Jane's POV
"Jane, come on out," called Elisse behind the door.
"Yes, Jane. Let's go," urged Trudy as I squirmed in the bathroom.
"No!" I refused as I stared at the mirror.
What was I thinking? I knew my dad is going to kill me as soon as I walked out of this bathroom and see what I'm wearing.
"Oh, come on, Jane. Your lovely boyfriend is waiting for you outside the bedroom."
"Heather!" I heard Trudy reprimanding her.
"What?! Well it's true. Tristan is outside waiting for you to come out."
I sighed in frustration as I reluctantly opened the bathroom door. All three of them gasped as soon as they saw me.
"Oh. My. God. You're-" Elisse commented.
"Vadaboom!" Heather remarked, laughing.
"Yes," agreed Trudy. "Just sexy. Oh! I wish I have your body."
"Shut up! You're pretty, too, Trudy. Jane might be a bit slimmer but your curviness would make men drool, too."
"Stop, flattering me, you! Now let's focus on Jane."
"Is Tristan really outside?"
They all looked at each other and laughed.
"Oh, girls! You tricked me."
"Well, if we haven't said that, you won't come out."
"Oh! This is too tight-"
"And sexy! I'm sure Tristan would never leave your side and have a private moment with you," and Elisse wiggled her eyebrows. I slapped her arm. "What?! I'm just saying his eyes would definitely pop out once he sees you."
"I'm not really sure about this. My dad is going to kill me!" I said nervously.
"I have an idea. Why don't you wear a dress over it and then, when you get to the beach, take it off right before swimming."
I bit my lip as I looked down at myself once again. I had never worn anything revealing in my entire life. Knowing my dad, he would get mad the moment he saw what I was wearing.
"Here, wear this!" ordered Elisse as she pulled out a white dress hanging from my closet. I smiled, suddenly remembering how Tristan tried to picture me with the dress.
"Why are you smiling like that? Uh-huh! Spill it!" Heather demanded.
I shook my head and pursed my lips, but I knew I won't be able to hide my cheeks flushing.
Trudy narrowed her eyes at me.
"Do tell, Ms. Jane Cheng or else we'll call Tristan-"
"Okay!" I almost shouted. "But promise me you won't laugh."
Heather rolled her eyes.
"When did we ever laugh at you. This better be a juicy one which I could tell right away by the way you blushed. Was this about Tristan?"
I closed my eyes and nodded.
"Oooohhh..." they all said in unison.
"Come, tell us, Jane. Did he kiss you?" Elisse eagerly asked.
"No... Well... It's about the dress."
"This dress?" asked Elisse lifting the dress slightly.
I nodded.
"What about it?"
"Well... Um mm... "
"Come on spill it Jane."
"Well, " and I scratched my head in embarrassment. "That's the first one Tristan picked for me for our first date..."
"Picked? Wait, you mean..." Trudy's eyes grew wide.
"Ohmigod, Jane! You naughty, naughty girl!" Elisse teased.
"It's not what you think!"
"Yeah, right. Go tell it to a monkey and he, too would laugh at how bad of a liar you are!" Heather remarked with emphasis.
"So... did something happen?" probed Trudy. I could see the worry lines in her face starting to show. "Did you-"
"NO!" I denied. "I wouldn't ever... I mean... not until marriage at least."
Elisse rolled her eyes.
"Believe me, with a guy like Tristan, such juicy and yummy, you won't stop yourself once it was there," she teased. "If you need tips-"
"ELISSE!" All three of us spoke in unison and it made Elisse laughed loudly.
"Fine. Now tell us what happened. How did Tristan come up here without your father knowing?"
"Well..." and coincidentally, all three of them sat together in my bed at the same time. I smiled as they carefully watched me, eagerly awaiting for me to tell the story. I took a deep breath then continued.
"He sneaked into my room when Dad invited him to dinner one time."
"Your dad invited him for dinner?! How?!!" Trudy asked, her eyes widened in surprise.
"That's a first, " Elisse retorted. "How come he invited him while it took us an occasion to be officially invited."
"I know... but it was not a special dinner but more of work. As you all know, Tristan works closely with my father but it was a also shock to all of us when he invited him. Dad never invited anyone outside of the community."
"Lucky guy," commented Heather, as she crossed her arms.
I heaved a deep sigh.
"I hope he has some luck when he finally tells my dad we are dating," I said.
"So is he planning to tell Mr. Cheng?" Trudy asked.
"Oh, such a gallant knight sweeping our dear princess Jane out of her lonely castle!" teased Heather then like some character in her stories, she stood up and took my blanket. Placing it around her neck like a cape, she continued in a low voice, "Come on, dear knight, do tell the king what you propose this evening."
