Aites aites...welps this is my story! it may sound boring in the begining but READ ON you just myte like it. hehe. I'm writting this story based on experiences that I, myself, have gone through and have seen in my many years. Those of you who come hea and read please do gimmeh some opinions aites. Much love and GOD BLESS

**-..-**A WHITE LOVE**-..-**



Last updated: Chapter 33-34 on 04-29-06
More to come readers! keep comming it's comming to an end...good or bad huh? heheh

BTW I did some more revising and all that to all my chapters so if yah feel like re-reading it to catch the parts I've changed please do heHEhe not too much but just changed things a bit to make the story more easier to understand heHEhe.

Prologue:



"Daddy! Where’s daddy?" Little Charleen's voice trembled and tears repeatedly ran down here cheeks. "I miss daddy, I haven't seen him for 2 days now!"

"Honey, daddy is just taking a rest" her mother's shaky voice replied. Charleen glared at her mother and knew that wasn't the truth.

"I want dady!" Charleen instantly forced herself out of her mother's grasp and ran out of the house.

"Charleen!" her mother gasped and before she could catch her, Charleen was already out of her sight. "He's never waking up again.....he's never waking up again...." she sobbed and kneeled on the ground.

Charleen made herself to the park a few blocks away. "Daddy, daddy! Where are you," she trailed off. Soon after she sat down by the swings next to a little boy.

"Why are you crying?" The boy asked as he arched his eyebrows.

"My dady, he went away. He didn't take me with him...." *sniff* *sniff*

The little boy's face frowned and he stared away not knowing what to say next.

"Do you want my daddy? I can go get him?" The boy asked.

"No! I want my dady not yours...*sniff *..dummy." She cried even harder this time.

The little boy's eyes grew wide. He absolutely didn't know why he made her cry even harder. What was he suppose to do? He doesn't want to make anyone cry harder now. What to do, what to do. Yes! "You know, my mom always told me that white tulips would make her happy."

Charleen looked up and went silent. *sniff sniff* "What? no, that will never make me happy," she replied, wiping away her tears.

"I will be right back." The boy got straight out of his swings and off he went.

"Wait! where are you going?" Charleen shouted.

"I'll be back!"

A moment past by and soon after, the boy did come back. He came back with a whole bunch of white tulips that he picked in his hands.

"Here, take it. This will make you feel better. Mommy said the color white is always to make people happy." The boy handed Charleen the flowers.

"EwWww!! it's gota worm on it!" she threw the tulips away and fell off the swing. "OUCH!!" She cried. Right on her butt she fell.

"Huh? a worm?" The boy picked up the squiggling worm. "Tsk-tsk, you're afraid of a worm?" He held it even closer into Charleen's face.

"Ahh!! stop it!" She screamed and covered her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry...," He picked up the tulips and brushed it off with his hands. "Here, no more worms see." The boy gave it to her again.

This time Charleen looked up and accepted it. *sniff* sniff*

"Ethon! honey, where in the world did you go! I've been looking all over for you!" A tall beautiful lady came running and grabbed the boy into her arms. Charleen looked up as the boy was being drawn away from her. "Bye bye...," he waved back at her.

"How could you just go off like that. You left me worried sick. Now, lets get you cleaned up. We can't miss our flight back to Korea." The boy's mother brushed off the dirt that was still left on his face and clothes.

Charleen watched as the two figures disappeared out of her sight. She looked down at the flowers she had in front of her and gave in a smile.


Chapter 1

10 years later


It was a cloudy, gloomy day because it just got done raining. The sun was barely peeking it's self out from the dark gray clouds but not enough to keep Charleen from the goose bumps she was getting.

"BrRrrRRrr...come on sun, com out. Today's a bit too cold for you to be hiding there." Charleen shivers beneath her breath.

"Charleen wait up!!." A familiar voice called out from behind.

"Huh? Who's that?" She quickly turned around and she saw her best friend running and running. A slight smile appeared across her face and she waved back. "Shine! Hurry!" She shouted towards that direction.

"I thought you left early today already? I waited for you but you didn't come out so that's why I left. Sorry girl."

Shine grinned at Charleen and let out a little giggle looking away.

"What?..." Clueless..

"You wouldn't believe it!" Shine stated in excitement. "I just met this new guy after school today, and oh my gosh, he was such a hottie!!."

"Oh..tee-hee..yea and?" Charleen added enjoying the same excitement.

"Well, I tripped on someone's back-pack and almost fell over and he caught me! Boy! it was so embarrassing but good thing was, we both introduced ourselves and he asked me to go out on a date with him! Can you believe it!"

"So when's the date? Tonight? Tomorrow? A week from now?" Charleen asked giving her full attention.

"Tonight, oh man! what to wear, what to LOOK like? " Shine replied as she placed her index finger on her lips and looked up into the gray clouds.

Charleen faced up to the gray clouds also when she noticed the silence between them.

"So??. Any idea?" Shine finally asked.

Charleen shrugged. "Yano, I really don't know...wear a dress?...wear heels..um LOTS of make-up."

"HahHha..GREAT! well, of course that's what we girls always have to wear right?"

Charleen nodded in agreement."Yup, sorry I can't give you much ideas because I've actually never gone on a date before." She never had time to date. Too busy with school and other things in her life. Boys never really excited her.

Suddenly Shine slapped Charleen on the back. "You silly girl, don't say that. Maybe the right one just hasn't come yet. Let fate find you your destiny lovah!!"

Charleen coughed playfully and giggled. "Yeah yeah."

"Any ways, wish me luck on my date tonight! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow alright."

"Okidoki, Have fun then."

The girls finally approached the corner to where they were to separate. Before Shine turned around she asked Charleen. "Hey, you need to me to walk home with you? Will you be alright?" Shine asked as she rested her hands on Charleen's shoulders.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'm going to pay a visit to my father. Then I'll go home after." She smiled.

"You need me to come along, I mean, it's practically a CEMETARY!!!"

Charleen laughed out loud. "You're so funny, I'll be fine. It's not that dark out. I should be fine, you go on home."

"Alrighty. Call me if any thing alright. If that bastard step father of yours even touches you I swear I'm going to call the cops. Watch over your mom too." Shine stated her last words before turning her way home and Charleen turned her way to the flower shop.

Charleen had a step father that her mother had recently married who was a major alcoholic. He would abuse his mother carelessly and every night there would always be arguments and cries. As each week ended Charleen tried visiting her father's grave before heading home. She knew if she was to go home first and if her step father was home, she was forbidden to go anywhere. Therefore, right after school was the best time.

Every time when Charleen pays a visit to her father, which is almost once a week, she would stop by the flower shop which was right around the corner. She wasn't very rich to buy a whole bouquet of flowers every time, but she'll at least buy one type of flower before she leaves.

*RING RING* (the door bell)

"Oh hello Charleen, how nice to see you again this week. I was wondering when you were coming by again." A pleasant voice waved for Charleen's attention.

Charleen faced her attention to the far end of the shop and proceeded towards that direction. "Mrs. Szuki how are you? Well, I'm here today." She beamed warmly as she made herself through the flower aisle.

After the quick greet, Charleen glanced over to the young man that was checking out at the register beside her. He also stared her way and managed to smile but that smile didn't express what was written all over his face. His eyes were glassy and sad-like, as if he just got out of the worst days of his life. A tall HANDSOME young man he was. His soft-like black hair was messily gelled and he had girly bangs that rested above his eyelid. Oh yeah, he was a cutie! He had on a dark blue collar shirt beneath his black suite and held a big bouquet of white tulips in his hands. Then finally he nodded respectfully to Charleen and excused himself silently.

"Oh, excuse me too..." Charleen quietly said bowing back. She blinked out of her daze when she realized it was impolite to stare but at the same time Charleen had caught the man's mix expression and she wondered confusedly as she place her gaze back to Mrs. Szuki.

Reading Charleen's face Mrs. Szuki sighed. "He's a quiet one alright. I believe he is from Korea. I heard he is here with his father on business matters. He does come here quite often though. Funny thing is, the only type of flowers he would buy is white tulips. Not even a different color. Just plain white."

"White tulips?" Charleen went confused as one of her eyebrows arched. "I mean at least buy colorful ones right?"

Mrs. Szuki nodded. "Yup, sure thing. But like they say, there has to be a reason to everything right?"

"Yeah you're right." Charleen smiled and stepped a little away from the counter. "Any ways, it's really not my business. I really don't know him so I shouldn't have to worry." She then searched around smelling the flowers behind her. "You got any of those pretty carnations?. I'll buy three."

"Sure sweetheart, come right this way." Mrs. Szuki came out from behind the counter and lead the way.

**Ring Ring**(Door bell again)

"Good by honey, see you soon." Mrs. Szuki waved in the air joyfully.

"Bye, oh you'll see me." Charleen assured.

Around the flower shop, just a few blocks away, was the cemetery. After a few minutes Charleen found herself dazing off again about the boy she saw at the flower shop. She never thought Korean guys would be that hot looking. Especially this one. Charleen just couldn't understand why his smile had turned into a sudden frown. Maybe she wasn't alone...maybe he had lost someone very special in his life too...

Suddenly, Charleen was knocked out of her state when she heard a car door shut.

"Huh?.." she paid her conscious towards the midnight-blue Lexus LF-A. "Whoa, nice car."

The car was about 10 feet away from her stand and she found her self solid and still. Why couldn't she move? It was him! that handsome thing! It was the man she met at the flower shop just before. Charleen's eyes grew fairly large and kept her gaze from a distance. The young man had also noticed her too and once again he nodded as to greet her again. Then he continued reaching into the passenger seat of his car and brought out the white bouquet of Tulips. He glanced at her one more time expressionless, soon had his back towards her and walked away.

Charleen nodded again nervously and went back into her own world. So, guess she was right. He must've lost someone too. "I mean that's the only reason why a person would be at a cemetery right?" A voice inside her asked.

Afterwards, Charleen finally got to her father's grave. She slowly kneeled down and noticed all the dead flowers that were still laying in front of it. "Father, I'm here to visit you again. I brought you carnations this time." She managed a slight smile and reached for her locket she was wearing with her necklace. She kissed it gently and got up. Right before she could get up a palm pressed against her shoulders.

"You lost someone special too?" the familiar voice asked.

Charleen's heart beat suddenly and she inhaled deeply as if surprised. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk to strangers." She quickly bowed not knowing who it was.

"You know, I lost my mom not too long ago."

When Charleen looked up, it was him! was it really that hunky boy who was talking to her? or was she imagining things? Charleen blinked a few times and stepped a few steps backwards.

"Uh, umm...sorry I don't know you. I should get going."

The boy stared at her weirdly because he was actually expecting that she would say, "I'm sorry to hear that," but no, she refused to talk to him. Before he could even say a word she was already running away.

"Uh, okay. Kind of weird but oh well. Guess I'm just a stranger. But my name is Ethon!" He shouted back. Knowing she couldn't hear him.

Ethon had noticed the girl that he saw at the flower shop was the same girl at that same cemetery too. So he thought since he saw her twice already he was going to take the chance to go meet her. Ethon wanted to tell her that she wasn't alone and life wasn't over but it didn't work out as he expected.

It was Ethon's first week back to Tokyo, Japan and the first thing he wanted to do was to go visit his mother's grave. Unfortunately, his mother was grave was at the same cemetery as that girl.

Soon before Ethon turned back to his car a bright shinny light had caught his eyes. He then peered towards that direction to indicate what it was.

"Huh what's this?" He picked up the golden locket and necklace. He then opened it carefully and peeked inside. It was a picture of a man and his daughter. Which looked exactly like the girl he saw before. Instead, just a younger version.

Ethon inhaled as his eyes grew wide. He turned his head quickly towards the same direction the girl had ran off to and shouted again. "Hey! wait! you...you..." farther and farther the girl grew from him. Ethon scratched his neck and looked at the locket again. "I guess I'll be seeing you again." He smiled and let out a sigh.

End of Chapter 1

hey reena hahaha you joined this forum too?!!

Romain!! Let's go party at kevin's house this weekend!!!

Ight I give a call tonight,Chris what's that website where you can check out some korean videos
Tahnks

it's www.youtube.com ....O by the way who is that chick on top seems that you know her???!!!

Oh her hahaha.lol I think that's my sister in law, she married my cuz anyways ill introduce you to all of them someday. There are really nice people just like me you should know that ight gtg to class i let you surf around and yea hook me up with your sis =P. HEY BTW REENA haha if you write a long love story you should write a book.

I'M WAITING FOR CHAPTER 2?

I finished editing my first post for my first chapter. hehe I'll post chapter 2 tomorrow. I actually am half way through writting the story by notebook already just in the process of typing it up ta get some opinions. I haven't got to the good parts yet roman heHEhe wait until I post the good parts I think you might like it. Since you like dramas hehehehhe

Come back and read soon thanx for being my first reader hehehe

Chapter 2



Charleen finally got home and before she turned the door knob she took a deep breath. Letting it out with worries that bothered her in the back of her head. Slowly she opens the door and she found herself in MAJOR SHOCK!

"MOTHER!" Charleen shouted and ran towards her mother.

"Charleen...Charleen....come here...please.." Mrs. Vophaski's weak voice called out as she held her bloody wrist in front of Charleen.

"What happened? What did you do?!!"

Mrs. Vophaski was too weak to even answer. Charleen took her mother in her arms and cried out, holding tightly. "Mother, how could he have done this to you?"

"I love him...I love him..." Mrs. Vophaski stated as she turned up to face Charleen.

Charleen's face turned into discuss and helped her mother up. "No! But he doesn’t love you! Don't you get it! He uses you! Can't you see?" She pointed out sharply.

"No...no!...that's not true!" At this point Mrs. Vophaski had been tortured to the point where she gets mental for a limited time. When she feels she has disappointed Charleen's step-father she tortures herself.

"Come on lets get you cleaned up...come on up..pup pup.."

Charleen assisted her mother to the bathroom and splashed water all over her mother's face.

"There, you in there?" Charleen shook her mom to get her to snap out of it.

"Charleen, what have I done?" Mrs. Vophaski looked around slowly and then back to her daughter. "Oh have mercy!! blood! blood! What did I do? Charleen, tell me I didn't do this to myself?"

Charleen nodded and still she was crying. "Yes mom, please...please promise me this won't ever happened again. PROMISE ME." She shook her mother one more time to get assurance and embraced her again. "I love you mom. Don't leave me too. Not yet...not now...not ever..."

Mrs. Vophaski forced a slight smile and she was happy to be saved by her loving daughter.

Later on that evening Charleen tucked her mother in bed.

"You sleep tight mom. If you need anything yell for me I'll be downstairs okay." She gave her mom a loving warm smile and kissed her on the forehead. Like a baby her mother went sound asleep in no time.

Charleen looked up at the time and she gasped. "Uhg!! Time! Why can't you just wait?" the time was already 9 and she was suppose to already been in bed. "Oh! homework! test! Got to study, got to study!" She raced down the stairs and went straight on to her study.

*tick-tock tick-tock* the clock ticked as the time flew by.

Charleen dared to look at the time again. It was 2 in the morning now and she still wasn't done with her homework! She groaned harshly and ripped out a piece of lined paper, crumpled it up and threw it away. Soon after she sighed thinking of her father what he used to tell her.

***flash back***

"Princess, why are you crying?"

*sniffs. sniffs* from little 6 year old Charleen. "Daddy, daddy, I can't get this correct. I hate doing spelling!"

"Aww sweetheart, take a deep breath...count 1..2...3 and let your frustration all out....then start over with what you were doing and then we'll see if you can figure it out."

Little Charleen takes a deep breath, "Like this daddy...1..2..3.." lets it out.

"Yes darling, now do it again."

".......Yes daddy! I did it! I finally spelt Charleen right! Yey!"

"You did it pumpkin and now you can go show your teacher tomorrow."

Her father lift her up into his lap and smiled touching her pig tails. "You know, sometimes you can't let your self be frustrated of small things like that. Life is just too short for a sweet little child like you to even be stressing" and he kisses her on the forehead.

****End of flash back****


As the thought glided through her empty mind she reached to her locket. Instantly she found herself in shock. She quickly touched her neck to feel for it again, IT WAS GONE! Charleen inhaled deeply and instantly got up. She searched around the table and even went outside with a flashlight to see if it had dropped elsewhere.

"OOoooOOoh...where could it have gone?" She asked herself slapping herself on forehead. A moment later she thought back to where she had been. "HumMm...to school...uh....to the flower shop...and?" She remembered! "The cemetery!" Charleen let out a small sigh. "Yikes, I'm not going out there at this time of the night. Guess I'll just have to drop by tomorrow."

"What are you still doing so late out you rat!" a harsh voice yelled out before she could close the door behind her.

Charleen twirled around and her face struck black. "Uhh...Sao..I'm..heading to bed I guess." Frighten and scared already she was. It was her step-father and of course Charleen couldn't accept him as a father. That's why she doesn't like calling him father.

"What did you call me!?" Drunk and crazy he came up the steps as Charleen steps back and proceeded upstairs to her room.

Ignoring her step-father's question she ran straight up to her room, closed the door tight and locked it. She knew what was going happen next if she had argue with him so when she had the chance she'll just run away, far far away.


****Next morning*****

"Charleen wake up!" Shine said as she grabbed Charleen's left shoulder and shook it back and forth.

"huMMmmMmm...stop...stop....I'm too tired..." Charleen mumbled and looked up. The image was blurry at first but when the view cleared, a sharp face was standing tall up on top of her.

"Oh!...uhh..." She jumped up and started scratching her head. "I'm sorry Mrs. Kai. I know I shouldn't be sleeping..."

Mrs. Kei grinned at the young tired girl and patted her on the shoulder. "You are needed in the office."

Charleen glanced around her room and saw that her classmates were all frowning at her awkwardly. "What?...how come every one looks weird today?" she asked her best friend.

"You need to go down to the office Charleen..." Shine replied looking down to her feet.

"Um..okay..excuse me then." Charleen walked out nervously, lost and confused.

"Poor girl....she must go through so much..." One of the girls in the classroom commented.

"I’m not sure, maybe she has family problems."

"Maybe she's just like, psycho! And needs medical attention!" A boy in the corner laughed out loud and pointed.

"Shut-up! You don't know her...and you definitely don't know what she goes through." Shine scold towards the last comment.

"Come on she's so like, WEIRD! I don't even know why you hang out with a person like that."

Shine flamed in anger and charged directly his direction. "Listen you idiot! First of all, she is NOT weird nor psycho. Second, keep your kiddish comments to YOURSELF, and third of all..."

**!@#$*&)SMACK !!(*&)**&^%$$#****!!!!!

"OUCH!!! GODD@MN!! THAT HURT!!" the boy covered his eye wailing.

"That's what you're going to get next time I hear your dumb comments." Shine then walked back as she brushes her uniform.

"ShHhh!!..KIDS KIDS...STOP!!...ah-hem, lets begin class please. Shine! Geji!! I will be seeing you two after class." Mrs. Kei stated sharply as she slams the yard stick on the book.



In the mean time, Charleen made her way down the stairs and soon approached the office. The secretary in the office had noticed her and waved for her to go in.

"Charleen, it's your mother. She just called a few minutes ago and she wanted me to tell you that she's at the hospital."

"At the hospital!!" Charleen gasped and came forth with her full attention with shock amongst her face. What was the cause of this? "I'm sorry but.." Charleen stepped back slowly as tears form in her eyes "I..I have to go.." she raced straight out of the office and was gone without a breath.

"Charleen! Wait! You can't just walk out of school like that! You!" The secretary shouted out.

She could careless if she could leave or not. Even without permission, she would still have left. It was her mother and nothing was going to stop her from avoiding situations like that.

"So how are you feeling? Better?" The gentle male voice asked Mrs. Vophaski.

"Yes, yes. I am so much better...Uh, is my daughter here yet? Have you seen her?" She asked struggling to get up.

"Mother!" Charleen finally found the room and rushed towards her mom to embrace her. "Mother, what happened? Why are you here? You're head?" her eyes were already watery and full of concerns. Her mother’s head was wrapped heavily with bandage and it looked a bit too painful. She tried hard to be the gentlest while in her mother’s arms.

Momentarily, Mrs. Vophaski broke the hug and grinned. "Oh I'm alright now but you should thank this young man who helped me." She raised her hand towards the young man that was standing aside of Charleen the whole time.

"Oh uh, thank you." She blinked away the tears forming in her eyes and bowed.

"So is this your daughter Mrs. Vophaski?"

Right before Charleen could lift her head up, she paused with her gaze at his chest. This voice, it was so familiar. Her eyes went round suddenly and she felt herself washed away when she finally indicated who that man was that saved her mother's live.

"You,” Charleen pointed, “have we met?" Staring confusedly to her mother and blushing afterwards.

"Met?..uh I believe not. As far as I recall, you ran away before I could even say a word." Ethon chuckled.

"So you two have met before?" Charleen's mother asked with glee expressed upon her face.

"Yes, uhh..I mean NO! We’ve never met mom." She denied quickly and thought. It’s him again. What kind of fate was this? To be able to meet a man more than three times in less than 24 hours? What ever fate it was, it was keeping her shock as ever. As the thoughts piled up in her mind her eyes were expressing it also. She had forgotten the silence that came between the three of them.

"We almost met." Ethon corrected with a grin that spread even wider. He was rather surprised it was the same girl again, yet he was already admiring her. He found it very cute how her eyes were growing and how she looked so shocked to see him again. He could’ve never expected to see her so sudden.

Charleen’s mother had her mouth open, trying hard to read the expression that was on her daughter’s face. For a second there she seemed as if she was going to pass out but maybe she was shock to see how handsome Ethon was. She beamed happily and attempted to interrupt Charleen’s narrow thoughts. "Oh how sweet. Perfect! Ethon," Mrs. Vophaski reached over to Ethon and then to Charleen. She took both their hands and joined it. "Meet Charleen Vophaski. This is my daughter." Then she sat back contently. She already loved Ethon, why wouldn’t her daughter too?

Ethon gave a smile and stepped forward. "Charleen, I am Ethon Sangwa. Pleasure to meet you." He brought her hand to its height, grinned, and kissed it. It was the best way to greet a girl he thought.

Charleen's mouth was still halfway open and she was still caught up in her daze...Ethon, that name....why did it sound so familiar?...why does it feel like they’ve met before? She watched him kiss her hand and as he brought his face up, she caught his wink and that melted her heart. It sent shivers that raced up her spine and she was speechless.

"Ah-hem Charleen sweetie, are you alright dear?" Her mother asked when she had realize her daughter still hadn’t come to her senses yet.

"Oh...I'm sorry." She studied the man in front of her just a little longer and finally spoke. "Nice to meet you too...Mr. UUhh...Sangwa. I'm very sorry about the other day and thank you....thank you very much for bringing my mother here. I really appreciate it." With that, she slipped her hand out of his grasp and nervously smiled.

Ethon had his eyes still locked on Charleen and he knew it was embarrassing her, but he was enjoying every feedback she was giving him. He was rather amused by all the unexpected expressions that lit among her face. "No problem. Is there something I can get you or your mother?" He asked politely and grinned even more when he found defeat in her. She had finally snapped away from his gaze and looked away.

Charleen stared over to her mom with the same question written on her face. She was having the hardest time trying to put on a smile. The feeling she had that rushed through her body was causing her difficulty. No one in her life has ever intentionally stared at her for that long and that way. It mad her nervous and she was loosing her consciousness. It was a feeling that she’s never felt before and the same feeling when she first saw him too.

"Yes, please a glass of water should do. My throat is getting very dry." Charleen’s mother replied, arching an eyebrow at Charleen.

"Alright, one cup of water comming up. What bout you Charleen may I get you anything?" Ethon beamed back to Charleen.

"No! I mean...no thank you." Charleen tittered, as a hard, forceful, smile spread across her face.

"Okay, I'll be right back then." Ethon winked again and soon he was out of her sight.

The few seconds Ethon was gone Charleen stood her spot forgetting her mother was scowling at her.

“A-hem! How rude was that?” Her mother finally got her attention. “He’s a handsome man isn’t he?”

Handsome? Hell yeah he was handsome alright. No wait, Charleen gulped and let out a breath. “Handsome? Nope, I’ve seen better.”

“Charleen!” Charleen winced at the remark.

“What?” Charleen was reluctant to react to her true thoughts and feelings. It was just how she was and she liked it that way.

“How could you say that? He was such a gentleman. Chances are pretty slim to find a young good looking man like that these days you know, so polite and nice.” Mrs. Vophaski stated looking up to the ceiling, hoping her daughter would reconsider.

“Yeah, rich and fulsome of themselves. Who needs them?” Charleen blinked away as if she could care less.

The comment had caused her mother to sigh hopelessly and a frown formed. She didn’t like seeing her mother sad so she gave in just a little to make her happy. “Alright mom fine, he was cute but not handsome. How about that, better?”

“No….”

Charleen knew exactly what her mother wanted her to say. She rolled her eyes and took a breath before saying, “He’s handsome. He’s HOT!” Even emphasizing it aloud. Believe it or not, she meant it and for once, she felt good about saying it aloud. Charleen was rather content until she caught her mother giggling and already waving her hands behind her. “Come in dear. I see you got my water. Thank you.”

Crap! Charleen cursed herself instantly and already regretting everything that had just spelt out of her darn mouth. Did she just say he was hot while he was walking in? How embarrassing was that! Her eyes grew enormous and she couldn’t dare look behind her. How was she to face him? He must’ve heard EVERYTHING!

“Yes as matter fact, I brought you warm water. It’ll sooth your dried throat.” Ethon walked right past Charleen and she had no choice but to gaze at him. She didn’t want to look at him because it’ll cause her heart to thump harder and she wasn’t prepared to get into that again, yet she couldn’t resist looking at him.

“Thank you dear. Charleen….” Mrs. Vophaski gave Charleen a sharp glare. “You be good now. Be polite too. You know it’s not polite to ignore Ethon.”

“I know mother…” Charleen grumbled facing to the ground.

Mrs. Vophaski smiled and clapped her hands together. “Good you can go on a date with him then,” she insisted unexpectedly.

“What?” Charleen’s face lit with discuss. “Mom!” Not because of Ethon, because of the decision. More embarrassment! When was it going to stop?

