Major chapter plot wise. This is also where I stopped writing on paper, so now I have to come up with every chapter on my own, so updates will be slower.

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Milena smiled. How Cathy and Kai got together would be a great story. Especially since the two of them had a continuous one-sided verbal argument since they learned to talk. Though it was always Cathy yelling at Kai, while Kai would just reply with his usually 'hn', which usually made her angrier. She grinned happily for her friend, and made a note to herself to bug Kai about it later.

She slowly closed her Messenger window but decided to remain logged in. She then decided she might as well start her essay for psychology class. The annoying ring filled her ears again. She really needed to turn that off. She glanced at the bottom side of the screen, then name read "Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do"

Milena's eyes widened. It couldn't be who she thought it was. He wasn't supposed to be on the computer for a while. She looked at the email address. Yup. It was the only person she knew with an eight-word address. Tala Ivanov. new conversation window opened.

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Hey

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Milena you there?

It was known that Tala had even less patience in waiting for an answer on Messenger than Cathy.

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

Yeah, what do you want?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Ouch…nice as ever I see.

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

Yup, weren't you going to go skateboarding with Kai and Cathy?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

I was but then my father called and told me I had to do read and write a report on some contracts and stuff for his company so I can run it more successfully when he hands it over to me

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

Haha, tough luck

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Yeah, so what's going on with you?

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

Nothing exciting, researching for an essay, you?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Same, so how's where ever you are?

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

It's ok, how's Vancouver?

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Same as usual, how's life there?

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

It's ok, but it seems kind of odd without you

Milena cursed. I sent that! She winced, waiting for Tala's reply.

Damn, nosy parents should stop pretending to be worried and just go on with what they do says:

Ha! I knew it! Your hopeless without me…but then again who wouldn't be! Lol, after all, how can you not miss my godliness?

Milena let out a breath she didn't no she was holding

Milena/I hate you but I love you I can't stop thinking of you. You mean the whole world to me but when I see you my world turns upside down says:

Sure sure, I g2g, I'll let you deflate that enormous ego of yours while I'm gone. Cya!

Milena sighed off quickly before she could see the red heads reply.

"So whom were you talking to?" Salima asked.

"Tala."

"That guy?"

"Yeah, that guy." Milena rolled her eyes.

Before Milena realized, it was Christmas, and Milena was on a plane returning to Vancouver. Her father had sent her a letter and the ticket. At first, Milena wasn't sure if she should go, not wanting to face the questions she would obviously be asked.

Though she had to admit she missed her friends a lot more then she let on to anyone, even, shockingly, Kai.

The months had flew by at an impossibly fast speed. It was almost eight months since she left. Milena let out a heavy sigh, now that she had decided to go back, she had another huge problem. Christmas presents.

Milena smiled, yet another trip to the mall to get presents for her friends back home. She had already gotten presents for her friends here a few days ago.

After a good five hours searching the mall, she bought Kai, Cathy, Enrique and Johnny and a few other friend's presents. But she was still missing Tala's. After yet another five grueling hours and walking up and down the mall about fifty times and completely memorizing the mall's floor plan, the finally spotted what might interest the red headed god.

I hope he likes it. She thought anxiously to herself. The set of presents were his style, but…she was still so afraid that he wouldn't like it and toss it to the Salvation Army truck that went around during the holidays.

'I hope Cathy saves me from awkward conversations…wait knowing her she'll be the one that starts them…' Milena thought laughing.

'I wonder if he still remembers what Cathy told him on the soccer field.' Milena mused to herself frowning.

But Milena had a deep feeling in her chest she recognized as guiltiness.

'I love Tala, and I always will, but why do I have a sudden feeling that I love somebody else too?' she wondered over the strange feeling of betrayal to another when she thought of the red head.

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"The plane has landed in the runway and is now moving towards the gate. Please remain seated until further notice." A woman's voice announced monotonously.

"Home." Milena muttered to no one in particular.

As Milena got off the plane, she immediately caught site of Cathy and Kai, who looked suspiciously like they were holding hands, but before she could prove her suspicion, Cathy ran up to her and gave her a grin.

Kai looked the same as ever, now leaning against a wall with his arms crossed waiting for them.

