THE moment we reached the camping area, we saw the staff fidgeting around. Some were setting up the lighting equipments, others were busy already with their make-ups. The realization hit me again that I was in a dating reality show. Not in the real world with real people.

The devil was still carrying me in his arms, when suddenly someone called us out. "Oh, there they are! Tristan and Chastity!" A staff came approaching us. "Where have you both been? The director was about to go insane when he found out you're both not here."

"She's injured. She needs to be seen by the medics." The devil answered in a cold tone.

"Oh... uh... r-really? Okay, I'll call them right away. Just lay her down on the chair now." The staff proceeded to the tent of the medics to inform them.

Meanwhile, the devil already laid me down on the vacant chair nearby. He didn't say a thing after that. He was about to walk away, but I stopped him in the arm. "Wait, devil... I mean, Tristan... thank you."

He turned to me. "You don't have to thank me. And that doesn't mean we're friends already." Then, he walked away.

Psh! How cocky! Just when I thought that he's already showing his kind side... My thoughts got interrupted when I heard someone calling out to me. "Chastity!" It was Jasper running towards me.

"Jasper!" I called back.

"What happened to you? Are you alright?" He asked me, inspecting my ankle which was wrapped with Tristan's handkerchief.

I nodded. "I'm fine."

He tilted a brow at me. "You're always pretentious. Tell me what happened with your foot."

"That's just... nothing serious." I said.

Just then, a medical officer came, interrupting me and Jasper. "Let me check your ankle, ma'am." She said, lifting it up and unwrapping the handkerchief on my ankle.

"Aaaah!" I flinched in pain.

"We'll have to take you to a hospital for an x-ray. For the meantime, we'll apply this cold compress." She said, placing the cold bag of ice in my ankle.

"Will she be okay, miss?" Jasper asked.

"We'll have to wait for the x-ray result first, sir." She answered. "I'll just call someone to carry you inside the van, ma'am."

"I'll just carry her." Jasper volunteered, positioning his hands to scoop me up, like what Tristan did.

"Jasper, you don't have to." I muttered.

"I want to." He said to me, lifting me up in his arms.

I sighed.

****

AFTER being examined in the hospital, it was found out that I just got a sprain. They wrapped a bandage around my ankle then, a staff called and ordered the medical officer who accompanied me to just take me back to the villa first.

As I reached inside the villa, the staff told me to just stay inside my room. But of course, I was a stubborn person. I decided to hang-out in the backyard again, overlooking the pool. I sat on one of the chairs, far from the edge of the pool this time.

Memories of the night when I first met the devil came flashing in my mind. It started out when he stole my bike and how he was being chased by the police. I wondered why he was being chased. Did he steal other things aside from my bike? Was he a criminal? I shook my head. Why was I even thinking about him anyway?

And then, I remembered what happened last night in the forest. When I fell in the hole, he jumped down and stayed beside me. Why didn't he just leave me and call the staff? The way he looked at me and touched my face and wiped my tears continued to bug my head. Argh! So annoying!

Minutes later, I didn't realize that I dozed off in my seat not until someone woke me up. "Chastity!" I heard someone calling me.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Patrick looking at me. "Oh... Patrick!" I said, straightening my back.

"Are you alright now? I heard from the staff about what happened." He asked me, looking at my bandaged ankle.

I smiled. "I'm alright now, Patrick."

He sighed. "I was worried when I woke up and you weren't beside me. Thankfully, nothing serious happened to you." He said, hugging me.

I was taken aback when he did this. But I just smiled. Maybe he's just really worried, knowing how kind he is. "Yeah. Thank you, Patrick. Don't worry. This is far from a snake bite."

He chuckled, releasing me from his hug. "I can't believe you can still say that, Chastity. But, next time you should be careful, okay?" He patted my head.

I nodded.

"Chastity!" Someone suddenly appeared behind us. I saw Jasper making his way towards our direction. "You should be resting in your room, not here." He told me off, like what he always did.

