It felt like I had forgotten what it was like to shop. I loved shopping, and I became sort addicted to it one time when Topher was away at a work trip. My business was going well that I rewarded myself every pay time.

It got bad that I could not pay the bills and had to borrow some money from my mom. Topher got mad at me that I spent so much. That was when I stopped and just shop when necessary.

Anyway, I was done purchasing for my new things. I was so happy with the new makeup I bought that I had to redo it. I just dabbed them on my finger, then applied them on my eyelids, on my temple of my cheeks and my lips.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked different. Good different. I admit, I was nervous that I chose the wrong color, but it actually looked good on me.

It was almost lunch time so, I went to an area where there were food trucks around, so I left my shopping bags on a table, then chose what food I wanted to eat.

It was very cold so I wanted to choose a food that could warm my body temperature. I remember things if I should have something spicey or just warm.

I scanned each food truck and their menus too see what could make my mouth water. I even had my thinking face on.

"Hey! Lovely!" Emmy popped up from behind that she startled me.

"Emmy!" I gasped, then we hugged like we haven't seen each other for a while. "Where'd you come from?"

"I had to get some outfits for a photoshoot from a shop, then I saw you from over there and couldn't help to surprise you. What are you doing here?" That was when she saw my face. "Oh, wow! Is that a new makeup look."

I blushed. "Yeah... ran out of eyeshadow and decided to do some shopping."

"You could've told me that you're going shopping, but that's okay, it looks great on you. I love it."

"Thanks."

"So are you gonna get some lunch?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry," I said to her.

"Me too. Come on, let's have lunch together."

"Okay."

We looked around to see what we wanted for about five minutes, then all of a sudden, "Emmy! Pepsi! Hey!" someone called out to us. We looked around saw our old friend, cleaning a table in front of their food truck.

"Wade!" I waved back. Remember Wade? He had a girlfriend named Mira who I thought was dating Topher and they wanted to 'fix things', but apparently, she was talking about her and Wade?

I usually remember all of things, but I had forgotten that they had a food truck. Wade went to West Durnam too. He actually graduated in BA Marketing and used to work in a company in Singapore, but he found his passion in the food business instead after eating their food. Also, Wade and Mira got married three years ago, and they just had a baby girl.

So Emmy and I walked to his food truck, then I hugged him. "Nice seeing you again," he said to me.

"You too. I have been so busy," I replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good. I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

"I'm doing great."

"I'm glad. By the way, you look great," he added.

"I know, right?" Emmy giggled. "Maybe we should eat here."

"Good idea," I agreed.

"Okay, you guys can sit here." Wade showed us to our table and gave us a menu.

"By the way, how's Mira and the baby?"

"Oh! right," Emmy recalled. "Girl, right?"

"Yup, Emmy is fine and so is Taffy. Doctors said that she's developing well," Wade explained.

"That's good to hear," I responded. They named their daughter Taffy to make it sound like Topher since they were great friends and she was given birth two weeks after Topher died. That time she was in an incubator. What happened was, Mira was eight months pregnant until the news about Topher's death made her... almost lost the baby.

Yeah, it was hard when Topher died, but at least they are together and they are happy. A one happy family, to be exact.

"Anyway, I'll just get you ladies something to drink," he said to us.

I nodded. "Alright, thanks." After that, I turned to Emmy. "Here, let me show you what I bought."

"Ohh... yay! Show me!" she squealed. I handed her the shopping bags and took out a dress. "Oh! cute, and these sweaters, too, I love the color. Where'd you get them?"

"The Korean boutique on the side of the street. That's where I bought the liptints too."

"I should definitely check them out someday." Emmy gazed at me with a teasing look in her face. "Hmm... new makeup look and new clothes. Is there something you are not telling me?" 

I glanced at her in a weird way. "What are you talking about?" I responded as I started looking at the menu.

"Are you... seeing someone?"

"What!? Of course not. I just want a little change in my life, you know."

"Are you sure?"

I playfully glared at her. "Yes. Beside, I'm... not ready to meet anyone after... you know."

"You look ready to me?" Emmy said bluntly. "Alright, I'm sorry, I was just kidding. I just love your makeup, that's all."

"So that's how you base it on?"

"Hmm... Kinda."

"Doesn't feel right if I do," I added. "I mean, Topher was only gone for less than two months."

"Lovely, there's nothing wrong if you fancy someone new. Even though, there's no one, right?" Emmy assured me, even looked at me in the eyes. "The point is, life goes on, lovely, and if that means moving on with somebody else, then so be it."

I remember feeling relieved that what I felt was valid, but not entirely though. "Right, thanks."

Wade came back and gave us a complimentary warm. "So, you guys ready to order?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll have Hainanese chicken and a dumpling soup."

"As for me, Seafood Mee Goreng," Emmy said.

