Ella was just walking around the school ground. She needed time to think. She was still worried about what just happened yesterday, her brother versus Chun on one on one basketball match? How will that go?

In her heart, she deeply wants Chun to win. Not just to assure her to stay but also for Hebe's happiness. With Chun back on the field, Hebe will be thrilled. But she could not lie to herself. In her head, she knows that the chance for Chun to win against her brother is very slim. It is not that she does not believe in Chun. She believes in him, just like Hebe believes in him. But she just cannot help thinking about it. Two weeks is a pretty short time to practice and win against a professional basketball player.

Ella was walking under the trees, across the sports field. Everyone was busy playing sports. She also sees Chun, who is busy practicing with Jiro. Initially she wanted to go over to the basketball court and cheer for him, but decided not to. She did not want to be a distraction for him and she knows that he needs a lot of concentration if he wants to win the match.

"Hey watch out!" someone shouted at her.

Ella was so caught up in her own mind that she did not hear the guy shouting at her. She just kept walking under the trees. Head down, looking at the path in front of her. She was depressed. And even though she is a great actress, she still could not manage to hide her depression. It was rare for her to have a depression but when she does, it is bad, really bad.

Suddenly, a softball hit her head and landed beside her feet. It took her several minutes for the pain to catch up to her and for her to realize what just happened.

"OUCH!" she said while rubbing her head.

She did not even know what hit her, as a matter of fact; she did not even know what just happened. She just felt slight or actually a lot of pain on her head; her head was already in pain just thinking about the upcoming match and with that hit, it just emphasized it more. She was still thinking about the game more than the hit that just happened. She did not even realize that someone kept calling her name.

"Jeez! Elle. I know you're mad that you got hit but at least you can just return the ball." he said picking up the ball that landed beside her feet.

"Aaron? What are you doing here?" she asked while still rubbing her head.

Aaron did not say anything. He just looks at her. He knows she is confused. He knows she is depressed. It is shown all over her face. He quickly throws away the ball towards the field to his friends that is still waiting for him and the ball.

"I'm done playing!!!" he shouted to them while waving both of his arm up in the air.

Aaron looked at Ella, he knows that she was still confused and still trapped in her own mind.

"Wondering what just happened?" Aaron asked.

Ella shook her head, and then nodded, and then just stayed still, looking at Aaron. Her eyes are now blank.

"Well, you were walking without paying attention. I called you so many times to warn you, but it seemed that you were to involve with your own thinking. And you got hit." Aaron explained.

Ella could only stare at him and gave him an 'Oh...' and then back to her confusing look while staring back at the ground.

"You looked confused. You wanna talk about it?" Aaron asked.

Ella did not respond. So they just start walking side by side.

"It's about the challenge, isn't it?" Aaron asked again.

Ella just nodded.

"You know, you should at least have a little fate in Chun." Aaron said.

"I did! I mean I do!" Ella quickly shouted.

"Then, why confused? If you believe in him then there's nothing to worry about." Aaron said trying to calm her down.

"Well, it's easier said than done." Ella said.

"Well, since you're getting more and more depressed by the second, why don't we change the topic?" Aaron asked with a smile.

Ella forced herself to smile at him.

"Right, I remember something; yesterday, when you and your brother where 'talking' you said Hebe. So she is your...?" Aaron tried to open up a conversation.

"Best friend." Ella said.

"And your brother is her...?" Aaron asked again.

"Friend." Ella said again.

"So what's the deal actually between you, her, your brother, and Chun? It sounded very complicated yesterday." Aaron said.

Ella relieved a big sigh and looked at the sky. After a few seconds, she finally talked. "It's complicated."

"Well, we have a long walk." Aaron said.

Ella took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell Aaron the long story. She relieved a deep sigh and then started talking.

"It was years ago. I don't exactly remember when but I still remember every detail of it like it was yesterday. You maybe did not know these, and I'm absolutely sure that you did not know this, but Selina, Hebe, and I, are best friends because we have the same background." Ella started.

"Selina?" Aaron confused.

