Tuesday the next morning, Daniella was surprised with Kristopher's gifts sent to her apartment, delivered personally by him. She almost didn't allow him to take a step inside because it was still too early, her whole appearance was a mess (she just woke up) and she was just too... shy. You can't blame a girl for being demure. (Pfft)

       "What's... What's with all these?" she pointed accusingly at the gigantic teddy bear, the humungous bouquet of baby-pink carnations and all the large boxes of chocolate. "It's not even Valentine's day... You really went all out huh?"

     Kristopher scratched the back of his head while smiling cheerfully. "Well... I bought this with my own money. For the first time in my life as an actor, I actually bought something wholeheartedly. I mean, I know you're not one for material things, but this is the least I can do. After all..." he looked at her up and down, secretly laughing but at the same time admiring her appearance. "I am courting you."

     Reading his mind, Daniella felt embarrassed and annoyed at the same time too. She studied his appearance. Today he was wearing a simple black shirt, loose dark-navy jeans and a pair of Fila sneakers. It was the simplest attire that he could wear, but he still looked so damn good in it.

     She felt bad about her own appearance. Here she was, wearing a red tank top and a pair of pyjamas underneath her large, white robe. To make it seem much better, her hair was a bird's nest. She hugged her elbows with two of her hands and glanced again at the gifts. They all looked so expensive, but these things just value like a penny for Kristopher Walls, the huge celebrity.

     She sighed. "How did you get here without getting trampled by your fans anyway?"

     Kristopher silently laughed and showed her the items hanging behind his back-pocket.  It was a pair of dark sunglasses and a large hat that could have covered half your face. "I'm good at disguises."

       "Sure," Daniella snorted, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the ugly hat. "Nobody will ever know it's you."

       "Well don't I get a thank you?" he nonchalantly changed the subject and approached her slightly, making her startled and take one small step back. "I had a hard time getting these things from my house to your apartment y'know."

     They weren't taking their eyes off each other, so Daniella broke the contact almost too quickly and winced, then took a deep breath. Why couldn't she act calm? "You... You went here alone? Without the help from your bodyguards?" she tried to change the course of the conversation in order to save her from more embarrassment. "I-I thought those guys never left your side..."

     Kristopher grinned, knowing her cute attempt of escape. He wouldn't let her do that again. Not this time. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "Those guys are a handful. I left the house without telling them."

     She made an unintentional glare at him. "Well they're probably worried sick right now and are looking everywhere for you!"

     He snickered. "That's the fun part." He smiled at her again, walked purposely closer to her without giving her the chance to escape. Due to taking too much steps backward, she finally reached the dead end. She felt her back against the wall of her own kitchen. Kristopher placed his arms on the wall and trapped her. He just gave her his usual, cheerful grin. "Well?

       "T-Too close..." Daniella stuttered, avoiding his gaze and started staring at her feet. To tease her some more, Kristopher leaned over her face and he saw her cheeks turn into a very bright and obvious red. He couldn't help smiling.

       "If you want to push me away, then just do it," he wanted to test her, even though he already knew what she really wanted. Hearing no response from her, he laid his forehead against hers and looked at her eyes. She was still looking down but as soon as she gathered the courage to finally meet his gaze, Kristopher swore something skipped inside his chest.

       "You're unbelievable..." she sighed. Then she smiled, also her usual cheerful ones. He unsurely responded to her smiles by smiling back. "I have to show my gratitude properly, right?" she sighed again. Kristopher nodded and laughed, getting excited on what her way of saying thank you is.

       "Get ready..." she cracked her knuckles and looked at him with a somehow evil glare. Kristopher took a step back immediately, like a little animal sensing his life is in danger. "...interested in what heaven looks like?"

     Even before he started teasing, Daniella knew he wasn't serious and was just trying to make her feel flustered. She knew these gifts from him were sincere, but the teasing was really getting to her nerves. She hated it—and at the same time loved it. But one feeling that overpowered both... she was getting really annoyed.

       "N-Not really," Kristopher made a series of nervous chuckles. What'll she do this time? Kick him right in the gut? Punch him? Slap him Sparta-style?

     Daniella walked closer to him upon stretching her muscles. What's scarier is that she still had that cheerful smile on. "I thought so, because heaven's too good for you."