Ethon heard the decision and amazement made him almost choke on his glass of water. “A-hem, excuse me.” He quickly cleared his throat and faced Charleen to catch her reaction. She was boiling red alright and he almost felt bad for her because there was absolutely nothing for her to hide behind. He thought he was making her embarrassed, yet her mother rubbed it right in. Nonetheless, he still thought she was cute.

“Well, Mrs. Vophaski, I doubt your daughter is ready for a date yet. She still seems rather young you see.” Ethon covered Charleen’s faceless scowl. It was just too much and he couldn’t help it anymore. Saving her from boiling even more was all he could think of though he was enjoying it as well.

“Yes, in fact Mr. Sangwa is correct. I’m still too young mother and I don’t find myself dating in this life time.” Charleen brought her senses straight forward blinking a few times, smirking away.

Ethon arched an eyebrow, paused his gaze at Charleen again. In this life time? As if, I’ll show you this life time he thought devilishly and grinned.

“Anyways, I promise to take care of Charleen for you. How does that sound?” Ethon vowed out of the blues. He didn’t know what got in to him that had caused him to vow in such a naive manner but yet he had no shame nor regrets. He just didn’t and he was quite content about it. It almost felt like it was because he was attracted to her already but he tried not to let himself fall to that extent.

This had caused Charleen’s mouth to drop to where it felt like to her feet. Her expression froze then and there. What did he just say? He’ll take care of me? No way! She stared at him but the only thing in return she received from Ethon was a smile that seemed to have never ended.
.

End of chapter 2

Chapter 3 and 4



Chapter 3

"Excuse me, but we're going to be doing some examination on Mrs. Vophaski so we're going to need you two to step out for a moment alright?" one of the nurses announced. "Mr. Sangwa…"

"Yes ma'am?"

"I'm going to need you to sign this real quick before you head out. It'll be just a second" she handed the piece of paper to Ethon and he signed it.

"We'll call you once we're done."

"Okay sounds good." Ethon replied with a wink.

Charleen stared concerned and she didn’t understand why Ethon was signing papers. "Um Mr. Sangwa, would you mind telling me what's going on here?"

Ethon grinned. "Well, they just want to do a little check up on your mom to make sure none of her bones are fractured or dislocated and Ah-hem, call me Ethon."

"Oh, sorry....um...is she going to be okay........E-E-Ethon?" Charleen hesitated as she slowly followed Ethon out the door.

"Oh yeah, she'll be alright. Don't worry." Ethon assured her.

"You know, I never got a very good explanation from my mother of what happened. She didn't really say..."

"Well, to tell you the truth, I really didn't know what was going on too. I was actually just driving by. When I found her she was already knocked out dried. All she really said to me was "Help...help me..." and I did as said, I helped her. That's why she's here." Ethon explained with a sigh.

At this point Charleen's face frowned heavily and her eyes were filling up with tears. "I'm sorry for the trouble" was all she could say. The feelings she was feeling before had disappeared. She felt ashamed suddenly after thinking of the tortures her mother had gone through. Why ashamed? She tends to blame everything on herself; her mother’s miseries, her father’s death, jus basically her life. A moment ago she was staring off and being selfish; enjoying the joy of admiring someone while her mother was hurt, what kind of selfish daughter was she?

"It's really okay but is there something the matter in the family? I mean I know I shouldn't be getting into you and your mother's personal business but when things like this occur I'd like to know." He stops to look at Charleen and found her with teary eyes. Ethon wasn't sure what to think but when he saw her tears just almost at the point of dripping, his face frowned too.

Charleen looked up noticing Ethon's face full of concerns. "Oh, tee-hee, should we get some fresh air? I think I need it" she looked away, brushed off her tears, forcing a heavy smile.

Ethon opened his mouth to ask more questions but nothing came out when he saw Charleen's sad face. It was probably just better not to get more into it if she wasn't comfortable yet. She went ahead right before she could open the door Ethon slipped in front of her and being the gentleman he was, he opened the door for her.

"So um...what do we do now?" Ethon asked catching up to her pace.

"Nothing, I'm staying here with my mom. If you want, you can go home." Charleen replied monotonously.

"Go home? I can't do that and just leave you two here. I have to make sure your mom will be okay first."

"I got it. I would insist you go home...please." Charleen's voice trailed off.

"Nope too bad I'm staying. I'm staying here because I'm the one who brought your mother here and I feel that I am fully responsible also." Ethon stated folding his arms.

"Excuse me, but I don't know you and you don't know me. We're just two strangers that met because of this incident. You're not a family so you should leave." Charleen burst out rudely.

"Whoa, but I paid for that medical bill. So you know, if I were you, I would say THANK YOU." He smirked back.

"Okay fine, THANK YOU!" Charleen replied holding her anger. Stubborn and hard-headed she was.

"You’re very welcome." Ethon said maturely and turned his back to her. He wasn’t upset with her at all, he just found her more interesting by the minute. The little remarks here and there were getting him hyped in getting to know her. She was rather different. She wasn’t sweet, who plays innocent. She was a natural beauty with a little bitterness. That was definitely things that he admire about her from point one. She was herself, a person who plays a true role.

“Yeah, rich and fulsome as I said before…” Charleen mumbled enough so Ethon could hear.

Ethon heard the comment but he was mature enough not to react to it and cause a scene. She was correct by the way. He didn’t know them at all but that didn’t mean that he shouldn’t get to know them. He bit his lips and wondered what to say next. He wanted to be amicable and not express himself to her of someone he’s not. When he wants to get to know someone, at least he’ll let them know who he is inside and out. Not just his appearance.

A few minutes of silence past by and Charleen finally admitted. It was hard for her but to the goodness that he has done for her mother she had to at least be nice to this stranger. "What am I to do to repay you?" her voice went calm. "I have no money, no job, nothing..."

Ethon slowly turned around as he spotted Charleen crouching down to the ground. Her arms went around her knee and she sat in silence.

"You name it. What ever it is, as long as it pays back the cost. I'm willing to do anything."

"Anything?" Ethon stated sarcastically as he touches his imaginary bear.

Charleen peeked over and chuckled. "Nothing stupid please" she insisted. He looked cute and she liked it.

"I was actually about to ask if you were hungry." Ethon smiled.

"Hungry? You’re talking stupid already! I mean, stick to the subject." Charleen got up and annoyance flew across her face. "Hurry up...I haven't got all day." She rolled her eyes.

"A dinner, a dinner should do for now." Ethon grinned.

Charleen couldn't help but gave out a sarcastic laugh. "What, are you playing my mom’s match making game? Because if you are..." she came forth towards Ethon "I'm definitely the wrong person to play with."

"What do you mean you're the wrong person? I mean it's only dinner. What makes you think I’m playing your mother’s games? I doubt she was playing match-making in the first place. Come on it’ll be my treat." Ethon said.

At this point Charleen was up in Ethon's face. She didn’t' realize how close she was because she was distracted by the cologne he was wearing. Ethon had a fresh-like scent. She loved stealing sniffs of his scent and she was already falling in love with it.

Ethon gazed into her light hazel eyes. "You have beautiful eyes" he whispered to her and grinned.

Charleen suddenly snapped out of her daze when she heard Ethon's comment. She then pulled away instantly and turned around. "I don't need your treat" she protests. “At least give me a job to do or something. It’ll make more sense of paying you back.”

"Well I thought you said any thing?"

Charleen thought for just a moment and turned around. "Fine, is that all I have to do? Just go out to dinner with you?"

Ethon chuckled. "Nope, there are lots more but I need time to think about it. I'll tell you when I come up with another thing for you to do." He gave Charleen one of his devilish smiles.

Charleen narrowed her eyes at Ethon and took a big sigh. "Fine, fine. Lets go then..." As a matter of fact, Charleen was starving! She knew either way she was going to give in.

Ethon followed as Charleen went up ahead, not bothering to wait. "So what do you like to eat?" he asked catching up to her pace.

"Tofu..."

"Tofu? Like just plain tofu? No veggies? No meat?"

"I like chicken with it...soup...curry...stir-fry..."

"Oh, Okay good because I almost thought you were weird. Just eating tofu alone." Ethon giggled and slipped his hands into his pant pockets.

Charleen rolled her eyes as if bored and stopped. "So uh, are we walking there? I mean, I don't even know where we are going."

"That's my car right there." Ethon pressed his car alarm control and the car headlights lit. It's that midnight blue Lexus again. Charleen smiled and walked towards it.

"Why isn't this seatbelt coming out?" Charleen yanked on the belt.

"Here...here's what you do...you pull....GENTLY...not YANK ON IT...and click" Ethon took a hold of the belt ad pulled it across her chest. Both their eyes met once again and Charleen's cheeks went rosy red. After what felt like forever, she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Charleen dared to look at him again and this time she felt her heart race rapidly. That feeling, it was back and it made her tummy growl. “Uh….sorry…” Instantly, she grabbed her tummy and held it while her eyes stayed with Ethon and the rounder it grew.

“I see you’re hungry. We should get going now.” Ethon chuckled when her tummy growled even louder.

Charleen tittered and kept her head low. She was blushing and nothing was able to hide it away. Her mouth wouldn’t move. Talk! Talk!

"Where would you like to go? Name it." Ethon asked as starting the engine and flipping on his headlights.

"We don't need to go anywhere fancy you know." She muttered.

"Fancy? I mean if you were my GIRLFRIEND I would love to take you somewhere fancy but you're not. So it wouldn't be as romantic." Ethon said playfully.

"Ah-hem, whatever, lets go to Mc Donald’s. I haven't gone there since I was 10."

"What? Since you were 10? Why haven't you gone for so long? I mean you had to have gone at least a few more times after that." Ethon stated with disbelief.

"Well, maybe I'm not the type to get to eat food like that." Charleen shrugged into her seat. She was embarrassed to say that she didn't have that kind of money to eat much yummy food. However, it was true. She never had the money. The only outside type of food she always had was little hot lunch meals at school.

"I'm not like you Ethon..." She was actually expecting Ethon to laugh and make fun of her but he didn't. He stared her way and gave her a warm loving smile.

"That's okay; you can eat all the food you want tonight. I'm going to make you try the weird fast food I like eating too." He smirked her way.

Charleen was quite surprised of Ethon's reaction. Though it made her heart skip a beat, it had calmed it also. The words were touching and she felt considered. Soon after she caught herself gazing at Ethon with eyes full of questions. What was she to expect from this guy? He wasn't what she thought he would be, rich, snotty and full of themselves. He was very considerable and charming. This beautiful man here was definitely something...something to look forward to...



Chapter 4



"I got an idea!" Ethon announced suddenly.

Charleen looked over and arched both eyebrows "hum? What?"

"First, we're going to go grab what ever you want to eat and I want to take you somewhere. How does that sound?"

"Huh? So we're not going eat in?" Charleen asked surprised.

Ethon beamed "Nope, I want to show you something."

"Like what...a place? A thing? Someone?" she sat up a little giving her full attention.

"Trust me, you'll like it." Ethon assured her.

"Um....and IF I don't like it?" Charleen sneered.

Ethon glanced over amusingly and finally they arrived at Mc Donald's. "Well, if you don’t' like it then..." he raised his head as he thought a moment "then I'll just make you like it."

"Huh? And if you can't?" she said putting an attitude into it.

"He-he, Oh I will. Watch me."

Charleen went silent and looked out the window as they approached the restaurant.

"So what did you want? How about a Big and Tasty SUPERSIZE meal?" Ethon suggested.

Charleen's face went red. "No! What do you think I am? A PIG?" she crouched down to her seat again and bit her lips.

"Okay, Okay, sorry. Didn't need to get feisty, geez."

Charleen glared and blinked away. "Humf, looser!" she said beneath her breath.

"Huh? Did you just call me a looser?" Ethon stated into her face.

"Nothing..."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"I said nothing! Stop that already! You're so ANNOYING!" Charleen almost shouted.

Ethon sat back and chuckled. "Yeah that's what I thought, better be nothing" he smirked.

Soon they pulled up by the drive through window and they were greeted in Japanese. Ethon replied her in Japanese! And this whole time Charleen was speaking English to him!

Afterwards, Ethon handed the lady the cash and they got their food. He soon turned and glanced over at Charleen and found her staring away at him.

"Ah-hem, something the matter?" he asked, looking straight ahead, but glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

"You speak Japanese too?"

"Dah! Aren’t we in Tokyo?"

"Yea but, you're Korean? Aren’t you?" Charleen went puzzled for a moment.

"Yeah that too. So you were stalking on me? How would you know I'm half Korean?" Ethon couldn’t help but grinned even more.

"I..." Charleen looked down at her lap.

“Here you go have a good day.” The lady greeted them and handed Ethon the bag of food.

"No, I just assumed" she lied.

"He-he oh alright. Well yeah, I speak Korean, Japanese, English and even French." He smirked back and tossed a fry into his mouth. “Eat up,” he added giving her the large Mc Donald’s bag.

"Yea, what ever." Charleen dug into the bag to see what Ethon had ordered because she wasn't paying attention before.

"Hey! I told you I didn't want anything super size!" she yelled.

"So do I look concern to you? I told you I was going feed you tonight." He turned to her and smiled sweetly.

Charleen opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again and took a sigh. "What ever loo-ah-em...I mean Ethon."

Ethon rolled his eyes and continued driving out of the lot.

It was a 15 minute drive and Ethon soon came to a stop and parked. Charleen got out of the car and her face was full of excitement.

"Whoa, what is this place? It’s so...."

"Beautiful isn’t it?" Ethon interrupted.

It was a park, not just a park, but a park that would light the spirit in anyone. This park was filled with colorful water fountains of many sizes and colors. Full of greens and in the middle of it was a statue. A statue of a woman with an angel's wings, holding a baby boy.

"Yeah, it is....how did you find this place? And the statue, is it suppose to be someone" Charleen touched the sparkling water that sprayed rainbow colors and a big smile lit across her face.

"I built it...for someone..." His voice trailed off.

Charleen turned around when she noticed the softer tone of Ethon's voice. She walked back slowly towards him. "Someone special huh?"

"Yeah, my mother...she past away several months ago with cancer."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Charleen replied as she thought back to how she lost her father too and frowned.

Silence flew between the two then not even a moment yet Ethon broke the silence. "But I'm not sad anymore."

Charleen's face went confused. "Why aren't you? You should be she's your mother isn't she? I mean don't you even miss her?"

"Of course I do, I miss her in here...” He rested his hand on his heart.

"You shouldn't be sad too Charleen. I know you lost someone special too and it's your father. But remember, he loves you much. Even if he's not standing in front of you, he's in here, always." Ethon continuously patted his heart and smiled.

Charleen was somewhat surprised how much Ethon knew but she didn't bother to react towards it. She sniffed a little and managed a slight smile. "Yeah, I know." She sat down underneath the fountain of with the statue in it and stared up.

"You see that baby up there?" Ethon began as he sat next to her.

Charleen nodded as she glanced from Ethon and back to the statue.

"That's me. I decided to design this park because it was in memories of my mother. When ever I was sad and miss her I come here and I feel better."

“You must love her very much.”

“Yea, me and father but it wasn’t by choice if you know what I mean.”

“I’m sorry Ethon…” Charleen set her hand on Ethon’s shoulder.

“It’s okay. I told you, I can always miss her in my heart. Because that is where she is.” Ethon managed a little smile. He finally came to conclude that his mother is living in peace and she was always going to be with him so he knew not to be so sad.

“You like the flowers?” Ethon changed the subject.

"Yeah I do, how come I only see white tulips around here?" Charleen asked glancing around.

Ethon chuckled and began "Well, those are my mother's favorite kind of flowers. Tulips."

"Why white though?" she added.

"My mother always told me that the color white is pure, innocent, and clean. So that's why when I go visit her, I only buy white tulips because I know she loves it."
Ethon explained and stood up.

Charleen didn't realize Ethon had already held something in front of her because she was caught dazing away thinking of the color white. It was innocent? In what ways? Pure, how? Clean...

"Here, I believe this belong to you Charleen." He cleared his throat.

"Oh...” she slowly looked up and found the locket being held a distance away from her face "thank you...I was actually looking for it last night."

"I figured. That picture, it's your father isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. From now on, I'm going to remember that he's in my heart....always" Charleen gently places the locket on her lips and took in a deep breath. She closed her eyes not noticing a tear had escaped.

Ethon bent down a little and smeared the tears off her face. His hands slowly glided down to her hands and grasped it firmly. "You're strong Charleen. I know you are. You got me now you see..." Ethon smiled.

Charleen instantly looked up with a face full of questions. "What was that suppose to mean?"

"I'm going to be your HERO" he gave in a macho look and grinned.

"Ha! You’re going to be my hero?" She started laughing out of no where, wiping away the wetness among her face.

Ethon was actually glad he got her to laugh but he was half confused why she laughed. He hesitated to smile, but what the heck he was willing to do anything to make her happy.

"Yup! Or if not your hero, anything you want me to be."

"Hahaha...HaHaHahaha...HahHahhahha..." now Charleen looked a little bit weird than what Ethon had expected.

Ethon arched his eyebrows and didn’t know whether he was supposed to have laughed along with her or frown because she was laughing at him for some odd reason.

"What's so funny?" now he wasn't smiling any more. He was, in fact, concern.

Charleen yanked her hands out of Ethon's grip and stood up walking ahead. She left Ethon sitting there like an idiot who was just turned down. Her weird giggles stopped suddenly and she twirled around.

"Are you trying to seduce me? Because if-"

"because if I am then you're the wrong person right?" Ethon interrupted.

Charleen scowled and crossed her arms "D@rn right! Now, I'm going to tell you, I actually like this place but there's something missing." She purposely changed the subject because it would draw her away from negativities that she would spark back at Ethon. It was a way of controlling her bliss she was feeling. Yes she felt good hearing what Ethon had said yet she refused to believe it was true.

"Huh?" one of Ethon's eyebrows lifted "Like what's missing?"

Charleen soon walked back to the same fountain they were just sitting at, behind Ethon. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a penny. "Wishes."

"Wishes?"

"Yeah, your fountain is full of gifts. It needs to be wished upon. Therefore, a penny should do." Charleen held a penny in one of her hands, reached for another one and gave it to Ethon. "Here, you make a wish too."

Ethon gave her a weird look but accepted the penny anyways.

"So I just make any kind of wish?"

"Yeah silly, wish for anything you want. It might just come true."

Ethon smiled and when he saw Charleen closing her eyes he copied her. Constantly Ethon kept on stealing stares at Charleen. He kept on opening his eyes to gaze at her and when she was done he instantly closed his eyes pretending to wish.

Charleen tossed the penny into the fountain and stared over to Ethon.

"..............."


"Are you done yet? How many things did you wish for?" Charleen asked.

"I wished for one thing. I hope it comes true." Ethon smiled hoping Charleen would ask what it was.

"Alright, now lets get going." Charleen demanded leading the way.

"Don't you want to know what I wished for?" Ethon shouted as she went farther and farther.

"You're not suppose to tell what you wished for stupid! Or else it won't come true!"

“What do I do with the penny after?”

“Toss it in the fountain.”

"Oh...” he scratched his neck "I guess so..." He did as said and proceeded after her, taking his time.

When Ethon had reached his car his face struck black. He twirled around and searched every direction. "What the????....where could she have gone?" he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "D@mn, I shouldn't have let her out of my sight." He raced into his car and drove off attempting to search for her.

It started raining and Ethon kept his search for Charleen. His heart raced and he was terrified of what could happen to her. ANYTHING could happen!

Not even a mile away as Ethon past a dark alley he heard a loud screech. That voice! It was Charleen! She was in danger!

"Charleen!" Ethon exclaimed as he swerved his car around, busting a U-turn. He slammed his foot on the gas. Ignoring the on going traffic, Ethon was to find her not matter what the cause was.

****EEEERRRRKKKKK !!****Ethon's car stopped instantly.


"Charleen! Hold on girl!" Ethon shouted trying to cross the busy street.

"No stop it! Please, let me go...AHhhHHhh...PLEASE!!!!" Charleen cried as her voice faded.

"Little girl, so what brings your pretty face here tonight?" A tall scrawny man came forth as he tries to unbutton Charleen's blouse.

"My mom....I want to go see my mom...."

"AwWw your mom's not going to help you now beautiful. I'll bring you to your mom don't you worry." Another man answered grabbing a hold of her legs.

"AHhh!!!NO! PLEASE!! HELP!...SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!" Charleen cried out again and again. Soon she was starting to loose her strength and she was almost at the point of giving up.

"Charleen! GAWD@MN PERVERTS! B@STARDS!!" A voice caught Charleen's attention. it was Ethon!

"ETHON!! Ahhh-help! hurry help me!"

"Oh Shi@T! Lets go, F@wk this B!tch!" the scrawny man let go of Charleen's half ripped blouse and pushed her down to the ground. Both the strangers ran off into the dark.

"Charleen! Oh my G0d!" Ethon instantly kneeled down and embraced Charleen with his arms. He gently rubbed his chin against her hair and helped her button up her shirt. "What were you thinking? Why didn't you wait for me?" Ethon demanded.

Charleen was terrified and her body shook as she wailed in Ethon's arms. "I...I...*sniff*....I wanted to go see my mom....Ethon...*sniff*...I just wanted to go see my mom...."

"I'm sorry it was my fault for letting you out of my sight..." He squeezed her firmly and when he felt Charleen shaking heavily he stood straight up, took off his coat and wrapped it around her.

Soon after, Charleen's heart steadied and she could hear Ethon's heart beat. It thumped in a way that gave her comfort and she was definitely glad Ethon had come to her rescue.

"Lets get you back...." Ethon helped Charleen up and assisted her across the street to his car.

At this point Charleen was still rewinding of what happened moments ago and she was till scared every time she thought about it. The whole ride back to the hospital was quiet and not even Charleen or Ethon broke the silence.

Soon Ethon came to a stop. Charleen sat up a little and looked around.

"Are we here?" she asked weakly.

"Yeah, the hospital is just right over there." Ethon pointed in front of her.

Charleen nodded and stared over to Ethon, expressionless. "Thank you."

"For what? Ethon had forgotten.

"For coming to help me." Charleen shrugged.

Ethon chuckled and beamed towards her. "Naw that was nothing. I'm just glad you're okay now and they didn't do anything more than what they wanted to."

Charleen looked away and nodded slowly. "I owe you."

"Yeah you do." Ethon said sarcastically.

"task-he-he, just tell me when you come up with something." Charleen suggested.

"I already did. I want to pick you up from your school tomorrow."

"And do what?"

"Well, take you out to lunch?" Ethon stated as he leaned forward to look her in the eyes.

Charleen's heart fluttered suddenly and she kept her gaze at Ethon too. Soon after, she blinked hiding her blush, and looked away.

"That I'm going to say no, be-"

"And why is that?" Ethon barged in.

"Because...." Charleen cleared her throat "because I don't believe we mix."

Ethon's face went puzzled and he wasn't sure what she meant by that. "Now how do you expect me to define that? I mean are you saying boys and girls don't mix? Weren’t they meant to mix? Your not-" before Ethon could finish Charleen read his mind and interrupted.

"No I am NOT a LESBIAN! Jerk!"

"Sorry, sorry, what was I suppose to think anyways?" Ethon asked laughing at himself for thinking stupid.

"You don’t' understand....and you will NEVER understand." Charleen quickly unlock the door and got out of Ethon's car. Slamming the door shut.

Ethon got right out of the car too and watched Charleen running into the entrance of the hospital. He sighed and chuckled "What was it that didn't mix?" he asked himself. Before he could walk after her he spotted a piece of paper on his windshield.

"Oh Shi@t, ticket." Ethon had parked on the wrong side of the street when he went off to help Charleen. He grabbed the ticket and crumpled it up into his pocket. "Oh well...”


Inside the building


"Excuse me, Ma'am..." A voice came from the front desk as Charleen walked past. The front desk lady pointed to the floor and Charleen looked. She tittered and froze there. Charleen had forgotten that she was drenched from the rain and when she entered she left muddy footprints.

"Uh...sorry Ma'am. I-"

"I'm SO sorry sweet lady. I will definitely get her cleaned up." An arm suddenly wrapped around Charleen.

"What the heck are you doing?" she whispered.

"Trying to get you cleaned up of course." Ethon smiled back as he pulls her into his chest and proceeded to the family bathroom.

The lady stared at them weirdly and sighed. "I need someone to clean the mess in the door way please!" She shouted for the custodian.

Ethon pulled Charleen into the bathroom and sat her down. "Now sit right here, I will be right back alright."

"But where are you going?"

"Just give me 10 minutes. Hold on"

"You know, you're not suppose to be in here with me." Charleen pointed out thinking it was the ladies bathroom.

Ethon chuckled and pointed to the sign. "Family Bathroom" Ethon read off.

"But we're not a family. I barely know you!" she almost shouted.

"It wouldn't hurt to say we are, right?" Ethon winked sexily.

Charleen blushed and did as said. Wait 10 minutes.

"Ok, be right back." Ethon scooted out the door and flipped on his cell phone.
He hurried outside where it was quieter and dialed his best friend's phone number.

**Ring Ring**(Phone ringing)

"Hello, Alex here."

"Hey, Alex, it's Ethon. You know those new school girl uniform designs that I have modeling in my office?" Ethon began.

"Yeah, what about it?" Alex asked.

"Well, I know I'm not suppose to be revealing it till the summer fashion show but could you do me a favor?"

"Yeah sure man, anything."

Ethon caught his breath and continued "choose the ones that are smaller in size and get it over here as quickly as you can? Got it?"

"Say what? Are you feeling alright man? I don't think your father will be too happy about you exposing the new designs. If other fashion businesses get our designs I'm going to blame it all on you!" Alex stated sarcastically and laughed.

"What ever man, get going already!"

"Where to though?" Alex asked.

"The Yokohama Hospital on 7th street. Just hurry. 10 minutes." Ethon said sharply.

"10 minutes? Dude, that's like, not even giving me time!" Alex exclaimed at the end of the line.

"Uhg, just hurry, I'll explain later."

"Alright then, see you in a bit."

*click*

Ethon closed his cell phone and waited impatiently in front of the hospital.

9 minutes past.....13 minutes past.....20 minutes past...."Urg!! Alex, what's taking you so long?" Ethon groaned. Looking left and right, walking back and forth. Ethon suddenly heard a loud tire screech.