"Selina, Hebe, and I are best friends, forever. There is never a day in my life when I didn't have the both of them. They are my rock and I'm their rock. We support each other no matter what."

Ella stopped for a moment. Trying to reminisce every memory she had with her best friends; the good, the bad, the painful, every last one of it.

"We came from a similar background you see and similar dreams. That's why we can relate to each other so easily."

"What do you mean?"

"The three of us love performing. We love the way people enjoy themselves by watching us. I love acting, Selina love dancing, and Hebe love singing. That's why we can relate to each other for trying so hard to reach our dreams. But that's not the only reason why we're close. We have similar background."

Ella took another deep breath and just stared at the sky.

"We came from broken families, you know. I'm the lucky one. Even though my mom died when I was young, my dad always away with my stepmother, and my uncle treat us like air, I still have my brother. He takes care of me and protects me. I'm lucky because I have my brother, and my father and stepmother and my uncle are still alive too.

"Selina on the other hand, she was not so lucky. Her mother died giving birth to her sister. And even though, her dad is rich, he always avoids them. She never knew why actually, but she convinced herself and her sister that he avoids them because they reminded him of their mother. So she grew up, in the maids' hands. She never felt the love of her parents. Not only that, she had to be strong to take care of her sister.

"Hebe got the worst of it. She was raised by her mom. She was a single parent. Apparently her so-called-father left her mother when she was still pregnant with her. Until now, Hebe never found out who her father was and she refused to know. She did not even bother to look for him, saying that she did not need him. Well, that is true. She was happy with only her mother by her side."

Ella started tearing up, but she tried her best to hold it in and finished the story.

"Unfortunately, she had a short life, just like my mom. She died of cancer. Everyone was surprised when we heard this, especially Hebe because her mom never told her about her condition. She never treated her cancer because she did not have enough money. After she passed away, Hebe was left alone, without a family. She was all alone in this world."

Ella stayed still. She started crying when she remembered Hebe's condition back then. She was depressed, and both Selina and herself became devastated seeing her condition.

"Selina and I kept telling her that she still have us. But she said it was still different. For nights she kept crying and crying. And we could not stop it. It was heart breaking to see her like this. And then it got worse."

Ella was already crying, silently. Aaron just stood there beside her. He realizes it now that it was a sensitive topic for her to talk about and he mentally slapped himself for bringing it up.

"You can just stop you know. I don't want you to cry like this." Aaron said.

"But, I want to finish the story because it's important." Ella said.

Aaron just nodded and became the best listener he could ever be.

"Everything got worse from that point on. Hebe's boyfriend at the time was away. He was on student exchange program or something. I don't know and I don't want to remember. He didn't know that Hebe's mother just passed away. When he called her, she was exited. She thought that the man she loved would finally come to her side to comfort her. She needed him. But what he said wasn't what she's expecting."

Ella stopped again.

"He broke up with her, dumped her to be exact, by cellphones. He did not even try to hear her explanation or trying to know how her condition was. He just said it was over and that he found someone else overseas. Hebe was devastated. She thought he was the 'one', you know? She was depressed. She felt that no one wanted her. She kept saying that her mother left her, her father didn't want her, even the guy she loved dearly didn't want her."

Ella broke down in tears. She fell to the ground. She was lucky enough that Aaron was fast enough to catch her.

"You want to sit down for a moment?" he asked her.

Ella only nodded. They walked to the tree near them and sat under it. Ella took a deep breath and then continued her story.

"I said to her to find her own happiness through her music, just like I found connection to my mother through acting. At first she was reluctant, but then she listened to me. After all, beside her mom, her music was the one that's always with her all her life. So, she started writing and composing song. At first she was doing it for herself, but then she started thinking. What good of being in a performing arts school if she can't perform? So she started composing for the school plays. But it wasn't that easy.

"Our teachers kept rejecting her compositions, every one of it. And because she was already depressed do to the loss of her mother and being dumped by her boyfriend, she couldn't handle rejection after rejection after rejection. It was TOO much for her. She even became more depressed than before and I blamed myself for it."

