Hendery's POV
Ten, YangYang and I are in Hawaii standing in front of a resort as I'm on a call with Xiaojun.
"I don't know if we are at the right place. Did you send us the right address?" I ask.
"Are you guys in Honolulu?" Xiaojun asks.
"Put the phone on speaker." Ten says. I follow his instructions.
"Are you guys in Honolulu or not?" Xiaojun asks again.
"Yeah." YangYang says. "Is this the right place?"
"Let me take a picture and send it to him." Ten says then takes out his phone.
"Dude. Ten is gonna send you a picture of the resort or wherever you are at." I say.
"Okay! It's sending." Ten smiles.
"Did you receive it?" I ask.
"That's not the right resort! Where are you guys?" Xiaoju asks.
"Hey! Isn't that Chunhua and Xiaojun's mom?" YangYang says which makes me reflex.
Chunhua and Aunt Meihua comes out from a small shop and walks the opposite direction of us.
"Let's go ask-" Ten suggests.
"Don't ask them anything. They will know that you guys are here and will tell you false information." Xiaojun sternly says. "I'll send you guys my location."
"You should have done that in the first place." YangYang says with his hands on his hips. "It's hot."
Kun joins the call. Back in China, Kun, WinWin and Lucas are there. Watching Jialia for Xiaojun.
"I've sent my location. Find a taxi or something." Xiaojun says.
"Let's go find a taxi." Ten says then runs off. So does YangYang leaving me alone.
"I can't believe you are making us do this." Kun deeply sighs with his camera on.
"I'm sorry. I'm far away from Jialia and Jian. I'm worried about them." Xiaojun says.
"Are you kidding me? You've been far away from them before and they have been fine." Kun says then sighs.
"This time I'm half way around the world from them. If you guys love me, you all will go through with this with me right? We're a team, right?" Xiaojun says.
Kun and I stay quite for a moment.
"Wow....." Xiaojun disappointingly says with his mouth wide open.
"Where are you guys?" I ask Kun, changing the topic.
"Where do you think?" Kun asks showing us the cafe of Jialia and Yuyan.
"Where's WinWin and Lucas?" Xiaojun asks.
"Inside ordering their drink as usual." Kun says.
The car door opens. WinWin and Lucas enters in the car with their drinks, WinWin handing Kun his drink.
"Nothing going with Jialia or Jian." WinWin says.
"Really?" Xiaojun asks.
WinWin nods his head.
"Hendery! Taxi!" YangYang shouts before entering in the cab.
"Xiaojun. We are coming. See you guys." I say then hang up the call.
I run to the taxi and got in the seat as well. Ten tells the driver the destination. It's about half an hour, so YangYang and I decide to sleep in the taxi, while Ten is on his phone.
Jialia's POV
Class has ended. Yuyan and I go our separate ways for lunch. She has to go her mother get her medicine at the hospital.
"Peek-a-boo!" Lufeng scares me from behind.
"Hey! Don't do that. It's not cool." I say in irritation.
"Sorry. I wanted to surprise you in a way to get your attention." Lufeng says looking down as if he made a huge mistake. Which kinda makes me feel bad.
I sigh. "Next time. Don't do it. I don't like it."
Lufeng smiles. "It's your lunch time, right?"
I nod my head. "Why?"
"Let's go have lunch together." Lufeng says then pulls my hand which forces me to run along with him.
•••
Lufeng and I are at a booth waiting for our lunch to be served. I can't believe that we ran 20 minutes to get to this place. To be honest, I'm not an athletic person. I don't plan to be one either. That was the longest I've ever ran in my whole life.
"Here's your meals." The server smiles as she places down my meal first then Lufeng's.
I ordered a simple beef with broccoli with rice and orange chicken since they are the food I've been craving for a long time.
"Thank you for taking me out to eat." I smile then dig in.
"You're welcome!" Lufeng smiles back. "Tell me about yourself, Jialia. I want to know since we are friends."
I raise my eyebrows. "Well.... what do you want to know about me?"
"Anything! Anything is fine." Lufeng says.
