, okay?’ was that really necessary?” Jiro asked.

“Sorry. I just can’t help it.” Aaron smiled as an excuse.

“So, what did she say?” Jiro asked again.

“He went to Shanghai with the afternoon flight.” Aaron said.

Jiro did not have to think twice to immediately dial Chun’s number. And luckily for them, even though Chun is frantic, he still has the straight mind to answer his phone.

“WHAT?!” Chun answered right away, which cause Jiro to pull away.

“Ello is going to Shanghai on the afternoon flight.” Jiro immediately said.

“Good.” Chun said and he hung up.

“Aish! This guy. Sometimes I wonder how the hell he became my best friend.” Jiro said as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“What did he said?” Aaron asked.

“Good.” Jiro answered.

“Good?” Aaron asked in confirmation.

“Good.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ella played with her fingernails out of boredom. She always likes to play with them, cleaning the surface and underneath, but never bit them.

“You are anxious.” Teacher Mei said as he looked at her.

They are seated side by side in the airport lounge ready for boarding. Ella had thought that he has already oblivious with all the matters of the world with that headphone on his ears.

“Why would you think that?” Ella asked.

“I don’t know, perhaps the fact that you are spacing out and playing with your nails. Though I don’t really know your habits in particular, but based on many books that I read, I can say that it’s one of the characteristics of people being anxious or nervous.” He answered.

Ella just sighed and looked at her hands once more.

“Are you regretting your choice? You can go back if you want; I won’t force you to come with me. It is your life after all.” He said.

“No, I’m perfectly sure that I’ll stand by my choice. Acting is my first love and I just can’t let anyone get in the way of that. It’s just… Good bye .” She answered.

“You’ll deal with it better as you aged. We all do.” Teacher Mei said.

Before Ella can say anything back, speakers all over the airport suddenly light up.

“Flight CA 313 to Beijing is now boarding.” The announcer said.

“That’s our flight.” Teacher Mei said while getting up. “You better turn off your phone now before the stewardesses complain.”

Ella just nodded while getting up herself. Teacher Mei had said to her on their way to the airport that they will be going to Beijing instead of Shanghai. Teacher Mei wants her to have some additional theater training before her debut and the only place he knows best to have that kind of training is Beijing.

She quickly fished out her phone from her pocket and was surprise to see a miscalled from Chun. She had put it in silent mode and must not have felt it vibrate in her pocket. Well, perhaps it is a good thing. She could not have handled pressing the reject button or hearing his voice. She would probably have cracked right there and then and caused a lot of commotion.

Ella sighed for the umpteenth time that day. And just right before she presses the power button, her phone started vibrating and the light started going on and off. Ella took a glance at the caller ID and quickly pressed the green button before putting it on her ear.

“Wei?” she said to the phone.

“Ella Jie! You didn’t tell anyone about you going back to Shanghai?” GuiGui shouted through the phone.

“I didn’t. You know how I am. I can’t stand good bye, GuiGui. You should know better.” Ella said.

“Still. I can’t believe you didn’t even tell Chun Ge. He’s been your roommate for 2 years.”

“It is precisely because of that I decided not to tell him.”

“I don’t understand you sometimes, Jie.” GuiGui said with a sigh.

Ella was about to answer her, but Teacher Mei had already told her to hurry.

“Listen. It’s done. I’ll contact you once I’ve arrived in Beijing.” Ella said sternly.

“Beijing? I thought you’re going back to Shanghai?” GuiGui asked.

“Teacher Mei is taking a detour and I need some more training. Gotta go. It’s already boarding time. Call you later.”

And with that she ended her call and switched off her phone. Nothing should come as a distraction anymore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Chun was practically running all over the place the moment he stepped into the airport. The one thing in his mind right now is finding the information center so that he can find Ella. As soon as he found one, he immediately asked for the flight to Shanghai.

“I’m sorry sir, but the last flight to Shanghai had just took off 30 minutes ago.” The information guy said.

And Chun cannot go anything but just stood there in front of him in full shock. He had lost her, he thought. He quietly mumbled a soft thank you and slowly walked away. He did not know where he was heading, he just felt lifeless.

But soon, he began to feel anger. Not of Ella choosing career over him, but angry at himself to be careless enough to let her go. To be careless enough not being able to convince her that she can have her career and be in a relationship with the same time. He feels angry that he just let her slip out of his hands right before his eyes.

Everything just seems absurd to him right now. Just this morning he left her underneath the blanket on his bed after a mind blowing night of full love making and now she has already left him. Gone. And what is worse is the fact that they did not even have a chance to say good bye directly.

He blames both of them for being cowards. If he had managed to pick up the courage to at least tell her the truth sooner, they would probably be having a cheerful goodbye and a promise to be in a long distance relationship. And if she had the courage, she would not have left him with only a single letter.

Chun’s train of thoughts and mostly regrets are suddenly interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He quickly fished it out, not bothering to even look at the caller ID and quickly put it on his ear.

“WHAT?!” he shouted to the phone.

“Gees! Stop being so harsh, will you?” said the other person.

“What do you want and who is this?” he asked again.

“It’s Aaron. What’s the purpose of having a caller ID if you didn’t even look at them? Anyway, before you start raging again, Ello is going to Beijing, not Shanghai.” Aaron said.

“And how do you know this?” Chun asked.

“I just got a call from GuiGui. She said that Ello was boarding the plane.” Aaron answered.

It did not take a second for Chun to quickly end the conversation and immediately went to the information center to ask about that certain flight. As distraught he may be right now, Chun is still a man with logic. And he knows that it is more efficient and effective to ask for information before searching, rather than just blindly rushing all over the airport.

As soon as he knows where the boarding gate is, he immediately ran. He felt like flying really, because his entire life he had never ran as fast as he is right now.

“I’m sorry, sir, but you cannot go in without a ticket.” The security guard said.

Chun cursed out loud before running to the ticket counter. The sales woman was quite frightened when she saw Chun’s frantic face along with his angry voice demanding for the latest plane to Beijing.

The sales woman quickly tapped into her computer and after a few seconds she finally looked up to him with apologetic eyes.

“I’m sorry, sir. But the last flight to Beijing had just left.” She said.

Chun was dumbstruck. He felt like ice water has been poured right on top of his head. His eyes went wide and his breath stuck in his throat. He is angry and almost went nuts, but he knows that there is nothing he can do. It was not anybody’s fault except his.

So reluctantly, Chun left the counter with heavy step after mumbling a soft thank you the sales woman.

Slowly he walked towards one of the empty chairs and just sat there with head hung low. He rested his head on his hands, not wanting to look up at the crowded airport, not wanting to break down because he is reminded how he lost her in a blink of an eye.

And as a single tear managed to escape his eye, Chun knows that he had lost her, probably forever.