"Alright." Wade wrote down them down in a notepad. "I'll be back with your orders."

----

After eating, I went back to the inn with all the stuff I bought from the boutique. I threw them on the side and lay down on the bed, contemplating what Emmy was saying.

I remember feeling paranoid that she must've knew something was up from the look on her face. I wasn't ready to tell her that the new guy in my life looked a lot like Topher. I mean, how could you explain that?

I knew it was impossible to hide it as much as I want to to avoid the obvious because Roy could roam around Barcon and anyone could see his face, assuming he was Topher. So far, it hadn't happen yet that time.

Ugh... Why couldn't he just had a different face? I mean, come on, that kind of stuff happens is one in a million and somehow, I fell on that 'one'. What the heck, right?

Anyway, I felt drowsy from the cold, so I took a nap since I had to attend game night later on. I need all the energy I need to play whatever we were going to play. I remember thinking, if I was lucky, I took accidentally took a long nap that I missed game night.

Nah... I couldn't do that. These people had been so nice to me.

Later, I woke up about an hour before game night. My make up was a mess since I forgot to wipe them off before deciding to take a nap. I looked like an after-party look and woke up in a strange place. I had that look before back when I go to house parties back in high school.

I did a more simpler look with the same color since I wasn't sure what kind of game we were going to play and wore something comfortable. I had a dinner first since napping made me hungry.

Afterwards, I went to the common room where it was going to be held. There was nothing to indicate any game stuff, but there were snacks at the sides, like some popcorn, chips and some sweets.

I spotted Roy talking with Barry and there were five other guests waiting for game night to start. "There she is. Hey, Peps! Over here." Barry waved at me.

"Hey, guys," I said as I walked to them.

Roy turned around with a smile on his face. "Hey, you came."

"Yup, wouldn't miss it."

Then he paused for a bit. "You look great."

I could feel my cheeks burning. "Thanks."

Not long after, Ms. Regis walked to the center of the room to get the guests' attention. "Good evening, everyone! Thank you for agreeing to join our game night. So let's get this party started! Our first game will be Heads Up."

Everyone reacted well about it. I saw half of the guests grinned. "This is gonna be fun," Barry remarked.

"If you all don't know what that game is, you need two people to play this game. Person A will have a cue card placed on their forehead without knowing what that word is, so they have to ask series of yes or questions by describe the word to Person B while Person B will only say yes or no until Person A figures out what that word is in only one minute. Whoever was able to answer, they will get Amazon gift cards. There's eight only, so four teams needs to win."

"Oh! now I definitely want to play," Roy chuckled, acting all competitive.

"Got it? If there's no question, let's begin. Find your partner."

There were eight of us guests. Three of them were couples, two of them were friends, while the rest of us were strangers. Almost. I wasn't sure who to partner up with. I knew Roy would be an easy pick, but I thought maybe he wanted to team up with someone else.

All of a suddenly, Roy tapped on my shoulder so I shifted to him. "Do you want to be partners?" he asked.

"Sure," I answered. "I must warn you, you might not win those gift cards."

"Don't worry about, let's just have fun."

During the game night, we watched few of the partners playing the game. To my suprise, I had fun watching them trying to hard to win and it became funny that I laugh so hard that my tummy hurt.

Some time later, it me and Roy's turn to do it. We had to sit, facing one another. I was Person A and so I had to guess what word is on the cue card on my forehead.

I admit I was nervous, but I was willing to bring it the best way I could. Before that, there were two groups won so far.

"Two pairs gift cards left. Let's see if these two will be getting them. Ready? Go!" Ms. Regis exclaimed.

"Is it a person?" I asked.

"No," Roy answered.

"Animal?"

"Yes."

"Dog?" I asked again.

"Yes," he replied.

"Is it a big dog?"

"No."

That time I had to think every breed dog I knew that were small as fast as I could under pressure, while watching the other guest hoping that I wouldn't able to figure it out, hoping that any of them would get the last gift cards. "Shih tzu?" I guessed.

"No." Roy shook his head.

"Toy poodle?"

"No."

I wasted ten seconds to think what it was. "Pomeranian?"

"No."

"Boston Terrior?" I asked.

"No, but almost," he told me.

"Thirty seconds," Ms. Regis interrupted.

That was when I sort of gave me a clue and I had to say it. "Okay, French bulldog?"

"No."

I had to think again. "Pug."

"Yes!" Roy jumped up from his chair.

"We have a winner!"

"AAHH!!" I shrieked with excitement that I also jumped up from me chair.

The others whined that we had the last gift vouchers when Ms. Regis gave it to us. "Congratulations!"

We were so overjoyed that we hugged each other, and then Roy lifted me up and spun me. However, when we realized that we did that, we immediately pulled away from each other. Of course, it became awkward. "Uhm... Great job," he said to me.

"Wouldn't have done it... without you," I stuttered. I could feel my face turning red.