"I knew that." I said, smiling.

"Then why are you here?" He asked me, still in his serious mode. He was glancing at Patrick like he wanted to punch him or something. This guy is acting really weird.

"I just want to have some fresh air." I answered him.

"Just let him stay here for a while, Jasper." Patrick butted in. "I'll stay with her."

Jasper shot the other guy a glare. "No. Come on, Chas. I'll take you to your room."

I scratched my head in annoyance. "Fine." I said, trying to stand up.

Patrick held my hand to help me stand up. "Be careful." He said.

"I'll take it from here." Jasper told him, holding my hand.

BEFORE entering our room, I looked at Jasper and questioned him, "What's up with you today? You didn't have to be rude to Patrick, you know. He's just helping me."

"I don't like him helping you. Or anyone else here." He answered.

I frowned at him. "What? Why are you being like this, Jasper?"

"I just don't like it, Chas. Every guy here who is being paired with you, I hate it."

"Jasper Lee, what are you talking about? Are you PMS'ing?"

"Chastity, I'm being serious here."

"Well, so do I. We're on a dating show, Jasper. I can't even avoid these guys here."

"Then, don't go too close to them. You don't know them well. I just don't want to see you hurt."

I chuckled. "It's not like I'm gonna date them for real, dummy. Seriously, you're being weird. I'm going in."

"Chas..." He suddenly stopped me in the arm, before I could even open the door to our room.

"What?" I turned to him.

He looked at me for a while without speaking. Just then, the door to our room swung open. "Oops... sorry. Was I interrupting something?" It was one of the fake wannabes namely, Leighton.

"N-no. I'm going in now." I glanced at Jasper, before entering inside our room.

I lied down the bed and tried to take a nap. There were just so many things going on in my mind and now Jasper wanted to add up. Why was he acting like that? This is driving me nuts.

My thought got interrupted when suddenly, I heard my name being mentioned by one of the girls inside the room. They were talking about something which I didn't really care about, not until I heard my name.

"I can't believe they even like someone like her. I mean, look at her."

"Yeah. She's not even pretty."

"Maybe she's pretending to be one of the guys just to be different and get noticed by the guys here."

Like I care if no one notices me in this show. I wanted to answer them but I chose not to. I didn't want to disappoint mom whom I promised to make her proud, while being watched by everyone on national tv. I just closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep. That way, I wouldn't be able to hear whatever gossip or rumor they start about me.

****

THE next day, another pairing was going to be chosen. There were two round lottery machines which the staff brought. One for the names of the guys and the other for the girls. Yeah, just like how they chose the tributes for THG.

We were all lined up in the front lawn again, as Victoria picked up the names of the guys and girls from each bowl. I fidgeted on my hands, as I waited for my name to be called. I heard Nicole's name being paired up with Jasper again. Wow, the girl must be so happy now, being paired up with her crush twice. Anyway, as I heard my name being called, I was so anxious on who the guy would be. Please just let it be Mino or Patrick again.

"Tristan Nam Anderson." The MC called out, and for a moment I thought I was gonna faint right there.

I just got stuck with him last night, and now I have to endure another day being with him. Now that's just great!

"Okay so for today, we will be going to one of the Foundations which our show is trying to help, the Special Kids Center. You're going to spend a day with one of the special children there. Goodluck couples. Enjoy your day!" The MC ended, and the staff then ordered us to enter the vans assigned to us.

I sat by the window quietly, as my partner sat beside me. "I can't believe I'm paired up with you." I muttered in a soft voice.

"The feeling is mutual." He countered at me.

I sighed. This is going to be one hell of a long day.

****

MINUTES later, we finally reached a secluded area. The building was quite large as compared to what I imagined. Inside, there was a spacious lawn where the playground was set up. There was also a basketball court in the middle. The staff led us the way in so we just followed them until we reached a room.