     Oh no. He knew this line. He tried to make run for the door before Daniella could start her legendary fury (probably much worse than Kristina's) but it was too late. She jumped right at him, and started pulling his cheeks from behind. Wait—she was pulling his cheeks?

     He tried to turn around to face her but his poor, captured cheeks prevented that. "A-Anne?"

       "I'm sorry," she said as she pinched harder. "I don't know how to thank you... I don't know how to express myself properly..."

     He felt her voice starting to soften.

       "Thank you..." she said in barely a whisper. Her grip on his cheeks was starting to loosen. "For everything. And... for being patient with me..."

     Kristopher took this chance so he quickly spun around so he could see her properly. She gave him a shy and girly smile and he felt like doing the same—minus the girly part. Since he was taller than her, she had to stand on her toes to give him a kiss on his (sore; numb) cheek. His eye's widened with that completely unexpected and sweet gesture. She smiled again with the shade of pink clearly glowing on her own cheeks. "Thank you..."

      Kristopher felt his lips tug up into a smile. He looked at her with a tender expression and felt happy about what they have right now. He was glad they had that talk a few days ago. But inside, his heart was aching, knowing the fact that he will have to leave after the New Year's. He knew it was the same for Daniel. So, just like his cousin, he decided to do everything now before he goes. He hated having deadlines, especially regarding his own life.

     Both boys didn't want to involve the girls, so they didn't tell them. Daniella knew this Richard Yao person as well. After all, his wife was her mother's very own sister. Her aunt. Still not believing that fact, Kristopher slumped his shoulders. How much more complicated are things gonna get in the near future? He shrugged those thoughts away and focused on the present. The beautiful present where there was a lovely girl right in front of him, cooking breakfast.

       "Have you eaten?" she called from the kitchen. As soon as he remembered food, his stomach replied for him. He hoped she didn't hear that.

       "Not really..."

       "Join me then!" she happily chirped upon adding another piece of bacon on the pan.

     Oh the present. It smelled so delicious.

     Around the same time, Kristina and Daniel were having breakfast as well. Last night, after that discussion with him, Lizzy pulled her inside her room and asked her what she was going to get Daniel because she was gonna go shopping tomorrow. She couldn't possibly tell her mother about their agreement, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

     Lizzy gave her a disapproving look and then smiled when she thought of an idea. She took her old sewing kit, a piece of fabric and showed it to her daughter. Kristina immediately rejected the idea but her mother insisted and even showed her how to sew properly. There was no getting out of this now, seeing that Lizzy got herself involved.

     She groaned internally and ate her breakfast. Today, Daniel cooked a few sausages he found inside the fridge and a couple of sunny-side up eggs to go with it. As they ate in comfortable silence, he recalled last night's conversation with Kristopher on the phone.

*Last night*

       |"Heeyy Danny!!!" | Kristopher screamed from the other line; Daniel had to distance his phone from his ear. That stupid guy was as loud as a little girl. He sighed.

       "What?"

       |"I told you earlier that we'll discuss this tonight, remember?"|

       "I know," Daniel said casually as he sat lied flat on the bed, looking terribly bored. "You just talk; I'll listen and hang up after you're through."

     Kristopher laughed at his cousin's not-so-new attitude. |"Fine. Well, as I've said, that bald guy called me last night."|

       "Uh-hm," Daniel replied.

     Kristopher's voice started to sound grim, as if he was getting upset. |"He told me that if I ever make Anne cry, he'd hunt me down."|

       "Well that's new," he said, sarcastically. Ever since back then, Richard always favoured and adored his niece. He would buy gifts for her, visited their house every time there was a holiday and even treated her like his own daughter. He was always so soft around her, and you would hardly even recognize him if you saw him the next time Daniella's around.

       |"Yeah, well, that's not all he said,"| Kristopher continued. |"I guess he already called you and told you to meet him after the New Year."|

       "Yeah."

       |"He said his kid wanted to meet us or something like that."|

     Daniel raised his brows. He forgot that man had a kid, Daniella's cousin. "Who?"

       |"Dunno,"|Kristopher sighed. |"He's around our age I think."|

       "What's his kid got to do with our business? He sounded like he was provoking me on the phone."

       |"I honestly don't know,"| he replied. |"But what I do know is that that bald dude doesn't like playing jokes and wasting time. So it's gotta be something important."|

     Daniel was silent. He stared at the ceiling of his host's guest room and sighed heavily. "He didn't mention what we'll be doing and if there's a chance for us to return here?"

