Reen left the room a few minutes after Joreen left. She hadn't walked far when she noticed Zichu standing by the side with his back on the wall and his eyes looking down at his sneakers. He wasn't wearing the waiters' uniform. She heard he was relieved of duties and wouldn't be allowed to move around until they arrived home so why was he here?

The last thing she wanted was him talking to her. Did he want her to plead with her family on their behalf?

If there was another way out of this hallway, she would have taken it. Well, there was another way and that would be going through the stairs but she also had to pass him to get there.

As if sensing she was there, he raised his head and locked eyes with her.

Reen looked ahead and began to walk past him.

"Please..." He pleaded, going to stand in front of her. "I know I messed up but please.... just spare me a minute." He pleaded sincerely. He looked like he was at the verge of breaking down in tears but she didn't care. Was this another trick of his? Was she that easy to all of them?

"Move out of my way!" She demanded through gritted teeth.

"Please Reen. I am begging you." He pleaded desperately, pressing his palms together.

"I just have a few minutes. Let me talk to you."

He kept blocking her path from leaving which further annoyed her.

"I don't want to talk to you okay! So stay away from me before I do something you are going to regret—" She said angrily and looked around, she was relieved no one was around. This would have been really embarrassing.

"I regret it. Everything I did—"

"Fine! Then stay the hell away from me. I don't care—" She wanted to walk away but he appeared in her front again.

"You need to understand me. I am not from a rich family like you Ree—"

"Wow!" She interrupted, looking at him with disbelief written all over her face.

"Not being from a rich family gives you the right to do things that would harm other people? Gives you the right to be irresponsible?" She scoffed. "I have met people in even worse situation than you and they don't do the things you do. I am surprised you still think you did nothing wrong after toying with people. We should all applaud you because you are poor and is only trying to survive?"

"I... didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"No, you are not!" She cut him off angrily. "You are still the same. You only are sorry because you were caught—"

"That's not true." He interrupted softly.

"You regret it because you became close to me. If it was another family, you probably would have comfortably done everything you were asked to do without regrets. Well guess what? I do not roll with people like that. And in case you expect me to plead on your behalf, then you better wake up because that is not going to happen."

"Oh... and if you block my path one last time, I will really get mad." She glared daggers at him.

He sighed in resignation. "Reen please..."

"I don't ever want to see you again. And I mean it." She moved to walk away and this time, he didn't stop her from leaving.

Once she was in the elevator, she realised she had tears in her eyes and quickly cleaned it off. Henceforth, she was never going to allow any guy into her life. She would rather remain single than be with people who were dishonest. If she still kept Zichu as her friend, what would her family say? After all they did to Hoy and Joreen who was her younger sister. She could still remember all the pain Joreen went through. She wasn't going to forgive them at all. Maybe in the future, but she cannot do that now.

She hadn't realised someone else was close by until he entered the elevator with her. She looked down and carefully used her neckerchief to clean her eyes discreetly.

"That was a bold move. It is going to be fine."

Reen raised her head when she realised the person that had entered was Mr Ping. She processed what he just said before shooting him a glare.

"Do not talk to me. You are not better yourself." She snapped at him.

That made him closed his lips. He was thankful that she wasn't teasing him about it so it was best not to make her remember. But why was she always aggressive?

~~~~

Everyone separately arrived at the large round table which was filled with variety of dishes. Last year, all the men made a toast to end their holiday so it was the women's turn this year.

Heya'a mother stood up and raised her glass.

"To a wonderful holiday and an even better year."

"To happiness for each and every one of us." Said Hoy's mother as she raised her glass.

"To giving people what they deserve." Changyu raised hers.

"To ruining people's hair when they mess with us." Cixi said seriously which made everyone else laugh.

The toast went on until it got to Reen's turn. She hesitated a little before raising her glass, "To making true friends." She said painfully.

Joreen quickly raised hers so they wouldn't dwell much on Reen. "To peace and unity."

"My turn yet?" Queen asked excitedly before raising her glass of juice,

"So more noisy and hair pulling Christmases."

"Oh God!" Sara buried her face in her palm while Muchen chuckled with the others and clicked glasses with his daughter.

"Cheers!"

They all had their drinks and began to eat while making small talks. They were not going to gather like this again until next holiday so they had to make the most of it now.

Soon, they were all talking and laughing together while eating.

"At least this holiday was worthwhile." Hoy's mother said before she looked at Mr Ping.

"You didn't meet any lady to introduce to us? Or you are hiding her from us?"

Mr Ping laughed awkwardly before shaking his head. "I guess I was too busy to check out the pretty women here."

"I cannot believe Hoy stopped you from having fun. Was he making you work?" Muchen's father asked as he looked at his nephew who was frowning because they were putting the blame on him.

"I had nothing to do with it." Hoy said in his defense.

"Are you really allowing your son work during every holidays and even going as far as dragging his friend into it?" Heya's mother asked Hoy's mother.

"Come on!" Hoy complained in frustration. When did he ever stop Mr Ping from having fun?

"You know how he is. If I talk too much, he sees me as a nag." His mother shrugged.

The others laughed and Hoy didn't look impressed that they were all talking about him.

"You should hurry up and bring a woman to the family. You are not getting any younger—"

"Come on father! He is still very young. 30 is no big deal. He can even get married at 40." Sara chipped in.

"Should I have not allowed Muchen to marry you until he turned 40?" He teased as he looked at his son who raised a glass in a silent toast at his father's comeback.

"Whatever!" Sara huffed.

"Listen to your uncle. Just open your heart and you'll see there are a lot of women you are going to like." Muchen's mother advised.

"Did I tell you all I didn't have someone I like?" Hoy asked.

The table was immediately silenced and all eyes fell on Joreen who was choking.

Most of them gave her a knowing look but said nothing and just watched her accept a glass of water from Hoy's father before gulping it down.

"About the project for this year's holi–" Hoy's mother was suddenly interrupted by Changyu who was smiling,

"Hoy was saying something about a girl he likes. We should let him finish. Don't you think?"

"We don't think!" Minde said immediately, shooting his brother a nervous glance.

"Oh! I do think so dear. This is important. He is the remaining single adult in this family so we all need to know."

"Doesn't everyone already know who uncle Hoy likes?" Li King asked, looking at all of them in confusion.

All eyes went to the boy with the tiny voice as they wondered how he even understood what they were discussing.

"What are you talking about darling?" Changyu asked her grandson fondly.

Joreen wished the ground would open up and swallow her that instant.

She reached for her glass of water to gulp again.

Sensing how every eyes was on him, King simply looked at Hoy who was looking at him curiously and then at Joreen before he shook his head. "I don't know."

"He definitely knows something." Jianjun whispered to his wife who nodded while grinning.

"So are you going to tell us uncle Hoy? You really have someone you like?" The ever excited Queen asked.

He nodded.

"Really? Where is she?" Muchen's father asked curiously.

Hoy turned his face to look at Joreen's direction before cocking his chin towards her, ignoring her wide eyes and horrified look.

When he noticed how she kept sliding down her seat, probably to hide under the table, he smiled at her and said,

"It's her."

Joreen's eyes widened even further.

What did he think he was doing right now?