I think about what to tell Lufeng. Describing myself to him.... it might take me a while.
"Well.... I'm an only child. I used to live with my parents. I own a small cafe with my best friend, Yuyan." I say then hesitate to say anything about Jian. "I'm known as the single mom at school."
"Huh?! Single mom?" Lufeng says in shock.
I don't expect him to know that I have that name at school. Or know that I'm a single mom. I'm not ashamed at all. I'm actually glad to be a mom. Not 'single' anymore. I gotta keep that on the low.
I nod my head.
"You have a child? How old?" Lufeng asks.
"He's 4 years old." I say.
"Where's the father? Do you know who the father is?" Lufeng shoots the questions which kinda startle me.
What am I suppose to say? What can I say to Lufeng? Xiaojun and I don't want others to know that we have a child together and is hiding it on the low.
"Uhhh...." I hesitate. "Can we not talk about him? Talking about him makes me uncomfortable."
Lufeng nods his head in agreement. "It means that you're single... right?"
I raise one of my eyebrows. "Uhhhhh...."
"If nobody is courting you. I'm gonna start courting you." Lufeng says which makes my mouth drops.
Is he joking or for real?
"I'm just joking. Don't worry." Lufeng smiles which makes me a bit more comfortable.
WinWin's POV
I walk out of the restaurant of where Jialia and a tall male is having their lunch. I'm shock at what just happened. Xiaojun is not gonna be happy hearing the news of Jialia trying to be asked out. I scratch my head, still in shock. Why would I be in shock? Jialia is a very pretty and nice person. Who wouldn't want to go for her?
But she's Xiaojun's girlfriend. No one knows besides us, his family and her friend, Yuyan. How am I gonna explain this to him? He's gonna explode. I sigh and walk away knowing the results of how Xiaojun is going to react. I've got to tell Kun first. He'll help me find a solution to this problem.
•••
Arriving back to the dorm, I tell Kun and Lucas everything I saw and heard from the restaurant earlier when I was following Jialia and the tall male.
"Hey! Don't lie." Lucas says.
"Why would I lie? I wouldn't lie. It's Xiaojun's girlfriend. Why would I lie?" I ask Lucas.
"It's a good thing that Jialia didn't say anything about Xiaojun." Kun says.
"You're right!" Lucas smiles. "Of course, she doesn't want to ruin his career and our career's."
"It's good enough that she didn't mention. How are we gonna tell Xiaojun?" I worriedly say.
"That part........" Kun says then drifts off.
"Oh, Xiaojun! Someone is trying to court Jialia." I imitate the words we might have to say to Xiaojun.
"I think we should tell the other members. We should have them tell Xiaojun. We're physically not there with him so, Ten, YangYang and Hendery can tell him." Lucas suggests.
"That's not bad." Kun agrees.
"No one can say that I suggest it!" Lucas says rising one of his eyes brows up.
I guess we're throwing the dirt on Ten, YangYang and Hendery. We have such great teamwork.
•••
Later that night, Kun, Lucas and I are on a call with YangYang, Ten and Hendery.
"We have updates about Jialia." Kun says as he lies down on his bed with his camera on holding the phone out so that Lucas and I can be seen in the screen.
Lucas is on the other side of Kun while I'm on the other side of Kun.
"What?" Ten asks looking up from his iPad, looking into the screen of ours.
They placed Hendery's phone on a stand or something so that they don't have to hold it. That's actually pretty smart. Maybe Kun should do that. His arms are kind short. But we can still see our faces well.
"You're drawing..... aren't you?" I ask.
Ten nods his head.
"What are you drawing?" Kun asks.
"The beaches in Hawaii." Ten smiles then shows us his draft of his drawing.
"What time is it over there?" Lucas asks.
"It's almost noon. You guys?" Ten asks, going back to his drawing.
"Night time." Lucas says.
"What were you going to tell us?" YangYang says coming close to the screen which we can clearly see his skin on the screen.
"Where's hendery?" I ask.
"Eating." YangYang says moving away from the screen to gesture us the dinning room.
