Alec stayed and watched over Chae Sue until she woke up. She slept peacefully for a few hours. When she finally woke up, she saw Alec sitting on a chair with his head on her bed. He was holding onto her hand dearly. 

She tried to get off the bed quietly but the sudden movement woke him up. 

"You're finally awake" he said while stretching. 

"What happened?" she inquired looking around. 

He relayed what had happen while making sure to edit the parts with Quan. While they were there talking, the Sabali team entered her room and were all elated to see her awake. Emma was there too but held her position in the background.

The doctor tested Chae Sue once more and deemed her fit to be discharge. Ms. Brie and Mr. Sazer suggested that Chae Sue ride home in the team van but she insisted that she wanted to travel with Alec. 

She felt a bit hazy and wanted to confirm some things with him as well. Alec looked at her as if he could read her mind before placing his arm around her shoulder.

"I was the one that brought her here so I'm taking full responsibility to bring her back safely" he spoke up. 

Chae Sue glanced at him with a smile and he gave her a wink. They all then said their goodbyes and promised to contact each other when they arrived in their hometown.

The return trip to Summersville was fairly quiet as both Alec and Chae Sue barely spoke to each other. 

"How was your match?" Chae Sue found herself asking to break the awkward silence. 

"I overstepped and lost to pretty boy" he said nonchalantly. 

"How was yours?" he continued. 

Chae Sue smiled and said "I knew he would win."

Alec looked at her while shaking his head before repeating the question he wanted her to answer. 

"The match started 2 hours before the scheduled time. The officials changed the time suddenly because the weather forecast for that time was going to be windy" she replied. 

"Why did you drink so much?" he asked with a concerned look on his face. 

"I know I shouldn't but I was just upset that Quan was actually cajoling with Emma to try and make me jealous. The worse part about it is that it actually worked" she confessed while burying her face in her hands. 

"Tsk, tsk, tsk" Alec said while shaking his head. 

"You know nothing about choosing the right guy" he continued. 

"Did he ask about me when you guys finished playing? Or did he know that I was unwell?" she inquired earnestly. 

"Hhm...

let me see....

no he didn't" he said nonchalantly while shrugging his shoulders. 

Alec could see the disappointment  in her eyes but at that time, he thought it was for the best. They all arrived safely and exchanged goodbyes via a video conference call. 

Chae Sue had finished her internship at the school and had no reason to go back there but occasionally she visited the other teachers to see how they were progressing without her. 

At the university, she and Alec went back to being two peas in the pod. They took almost all the same classes and they were still training partners in tennis. One day after practice,  Alec had to leave earlier than usual because of a family emergency. 

"Alec it's ok I'll wrap up shortly so go" Chae Sue told him as he was apologizing for leaving first.  

While she was there practicing for an extra hour, Emma approached her on the court.

"I think we didn't really get a chance to settle the score" she said while smiling. 

Chae Sue was now wiping the sweat from her face. 

It had been a year now since the previous tennis competition had ended. Emma was at school to take her graduation pictures. 

"What score is there to be settled?" Chae Sue asked while opening a bottle of water. 

"The match you would have clearly lose either way" Emma continued. 

Chae Sue covered the water bottle and was about to leave when Emma held onto her arm. 

"Don't tell me you're running away" Emma continued.

"If this is your way of asking us to be friends again, it's not working" Chae Sue said.

She then removed Emma's hand before walking off again. 

"Chae Sue wait! I know I did wrong but just hear me out for a minute please!" beckoned Emma.

 Emma and Chae Sue were good friends in high school so she had felt betrayed by her actions at the competition the previous year. 

"You have 30 seconds" Chae Sue said while glancing at her watch.

"You don't have to be this hostile towards me because nothing happened. It turns out that he really just wanted someone to practice with and I just happened to volunteer" Emma went on. 

"If that's all I have somewhere to be" Chae Sue said while rolling her eyes. 

"He came to visit you when you had fainted and that's when I realized fully that there was already someone he was interested in" Emma continued. 

"Thanks for the tip I will be sure to keep that in mind" Chae Sue said trying to contain her excitement.

Emma then started to cry.  

"I knew Quan liked you but I thought that if he was able to spend more time with me,  then maybe he would choose me instead" Emma said. 

"You were always popular with the boys in high school and every boy I liked then, were always interested in you!" Emma continued. 

Chae Sue stared at her in disbelief as from her memory of their days in high school, Emma was the senior that all the girls tried to emulate. 