Ella kept crying and crying.

"Elle, it's not your fault." Aaron said. It was an awkward moment for him. Comforting a girl is easy and he had done it lots of time, but comforting a 'guy'? It was weird and he did not know how.

"But it was my fault! It's ALL, MY FAULT!!! If I hadn't told her to find happiness through music, she would be less depressed. She wouldn't be so lonely. She wouldn't be so rejected. It was all, my fault! MY FAULT!"

Ella started shouting. She remembered every detail of that painful time. She hurt her best friend. She made her best friend feel unwanted. She hurt her. She nearly killed her. It was all her fault. She caused this.

Ella bent her knees and held them in her hands. She pushed her face to her knees and started rocking back and forth. She cried so hard. She remembered all the pain her best friend had to go through. It was so bad that Ella even wanted to kill herself for causing her so much pain.

Aaron on the other hand, could not do anything but to see his sad friend, rocking back and forth beside him. He started to rub her head, trying to get her to calm down.

"Everything got worse from that point on. Because she was devastated, she became quiet, very quiet. It was as if she had no soul in her body. Our friends even started to and called her 'zombie'. She was hurt. Very hurt. She became lonely. She was even more depressed than before. She felt that no one wanted her. Not her mother, her father, her boyfriend, even her teachers rejected her. And her friends started to leave her too. She was devastated. She was depressed. She was lonely. She was hurt. The pain was so unbearable that she committed suicide."

Aaron jaws dropped. Sure he heard a lot of news of people committing suicide before, but to know his friend here, experience the feeling of losing someone that committed suicide was kind of surreal for him. He does not know the feeling, but he knows that it was heart breaking.

Ella on the other hand, was crying harder and harder.

"She couldn't swim. So she drowns herself." Ella said.

[FLASHBACK]

Ella remembered every painful detail of that day. She was sitting comfortably on her bed reading her script with Selina doing her manicure on the floor, when suddenly GuiGui walked in to their room, panicking.

"Senior Hebe... Senior Hebe... She..." said GuiGui while pointing her finger outside the door.

GuiGui did not have to say much about what happened, but both Selina and Ella knew something was wrong. It did not even take a second for them to quickly ran out and followed GuiGui to the school pond. When they got there, they thought they were too late.

Ella can remember it clearly. Hebe was laying on the ground, next to the pond. She laid there on the grass. Every inch of her body was soaking wet, her face was white as snow. She was pale, even paler than usual. Ella remembered her chest stayed still. It was not going up and down. And at that point Ella knew she was not breathing.

She slowly bent down to reach for her arm, saying her name while doing so.

"Hebs... Hebs..." she said to the body in front of her, trying to hold her tears.

When Ella was finally able to touch Hebe's hand, she quickly retreated the moment her hand touched hers. In an instant her face was pale and she was frozen in place. Selina looked at her and understood her blank expression.

"No... No! NO!!!!" Selina shouted, crying.

Selina tried to reach her best friend who was lying still on the ground. But Ella stopped her and hugged her instead. She knew that if Selina feels Hebe's cold body, she could not take it. She would break down even worse than she already was. Ella hugged her tightly in her hands.

Selina could not take the shock of losing her best friend. She slowly fell to the ground, Ella's hands still wrapped around her; both girls just sitting there in each other’s arms, looking at their best friend who was just lying there, breathless.

"HEBE!! You have to wake up! You can't leave us! We need you!" Selina cried and cried, shouting Hebe's name, begging her to wake up.

Ella just stays silent. She kept rubbing Selina's back, trying to calm her down. Ella was silently crying. Her tears kept falling down her cheeks. But she did not bother to wipe it off. She had to be strong, for Selina, for both of them. She was their rock and Selina needed her to be strong for both of them.