"Hey, remember I told you that I had a hooker for a roommate?" Cathy asked. "Well, guess what."

"What." Milena asked raising an eyebrow.

"I make $2000 out of her."

"Was it legally?" Milena asked laughing.

"Probably not, but she paid me $1000 each to get her hooked up with Johnny and Enrique." Cathy laughed. "But the best part was that they rejected her flat out cause they already have girlfriends."

"She must have been pissed." Milena speculated.

"She's damn loaded so she couldn't care less, though she did offer me $10 000 to get her a meeting with Tala. But since I'm the good friend I am, I refused for your sake." Cathy sighed dramatically.

"Thanks…I think." Milena laughed.

"Come on, let's go, the others are waiting for us." Cathy dragged Milena by the arm to Kai's car, leaving Kai with all the luggage once again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHiwatari MansionOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Welcome back!" Everyone shouted as Milena entered her house.

Everyone had come, including Tala. Though the big surprise was that he was alone.

Johnny and Enrique were with two girls that Milena recognized but couldn't name.

"Hey! Thanks for all coming!" Milena smiled.

"Let's party!" Enrique shouted popping open a vodka bottle and began pouring it down a pyramid made of wine glasses.

"Put on a slow song!" Enrique demanded as the hired DJ obliged.

As the song started playing, everyone went to their girlfriend or boyfriend, leaving Milena and Tala standing to the side.

"Want to dance?" Tala asked giving her an adorable lop sided grin.

"Um…. sure I guess." Milena blushed heavily.

From the corner of her eye, she could catch Cathy giving her a thumbs up from where she was dancing with Kai.

Milena turned her gaze back to find her head pressed against Tala chest as he wrapped his arms around her wait.

Milena's face heated up instantly, if that were still possible. She gave a small grin, maybe this would be a good omen for things to come, what she didn't know was that Tala caught this, as his bright turquoise eyes began to analyze this little scene with an unknown light in them.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOChristmas DayOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It's Christmas day!" Milena yelled loudly laughing.

"Presents!" Cathy exclaimed as everyone sad around the tree, and somehow by 'coincidence' Milena ended up sitting squashed next to Tala.

'Cathy is so dead' Milena gritted her teach.

"Milena first!" Cathy encouraged.

"Ok." Milena had gotten Johnny a new bandana with a salamander on it, Enrique an expensive cologne, and gave Kai top of the line hair gel.

"Where's mine?" Cathy whined.

"Here, a MMC card for your mp3."

"Thanks."

"So where's Tala's?" Cathy teased nudging her friend even closer to the red head that was in a heated argument with Johnny that had something to do with their hair color.

"Here!" Milena threw a folded black t-shirt and a small box into his lap.

"I'm like a stove. Come and get me cuz I'm hawt hawt hawt." Tala read out loud.

"Thanks! I love it." Tala gave a grin, and then started opening the box. It was a white gold chain with a small thin rectangular piece hanging off of it. On one side there was an engraving of a wolf's head, while on the other side the words 'Merry Christmas. Love Milena' were engraved into it.

"Sweet thanks!" Tala grinned leaning forward and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, leaving Milena stunned.

"Oh yeah, give Tala the most expensive present." Cathy teased, which make Milena turn into a human tomato.

If that wasn't bad enough though, Cathy gave Milena a hard push on the back, which make Milena fall onto Tala's lap.

"Are you ok?" Tala asked looking down at her clearly amused.

"Yeah…" Milena went redder. Tala's face was too close for comfort. His turquoise eyes were glittering with laughter, but they also held concern. And his two bangs danced in front of his face teasingly, making Milena want to brush then away.

"I think I'll leave now…" Cathy interrupted them, as Milena realized she had been staring at Tala for some time now.

"Um, I think I'll go to." Milena answered awkwardly getting up.

"Come back any time!" Tala smirked.

Later that night, after most of the people left, so that there were only Kai and Cathy left they sat around in the family room lounging around and drinking hot chocolate.

Though normally Milena would be delighted in just hanging around the red head, that morning's incident wouldn't get out of her head, and was replaying itself over and over.