**ERRRRKKKK! !!!**** Alex's Acura Nsx pulled up in front of Ethon.

"Alex! Didn't I specify 10 minutes? And I thought that car was supposed to be faster than that?" Ethon made fun of Alex.

"Dude! Ethon, you know how many short cuts I had to take to get here?" Alex replied rushing out the door. He reached into the trunk and pulled out 3 different designs of schoolgirl uniforms. All the uniforms were nicely wrapped up in plastic. "Now can you explain why you needed these models?"

Ethon's smile spread across his face. "Come on, I want you to meet her."

"Huh, meet who?" Alex questioned arching his eyebrows.

"A girl. She's waiting for me." Ethon said glancing back to his friend.

"OhHHhh...a girl? D@ng Ethon, since when did you started getting so into girls this serious?" Alex commented playfully.

Ethon rolled his eyes. "I've always been serious about everything Alex..."

"Well, I mean if you were on business matters then yes you're serious but I mean about girls. Usually you'll just go out on dates with them and that's it. This girl! What is special about her that's making you do crazy things like this? Your father will KILL ME if he found out I took the models."

"Just leave it to me. Anyways, stay here, be right back."

"Hurry up, I was about to go out on a date. You're going to make me late!" Alex groaned aloud.

"Charleen..." Ethon swung open the door and saw that Charleen was still sitting at the same spot he told her to.

"Ethon....uh...what's that?"

"I told you I was going to get you cleaned up right? Well here, take these and wear it." In front of Charleen were three sets of uniforms. It looks as if the fabrics were made of silk and the colors were Navy, Maroon and Tan. It looked extremely expensive and she's never seen anything like it before. Charleen's eyes grew fairly wide and she narrowed her eyes at Ethon.

"What the heck are you doing Ethon?" She scowled.

"I don't see that I'm doing anything wrong. Just at take it"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Not I AM NOT!" Charleen stumped.

"I don't take no as an answer. So here" Ethon forced Charleen to hold the uniforms and he rushed out the door.

"Ethon...but...wai-"

"Just wear it!!!"

Charleen chased after Ethon instantly but before she could get through, the door slammed shut in her face.

"Uhg! Looser!" Charleen cursed loudly.

"What did you say? Did I just hear you call me a LOOSER?" Ethon shouted from the hall way.

"Yes! LOOSER!" she shouted again.

"I'm coming in!"

Charleen heard the foot steps coming closer and closer. Suddenly she saw the door open a little and with full force she slammed it shut again with her might.

"Alright I'm going to give you 5 minutes. Startingggggggg....now!" Ethon demanded.

"What? 5 minutes, oh crap!" Charleen thought quickly. She looked at her self up and down and yes, she was all dirty. "I guess I really don't have a choice" she growled to herself.

"You don't! Hurry up would yah! I'm dying out here!"

Why the heck is that he hears her every word she speaks? How in the world did she get herself so caught up with this man? She did remember she told him that they didn't mix before. What was it that he didn't understanding? She then stared down slowly to the uniforms and for once she thought twice. She was always told that the rich and the poor don't mix. Maybe Ethon had cared for her to do such silly things for her. It was odd for a stranger to suddenly care for a poor girl like her but yet she felt good about it. It wasn’t just any stranger it was one handsome stranger. Her grin became wider by the second.

"Charleen...are you done yet? You’ve got 2 minutes and 13 seconds"

Charleen finally snapped out of her trance when she heard Ethon's voice. She quickly grabbed the Navy blue uniform and slipped it on. It was nicely fitted but just a little tight. The skirt was wavy at the bottom and ended a few inches past her knees. The blouse had to be tucked into the skirt and on each end of the sleeves, a nice lacey design waved around her wrist. She slipped on her casual black shoes and took a glance into the mirror.

"Wow Charleen, you actually look good" she commented only so she can hear.

"Your time is up!" Ethon got right up and just before he did Charleen was already in front of him.

"Whoa.....lookie you..." he looked up and down...ear to ear.

Charleen finally caught her breath and managed a nervous smile. "Um..Ethon...It's kind of tight...." she squirmed uncomfortably.

"Tsk-he-he...Tight equals SEXY." He smirked back.

Charleen scowled angrily and before she could say a word she saw a face at the corner of the hall way and steadied herself. She forced a fake smile and soon she felt Ethon grabbing a hold of her hand and pulled her towards that direction.

"Come on, I want you to meet Alex."

"Alex? Is he your friend?"

"Yup, he's my buddy." Ethon replied back.

The two finally came out and Alex stood patiently with his hands knotted behind his lower back. He smiled when he saw them approaching. "Oh.." Alex looked from Ethon to Charleen and studied the girl. He grinned, "So this is the reason why you're going nuts tonight ey?"

Ethon returned the grinned and beamed over to Charleen. "Alex, meet Charleen Vophaski. Charleen, meet my good friend Alex Kei."

Charleen bowed respectfully back. "Nice to meet you Alex...”Charleen attempted a few times to yank her hand out of Ethon's grasp but it just wasn't possible. Every time she tried he would tighten it even more.

"She's hot as hell." Alex whispered quietly in Ethon's ear. "Ahem...Any ways it was a pleasure to meet you Charleen" he then turned to Ethon again "I'm late for my date, so have fun alright."

"Thanks man. I owe you." Ethon waved back.

"No problem. Anytime bro."

"Alright, lets go." *ring *ring (Ethon's cell) "Hello, Ethon speaking.........okay...we're back already" he closed his phone and gazed over to Charleen "They just got done with the examination. We can go up now."

The few moment waiting for the elevator to open Ethon had his eyes locked on Charleen hard. The uniform that she had picked out looked so perfect on her. Especially with a kind of body like hers made the uniform even stand out more. Even before their big summer fashion kick off Ethon was already enjoying his work. Best thing about it is that it was worn by Charleen. "It wouldn't look good on any other girl..." he thought.

The whole time Ethon didn't let go of Charleen's hand and she was starting to get irritated. "Could you please let go of my hand?" she yanked it away this time but nevertheless, Ethon grabbed it right back.

"Nope...you're going be stuck with my like this forever..." Ethon declared looking up into the ceiling. He had no idea why that came out of his mouth but at the same time he felt satisfied about it. He’s never said anything awkward like that to any other girl previously but the moment he said it was the moment he felt bliss.

"Huh? No way! You know you're getting me angry....REAL ANGRY." She came forth into Ethon's face. Her nose was just 3 inches away. A few seconds later she then noticed Ethon's cheerful expression. What the heck was running through his mind that’s causing him to smile in that way? How….strange…

**Ding** the elevator bell beeped.

Charleen cleared her throat. She was still angry but she just had to stop staring at him. She didn't want to fall into his trap. If she did, she wouldn't want to get out. Her pride won her over and she pulled away. Just before she got the chance to turn Ethon swung her around into his arms and *smooch* her on the lips. Charleen's eyes lit open at first but soon after Ethon managed to make his way through to her. Her legs got wobbly and she lost her concentration. Heavenly, she closed her eyes and loosens her shoulders. Ethon found that this must've been her first kiss, so he was determined to make it unforgettable. He was intending to take the kiss deeper but…

**Ding** the elevator bell beeped and closed.

Charleen inhaled deeply when she heard the bell beep again. She gathered all her strength and broke the kiss. "You jerk! We missed our elevator!" she shouted.

Speechless Ethon was. Still lost between earth and heaven.

"Ethon!" Charleen scowled even angrier. She too, was still dazed up about it but she tried really hard to hide it from Ethon.

Snapping out of his dizziness Ethon finally stated "Why isn't the elevator door opening?"

"You dummy! It already did and it closed! Now we gota wait again" she pressed the 2nd button floor again.

"Oh, okay" Ethon locked his gaze back to her rosy lips. Charleen's lips got puffy from this kiss and he found it very cute.

"What?"

"Nothing..." he blinked.

"Uhg! You’re such a dummy!" Her glare turned into a happy, never before seen, smile as soon as she turned away from him.

**Ding** elevator door again.

"Alright let’s go.” Charleen walked into the elevator.

Charleen was very quiet the whole time. Ethon cleared his throat and grabbed her hands again.

"I'm sorry but, I can't let go of these things."

"Things? It’s called hands." Charleen giggled.

"Yeah, hands. No! Not just hands, CHARLEEN'S hands." Ethon quoted and smiled.

Out of no where Ethon brought the subject up again. "Hey, so you know what my wish was?"

"Didn't I tell you if you tell your wish it won't come true? Didn't you hear me?"

"I did, but I want to tell you. I feel that it's coming true Charleen."

"Huh? What do you mean it’s coming true?" Charleen asked puzzled.

"I-"

"No! I don't want to hear. Shush."

"Why not? I want to!" He wined.

"A wish is a wish" Charleen held her index fingers not even an inch from Ethon's lips which caused him to tangle a bit seeing that Charleen looked him in the eye and froze there. He grinned and kissed her finger.

Charleen’s eyes grew round and she was lost of words. Darn this guy, why was he doing this? He looked crazy himself and he was making her go CRAZY! What kind of human was he? And why was he so anxious to tell her about his wish. It wasn’t any of her concern was it?


End of Chapter 4

Chapter 5


"Mom!" Charleen ran with open arms to her mother.

"Honey, you're back already?"

"Yeah, I'm back. What are you doing?" Charleen smiled.

"BINGO!!" Mrs. Vophaski cheered.

"Bingo? He-he how fun."

Mrs. Vohpaski then glanced over to see that Ethon just walked in the door also. "Ethon, dear, so how was the date?" she winked.

Ethon came over smiling and with his hands knotted casually behind his lower back.

"Mom? What did you just asked him?" Charleen squinted as she glared over at Ethon. "A date? We di-"

"It was great! I bought her a big and tasty meal from Mc Donald's but she didn't eat it. She only ate the fries" Ethon interrupted.

Charleen narrowed her eyes evilly at Ethon for telling on her and she blinked away exhaling through her nose.

"Charleen sweetie, you're so pale and skinny. You really need to get some meat on you." Mrs. Vophaski giggled and slightly pinched Charleen on the arm.

"Mom...urg...fine I will. I'm just waiting for you to get better so I can eat without concern that's all."

"Aww honey, you're so sweet." Mrs. Vophaski embraced Charleen with a happy hug.

Ethon stared away at the loving mother and daughter-like hug and he took a relieve sigh. This brought back memories. He thought back to how beautiful his mom was. His mom always wore white elegant blouses and her hair was always tied high into a bun. Every time he needed comfort he would run into her arms and all his fears and stress would let loose. Now that she was gone, things changed. His father unfortunately, didn't remarry. For that, Ethon was glad. He wouldn't want to anyone else to take his mother's place. Therefore, he was happy his father had buried his mother's body in Tokyo; to stay near him and let his heart at ease. Charleen on the other hand, really reminded him of his mother; skinny, pale and beautiful hazel eyes. Her attractive smile always made him tangle. This angel he was gazing at was definitely to be his happiness now.


*******A week later*****


"Son, come here a moment. I want to speak with you for a moment please" Ethon's father's voice arose in from his office.

"Yes father?" Ethon walked into the office and stood by the door.

"Come sit, I've been needing to talk with you about this but I just haven't got the chance so take a seat."

"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about father?"

"Well, since your mother past away. Our Beauxotic company in Seoul, Korea has decreased it's sells. No one was able to manage the position like your mother can. We can't let this happened. In 3 days I want you to go back there and take over the preparation for this summer's fashion show there. We want the sells to hit the top of the list this year." Mr. Sangwa explained thoroughly.

"But what about here? I thought you brought me here so I can be the one to manage this company here?" Ethon was shocked. He was actually hoping to stay in Tokyo and be near Charleen. He then looked forward unbelieving what he just heard. "Father, you can't be serious. I mean how long would I have to stay there?"

"Oh, not too long. Maybe a year or so" Mr. Sangwa stated.

"A year!?" that's too long." Ethon exclaimed.

"No it's not. You'll be back in no time Do this for your mother please. For the sake of our company."

Ethon was angry he was going to be forced to leave in 3 days but it was for the sake of their company so he couldn't say no. Ethon took a deep breath and then answered curtly "Fine, I don't really believe I have any other choice."

"Why do you sound unhappy all of a sudden?" Concern crossed Mr. Sangwa's face.

"Nothing. I should get going now. Is there anything else you need to talk to me about?" Ethon asked and stood up.

"No, that's all. Don't forget about the Anniversary Party tonight though." His father reminded him.

Ethon nodded and made his way out the door. "Charleen...." he whispered then looked to the time.”12:28, uh just right at lunch." Just the thought of Charleen made him happy. He went into his office, grabbed his jacket and proceeded out the door.

20 minutes later Ethon arrived at Charleen's school and smiled cheerfully as he walked up the stairs.

"Whoa who's that hot thing?" A girl’s voice stated as Ethon walked past her.

Ethon nodded and disregard all the open mouths his way.


!#$%^&Chatters !@#$%

"Oh my, is he new here?"

"No, he looks more mature than that! He doesn't have a uniform on."

"Oh yeah huh, what’s he doing here then?" Another girl answered.

Soon after a familiar face blocked Ethon's way before he could open the office door. "Ethon! What are you doing here?"

"Leah? Hey, I'm here to visit someone. Didn't know you attended school here too" Ethon narrowed his eyes directly at the girl in front of him as soon as he remembered who it was. It was he ex-girlfriend from Korea. She was tall, lean, and beautiful. Her hair was always dressed up into curls and her make-up was still as perfect. She was also the cause of him to decide to leave Korean. Thinking about it made him angry yet he could care less now. All she ever cared about was herself and no one else. The only reason why he used to want to be with her was because she was beautiful but soon enough he came to find she was only a doll face and a gold digger. She made him buy her the most expensive kind of diamonds and most beautiful things and what did she give him in return in the end….nothing but pain. For that, he didn’t want to face her again…nor will he let her seduce him again…

Leah kept on blocking his way and he got a bit annoyed. "Excuse me please. I don't have time to play games." Ethon forced his way through.

"But Ethon, don't you miss me? I never thought I would ever see you again." Leah grabbed a hold of his right arm.

Ethon firmly caress her hands and looked her in the eyes. "It's over, so let it stay that way" and he brushed her hands off his sleeves.

"But...but..." the door shut in her face and Leah waited impatiently by the door. It was her lunch time so she decided to wait out in the hallway.

"What are you still doing here?" Ethon asked as he exits the office.

"I was supposed to ask you that...what are you doing here at this school." Leah answered.

"Ah-hem, I have to go." Ethon looked away and began walking.

"No! Wait, can't we talk. Don’t you know how glad I am to see you? I moved here because I was hoping to find you.”

"And you did, so what more do you want?" Ethon stopped and crossed his arms, looking up to the ceiling.

"Well, now that I've found you, can we go out to lunch.....and I’ll make things up to you?” Leah asked hoping Ethon would give in to her puppy eyes.

"Tsk-ha-ha, no I have better things to do...I have to go to the cafeteria."

"To the cafeteria. What for?" Leah followed Ethon lost. "Sure, we can go have lunch in the cafeteria then" she struggled to smile not understanding the reason why.

Afterwards they entered the cafeteria and Leah walked along side-by-side next to Ethon. The chatters suddenly stopped as the two walk in.

"Hi every one, this is my boyfriend Ethon Sangwa" Leah announced with a happy smile.

"What?" Ethon cleared his throat "I'm not her boyfriend, sorry has any one seen a girl name Charleen?"

Way in the back end of the cafeteria, there sat Shine and Charleen enjoying their lunch.

"So how has your mom been? She doing alright."

"Yeah, she's okay now. She's still at the hospital. The doctors said she got hit by a broken beer bottle, got dragged out of the house and left by the streets." Charleen explained.

Shine gulped and replied "that must be so terrible. Well, I'm glad she's okay now. By the way who found her?"

"A boy. Just a little older than I am I guess." Charleen answered looking up from her plate of food.

"For real? Was he cute?" Shine took a bite of her apple.

"Yeah, very." Charleen blushed and dazed off.

"Hey, Charleen ha-ha you're blushing!" Shine pointed at her.

"I am?" Charleen looked up from her state and touched her cheeks.

"Let me guess, you're thinking of him?"

"No! I'm not!" Charleen denied immediately.

Soon after, Shine caught a handsome man walking their way. He was wearing a nice white collar shirt beneath his dark jacket and a casual dress pant. His shirt was open just a bit where his bare chest shown a little which made him center of attention. She instantly looked behind her to see if there was any thing in back of them. Nothing and she stared back again and placed her gaze at Charleen. "Uh, Charleen why is that man walking over here?" she whispered and pointed.

"Huh, who's walking over here?" Charleen twirled around to see who it was and her heart skipped "oh my gosh, help me...help me!" her eyes grew and she put her face down, hoping he didn’t’ see her.

"Help you? What for? He’s sOOoo hunky!" Shine couldn't stop looking at him.

"Charleen!" the familiar voice called out but Charleen refused to face him.

"Heyah" Shine greeted Ethon.

"Hi" Ethon nodded and made himself comfortable next to Charleen.

"Ethon, what the heck are you doing here?" she mumbled.

"To see you of course. Remember, we were supposed to go out to lunch the other day but you didn’t want to." Ethon reminded her.

"I thought I said no?"

"Well, didn't I tell you I don't take no as an answer." He smiled sweetly.

Shine glanced back and forth from Charleen to Ethon and giggled. "Ha-ha, so you’re Charleen’s savior?"

“Shine!” Charleen glared.

"Yep, that's how we met." Ethon stated.

"Awww, that's so cute. Now Charleen, quit that already. Talk to the man would yah."

"Yeah, talk to me." Ethon attempted to look Charleen in the eyes but she refused to look at him.

"Ethon! What the heck are you doing?" Leah shouted from a distance away from them. She stumped over angrily and stopped behind Ethon. "I thought we were going out to lunch?"

This made Charleen instantly look back to see who it was. It was "Miss popular" she was dressed in her nice tan uniform. Her light brown hair was nicely put up into a messy bun and some of her curls rested down her neck. Although, she didn't look too happy to see that Ethon was sitting next to Charleen, she was to win Ethon's heart again. He was once hers so she wasn't going to let him fall in love with any other low-life girl in school.

"Who the heck is she?" Leah demanded.

"You don't need to know. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go." Ethon grabbed Charleen's hand and stood up. He glanced over to Shine "You want to come with?"

Shine blinked a few times and answered "Yes, sure....if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't mind anything...Come on." Ethon dragged Charleen out the doors and Leah, surprised and angry as can be, stood there.

"You! You...you can't do that! You're not going to do that to me! Fool!"

Shine looked back and smiled. "Ha-ha looser!" She shouted.

"What was that all about?" Charleen asked swinging her wrist away from Ethon's grip.

"No one you need to know." Ethon replied as he pressed his car alarm control. *Beep-beep*

Charleen instantly came to a stop and glared angrily. "Why don't you want me to know?" she crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Because she's in the past. I like to leave things in the past."

"Oh, so she's your ex-girlfriend or something?"

"Yeah, something like that but she was just someone that I liked." Ethon stated.

Charleen scowled and got in the back seat with Shine.

It was quite the whole ride and soon Shine broke the silence.

"So where are we going?"

"Anywhere you ladies want." Ethon beamed looking into the rear-view mirror.

"I've always wanted to go to Tokyo's finest Sushi house" Shine suggested.

Ethon chuckled happily and replied "Sure, then to the Sushi house we go."

Charleen scowled at Shine and took a breath. "I'm not hungry. We just ate at school."

"Ha! So did you? The only thing I saw you eat was a celery stick."

"Well, that's because I already finished my sandwich." Charleen argued.

"You gota eat some REAL food. Not just celeries and fries." Ethon laughed out loud.

Anger fled through Charleen's face. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again and nothing came out. "What ever..." was all she said.

"Wow! I didn't know the sushi house was going to be this big." Shine exclaimed looking out the window.

Soon Ethon came to a stop and parked. "We're here, ready ladies?"

"I told you I'm not hungry!" Charleen almost yelled.

"Oh yes you are! Come on girl, its just lunch" Shine grabbed Charleen's arms and dragged her ahead, in front of Ethon.

Right when they entered the restaurant Ethon was surprisingly greeted by Alex.

"Hey Ethon, sup bro. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here with Charleen and her friend." Ethon scratched his neck.

Alex tilted his head to get a better view of the girls and suddenly a long black hair girl twirled around as her hair flew off revealing her face. Alex saw this in slow motion and she looked marvelous! His eyes grew like an owl and his mouth dropped, which felt like to the ground. Emerald green eyes she had. Her hair strands flew back and forth across her face and she gave him a beautiful smile.

"Whoa.....who's that?"

"Who? That?" Ethon lift his head towards Shine and glanced back to Alex "That's Charleen's friend. I brought her here with Charleen but I didn't even ask her name."

Alex bumped Ethon out of the way and aimed towards Shine. "Hello, and who might you be miss lovely?" he greeted her with a kiss on the back of the hand.

Shine blushed and giggled. "My name is Shine Fudawoo, and you are?"

"Alex. Alex uuuh...." At this point Alex was so flushed by her beauty that he couldn't even think of his last name.

"Alex Kei, his last name is Kei." Ethon interrupted between and smiled.

"Yeah, Kei, I'm Alex Kei" he still didn't let go of Shine's hand yet.

"Alex, how nice to see you again." Charleen greeted politely.

"Hi Charleen. What a coincident. I was actually walking out but I'll join you ladies and Ethon since you guys are here." Alex replied not taking a glance away from Shine.

The four seated themselves a table and Ethon sat directly across from Charleen. He kept on staring at her which made her very uncomfortable.

"Ah-em, so um...what are you going to order?" she asked Ethon.

"Anything....I'll eat what ever you eat" still he was intentionally staring at her. "Sushi? By all mean, this is a sushi house after all."

"Nope, don't like sushi. It's not my taste." Charleen dared to look at Ethon in the eyes.

"You said you like Tofu. They have a whole menu of Tofu with chicken and all of those good stuff."

Charleen opened her menu book and searched. "Tofu, chicken curry with tofu. I think that'll be good."

"Okay!" Ethon stated as he waved for a waiter/waitress to come by "I need two orders of Chicken curry with tofu and make that spicy please."

"No! Not spicy, make one not spicy...please." Charleen insisted and glared at Ethon.

Ethon smiled sweetly and winked at Charleen. Charleen looked down to the table.

"So you can't eat spicy food?" Ethon grinned.

"No, not that, I just don't like it hot when it comes to curry."

Shine and Alex made their orders. 10 minutes had past and their food was served.

"Yum, doesn't it look good." Ethon asked Charleen and handed her a pair of chopsticks.

"Thank you, yep. It does" she smiled

Before Charleen could take a bite she heard stumps that were coming closer in back of her. She looked at Ethon and he stared behind her.

"Ethon! There you are! So you leave me back there and you decided to take this low-life to lunch huh?" Leah stood over their table.

"Excuse me! Your spit is getting all over our food!" Shine stood straight up.

"Freak! Sit back down!" Leah demanded getting into Shine's face.

Leah flipped her hair back and continued at Ethon. "So, you left me in Seoul for her?? She's a snob! Look at her! Are you like, shallow or something?" Leah placed her hands on her hips.

Ethon rolled his eyes as if annoyed and he set his eyes back to Charleen. He now saw that her face was getting even redder by the minute. What was she thinking? Instantly, Charleen stood right up and without a word she slipped out of her seat, bumped Leah on the shoulder, and aimed for the exit.

"Charleen! D@mnit!" Ethon shouted. He got out of his seat and ignored Leah and ran after Charleen.

Just before Charleen could open the door Ethon caught her wrist.

"Let me go jerk! You brought me here so that girl can make fun of me didn't you!" Charleen shouted into Ethon's face.

"What? So that she could make fun of you? Why the heck would I do that?" Ethon went confused.

"So is this what you do when you're RICH? Let others be made fun of and look down upon them?"

"No! How could I do that?"

Charleen eyes got shaky and she didn't know what to say. She looked at her wrist and Ethon was still holding on to it. "LET ME GO! Leave me alone!" with her might she managed to snap her wrist away and proceeded out the door.

"Charleen!" Ethon said once more.

"Charleen...is that her name?" Leah came grabbing his arm. "See, she doesn't want you. I'm the one who wants you not her." Leah whispered.

"NO! Hands off!" He swung his hand away from Leah's grip and out the door he went.

"FOOL!" Leah stumped her foot and looked over at Alex and Shine.

Alex rolled his eyes and glared at Leah answering her face expression. "Let him go Leah. He doesn't want you anymore. Are you blind or what? If he wanted you, he wouldn't be running after her."

"You're just about as stupid as he is Alex! You just watch, Ethon's heart will only be mine and no one else!" With that, she stumped out.

Shine and Alex looked at each other lost and confused.

"I hate her..." Shine mumbled.

"Don't waste your time. Use your time that you’re using to hate her and use it on me." Alex insisted playfully.

Shine gave a sarcastic laugh. "Ha! Sure, player!"

"Player? How can you already say I'm a player when we just met?"

"Come on you're the President of Beauxotic's company’s personal assistant. You're on television all the time. Every time I see you, you're always with a different lady. It's so predictable." Shine laughed out loud.

Alex scowled at her and wrapped his hands around her. "So I see, you like to watch me? Ain't I handsome?"

"Pssh! Please, but your a player. I don't find myself interested in players."

Alex laughed and looked into Shine's eyes. "Watch me; I'll make you think twice on that."

Shine laughed again and pushed him a distance away. "Looser, I don't need players like you to make me reconsider. Hahaha!"

End of Chapter 5

Omgosh!! Where's the next chapter!! This is really, really good!!! Keep up the good work!! =]

Chapter 6 and 7



Chapter 6


"Charleen! Hold up would yah!" Ethon shouted at the top of his lungs. When he saw that Charleen was too far away he stopped and thought for a second. What was he to do to catch up to her? "Aha! I’m going to get you!" He raced to his car and at full speed, drove off.

Gasping for air Charleen came to a stop to catch her breath. "huh-hoo-huh-hoo..." she stared behind her "Whoa, he's gone...GOOD."