All of her schoolmates just stood there, watching. Some were crying, but most of them were just shocked. The school nurse kept doing CPR to Hebe. Hoping it would save her, but she did not respond. Her body just lay there, frozen. Ella could only watch. Her tears kept falling but she did not weep. She did not sob. Instead, she kept rubbing Selina's head, trying to calm her down. Selina kept crying and crying, even harder with each moment that passed. She kept calling Hebe's name, kept begging her to wake up, and begging to not leave her and Ella on this world alone without her.

[END OF FLASHBACK]

"It was a miracle that the doctors and nurses were able to save her. Both Selina and I were in debt to them. I can never imagine my life without her or without Selina by my side. They are the reason that I have to be strong." Ella said while wiping her tears away. And then give a smile to Aaron, letting him know that she is alright.

"Okay. Then where's Chun fit into all of this?" Aaron asked.

"Well, Hebe was hospitalized after her failed suicide attempt. The doctors gave her some treatment so that she would not be so depressed. At that time, all she could do during her stay in her hospital was watching TV. She quit writing music after what happened. She was getting better after her treatment, but she was still depressed. And then we saw him."

"Him?" Aaron asked, began to confuse.

"Chun. We saw him on TV. He was on the news. He was doing this charity basketball game for people with disabilities. He was interviewed by one of the reporter. And what he said changed Hebe's life, our life to be exact."

"What did he say?" Aaron asked again. He was curious.

"He said that we should not give up, even if life gave up on us. He said that nothing is impossible if you really put your heart and soul to it and work hard. He was putting those disabled kid as an example. And he was right. If people with disabilities can do anything they want, why can't we normal people do it? He kept saying that nothing is impossible. And if everyone rejected you, then you should keep going for yourself. Because it is okay if other people rejected you, as long as you don't reject yourself and keep going. The most important thing is to make yourself happy and please yourself, not trying to please anyone else. Even if you were rejected over and over again, you should keep going, just to prove to the people that rejected you that you're able to handle rejection and able to move on."

Aaron just looked at how Ella was exited telling the story about Chun. He knows that Chun was a different person after his injuries, but he never knew that Chun was that kind of person to say stuff like that.

"After Hebe heard what he said on TV, she began thinking. She managed to come out from her depression. She said that it was Chun that snapped her out of it. If she hadn't heard what Chun said on that interview, she was going to plan her next suicide attempt. Chun saved her and ever since that she became his number one fan. She continued writing and composing songs. And after many many rejections later, her composition was finally accepted by one of our teachers."

Aaron looked at Ella for a moment. He saw her eyes sparkle when she said 'Chun saved her'.

"Okay, I understand how Chun changed Hebe, but what about you?" Aaron asked.

"Me?" Ella asked, confused.

"Well, you said that he changed her life, both of your life. How did he change yours?" Aaron said, trying to ask more clearly for her to understand.

"Oh, that. Well, let just put it this way. If that first suicide attempt actually succeeded, then perhaps I won't be here talking to you. Perhaps I was already in heaven with Hebe, watching over you."

Aaron swallowed his saliva. He never thought that Ella would be this daring.

"Hebe, Selina, and I shared our life together. If one of us dies, the other will surely followed because when the other dies, part of us dies too. And we rather join the other in heaven than continue to live in hell. If Chun hadn't saved her, she would commit another suicide and if that was a success then everything else is history."

Ella relieved a big sigh and looked at the sky. Aaron just looked at her. He was in awe of what Ella just said. He never knew someone that cherished friendship so much more than life itself.

"I owe Chun that much. He saved my best friend and she means the world to me. Selina and Hebe are the most important people in my life and Chun saved Hebe. I was and still am very thankful for him. He maybe doesn't know this, but he saved Hebe, and that means that he saved me too."

Ella slowly turned her face to see Aaron and smiled at him. He smiled back at her.

"Okay, this story involved you, Chun, and Hebe. So, why's your brother seem so involved with it? I don't see the connection here. Why he seems to hate Chun so much? Isn't he being overly dramatic? After all, he is just Hebe's friend." Aaron asked again.

He knows that the story was way too complicated to tell, but he wanted to know more. Maybe this sounds insensitive, but he just could not stop. It was making his mind crazy to know that the story will end half way.

