Clark stops brus.h.i.+ng her hair which made her heart beat race with nervousness.

He didn't even say anything.

He just waits for her to continue what she has to say without letting her go.

Sheen clasps Clark's s.h.i.+rt tightly, "She said something about you," she started, "She said you're not Cj's dad."

The silent hall and uneasy feeling urged Sheen to break from Clark's embrace, yet, he hugs her tightly as she is about to pull herself away from him.

"Clark... I'm sorry," she whispered and covered her face with his chest.

She doesn't know why she's apologizing since Clark didn't even say that she has to stay away from Aria or such.

Clark just stares at the wall, with a blank face.

He knows this will happen after they went to the banquet.

Even if he tries to stay away from the truth, it will always find a way to leak out.

"I don't believe her, of course. You won't lie about being Cj's dad. You're not a liar." Sheen says which sounded as if she's trying to console herself. "You're Cj's dad. I mean, even if you aren't, it's fine. But I know you are," she says in a frantic manner.

Clark sighs and kissed Sheen's head, "Even if I'm a not his dad, you're fine with it?" he said faintly with his eyes closed, avoiding to see her expression.

Sheen furrowed her eyebrows and pushes Clark away, this time he let her go. "What are you saying?" she asks, stepping back.

Clark looks away from her, "It's true. I am not Cj's dad," he confessed with a bitter face as he wipes his face with his hands vigorously.

Sheen smiled, thinking that it's a joke, that he's not a liar.

But as she looks at him in his guilty state, she bites her lips out of pain from being deceived.

"Okay," she tries to calm herself.

Her heart suddenly felt a piercing ache as her hands that she hides on her back starts to tremble, "I see. Then, why don't you tell me how? And why did you lie, please?"

Clark puts both of his hands on his pocket, still avoiding her gaze, "I... My dad, he..." his bitter face turned into a disgusted face as he tries to remember what happened.

Sheen who is hurt saw that this conversation is both difficult for them, "If you're not ready to tell me. It's fine, Clark. I mean..." she suddenly let out a sob, without realizing, she's already crying from disappointment, pain, and anxiety.

Clark looks at her with a scared face.

Her tears streaming down her soft sweet face, her trembling lips, the way she hides her hands on her back just to hide her feelings, it made him feel angry at himself.

He walks toward her and slowly, he reached out his hand to wipe her tears.

"I'm sorry," Clark whispers with a frown, "I'm sorry I lied to you. I didn't mean to hide anything. Sheen, please, stop crying, please," he put both of his hand on her cheeks while his thumb wipes every tear from her eyes.

"My dad, for some stupid reason, slept with Kira. She's young, and of course, my father can be jailed for that. Someone saw him taking advantage of this young girl, which was mistaken that he was going to r.ape her, but from what I saw, Kira did not resist but I don't know, I arrived quite late," Clark says the words as if it's broken gla.s.s that wounds his tongue.

Sheen listens while she tries to calm herself, yet her sobs betray her.

"I took care of what happened when I got there, and after some time, Kira found me and thought that I was the one who she was with that night. I can't tell her it's my father so I just pretended it was me since my father died by the time she looked for me," Clark sighs.

Sheen knows what he's talking about.

She heard it from Aria.

It's bittersweet to hear the truth while expecting that it's a lie.

There's nothing wrong with him being Cj's brother, but the thing that kills Sheen is that he lied.

'Well, he doesn't have to tell me everything. I mean, of course, he can't tell me straightforward that he's Cj's brother when everyone thinks that he's the father," Sheen thought as she takes a deep breath.

"Okay. I see," she whispered and smiled, "Thank you for telling me."

'But what if it's not the only lie he told me? He lied about not having relatives...' Sheen suddenly thought.

Clark pulls Sheen towards him and embraced her tightly, as if she'll leave, "I'm so sorry, Sheen. I didn't mean to lie to you about Cj or Aria. I just don't want you or anyone to see that I'm... a disaster."

Sheen suddenly felt her shoulder get cold and wet.

"I'm so sorry, please don't leave, please," Clark sobs, "I'll tell you everything about me. The real me. Just please, stay."

His cries as he beg which shocked Sheen.

She never expected that Clark will do these things just to make her stay.

Yet there's still the part where she wants to push him away and take a break from what she found out.

But she won't leave.

Never.

"Please, stop crying, Clark," she caresses his back, "I will never leave you. Never. So please, stop crying. We all lie at some point of our lives and you don't mean to hurt anyone, Clark. It's fine."

The halls aren't silent anymore.

It's echoing with Clark's sobs and Sheen's warm comforting voice.

They suddenly heard a whistle coming from the staircase, Clark pulls himself and wipes his tears.

Sheen watches him with mixed emotion.

She's hurt because he lied but she shouldn't be because, in the first place, they are just friends and obviously if a secret is that controversial, you won't tell it to anyone.

They're only engaged for a while, Clark won't tell her that information that quickly just because she wears a ring.

Yet, she still feels as if he should have told her after she said a personal thing about her to him as well.

"Let's talk later," Clark said as Louis suddenly appears from the stairs, panting.

