Disclaimer ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo

Note – A third thank you goes to Tearless Wish for the suggestions that helped me expand these past two chapters. :D


Heng didn't talk to me again until we'd found an out-of-the-way café, one with booths closed in on the sides by large, thick planters, giving every table a very private air. We sat in the far corner of the second story, ordered coffee and a few fruit muffins for Heng, then he stared hard at me through the spiraling steam coming from our drinks. "Well? I'm waiting. After you seemed so believing the other day, why did you suddenly change your mind and think I'm being insincere?"

"Several reasons," I began. "First and foremost, prior experience with other people. You heard the ladies' resentment and I'm sure you've heard similar things from other people at work. That is the main view people have of me—a spoiled, incompetent, egotistical rich kid, who relies on his father for everything. However, some people pretend they don't see me that way and get close to me for their own benefit. In the beginning they were all 'sincere' to a certain extent. There have been far too many of those sorts of people in my past. Due to my father's wishes, quite a few of them are still hanging around me to this day. My friends, if you can call them that."

Heng's eyes widened slightly. "You have friends?" Feeling extremely offended at that remark, I glared at him. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "That came out really wrong…sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It's just…you're really antisocial and all. I wasn't expecting…" When he saw that his rambling wasn't helping, he ended, "Sorry, continue."

"Friends of convenience," I summed. "Casual companions on the surface, who are simply getting close to one another for beneficial marriages, partnerships and connections later in life when we all inherit our parents' companies. A great big pile of spoiled, incompetent, egotistical rich kids, who rely on their parents for everything."

"And you're comparing me to these people, why?" Heng pressed, looking annoyed again. "What'd I do to make you think that I'm sucking up to you for my own benefit?"

"It isn't something you did, but something that you didn't do. Which leads me to reason number two," I plowed onward, holding up two fingers. "You refuse to tell me why you wanted to be my teammate when we first met in Second Life. Therefore—No, let me finish!" I snapped when he seemed about to interrupt. He leaned back against the dark green booth cushions, his furious glower returning at full force. "You sidestepped the question when I asked it, therefore I had to make my own assumptions. With all of my past history with not only my friends, but also people from my college years and people at work who inveigled me in a hope that I would be of use to them…You can't blame me for being doubtful about your motives when you won't give me a straight-forward answer.

"Reason number two, point one," I announced.

"Great, you've even got sub reasons. How organized," Heng grumbled.

I ignored him. "In the woods at Sun City, you used your cute attack on me, thus forcing me to agree to train with you."

"I did not!" Heng looked scandalized at my accusation for a brief moment, but then his face slipped into embarrassment. "Okay, fine! So I did! A tiny bit! I just really wanted you to agree! Is it wrong to use my special skills to get what I want?"

"Of course it's wrong when you coerce people into becoming your friend!" I chided. "There's no point in being teammates if you are manipulating my feelings, so that I agree to stay without even knowing that it's not my own will!"

"I told you," Heng sighed. "I really, really wanted you to be my teammate!"

"And I asked you why‽" I pressed.

"And…I…told…you…I think you're interesting," he slowly replied. "For a very long time now I've been wanting to get to know you. That's why."

"No, that is not!" I snarled. "That's the reason why you're still here! That's not the reason why you picked me! And the lack of an answer is why I've been wondering if you're just like the rest and you want something from me other than simple friendship! The people at work who want promotions and raises! The moronic people from my damned university who thought it would be 'cool' to be friends with the rich kid of the class, but then snubbed me from their ridiculous cliques when I refused to be exploited for their selfish purposes!" I took a very violent drink of my coffee, nearly spilling it all over the place, in a futile attempt to calm myself down, then proceeded to stare questioningly at Heng, silently demanding an answer from him.

Rather than looking angry like he had been, he seemed somewhat morose. "I remember that," he murmured after a long pause, picking vacantly at one of his muffins. I frowned in confusion. He remembered what?

A small smile twitched at the left side of his mouth. "I've wondered about it a lot ever since I got hired last spring…I guess I was right. You forgot me, didn't you?" When I shook my head, not knowing what he was talking about, he sighed. "And I spent so much time chasing you around campus for two years. Eventually gave up, though, since you kept acting like I was such an annoyance. You really don't remember all that?"

"No…You and I went to the same university?" I asked, mind swirling when I attempted to remember that far back. It was only six years ago when I'd first started attending there, but I'd never bothered to imprint the useless school life on my memory. Only what was taught in the classes had been important. All of the faces of my classmates had faded away a long time ago, leaving only their maddening actions.

"Not only that, but we were in a lot of classes together, since we were in the same program," he informed, pausing a moment to take a bite of muffin. "I tried so hard to befriend you, but you brushed me off every time I tried to talk to you or invite you somewhere. Even when I asked to simply do homework together. You always said you were busy, or that you didn't like working with other people, or that you weren't interested in whatever it was that I was trying to get you to do…"

"I was extremely busy. And I do like to work by myself," I pointed out huffily. "So…" I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're one of those people."