Moments later the thunder started roaring and the clouds began to form. It was gray and the blue-sky was getting covered up. Charleen looked up and took a breath. "Aw d@rn, it's going to rain. Got to run now.." Before she could take another breath to run she was already distracted by Ethon's horn. *BEEP!!!* BEEP!!*

"Charleen! I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Ethon shouted with a grin.

Charleen glared back and found Ethon traveling, at what felt like, 2 miles per hour behind her. "I actually was glad you left! But NOOO, you're still here aren’t you?" She stopped and remained still, without looking back.

"Yeah of course I'm here. Why would I wan to leave you?" Ethon told her.

"HA! Sure, sure. So you want to be stuck with a low-life like me?" Charleen gave in a sarcastic laugh and still didn’t bother looking back.

"A low-life?" Ethon arched one of his eyebrows. "Why would you call yourself a low-life? You’re talking nonsense you know."

"Because Leah called me a low-life, a snob..." her eyes were starting to get glassy "and that makes you really happy doesn't it?"

"No, of course it doesn’t make me happy…?" His grin lowered into a puzzle frown. Not only was she hurt by someone else, he hurt her too. He didn’t stand up to her like he should’ve. “Why does it sound like it’s my fault?”

"Because, JERK! You didn't bother to say a word when she made fun of me!" Charleen shouted and now she was ready to run.

Ethon felt guilty all of a sudden because he didn't say anything when Leah had made those comments. What was he to do to make her happy now? "Oh, no you don't!" Ethon then slammed on the gas pedal swerved right in front of Charleen.

"Come on GET IN! Lets talk." Ethon demanded. And yeah, he looked REAL serious now.

"No! Do I look like I don't have any feet? Can't you see I was running away from you?" Charleen argued back. She had her chin high and her arms crossed.

"Well you look real tired out already. Come on get in..." his voice calmed when he noticed Charleen was breathing heavily and her cheeks were red.

Breathing in and out Charleen kept her angry glare at Ethon. Of course, by now she felt a bit happier since she was able to see Ethon. Boy, did she give him a guilt trip! MuAhahahha!

Momentarily Charleen gave a devilish smile causing Ethon to arch an eyebrow again. "What are you going to do now, since I'm in your way?" he asked smiling away, quite content that he had her cornered now. All he had to do was get her in the car which shouldn’t be a problem at all.

"Oh yeah? Watch me!" Charleen grinned and was set for her move.

Ethon did watch as she told him. "AAAHHH!!! MY BABY!!!" Right on top of Ethon's hood she went, leaving mud prints all over his car. "NOoO!!! My Beautiful BABY!!" Ethon wailed.

"Oh my g0sh! did I just do that?" Charleen stopped took back as if caring.

"Urg, you're going to get it!" Ethon squinted evilly.

"I actually like your car better that way!" Charleen shouted amusingly and waved back at Ethon. Then she went straight back running again.

Soon after, the rain poured down like cats and dogs. Ethon immediately got out of his car and chased after Charleen. "Charleen! you've left me with no choice!" Smiling, he caught up to her in no time.

"AHHH!!! Stop stop stop! I give up!" Charleen turned back covering her eyes. Instantly, she felt herself being swung up into the air and moments later she opens her eyes and found herself staring at the ground. "Ah! Let me down! I told you I give up!" Ethon had her over his shoulders and he was making his way back to his car.

"You should've told me that sooner." Ethon replied sharply, rolling his eyes.

"Uhrg, you're such an idiot!" Charleen exhaled her anger out and let her body loose.

"I told you, I'll be what ever you want me to be."

With that, Charleen went quiet. What was he trying to get at? Why wasn't he mad that she refused to be with him? Why is it that he didn't stay back with Leah, Miss popular?

Afterwards, Ethon slowly let Charleen glide off his shoulders and held her like a baby. Charleen looked at him shock and confused. She was speechless.

He smiled at her and carefully lifts her into the passenger seat. "You know, you could be skinny, but it felt like 200 pounds carrying you!" Ethon complained.

Charleen blushed and slapped him on the arm. "You're over exaggerating! I'm really only 110 at 5'6."

"Oh yeah? Well you still look great the way you are." Ethon smiled, went around his muddy hood and made himself comfortable in the driver’s side.

The rain poured and poured. Charleen sighed and kept her gaze at her lap.

"Are you cold?" Ethon asked.

"Naw, I'm not." Charleen lied. She was already shivering.

"You know, why do you have to lie?" he reached over to turn on the heat. Ethon then put a cd in and a loving song played.

(Music playing: "First love" By Utada Hikaru.) "You are always going to be my love." "I will remember to hold on, you taught me how." "You are always going to be the one."

(You guys know how the song plays HEHEHHEHE)

As the song played, Charleen looked over at Ethon with shaky eyes. Ethon returned the stare and smiled.

"I hope I have a place in your heart too" Ethon whispered looking deeper into Charleen's eyes.

Charleen's heart fluttered wildly and she didn't know what to think. Was it that he was just a good charmer, or was it that she was going to be his first love? Why in the heck did she let him make her feel this way? All tangly and her heart was thumping harder and harder as she stares more into his eyes. Those dark brown eyes of his, it was so comforting. Charleen's goose bumps soon went away and before she knew it Ethon had her hands wrapped up in his.

"You're hands, their cold." Ethon placed it on his cheeks.

Charleen blushed heavily and she didn't know what to do, or what to react like. She was temped a few times to pull her hands away but she couldn't. After feeling the warm hands caressing hers, it wasn't easy to pull away.

Ethon rubbed her hands gently back and forth. "You need to keep your hands warm. You can get sick." He grinned.

"......................." Charleen was absolutely wordless. Why was she letting this beautiful, charming guy seduce her like this? In no time, she felt as if she was possessed by his love. No one, definitely NO ONE! was able to make her feel this way. Guess this is just the way love feels if you’ve never been love? She dared to look back at Ethon, just to see the way he was looking at her. She was ready to let Ethon feel sparks that waited to burst out of her eyes.

"I wonder what your hero here should do to make you happy." Ethon whispered out of no where. Instead, he was leaning against his headrest and his eyes were closed, as if exhausted already.

Charleen blinked and looked away "You’re just being naïve…you don’t know what you want.” so much for the sparks she had. He didn’t even have his eyes open to receive it! She bit her lips. She knew she was being rude but it was her way of avoiding the feeling she had.

Ethon then came forth and palmed her cheeks, forcing her too look at him now. "What ever it is, I'm still your hero and I will find my love within you." he gave her a smile and started the engine. This had left Charleen’s eyes round and she sat up from her seat.

“The love in me? What was that suppose to mean?” Charleen thought. “What if I don’t want a hero, since I never asked for one?”

“And what if I want to be your hero?” Ethon defeated her question without an answer.

Charleen went silent for a moment to think of a response, “What if I refuse?”

Ethon chuckled and glanced at Charleen. “Not only to be your hero, but your mother’s too. Remember that. I promised her to take care of you Charleen.”

“But you just offered yourself.” Charleen argued and crossed her arms.

“Because I felt like it and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ethon told her straight forward, without hesitation.

“You’re such an idiot.”

“I told you, I’ll be what ever you want me to be. If you want me to be the idiot that stands aside of you for the rest of your life I will, or if you want me to be the sky that watches over you day and night, I should be, or if you only want me there so you can hate and curse me….I’m here….” Ethon wouldn’t have looked any more serious. He meant it and he wouldn’t have chose to say it any other way. Only God knows what had gotten in to him that caused him to be so comforting to be by her and how it made his lonesome days go away….

“I…I…you…uh…What ever…” Yes, she was wordless. His words had touched her in so many ways and to ignore the rising tension was all she could do. If she was to let him say any more sweet things to her, it’ll burst her thickness and she’ll become soft and sure enough, she was strong enough to refuse it. Yet, she couldn’t be happier.



Chapter 7



"Alex! what's taking them so long?" Shine stood up from her seat. They were still waiting and an hour had past by already. Still no sign.

"Chill woman, don't you like the time alone with me?"

"Pshh! as if! I hope Charleen's okay. I think we should go find them" Shine trailed off.

"They'll be fine"

"What do you mean? I mean what if Ethon didn't find her and she got lost or something. I mean, anything can happened. What if she gets RAPE or something!" Shine pointed out.

"Naw naw, trust me. Ethon did already find her. Why do you think they're not back yet? I know him; he wouldn't give up until he finds her. The way I see it, he's in love. He's been doing really weird stuff."

"Oh..." Shine sat down to trying to understand "well, alright then. Do you think they will be back soon?"

"Nope...” Alex stared to the window and back to Shine.

"So what makes you so sure then huh?" Shine crossed her arms.

"Trust me. GOSH! You ask so much questions girl!"

"Look, I'm just dead worried about Charleen. You don't need to be complaining alright." Shine almost shouted.

"Whoa, cool down. You don't trust people easy do you?"

"Of course not. Especially with a player like you. Who knows, maybe your name isn't even Alex" Shine burst out laughing "Maybe it’s...its...PLAYBOY!"

"Playboy, humm...as a matter fact, I think I might just fit in a playboy session" Alex replied sarcastically.

"Psh-hahaha! You can be good looking but I wouldn't be able to picture you like that. EWWW how disgusting!" Shine cooled down on her giggle.

Alex heard the compliment and his face lit happy. "Did you just say I was GOOD LOOKING?"

Instantly Shine stopped laughing and blushed. "Yep, you are. I'm not going to lie" she admitted.

Alex sat back into his seat and a big smile crossed his face. He beamed over to Shine and took her hands.
"Come on, I'll take you home. By now, school is over already."

Shine nodded and off they went.


*~-._.-~**~-._.-~**~-._.-~**~-._.-~***~-._.-~**~-._.-~**


"Ethon, where are we going now?" Charleen asked.

"Well, some where. Somewhere yummy."

"Yummy? Um, I actually don’t know what you mean by yummy" Charleen arched an eyebrow.

Ethon chuckled and glanced over at Charleen "Yummy, meaning I'm going take you to go fill up that flat tummy of yours. If that'll explain it."

Charleen blinked a few times and soon it came to her "oh, but I'm not hungry" she objected.

"Sure you're not. All you had was celery and fries. By now, since you've used all your energy trying to run away from me, of course you're hungry. It's written all over your face" Ethon stated amusingly.

"Humf, what ever" she looked away ignoring the sexy gaze from Ethon. "Anyways, so what's yummy?"

"Gunchi Noodle House." Ethon replied and licked his lips.

"Gunchi? Never heard of that."

"It's one of the finest noodle houses in Tokyo here."

"Oh yeah?" Charleen nodded and looked forward wondering what this noodle house was going to be like.

It was a heck of a drive there, which almost seemed like an hour long, and they finally arrived.

"We're here!" Ethon exclaimed.

Charleen winced and steadied her self. She was half asleep the whole way there. "Hum? Oh we're here?"

"Yep"

"Oh, uh...sorry about that. Was I a sleep the whole time?"

Ethon smiled sweetly "Yep, but that's okay. Girls need their beauty rest, so it's not good to interrupt them."

Charleen tittered and unbuckled her belt. "Alright, let’s go."

Ethon still sat at the driver's side and stared at Charleen as she stood up out of his car. She then bent down and gave him a weird look. "Ethon, what's wrong? Aren’t you coming out?"

"Yeah, I am..." he forced a slight smile and got out of his car. Sadly, he still gazed upon her and not once did he glance away. The thought of going away from Charleen was getting to him and He wanted to make the best out of his last few days with her. Of course, he didn't get the chance to tell her yet. But he was going to find the right time to and it will be soon. He followed slowly, tucking one of his hands into his pocket.

Charleen walked up ahead and soon after she noticed that Ethon hadn't got up to her pace yet. She twirled around and glared at him again. "Ethon, why are you walking so slowly all of a sudden?"

Ethon looked up from his daze and grinned. "Oh, nothings wrong Charleen. Let's go in." He hustled up to Charleen and took her hand. "Remember, these hands need to stay warm."

"Yikes! Your hands are cold as hell too!"

"That's because I have my leather gloves on he-he" with that he opened the door for her and they walked in.

"Whoa, it's a lot cozier in here."

"I know, isn't it?”

"How many?" The hostess asked ask Charleen and Ethon approached her.

"Two please."

"Alright, come right this way please." The hostess winked at Ethon and he grinned.

Charleen caught the wink and she glared over to Ethon. Ethon smiled back and wrapped his arms around her.

"What's that glare suppose to tell me? You jealous?" Ethon whispered.

"Nope. I don't really care" Charleen lift her chin "Why should I be jealous? I'm not you're girlfriend."

"It doesn't matter. Girls get jealous of me all the time. Even if they're not my girlfriend. But I'm not worried. I know who my heart belongs to already." Ethon smirked.

"Do I look like I care Ethon?" Charleen pointed at herself.

Ethon chuckled "Yeah, you do" He pulled out the seat for Charleen to sit in and proceeded to the opposite side.

A moment past and silence flew between the two and Charleen, being the stubborn person she is, refused to meet Ethon's eyes.

"Ah-hem, there's something I want to tell you? I've been debating on when to tell you. So I decided that now is the best time." Ethon broke the silence.

Charleen looked up from her glass of water and found herself sad all of a sudden. Ethon was staring at her with a huge frown upon his face and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to think. Why did he look so sad? What did she do to make him frown like that? Her heart thumped faster and faster by the minute. What was she to expect to hear from him now? Charleen cleared her throat and hesitated. "Yee..eah...what is it that....you want to tell me?"

"I'm..." Ethon took a breath before he began "I'm leaving back to Korean soon. In 3 days I'm going to be millions of miles away from you. If you’re wondering why I’m frowning, that is the reason why." Sure enough, he answered the question among her face.

"Here, your food is good and ready." The waitress interrupted their conversation. Charleen and Ethon ordered the same exact food they ordered at the Sushi house a few hours ago. They didn't get a chance to enjoy there food a while ago so they decided to order the same thing again.

"Thank you." Ethon accepted the bowls and afterwards he placed his gaze back on Charleen. Her face lowered into a frown and Ethon felt guilt rushing up his spine. "Charleen....." he handed her her chopsticks. "I'll be back though. It's not going to be forever. So don't worry."

Charleen forced a fake smile. "It's alright, life isn't over yet." What did she just say?! It just slipped!

"Huh, what do you mean life’s not over yet?" Ethon pulled back a bit not believing what she had just said. "And what was that suppose to mean?" He squinted.

"That, well...um..." Charleen hesitated nervously "Life's not over. I mean, maybe we were only meant to meet for a short period of time only. Don't you think?" D@rnit! What the heck was she saying! Come on Charleen! Tell him, tell him not to go!

Ethon's eyes shook as he squinted deeper, in disappointment. He blinked to the food in front of him and pushed it aside. "Is that all you can say?" he kept his eyes away from her. He didn't want her to ever see the flaming side of him.

"Yes! That is all I can say! What the heck else do you want me to say? Huh?" Charleen stood straight up over Ethon and shouted. The tension between Charleen and Ethon caught the people's attention around them and everyone went quiet.

"Aren’t you going to tell me you’re going to miss me? Or or…not to go? Or even just say something to make me feel better?!" Ethon stood right up too and Charleen lifted her head up as to meet his height.

"NO!! How can I? Why should I?" her voice trembled and she still hadn’t taken her shaky eyes off him.

"Because!! Be-"

"Because what! You're telling me I should tell you I miss and all when we've only met shortly? HA! What a joke!" Charleen crossed her arms, still narrowing her eyes.

"NO! Wrong! Because...BECAUSE YOUR MAKING IT WORST FOR ME!” He patted the spot to his heart and continued, “I’ve been hurting because of you…having to know that I’ve only been able to know you for a short period of time and I’m already being forced to leave…and to know that I’ve been drawn into you so much that it hurts to know again, that I’m leaving…..at least if you won’t tell me you’ll miss me…miss me in your heart…” Ethon brought his gaze closer to Charleen, he wanted to read her eyes, the expression among her face, and the shakiness that trembled to where he felt like was to her heart…..wanting to see if there was him in it…and if there was….to let her remember him in that way…

Charleen just stood there speechless and she wasn’t sure what her response was going to be. Was it to avoid his tenderness and make him suffer more or to comfort him and take this relationship on a steadier path? What ever it was, Charleen could feel her heart beating to her temples and she was unaware of the attention they were getting from this sudden qurrel.

Soon enough, Ethon glanced around and finally saw that he was getting stares that came from all across the room "Ah-hem, excuse us..." he grabbed Charleen by the wrist and forced her with him.

"What?" Charleen looked around too and blushed heavily when she saw the many eyes following them.

Suddenly the people in the restaurant applauded and they all stood up.

"That was great! And I thought it only happens in drama series!" An old lady shouted from the far end of the place.

This caused Charleen and Ethon to look back. Ethon beamed back while Charleen tuck her head low into Ethon's chest.

Replaying what had just happened Charleen came to a stop when they got outside "That was so embarrassing. I'm never going to eat with you again" she complained. “Where in the heck did you learn to say such things? You must’ve taken DRAMA class or something!” Yet, she didn’t want him to be sad because of her. She was guilty enough to avoid him and now was the time to make things at ease, if not in an open way…at least to make him smile for her…

“What was that in your eyes….” Ethon stood in front of Charleen, close and still trying to read the words in her eyes.

Charleen didn’t realize her mouth was halfway open and she was caught up staring at his eyes too. How it was so puppy like and she wouldn’t doubt everything he said was true. The redness among his eyes told it all and she couldn’t bare hurt him with her stubbornness any further.

She chuckled and commented, “You’re so full o emotions. I love that about you.”

Ethon squinted and thought a moment. Maybe he was getting a bit too emotional. “Yeah, I guess so…I’m sorry for being so up tight about everything…I’m just afraid…”

“Afraid of what Ethon?”

“Loosing you of course…”

“Ethon, come on…you’re thinking nonsense….I’m still here right? You haven’t lost anything yet. You’ve got so much to look forward to.”

“If I loose you I wouldn’t have anything to look forward to Charleen.”

Charleen put up a hesitant smile and answered, “You won’t. Now come on, let’s get going our food is going to get cold.” Although, it didn’t really matter to her, well, maybe just a little but if it was only a little then why was her eyes suddenly full of wetness.

Ethon put on a difficult smile and took Charleen's hands again. "Let’s just leave it at that. I'm sorry for making you embarrass. Let’s just get back in there and enjoy our food." It was just too hard, at least he got through it by telling her and that was enough already.

Charleen nodded agreeing and walked along next to Ethon as they went back in. At each table they had past, compliments were being made left and right.

"That was just so touching! You better stick with him young lady." A granny pointed at Charleen.

"Yeah, you two should get into acting. You might be good at it." A little boy stated sweetly.

Ethon and Charleen smiled nervously and sat back down at their original seats.

"So um, when you leaving?" Charleen began. She just had to put up that act of it being okay because she didn't want to be depressed. He did say that he wasn't going to be there forever. So she had hope.

"Saturday afternoon, 1:45 p.m."

"Okay...." Charleen replied expressionless.

Ethon looked up and found Charleen just playing with her food. "Eat up. You didn't even try it yet. It's good."

Still Charleen was faced down to her curry. Her long bangs were covering her face so Ethon couldn't define what was wrong with her.

A few seconds had past and Ethon still didn't get an answer. He then reached over and caressed Charleen's hands. Charleen winced and looked up.

"Charleen?....." He intended to study her eyes and read her expressions, searching and eyeing for an answer.

Quickly, Charleen smeared the tears off her face and forced a slight smile. "He-he, excuse me please..." she got right up and turned. Before she could, Ethon had already grabbed her wrist.

"You do care about me don't you?"

"............................." still no answer.

With that, Ethon soon unwillingly let go of her wrist. He watched Charleen making herself to the ladies bathroom. He waited patiently for her and not once he took his eyes off of the bathroom door. 15 minutes had past already when Ethon looked at the time. "What's taking her so long?" he thought.

20 minutes later, still not sign of her. Ethon was starting to get worried and he was tempted to just go over and find out for himself. Just before he could, his phone rang.

*Ring *ring *ring (Ethon's cell phone)

"Hello, Ethon speaking?"

"Ethon, it's me man. Just wanted to call and let you know Shine and I aren’t at the restaurant any more." Alex's voice came on the line.

"Okay then. Yeah, Charleen and I are at the Gunchi Noodle House. Sorry we never came back." Ethon scratched his neck.

"Naw, it's alright. Hey, your father called earlier. He wanted me to remind you about the anniversary dinner this evening."

"Ah-man, I almost forgot about it. It's like in 3 hours" Ethon rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah, bring Charleen. I'm taking Shine. I already asked her" Alex replied cheerfully.

"Ye..yea...ha..." Ethon hesitated wildly. He wasn't sure if Charleen would say yes, knowing that she's in a bad mood now.

"Alright man. See you tonight."

"Yeah, later." *Click *

Soon after, Charleen finally came out from the bathroom and Ethon had expect that she was going to be frowning but nonetheless she wasn't. She came out with a smiling face. This caused Ethon to wonder how she could all of a sudden smile so brightly like that. There was absolutely something behind that beautiful smile of hers. Something that he'll never know…..

End of chapter 7

aww thankq hehe, here's chapter 6. Please invite others to come read my story toos. I love getting feed backs. Even 2 feed backs made me happy. ALL OF YAH NEEDA MAKE MEHAPPY LOL HAHAAHAHHA jk hehhe

ENJOY

Aww, that chapter was soo good. I thought Ethon was soo sweeet! Update with next chapter soon!!


Side notes -- It's Utada Hikaru
And try to reply in one post. Unless your updating chapters, then you can double post, but other then that please don't. Thanks.

Chapter 8

"Alright, I'm ready. Let's go.” Charleen gave Ethon a bright smile.

Moments ago when she was in the bathroom, the whole time she sat on the toilet and thought to herself. She was angry that Ethon had to leave so soon. Entangled by the mix emotions within herself. Charleen tried very hard to convince herself that she didn't have anything for Ethon, but why did her heart collapsed when the news flew through her ears. Why did it hurt so painfully every time she thought about Ethon? However, either way it was going to hurt her. If she opens her heart to Ethon, it's going to hurt to be so far away from him. If she turns away from Ethon, it's going to hurt not being able to be with him. The best way, was just to let it all to fate.....smile high, and just let it to fate.....

Ethon arched his eyebrows and stared at Charleen’s bowl of curry. “But uh…you didn’t even eat your curry.”

“That’s okay. I’m full.”

“But—,” Ethon pointed at her food.

“Come on, I’m ready lets go.” Charleen grabbed Ethon by the arm and attempted to pull him up.

"Are you okay?" Ethon struggled a smile in return. He stood up from his seat as if going by Charleen’s commands.

"Yeah, of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay hum? Charleen grinned innocently.

Ethon shrugged a little "I don' know. I really wish I could read your mind." Sadly, Ethon stared over to Charleen from the ground. They exited the noodle house in silence. With Ethon's answer, Charleen couldn’t bare to say another word. He knew exactly that she wasn't what she appears to be. Either way, she didn't care. It was for the best of them. Charleen didn't want to be mad at Ethon for unnecessary things. She wanted him to be happy on his last few days with her. So why would she want to ruin it right?

"Have you heard when the doctors will be releasing my mother?" Charleen changed the subject.

"Yeap, she's actually getting out this Friday."

"Yeah? You'll take me to go visit her tonight won't you?"

"Why wouldn't I Charleen? Of course I'll want you to see her." He smiled.

Charleen's face lit with a brush of happiness and she, by the second, felt butterflies in her tummy. The feeling, she felt as if it was going to burst out of the tips of her fingers. Her heart fluttered every time Ethon gave her those beautiful smiles of his. She kept on trying and trying to stop herself from letting Ethon steal away her heart, but at this point, it already felt like her heart was gone.

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask you something." Ethon stopped to face Charleen. Charleen looked up from her trance and found Ethon blushing wildly.

She was, in fact, quite amused by this kind of expression. "He-he, yeah?"

"MmMmm.....well, mm..." Ethon was so scared of getting rejected, but what the heck, life was too short to waste any more time "ahem, at my father's company, we're hosting an anniversary party tonight and I...I um..was wondering...if you wanted to be my guest?" ETHON! A DATE not a GUEST! What in the heck was he saying???

Charleen chuckled and answered softly "Your guest? I don't think I'll fit."

"Of course you'll fit. What makes you think you don't?"

"Because I'm not rich like you Ethon." Charleen's facial expression soon covered with sadness. "I'm not the class to be able to stand aside of you. I mean, it's you, what will the people of the country think of you? With a poor girl like me, it doesn't suit you Ethon." Charleen leaned back against Ethon's Lexus and took a breath. "So no, you can find someone else to go with you."

Ethon's uncertain face slowly turned into a frown. Major REJECTION! He thought. No wait! Remember, life was too short to take no for an answer! Suddenly Ethon's real inner self kicked in.

"I don't care. Why do you put this high class and low class thing in between us? Why does it matter so much to you?" his voice harsh and cold now.

Charleen looked up instantly when she noticed that Ethon had just grabbed her by the arms and she was put back against his car. His eyes locked desperately into hers and not a single thing could make him blink.

"Ethon......what are you doing?"

"...................." still no answer. Soon after, Ethon snapped out of his state and pulled Charleen away from car.

"Get in." He opened the door and pointed inside.

"What? Get in? Where to?"

"You'll see, just get in." Ethon demanded holding the passenger door open.

"Jeez! What the heck just happened to you? I mean one minute you're such a charmer and the next, you're a major jerk! What’s up with that?" Charleen snapped as she stumped her feet, crossing her arms.

"Just like you! One minute you're sad and frowning and the next, you're all happy. So like I've told you before. I don't take NO for an answer." Ethon pointed out.

"Ha! What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"

"Me! I'm what makes me think I can. So you going to get in or not?" he rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Yeah that's what I thought, you want to know why I made that explanation before?"

"Because I'm wealthy? Is that it? Well you know what? You're WRONG! Don’t you get it Charleen? I want to be with you for whom you are, for you...and I don't care what the heck other people in this world would think. Why do you think I asked you? If I was looking for a famous, rich person I wouldn’t be here with you today nor will you be the one I want to attend this anniversary dinner with." Ethon's voice trailed off.