There were about 10 children inside all sitting down in their respective tables. Some were writing, others were playing with lego and all sorts of toys. The staff talked to the teacher present inside for a while, then called us one by one to assign us a special child. "Tristan and Chastity, you will be looking after Shawn. That kid over there." The staff pointed to a little kid sitting on the ground and playing with the toy bricks.

I quickly made my way towards the kid to greet him. "Hi baby Shawn!" I waved at him, but he didn't respond.

I heard someone chuckling silently behind me. I turned around and saw the devil. He had a smirk on his face. "That's not how you approach a kid." He told me.

"Oh really? Then, how about you do it?" I challenged him.

He paused for a while. Then, he moved towards the kid and bent down on his knees. "Hi Shawn! I'm Tristan."

The kid looked at him for a while. I thought he was gonna speak already, but he continued playing again. It was my time to laugh at the devil. "Ah... so that's how you approach a kid."

The devil frowned at me. Just then, the kid suddenly ran out of the back door. He quickly stood up and followed the kid. I was gonna follow them as well, but then someone suddenly spoke beside me. "Hi, you're gonna look after Shawn, right?"

I turned to my side and saw their teacher. "Yes ma'am."

She smiled. "You see, he is deaf and mute so it'll be a little difficult to handle him."

I was dumbstruck for a minute. So that must be why he isn't reacting to everything we say. Now I understand. I nodded at her. "Alright ma'am. Thank you for telling me."

She nodded at me. "You better catch up with him." She motioned me to go out of the room and so I did.

I walked past the hallways but I couldn't find the kid, nor the devil. Just then, as I passed by the playground, I saw the kid sitting on the swing with the devil bending down infront of him and doing some sign language. He knew how to do that? And wait... so he figured out that the kid was deaf and mute? Wow, so this devil is smart.

I walked towards them, causing them to turn to me. "Hi Shawn!" I tried greeting him again, but this time with a smile and a wave.

"Shawn, that is Chastity." The devil introduced while doing hand gestures. "She's pretty ugly, right?"

The kid shook his head, then did some sign language which I obviously didn't understand. The devil paused for a while then looked at me. "He said you're even uglier that the ugliest on earth."

I creased my brows at him. The kid seriously said that?

But then, I saw the kid tugging the devil's shirt while shaking his head. He did some sign language again, pointing at the devil's face then pointing to mine.

"What did he say?" I asked.

The devil didn't answer. He just crossed his arms and looked at the kid.

"Hey! What did he mean by that?" I asked again.

"He said you two look good together." Someone with a high-pitched voice answered behind us.

I turned around and saw a little girl smiling and moving next to the little boy. Did the kid really say that? I don't even know what to believe anymore. If only I know how to do sign language.

"That's what you meant right?" The little girl asked the boy using sign language. The latter nodded his head. "See."

I glanced at the devil who was now standing next to me, his hands tucked in his jeans pockets. "Did you know that he was deaf and mute?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I figured that out when I chased him here."

"Why do you know how to do sign language?" I asked again.

"Why do you have so many questions?" He retorted.

"Yiiieh! They're having lover's quarrel." The little girl suddenly said, causing us both to turn to her. "Are you two a couple?"

"NO!" We both said in sync and at a speed of light.

The two kids giggled infront of us. "That's too bad. Can I have him then?" The girl pointed at the devil. Seriously kid, when you've reached the right age, you wouldn't want anywhere near this kind of guy.

"You can have him yourself." I said, forcing a smile and pushing the devil infront of the little girl. "What's your name by the way?"

"I'm Arabelle. But everyone calls me Ara."

I nodded. "Ara, this is de-" I paused, realizing what I was about to say. "This is Tristan. Tristan, this is Ara."

"A-Ara?" I heard the devil mutter in a soft voice while staring in blank space.

I turned to the devil who wasn't moving. I nudged him on the side. He still didn't move. I tiptoed to whisper in his ear. "The girl wants to get to know you."

"No!" He suddenly yelled, covering his ears. He turned his back and walked away from us. What's wrong with that guy?

****