"Where's Xiaojun?" Kun asks.
"In his room." YangYang says.
"The same room as you guys or a whole different room?" Lucas asks.
"A whole different room. We have to be separated for a bit." YangYang says.
"What is it that you want to tell us?" Hendery walks over with his plate of food then asks before sitting down on the couch near by.
"How... how do I say this?" I stutter.
"What do you mean?" Ten asks.
I scratch my head. "Someone is trying to court Jialia."
"What?! What did you say?" Hendery exclaims in shock.
"What's court?" Ten asks looking at Hendery and YangYang. "Teacher Hendery."
Hendery stutters unable to explain to Ten as he looks at YangYang.
"Well.... like..... It's like hitting on someone's line." YangYang hesitates then say in English in his german accent.
"What?! You're kidding." Ten says in English.
"No!" I say in English gesturing my hands no. "I'm for real."
"How are we gonna bring this up to Xiaojun? Should we keep it a secret?" Hendery asks in Mandarin, breaking the English conversations.
"I want some chicken too. Feed me some." Lucas says, mouth watering.
"Be serious here!" Kun says.
"Sorry. It looks good." Lucas says wiping his mouth.
"Taste good too." Hendery smiles.
"Lucas suggested that since you guys are there with Xiaojun, you all can tell him. And we'll keep you guys updated." I say.
"Hey!" Lucas says looking at me in disappointment because I mentioned his name. I threw him under the bus.
"Huh? You want us to tell him? Why don't we all just call him and have you explain it to him since you were there." YangYang suggest.
"Lucas! You have such good thinking." Hendery points to Lucas.
"I thought we agreed on this." Lucas quietly says which I'm sure the members can hear from the other side of the screen.
"What did Jialia say? She did agree?" Ten asks.
"I don't think so. Isn't it cheating if she lets another guy hit her line when she's with Xiaojun?" YangYang asks looking at Ten.
"But no one knows besides us and her friend." Hendery says then gets up with his plate.
"I don't think we should tell Xiaojun yet. WinWin, keep investigating about Jialia and the guy. Because we don't know for sure if Jialia is letting him hit her line." YangYang says which everyone nods their head.
"But don't you think that we should tell him? Xiaojun should have the right to know that someone is trying to steal his girlfriend." Hendery says coming back from where he came from.
His plate is not with him. Maybe he threw it away. His fingers look clean too.
"Right....." I say agreeing with Hendery.
"Jialia also has the rights to push him away if she doesn't like him." Lucas says.
"Let's just conceal this for now. We'll have WinWin go investigate. We don't know if she's willing to let the dude hit her line. I'm sure she smart enough to not let him." Kun says something.
"Wow...... you were speaking!" YangYang sarcastically says.
"Anyways. We need to get to bed. We have to get up early and investigate." Kun says.
"Goodnight." YangYang, Hendery and Ten says together.
I end the call. Kun, Lucas and I turn around to see Manager Shue. We all look at one another then smile innocently at her. How long has she been standing there?
•••
"I need you guys to tell me the story. What's going on?" Manager Shue says as Kun, Lucas and I are sitting across from her with our heads down.
We all stay in silence. I'm sure we all are having a hard time what to say to Manager Shue since we've been hiding this for a month or two.
"I don't understand you guys. Suddenly you all wanted to cancel your group schedule for a whole week. Xiaojun, YangYang, Lucas and Hendery went to Hawaii, leaving you, Kun and Lucas behind. What's going on? Are you guys planning to do something? Is that why you all canceled your schedules?" Manager Shue bombard us with questions.
A silent moment passed as well.
"I need you guys to speak up. If we're gonna be in silence like this. I'll have you guys to speak to the director yourself if you guys don't want to speak to me." Manager Shue says then sighs.
She gets up and walks away from us.
"Okay! We'll tell you!" Kun suddenly says which the footsteps stops.
Lucas and I look at Kun, giving him faces of 'why?' We're gonna die. We're gonna get in so much trouble. A lot of punishments. The clacking of the footsteps comes closer. Manager Shue sits down in her same spot.
