บท 3: Bride and Groom

Joreen gathered her gown and began to run away from the site where the movie was being shot. Even though the others wanted to stop her and plead with her to forgive them and shoot the final scene of the movie one more time, they couldn't afford to annoy her simply by raising the topic.

Luo Joreen was a very sweet girl who was loved by all, but the sweet girl had a temper. People liked working with her not because of the kind of family she was from, but because she was a great actress who was confident in herself, and stood tall when people tried to pull her down or try to pull some sort of racist stunt on her. After her debut and the first few movies she starred in, she automatically became everyone's favourite. So having her in their movies was a big plus to them. Plus the kind of backing she had was mindboggling!

Because of this, they treated her warmly and was always careful about how they acted around her. So if she was angry now, she had every right to.

"Jo, you have a call from your sister!" Her assistant called and ran after her with her phone in hand.

Her assistant was a few years older than her, but Joreen treated her more like an older sister than an employee so naturally, her assistant treated her like her sister also.

"And stop running. It's already late and you may trip." She said with concern as her eyes swept over the wedding gown Joreen wore.

"Did you see CEO Li?" Joreen asked her breathlessly before taking the phone from her.

"No. I don't think it is wise to run around the beach by this time. We don't know the people here..." She looked at the phone that was beginning to ring again, "And please answer your call. Your sister has been calling nonstop."

"I will. But can you help me look over there? I won't go far. I promise." Joreen pointed at the opposite direction and pleaded with puppy eyes.

"I..."

"Please?"

The assistant sighed in resignation. "I'll only check for less than 5 minutes. And please, do not go far."

"I won't." Joreen said with a grin before answering her call while her assistant ran the other way.

"What's up little sister?" Her older sister Reen, said into the phone.

"Tonight is the worse night of my life!" Joreen complained.

"What? I'm switching to video call now. I need to see your face and beat up the bastard that's making you sound that way."

Joreen saw that coming but she accepted the video call and blinked a few times when the flashlight stung her eyes.

"Oh my! You look so pretty— Wait, you really do look unhappy. What happened to you?".

"She's looks unhappy?" Her father asked as he appeared beside Reen on the camera. "Wow! Is that Jo? Why does she look like a princess?" He asked in astonishment.

Without telling, anyone could tell Joreen wasn't biologically related to them. Her stepsister, Luo Reen was fair, had a short and curly hair which she dyed purple and looked totally beautiful. Reen was also tall like her father, Luo Jaime unlike Joreen who took her mother's petite stature, except her complexion which she had gotten from her biological father whom she had never met before.

Because she liked her new family a lot, she felt changing her name to theirs would make them complete so instead of her mother's maiden name which she answered while growing up, Wang Joreen requested for her name to be changed to Luo Joreen.

"I'm fine." Joreen sighed. She didn't want to talk about it now. She wanted to see Li Hoy. It's been months since she last saw him.

"You're not. You look like someone pissed you off. What happened?" Her father (Jaime) asked, looking really worried for the people who had annoyed her more than he was worried about her.

"Spill it!" Reen demanded impatiently.

"So... we were shooting the final scene and..." She was too embarrassed to say it. If she wasn't dark skinmed, her face would have looked like a tomato by now.

"And?" Her Jaime urged.

"Han Yu... kissed me. For real."

Three voices echoed at the same time,

"WHAT?" Her mother (Wang Cixi) suddenly appeared behind Reen and Jaime with wide eyes.

"That crazy..."

"Reen! Your lang—" Jaime reminded her but he was interrupted by his wife (Cixi) who helped finish Reen's sentence..

"Bastard!"

Jaime sighed. It wasn't easy dealing with three women who knew how to swear and get angry easily.

"How could he do that? You just got your first kiss on a movie set!" Reen shrieked. She looked even more angry than the victim.

"And you aren't even 18 yet. You were supposed to have your first kiss at 25 at least!" Jaime added, also feeling very annoyed.

When he noticed everyone was suddenly quiet, he looked at Joreen who was blinking at him and then his wife beside him, who was giving him the, "Are you being serious look?"

While Reen looked like she was repulsed by her father's statement.

"I hope you beat the hell out of him?" Her mother (Cixi) asked.

"Let's talk later..I got to run now. I heard CEO Li is here."

"Oh my! He is there! I feel bad for Han Yu. CEO Li is so going to kill him!" Reen said with a happy grin.

"And I'll so gladly bury him." Cixi spat out.

"Please be safe. And don't kill anyone!" Jaime pleaded honestly.

"And do return home soon. They are going to be announcing the location for the Christmas trip soon. Oh! And make sure you send me Yu's number. I need to say Hi to him." Reen said with a mischievous smile.

"Don't do that, Jo. Her words may kill him first before Li Hoy even tries anything." Cixi advised making Joreen laugh. She felt a lot better after talking to them.

"I really need to go now. And I already have a flight booked for tomorrow. I'll be in the country before you know it. Do not tell the family. I want to surprise them. I love you all." She blew them a kiss before hanging up.

Now, back to searching for a particular someone.

"You're going to look like a runaway bride if you keep running like that."

Joreen spun around immediately she heard the familiar voice behind her.

She didn't know where he appeared from or when he came behind her, but she guessed it was just now or else her family would have seen him behind her.

She looked at him and slowly, a smile broke on her face. He was still as she remembered. If cool was a person, it was him. He had the typical CEO-look: The suit, the neatly arranged hair, the expensive watch and shoe. Everything was perfect!

His hands were deep inside his pockets and his dark eyes stared directly at her. She couldn't remember the last time she saw him but she was super excited to see him now, especially after having a bad evening.

He was like the guardian angel who led her through almost every challenging stage of her life since she joined the entertainment industry. People usually referred to him as her guardian, some even called him her Godfather.

"You keep growing everytime I see—" His words didn't land before she jumped on him and gave him a big, happy hug, almost shocking the life out of him when their bodies collided.

He stood there limply as she embraced him and after a few seconds, he managed to take out his hands from inside his pockets.

He made a mental note to remind her she was almost an adult and to stop doing things like this. He hoped once she clocked 18 in a few weeks, she would really understand.

Hoy looked around to make sure no one was watching them but unfortunately, it wasn't so. There were a few curious eyes watching. And he could only imagine what they were thinking seeing how he was in a suit and she was in a wedding gown.

'This is so embarrassing.' He thought to himself and tried to use his hand to cover his face.