"You threw away our friendship of over  5 years for a boy?........

 I know you came here for forgiveness but I hope you regret it for the rest of your life" Chae Sue found herself saying. 

With that said, she looked at her watch and then walked away. Emma stood there wiping the tears from her eyes as she watched their friendship going up in flames.

Chae Sue hurried home to give Alec a call when she thought that he was free. She told him that they needed to meet up as she wanted to talk to him about something. Alec agreed and told her that he wanted to take her out for dinner as he had something important to tell her as well .

They agreed that he would pick her up around 7 o'clock. Chae Sue was so eager to know what Alec knew about Quan and his departure on the day of her match. She was hoping that she could meet Quan again at this year's tennis competition but he did not attend. 

What made it even more annoying was that she could not locate his personal coach at the tournament either and nobody on his school's team heard about him before. It seemed as if they had vanished into thin air. 

Feeling unsatisfied, she went even further to call the University that he was enrolled in. However, to much disappointment, nobody by that name was ever enrolled.

'Alec might hold a valuable key in all of this' she thought as she prepared herself for their date. 

Some minutes to seven, Alec arrived at Chae Sue's house. He was leaning on his convertible car with both hands folded across his chest as he waited patiently for her. A few minutes later Chae Sue appeared at the front door. She was wearing a white laced dress with red shoes and in her hand she carried a red clutch. 

Alec smiled and called out to her.

"You look so beautiful!" he said. 

"Thanks. You look dashingly handsome yourself" she replied. 

He then opened the door for her and she got in.  As soon as their seat belts were on,  Alec drove off. They arrived at Grumae's (a 5 star restaurant) an hour later. 

When they were seated and ordered what they wanted from the menu, Chae sue decided to take the first initiative. 

"What did you want to talk to me about?" she inquired before taking a sip of the water. 

"What I have to say can wait. You said you also wanted to say something to me. What is it?" Alec went on. 

"Why didn't you tell me that Quan came to see me at the doctor's station?" she asked staring him directly in his eyes without beating around the bush. 

"I didn't see that one coming. Where did you hear that?" he replied while reaching for a glass of water to drink also. 

"Emma told me the truth about herself and Quan and that he came to see me before I left. Why didn't you tell me?" she pressed on. 

Alec put down the glass of water slowly. He knew that he had to think fast because he was now cornered. 

"Ok, ok you've got me!" he exclaimed with both hands raised in the air. 

"What?" Chae Sue inquired with a question mark look on her face.

"I will tell you the truth" he went on. 

"The whole truth Alec" she said with both hands clasp on the table as she leaned her body slightly forward.

Alec confessed and told her that he omitted the part about Quan because he lost his number in his sweater and he did not want her to worry as she was weak from fainting previously. 

Chae Sue smiled.

"Even though Quan's number would be good, I'm lucky to have you as friend. You care about me so much"  she went on while holding onto his hand. 

Alec smiled at her as he was now able to breathe a sigh of relief. 

They had a great dinner which was complimented with a bottle of red wine and reminiscing on past events. 

At the end of dinner, Alec told Chae Sue what he wanted to talk to her about. They were now standing face to face as Alec held onto her shoulders and leaned forward to say that he wanted her to accompany him at his birthday party not just as his best friend from preschool but as his girlfriend. 

Chae Sue stood there frozen as she tried to process what Alec was saying. She thought for a second that Alec really liked her as he was now focusing her gaze with his beseeching eyes.

"I....I.....I....I..." Chae Sue stuttered as she tried to bring herself to terms with what was going on.

 Alec smiled at her ignorance.  

"You didn't let me finish. I want you to pretend to be my girlfriend" he continued. 

With that said Chae Sue snapped out of her trance. 

"Pretend?" she asked while tilting her head slightly to the right. 

"Hhm.... Pretend"  Alec said. 

He placed both hands in his pants pocket while a cynical grin came across his face.

"Did you really think I wanted you to be my real girl?" He inquired mockingly. 

"What? was I just played?!" Chae Sue said. 

Feeling flustered and upset she stormed off and went towards his car.

"Hey wait for me!" he called out as he collected his card and walked slowly behind her. 

As he walked he thought to himself.

' If only she didn't look so flustered, then maybe I could've told her that it wasn't a joke. That I really wanted her to be more than just my sidekick. 

He then put his hand in his jacket  pocket and took out a jewelry box. He sighed heavily as he thought about a better way to express how he really felt about her.