The Night From Two Years Ago

DT let Nina push him out of the door. In all honesty, he wanted to stay with them even for a short while. But it seems Ellise is in one of her moods again.

He still knows that the best move, whenever Ellise is in one of her moods, is to let her deal with it in silence, -- on her own.

Quite funny for him to feel reassured that there are things about her that stay the same, like how she keeps an emergency spare key on the driver's side wheel of her car.

Even the things he used to find annoying before, like the way she changes her mood in a snap of a finger or her way of being so unapologetic when she has an opinion over something. He finds them strangely reassuring now.

It makes him feel the Ellise he knows back then is still the same girl that came back, however, the current situation looks like.

He looked up at the sky that is slowly getting dark and vividly remembered the night from two years ago.

DT pushes the glass door with his left hand, while his right is pulling his phone from his jeans pocket to check if Ellise already checked his messages.

Before the press release, he sent her tons of messages explaining why he needs to admit in the public his relationship with Asya. He finds it strange that he is so desperate for her to know and understand what he will be doing. He wanted to talk to her but she won't accept his calls.

He was actually just waiting for the party to be over so he could go to her apartment, but she suddenly came with her aunt.

It was a surprise to see her dropping by the WIZ after-party, when she ignored all his invite and she still hasn't seen his messages.

He dialed her number, and yet again it just went to voicemail.

"Hey!"

He was startled by someone and spun around to see who spoke.

"Shut it Grand! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was thinking since the party was over and Mr. Wan is in a good mood, escaping tonight might be a good idea," he said grinning, putting his helmet on.

"Are you going to the East City?" he asked Grand who already had his helmet on.

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you have an extra helmet?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked again.

"Give them to me!" he ordered.

"You gotta tell me why bro. You are scaring me!" Grand said, from his bike.

"I just want to go to East City. I can't take out Mr. Wan's car from the parking lot at this hour," he said with urgency.

"So, you're saying that you want to escape with me? You're not going to telltale to your uncle about my escapade tonight?"

"Fuck it! Just tell me if you have a helmet!" he said annoyed.

He can't explain this gnawing feeling that something isn't right tonight from the way Ellise acted a while ago. He can't put his fingers on what was the thing that isn't right, but he can feel it in his guts. And he can't sit down until he finds out tonight. Hence, he wanted to be at Ellise apartment in the East City.

"Here! Chill down bro. Ellise does look like she got the whole world in her shoulder, but believe me she is like that most of the time."

"How do you even know?" he snarled at him, while clumsily putting the helmet on.

"Ellise hangs out with us at the skatepark," he said shrugging his shoulders.

"Enough talk, let's go!"

DT arrived at an empty and dark apartment. The feeling of dread multiplied but he tried to reason out that Ellise might have just stayed at her aunt.

But the feeling that he can't explain happened when someone answered his call to Ellise number and told him that he found her phone at ANA airport lounge at Pudong International Airport.

DT knew that time that Ellise was gone.

A strange feeling of loss washed over him. His knees buckled down, he felt an overwhelming emotion of desperation.

He rushed over to the airport to retrieve Ellise's phone, hoping to find a clue where she went, but her phone was cleaned.

The phone was reprogrammed to factory settings. He knew then that Ellise wasn't coming back. She left her phone deliberately at the airport.

DT wanted to curse someone at that time, he wanted to punch himself for leaving her that morning.

Maybe...

Should he...

What if he...

If only he...

Those ran through his head all these years. Until now, Ellise is suddenly back in Shanghai.

In the same place where she left. Without words. Without explanation. Without an apology. Without any answers to his questions, for she is clearly avoiding him.

But Ellise got it wrong if she thinks he will just be quiet and let her have her way like before.

For if there is one thing that he confirmed the moment he saw her face all over again was the feeling of loss he had two years ago. He finally understood it.

Two years ago he was heartbroken.

He was in love with her!

And he is until now. That he is sure of. And he has no plan to let her walk away this time around. For he has a feeling that Ellise came back for a reason and she is here to stay.

No one answered his questions back then where did Ellise go. He begged his uncle, he tried meeting her aunt who refused to see him, he pestered Ting, he threatened Grand and his friends, but not a single soul was able to answer him where in the hell did Ellise go.

He flagged down the first taxi that he saw when he got out of the main gate of Nina's University.

He knows which one he has to fix first for him to have the right to be part of Ellise's life again.

He has to go back to the decision he made two years ago. His decision that he felt catapulted Ellise to vanish.

The choice he regretted for the last years, while he was constantly missing her.