(A/N: Since Alice could not understand and speak Mandarin, Guo Xiaolan and the rest was considerate enough to have their conversations in English.)

"I think that's how love could make a person." Kim Eunji honestly replied. She herself could not imagine the impact Nathan had brought in her life.

The warmth that he had given her was so much that it even brought positive effects around her.

She had become more accommodating and welcoming to others. Now, she's more on like not shutting down herself from others. Well, except to those annoying people.

"I see. I never really thought that someone could pierce through your thick ice walls. You built 'em pretty sturdy." Alice added.

"It takes great patience and efforts." Yun Mei commented.

"Now we're more curious to know the identity of your man EJ." Guo Xiaolan spoke in English and looked at Marie then to Iris whom among them, they only knew the identity of her lover.

"So, where are you going to be staying while you're inside Imperial Uni? You're not going to stay inside one of the dorms, are you?" Kim Eunji asked her.

"Well, I brought my own RV but spending nights with you guys ain't a bad idea isn't it?" Alice shared her idea.

"Nah, I doubt the Dorm Mistress would allow you to be with us." Fu Rong frankly said.

"Yeah. I think we can hang out inside the dorm but it should be lights out by eleven. Speaking of which, it's already eight. Three more hours before the lights out." Guo Xiaolan said which made everyone sad.

"Really? Seriously, you guys are having curfews?" Alice asked in amazement.

"I think it's a normal practice for boarding schools." Kim Eunji expressed.

"Yeah. Well, at least not for me. Stanford isn't like that." Alice simply answered which made everyone to almost choke on their food.

"You're a Stanford alumna?!" They asked in unison catching the attention of almost everyone.

Alice simply nodded. She didn't want to dwell on the topic either.

It was funny how her dad forced her to study in the University. Taking up the course that he wanted for her but at the end of the day, she had lost herself in the corporate world and got addicted to gambling.

Sensing that Alice didn't want to dwell on the topic, they decided to not ask her about it in which Alice was thankful and really appreciated it.

"Well, is your Dad okay with this creative pursuit of yours? I mean I already met him once and I kind of know his personality. He won't be happy with this."

That was the sad part. There are some parents who were not open minded when it comes to their children's dreams. Sadly, Alice's parents were one of those.

"Well, this was the reason why I had published my work on a foreign website overseas. I didn't want him to know about this. My excuse was that I'm coming to Beijing because you'll be here. My family owes you so much. He would never dare offend our benefactor." Alice grinned which made Kim Eunji's beautiful lips to twitch in disbelief.

"Thankfully, a new branch of our Casino was having it's opening. And he asked me to be the country manager. He wanted to test my skills in management after all."

"Then, can you manage joggling both responsibilities? Aren't you afraid the branch would incur losses instead of profits?" Kim Eunji asked her.

"If you're really determined to pursue being an author, you should be more straightforward and tell them that this is what you really wanted rather than hiding this from them. Start with your Mom. I think Mrs. Floyd would understand you though."

"My step-mom? Not really, that woman was a snake! I'm sorry." She immediately apologized after she saw everyone's stunned faces.

"It's okay. It must have been hard for you." Marie who had been silently eating finally spoke.

She could relate to her as she was in the same situation. When her mother died, her father remarried to an evil woman who kicked her out of their own house. Thankfully, Aunt Lucy was there for her. Or else, she didn't know what her life would become in the future.

Kim Eunji who had no idea about the relationship between Alice and her parents looked at the former and sincerely apologized.

It made her to realize how insensitive she was in the past. She should have paid more attention to her subordinate's problems to make them happy. After all, her work had become easier because they were there for her.

"I'm sorry. I should have known better." Kim Eunji mumbled the last part.

"It's okay. Don't be harsh on yourself. You didn't know this as I didn't let you to know. I know you'll be bothered if I'll tell you, so I decided not to. And besides, it is a problem inside the family." Lucy admitted as she tried to take the blame away from Kim Eunji's shoulder.

"And besides, I doubt they would bother me so much. I'm with the boss after all." Alice said as she looked at Kim Eunji meaningfully.

"En. I got your back! If they won't support you, I will." Kim Eunji reassured.

"I know I can. I can always count on you." Alice playfully grinned.

