SONG QIAN had been hanging out with Joshua since morning, and they went for shopping, watching movie, playing arcade games and now she dragged her brother to karaoke club. It was Saturday night and both of them did not have work and class tomorrow so it was okay for them to stay up for the whole night. It felt so good to have crazy fun time with her only brother once in a while.

          Song Qian was singing crazily with Joshua, and they laughed at each other until her eyelashes were damped with tears. However she was confused whether it came out because she was having too much fun or she was being pathetic for doing all these to distract her mind from thinking about Nichkhun and Arissa's engagement party.

          Yes, they got engaged today, and Song Qian was invited to attend it. However she chose not going because she knew herself better than anyone. Song Qian was not strong enough to watch the man she loved got engaged with someone else and standing there while pretending like she was happy for both of Nichkhun and Arissa.

         "Noona, stop drinking! I don't want to carry you all the way home later," Joshua immediately stopped Song Qian on her forth can of beer. Her cheeks must be red now since she felt the heat on her skin, and she just laughed at the reminder that she could not tolerate alcohol very well.

         "Stupid! We can just grab a taxi or call the Uber later," she drank it anyway but regretted afterwards when she started seeing double lines. She paid this room for three hours, but she just had been here for an hour. They would not get the refund anyway if they left the room early.

         "Hey, it's my turn!" she said in slurred speech after Joshua had finished the two songs. Song Qian tried to stand up but she fell back on the couch and ended up laughing at herself for being pathetic. Nichkhun must have a good time with his fiancé at that party while she was spending her time here and trying to mend her broken heart all alone.

         "You are not getting any better here. Let's just go home," Joshua put the microphone away and started to gather their things, but Song Qian weakly shoved him away when he tried to get her standing up.

       "Joshua, we still have two hours left. Let's sing until our throats bleed," she chuckled drunkenly as she had stopped fighting him. Joshua had to hold Song Qian to prevent her from falling down as they left the place, and he did not want to waste the time waiting for Uber so he just grabbed a taxi nearby the place.

        The traffic was not heavy so they arrived at Song Qian's place in twenty minutes. Joshua had been here few times and he even sleepover on weekends, but he refused to move in before graduating because his place was much closer to the school. Song Qian had introduced him to the landlady and her daughter so they would not be surprised if they see him visiting this place frequently.

         "God, you are so heavy Noona!" he carefully walking up the stairs with Song Qian on his back because she had fallen into deep sleep on the way home. Since Joshua did not bring the keys, he had to put Song Qian down first and get them inside Song Qian's bag. After unlocked the door and opened it, he carried her inside and dropped her on the bed afterwards.

          Her hands automatically grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly. She even made some weird noises in her sleep, and Joshua had to leave her alone for a while because he badly needed to drink some water right now. He went to kitchen to get a drink and returned to room with a glass of water inside his grip.

          Joshua leaned against the door frame and quietly watched his sister sleeping from there. Song Qian might not tell him anything, but he knew that she actually was in pain and heartbroken. Joshua took out his phone and searched the name in phone contacts. Now it was his turn to protect Song Qian from getting hurt deeply.

         "Hello, this is Joshua. I have changed my mind. I'll convince her to leave this place with you," he said after the call was being answered. Sooner or later the truth would come out. So Joshua decided to stop playing along in Song Qian's game and ask her to come out with all the secrets that she had yet disclosed to him.

************

ARISSA was in good mood since the morning because most of her co-workers would congratulate her again on her engagement with Nichkhun on last Saturday. She was reviewing the designs of Valentine collection inside her office when her phone on the table was vibrated with a call. She glanced at the screen and ignored it at first since it was the call from Leo.

           "Hello. Sorry Leo. I just returned from toilet. What's up?" Arissa lied after she ended up answering his forth call.

         "Oh, glad to know that you are not purposely trying to avoid me," she just rolled eyes when he had guessed it correctly, but of course she did not want make it so obvious.

           "I just want to congratulate you again but this time I have big surprise for you. So big that even I got surprised at the beginning," he continued and ended his sentence with chuckle.

            "What is that? I can't be on phone for too long because I still have works to finish off," she gave the excuse, but she was not lying though.

           "I just send through Whatsapp. Check your phone later," Leo ended the call, and Arissa continued with her work while waiting for the message from him. Few minutes later her phone was beeped with incoming message, and her eyes almost popped out after she read the text.

            'Found this while exploring my friend's phone gallery. Taken on Oct 31st,'her gaze returned to the two pictures of Nichkhun kissing and hugging the woman while watching small fireworks on the beach. Her nostrils were flaring as her breathing quickened after she zoomed in those pictures, and it turned out that woman was someone that she knew.

         'You probably have never thought that he could cheat on you,' another message popped in, and she read it with fisted hand. Arissa had those thoughts when Nichkhun had stopped having with her, but she never thought that she could be this mad after she found out the truth. No, she was not mad. She actually was super jealous and humiliated because Nichkhun had never showered her with the same affectionate gestures and touches.

             Arissa scoffed as she recalled how Nichkhun and Song Qian pretended not knowing each other when they met last time. She did not know how long they had been together, but Nichkhun' refusal to visit La Belle with her had made sense now. He probably did not want Song Qian to feel hurt if she saw them together, and that just made Arissa's blood boiled even more.

************

AS much as Song Qian did not want to encounter with Peter again, she needed to be professional every time he visited La Belle as a customer. He was looking for a suit, and she had to assist him since he was more comfortable with her although she was not sharing that mutual feeling with him.

            "You still have the time to reconsider my offer," Song Qian rolled her eyes when he mentioned again about reconsidering his offer. She just quietly pulled down the blazer sleeves because she did not think that Peter would stop bothering her until she said 'yes' to him.

           "Song Qian! Song Qian! Come out!" Song Qian startled when she heard a woman screaming for her name coming from downstairs. She took a look and saw Arissa was desperately searching for her before Arissa spotted her at upstairs. Arissa immediately headed to upstairs and before Song Qian could ask anything, Arissa had shut her up with a hard slap.