"Hey, that's rude," he scolded. "Some of our classmates were really nice. Although, yeah, a lot of them were really stupid and got pissed at you when you refused to be their unconditional wallet. Can't really blame them for asking. Common college students who like to party…Having a rich guy in the class was probably their dream come true. But then you went and ruined it all, not that I blame you. I did the same thing whenever they asked me for money, though, knowing how blunt you can get, I was probably nicer about it.

"Anyway, back on topic. That was why I refused to take no as an answer when asking you to be my teammate. I've been trying to convince you to let me be your friend for years now. When you rescued me from those bears, the opportunity to get close to you at last was right there, so I took it. I'm sorry I made you mad by using underhanded methods, but it seemed like a really good idea at the time. In fact, I'd probably do it again if I thought you'd refuse otherwise."

"But why are you so determined to get close to me?" I asked.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself before it'll sink through your thick skull‽" he irritably wondered. "You intrigue me. And isn't that the reason people want to get close to others? It's not like a person'll normally straight away have a bunch of solid reasons for wanting to befriend someone they barely know.

"When we first met at college," he quietly said, "and when I got to meet you a second time when I was hired at your company, and even the third time in Second Life, I always wondered about you. Why is he so quiet? Why is he so passive? Why is he so guarded? What's underneath that stoic face of his?

"You seemed like a bird locked away in a cage, but kept outdoors. You could see the world beyond your boundaries and technically you were in that world, but you never really had a chance to be a part of it. Though you seemed perfectly content to simply watch through the bars while life played out in front of you," he mused, swirling the remainder of his coffee around in the small mug before gulping it down. "Then I found you by chance in Sun City. A complete coincidence, just like our little meeting in the forest. I had no idea that you also played Second Life, so it wasn't like I'd been searching for you or anything…But," he paused to laugh for a moment. "But it was like your cage had finally been opened. You got to fly. And I finally got to see a glimpse of the person I'd been wanting to meet for so long."

Heng looked me in the eyes with all seriousness. "That was why I asked you to be my teammate. Honestly, all I want is to be your friend and I still would even if you were a lowly middle-class citizen like myself, with neither an impressive social standing or a gigantic bank account. I'm not trying to get close to you for any selfish reason like a promotion, or a raise, or to be cool because I know a rich guy. Friendship and nothing else. I promise. Do you believe me?"

Running my thumb across the edge of the table, I awkwardly averted my gaze. "I want to," I softly replied. "But…Well, I know that it's been a month already and you're probably getting all impatient with me, but I just…"

"I told you before that I'm not expecting you to change overnight," he reminded. "I do get impatient with you a lot, but I already know that it'll take time, and I'm still here."

Smiling faintly, I nodded and finished off my coffee. The people at the university really hadn't all been selfish idiots, I knew. There was the occasional person who was simply interested in me as an individual, but they'd all given up after only one or two attempts at conversing with me. Heng was the one and only person who'd persisted. It made me feel a tiny bit important, being valued by someone for the first time in my life.

Once I'd gotten my cup refilled by a passing waitress, I made a humming noise, then rested my chin on one hand. "Now then! Reason number two, point two, as to why I'm in doubt."

Heng glowered at me in sudden annoyance, chomping into his last muffin and mumbling, "I thought you were finished."

"Oh, no. There's more. I said I have several reasons, didn't I? I want to list them all, or else I'm going to keep worrying about them." At the resigned wave of his hand, I said, "You kept your real life identity from me for an entire month, even though we've apparently known each other for six years. And before you reminded me of our school days together, I'd been thinking knowing one another for a few months before you told me was cruel of you. So why did you keep it from me for so long?"

He took his time swallowing the muffin, then quietly answered, "I already said why. I didn't want to completely force you to be my friend if you really weren't interested. I only used my special skill once, and only for a few seconds. After that, I never used it on you again. And anyway, would you still have agreed to be my teammate if I'd told you who I am?"

I fell silent, seeing his point. Knowing myself, I most definitely would not have agreed. It was the fact that he was someone new and different that drew out my curiosity and interest, leading to my continued consent for his company. If he'd told me then that he was my employee, I would have left him at once, regardless of any cutesy looks he threw at me. He was someone my father knew, after all, and keeping Second Life from my father was one of my top priorities. Since I'd thought Dib was someone my father would never have known, that particular threat was eliminated and allowed me to relax.

"Exactly," Heng said into the stillness that had built up. "I didn't want you to feel any more uncomfortable around me than you already did, so I kept it a secret and hoped you would ask me yourself, but you never did…" He shrugged and I looked away, not knowing what I was supposed to say in return. Not once had I even been curious as to who Dib was in real life, even after he told me his age, which probably should have triggered at least a little interest into who he was. But I'd wanted to protect myself.

And here I was still protecting myself by going to such extreme lengths to simply meet with a friend.

Sighing, I looked back up. "I'm sorry."

"You know now and that's what's important to me," he said with a wide smile. "Now then, is there a reason number three? Or perhaps a reason number two, point three? Or reason number two, section ten, roman numeral whatever-it-is, paragraph fifty, sentence fourteen, point two-thirds?"