It's already ten in the evening when the group left the restaurant. They sent Alice first to her RV before they decided to walk into their dorm.

As they walked on the entrance, they saw Derek and Darren standing by the door.

"Derek? Darren? What are you guys doing here?" Kim Eunji asked.

"EJ, go upstairs first, the three of us had some routine check to do." Iris whispered on her ear.

This action didn't go unnoticed by everyone. They got curious too.

"Okay. But make it quick. You guys, you know it's unnecessary." She reminded them helplessly.

"It's protocol EJ." Was their only answer.

"Geez! Go. Finish everything before midnight." Kim Eunji sternly reminded them.

"We will EJ."

With that, Iris left with the boys.

Guo Xiaolan looked at Eunji as if she wanted to ask something.

Kim Eunji could feel it therefore, before she could even ask her.

"Don't mind them, they were just a bunch of weird people." Kim Eunji described the situation as that.

They got inside the elevator and entered their dorms respectively.

Kim Eunji placed her phone and wallet on her bed and took off her eye glasses.

She pinched the space in between her brows as she suddenly felt a headache coming. Maybe she was just over thinking things.

Kim Eunji decided to do her laundry before she did her night routine.

Wearing her silk pajamas, she placed her finished laundries into the dryer and decided to leave it there. She would get it first thing in the morning anyways.

She looked at her phone one last time to check if someone had messaged him. To her dismay, only Kelly sent her a message.

"Fine! If you're going to ignore me, then so be it!" With that, she tossed her phone and forced herself to sleep.

***

Morning came and Kim Eunji woke up with a bad mood. She didn't have a good sleep last night. Apparently, she had slept for two hours because she could not stop herself from not being bothered.

Wearing her eye glasses, she looked at the time and saw that it was still 4:30 AM. She carefully got off the bed and got out of the room.

She unloaded her already dried clothes from the dryer and placed it in the basket. She folded them one by one and went back to her room.

Kim Eunji opened her closet and placed her clean clothes in there.

She knew there's no way she could go back to sleep. So, she decided to start her day early.

She got her running shorts, blue sports bra and a black jacket.

She went into the washroom to change in them. She washed her face and do her morning skin care routine.

After she finished, she wore her running shoes. She brought her IU card just in case, her phone, ear pods and some towels.

At least the marks on her body had almost faded now. Thanks to the cream that she kept on putting. She applied the cream on the visible areas such us in her thighs, arms, shoulders, in her back and in her stomach and also on the areas not so visible like in her breast.

Applying the cream several times a day and warm baths to stimulate blood flows all over her body when she can made these hickeys to turn yellowish brown now.

She then went out of the dorm and headed towards the oval running track.

When she reached there, she saw the place was empty. Well, if someone would want to run early in the morning, the school had it's own gym that students could use.

Also, only a few students would dare run on a cold morning.

As she thought that no one would disturb her, Kim Eunji placed her belongings on the empty park bench.

Kim Eunji started to do stretching exercises. When she felt that she's ready, she started to jog. After finishing one lap of jogging, this time...she ran.

She ran and ran like she didn't care if her legs would go numb or would be sore after.

She only stopped running when she felt the rays of the sun touched her skin. She had at least ran twenty-laps all in all.

She could feel like her heart was about to explode from her rib cage from the non-stop running and her face turned hot.

She ran to clear her mind. To stop from worrying that someone who chose to ignore her as if she didn't exist in his life at all.

She wanted to punish him so bad. She felt the urge to track his phone to know his whereabouts but decided not to because she trusted him. She believed he had his own reasons why he was doing this.

But she was at her limits. So fishing out her phone, she opened the tracking app and inputted Nathan's phone number to start tracking him. But to her surprise, Nathan's phone cannot be traced.

She also tracked Marco's phone and it was the same. The unsettling feeling in her heart came back and it was worse than before.

She needed to talk to someone who had knowledge on Nathan's whereabouts. And she knew the two perfect people.

She wiped her face with the towel and she removed her jacket and tied it on her waist.

She looked at the time and saw that it's almost time for breakfast.

Because she had perspired a lot, Kim Eunji felt thirsty all of a sudden.

So she decided to get a bottle of water later on when she reached the cafeteria.

Grabbing her stuff, she walked towards the cafeteria.