"Alright class, settle down." Ms Zhang was carrying our report books as she walked into class. Those who were standing up and chatting at their friends' desk quickly returned to their seats and we all waited nervously.

"All of you know the drill, come up to collect your report book in chronological order of your class's index number." Ms Zhang sat down at the teacher's desk as my classmate who is index number one went up.

In Singapore, in each class each student will be given an index number, starting from one to the total number of students in the class, which is usually forty. The index number is given out based on the alphabetic order of our name. Since my name starts with the letter 'T', my index number is thirty-one.

Fidyana was the first of our group to go as her name starts with N; Nurul Fidyana. Following was Sha, Sherwyn, myself then Zach. Sherwyn got mostly As, as everyone knew he would. But that doesn't mean he was whining about the one subject he didn't get an A. Fidyana and Sha got a split of As and Bs, whilst Zach and I averaged on Bs and Cs.

I wouldn't say I was satisfied with my results, but I know I did the best I could with everything else going on. Susan will probably resign herself as my tutor after this though, pretty sure none of her other students even scored below an A after her tutoring.

"Hey," Sha interrupted my thoughts and came to sit beside me. "Are you going anywhere during the June holidays?"

"Yeah, but it's only around a week, I'll be here other than that," I answered, getting excited just thinking about seeing Nicandro again.

"Thank god! Because the whole group is going away; Sherwyn back to the Philippines to visit his family, Zach to Japan as his father needs help with the family business and Fidyana to Australia for a family vacation. I thought I was going to be all alone this holiday. But now, I can maybe finally show you around Singapore since I don't think you ever got the chance." Sha suggested and I immediately agreed to it. Singapore is going to be my home for at least until I graduate from junior college so I definitely want to learn more about it.

But the thought of bringing Sha to the cruise instead of Breton also crossed my mind. I know for some people after a rough breakup being exposed to others is a good way to move on, but from what I observed the past week, Breton is one of those people who needs to be left alone for some time and deal with their own internal battle before facing the world. Being on the cruise and seeing the couples would just make him dwell on the relationship and not move forward. The only issue I would have with inviting Sha is coming up with an excuse as to how I had gotten the invitation in the first place.

I can't tell her that I got it from the soon to be king of Spain, can I?

The school bell rang not long after, and Sherwyn suggested that we went out to have lunch to celebrate the almost end of the school semester and all of us doing well. So now all five of us are sitting in a restaurant finishing up our little expensive delicious meal as we reminisce about the good times of this semester.

"Can I propose a toast?" Sherwyn held up his glass of sprite.

"As if we can stop you now, pinoy." Sha rolled her eyes and the rest of us chuckled.

"Let's toast to Tiana." Sherwyn surprises me by saying. "She only joined the school this term, but she did a darn good job adjusting and already a member of our group. Unlike when I first came to Singapore six years ago, god I remember I once waited for the traffic light to turn green for ten minutes because I didn't know I needed to press the button. Oh, and there was also this other time that-" Sha cleared her throat and gave him a look.

"Sorry, went off track." He let out a chuckle. "As I was saying, I still remember this time a year ago when we were done with our mid-year exams, Sha, Zach, Fidyana and I came together and did the official forming of this group, without ever thinking someone could be a part of it as we were already close-knit. Then when you came in, it was weird to me that the dynamic of this group didn't change one bit. No, something did change. I felt that we were actually a whole, like you're the glue which stuck us together."

I was grinning like a mad dog by the end of his unexpected speech. After losing Nikita and Zari, I wasn't sure if I ever felt like I belonged somewhere. And now I know that I belong here with them and Breton; possibly Leah if we figured out how to navigate our relationship in the right direction.

"To Tiana." Sherwyn raised his glass.

Sha, Zach and Fidyana followed suit. "To Tiana!" And all of us clinked our glasses together, and it felt like solidifying something in the long run.

Later in the afternoon as I reached the house, what I was not expecting was to be greeted by Leah sitting by the front steps.

We left the clinic after getting the DNA result last week, and she hasn't contacted me since. I figured she needed some time to decide on her next move and the status of our relationship. Her being here means she came up with something and I readied myself for what she was possibly going to say.

"Hey Leah, if I knew you were coming I wouldn't have made you wait outside the house." I opened the door and gestured for her to come inside.

She didn't move from where she was sitting. "It's fine, I was the one who showed up unannounced. Plus, this will be fairly quick."

