Twelve years later... "Kristina!" Her mom called out from the kitchen. "Come down already! I need your help." "Coming!" She replied. Kristina quickly tied her hair into a ponytail without even brushing it and dashed downstairs. This girl completely lacked delicacy as a young lady, and wasn't vain just like the other girls in her class-- neither was she demure. Her mom would always push her into wearing cute clothes, give her expensive jewelry and make her wear the latest fashion trends. But no. Kristina preferred to wear big loose T-shirts, jeans and a pair of sneakers. This was not the girl whom you knew twelve years ago. "What is that?!" Lizzy, her mom, looked at her from head to toe with a disapproving face. "Um... Normal clothes?" Kristina replied sarcastically. "I don't have time for this mom, I'm gonna be late for class!" Kristina went to a private school. They had their own uniforms but this week, they were allowed to wear regular clothes because of the upcoming festival. "Aish. Kristina honey, you're wasting your cute face on... on sluggish clothes like that? Why can't you be like the other girls? Have fun, wear pretty clothes, or go out with your own boyfriend!" Her mom's eyes started to sparkle. But Kristina wasn't paying attention at all. She cracked an egg, added a pinch of salt at the middle of the yolk and fried it on the pan. "Because I'm not like those other girls, mom. Those kind of things are a waste of time and a waste of money," she said as she gobbled up her sunny side up egg with a hint of ketchup on top. The sparkles in her mom's eyes instantly faded. Lizzy frowned and folded her arms. "Love isn't a waste of time. You know, I was really quite like you when I was your age, but your father made me change my life. Love changes a person's life." The sparkles began appearing again. "There will come a day when you fall in love with a nice guy and--" "I won't. School comes first," Kristina interrupted. She drank her milk with one gulp, grabbed her bag and ran outside. "I'm leaving! See you later mom!" "B-But!!!" Lizzy tried to stop her, but it was too late. Kristina was already out the door. "Don't forget to come home early! We have important guests coming!" She stuck her head out the window. "Okay!" Kristina waved as she slowly disappeared from the streets. Her mom sat at the living room couch and pouted like a kid. "She doesn't know what we've prepared for her. Poor child, I'm sure she'll be surprised when she comes back," she muttered. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Kristina already arrived at school with a swarm of students following after her. "Pres! What shall we do for tomorrow's festival?" A guy wearing thick glasses said. "Pres, our teacher left this paper work for you to do," a girl gave her a stock of papers. "Pres, Shara is absent again!" Another one yelled from the crowd. Ah. This was the usual day for Kristina. She was the president of the student council and the best pupil a teacher could ever ask for. Not only that, but she was also always ranked first in their rankings. If she only wore prettier clothes and fixed her appearance a little bit, she would have been the most popular girl at school. A lot of guys did find her cute and attractive, but they were too afraid to approach her and face a cold rejection. Sometimes, the reason why they don't ask her to go out with them was because of one simple thing-- Fear. "Place everything at my desk and prepare the class for a meeting before the teacher arrives," she said with a straight face. "Okay!" her followers agreed. Yes, a lot of people found her scary. She wasn't mean or anything; she was just very strict when it comes to disciplining the students. The scariest part is when she's mad. She easily gets annoyed with boys. For some reason, she really dislikes boys. When they arrived at the classroom, Kristina discussed about tomorrow's event and assigned each student with different jobs to do for the festival. She was responsible, organized and every girl admired her. They looked at her with respect and followed. Except for the stubborn boys at class. "Whaaaat?" Sean yawned and stretched his arms. "There's so much work to do." "Well if you don't want to participate, there's no one stopping you. You can just sleep there on your desk all day while we enjoy ourselves at the festival," Kristina grinned and put her right hand at her waist. "I'm not doing this for my sake you guys, I just want you all to have fun working together and enjoy the festival." "Well said Tina!" her best friend Ella clapped. Everybody agreed and followed Kristina's orders. "So the festival will take place at the school backyard tomorrow night. I expect you all to be here at exactly four o'clock." she finished. Her classmates nodded and Sean rolled his eyes. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Daniel," Jonathan patted his son's back. "Aren't you excited to see Kristina again? You haven't seen each other for twelve years." Both father and son sat comfortably on their new silver-grey Mercedes car. Jonathan loved teasing his son. Daniel looked at his father with a disinterested face and said in reply, "Not really." "Why? You two played a lot when you were young, and don't think that I didn't know that you had a cute little crush on her before," his father grinned. Back at the old days, he was always troubled with Daniel's quietness and lack of emotion-- He was like a living dummy. But after he started dropping his son off his old friends, Jacob and Elizabeth's house, Daniel got to make friends with their daughter Kristina. After that, he began to talk more, laugh more and was able to show his emotions more often. Everytime he picked his son up after a fun day at his playmate's house, the little boy would never stop smiling. When Jonathan and his son moved to Europe because of his job, the problem with Daniel began again. It took him a little while to adjust to everything around him, and when he did talk, which was a rare at that time, all he talked about was his playmate, Kristina. As he grew older and more mature, he still spoke less, but won the favor of many people through his looks, his brain and his athletic abilities-- without even trying. "Yeah," Daniel yawned and looked outside the car window. He rested his head on the palm of his hand and blinked his doe-like eyes slow. "Well, I am a bit curious on what she looks like now, that Poopy." "Eeeeh still acting cool as usual? That's my boy! No wonder you made so many girls cry back at Europe. You ignored all of those cuties eh? There's only Kristina for you right? Right?!" His father laughed. "Yeah. whatever," Daniel said in a bored tone. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ That night... Kristina finally went back home after a tiresome day at school. "Mom! I'm back!" She yelled as she ran upstairs. "Kristina!" her mom called. "Hurry up and go take a bath! I've already prepared your outfit. The guests will arrive soon!" "Alright!" She replied. But she had no clue who the guests were. She entered the bathroom, quickly undressed and hit the shower. Since she was in such a hurry, she forgot to lock the door. "We're here!" Daniel's dad said in a cheerful tone as he entered the house. "Oh my! Johnny! It's been such a long time! How are you?" Lizzy opened the door and excitedly greeted her old friend. "Kristina hurry! They're here!!!" she shouted. "I'm good Lizzy, where's Jacob?" They hugged each other. They were best friends ever since high school; Jacob, Jonathan and Elizabeth. That's why they were so close with each other. "My husband's still at work. And um... Who might this be?" She looked at the young man standing behind him. "Why Lizzy? You don't recognize him at all? This is my son! Daniel!" he said. "Hi auntie," Daniel smiled. He was wearing a dark blue V-neck shirt and a pair of jeans. His hair was a bit messy because of the long car ride. "What?! THIS is Daniel?! Why are you so handsome?! Oh my oh my! You're so tall!" She cried out. "I know right?! My cute little boy turned into a man," Jonathan proudly said. Lizzy laughed and led her guests to the living room. "So tell me, how was Europe?" She started. They began to talk and laugh like the old times; nostalgia filled the atmosphere. Daniel, bored as usual, suddenly decided to explore the house. His father didn't notice him leave at all since he was having a great time talking with Elizabeth. He put his hands in his pockets and went upstairs. "Huh. Didn't change at all," he observed the hallway. Daniel walked towards a door with a fine flower pattern and wondered, "I forgot where this one leads to. The T.V room I think? Let's see." He slowly turned the knob and entered the room. When he went inside, his eyes widened as he saw a young girl standing before him, completely naked. She looked like she had just finished bathing, so she was wet from hair to foot. Daniel looked at her surprised face, and then her body. Kristina stared at him for quite some time as well. They didn't recognize each other at all. "KYAAAA!" She finally reacted and hid behind the shower curtain. "A PERVERT!!!!" Daniel quickly ran outside and slammed the door close. "W-What the hell?" He said to himself, covering his reddish cheeks with his right arm. Then he ran away. "Kristina?! What happened?!" Her mom cut the conversation with Jonathan and stood up, worried about her daughter. "I'm coming!!!" She quickly ran upstairs, clumsily stumbling on a few steps along the way. "Huh? Daniel where are you?!" Jonathan finally noticed his son gone. "Don't tell me..." He panicked and dashed upstairs. "I'm home!" Kristina's dad went inside the living room.