Charleen opened her mouth wanting to shout, to strangle him for saying what he said, and yell at him just because, but closed it when she realized what her thoughts were previously. It wasn't the time to ruin Ethon's last few days. She's already told herself she'll make the best of it with him while he was still around. "Aright, fine! You can take me, but only to see my mom." She got in and Ethon closed the door.

"Good girl.” He winked at her and went to the driver's side. If it was this hard to get Charleen to go to the anniversary party then he had no choice but to force her to and he knew exactly what to do. Ethon’s grin became wider as he thought and he was quite content about his actions.

---------------------@ The hospital----------------------------------



"Mom, are you playing bingo again?" Charleen gave her mom a hug.

"Hi darling, yeah I am. I've already won three times in a row." Mrs. Vophaski replied raising her bingo piece.

Ethon approached Charleen's mom and sat next to her. "Mrs. Vophaski, how are you doing today?" He smiled sweetly.

"Aww, my dear Ethon. I'm very much better. What have you two been up to the whole day?"

Before Charleen could answer Ethon already barged in. "Um, Mrs. Vophaski...." he hesitated wildly "I have a favor to ask you..." he began.

Mrs. Vophaski glanced over from Ethon, to her daughter, and then back to Ethon. "Yes honey, what is it that favor you wanted to ask me?" her face was full of warmth.

Ethon gulped and continued, "well, I wanted to barrow Charleen tonight to attend my company anniversary this evening. I would highly appreciate it if you would let her go with me tonight." Ethon was extremely nervous at this point. With that, he paused with hope in his eyes.

A big smile spread across Charleen's mom's face and she patted Ethon on the arm. "I'll do you the favor and let you have her for as long as you want. But, you keep a good eye on her alright" she tapped Ethon's cheeks.

"Yes, Yes! Thank you, of course I will. You can lay your trust on me ma'am."

Mrs. Vophaski glanced over to see Charleen's reaction. "Charleen dear, you should get going. The night will be coming soon." Charleen stood there expressionless. Did that man just ask her mom when she's already rejected him? Must've taken a lot of nerve to be able to do that.

"Uh...if you give permission mom.” Charleen nodded.

"Of course child, you never get to go any where. Now is the time you start getting out there."

After visiting Mrs. Vophaski and walking in the hallway, Ethon had to stop by the restroom so Charleen waited patiently by the door. It was 7p.m in the evening and the party wasn't going to start till nine. Charleen was nervous of what she was going to wear. How to dress like to fit with Ethon and what to do to not make a fool out of herself while over there.

"Come on lets get going?” Ethon surprised her from behind. They were now just about to walk down the steps of the hospital and Ethon quickly grabbed her left hand. He dragged her down the stairs and right after they got out of the hospital Charleen stopped.

"Ethon, What am I going to wear?" she questioned with full concern.

"Oh, we'll find you something. We've still got some time.” Ethon grinned.

"Where should we go?"

"Where I was going to take you before. Remember?" Ethon squinted closer into Charleen's face.

Charleen arched an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't remember" she hesitated.

"You'll see." Ethon took her hands again and forced her at his pace.

20 minutes later, they had arrived at humongous building. Charleen's eyes went round when she saw the tall 30 stories look-alike building in front of her.

"Here, we're going to go do a little shopping for you."

"What, shopping, in here? Isn’t this a luxurious mall?" she asked without blinking away from the building.

"So what if it's luxurious, we're going to find you a nice dress for tonight."

Charleen narrowed her eyes at Ethon and attempted to argue but kept her mouth shut instead.

"Come on we gota hurry. We've only got a few hours." Ethon suggested. He slipped his hands into Charleen's and pulled her forward into the entrance.

Floor to floor, aisle through aisle and store to store, they went. The whole entire time, Ethon had not once let go of Charleen's hands. It was rather irritating for Charleen but at the same time, she was happy her hands were being comforted.

Finally, Ethon came to a stop and he stared directly up into the high walls of a store.

"There...isn't it beautiful. I can totally picture you in something like that." Ethon pointed.

Charleen arched both her eyebrows while she glanced over to Ethon and up to where he was pointing. "Whoa, it looks so....so..." she just couldn't find the correct word.

"SO SEXY!!” Ethon announced as his eyes grew wider by the minute. "I want that one.” He went forth towards the dress.

"White? You expect me to wear White. Charleen arched an eyebrow.

"Yep, you'll look just like an angel."

When they got closer, the dress was gorgeous! It was plain, but full of silk. The dress was long to the ankle and along the end of the dress, pearls dangled. It was a wide open neck line that revealed the bare shoulders, the fabric was crunched elegantly. A slit at both sides of the dress that ended by the knee. It was absolutely a master piece.

"Wow, how.....beautiful...." Charleen gulped, still amazed.

"Yup, it's going to look great on you. Come on lets go get it paid for."

"Huh? No, look at how much it's going to cost!" Charleen pulled the price tag out.

"$892.99,” Ethon read. He led out a laugh, grabbed it from her, and made his way to the cashier.

"Ethon! Wait! I-"

"Come on we don't have any time!” Ethon shouted before Charleen could finish.

Charleen stood there for a moment and glared angrily at Ethon.

"Ready for check out?” The cashier asked.

Ethon placed the dress on top of the counter and smiled, pretending to not know that Charleen was already next to him scowling at him.

"So who's this dress for?" the cashier lady asked looking to Charleen.

Charleen blinked away from Ethon and relaxed her expression when she faced the cashier and blushed.

Ethon stared over to Charleen and grinned. "Who else would be blushing here?" he questioned playfully.

“Oh,” The cashier chuckled and beamed, “You have a generous boyfriend.”

Charleen’s tittered and went back into glaring at Ethon, oh how she hated his generousness and his sexy smile, and…and…gosh how she loved it all at the same time how he was so considerate too.

The cashier then bagged the dress in a nice decorated bag and handed it to Ethon. He handed her his card and paid for it.

Charleen, still speechless, just stood there and she really didn't know what to say. Finally she spoke, "Ah-hem, I don't like that one. I want this one" she refused the first pick because it was too expensive. Therefore, that is why she searched for a cheaper one.

Ethon stared at Charleen and chuckled. "So, you don't like this one?" he opened the bag in front of her.

"Naw, I don't. This one is a bit cheaper" she shook her head and brought up her choice.

In front of Ethon was a stripe pink and black dress. It wasn't as long as the first one but it was kind of cute too. It was actually all black and a deep pink stripe crossed the chest of the dress.

"Aww, that's a sexy dress too. We'll take both of them." Ethon said to the cashier.

"Ethon! Why are you so...so..." what was it that she was going to say?

"I'm so what, sweet? Yeah I know I am.” Ethon laughed.

"No! That’s not it!" she tried very hard not to raise her voice "and as I was saying, your a LOOSER! Yeah, that's right....uh you're a looser!” Charleen finished but yet, she still wasn't satisfied of what came out. That wasn't exactly what she wanted to say. She wanted to say something....something nice, like SWEET. Ethon was right, but why didn't it come out the right way?

Ethon arched both his eyebrows, including the cashier and the impatient people that were standing behind them. Soon after, Ethon finally caught the attention of the people once again.

"Would you two hurry up?” A man shouted from the back of the line.

"Yeah, what's taking so long?" another woman added.

The two looked around and the stares they were getting weren't very pleasant. Charleen had embarrassed Ethon in front of all of them. Even her self!

"Ha-ha....um...sorry.." she tittered. What a fool she's made out of herself. Ethon's going to hate her now. Charleen frowned and couldn't dare look at Ethon.

The cashier bagged the other dress and gave it to Ethon. "Thank you. Now let’s get going honey" he wrapped his arms around her and hid her in his chest. Ethon knew that when Charleen was embarrassed or nervous she likes to hide her face.

They soon made their way out of the big mall and went down the steps. Charleen was quiet the whole entire time. She had assumed that Ethon now hated her so she couldn't face him.

Ethon found Charleen in silence the whole time so he shook her gently. "Charleen...what's the matter?"

"............." no answer.

He pulled her to face him but she refused. She kept her gaze at his chest. "Aww, I'm sorry if I made you embarrassed. I didn't mean to."

"Naw, it's not you...it's me. I shouldn't have been so rude to you. I'm sorry..." Charleen responded calmly.

Suddenly Charleen felt herself pulled into Ethon's arms. He rubbed his cheekbone on the side of her hair and answered. "You don't have to be sorry, the moment you're sorry, I've already forgiven you" his breath tickled her neck as each word was said. What charmer he was, so seductive and loving. Charleen relaxed herself freely in Ethon’s arms and wished that moment could go on for eternity.

“You’re forgiven even if you haven’t done anything wrong. You’re an angel, and angel’s don’t make mistakes.” Ethon reminded her and tensed her more into his arms.

All Charleen could do was spread her smile happily into his chest. She wouldn’t have considered herself as an angel as Ethon said but for some reason, every word he’s said to her, she felt was true and no one could’ve said it the way he could…


End of Chapter 8

Awww!! I have a feeling Charleen's gonna give in

Great job!! Update soon =]

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Charleen! you're here too" a familiar voice caused Charleen to twirl around.

"Shine! aww I'm so glad to see you here too" Charleen exclaimed reaching out for a hug.

"Oh my gosh! you look so wonderful tonight!"

"aww, thank you. You look gorgeous too."

Ethon stepped forward from the side of Charleen and greeted Alex. "Hey bro, thanks for attending."

"No problem Ethon." Alex then looked at Charleen and smiled. Charleen returned the smile and nodded in greetings.

"So you got Charleen to come ey?"

"D@mn right, I could care less of being here if I couldn't get her to come." Ethon answered and grinned to Charleen.

Charleen nudged Ethon on the side and blushed. "He made me."

Alex laughed out loud and wrapped his arms around Shine. "Lets dance."

"Yes, shall we?" Ethon held out his hands, waiting for Charleen's acceptance.

Charleen and Ethon went hand in hand as they followed the other couple.

Just before they could step up the stairs to the dance floor Charleen paused.

"What's wrong now?" Ethon turned to her.

"I...I can't dance" Charleen kept her gaze at the steps and her heart raced rapidly.

Ethon chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Silly, come on I'll teach you." He lifted her hands matching shoulder height and lead her up the stairs, onto the dance floor.

"um..am I moving too slow?" Charleen hesitated.

"You're doing just fine." Ethon didn't care if she couldn't dance. All he wanted to do was hold her near him. He glanced down to their feet and saw that Charleen was nearly 3 feet away from him. Heck no he wasn't going to let her stay that far away from him.

"Huh? what?" Charleen struggled to let loose.

"Shhh..shhh...You were too far away. I want you to be this close to me at all times." Ethon whispered into her ears.

Charleen's heart melted suddenly and she stared directly into those dark brown eyes of Ethon's. She now realized that Ethon was gazing at her the whole entire time. As she looked deeper into his eyes she frowned. Ethon's eyes were shaky and it was definitely telling her something. What was it that he wanted to tell her through those sad eyes of his?

"You know, you're a very stubborn person." Ethon began.

Charleen glared out of her daze and scowled. She struggled to loosen from Ethon's arms but the more she did the tighter he held her.

"I figured you were going to do that." He giggled softly. "One of these days, you'll give in."

"Give in to what?" Charleen hissed.

"You know, give into love me. I know exactly how you are. You're afraid to open your heart because you're afraid that you can't trust me." Ethon pointed out.

"That's not true" she denied, blinking away.

"and you have a fast temper" he grinned and forced her to look at him again.

"No, that's not true too. I think I'm just myself."

"Exactly, you are yourself, that's what I like about you. You don't pretend to be someone you're not."

Charleen's angry expression loosen when she heard the twisted comment. She rolled her eyes and took a big sigh. "I can't breath. Would you please not hold me so tight."

"haha, there, how's that?" Ethon held her on each side of her waist now. Instead of knotting his hands on her back.

"Better." Charleen smiled "anyways, you're leaving in just a few days. Are you all ready?" she changed the subject.

"Nope." Ethon frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm missing something."

"What is it that you're missing huh?" Charleen arched an eyebrow.

"You." Ethon stated without any hesitation. His gaze glided down to her thin lips.

Charleen pretended to cough and she smiled glancing from place to place. Before she knew it, her lips were being locked by Ethon's. He kissed her as if he wanted it to last forever. He was going to be millions of miles away from this girl, and he wasn't guna leave without one last kiss. A brush here and a brush there. It was just enough to leave Charleen wanting more. Charleen closed her eyes and focused on the soft lips that were pressing against hers. She accepted him and returned the kiss letting him feel her love too.

Soon after, their heavenly kiss was interrupted by a huge applaud from the people surrounding them. Alex and Shine clapped their hands also, enjoying the lovable scene and whistled their heart out. The music had already stopped and all the couples on the dance floor had already left. Leaving Charleen and Ethon trapped in their loving moment.

"Oh my gosh!" Charleen instantly covered her eyes when she heard the crowd.

Ethon still caught up in his trance glanced around him when the kiss had broke. He scratched his neck and stared over to Charleen. He noticed she was rather surprised and she blushed heavily. Ethon then waved to the audience and shouted "Alright people, we're done."

"Come on, I want to introduce you to my father." They made their way off the dance floor quickly.

"What? meet your father? What am I going to do so I won't make a fool of myself?"

"You'll be fine. Trust me, he'll like you." Ethon assured her.

Charleen gulped and smiled nervously.

Alex and Shine waved for the couple's attention. Ethon saw the signal and headed that way.

"Aww man, that was great dude." Alex patted Ethon on the back.

Ethon tittered and ignored it by changing the subject. "Uh-em, so where's my father?"

"Oh, he's in a room discussing business with the other presidents from other fashion companies. I don’t know if it's going to be a good time to interrupt him yet." Alex replied.

Ethon frowned and stared to Charleen. "I guess next time?"

Charleen nodded and smiled. "Yeap, that's fine."

Momentarily a loud voice interrupted the four of them. Which caused them to all look different directions.

"ETHON! there you are!" Leah came forth stumping. When she reached them she stopped and glared at Ethon.

"Ha! and I thought we were going to come here together?" she lied. Leah was determined to win Ethon's heart again. No matter what she had to do. If she was to lie, she'll lie to get Charleen upset at him. Leah was in no condition to face the fact that she was going loose Ethon to some else.

Ethon crossed his arms and replied curtly. "Since when did I tell you we were going come here together?"

"We had it all planned out already. Don't you remember? But NOOO! you had to take this...this..." Leah paused a moment as she mumbles her way to the word...studying Charleen.."This LOW-LIFE! here!"

Charleen's face struck black and she wasn't going to take this again. Her eyes went shaky and tears were sparkling across the bottom of her eyelid. She then came forth to face Leah herself and looked her in the eye. "Low-life? I'll show you what low-life is." Her voice was dangerously cold.

!#$%^&*(*&^%SMACK!! !!@#$%^&*() and with that Leah fell too the ground covering her face.

"Stay low...just like that...You're not so HIGH anymore are you?" Charleen stared at Leah moaning on the floor.

Ethon, Alex and Shine with all the other people around the scene froze there.

"Was that what I thought just happened?" A girl gasped and pointed.

"Yey! yeah, you're not so High after all huh?" A little boy crossed his arms as he stood up by Leah.

"Shut up you fool!" Leah shouted. The boy stuck his tongue out at her and ran off.

Then the surprised audience gazed over to Charleen but she was already gone. Ethon searched around and there was no sign of her.


End of chapter 9

That'll teach her!! Go Charleen!!

hey! this is awesome!!! keep it up!!! =)

Chapter 10

"Charleen? where did she go?" Ethon questioned with wobbly eyes.

Alex and Shine looked at each other and then to Ethon "Iono...she was just right here?" they replied at the same time and shrugged.

"Urg, gosh, why does she always have to run away like that." Ethon groaned. Before Ethon could move a voice stopped him.

"Son, have you seen Naree yet? She is awfully beautiful tonight. I want you to meet her." Mr. Sangwa stated blocking Ethon's way.

"Father, sorry but I have to go. Maybe some other time alright."

"But son, It's Miss Kashiki's daughter. I thought you wanted to meet her?"

Ethon rolled his eyes as if irritated and answered "Father, please I need to get going. I needa go find someone. Now, out of my way." With that Ethon pushed his way through the crowd.

"but, but.." Mr. Sangwa stared away as the image of Ethon disappears into the crowd and he let out a loud sigh. "Owell, I'm just trying to find myself a daughter-in-law" he frowned and looked up finding Alex and Shine staring at him.

"Mr. Sangwa, Good evening." Alex came forth an shook his hand.

"Hello Alex" Mr. Sangwa glanced from Alex to Shine and his frown faded. "My, My and who are you miss?" he asked Shine.

"Hello, My name is Shine Fuduwoo. Alex's friend."

"Ah-hem, Girlfriend..." Alex interrupted and gave Shine a unsatisfied look.

Shine looked surprisingly to Alex and blushed as she glanced back to Ethon's father.

"oh, ha-ha. Either way, pleasure to meet you Miss. Fuduwoo.

Mr. Sangwa then glanced around the room and finally down to the ground. "Leah? what on earth are you doing down there?" his eyes grew wider by the minute. He crept over to where Leah was and held her by the arm as if to assist her.

Leah came to her senses, ignoring Mr. Sangwa. "Urg!! Ethon!" Leah screamed angrily. "You are not! absolutely not! going to leave me like that you hear me!" she brushed her dress and fixed her hair. "Excuse me, I have to go." With that, she walked off and steadied her anger, making herself to the bathroom. Leah left Alex, Shine and Mr. Sangwa arching their eyebrows, including the crowd around the scene.

Mr. Sangwa shook his head back and forth in disapproval. "What was that all about? What did Ethon do now? By the way, how come Everyone's acting weird tonight? First Ethon, then Leah?"

"Oh, it's nothing you should be worrying about Mr. Sangwa. I guess Leah just lost Ethon to someone else." Alex replied.

"Ohyeah? That's good. I preferred someone else any ways. So who's the lucky girl this time?" Ethon's father couldn't help but asked.

"You'll see her soon. Ethon actually wanted her to meet you but you were in a meeting so that's why he didn't come."

Mr. Sangwa nodded. "Alright then. I'll just have to wait and see who my daughter-in-law is guna be." A bright happy face brushed upon him and he excused himself from Alex and Shine.

"Charleen! Charleen! where are you?" Ethon shouted when he got outside. All in response was just his echoing voice. He ran his fingers through his thin black hair and sighed. "Charleen, I'm sorry.....what are you guna think now?...that I brought you here to torture again?..." Ethon asked himself sarcastically and frowned. He gazed down to the high steps of his company and sat down by the stairs. Tears hung along the lines of his bottom eye-lid and for some reason it just wasn't falling out....he was confused. Confused of what he was doing wrong that always made Charleen upset. Why can't he make her happy? Was he not protecting her in the way the he should? Was she not satisfied with his presence? What in the world was it that caused her discomfort almost every time he looks at her? Ethon looked up into the star and stared off. The stars were as bright as can be. Suddenly Ethon caught his eyes chasing after a shooting star. He smiled a little and gazed back down to the ground. *sniff*sniff* he bit the side of his bottom lip and inhaled deeply. "Charleen....." exhaling softly...

"Ethon......" the most expected voice caused Ethon wince.

"Charleen?..." he asked searching around as he stood up. "Where are you?..." he squinted to get a better view.

"Come over here..."

"Where? I can't see you...do something so I see you.." Ethon turned around, back and forth.

Soon after a figure came out from the shadows of the trees, next to the building. Ethon peered over to make sure it was Charleen. Instead he saw a figure dressed in all white. In her hands, she held a beautiful white dove. The dove sat calmly in her hands and as she walked forward out of the shadows it was Charleen.

Ethon's face lifted in happiness and he walked slowly towards her. "Charleen, I...."

"shh....Ethon...look...it's a Dove. Isn't it so beautiful?" Charleen beamed sweetly up to Ethon.

He smiled in relief, knowing that she was okay and she didn't just run off like last time. Ethon stared at the dove and caressed it. "It's hurt..."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I picked it up when I came out here."

"And I thought you ran away like last time.." Ethon managed to lighten up now.

Charleen gave him a weird look and grinned back. "Silly, naw I was glad I gave her what she wanted. Felt good..." she chuckled "I came out here because I just thought I needed some fresh air and to lighten my mood."

"Here, take it. You wana see if it can fly now?"

Ethon gave an uncertain look but held the dove in his hands.

"No..wait wait...come over here" Charleen insisted as she jumps up into the higher steps of the building. "I think you can make it fly from a higher height" she pointed aside of her.

"Alright.." Ethon nodded and took a few steps up to where Charleen was.

"Okay, here we go....1...2...3..FLY!" They said in unison. Yes, it flew. Charleen and Ethon smiled happily watching the dove fly away. As the dove flew off, a feather was left behind, arching back and forth and into Charleen's hand.

Charleen inhaled deeply as the feather slowly rests itself in her palm. "Ethon, look. A feather" her face lit with joy.

Ethon gazed at Charleen when she caught the feather and he sighed with a smile. "My angel...." he whispered. Before he could think any more he found himself letting Charleen listen to his heart. His arms were wrapped around her tightly and she struggled at first but then she became still. "Just let my hold you like this....just for a little while...." he whispers into her ear.

"Ethon...." Charleen trailed off. She listened to his heart and it thumped faster and faster as he held her tighter.

"You're my angel...." he said once more rubbing his cheek against her hair and a tear streamed across his face.


End of Chapter 10

Awww...Charleen's gonna love Ethon in the end..I KNOW IT!! 2

but ethons going back. >< poor charleen

Chapter 11

The night past by fairly quick and Ethon decided to drop Charleen off home, let her change and take her to go visit her mom at the hospital again.

They soon came to a stop infront of Charleen's house and she quickly got out of the car. She bent down by the passenger window and smiled at Ethon. "Hold on alright...I'll be right back."

"Alright, make it quick." Ethon replied without blinking away, watching her hustle to her steps, then into her house.

Ethon watched a distance away and when Charleen closed the door, the lights had flicked on. It was a bit too far away to hear anything going on in the house but he waited and waited. 15 minutes had past and Charleen still hadn't come out of the house yet. Ethon turned off his engine and decided to wait just a few more minutes more. 'What's taking her so long?' he thought. 5 minutes...6 minutes...'uhg! what the heck? why isn't she coming out?' he thought again. Ethon peered to the window, he saw the window curtains moving all sudden, and at that point, he figured something was wrong. Instantly, got right out of his car and, not even taking a breath, he ran directly towards the house.

"CHARLEEN! OPEN UP!” he shouted and pounded hard on the door.

He could hear the glass shatters and the furniture being thrown around. Ethon's heart tripled the beat and he didn't know what to do. "CHARLEEN! LET ME IN! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?" Soon after he heard a man's voice yelling.

"G@d@mn B!tches! What did I tell you about leaving this house! I made it loud and clear that no one leaves this house around the time I'm home!"

Ethon's eyes grew larger than ever and he started kicking and pounding on the door all over again. "Sh!T! F*ck'n B@stard!" He ran to the window and started pounding. He clenched his fist along with his teeth and anger fled through him entirely.

!@#$%^&*CRACK!! ~!@#$%^& The glass on the door shattered immediately causing the man in the house to startle into that direction.

"ETHON!!" Charleen's voice cried out. "Please! leave here! I beg you!"

Ethon heard it loud and clear but he ignored it. Through the glass window, he reached his hand to the doorknob. Ethon made himself half way through the hallway and stopped when he saw the man that was standing infront of him. This man was about the same size as Ethon. Maybe just a little bit shorter. He had long hair to his neck and his eyes were pink as if he's never slept his whole life.

"What tha? what the F*ck are you doing here? Who the H3ll are you?" the man glared at Ethon dangerously.

Ethon didn't answer at all and not even a bit he was scared of this man. He wasn't guna let any one hurt Charleen. "Where is she? Where's Charleen?" he burst out angrily, trying to make his way past the man. Before Ethon could pass him, the man brought his chest up against him and blocked his way.

"Where do you think you're going punk?"

"Punk?” Ethon gave in a deadly stare followed by an evil smile and at full force, swung a fist directly at the man's nose.

"AH! M0th3r F*ck'r!! You-" Before the man could start cussing Ethon grabbed his shirt, slammed him to the wall, and pined him by the neck "Now, I'm guna ask you one more time. Where...is...Charleen?"

"Oh, so you're the rich b@stard that took my slave and that piece of sh!t? I hada go all the way to that G0d@mn hospital down town to drag that B!tch back home!" He gave Ethon a nasty look up and down, "and you think you're guna take them again ey? "

"Yes I am and you know what? This time when I'm guna make sure you NEVER see them again. Because you wana know why?" Ethon's looks were to kill as he assured the man, "Because your a$$ is guna go to jail after this!"

"ETHON! I'm up here!" Charleen cried again, which seemed like it was coming from upstairs.

Ethon heard her voice and got distracted. Before he knew it, the man got out of his grip and instantly punched him back. Ethon fell backwards and hit the wall behind him. At not even a second, the man charged directly towards Ethon for another hit but Ethon won the speed and ducked. He slipped himself behind the man and pinned him by the neck again. "If you hurt her, if you even touch her, I WILL KILL YOU!" he fired out.

"Peeh!" The man spat directly in Ethon's face causing him to turn away. Not even a bit Ethon had let go of his tight grip at the man's neck. "B@STARD!" Ethon swung a fist back at the man again. And this time, Ethon made sure he was knocked out for a while. Breathing heavily, he then remembered Charleen's voice from upstairs. "Hold'on Charleen, I'm coming girl" he then raced upstairs and continuously screamed out Charleen's name.

When he got closer to the room, he thought Charleen was in, not only did he hear her cries but he also heard someone else's. "Mrs. Vophaski!" he broke the door open and his face struck black when he saw them both.

Mrs. Vophaski's clothes were all ripped up into pieces and bruises appeared all over her face. Her eyes were all swollen up and purple. He glanced to Charleen, she was horrified, and she shook intensively. She still had on the same dress he bought her a while ago, but now, it was all marked with blood. "0h my G@d! ETHON!" Charleen reached out her arms for Ethon.

"Charleen..OH G0D!" Ethon jumped over the broken lamp and hurried himself to embrace the both of them. "Did that B@stard hurt you? DID HE HURT YOU?!" His expressions were in demand to hear the truth.

