Heya's face lit up when she saw Yan Shen approaching her. His gloomy face also lit up immediately he saw her.

"Li Heya?" He asked, looking really surprised before he hurried towards her and pulled her into a tight hug, almost lifting her in the process.

​​

Heya was a little bit uncomfortable but she laughed it off and quickly broke free from the hug.

"Sorry." He apologized with a sheepish smile, remembering he hadn't freshened up after the game earlier. "I just got excited. When I was told someone was waiting to see me, I didn't ever imagine it was you."

"It's fine." She assured him. "I was in the country and decided to drop by when I heard you were playing here today."

His face turned gloomy again. "Quite unfortunate I didn't get the chance to impress."

"You did well. I don't know much about basketball, but I saw how tough the game was. Everyone was still cheering for your team even after the game ended." She assured him.

He smiled a little and took a few steps backwards to look at her.

"Wow! How long has it been? About 17 months right? You look... different."

"Good different or bad different?" Heya asked with a short laugh.

"Awesomely different. You are glowing."

She smiled widely this time before looking him up and down, "You are not looking bad yourself."

He looked behind him at his noisy teammates who were approaching and turned back to look at Heya. "Probably, we can have a cup of tea or coffee somewhere?"

Heya gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. I am leaving here in a few hours. But..." She opened her bag and took out a card. "I thought I should give you this."

He took the card from her and smiled widely when he saw it was her wedding invitation with Zhu Liang.

"I was wondering when I would be getting this. Congratulations Heya." He looked up at her face.

"Although I wish it were me, but I am happy for you." He said jocularly.

Heya laughed loudly, "Don't be silly. And thank you very much."

After a little pause, Shen spoke. "You know, you can ask me about her, right?"

"What?"

"Suyin. You look like you want to ask but you've been stopping yourself." He pointed out.

She sighed deeply but asked, "How... is she?"

"She is good. She claims she went for a business meeting but I am sure she is with this guy that has been trying to court her for the past year, she acts like she doesn't like him but we all know better." Shen and Heya both laughed.

Heya was really happy to learn this. She hoped Suyin was truly happy.

"I... am not sure she would be happy to get an invite from me."

"She would, believe me." He assured her and accepted the second invite from Heya.

"I've got to leave now."

Shen nodded. "Thank you for coming to see me and for this..." He raised the cards.

"Say my greetings to Liang and let him know he'd better treat you well or I'll take you away from him." He concluded with a wink

********

"Isn't she a great actress?" Mr Ping asked Li Hoy who was standing beside him, watching the ongoing shoot.

Joreen's character was a nerdy college freshman who had a crush on her senior. She was currently confessing her feelings to him while shedding tears. The scene looked so emotional that most of the people on site could feel their eyes water.

Everyone was touched by her acting. Everyone except Li Hoy.

Mr Ping quickly took out his phone when it started ringing and silenced it before it could cause a distraction. When he saw the caller's name with an heart emoji displayed on the screen, a smile bloomed on his face. "I'll be back." He said to Hoy before leaving.

Joreen's eyes quickly went to where Li Hoy was standing. Surprise flashed in her eyes since she hadn't expected to see him on site. Didn't he say he was busy this week? When Hoy quickly turned away when their eyes met, she stopped acting and quickly apologized to everybody, asking for a little break.

Naturally, no one argued. They gave a 20 minutes break which she was thankful for.

She immediately followed the path Hoy had taken until she saw his car. All the glasses was tinted so she couldn't tell whether he was inside, but she knocked on the window by the driver's seat.

The window wound down a little to reveal Hoy's face, but he kept looking forward and didn't say anything.

She turned to the other side and opened the passenger's side before getting inside the car.

"What is wrong?" She asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing." He still wasn't looking at her.

"I know something is wrong. You can tell me." She said softly while taking his hand in hers.

"You may think I am being lame."

"You know I wouldn't think that about you. I am worried. Please?"

He finally turned to look at her and saw how worried she looked.

Usually, he wasn't the type to share or talk about his problems but Joreen had made it clear he had to always tell her whatever was bothering him. Even went as far as threatening she would start keeping things from him if he kept things from her and that was the last thing he wanted.

"I... remembered the conversation we had the other day. You said shooting this movie in a college setting made you curious about the college life and you were thinking about trying it out."

She nodded, urging him to continue.

"I was thinking about it too. You are still young, so it's great for you to try things out. And... I really want to support you."

"So what's the problem?" She asked softly.

He inhaled deeply. "I don't know. I guess I was just feeling a little insecure." He laughed and began to run his hand through his hair.

"I trust you Jo. But I do not trust people. Since you are a star, you are from a bigshot family and you are very beautiful, you'll get a lot of unwanted attention especially from guys and—"

"I won't go to college—"

"No! Don't say that because of me." He frowned.

"It's not just because of you. Who cares about any stupid college? I was only being curious. I value what we have and if this is going to cause any kind of problem, I'd rather not go for it than risk our relationship."

He smiled warmly at her and reached to touch her face gently.

"I know you, Jo. And I trust you which means, I also trust you to take care of yourself. Sometimes, I can get insecure or protective, but it's because I am just paranoid about your safety."

'Or because you think I might leave you?' She said in her head but smiled at him and said, "I know."

"So if you want to go to college, I'll fully support you. You are just 19 and have a lot ahead of you."

When she tried to say something, he interrupted, "And do not try to tell me that this is not what you want. I know you want this. I spoke with your mother the other day about it, so I know."

Joreen pressed her lips together and just stared at him.

"Regardless of whatever you choose, just know that I am here. And..." He looked deeply into her eyes, "I love you very much Luo Joreen."