I nodded and put my school bag on the ground and sat next to her. "Okay, so what did you come here for?" I ask, even though we both know exactly why she was here.

"So I've spent the past couple of days thinking about where to go from here. I've been feeling so lost since my mom died and knowing that her death was caused by a conspiracy with this feud between her and your biological parents which then involved a murderous drug lord has taken a toll on me." She sighed and folded her arms. "I've thought long and hard about this and I think the best way moving forward is me going to France."

My heart stopped. France?

She took my silence as a way to continue. "I-I've family there; my uncle. He reached out to me when he heard about the incident and reached out to me if I needed someplace to stay he would gladly offer help in any way he could. I think this is what's best for both of us. Me staying here and being near you will drive me down a path that I won't be able to pull out from."

I get it. Look what happened to me. I dug in too deep and this thing will follow me for the rest of my life. But at the same time, if I didn't start digging in the first place, I wouldn't be where I was right now. Just so happens the first person who is biologically related to me and still alive is moving to another continent because it still follows me everywhere.

I then snapped out of my thoughts and realised Leah was looking at me, waiting for my reply. "I understand. I'm glad you've somewhere to be where you'll be safe."

She gave me a small smile, glad for my understanding. "I do want to give us getting to know each other a shot; we are half-sisters after all. Just not now, now we both have our own issues to deal with."

I nodded, my mind drifting off to Felon. Everything that has and still happening all leads back to him. I cannot truly move on from all this until he is put down for good. Meanwhile, he will be the shadow looming over me, making me feel trapped even in this new life I have.

But it's not like I've got the power to do anything about it.

"Well, I have to go now. My flight is in three hours." She stood up and offered me a hug. I hugged her back, already feeling how different this hug is from those we had done before; this is our first hug as half-sisters.

"Take care of yourself," I whispered to her ear, unwilling to pull but eventually did.

I can see her eyes getting teary. "You too. And we will see each other again, sister."

I stood at the front steps of the house until I was unable to see her anymore and couldn't stop the tears from escaping my eyes to roll down my cheeks. Once again, I manage to lose someone I cared about.

What Leah said really got to me. This is why I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening thinking about my future. Was I really going to spend the rest of my life hiding from my past? Will I have to spend the rest of my life in fear from Felon? Are Nicandro and I's relationship already doomed before it actually begins?

It was a little after eight that I heard the sound of the front door unlocking and went downstairs to see Breton carrying takeaway bags, helped him carrying those and set it up at the dining table. He texted me about an hour ago that he just got off work and asked me what I wanted for dinner, that he would buy it and we could have dinner together, which we have not done since that night when Leah came over.

I decided to go for ramen for dinner, which I was now taking the utensils from the kitchen and placing it neatly on the dining table. Breton went upstairs to change to more comfortable and less formal clothes as I sat at the table waiting for him. We both sensed the tension as soon as he walked into the house.

A part of me was scared that the reason he had been distant lately was that he blamed me for being blindsided. If he hadn't met me and cared for me, Helena wouldn't have used him to get to me.

"I heard you got your results today." He started by saying as he sat down at the table.

So we're starting with light conversations, better than nothing.

I took a bite of the hard-boiled egg. "Yeah, mostly just Bs and Cs though. Susan will leave us once I tell her this."

"So be it. I trust that you already understood the foundation, and from there on it's mostly based on your own hard work." His words of encouragement gave me a smile, more confident that I'll get into university in the future.

I decided to tread lightly into it. "Oh and Nicandro invited me to this cruise his family planned. He also gave me a plus one, so I was wondering if you-"

"I'm good." He cut me off rather a little aggressively. He noticed my frowning and quickly added on, "It's not you, I just need some time alone. Plus, I've relations with some of the people invited which aren't exactly smooth sailing. I wouldn't want to do my mental health any more damage when it's already at a fragile stage."

I didn't ask about who he had bad blood with given that he was already sharing this much with me. They are most likely people the firm he's in went up against, I thought. I just nodded my head and made a mental note to start coming up with a good excuse for Sha to join me.

"So you'll be fine?" I asked him with concern.

"I will be." He promised. "And I want you to know that I don't hate you for anything that has happened. You can't help someone once they're pulled in too deep for revenge."

"Yeah..." My mind trailed off to Felon's revenge on his father for a while before snapping back. "I also have been thinking about something today and it seems kind of rushed, but I wanted to run by you."

Breton put down his fork. "Yeah?"

"I want to go back to Russia."