Chapter 5: Miss You Cast: Ruby Lin as Crystal Tae (Sattawat Sathakorn) as Tay Daniel Wu as Jake Jolin Tsai as Wasabi Chi Lam Cheung as Nicolas Kenix Kwok as Jocelyn Special Appearances: Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Vic Chou, Ken Chu

     Jocelyn picked up the box and handed it to Crystal. "Aren’t you going to open it?"
     Crystal shook her head to indicate that she wasn’t going to.
     "Why not? Aren’t you going to give him a chance?"
     "I don’t want to start anything that I know is not going to work out."
     "How will you know if you don’t try?"
     "I’m not right for him. He needs to be with someone his own age. Like...Wasabi. I’m too old for him."
     "Does age really matter to you?"
     "Yes. There’s too much of an age gap between us. I don’t want him to regret it later on."
     "How do you know that he’s going to regret it? I just don’t want you to..."
     "Let’s not talk about him." Crystal interrupted. "So...when is your next prenatal checkup?" She changed the subject.
     "In two weeks."
     "I’ll go with you."
     "Okay."
     That night, Jake rushed up to them while they were getting ready to close for the day. Panting to catch his breath, a worried expression was displayed on his face.
     "Have you seen Tay?"
     "No." Crystal shook her head.
     "He has been missing since we split up this afternoon. I’ve been looking for him since then, but I can’t find him. I’m starting to worry."
     ‘I’m starting to worry. Starting to worry. Worry...’ Those words echoed continuously in Crystal’s head, invading her sleep. She tossed and turned, shutting her eyes tight, hoping to fall asleep; but she just couldn’t. She gave up and sat up in bed, switching on the lights. The box that Tay gave her caught her attention as it sat on the bedside drawer, waiting to be opened. Crystal reached for it and slowly opened it, revealing a white gold bracelet with a puffy heart charm dangling at one end. She took it out of the box and looked at it. ‘Tay. Where are you? Are you okay?’ She held the bracelet tightly in her hand, unable to hide her true feelings any longer. She missed him.
     The next morning, Nicolas dropped Jocelyn and Crystal off at the shop as usual.
     "Crystal!" Jocelyn noticed that Crystal was a bit dazed and dreary.
     "Huh?" Crystal could barely keep her eyes open.
     "Are you alright? You look very tired."
     "I couldn’t sleep last night..." she yawned.
     "What’s wrong? You missed him, don’t you? Is that why you were suffering from a major case of insomnia?"
     "Who says I missed, Tay?"
     "You just did." Jocelyn smiled, slyly. "I never mentioned his name."
     "Ah... He has nothing to do with it. I..." Crystal searched through her mind for an explanation. "I must have had too much caffeine. That’s why!"
     "Caffeine? I didn’t see you drink any coffee or tea, yesterday."
     "I had a...soda."
     "Okay..." Jocelyn stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "If you say so." Noticing that she was still continuing to yawn, Jocelyn suggested that Crystal should go take a nap in the back room.
     Crystal immediately agreed just to get away from their conversation regarding Tay.
     Before Crystal turned to walk in, Jake came running into their store once again. "Have you heard from Tay?"
     "He’s still not back?" Crystal asked right away.
     "No. I’m very worried about him. What if they got him? He still haven’t fully recovered from his injuries, yet. I shouldn’t have let him come with me." Jake held his hand up in a fist, making a crackling sound. "It’s all my fault!"
     "We have to go find him!" Crystal started to panic.
     Jake could see the worry in her eyes. "Okay. Let’s go search around for him."
     Crystal nodded and looked over at Jocelyn.
     "It’s okay." Jocelyn said. "I’ll watch the store."
     They searched all around, but Tay was nowhere to be found. The more they looked, the more disappointed they got, and the more worried she became. She was exhausted from it all. From her restless night. Her worried heart. Her struggle to hide her true feelings for him. Her head was becoming heavy along with her eyelids, but she wasn’t going to give up just yet. Not until she found Tay. Her dizziness was taking control of her balance, and she had to stand still for a moment.
     Jake noticed that Crystal didn’t look well. "Can you still continue on?"
     She nodded. "Yes..." she sniffed. A tear dripped down her face.
     Jake realized that she was crying and went over to her at once. "Crystal..."
     Crouching down, she hid her face behind her palms. "I’m so worried..."
     Jake knelt down in front of her and gently patted her on the shoulder. "I know..." A sign of regret was displayed in his eyes, since the whole ordeal was only his scheme to test out Crystal’s true feelings for Tay. He knew now that she did cared for him. "Actually...Tay is..."
     "Hey, Jake!" A familiar voice interrupted them from behind. "What happened? I woke up and you were gone." He said, while rubbing his temples in attempt to rid himself of his throbbing headache.
     "Yeah. You got really drunk, yesterday." Jake slowly stood up.
     The young man finally caught eye of the sobbing girl. "Crystal?"
     She looked up at him. "Tay?"
     "Why are you here?" Tay approached her in an instance and helped her up. "Why are you crying? What’s wrong?" He wiped the tears off her face. "Please...don’t cry."
     "Tay..." She leaned forward to hug him, resting her head comfortably on his shoulder. "I was so worried..."
     "It’s alright." He gradually wrapped his arms around her. "It’s okay. I’m here now."
     Seeing this, Jake cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ah...don’t mind me. Continue on..." Jake smiled and headed off immediately.
     "Where are you going, Jake?"
     Without saying a word, Jake waved his hand up in the air to say goodbye. ‘Be happy my young friend. Don’t be like me. Regretting it when it’s too late...’ Jake sighed. ‘I miss you...Gillian.’
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Long chapter, huh? Hee...hee...^.^

~Swallow~

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