"I want everything in details." Manager Shue demands.
"B-before we tell you. You have to promise us that you don't tell the director or the CEO." Kun requests.
"Depends on what the situation is about. No promises though." Manager Shue says.
I look at Kun to see hesitation and worries in his eyes. I don't know how this is going to end. My heart is beating very fast. My hands are sweating.
"Well...... well.... h-how do I start this?" Kun hesitates then scratches his head.
"Xiaojun is a father to a 4 year old. He's currently dating the mother of his child. The mother of his child is currently living with him and with their child. There is this one girl that likes Xiaojun, which she brought him and his family to Hawaii go keep him and the baby mama away. That's why we canceled our schedules. Ten, YangYang and Hendery went to Hawaii to prevent the girl that likes Xiaojun away from him. While Kun, Lucas and I are here, we have to be spies and watch Xiaojun's girlfriend in case anything happens. This is what we've been hiding from you and the company for about a month or two." I quickly explain trying to catch my breath at the end by putting my hands on my chest and breathing in and out slowly.
"Sicheng! Are you okay?" Lucas asks in English looking worried.
"I'm fine." I say, catching my breath still.
"Why did you explain it so fast? That was so unnecessary." Kun shakes his head.
"Thank you. I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I sarcastically say.
I saved your butt from explaining to Manager Shue. Should of thanked me instead of criticizing me. We all look at Manager Shue who's been quiet for a while. Her mouth is wide open in shock. Is she shock about the story? If I was her, I would too.
"Manager Shue? Manager Shue?" Kun asks then snaps his fingers which brings her back to reality.
"If that much happened, why didn't you guys tell me?" Manager Shue astoundingly asks.
"It just happened." Lucas says.
"It's better if you hear the whole story from Xiaojun. I'm sure he'll explain it better than anyone else. From us, not much is known." Kun says.
"I'll ask him myself when he comes back." Manager Shue says with her hands crossed over her chest.
Jialia's POV
I'm on a call with Yuyan as I'm watching TV with Jian in his bedroom. Jian is instead running around playing with his toys and not watching TV, when he told me he wanted to.
"Oh my! Really? Lufeng asked you if he can court you?" Yuyan thunderstruck. "I have no words for you miss Jialia."
I stay silent. Thinking about the words Lufeng has said to me.
"What did you say?" Yuyan curiously asks.
"I told him that I'm not available to date since Xiaojun is...." I hesitate to say. "Is... is my b-boyfriend. But I didn't say directly that I'm dating Xiaojun!"
"That's good. Knowing that someone claims you is good. Did he say anything?" Yuyan delightedly says. I can see her smile on the other side of the call. I feel very happy somehow.
"He just asked if we can be friends." I say then my phone beeps which makes me check the caller. "Xiaojun is calling."
"Answer and stay on the call with him until you both resolve the situation." Yuyan quickly says then hangs up the call before I could say anything. I sigh then pick up Xiaojun's call.
"What-" I get cut off.
"I'm sorry for leaving you and Jian. I have an explanation of why I left. Please don't be mad at me. I'm sorry. When I come back, you can do anything to me. I'm willing. Just please don't be mad at me." Xiaojun reimburse which astounds me.
He called me to make up for what he did which unknowingly makes me smile. Makes my heart beat fast.
"I promise. When I come back, I'll take you anywhere you want and buy you anything you like. Just don't be mad at me, please?" Xiaojun reimburses again which this time sounds likes he panicking.
I think he does really feel sad for leaving Jian and I. I can feel it through his emotions.
"Come back safely so that Jian can see you. Spend time with him, that should be enough." I say.
"So.... you're not mad at me, right?" Xiaojun asks which sounds like he has high hopes of me not being mad.
"No. You apologized to me so I'm not mad anymore." I truthfully say.
"I'm happy that you're not mad at me. I'm really happy." Xiaojun happily says.
I'm happy that he apologized to me. I'm happy that he called me. To admit, I really miss him though it's been a day since he's been gone.
End of the chapter ✨