"Mm, I do have one more thing," I affirmed, laughing in amusement at his sarcastic list. I took a moment to drink the remainder of my coffee and gather up my shreds of courage to ask, "Why are you still here? I mean, I mentioned before that I think you can do a lot better than me. Other than your fixation with my apparent mysteriousness, I…I don't know, I guess I just don't know why you would want to be my friend. No one else has ever seriously tried to make friends with me before, so…I don't feel like I'm…worth the effort."

"Reason number one!" Heng suddenly echoed, raising a finger for a moment before falling back against his seat and chuckling. "Actually there's a lot of reasons. Like how you handle your employees. All those guys who talk trash about you behind your back. While the person they think you are would get angry and run to daddy to get them fired, the real you puts up with their daily crap. You're compassionate enough to just take it all and let them keep their jobs, regardless of how ridiculously disrespectful they are while they're not pretending to be goodie-goodie employees when you're right in front of them.

"You go about things in a very outwardly cold way, but you're actually a very kind person." He suddenly leaned forward again and blurted, "And then there's the fact that you're really fun to annoy, and you're sarcastic, and you're so polite, and you're patient, and you have an unbelievable amount of focus and determination when it comes to completing work stuff, and you're always honest, and on and on."

Feeling extremely embarrassed by his list, I looked away again. They didn't actually seem very impressive, seeing as how there were plenty of other people with those same traits, but it was still very nice to hear such things said aloud. Plus it helped quite a bit that they were all personality-based, since everyone else was so annoyingly focused with what was on the outside—looks, status, money, et cetera.

"Well, that's all very relieving to hear…" I murmured, briefly glancing at him.

"Good," he chirped, then waved a finger at me. "And in the future if you have any worries, tell me. Don't keep them all bottled up like this, leaving them until they explode. It's really annoying, trying to figure out why you're mad at me when you never tell me anything. Then we get all argumentative over and over, 'cause of these stupid misunderstandings. Just come right out and say stuff. Okay?"

"Okay." I glanced at my watch for a moment, then looked up to Heng. "Are you finished eating?"

"Yeah," he answered, quickly running his eyes over his crumb-covered plate and empty mug. "Why?"

"Let's go back to the hotel and find out when the next flight home is." When he nodded, I slid myself to the end of the cushioned bench and stood up, leaving the booth. We went to the front of the shop to pay, then went back outside. Thankfully it seemed the multitudes of students' lunch breaks had ended. The sidewalks were quite a bit clearer than they had been earlier.

"You don't wanna stay the night here?" Heng asked after a moment.

"No…I want to go home, since the work is all done. Also there's no Second Life here," I explained with a small laugh. "I kind of miss playing. The air feels a bit stuffy here on the ground." I looked up to the sky for a moment, wishing somewhat that I could be up there instead of all the way down here. Several times earlier whenever a particularly large group of people had come toward us along the walk, I'd caught myself straining my shoulder muscles as if I'd be able to whip out a pair of wings and take off.

Sadly, I was a mere wingless human in real life.

Heng smirked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his gray slacks. "I see. Well, then we'd better hurry home to relieve you of your flying withdrawal, huh?" Smiling, I nodded, dropping my eyes to where I was going. At least real life wasn't so bleak anymore.


Chapter theme song! O-o

Waiting for Yesterday by David Archuleta (I know it's sung as a guy talking to a girl, but it still fits. xD)

It's like you're locked up in your own world, with nothing to say.
You keep me guessing, but it's in your eyes.
He made you promises, but gave you lies.
You shut me out, because you're so sure that I'll be another mistake.

I know that he left you in pieces.
You know that I won't be that way.
I'm not gonna treat you like he did, whatever it takes.
You think history is repeating.
You keep on pushing me me away.
But nothing's gonna change, waiting for yesterday.


And also random story time!

I was up late last night watching horror movies (my favorite~:3), and then when I about to go to sleep at around one or two in the morning, a giant house centipede raced across the floor. It had a million, billion, trillion, zillion super long legs and it was the size of a small mouse (minus the tail)…Upon noticing the bug, I had a Dib moment.

*insert screams of terror here* "IT'S A MUTATED SPIDER FROM HELL‼"

Or so I thought. It was also storming outside, so there were dramatic lightening flashes and booms of thunder going on in the background. I jumped out of my chair and ran away (to find a weapon, of course!…and also because the bug was so scary.)

But instead of getting something to squish it with, I decided to capture it underneath a jar and left it there. After turning on the lights, so I could keep an eye out for any other Mutant Hell Spiders, I twitchily spent the rest of the night writing, constantly paranoid that another one was going to sneak up on me. I got Sir Dad the Brave to relocate the monstrosity to the outdoors once he woke up.

It was a scary night. A very scary night. But thanks to my unexpected guest, Mr. Mutant Hell Spider, and how he swept away my sleepiness, I got this finished very quickly.

Good thing bugs are so small. x-x