"For Hebe yes, but not for my brother." Ella tried to explain.

"What do you mean?"

Ella relieved a big sigh. This part of the story is not as painful as the one before this, but still it pains her to remember. The pain is not for her, it was for Calvin.

"For as long as I could remember; Hebe has always treated my brother as a friend, if not a brother of her own. My brother on the other hand, he likes her from the day they met."

"So it's a one sided love then?"

"You can simply put it that way. My brother loves Hebe with all his heart and she knows this but she can't accept him because she doesn't love him. She kept pushing him away, but he wouldn't give up."

"You didn't help your brother?"

"It's not that I didn't want to, I really do want to help. But it's a matter of the heart and only Hebe and my brother able to solve this."

Aaron nodded in understanding.

"Well, as I was saying, my brother loves Hebe and he would not give up. He is very protective of her just as much as he was protective of me. When Hebe got depressed, he was very devastated, just as much as Selina and I were, if not more. He even beat up Hebe's ex when he came back with his new girlfriend. And let me tell you, that was an ugly sight. If I'm not wrong, he almost got himself arrested."

Aaron eyes went wide. He understands perfectly the feeling of loving someone. Well, not actually loving someone because he was never in love, perhaps the correct term is likes someone. But even getting arrested for it? Is that even worth it? He began to think that Ella's family is very extreme. Ella herself wanted to die if her best friend died, and her brother almost got arrested for the girl who barely acknowledges him.

"He visited her occasionally during her stay at the hospital and even helped her get through her depression treatment. He thought he had a chance with her, especially after her boyfriend dumped her like that. But Hebe rejected him again, saying that she only treated him as her brother and a very good friend. My brother didn't give up like he usually does and soon he found out that Hebe was falling for Chun."

"Wait. Falling for Chun? She doesn't even know him." Aaron cut her off.

"Well, that's true. But she has a crush on him. She has a crush on her idol. My brother knew that Chun was a basketball player, he himself played basketball too, but only for fun. After he found out Hebe's crush on Chun, he tried to change himself to be more like Chun. He got serious in basketball, even got a scholarship because of it, and he even made it to the Regional Team.

"He thought this was enough to win Hebe's heart, but it's not. Hebe kept rejecting him, saying that he could never be Chun no matter how hard he tried. He was hurt by this. It was okay for him to be rejected by her if she fell for someone else, but instead she fell for someone she hardly knew. He was still thankful that Chun saved Hebe. Although in his mind, he never really thought that Chun was actually the one that saved her."

"So that's why he hates Chun?" Aaron tried to confirm.

"Yeah. Especially now that he knows Chun doesn't play anymore. He felt that Chun doesn't deserve Hebe's love, even though he saved her."

The both of them relieved a big sigh. Even Aaron, who did not see it first hand, felt pity over Calvin's tragic love life and somewhat in awe for his determination.

"Sorry that I've made you remember some painful memories." Aaron said. For the past minutes when Ella was telling her story, he kept mentally slapping himself for bringing up that topic.

"No problem. I'm feeling like talking about it anyways. Thank you for being a good listener by the way." Ella said to him with a smile, trying to ease his guilt. She knows that he was feeling guilty for making her told him the story, especially after seeing all the water works, but she did not blame him. Not one bit.

"Well, I think it's about time we head back to the dorm." Aaron said. He stood up, cleaned the leaves on his pants, and then offered Ella his hand to help her get up.

"Yeah, I think we shall go back. I'm getting hungry." Ella said with a smile on her face, taking Aaron's hand.

After she cleaned all the leaves on her pants, the both of them walked to the dormitory, smiling to the sky. Ella felt she was somewhat relieved. It was a painful memory to remember and a painful story to tell, but she appreciate Aaron for just listened to her. Little did she know; there was another person being a good listener to her that day.

Chun silently follows Aaron and Ella from behind, making sure that they do not notice him, but keeping his distance to be able to hear every bit of their conversation. Just like what he just did, from the very beginning when Ella told Aaron about her painful memories.