Wait... What?

"Explain to me what you two were doing punching each other's faces?"

DT and Mantis stood unmoving in front of Mr. Wan who was seething in anger.

"Would you like to add boxing in your daily exercises?" he threw a bunch of hotel brochures in their faces.

DT and Mantis stood their ground and didn't flinch. In order to get this scolding over, they both knew they just needed to let Mr. Wan blow off his steam.

They watched as he paced back and forth in front of them. When he realized that the two would not tell him the reason behind the squabble he lost interest.

"Mantis, tell the rest of the team to stay inside their own rooms and go to bed early because your schedule tomorrow would start at five in the morning. If they asked why, you can tell them it's because of you and DT."

Mantis stole a glance over his shoulder to see DT's face. It's devoid of any expression.

He clicked his tongue and left the room to tell the rest of the team members that would definitely blame him for the schedule.

When Mantis closed the door behind him, Mr. Wan motioned DT to sit down on the couch.

"I already heard from One that, you and Mantis fought because of Miss E."

DT's face remained blank.

"With that expression of yours, I also felt compelled to punch you in the face. You are the Captain of the team, this kind of behavior is unacceptable!"

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Sorry? Right now, I don't need you to be sorry. I want you to focus on your training!"

He slammed his feet on the coffee table and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You have always been too serious and mature for your age. I like Miss E for you because she was the only one who was able to elicit other emotions from you other than that indifferent face that you always keep on."

"I like her for me too."

He met his uncle's eyes that were widened in shock.

The awkward silence grew in the room. DT kept a straight face.

His uncle shook his head when he realized that he was serious about what he said.

"I'm not against it. As I've said, I like Miss E for you, however, I like the championship more than you two. If this continues and hinders my goal for the WIZ to get the world championship this year, I will not consider the fact that you're my nephew… or Miss E is a niece of a good friend."

"I will give you the championship," he said confidently. "But I already lost her before, I don't want her to be gone from my grasp again."

"If you are that serious with her, how about Asya?"

He watched his nephew's face tightened up when he said Asya's name.

"I already talked to her and told her my plan." He said nonchalantly. "She agreed."

"I really don't like you being this responsible. That's why, even though I'm thinking about the training, I'm happy that you got involved in a fistfight," he chuckled.

"Decent uncle would not be as happy as you in this situation."

"Well, they don't have you as their nephew." he threw the throw pillow that was next to him to DT's face.

"And where does Miss E stand about it?"

"She doesn't know yet, but I have the intention to let her know."

"She still doesn't know, huh! You already wasted two years, what are you still waiting for?"

"I don't want her to avoid me. She can disappear from my life again."

"Good luck with that!" He said as he abruptly stood up from the sofa, and punched him on the shoulder. “Go take a rest, and handle the mess you made with the team.”

He sighed deeply as he left his uncle’s room. They are staying in a small bungalow apartment facing the sea. The boys wanted to hang out on the balcony tonight but after what happened between him and Mantis, everyone was told to retire to bed early.

He doesn’t want to talk with the team right now, his head was still full of the thoughts of holding Miss E's hand for the rest of the trip. He scoffed softly as he took the stairs going to the back garden of the house. He was acting like a loser that finally had a chance to hold the hand of the girl he likes.

He didn’t meet anyone on his way to the backyard. The members were all probably still in shock with the fight that happened between him and Mantis or the fact that he and Miss E was holding hands on the bus after the fight.

It seemed like a big thing, however, Miss E didn’t say anything to him once they got off the bus. She didn’t even get out of her room for dinner, saying she had a headache and would like to rest.

He knew she was just avoiding the questioning looks from the rest of the team, but mostly avoiding him. He pinched the bridge of his nose, between his eyes, thinking what could he possibly do to have her sit down with him and talked about what happened in the past.

He saw a wooden bed under a tree and decided to lie down. It wasn’t that long since he lied down on the wooden bed when he heard footsteps approaching, and suddenly halted.

“I’m willing to share. Come and let’s talk.”

He heard tentative steps and then someone sat down at the end of the wooden bed, far from him.

“It is better if you would lie down. The night sky looks beautiful.”

“How do you it’s me?”

“Because you halted when you saw me,” he chuckled softly. “I know that you don’t want to talk to me.”

He looked over his shoulder and saw her climbing the wooden bed and lying on her back.

“Better right?”

“Uhm,”

They lied down on the wooden bed lost in their own thoughts. He inhaled the sea breeze in the stillness of the night. He was wondering if he should apologize to her when she spoke before he could say something.

“I wasn’t mad about what happened. I just don’t like it when you got hurt because of me.”

“That’s good,” he said, kicking himself in his head. How could he be so lame, he thought. There are better things to say other than that’s good.

“And I was not avoiding you because of it. I am avoiding you because I don’t think we shouldn’t have anything between us other than being teammates.”

“W-what?...Wait… I think you are misunderstanding something.”