All of us laughed as Heather gestured her hand like a king ordering the knight to come to her stead.
"Shut up, Heather!" and Trudy threw a pillow towards Heather's face. Heather laughed and clutched the pillow. "This is serious, okay. What if he does come to Mr. Cheng and tell him they were dating? You knew how the old man is!"
Heather quickly turned into her serious look.
"Right? Is this Tristan really that brave to tell your dad? I mean... how much will he fight for you? Will he take you to a faraway land once your dad oppose?"
I sighed. "I honestly don't know. I wish he won't tell at all."
"Are you crazy? And then what? Forever hide?" Elisse remarked. "Jane, you deserve to be happy, too. I know you like Tristan and it is such a waste to deprive yourself of a chance to be happy."
Happiness had never been in my vocabulary for a long time. I had always made others happy and never thought of mine because I thought I don't deserve it... Or I just shove it away so I won't feel the pain of not having what I want.
But was it worth it? Should I pursue my happiness this time?
I did not tell my friends about Adrian Lee because I'm sure they would oppose it. Though my heart told me the same, I could not get myself not to obey my dad. I was not ready to make a decision yet.
But until when? What if Tristan cannot wait? Would he do something about it? Was he that bold and brave as I saw him?
A knock on the door had us all startled.
"Jie, " called Joseph. "Dad is looking for you."
This is it. I knew this would be the official meet-up of both my parents and Adrian's. The moment they set a date for the arranged marriage. I hated how Dad used this event to do his business affairs.
I sighed and called, "Okay, Joseph. I'm coming."
I was about to walk towards the door to open it when I heard a scream.
"WAIT!!!" all of my three friends had stopped me from doing the most foolish thing I could ever do at that moment.
I furrowed my eyebrows not realizing for a moment until they pointed at my outfit. My eyes widened when I suddenly remembered I was only wearing a bikini. I clutched my body to hide it.
"Go put this on, " Elisse ordered as she strode quickly towards me. She immediately slipped the dress on me.
I looked down at the piece of clothing that barely covered everything. With the bright red color of the bikini, it went right through.
"I don't think this will work. I need another dress, " I said and walked quickly towards the closet.
"Jie, please open the door, " called Joseph once again.
"Tell dad I'm coming, okay. I have to finish dressing up."
"I'm sure anything would look good on you, " said another familiar male voice behind the door.
"Ohmigod, it's Tristan!" Elisse excitedly squealed. "Go, hon. He's waiting."
Then she pulled my arm and pushed me towards the door.
"But-"
"Go!" they all said as I resigned and opened the door. The handsome face of the man I admired the most came into view. Surely it was Tristan wearing a simple collared polo shirt and khaki shorts. His smile reached his ears as soon as he saw me.
"Hello beautiful!" he greeted as I heard my friends squealed in the background. His eyes immediately scanned my feature and I saw desire in his eyes that made me blush even more.
"Such wonderful sight, " he mumbled, as he moved an inch closer to me.
I saw him bit his lip as his eyes dropped to my lips and it got my heart pounding like crazy.
His eyes finally lifted to meet my nervous gaze.
I could feel the tension between us and for the first time, I had a picture in my mind of how it would feel being kissed by him.
We gazed at each other longer than we expected until...
"Hrmmm..." cried my brother as he cleared his throat.
Suddenly aware of the people surrounding us, I lowered my gaze and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. I could feel my cheeks burning in red as he slipped his hands in the pocket of his shorts, and stepped back a bit.
"Jie, sorry. But Dad wants to see you," Joseph reminded and patting Tristan's back, he said, "Sorry, bro..."
Tristan furrowed his eyebrows as he asked, "Why are you saying sorry? It's not as if I won't be seeing her in a few minutes."
"Tsk, tsk," Joseph replied, shaking his head as he walked away. "Come, Jie."
I sighed. I knew the reason why my brother said that but I can't say it to Tristan. I knew it would break his heart... but then, will he take me away from this if he knew?
'Better not to get him involved,' I thought.
"You might want to change, Jie. You know how Dad is, " Joseph remarked.
"Right. Sorry. Be right back, " and I closed the door again.
My three friends scrambled an outfit for me quickly and settled for a rather boring brown dress which for me was perfect since I don't want to impress the person I will be meeting shortly.
Soon, we opened the door and saw Tristan's smile.
He sighed as he eyed me. Dressed in a long brown dress, he said, "You're still beautiful in my sight no matter what you wear."
I smiled. I wished my meeting with my dad and the Lee family would not be as bad as I looked forward to spending moments with Tristan after.