Normally, Milena would consider that normal, but that dreadful feeling of guilt was back as well, going at full power. No matter how much Milena thought about it, she couldn't figure out why the feeling wouldn't leave her along.

Milena sighed, going back in her memory to try and figure out when this feeling of guilt whenever she would think about Tala started.

The more Milena thought about it, the more confusing it became. When it came down to it, Milena realized she hadn't even really thought about the red head for a while before the Christmas invite.

In fact, only a few weeks after classes began, the red head was almost completely out of her mind, only coming back once in a while in her dreams. But even then Brooklyn would…

Milena gasped…that was it…Brooklyn.

She would almost always be in the company of Brooklyn, which might explain why Tala hadn't been in her every thought for a while.

Come to think of it though, they were together so much that even their friends have been teasing them, asking whether they were going to get serious and officially become a couple.

As the evening went on, and everyone headed to go to sleep, Milena couldn't get over this new realization, as she kept thinking about it even as she lay in her bed.

True, one of the reasons she started to hang around Brooklyn so much was his uncanny similarities to Tala, which actually helped eased the pain.

But Milena knew there had to be more to it. After all, if all Brooklyn did was replicate Tala for her, she shouldn't feel so guilty when she was in thinking about, or with the real thing.

Milena racked her brain again for answers. Brooklyn was also unique in his own kind of way. While Tala was more fun loving, Brooklyn was a lot more reserved. In fact, when it came down to personalities, Brooklyn and Tala were in no way alike. Though they were both considerably smart, and never fail to be witty in their own ways.

It was also true that she felt considerably more comfortable with Brooklyn, and her face didn't turn into a tomato every time they talked, in fact, they had become the type of friends where almost everything could be discussed, and there were no boundaries in discussion topics. That is, unless it came to close to another certain red head.

Milena suddenly felt horrible. Brooklyn had revealed everything about his past to her, or at least why he didn't really want to get into a relationship.

It was all because of a girl name MingMing. They had grown up together and were part of a really close-knit group of friends. Yet a couple of months after they started going out, Brooklyn had found MingMing cheating on him with a guy he didn't know, apparently an old ex-boyfriend she had kept in secret.

Milena sighed in frustration, burying her head in her pillow. She was exactly like that MingMing, and she doubted Brooklyn would want to go out with her anyways.

Milena smirked inwardly, so much for her promise to not get into any more relationship.

Unfortunately, the next few days of Milena's winter vacation were hectic at the best, leaving her no more time to ponder over this new 'Brooklyn problem'. Yet again, Father Time wasn't kind and she had to leave much to soon for her liking.

As she was about to get registered to go into the terminals, Kai came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Whatever it is that your stressing about, just do it. You shouldn't hesitate when you move, just do it without regrets and hope for the best. Unless it's illegal, then stay away from it." Kai added smirking.

"How did you know?" Milena asked surprised.

"I don't share the same DNA as you just to give you my good looks you know." Kai smirked.

"Sure." Milena gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

"But seriously, if you're worried over something, a decision. Just do it according to your instincts like a true, proud Hiwatari." Kai advised giving her a pat on the back.

"Thanks, I will!" Milena smiled making up her mind.

Kai gave her one last nod before letting her go.

Milena smiled, so her brother wasn't good for nothing after all. He actually gave her a major confidence booster, and now she knew what she had to do with no doubts.

As the plane took off, Milena began drifting into a light slumber, thinking of scenarios and how to approach the subject.

As she got off the plane five hours later, she found Brooklyn standing by the gate waiting for her patiently just like he said he would.

Milena let a huge grin spread over her face, as she ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"That excited to see me? Makes me wonder what your family did to you." Brooklyn teased as a gentle smile graced his featured as he returned the hug.

"I made a really important find over these few days. And I want to talk to you about it!" Milena looked up and the aquamarine eyes that shone amusement, noticing their own true beauty for the first time, as well as the rest of him.

'No more Tala, from now on, it's going to be all about Brooklyn, as an individual.'

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R&R! She finally realizes! And I'm back from my vacation and you can expect Meteor Garden to be updated soon as well! Oh yeah, check out my new one shot about Rei and Mariah called Because I'm a Girl based on the song by Kiss.