Charleen and her mother both shook their heads together and they just kept on bawling their eyes out. "I didn't know Ethon, I really didn't know he was guna be home."

"Ethon, my dear, thank you...thank you..."

"shhh...shhh....shhh....it's guna be alright...I'm guna get you two outa here.." he carefully assisted both of them up but Charleen could barely get up.

"Oww....Ethon I can't..." her voice trembled and she limped a little.

"What? what's wrong?" Ethon looked down to her feet noticed the line of blood that streamed down her feet. His eyes lit with anger and he narrowed his eyes to the spot. "Alright, here." He lifted her into his arms and Mrs. Vophaski followed quickly.

Down the steps all three of them went and before they went out the door Ethon looked back and glared at them man for a second. "I don't care who the h3ll you are, but you're never guna see these beautiful faces again. I assure you." With that Ethon carried Charleen and carefully placed her in his back seats.

"Alright, Mrs. Vophaski, sit in the front please." Ethon commanded.

Mrs. Vophaski nodded and got in the car.

Driving crazily, their first stop was guna be back to the hospital. Ethon had to take Charleen to cure her bleeding ankle, which looked like something had smashed on it and her mother wasn't heal yet from the other incident.

"So who the heck was that man back there?" Ethon finally spoke as he calmed himself down.

Mrs. Vophaski sighed and hesitated. "My husband."

"Your husband? First husband?" he asked just to make sure.

"Charleen's step-father."

Ethon nodded because his intuition was correct. "I figured. Charleen had talked about her father before but I'm sure her real father wasn't like that prick back there. I'm not letting you or Charleen go back. I'm going to find you two a different place, tonight."

"......................." With no answer at all, Charleen's mother turned to Ethon with gladness in her eyes and she was absolutely thankful Ethon had come to their rescue. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known what could've happend that night. Could she have been dead? possibly. Could she have been extremely beaten up? no doubt.

Ethon saw that he hadn't received a reply but he knew exactly what Mrs. Vophaski was thinking just by glancing at the looks of her face. He was glad she felt that way and he wasn't guna let her live like that ever again.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of you two. I promise." Ethon added and beamed over to Mrs. Vophaski. After that, he glanced into his rear view mirror and Charleen's eyes were closed. She looked as if the soul was knocked out of her. Her lips were fairly dried and her face pale as ever. Ethon swerved to park at the front entrance of the hospital and quickly lifted Charleen out of the back seats.

"Com'on help me!" he shouted to the nurse who were running out from the hospital. "Her ankle, it hasn't stop bleeding yet" Ethon told one of the nurses. He placed her one of the bed and they rolled her off. "I need you to check her scars on her head too." Ethon commanded one of the other nurses to take Mrs. Vophaski.

He waited anxiously by the door of the waiting room. Soon after, one of the doctors opened the door.

"Ethon Sangwa?"

Ethon turned around and replied, "Yes, that's me. How are they?"

"Oh, they'll be fine. We've already sewed up the bleeding ankle and her mother, we've already re-wrapped her scars and put some medicine on it which would help it heal faster." The doctor answered handing Ethon a sheet of paper to sign.

"Alright, that's good." The responses actually lighten up his mood a little to hear that they were going to be okay. "So, I didn't get the chance to find out what really happend. Did you happend to find out?"

"Yeah, as a matter fact, in Charleen's case, she explained that she was pushed down to the ground while trying to stop her mother from getting strangled. When she fell down she knocked over the lamp table and the lamp, including the lamp table had smashed onto her ankle. I would assume, she was cut deeply by the ankle when the lamp hit it." The doctor explained briefly and sighed.

Ethon sighed also and glanced away. "All I know is that, they'll never see the person who hurt them again" he trailed off.

"Alright, you can go see them in about 20 minutes."

"Sounds good, thank you." Ethon nodded and then let the doctor get back to his job. "If there's any thing you need, my cell number is on the documents. I'm going to go and get some food."

"Alright, Mr. Sangwa."



A while had past and Charleen finally came to her senses. She was still weak but she couldn't close her eyes again without knowing where Ethon was.

"Excuses me ma'am, Ethon...Ethon Sangwa? is he still here?" she struggled the breath to ask.

The nurse came over and stood by the side of the bed. She smiled and caressed Charleen's hands. "Ethon? Ethon um...." the nurse thought confusedly for a moment and finally answered "Oh, yeah Mr. Sangwa brought you here. Well, I heard before he went somewhere. I'm actually not sure when he will be coming back. Did you need something?"

Charleen frowned and her eyes lowered out of hope. She was urging to see Ethon's face and she couldn't go back to rest, though she was so weak, until she saw his face. "No, I....I don't need anything. Thank you though" she forced a slight smile and rested her head back on the pillow.

The nurse looked at Charleen weirdly and then smiled as if understanding. "Alright, the red button on top of your right hand side, above your head, is the button you press if you need anything alright. In the mean time, I'm guna go check up on the other patients and I'll be right back okay."

Charleen nodded weakly and she went back into her thoughts of wondering when Ethon was guna come back. If only she could see his lovely face now, she wouldn't have to feel so dizzy and helpless. He would totally make her pain go away. By seeing him would make her forget on the concentration of the pain that's going through her body.

Momentarily, Charleen heard loud footsteps that sounded louder and louder as she listened carefully. Before she could think of who it was, the door swung open. It was ETHON! Right when she wanted him to be there most, he was and she was glad.

"Ethon." Charleen struggled to get up from her rest. Forcing herself up so she could get a better look at Ethon. She saw that he was breathing heavily and therefore, she figured out who's foot step it was that was running in the hall way. He had come back for her and her face lit with joy. "I thought you left."

Ethon's breathing finally calmed and he steadied his breathing. He gulped and took another breath. "Nope, I wouldn't leave you. I just went to go grab some food for you and your mom. I already dropped off the other bag in your mom's room." He then pulled out bag of food from his back. "Yum, Yum, and it's all for you."

"aww, Ethon, you didn't have to."

"No, I had to. You need to eat. At least I'm not making you eat fries and celeries right?" he said playfully.

Charleen blushed and lightly slapped him on the arm as he sat next to her. "Hey, stop that."

"haha, well I brought you something you might love" he set the bag of food by the lamp table.

"And what might that be?"

"Guess."

"Huh? You want me to guess?"

"Yeah, of course. Why not? hehe it's what you like only." Ethon gave her a sexy wink and beamed her way.

Charleen gave Ethon a sharp look and glanced from the bag and back to Ethon. "Alright, Tofu?"

"And? what else?"

"huMMm?...CHICKEN!"

Ethon's smile got even wider, "yeah, and...and???"

"um..curry? stir-fry? soup?" Charleen arched an eyebrow and chuckled.

Ethon noticed he got Charleen to finally smile and he was glad. He reached into the brown bag and pulled out a warm plate of fried rice with chicken stir-fry. He even brought her a warm container of tofu soup with a bowl.

"Ta-dah! what you love the most."

"How yummy!" Charleen clapped her hands and smiled happily. "aww, Ethon how sweet. How did you know I liked tofu?"

Ethon suddenly gave her a weird look and arched his eyebrow. "Um, you told me you liked tofu?"

Charleen's smile faded and she thought for a moment. "Yes, I forgot. hehe silly me."

"Here, you're guna have you're soup first." Ethon lift the spoon full of tofu a distance away from Charleen's mouth. Attempting to feed her.

"uh...You?" she pointed to him, "are guna feed me?" and pointed back to herself.

Ethon nodded, "yeah dah, you're too weak right now. That means I should be feeding you...now Ahhhh" he brought the spoon just about an inch away from her lips now.

Charleen blushed and after a moment she sighed and gave in. "Fine, fine...ahhhh..." the tofu soup went straight into her open mouth and she gulped it down. "MmMmm..that was good" then she smiled.

Out of no where Charleen caught herself gazing into Ethon's eyes and she found that he was also doing the same thing. She wondered what were those looks telling her and what in the world was going on in that little mind of his. Ethon on the other hand, wondered the same exact thing.

"Hold still.." Ethon finally broke the silence and he reached over to Charleen's face.

"oh, um..what is it?" Charleen attempted to pull back but Ethon had already palmed her cheeks. She had strands of hair that was covering her pretty hazel eyes so Ethon couldn't help but brushed it out of the way so he could look deeper into those eyes. He came forth slowly. Closer and closer he came and she knew what was guna happend next. Charleen slowly closed her eyes and suddenly she heard Ethon scream.

"OUCH OUCH OUCH!!!! HOT HOT HOT!!!!"

Charleen instantly open her eyes and found Ethon jumping up and down and his face was burnt up in redness! He shook his hand at the speed of lightening.

"Ahh! Ethon what happend?" Charleen was still very weak but she managed to get up to see what happend. She faced Ethon and just by reading his expression he needed something which was the opposite, yes correct opposite! "COLD! um.." she looked around and around and finally, she saw the cold glass of water that the nurse had brought in for her earlier. She quickly grabbed it and splashed it all over Ethon's hand, the spot that he held out before. "Ethon, what happend?"

"Ahhh...relief....uhg..that's what I get when trying to bust my move you know." Ethon laughed out loud "that hurted.." he then looked up to Charleen and chuckled to himself.

Charleen's face went puzzled and she couldn't understand why he was suddenly chuckling when he had just made a painfull scene. "So um, what did you do?"

Ethon looked at her and chuckled again. Then a second later he finally pointed to the spilt soup that was all over the bed. Charleen glanced over and glanced back to Ethon. Out of no where she started laughing with him too. She then gave him a dumb-founded glare and shook her head.

"Ethon, you should've watch what you were doing."

"It's all you're fault." Ethon blamed her.

"All my fault? what did I ever do?" she crossed her arms.

"You're making me go CRAZY!!!" he admitted loudly and gazed down to the floor and blushed. Charleen didn't receive a smile from Ethon as how she would always expected, so she had to believe it. He was being serious. She slowly released her folded arms and before she could try to go forth to him she lost her balance. Dizziness came upon her and she was starting to loose her strength again.

"Charleen!" he rushed over to her and caught her just in time before she kneeled down to the ground. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No, it's not your fault." She stared up at him an smiled weakly. When her vision was a bit clearer again she studied Ethon's face once more. Now she realized that at the corner of Ethon's bottom lip was a mark of dried blood. She reached slowly to his lips and gently touched it. "Ethon, I'm sorry you were hurt by my step father..." tears sparkled along her eye lid. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble...especially getting you into all this trouble....forgive me..."

Ethon shook his head slowly and replied. "Fool, I was meant to be your Hero remember?" he gave in a quiet laugh and lifted her up into his arms. He then laid her down back onto the bed and tucked her in. "Do you wana eat any more? You only had one bite of your tofu."

"Naw, I'll eat more when I feel hungry. Thank you...."

**Knock Knock***

"Can I come in?" a small voice asked behind the door.

"Come in please." Ethon answered.

The same nurse that was taking care of Charleen walked through. She smiled sweetly when she saw Ethon and she glanced over to Charleen. "So is this the man you asked me about earlier?"

Ethon stared at Charleen surprisingly and a bright smile crossed his face. She thought about him? And all this time, he thought he was the only one who showed that he cared for her. Guess she doesn't like to express her feelings. He knows better now how she is.

"A-hem, um..yeah..." Charleen struggled smile and looked up to Ethon. Of course, as she expected, he beamed at her with a big smile and she as usual, blushed and blushed. What the heck, what was there to hide when she knew her love for Ethon was growing and growing. But was it guna stop growing once Ethon leaves? What was guna happen to their growing love for each other? Charleen's smile slowly turned into a sad frown when the thought skipped through her mind, reminding her. Why does time have to fly by so fast? and now she's left with so little time to be with him....how was she guna live knowing Ethon wasn't guna be by her side for the next 365 days?

End of Chapter 11

Awww...Ethon's so sweeett..They *would* make such a kyute couple!!

Chapter 12

It was the night before Ethon had to leave back to Korea and he tried his best to spend as much time as he could with Charleen. While he was going to be away, he had insisted that Charleen and her mother stayed in the place that he had specially reserved for them. It was a nice luxurious apartment, big, wide and from the balcony, they could see the beautiful lights of Tokyo. Ethon was happy to have Charleen and her mother in safe hands. Nothing, nothing at all was going to harm them now.

“Ethon, something the matter?” Charleen placed her hands on his shoulders.

“Just getting some fresh air.” Ethon decided to stare off into his train of thoughts from the balcony. Just to let out his worries and frustration.

After a moment of silence, Ethon stared over to Charleen because she was so quiet. “What’s on you’re mind?” he asked.

“Nothing, just hoping you’ll have a safe trip tomorrow.”

“Tee-hee, I’ll be fine.” Ethon gave a smile that didn’t quite wrinkle his eyes and slipped his hands into Charleen’s. “You know, I’ve been thinking…” he stared off again.

Charleen turned to face him and gave him her full attention.

“I want you to go with me. How does that sound?”

“………………..” Charleen just couldn’t move her mouth to answer Ethon. Part of her was happy because he actually considered that option and the other part; she couldn’t because she was still trying to finish her last year of school. She absolutely didn’t want to miss any of her exams and fail. Soon she cleared her throat and gave him her answer. “I wish I could Ethon, but I have school that I still have to finish. I’m sorry...” She knew it would hurt him and he might take it the wrong way, yet it was the truth and she only had a few months left. School was rather important to her…or was being with her love more important? For a moment there, she was content of what she just said but why wasn’t it making the pain in her heart beat any calmer? God she was scared…scared of loosing Ethon. What if he changes his mind when he comes back? What will she do then?

Ethon chuckled and tighten his grip on Charleen’s hands. “I understand, but you’ll wait for me right?” He forced himself to understand that she had to finish school but half of him wanted her to go so badly. Facing the fact that he was not going to get to see her lovely face for one full year, he couldn’t bare to let her see his sadness of how her response had made his legs weak. He knew he was going to be sad, worried, and lonesome without her but he did it for the sake of the company and still, he couldn’t let his father down too.

“I’ll wait, that’s only if you’re coming back.” Charleen answered and smiled.

“Why wouldn’t I? Of course I will but I’m scared…”

Charleen arched both her eyebrows not comprehending, “and what was there to be scared about huh?” He was scared too she thought. Guess she wasn’t the only one, he felt the same way.

“I’m afraid you might have a change of heart when I come back and you might forget about me.”

Charleen managed a grin and tried making herself look like it wasn’t a big deal. “Don’t think that way. If you promise to come back, I’ll promise to stay right here and wait until the day you come back.”

Ethon beamed and took Charleen into his arms, “I’m very happy…I’m already wanting to come back…”

Charleen chuckled and pinched Ethon a bit on the side, “silly, you haven’t even gone yet why are you already wining.”

“Tsk-he-he, I know….God I’m going to miss you…” Ethon squeezed Charleen just a bit tighter, not wanting to let her go at all. It felt too good to have her in his arms and if he could demand for the time to stop ticking, he’ll do so yet, he wasn’t able to and that was what made him sadder as each second past.

Charleen nodded with hope in her eyes. She gazed into her own thoughts while being held in Ethon’s arms. It was sad, sad to see that after tomorrow she was going to miss Ethon, and she knew that it was going to cause her misery living without him. Charleen tried to imagine how life was going to be like without having him there to company her. Ever since she met him, her thoughts and feelings were well considered and there hadn’t been a moment where she was sad, because she had him. It felt as if he’s snatched her heart away from her and he took care of it unconditionally.

“Sweethearts, dinner is ready.” Mrs. Vophaski’s voice came through from the kitchen.

Charleen and Ethon glanced back and then to each other. “Come on lets go eat.” Ethon smiled.

The three of them sat in silence as they ate there food. No one was able to speak a word knowing how emotional it was going to be the next day.

“Mmm, this is very good.” Ethon broke the silence and took a bite of the vegetables from his plate.

Mrs. Vophaski beamed over to Ethon and replied, “Why thank you Ethon. Charleen, did you like it?”

Charleen looked up from her plate of food and hesitated, “Um, yeah…” she stared down to her food and realized the whole time she was just poking at it.

“Honey, what’s the matter? You haven’t even tried it. Go on, eat.” Her mother insisted.

“You got to eat. You can’t let your self starve like that.” Ethon stated and soon saw Charleen not even able to look at him. His smile slowly disappeared as he studied her and it seemed as if there was nothing in the world that could make her frown even more.

Charleen glanced from her mom and to Ethon. She had already seen that Ethon caught her expression and she instantly forced a smile to hide it. Quickly, she shoved spoon after spoon full of food into her mouth and chewed hastily. “Mmm, very good” she complimented and started coughing. Ethon and her mother stared off and looked at each other weirdly.

“Charleen! Fool slow down.” Ethon gasped, giving Charleen his glass of water. “Take your time, no one’s fighting with you” he patted her gently on the back.

“Thank you…” she finally answered.

“Dear, dear, what were you thinking eating so fast like that. When I say eat, I don’t mean shove it all at once in your mouth sweetie.”

“Yeah, what were you thinking darling?” Ethon remarked, smiling at her, although his heart was aching and his eyes were teary. His angel was in deep pain and there was nothing that he could do to change it. Disappointed in himself….not any one else but him.

Hearing the word darling brought tears into Charleen’s eyes. It squeezed her heart and she couldn’t help it any longer so she burst out crying out of no where. This had caused Ethon and her mom to stare at each other again. She was just smiling and talking before and now…now she was crying as if there was never going to be a tomorrow and no one was able to feel her pain. Charleen’s mother had felt guilt suddenly for not noticing her daughter’s pain and she was speechless. Ethon on the other hand, stared at Charleen and he was in shock having to replay her sudden cry and his heart ached even more as he watched each tear gliding down her face.

“I hate you Ethon….I really hate you…why is it that you have to leave….” Her cries became harder and she couldn’t help suffering from the fact any more, that he was going to be gone, away, and far from her. In addition, also for all those times she had thought she was tough and strong….well….now she was the weakest. She was bawling like a sick fool but she could care less. She didn’t’ want Ethon to leave and she hated him for leaving….

“Charleen….I….I’m—,”

“No, please stop. I don’t want to hear you apologize. It won’t make me feel any better.” She demanded and held out her hand signing to not come any further. Charleen got dizzy from all the crying she was starting to get a head ache from thinking so much. “Don’t….”

“Charleen!” Ethon cried out and in a heart beat, caught her before she collapsed to the floor. He had noticed her ankle was not well yet and she was still having difficulties. “You’re not feeling well either…” He felt her wrist for her heart beat. “Come on, I’ll get you in bed,” Ethon attempted to lift her up but she refused.

“No! Stop it!” Suddenly, Charleen found her self hitting and punching Ethon on the chest. As hard as she could, wanting to express how much she hated him and angry that she couldn’t go with him. Her hits were with all her strength and soon after, it became calmer and Ethon could care less about the pain among his chest. He knew he was guilty and he was going to take the pain and feel the pain she was feeling too.

Ethon sighed and stroke Charleen’s hair gently. He smiled and whispered softly, “then just go with me….”

“No! No! I will not sacrifice my education to go with you! It’s not worth it!” she yelled but immediately regretted it. Was that what she really wanted to say?

The response totally hit Ethon and he was shattered completely. ‘It wasn’t worth it?’ he thought. ‘Where was she getting at now? She hadn’t felt the same way?’ In Ethon’s world, every thing was worth it when it came to Charleen. He gave her his heart and now it wasn’t worth it? Times before Ethon never wanted Charleen to see his disappointment, but then again, he was so hurt that it just slipped. He loosens his grip and soon after, he gave in to letting his hands glide down to her side.

“I guess it wasn’t worth it huh?” the tone of his voice became bitterly cold. All this time and to only realize that in the end, it was worthless? She didn’t mean it he knew it, but why? Why let his ears hear the things that will carry on pain and if not forever, for a long long time. Should he calm his beating heart and listen more to her hurt or should he act according to his pain? “I’m sorry if I ever did you wrong…..” Ethon tried controlling his pain that grew stronger and stronger but this time, his mind wasn’t with him and therefore, he had listened to the temper among his heart. He couldn’t say a word….was he just being too emotional? No, he was stabbed straight in the heart and by whom? By Charleen…the love of his life…

Charleen looked up and saw that Ethon refused to look at her. He kept his gaze in to his thoughts and moments later, he finally faced up to look at her. He smiled, but Charleen knew that behind that smile was a frown, a kind of frown she’ll never see nor understand. The wrong thing had slipped because she was angry at Ethon, angry that he had to leave her behind and she was going to be left alone, angry that he made her fall in love with him so quickly and then having to go away. There was so much left she had to tell him, express to him, and show him but it was the last night and nothing was going to turn back the hands of time. Charleen wished that if she could, she wouldn’t have ever wanted to meet Ethon so she wouldn’t have to face what she’s facing now.

Charleen was speechless, knowing that she just said something that she should’ve never said. She stared at him as he gave her his cold, never before seen, scowl mixed with a hesitant smile. Ethon clenched his teeth and continued. “Well, be happy then. I may just decide not to come back!” With that, he grabbed his jacket, and stumped out the door, slamming it shut.

“I’m….sorry Ethon….” Replaying of what just happened, it felt as if Ethon had just walked right out of her life and he was definitely going to be gone forever. ‘Now he’s never coming back, you’re a fool Charleen, a d@mn fool’ she thought. Charleen’s weak legs couldn’t stand the pain anymore and before she knew it she fell to her knees.

Mrs. Vophaski gasped and rushed over to catch Charleen. “Honey, you didn’t mean that did you?” she shook Charleen, trying to get her to open her eyes.

Charleen soon opened her eyes and replied weakly, “I said the wrong thing mom. I’m so
stupid. I didn’t mean it mom….” Her voice trailed off and she cried silently to herself.


The next morning

beep~ beep (Ethon’s alarm)

Ethon woke up heavy-hearted. He only got 4 hours a sleep since he couldn’t sleep last night. After what happened the night before, when he got home he gulped down a whole bottle of liquor and knocked himself out. Now he had a horrible hang over and his head was killing him. He grunted as making his way to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and faced himself in the mirror. Staring away, he then remembered he left Charleen last night without saying good-bye and he felt bad. Thinking back and forth, it finally hit him. The pain that poked his heart came back alive. He remembered of how she told him it wasn’t worth it to be with him and sacrifice her education for him. This had caused him to frown and his heart suffered again. He ran his fingers through his thin hair and sighed aloud.

“Charleen…..I didn’t mean it….” He whispered.

Ethon’s flight was schedule to leave at in a few hours but he wasn’t going to leave without having one last moment with Charleen. After the shower, he quickly dressed himself and proceeded out the door. His luggage and everything was already packed for him so he dragged that out too.


~Ding ~Dong (doorbell)

Ethon waited patiently for someone to come to the door. He had bought a big bouquet of red roses for Charleen as an apology. Moments later, he heard footsteps that he thought was Charleen’s and a slight smile appeared upon his face.

“Oh hello darling, how are you today?” Mrs. Vophaski stated when she opened the door.

Ethon nodded and forced a smile. He was hoping Charleen’s mother wasn’t mad at him for reacting the way he did the day before. “Good morning” he greeted.

“Come on in Honey.” Mrs. Vophaski let the door open wider and let Ethon in. Ethon searched around wondering where Charleen was. He sat down handed Mrs. Vophaski the roses.

“Here, this is for Charleen, I wanted to apologize of what happened yesterday.”

“Oh no, that is quite alright, Charleen actually went for an interview. She was called out this morning to go in at bout 8:30, so I’m really not sure when she’ll be home.” Mrs. Vophaski handed Ethon a cup of coffee.

“Thank you.”

“So when does your flight leave?”

“In about 2 hours. I really should’ve been there by now but I thought I come by and say good-bye to Charleen before I leave. I’ll wait just a bit but if she doesn’t come back in time, would you tell her I’m sorry and let her know I’ll call her when I reach Seoul?” Ethon took a sip of his coffee.

“Sure, sure I will. I do hope she comes back in time. She’s been gone a while now too.” Charleen’s mom sighed aloud.

Ethon stared at her and managed a slight smile. “Thank you.”

“For what dear?”

“For being a good Mother to Charleen. You know what’s best for her because you are her mother, and I really appreciate you being so patient with her. She’s a very sensitive person you know.”

“Tee-hee that is what a mother’s got to do right? As a matter fact, Charleen used to be a very strong girl. After her father’s deceased, she just changed. Her father meant everything to her. I do feel horrible that I wasn’t able to give her the same type of love her father had given her, but I do try my best to be both mother and father to her.” Mrs. Vophaski dazed off into her thoughts.

Ethon’s smiled once more and replied, “Either way, you’re her mother. I’m sure she’s happy to have you as a part of her life too. Even if she’s living without her real father, she has you to guide her just like her father would if he was still alive. I lost my mother not too long ago too, but I managed my ways and believed I could move on because she’s always in my heart. Not only that, meeting Charleen was so far, the best thing that happened to me and I’m thankful.”

By hearing Ethon’s touching words Mrs. Vophaski caressed Ethon’s hand and gave him a warm smile. “Thank you, thank you for being such a good person to Charleen and me. Our happiness was all because of you. We lived in misery and we didn’t know a way to get out of it. You came along and unknotted everything. We have much to repay you.”

“It was really nothing.” Ethon grinned and his phone rang. “Hello, Ethon speaking…..yeah I know, I’m coming.” He closed his phone and hugged Charleen’s mother. “Good-bye. I’ll be seeing you when I come back then.”

Ethon lift his eyes to see if Charleen could possibly be in sight, yet only to find that the coast was clear. She was no where to be found and as soon as he broke the hug he sighed out loud and smiled.

“Please tell Charleen what I said before. It’ll mean a lot to me.”

“I sure will sweetheart don’t you worry.” Charleen’s mother took a hold of one of Ethon’s hands and patted it.

“Thank you.” Ethon nodded, really hoping for the best as he glanced around just one more time.

“Have a safe trip dear. Please call if you need anything.”

“Alright.” Ethon waved and when he turned around he slowly frowned. He was disappointed he wasn’t able to see Charleen’s beautiful face one last time. Taking the elevator down, he gazed into his own thoughts and hoped for Charleen to just appear when the elevator door open.

‘Come on…Come on…..’ his mind spoke. Finally, the elevator door beeped and opened. Ethon’s heart instantly dropped to the bottom of his tummy when he saw that his wish had not come true.