     Kristopher was thinking the exact same thing. |"No. He didn't give much away. Danny, I know you're getting worried about Tinz..."|

     Daniel's muscles tensed; Kristopher probably guessed that so he continued. |"I don't wanna leave either. And I don't want Anne to know about this. I like it here Danny... I like the school we're attending. It's the most fun I've had in years."|

       "Yeah..." Daniel agreed in all honesty.

       |"I told Anne that I'm gonna shoot a movie after New Year's. What about you?"|

       "I'm gonna tell her the truth," he was referring to Kristina. "This is so troublesome. I hate that old man."

       |"Can't argue with that," |Kristopher heartily laughed. |"By the way, does Tinz have a cell phone? If we do fly back to Europe and have no idea when we're coming back, I wanna keep in touch with her and everybody else. Can you give me her number?"|

     Daniel was silent for another five seconds.

       |"Don't tell me you don't have her number?" |Kristopher sounded like he didn't believe it. He snorted on the phone. |"And you're supposed to be the great fiancé—"|

       "She doesn't have a phone," Daniel blurted out. He tried to remember the last time she held one. Maybe she did own one, but she rarely used it.           

       |"What?! Seriously?!" |Kristopher exclaimed. Daniel put his phone away his ear again.

       "So loud..." he muttered.

       |"So how do you two contact each other?"| he asked.

       "We don't," Daniel shrugged. "I come to her house every day. Since last week, I've been staying at her guest room. There's no need."

       |"I-di-ot,"| Kristopher spelled out; Daniel felt a vein throb in his forehead. |"What if we're out abroad genius? How can you contact her then?"|

     That thought actually never crossed his mind. It was already an obvious fact that cell phones weren't their thing (unbelievable!) so he never considered it. Kristopher received another silence from his cousin and he was getting rather tired from it.

       |"Well, do something about it Danny. I'm hanging up now."|

       "Tops," Daniel said before Kristopher shut his phone.

       |"Yep?"|

     He grinned. The grin that appeared on his face every time he thought of a bright idea or an evil-genius plan. "Thanks for giving me an idea for a Christmas present. Good night." Then he hang up.

*Back to the Present*

     Daniel glanced at Kristina and noticed that she was already finished—she was a fast eater. Quickly catching up as well, he took her plate and utensils along with his and left it at the sink for her to wash later.

     Kristina checked her watch. "She's coming any minute now."

       "Who?" he asked. Then in perfect timing, the doorbell rang, followed by a loud voice.

       "TINA!!! DANIEL!!! I'M HEEERE!" Ella yelled from behind the door.

     The couple sighed in unison.

     Kristina left the room and opened the door for Ella. Her best friend went inside as soon as the door opened, carrying a big fat bag (read: sack) behind her shoulder. It was also a red velvet bag. "Santa's wife got lost, I suppose," she muttered sarcastically, but Ella heard it.

       "Shut up," she laughed. "This is the only sack big enough to fit all the greens."

       "What greens?" Daniel appeared from the dining room.

     The three teens circled around the humungous bag and stared at it suspiciously; except for Ella. She opened the bag and revealed all the Christmas decorations their classmates contributed. She also took the liberty of buying twenty-five mistletoes, as requested by Daniella. Kristina groaned at the sight of the cursed plant.

       "Didn't I tell you to limit these things?"

     Ella gave her a triumphant grin. "Yeah, but the girls at class wanted a load of 'em. I just simply granted their wishes. You can't really argue with majority even if you're the pres, Tina."

     A few more minutes of complaining, arguing and insisting, Kristina finally agreed. With full reluctance.

     Daniel drove them to school. There wasn't much class activity during those hours because the entire school was busy hanging the greens. The girls enjoyed sticking the mistletoes at each and every corner of the room, Kristina was busy telling off the boys to help, Kristopher was having fun teasing Daniella with the mistletoe and the poor girl just couldn't help but face-palm the boy's cheeky little face.

     Ella, on the other hand, was rather enjoying herself decorating the tall Christmas tree as well. After she had finished putting all the decorative balls, Christmas lights and other ornaments, she proudly sighed at her work. Something was missing though—ah, yes. The star. She took the large and shiny golden star from her velvet bag and was deciding what angle she'll put the star in.