"Phew! That was long!" Louis exclaimed, "Oh, there you are. Am I interrupting something?" he asks as he saw Sheen and Clark together.

Clark shakes his head.

His tears didn't even leave a trace, he looks as if nothing happened and went to his office.

'I'll ask him about the other issue Aria talked about later,' Sheen thought and turned around.

"Congrats! You're still nominated," Louis said as they pa.s.s by each other with a smile.

'But how did Aria knew about the things Clark does privately?' Sheen thought as she smiles at Louis, 'Unless she knows someone who has a private connection with Clark.'

"Kady, thank you so much for helping me," Sheen smiled at Kady.

"No problem," Kady smiled back at Sheen.

They are all eating lunch at a restaurant with Blue, Bea, and Dan.

"Elgeen has to meet a friend so she wasn't able to come. Gerwyn... he's, I don't know. He's been acting weird since the banquet, he won't go out of his room and he's even telling me that he'll go back to the city tomorrow," Blue said while looking through the menu on desserts.

Kady looks at Sheen, knowing why Gerwyn acted that way and stared at the ring on her finger.

"Why? Did something happened between you two?" Sheen frowns.

"What? No! He's just totally heartbroken," Blue laughs as he orders them a fruit salad.

"From who? Is he dating someone?" Sheen asks with curiosity making everyone on the table stare at her in disbelief.

"Isn't it obvious? He's heartbroken because of you! You're suddenly engaged while he's just on the move to get you," Bea rolled her eyes, "It's because of you."

"Don't worry, he'll get over it," Blue said.

"But I already told him..." Sheen sighs and continues to eat her meal with a frown.

"Really? Haven't you been in love before? How many times did I tell you to get over Kady? You spent freaking years moving on, right? Do you think Gerwyn can get over you for just about months and words? Bea irritatedly pointed her fork to Sheen.

Sheen's face went from a sad expression to a shock and embarra.s.sed one.

She smiles apologetically at Kady and glared at Bea.

"I'm sorry, Sheen. Her mood swings are more aggressive these days," Dan apologized.

Blue laughs while looking at Kady then at Sheen, "Gosh, it's been long since I laughed this hard. I mean, yeah, I remember the days when Sheen will cry over Kady. Then I will be jealous and try my best to make her smile," Blue smiled while thinking, "Ah, such nice memories."

Sheen stared at Blue and Bea, "Why are you guys bringing up the memories?"

"By the way, I saw your book and I already bought one. They published it yesterday, I think," Kady said, trying to change the topic.

"They what? Yesterday? Without noticing me? I forgot about that book!" Sheen took her phone and texts the publis.h.i.+ng manager in the company.

"I haven't started reading it yet, maybe later," Kady took a slice of cake Blue ordered, "Don't worry, I'll give honest reviews when I finish it."

Sheen looks at Kady, "Please do! I don't want to hear only good feedbacks!"

"So you're expecting Kady to give you 'negative' feedback?" Dan asks.

"Not really negative, but the flaw of the book. Like if my characters don't have a concrete personality, the plot is confusing... something like that."

"Well, since I had read the raw version. Then I'll give feedback, Bea will say something too after me," Dan sits comfortably while eating his cake and looks at Sheen, "I think the characters are great. The plot is majestic. The only flaw I read was... the.." Dan looks at Bea like he's saying something.

And Bea suddenly smirks and looks at Sheen, "TYPO. Clark... Clark..." both of them said mockingly.

Sheen's face turned bright red, "Not that one! I mean the story and what are you guys commenting about the raw, of course, it has a lot of typos!"

They all laughed while Sheen pouted as she finishes her meal.

"Okay, to be honest. Everything is great, Sheen. You're a pro. You know how to make a story, all we need is to have the right readers buy and read your story," Dan smiles at Sheen.

"Do you guys have a plan for your wedding?" Blue asks Sheen.

"No, nothing yet. I mean..." she suddenly frowned while remembering what happened yesterday.

Clark didn't go home with her.

He just asked Mr. Rogers to send her home and to come back for him since he said he's busy.

This morning, he remained silent for the whole time.

Even though she and Cj tries to make him talk, he will just answer with few words.

Then in the company, he just told Sheen what she has to do and nothing else.

"What?" Bea sensed that something happened as well since when she saw Clark, he was so out of the blue that he asked people to repeat their reports twice.

Sheen wants to tell Bea what is happening, but that will make Bea ask more question about Clark which may make her spill everything.

She just shakes her head, "Nothing."

They all stared at Sheen worriedly, "You know you can tell us anything, Sheen. You can't keep everything to yourself," Dan smiled.

Blue and Kady nodded, "We've been friends forever, Sheen," Kady looks at Blue, "There's nothing that we will not help you with."

Sheen sighs, "No worries guys. Thank you."

It's not a simple problem, it's private that she even feels sorry for knowing.

Everyone looks at her worriedly.

Since they've been spending time together for the past weeks, they all somehow notice each other's emotions clearer and seeing Sheen still hiding her feelings makes them feel bad as a friend, but they can't do anything about it all they can give her is the a.s.surance that they are with her.