Sadly, he walked out scowling to himself and before he got into the car, he paused to wait just a tiny bit longer. Maybe she might just appear and he could run o her and give her a nice long, big hug…God he missed her already. He looked around, searching desperately and just hoping that he’ll get to see Charleen. Even if he doesn’t get to talk to her, at least if he could see her face then he’ll be happy. A moment had gone by, which felt like forever, there was no sign of her. Unwillingly, he went into the back seat and instructed the driver to go. As the driver proceeded, he gazed out the window until he couldn’t see the top of Charleen’s apartment any more. “Good-bye, Charleen….” He blinked away and a tear escaped from his eyes.


04-08-06 hehe I made this chapter a bit more emotional! hehe
End of Chapter 12

Aww..Poor Ethon..=|..When they were arguing, I was like "NOOOO!! DON'T BELIEVE IT ETHON.." Gosh..It got to me..XDDD

OMGOSH!!!!! NOOO! DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING!!! WAT HAPPENS? ><

Chapter 13


Beep Beep Beep (Answering machine tone)

Charleen heard the answering machine and pressed blinking red button. “You have one new message, receive today, 12:51 p.m.” Her heart raced by the second, she obviously knew who it was. “Charleen, hey you….welps, I um..dropped by just a few minutes ago. I guess you don’t want to see me any more huh? That’s alright. I’m sorry about what happened last night. I didn’t mean to leave like that. I’ll make it up to you okay. *sniff* Charleen, aren’t you going to pick up?...God, I’m such a bad person, Charleen I love you…” (beeeeeep) End of Message, to save press 1, to return the call press 2, to delete press 3, to repeat press 4.

“I can’t believe you made me lie to Ethon!” Mrs. Vophaski walked into Charleen’s room and scowled. “Now, he willingly came back for you. Why Charleen? Why do you refuse to see him, I mean haven’t you consider you might not ever see him again or at least not any time soon?”

“……………………..” There was no answer at all. Charleen just sat there replaying Ethon’s message that he left her.

Mrs. Vophaski noticed her daughter’s sadness so she calmed her anger and caressed Charleen’s hands. “Honey, are you sure you’re making the right decision?”

“Mom……” Charleen’s voice trailed off and her body was a bit shaky but she still managed to contain herself. “I don’t know. Why shouldn’t I be making the right decision? By all means, I don’t even love him” she lied.

“Good gracious dear, you got to be kidding me? You don’t love him? What does those tears in your eyes mean then?” Mrs. Vophaski pointed out, crossing her arms.

“Tears? What tears mom?” Charleen quickly blinked away the tears and smiled. “Mom, you’re just seeing things.”

“You know, sometimes I just don’t understand my own daughter any more.”

“What do you mean?” Charleen scowled, knowing exactly what her mom was going to say next.

“Well, why do you choose to hide your feelings for Ethon? He’s such a generous young man and I give you my approval. You don’t find a lot a men like that. Denying your true feelings can come back and hurt you. If you didn’t love Ethon too, then I highly doubt you be acting that way. I know you hate being told the truth, as your mother I’m just trying prevent you from regretting in the future that’s all.”

Mrs. Vophaski sat down on the bed next to her daughter.

Charleen’s face frowned. She refused to face her mother because she knew it was true. Nevertheless, Charleen being the prideful person she is still refuses to give in.

“Mom, I don’t want to talk about it alright. I never loved him, so stop talking about him.”

“Okay then, you’ll miss him”

“Mom, please…”

“You’ll just keep on hurting….”

“Mom! Urg, what did I just say?”

“I heard you, but don’t say I didn’t tell you.” With that, Charleen’s mom went out the door before Charleen got even more emotional. She knew her daughter well enough not to bother her when she is frustrated. Especially, when it came to a love relationship. Charleen hated it when any one was able to pin point her weakness and she hated being told the truth. Mainly, by her own mother.


(Beep) “Message one, deleted.”

After Charleen deleted Ethon’s voice message she gave in a big sigh. Every time she forced her self to smile, her face would just crumple into sadness and the smile would slowly fade away. Tears began to form in her eyes again and the pain in her heart just kept on growing. Quietly, so that only she could hear, she sniveled. “Ethon, I hate you….” As much as she loves him, she was disappointed in herself for denying all truth of her love for Ethon. Sure, there was nothing to hide at all, but why did she do it? Why was she stupid enough to let him out of her life like that?

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

“You what!!!” Shine almost shouted. “Wait a minute, let me get something straight. So he left yesterday and you begged your mom to lie to him that you were out when he tried to come see you for the last time?”

Charleen nodded in shame. “Yeah….”

“Charleen! You idiot! That was the dumbest thing to do! Why didn’t you want to see him? Why?”

“Because…..”

Shine slapped her forehead and continued, “okay okay, let me guess, you didn’t want to hurt because of him…” she looked over to Charleen and saw that she nodded as if to answer yes. “Okay and you thought that if you hadn’t seen him for the last time, it wouldn’t hurt you as much right?”

Charleen nodded again.

“But that was stupid! Charleen, I’m telling you girl, you got to tell him the truth. Why do you think he was upset yesterday because you said the wrong thing, DAH!”

“I know I know…..but...”

“But what? You’re a fool that’s what you are! You just lost the love of your life without even saying good-bye! What if he never comes back?” Shine scowled at Charleen expecting an answer.

Charleen blinked away from Shine’s sharp eyes and finally answered, “well, I don’t love him. It was just a friendly thing. We had nothing.”

“Nothing?” Shine let out a sarcastic laugh. “I don’t know but I think you must be blind or something. I’ve seen the way you look at him and the way he adores you. Consider that, then come back and tell me if it was nothing.”

With that phrase, Charleen’s head instantly turned and she narrowed her eyes directly at Shine. She opened her mouth to say something but she couldn’t seem to find the correct words, so she just shut it and held her anger.

Shine scowled annoyingly and her face was in demand for Charleen to admit that she loves Ethon and what she said was a lie. “So am I right?”

“………………..” Charleen sat in silence with her arms crossed on top of her desk. Soon after, she blinked into her own thoughts and kept her gaze at nothing particular.

“Any ways, sorry but I got to get to class. I’ll see you later, I know you love Ethon already. You don’t even have to deny it.” Shine left for about a half a second and before Charleen could get another thought in her head, Shine popped back to the door way and said, “Oh and one more thing, sometimes saying good bye is not a good word in a relationship because you may never get to see each other again. So my opinion, it was good you two couldn’t say goodbye to each other because it was never meant to be good bye in the first place right?”

Charleen nodded with rounded eyes and she could’ve sworn a smile had almost formed. Boy she loved Shine for always being there for her. She was blissful the moment Shine said it was never meant to be good bye in the first place. Charleen went smiling high and satisfied suddenly.

Shine put on a big grin when she received the nod in acknowledgement and gave thumbs up. “Good! So it’s not over yet!” Then she was gone in a heart beat and Charleen went back into her thoughts.

‘D@mn right! I love him, and heck no it wasn’t good bye yet,’ Charleen thought.

Even though she had caused Ethon to get upset she knew she didn’t mean it. She also knew that Ethon would get over it knowing he could’ve reacted a different way to prevent their little quarrel. At the same time, she assumed that Ethon was going to forget about her easily. Especially if he was millions of miles away from her. It was as simple as that to get her to fall in love with him, why wouldn’t it work on others? The thought caused Charleen discomfort but before she could think more about it the hurt was already gone. Knowing she had a lovely mom to live with and a life to fulfill, she was to be strong and move on with life. Charleen knew she shouldn’t doubt Ethon, but it was for the better of them, or really the better of her.

A week later

“You girls want something to munch on? How about cup cakes huh?” Mrs. Vophaski questioned from the kitchen.

“Shine, you want some cupcakes? My mom makes great cupcakes.”

“Yea, that’ll be great! I love cupcakes.”

“Okay, yeah mom. Thanks.”

“Hey, why don’t you girls turn on Channel 8 I want to see the weather. I heard a hurricane is coming.”

“Hurricane?” Charleen and shine said in unison. They stared at each other wondering how serious this storm was going to be so they quickly switched the channel.

“This is Yumi Ajushiko reporting live this evening. As you all heard of Hurricane Gwein, this would hit at about 10 o’clock this evening so make sure that you do stay among your homes. Until further notice, we will alert you if there is any evacuation needed. Therefore, stay inside and keep safe. Now Akuda, back to you.”

Shine, Charleen, and her mother watched with fright upon their faces. Neither of them dared to move.

“Mom, what are we going to do? I didn’t even know about this hurricane, I need to pay more attention to the news.” It was just too scary, especially when she pictured of how bad the hurricane was going to be. Chills ran through her spine and she gazed over to Shine. Shine looked at Charleen to and they both knew eachother felt the same way. They struggled smiles together.

“We’ll be fine. At least, I hope we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine right mom?”

“Yeah, I hope so too.”

Out of nowhere Shine soon placed her gaze back to the television, her face struck black. She inhaled deeply as if to suffocate her self.

“What?” Charleen’s eyes grew fairly large too and she dared to look at the T.V. also. What was this, her heart was thumping faster and faster by the minute. Her face felt flushed with darkness all sudden and it seemed like she couldn’t hear her heart beat any more…why were her legs weak and why couldn’t she blink away from the face she was seeing, smiling, and laughing in the television? Was it really Ethon, the one she thought wouldn’t be happy without her?

Charleen inhaled deeply and held it. Scowling as questions filled her head. Why did he look so happy as if he wasn’t even thinking about her? Lies, Charleen thought. He had fooled her into believing she was the only one that would make him happy but no, there were many others that could satisfy him more than her. How foolish of her.

“Ethon...that….that…Bastard!” Anger flushed throughout her body and her body trembled. Charleen bit her lips and she could not stop looking at the face.

“Mr. Sangwa, so we heard your fashion show will be held in Seoul this summer. Could you tell us a little bit more about what we all are to expect?”

“What to expect? Well, these beautiful young ladies will be helping me. So expect them.” Ethon smiled at the camera and put his arms around the two girls. The models giggled and posed for the cameras that were flashing back and forth.

“What the heck does he think he’s doing? That looser.” Shine asked putting her hands at her hips.

“What about your new designs, tell us more about it?”

“It’s going to be a surprise, wait and see.”

“How come this year’s fashion show is not going to be held in Tokyo as how it was every year?”

“Because, Seoul needs a taste of Tokyo style.” With that, the crowds and camera crews started laughing. “This summer’s fashion show event will be one of the biggest, most exciting, and exotic fashion show ever. We’ve managed to come up with many source of designs this year so we’re all looking forward in your support. So come and join us, it will be held on July 18th of this year.”

“Looks like he’s on the red carpet with two beautiful models. He seems happy.” Mrs. Vophaski blurted, faced her daughter, and yes, she was shock, hurt and this may be forever. Mrs. Vophaski regretted exactly what she had told Charleen before. She cursed herself and wished she never made any comments about Ethon. She too was shock, just as much as Charleen was. She had mistaken Ethon for someone else; someone who she thought would only love her daughter. Guess the fame and the wealthiest do come in two faces.

Shattered and angry Charleen dropped back on to the couch and slapped her forehead. ‘Oh my god, Charleen, you’ve been played for a fool!’ a voice shouted inside her. And all this time she thought he loves her and only her. She was right, right that she was no match for him. Look at him with those beautiful models, how can she ever compare to them. She was stupid, stupid to have ever thought he loved her. ‘I hate you!’ the voice shouted again.

“I HATE YOU ETHON! I HATE YOU! I hate you….I hate you….” Charleen’s voice faded and tears streamed down her face non-stop.

10 minutes of crying had gone by and Charleen had finally calmed her emotion.

“You alright now?” Shine came forth into her room and tried to comfort her.

Charleen stared up to face Shine and forced a smile. “I don’t love him, remember what I told you,” then out of no where she laughed. “I would be a fool believe he loved me, he’s a liar…A LIAR…I tell you.”

“Now now, calm down. Yes, he’s a liar and you don’t love him.” Shine agreed partly but the other half of her knew Charleen did love Ethon. “You know Charleen, what if he’s just walking down the aisle of the red carpet just too look good with those models? I mean, think about it, he’s with them just for the cameras, but his heart is always with you and only thinking about you.”

“No! That’s not true. He was happy, happy to be with someone else. You know, the worst thing about it is, watching the one you love be with someone else and letting you sit back and hurt, like me.”

Shine managed the slight, satisfied smile, she caught Charleen slipping. "So you do love him?"

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do, you just gave me an example silly."

Charleen thought back quickly and of course now she couldn't deny anything. She shrugged and replied, "I do....I do...I DO I DO I DO love him...and he's A JERK! A Damn JERK, PLAYER! LIAR!"

“No, sometimes you can’t just jump into conclusion. What if you’re wrong?” Shine stated on the second thought.

This caused Charleen to gaze up slowly to Shine. She had a big frown which made her face pale and sad. Shine beamed at her warmly and embraced her. “Girl, if it hurts you that much then I have no more comments and no more opinions. I’m sorry for giving you second thoughts that caused you even more pain. If you believe so, that he doesn’t love you then move on. You still have so much in life to enjoy. Don’t let something like this hurt you for the rest of your life alright”

With that, Charleen was wordless. She didn’t mean to make her friend feel at guilt. At the same time, she was happy her friend respected her feelings and accepts the fact that it was okay to move on. How was she to start moving on? Of course not by being with someone else, she wouldn’t know how to start it all over again. It wasn’t worth it she thought while thinking to herself again. The day she was going to believe Ethon loved her is the day he comes back looking for her, telling her what she longs to hear and comfort her again. To her now, seemed like he was too comforted to come back to her….how sad was that…


End of Chapter 13

TOO much reading for me can't keep up with it.....

Woahh. Goood story keep up the good work

Are u finish with Chapter 14???!!!!!

Ethon's not playing her. I will not believe it!!

awww thanq for taking the time to read my story. I really do appreciate it :P. Welps actually to tell you the truth I'm actually, in writting, almost done with the story. I just haven't got the chance to type it and post it. But i'll get chapter 14 started so you can come back and start reading again heheheh please do and read often i'll be having lots more updates. I have my other story here too "Piecing a broken heart" if you wana read that while i'm trying to type chapter 14 hehehehhe. Still thankq very much for supporting me. It'll get me ta update faster hehe. I'm glad ta have you as another reader and hope that you'll come to support me too along with my other few readers I'm so happy!!!!


Note to Azgirl girl----)> Thanx girl for comming up ta check up on updates. Ur sucha sweetheart. You're actually the one who comes upon my story most of the time and you're actually what keeps me writting posting the story too. Gosta love yah for that heheheh I"ll have chapter 14 posted up soon be patients *smiles*

Chapter 14


It’s been two full weeks and Charleen kept her sprit high and refused to let any of her feelings slip. Otherwise, it would lead her deeper into sorrow. She suffered time after time when no one was around; she cried at times when the pain got out of control and she became weak. However, Charleen wasn’t going to let this puny little affection take over her. It was rather unnecessary to let her best friend and her mother watch her hurt like that. Hiding it away was the way to tell them they shouldn’t worry and she pretended she didn’t care.

“Honey, how have you been? You haven’t been talking for the longest time. You really got to start talking again sweet heart.”

Charleen beamed over to her mother, who was standing by her doorway to her room. “Mom, you’re so silly. Please, don’t worry about me. I’ve just been quiet because I’ve been concentrating on my future, that’s all.”

Mrs. Vophaski smiled hesitantly and walked into Charleen’s room. She made herself comfortable in the loveseat in front of Charleen. “Well, that’s good to hear that you’re trying hard and concentrating on your future. What do you see yourself as huh?”

“An inspiring model for a huge agency. That’s why I’m trying to get into Beauxotic. They are actually scouting for models. I went to audition the other day, seemed pretty interesting. A girl told me that I should really consider myself to become a model and I really am going take the chance and consider that. I mean, I actually think I’ll do a good job at it don’t you think? I mean I’m experienced.”

“Yes of course dear. No matter what you do, your mother is at full support.” Her mother’s expression went soft and supporting, yet there was still that uncertain look on her face like something was still concerning her.

Charleen nodded and a happy smile crossed her face. She had figured what her mother’s real concern is so she just had to blurt it out. “Mom, if you think I’m not talking because of Ethon then you’re wrong. I’m over it. I guess it was just a like-like thing you know. It’s not a big deal, really.”

“Alright dear. I believe you. At least you’re starting to make sense. Anyways, breakfast is ready. Come and eat.”

“Yup, I’ll be out in just a moment.” Charleen’s smile soon faded as she watched her mother’s back fading away from her sight. Slowly, she looked down to the spot her mother had sat and found a feather. Just as soon as Charleen saw the soft-like white feather just lying freely on the loveseat, she got up and she picked it up. Studying it, it had been the feather that fell from the dove when she was outside with Ethon the night before he left. She wondered why her mother had a hold of it or how did it got there?

“Mother, where did you find this?” Charleen stated as she walks out of her room and to the kitchen.

“Oh I actually found it when I was doing your laundry yesterday. I was going to throw it away but I thought it looked so beautiful that I just couldn’t. Why, where did it come from do you know?” Mrs. Vophaski arched one of her eyebrows, confusedly.

Charleen dazed off into her train of thoughts and didn’t reply. She thought about that one sweet night with Ethon. Watching the dove fly so freely into the sky from Ethon’s palms and how wonderful she felt at just having his presence around her. The hurt she was now feeling was like a brush of love that filled her heart again from all the darkness. Shortly, the dark side of Charleen had pushed itself through and she was convinced once more that Ethon was a liar and he didn’t love her. So then her face darkened into a scowl and she fisted the feather in her grip.

“Honey? Did you hear me?”

“Oh mom. Sorry, um…well….it’s really nothing.”

Mrs. Vophaski squinted and came forth from the kitchen. Before she could get any closer, Charleen stepped a few step back and changed the subject. “A-hem, mom, lets eat alright.” She quickly tucked the feather into her back jean pocket and took her mother’s arm. Mrs. Vophaski smiled and ignored it. She wasn’t too worried because she knew if there were anything her daughter would at least tell her. Must not have been that important.

“Whoa, good thing that hurricane didn’t come directly to us. Or else we would’ve been screwed pretty bad.”

“Yeah I know. I’m glad we just had a wild storm.”

The hurricane did cross Tokyo but just enough to cause some damages to the houses, cause some power outage, yet not enough to cause any major disaster. Tokyo was actually blessed that hurricane Gwein had made its way past them and everyone was all right.

A gap of silence came between the two and out of nowhere Mrs. Vophaski asked, “Honey, I’ve been wondering why haven’t the phone rang. We haven’t gotten a call since we’ve live here. Could there be something wrong with our phone?”

Charleen froze for a moment as she gathered her thoughts quickly. She tittered and shoved more food into her mouth. After a few seconds of chewing, she swallowed it and smiled. “I really don’t know mom. Maybe the service was never opened.”

“No honey, I don’t think that’s right. How come Ethon was able to leave that message for you the day he left?”

“I don’t know mom. Maybe it was magic.” She hesitated and drank her glass of water.

“Honey, come on what’s going on?” Mrs. Vophaski’s intuition was telling her that Charleen had disconnected the phone line because she didn’t want to hear from Ethon. “Are you hiding something from me?” she crossed her arms, “I hope not,” glaring at Charleen.

“We don’t need a phone mom.” Charleen ignored the glare from her mother.

“Well we can use it for emergency you see…”

“Mom, please. I don’t want a phone and did I just say we didn’t need one?”

“Charleen, what if we miss someone’s very important phone calls?”

“Yeah, like who?”

“Like…Like…” Mrs. Vophaski just had to think for a moment. “Like your calls from the model agencies. Yeah that’s it.”

Instantly that hit Charleen and she looked up immediately. “Oh yeah mom, you’re right! Oh my gosh I should’ve remembered. Urg, fine I’ll connect it.”

“Honey, you’ve got to learn to think before you do anything okay.”

Charleen rolled her eyes and she had a real hard time trying to connect the phone line. For some reason, she had this feeling that right when she plugs it in; she was going to get a phone call. At not even guessing who it was, she could already predict.

“Charleen, come on already plug it in would yah.” Her mom waited aside of her impatiently.

In…in….in….and she plugged it and winced, hoping the phone wouldn’t ring.

“And how bad was that?” Charleen’s mother asked and rolled her eyes.

Charleen let out a sigh of relief and got up from her knee. “Mom….”

“Yeah?”

“If E—,”

“Yeah I know honey. If Ethon calls tell him you’re working.”

Blinking a few times as she watched her mom cleaned the table. She chuckled to herself and placed her gaze in nothing particular. Soon after, she was scowling to herself. While scowling, out of nowhere and unprepared, Charleen was knocked out of her thoughts.

*Ring *Ring (The phone finally rang)

Just as Charleen thought before, she was right! The phone had ringed. Her mother tilted her head towards Charleen and both of them just froze there staring at each other.

“Ring *Ring *Ring *Ring (Phone just kept on ringing.)

“Sweetheart, aren’t you going to pick that up?”

Charleen just stood there not being able to move. She was tempted so badly to go and pick it up but at the same time what if it was ETHON. What in the heck was she going to say and what was going to be her excuse why he couldn’t get a hold of her for a whole 2 weeks?

Walking over slowly and nervously.

*Ring *Ring *Ring *Ring

She stopped to think. ‘Yes, caller I.D dah!’ she thought. With that, she made her move faster and glanced over to the I.D. “Sh!t! PRIVATE?” she cursed. Oh what to do. What to do?

“Come on sweetie pick up!”

She sighed. “Okay mom.”

*Ring R—* “Heh…Hel..lo?

“Hello, This is Ms. Fuji calling from Beauxotic Model Search. Is Charleen Vophaski in please?”

Yes! And it wasn’t Ethon. Quickly Charleen got her acts put together at once and answered. “Yes ma’am, this is Charleen speaking can I help you?”

“Yes Ms. Vophaski. I was calling you today on behalf of Beauxotic. We had a model scout several weeks ago and remember when you came in for an audition?”

A month ago Charleen saw an ad in the newspaper and saw that Beauxotic was doing a model search. She went in the first time for an audition and it had taken them several weeks to get back to her. The day Ethon left, she was called early that morning to go at about 3pm for the first interview and now must’ve been the final interview of acceptance.

“Um, Yes I do actually.” Charleen gulped.

“Well, I’m calling because the president had asked for a personal interview today. We feel that you've got what it takes to accomplish our work this summer so we are hoping you would be able to attend. I made reviews on your modeling history and I am quite splendid with your type of work. Does three o’clock this afternoon work for you again?”

Charleen was SHOCKED! She was selected for a personal interview with the President of Beauxotic! How exciting is that!

“Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll be there then.”

“Alright. Thank you for the time and we are looking forward in having you as a part of us then. See you later on this afternoon then Ms. Vophaski.”

“Alright thank you. Good-bye.” *click phone hung up*

“Oh my gosh MOM!!!! I LOVE YOU! This is going to be so fun!” Charleen exclaimed as she jumped up and down and hugged her mom back and forth.

“Whoa, honey honey, you haven’t even told me the news yet dear.”

Gulping and catching her breath. “Mom, you wouldn’t believe it! They’ve selected me to be one of Beauxotic’s models for this summers hottest fashion show. How cool is that?”

“Oh my gosh honey! I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!”

“Thank you mom, thank you so much! If you hadn’t told me to pick up that phone, I wouldn’t be as lucky as right now mom! THANK YOU!”


Shine inhaled deeply and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Get out of here! They selected you?”

Charleen nodded and twirled around. Shine giggled with Charleen and enjoyed the same excitement.

Shine caught her breath and asked, “So when will this be held?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going in for a person interview with the president of Beauxotic at 3 today. Therefore, I am sure they will go over that with me. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”

“Wow, so only a year of experience had got you all into this, how amazing.” Shine commented excitedly.

“Yeah, I modeled last year for this luxurious clothing store in the mall and got lots of compliments. I just never really thought I could get myself any where with it so that was part of the reason why I stopped modeling for them. Anyways, I am back into the field so I’m going to do what ever it takes to satisfy my desire.

“That’s the spirit girl!” Shine agreed joyfully. The girls both grabbed their books from their lockers and proceeded their own ways to class.

“See you at lunch alright.” Charleen waved.

“Good luck on the exams.”

“Thanks, I need that.”



-------------------------While in Seoul with Ethon

“Naree, please I need time alone.” Ethon demanded.

“Ethon, I was told you weren’t feeling well. I just thought I bring you some food that’s all.” Naree answered.

“Yes, that’s right. Why do you think I need to be alone?” he glared, trying hard not to yell.

Naree saw Ethon’s angry glare and finally let the phrase register in her brain. “Oh um, okay fine. Call me when you need me then.”

Ethon let out a frustrating sigh and turned around, facing his big office window. Looking down into the view of downtown Seoul, Ethon had a big frown across his face. The thought of Charleen in the back of his head was starting to bother him again. He had left Charleen back in Tokyo without saying good-bye and when he left his message, it was never returned. Since then, he called and called but it kept on ringing and ringing. Ethon was tempted many times to just fly back to Tokyo so he could go find out for himself what seemed to be the problem. He was worried, frustrated, and disappointed at the same time. Knowing that the hurricane had crossed a bit by Tokyo, he was even more concern. He wasn't sure if she was ignoring him intentionally or if the hurricane had caused the lines to go out. Hoping for the best, he was soon going to find out one way or the other.

Naree on the other hand, knew much about Charleen because Ethon had always talked about her. At times, she felt bad because he had to leave her. Sometimes she envies the girl; for how Ethon misses and adore her. Naree and Ethon had been friends ever since small when they were growing up in Seoul. Soon after, she worked for his mother at the company while Ethon was away in Tokyo. When Ethon came to take charge for the time being, she was saved from the lost of her job but at the same time, she had felt a bit attracted to him and wished he never met Charleen.


End of Chapter 14

wahh!!! so good!!! continue continue =D

Aww..Poor Ethon.. =|

Woahhhh. Chapter 15. Woahhh Fastttt. 2 hihihih

this is one of the best stories ever! so touching.... with beautiful portrayal of emotions, keep up the good work Syco_chinesea!