     She pulled a desk and put a chair on top of so she could climb on it and hopefully reach the tip of the tree. It was ten feet tall. When she positioned herself above the desk and chair, she felt her knees getting wobbly and almost lost her balance. After she placed the star on the tree, she sighed, contented. But as soon as she tried to get back down, the stupid chair made her lose her balance again. She should've checked the chair's foot before using it, it was uneven, therefore it was rocking a bit.

       "T-Tina..!" she yelped. Everybody in the room stopped and gasped when they saw the position Ella was in. Before her best friend could run and save her from any injury, Sean ran just in time and held the wobbling chair.  

     He sighed in relief. "I got ya."

     True, he did save her from tumbling over, but Ella didn't feel safe at all. In fact, she thought that she wanted to fall rather than have someone like Sean save her. How ironic. 'I got ya'? How could he say that? He didn't get her. He never did. Daniella saw the whole scene right across the room. She was getting worried at how Ella would react to this.

     Sean gave her a reassuring grin before giving his hand to her, offering to help her get down. Ella just looked at him with a robotic expression and silently took a deep breath to calm down her rampaging heart. She reluctantly took it and quickly jumped down. She didn't like the feel of his touch. Not anymore.

     Kristina dashed towards them with a relieved face. "Ella!" she grabbed her arm. "Are you okay?!"

       "Yeah..." she mumbled. She was still uncomfortable at the fact that Sean was still holding her hand. She gave him a look and withdrew her hand, rather forcefully. "Thanks."

       "You look kinda different today," he examined her face, which just added to her embarrassment. She waved an airy hand and put on her usual, cheerful face.

       "You're just seeing different. Now Tina!" she linked arms with her best friend. Kristina just stared at her confusingly; she had no idea about Ella and Sean's issues. "Let's finish up cleaning..."

     The rest of the day went on with decorating the classrooms and planning for their Christmas party on Friday. They were dismissed early and as soon as Daniel dropped Kristina, Ella and Daniella at Lizzy's lair, he went ahead. He said he needed to buy something, and Kristopher tagged along, knowing what Daniel wanted to buy.

     Ella explained everything to Kristina that afternoon; Daniella added a few details as well. Of course, she didn't take the news too well and thought the girls were just playing with her. She wouldn't believe that that idiot Sean, whom she used to despise so much ever since the first day she became president, had a certain something going on between him and Ella.

       "You got it wrong," Ella said. "Hear the past tense. Used to. We're done."

       "Oh," Kristina mumbled, still not believing what she's hearing. "So... how is this important and why are we talking about this again?"

       "She still loves him," Daniella replied for her.

       "Hate," Ella bitterly corrected. She held her hand and recalled the incident with him earlier. Why was he really acting like he didn't remember anything? Like nothing ever happened? Well frankly speaking, she was too, so as to not make it obvious, but couldn't he at least show a little concern? Had he really moved on?

     Kristina was irritated at the fact that of all people, it had to be Sean that had to trouble Ella's mind. After the problem with Kristopher and Daniella was solved, she was happy, now comes another headache. She felt like she had the responsibility to help Ella get over the gorilla (Sean) and get on with her life, since she was her best friend, and she wanted to repay Ella for everything she did. Even though those things she did were rather uncalled for, she didn't regret any of it.

     After a few more hours of talking, they decided to wrap things up and go home. Kristina decided not to tell her friends about her and Daniel's agreement—she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it once they find out. Daniella and Ella waited for Daniel and Kristopher to return to give them a ride home, and when the guys finally came back, everybody bid each other goodbye.

     Kristina noticed that Daniel was looking at her strangely, as if she had something crawling on her face. "What?" she asked.

       "Do you like pink?" he asked out of the blue. She raised a brow at him and slowly nodded her head.

       "Yeah. I don't have a color I don't like. Why?"

       "Nothing," he shrugged as he walked back in the house. "What's your favourite color?"

     Kristina started to look at him with suspicion rising in her eyes. "I don't have one."

       "You're weird."

       "Shut up. Like you're any normal."

     Daniel just laughed. The day after tomorrow, Thursday, was definitely going to be exciting. He couldn't wait.

....................................................................................................................................

A/N: I wish you all a Happy New Year! =))