(you just received your 1st fan )

Woahh, can`t wait any longer, u finish with chapter 15!!

Hihihi

Chapter 15


“Shine! Com’on girl it was only a joke. It’s a television thing.” Alex tried catching up to Shine’s pace.

“A joke? Ha! I’d be a fool if I let you hang on that one! I’m not the riches nor the most beautiful so don’t waste your time.” Shine shouted back not stopping.

Alex stopped as Shine past right by him. “Well you know what, I meant it! Suit yourself then, you’re not any good for me anyways.”

“Good! I never needed you in the first place! I was right, d@mn right! You’re a player and you know what? If you ever thought I had a thing for you, then you’re wrong. Go on ahead, go find you’re riches and most beautiful since I’m not suitable for you. I only felt bad for you that's why I hung around you that's all.” Shine instantly turned around forcing her tears in as her anger flashed through her eyes.

Alex was stunned by what Shine had just said but as prideful and stubborn as he was, he stood his place and replied with a smirk. “Hell yeah, I can get any girl in the world I want. You just watch! You’re not the only girl!”

It was rather too far away for Shine to even hear his response. Out of anger, he had told her he didn’t need her but for some reason, he felt a slight tangle that strangled his heart when the word slipped. He wasn’t sure if he needed her or not. Maybe it was just like those other girls he’s dated before; it won’t be long until he gets over her. Which, he hoped so….

He watched Shine’s image disappear down the hill and his smart look slowly turned into a scowl. ‘D@mnit.’ He cursed himself and kicked the tire of his car. ‘It was only a joke.’ He thought.

Shortly, a red Bmw had rolled past and a whole bunch of girls shouted, “We love you Alex!” The shout caused Alex to look up and stare off to the direction the car was going. Alex raised his hand as to wave and nodded.

Screaming and screaming Alex’s name the girls disappeared down the hill also and he turned around. A smile crossed his face and he was satisfied. He had all the girls he wanted and he didn’t need a girl like Shine to take that away from him. As lifting his head up to think more a loud screech from down the hill caused him to wince. ‘What the h3ll was that?’ he thought.

Out of nowhere, he suddenly heard the voice of the girls screaming and screaming again but this time it was terrifying screams instead of cheerful screams.

Usually he didn’t care for things like that but he had a really bad feeling about it so he closed the door of his car and instantly rushed over to where the shouting and screaming came from.

Running and running Alex was much too concern to even take a breath. As approaching closer to the scene, it had looked like there had been an accident. With the same car that past him before. People were gathering around and he couldn’t identify whom it was that they were gathering around. When he finally got there, he pushed, shoved, screamed ‘get out of the way’ as making his way. His heart was pounding for some reason and he couldn’t understand why it did. Gasping for air, he soon came to a stop. The body that laid infront of him, full of blood and shattered pieces of glass all over her was Shine.

“OH MY GOD!” his voice trembled and he bit his lips. Clenching and unclenching, he gave the deadliest glare to whom ever caused this accident. Regardless of the broken glass pieces that could cut through him, he instantly dropped down to his knees and embraced her.

The girls in the car before were just at the point of coming out of their senses. “Ah! What the heck did we just do?” one girl cried as she saw the body aside of the car.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Tell me I didn’t just kill someone!” The driver screamed with shock in her eyes. She had ran into a body and what consequences was she to face now?

“Call 911, we need an ambulance!” A person from the crowd shouted.

“Shine! Com’on girl wake up, please…..” Alex held Shine against his shivering body. The shock upon him had caused his body to weaken as if his strength had been drain out of him.

Not even a full two minute had past; Alex groaned aloud and lifted Shine up. He couldn’t wait any longer. He couldn’t bare to stand Shine in torture of the broken glasses all over her. “Forget the ambulance, I’ll take her.”

At full speed, he drove crazily. Every 5 seconds he would stare over to see if she was to open her eyes. For some reason, he didn’t feel as if he cared for her but he felt wetness all over his face. Therefore, he found that he was drowning himself in tears and the tears wouldn’t stop. “Com’on girl, please….can’t you hear me…I’m sorry…I’m sorry.” He was regretful to have left her go by herself. If he knew this was guna happened he would’ve kept at it walking aside of her and this would have never occurred.

They came to a red light stop, which made Alex even angrier. Right when he had to stop for the red light, he instantly punched the steering wheel. Thinking and thinking as quickly as he could he then made a right turn and decided to take another way. “Hang in there baby, you’re guna be alright.”

*Ring Ring* (Alex’s phone rang)

“What!” He yelled into the phone.

“Oh, is this Alex?” Ethon’s voice came on the line. Before Ethon could continue asking questions, Alex barged in. “Look Ethon, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

“What? What’s gone into you?” Ethon couldn’t come to conclude why his friend was acting in that manner.

“……………..” Alex stared over to Shine and she still hadn’t woken up yet.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Ethon asked concerned. “Dude, there’s something wrong…”

“D@mnit Ethon!” The curse caused Ethon to wince. “What the H3ll am I to do?”

“Do what Alex? Calm down man. Tell me…what happened?”

“I don’t want her to die….” Alex’s voice trailed off.

“What! Who to die?” For a second there he thought it was Charleen. “Who? Who?” His voice became demanding to know who it was.

“Shine…she got into a car accident….a car hit her…”

“Alex, calm down. How did this happen, is she alright?”

“She’s all covered with blood and glass.”

“Sh!t, take her to the hospital and call me as soon as you get her there alright?”

Alex nodded and without even saying good-bye, he hung up. Staring over to Shine, he held out his right hand to brush off the glass and hair away from her face. “You’re guna be alright…I promise.” He whispered and controlled his breathing.

When Ethon hung up with Alex, he dialed Charleen’s number right away. Ringing and ringing there was no pick up. “D@mnit Charleen, what the heck is wrong with you? Why the H3ll aren’t you picking up?” He let it ring and ring until the message machine answered. “Charleen, pick up would ya? Shine’s at the hospital, Alex just took her there. A car hit her and I think you should head over there as soon as you get this. I’m not understanding why I could never get a hold of you any more but…” Ethon paused for a moment and finally finished, “I miss you….call me…bye...”

Ten minutes later Charleen walked into her room, noticing the blinking message button. After listening to the message, without even a moment of thought, she raced out the door.

An hour had past since they got to the hospital. Alex waited in the waiting room and the whole time he couldn’t sit. He walked back and forth biting in and out on his lips.

“Alex!” A familiar voice came through when the door swung open.

Quickly, Alex turned his attention to who had called his name.

“Charleen…..” His face was pale and hopeless. “I….I didn’t mean to let…” He lost the words when he saw the expression on Charleen’s face.

Waiting a full two seconds to see what else Alex had to say Charleen finally answered, “What did you do?”

“………..” Alex gazed at Charleen not knowing what to say. Since he had let Shine get into this situation, he knew Charleen was never ever guna forgive him. “I…”

“Tell me….what happened?” Charleen came forth into his face. “You caused this didn’t you?”

“What? I caused this?” At first Alex thought Charleen was not guna forgive him for not watching after her best friend but now she’s accusing him of hurting her? “No, you’re getting it wrong. I’m not the one who hit her if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Oh yeah? Then who did?”

“Why are you accusing me?”

“Either way, even if you didn’t hurt her physically…you put her through h3ll. Is this enough for you now? Huh?” With that, Charleen left Alex shaking in anger. He was angry that she had accused him of hurting Shine and the other half, hated himself for hurting Shine’s feelings and causing her pain.

They never really gone through the state of DATING but they were fairly close enough to be. Since the day the met, everything went fine. Only fine until that one day with the interview about his love life. He had said the wrong thing and he truly regretted it. Why did he say that? To look good or feel good? What on earth was he thinking? He should’ve thought twice about responding to the question, he hadn’t realized Shine would be watching him on television.

Charleen, on the other hand, didn’t mean to accuse Alex but she was disappointed in him for hurting her best friend. She had experienced what she assumed Ethon had caused her and by seeing how Alex treats her best friend, made her even angrier. At not thinking twice, she assumed Ethon was exactly like Alex. Full of girls, fame, and wealth who had no awareness of anyone. Doing what ever they want and in whichever way the felt.

On television, Charleen had experience lots of Alex’s girlfriends that hung all over him. She knew her best friend loved Alex for all that her heart could give but in return, she received tortured. Alex even said himself on television when he was interviewed about his love life, that a girl that could be his girlfriend would be the riches and the most beautiful and he didn’t care for anyone who’s at a lower class. Shine was the beautiful, but not the riches. Therefore, was that the reason why she was being treated so poorly? She practically has to clean his shoes for G@d sake! The thought skipped through Charleen’s mind and as thinking about it, it made her grind her teeth. Men, they were full of Sh!t. They lie to make a girl love them and in return…a broken heart gets kicked back into their face.


End of Chapter 15

Woowwww. Make me wanna read the ending now. Hihi
Anyways, how many chapter is it left?
U finish with chapter 16?

Awwh..Poor Shine..And daym you Charleen Pick up the daym phone!!

hehe thanx for the response. Welps I'm only almost done with the story so I'm not sure how many chapters I'm guna end up with. Right now I'm writting chapter 20 so you guys are really catching up to me hehehehe I haven't got the time to think of my ending yet. What kinda ending would you like? HAHAHHAHA I'll take some opinions hehehe. The upcomming chapters will mostly focus back on the main characters again; Charleen and Ethon. Some obsticles here and there but I'll try my best to make it romantic. Any ways, sorry but (to all my readers) How do you think this story had come along? Do you have any suggestions of changing any thing? or is there any thing you wana complain about? I mean it'll just give me a better idea on what to focus on writting. Please do reply me I'm guna be waiting to hear from yahs alright. Love yahs! Keep comming ta visit alright.

I'll get chapter 16 and 17 posted soon

There's nothing to complain about!! >:] You're a great writer. In the ending, I'd like to see Ethon come back and Charleen "forgive" Ethon..Haha..All I have to say is..Don't end it so soon =] And let it have a good ending. Marriage!!

IT'S STILL AWEESOME!!!! love it!!! ROFL!!! azngirl...marriage?? come on!!! maybe tragedy?? hehehe, o wellz...u're the writer syco_chineseA!!! it's ur story! i'm sure we'll love watever ending u give it!!!
keep it up!!! go go!!! awesome sotyr!!! neways!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! =)

Chapter 16

“Shine….” Charleen entered the room and saw her best friend. “Girl, you alright?” she rushed herself to Shine’s side and held her hands.

“Charleen…how did I get here?” Shine struggled out of her blurry senses and managed to answer. “Where am I?”

“You’re at the hospital….you’ll be fine…”

“What? Who took me here?”

“……….” Pausing to take a breath, Charleen sighed and answered as squeezing Shine’s hand. “Alex….”

“Alex? You mean….Alex Kei?”

“Yep, he took you here alright. He’s still in the waiting room. I think he feels terrible.”

With all the strength, Shine forced herself to get out of bed.

“No..no..no..” Charleen grabbed a hold of Shine to stop her knowing she was too weak to even get up. “You can’t go any where yet. You’re too weak…”

“No, I wana see Alex. I just wana say thank you to him…please let me go…” Shine begged.

“Shine, I’m telling you…you can’t…the doctors aren’t guna let you trust me.”

“I don’t care, I wana see Alex…please Charleen…..please…” Her eyes never begged before but when Charleen stared into those eyes of her best friend, it was love….she wasn’t guna let anything get in her way…

Before Shine could get to the door, tottering over, one of the nurses walked in. “Oh my, where do you wana go? You do understand that you’re not supposed to be outa bed right?”

“I wana go to the waiting room.” Shine demanded.

The nurse stared at her weirdly wondering and soon she snapped out of it. “Alright, um…why, is there someone waiting for you?”

Shine nodded, her face pale and her dried lips made her look so drained out. As if, the living soul in here was washed out of her. She made her move, and at just a step, she lost her balance and held onto the open door and the nurse’s arm. “Ma’am, I’m sorry but you can’t leave this room. Not like this…”

“I don’t care! Alex…let me go to Alex…” She tried to yell but her voice faded hurting her throat. “I just wana say thank you…that’s all….please…”

“No, you can’t…Ma’am I’m sorry…” the nurse blocked the door way and soon after two more nurses came in.

“Ma’am as Nurse Riko told you, you can’t leave you’re room. You need to get more rest.” One of the other nurses took a hold of Shine’s arms.

“No! Let me go! Get off of me!” Instantly, Shine snapped and she started struggling wildly. D@mn!t, what the heck is so hard about letting me go to the waiting room. I said...LET ME GO!”

Charleen stood there watching; too shock to know what to do. She watched Shine as she went crazy and started kicking and pushing. Charleen’s hand slowly rose up to cover her mouth and she couldn’t help but started crying. It was her friend; she had to help her. With the quick thought, Charleen leaped over and pushed the two nurses aside. “Get the h3ck off of her! If she wants to go the waiting room let her go, G0dd@mit!” The nurse stopped and glared over to Charleen.

“Look lady, if any thing happens, we’re guna get in trouble from this.”

“Nothing’s guna happen. Please…let her go…”

“No, we can’t Ma’am you gota understand…” The nurse got cut off when she noticed Shine had already gone out of their sight. “Sh!t, she’s gone!”

Running and running Shine had already made it down the second floor and now she was trying to find her way to the first floor where the waiting room was.

“Com’on…com’on…..” She hustled as looking back and forth, making sure no one was following her.

“There she is!” One of the nurses turned a corner infront of her and charged directly her way.

“Sh!t!” Shine cursed aloud. As attempting to turn back, she spotted a figure behind the nurse, which had appeared to be the person she urged to see. “Alex.” Her eyes grew wider by the minute. “Alex!” she screamed using all her strength but it seemed as if it wasn’t loud enough. He didn’t hear her. She felt her throat hurting painfully and her vision was beginning to blur.

“Alex!” Shine finally took a big breath and before loosing her conscious, she shouted one last time as loud as she could.

This time Alex heard her. He was actually on his way to go up to see her but when he heard her scream his name, by the time he turned to face her, she had already collapsed to the ground.

“Shine!” He raced his heart to her and grabbed her into his arms. “Who the heck let her out of her room?” Alex yelled aloud to the nurses around them. “Com’on we needa get her back up to her room,” he demanded.

Gasping for air, Charleen made her slide around the corner and finally spotted the figure that looked as if he was caring Shine. She ran quickly to his side and asked, “Alex, did she black out?”

Alex nodded and kept his head high. “We’re getting her back in her room. How did she get out?”

“She kinda….” Charleen sighed and soon answered. “She just kinda escaped.”

“Why? Why would she do that, how stupid.”

“You wana know why? And it wasn’t’ stupid actually if you knew the reason.”

“I’ll listen to the reason later.” They finally approached the room and Alex let the doctors get at it with their job. He stepped a few step back and watched helplessly.

“Mr. Kei, Miss Fuduwoo is going to need plenty of rest. Her body is too weak to even walk a step. I suggest next time, if she wanted some fresh air, to assist her with a wheel chair please.” The doctor came out to speak.

“How long is she going to be unconscious?”

“When I say plenty of rest that usually means a full 12 hours of sleep.”

“Alright then.” Alex answered and stared over to Charleen with concern slapped all over his face. “It’s all my fault….” He shoved himself back against the wall and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry Charleen. I’m the worst person ever…..if only I could disappear forever…”

“No, don’t say that….she past out because she must’ve used all her strength to come find you…” Charleen finally told.

“What?” Alex forced himself from the leaning and scowled over to Charleen. He just hada hear it one more time. He thought she hated him and never wanted to see him again.

“She wanted to say thank you….” Charleen managed a slight smile and placed her hands on his shoulders. “That just tells you how far she’s willing go, just for you. You saved her life so in return; she wanted to thank you…”


*~..,..~***~..,..~***~..,..~***~..,..~***~..,..~***~..,..~***~..,..~**

Chapter 17

The whole night Alex sat aside of Shine and gazed at her, unwillingly to let go of her hands. Alex squeezed her hands and rubbed it when he felt the coldness among it. Her face was colorless, and the shattered glasses scared her chapped lips. Yet, her gorgeous face stayed the same. Maybe a few cuts on the cheekbones and a few scars on the chin but to Alex, she was still as beautiful.

“Shine….I can’t believe I was so stupid…. Dumb to let you out of my sight…” His voice trailed off. “This would’ve never happened….I’m sorry to let you down….I’m sorry for hurting you…and I’m sorry for that God gave you to me…and all I did was put you through H3ll. You know, maybe Charleen was right. I’ve put you through h3ll, I don’t deserve you….especially a love like yours.” Tears started forming in his eyes and he could feel his whole body going out of control. It started shaking intensively, and by the time he knew, he was already drowning himself in tears.

“Here, have some food…” Charleen was soon at his side and she handed him a cup of noodles. “How’s she doing?...”

“……..” Alex nodded slowly as if hope was gone for him. He knew Shine was guna come back to her senses but it already felt to him as if it was eternity because he couldn’t hear her sweet voice. “The doctor said she needs 12 hours of sleep, it’s only been 7 hours.” He stared over to the time. Unfortunately, Alex had been keeping track of the time since the doctor told him that.

Charleen studied Alex’s face and hoped it wasn’t fake. Nevertheless, it was rather difficult to indicate the true intentions of a man. They may look as if they mean the world to a girl but it’s a completely different story when it comes down to showing it. For some reason, as staring off into the eyes of Alex, it seemed as if he let a whole big part of him down. The pride he had in himself had out of nowhere disappeared and she could now clearly see the true side of him. Charleen was sure Alex was in no condition to fake his sympathy for her best friend. It was just too hard to believe he was playing. By the time he ignored all his business calls by turning off his cell phone and not willing to eat for a whole 7 hours was way off the hook. Maybe he never seemed like the kind to admit his love to her but when it comes down to the point of loosing her, he’d take the chance to let everything go, just for her.

‘I guess this is love….love makes you do the things you never think you’d do.’ Charleen thought deep into her own state. ‘Love can fill a person’s heart with happiness but love makes a person sick….sick to the point of suffering…..especially when it came to the person who snatched your heart away.’ Gazing away in her own train of thoughts, she gave in a chuckle and stared to the ceiling. How she misses Ethon’s presence around her. To feel his warmth and to feel his touch. Now, she felt left behind and alone. Why did he have to leave her in such a short time, when she was just about to fall in love with him? Wait, she must’ve already fallen in love with him. It must be the reason why her heart fluttered every time she thought about him. Him and his attractive smile, that caused her heart to drop to the bottom of her tummy. The way he never wanted to part from her when they were close and he’d never let go of her hands. Replaying her thoughts and feelings, her thoughts disappeared suddenly when she heard Shine’s voice.

“Shine!” Charleen’s eyes went round and she quickly crouched down to give a hug. “Oh gosh girl, I’m so happy to see that you’re finally awake.”

“Rest….please you’re still too weak.” Alex suggested. He still hadn’t let go of Shine’s hand yet.

“No, I’m alright now. I think I’ve slept too long. My headache went away so I’m all better now.”

Alex nodded but the expression on his face was uncertain. He was afraid that she was only pretending and she wasn’t well yet. For some reason he just couldn’t put a happy smile on his face. Instead, out of nowhere, while Shine was still talking with Charleen, he instantly pulled Shine into his arms and stood there in silence. Shine too, just stood there speechless. She wasn’t sure what had gone into him, but she’s never felt his heart beat the way it did as she listened to it thump. The beat of his heart seemed to have tripled and her heart tangled leaving her to tighten her grip on his shirt.

Charleen on the other hand, went shocked for a moment and soon after, she beamed over to the two and took a sigh. “I’ll leave you two alone.” She winked at Shine and excused herself out.

While just at the point of closing the door behind her, the doorknob was unexpectedly pulled from her grasp and Alex stood there facing her.

Charleen stared at him in confusion and her eyebrows lifted. “Is there something the matter?” She soon caught Shine in back giving her a look, telling her to look at his hand.

“Someone’s on the phone for you….”

“Who?”

“Just take it. I’m sure you know who it is. You’ve been dodging his calls for the past few weeks now.” Alex smirked.

‘Ethon…’ Charleen finally came to her senses. Staring back at Shine again to see what Shine’s suggestion should be, she nodded and put two thumbs up. With a frown that flushed upon her face, she scowled to herself as if to decided whether she wanted to hear Ethon’s voice or not. By this time, her heart was already aching wildly for him but a part of her didn’t wana hear from him at all. She was almost over the assumption that he was never coming back to her and he must’ve found somebody else so why waste her time. One side of her told her Ethon must’ve just felt pity for her that’s why he just wanted to play around with her but a tiny bit of her told her she missed Ethon to death and she was longing for his call but for some reason why was she really avoiding him? Debating and debating, Charleen was interrupted by the voice in the phone. She didn’t hear it too well but she knew it was Ethon.

“Charleen...Charleen! Just take the phone!” He screamed.

Charleen winced and placed her helpless gaze up to Alex. “Um, here…take it…he really wants to speak with you….” Alex took Charleen’s hand and forced her to take the phone.

After a few seconds, Charleen finally opened her mouth to start speaking but for some reason she was having quite a difficult time finding her words. She opened her mouth and before she could say anything, a voice from the other line caused her to hold her breath.

“Ethon? You in here?.....Gosh I was looking all over for you. I thought we were suppose to be catching dinner tonight?”

“Naree, look I’m busy tonight it’s not the night. Please, I’m still on the phone.”

As listening closely, Charleen just had to assume what was going on. It was obviously at least. “Um…you can go on to dinner with her. I knew for a fact you’d forget me Ethon.”

Stunned by what Charleen had just stated Ethon forced the phone against his ear and defended, “No, Charleen, it’s not what you think. Naree and I are—,”

“I don’t give what the heck you two are. All I care about is that you’re happy. Living a happy life and smiling like you always do. I’m glad you found someone that loves you an cares for you. You and I were just in the past. We were just friends weren’t we?”

“Charleen….I—,”

“We had nothing….we…we were just friends.”

“No! You’re wrong Charleen! I never wanted to be your friend!”

“You what?”

“I said I never wanted to be your friend.” Ethon calmed his voice. It was rather hard for him to tell her the truth, his true intentions. He wanted to be the love of her life and her protector. To love and adore her no matter what the situation was. He felt the tension rising and he knew exactly what Charleen was thinking. So before Charleen could say a word, he barged in quickly to finish his lines. “Because you’re the one I love. If I was to let you be my friend it would be like throwing away everything we had…..”

Charleen tried very hard to take in all the information Ethon had just said and tried pushing her previous thoughts away. Before, she opened her mouth wanting to tell him she never wanted to be friends too but he already wiped away her words. On second thought, she also wanted to tell him she loved him with her whole heart and is still each and every day waiting for the day he’ll be back but her pride was there and she didn’t want to make her self played as a fool again. He must’ve pity her knowing she had to watch him on television, enjoying the fun he’s been having.

“Shut up! You’re a liar and you’re just covering up for yourself since you know what you’ve put me through.” Without a moment of thought, she yelled into the phone and closed it shut.

“What? Charleen? Charleen? CHARLEEN!” Ethon yelled also into the phone but it was dead air and soon the dialer tone come on. ‘Sh!t’ Ethon cursed beneath his breath. Instantly, as quickly as he could he speed dialed back to Alex’s phone hoping that Charleen would pick up. “Charleen? Why did you hang up on me?” He demanded but then found out Alex’s voice had came on the line again.

“Ethon? Sorry man, she’s already gone.”

“Alex, where did she go?”

“No idea dude. I think you disappointed her.”

“Go find her! You just guna stay there?” At this point, Ethon was angry as ever. He was upset Charleen hadn’t let him speak a single word and she didn’t even give him a chance to speak his heart. She had to jump to conclusion and left him heavy hearted.

“Iono man, but all sudden I heard her screaming in the hallway and when I came to check up on her she just threw me the phone and stumped out. Who the heck knows what got into her or what you did to her.” Alex couldn’t help but chuckled.

Ethon groaned aloud and soon after tried calming his anger. “Fine. I’ll come and settle things down myself. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Whoa, you for serious man? Just make sure you don’t do anything else stupid.”

“Yeah, whatever.” With that, Ethon shut the phone and let out a frustrating sigh. He ran his fingers through his thin hair and rubbed his face. Why does he feel like a piece of his heart is missing and what did he do to make her so mad? Talking about being on television, yeah he had his arms around his models but that didn’t mean anything. It was only for the cameras. Deep inside he was as sick as a dying plant that had neither light nor any water to live on. The happiness inside of him had been kept away from him and he longed for it again. The day he was going to feel that happiness again was the day he holds Charleen in his arms again.

Naree went speechless after witnessing the flame across Ethon’s face. “Did I cause you trouble?”

“No, just give me some space please.” His fingers rested among his chin as he sat thinking hard into his thoughts, refusing to face his attention towards anyone.

“Alright. I’m sorry if I did anything wrong Mr. Sangwa.” Naree bowed and stepped out, closing the door behind her. It was true that they were suppose to go out to dinner that evening but now it felt as if the night was off. The dinner was just suppose to be a friendly like dinner. Naree had made the suggestion because since she felt they’ve been working pretty hard that whole week, they should go out on a dinner at the end of the week. Ethon had seemed to be fine with it a while ago but something must’ve gone wrong and therefore, he changed his mind. Naree took a big sigh and shook the thought out of her head. Before turning the corner she then heard Ethon’s voice.

“Naree! Hey wait up.” Ethon hustle directly towards her through his office and swung his business jacket around him. Wrapping one of his arms around both her shoulders, he caught his breath and walked with her. “Let’s go out to dinner. I’m hungry.”

Naree went surprised and kept her gaze at Ethon. She had noticed that right after he placed his arms around her his smile faded. “Are you sure this is a good time?”

Ethon forced a fake smile again and beamed down to Naree. “Of course, why wouldn’t it be huh?”

“Well, I’m not too sure.” Naree shrugged and kept at it walking aside of Ethon.


End of Chapter 17

NOO!! Ethon...You better not dare do anything..Grrr...I will b!tch slap Naree if I have to..

~ I'm so happy for Alex and Shine though..I see many good things in the future

I love the story so far. I stumbled onto this site (and this thread) accidently... I'm glad I did. Can't wait to read the rest

-Khoa

U finish with the next chapter. Sorry for asking all the time. hihi