It was only a week Dexter last saw Violet and he began to miss her after being in denial for a long while. What was worse was when he learnt that his mother was diagnosed with pneumonia from falling sick recently with a bad cough from Edward.
Caught himself leaving the office in the wee hours, not wanting to return to his family house where he knew he had been indirectly judged for causing the failing health of his mother, he caught himself finally returning to the home he once despised. Knowing how much his mother doted on Violet, he knew their divorce news came as a shock to her. He knew very well, he was the cause of all of these downfalls.
He sat by the bedside Violet often slept in. Her unique fragrance wafted to his nostrils as tears sprung in his eyes. Everything was the same from the day she called it quit. Everyone who ever divorced, only showed the aftermath but no one has ever told of the tale of what happened to things left behind.
Memories that had been forgotten.
The little past of two people who used to share.
He wanted to pack up her stuff but was reluctant. Deep within him, he was still finding his way to fight his ego to give her a call to return to pick her stuff in the house as an excuse to see her again. So, he decided to send a message but he just could not find the right words to type. He realised it had been a long while since he sent her a text message; months ago for Edward's wedding.
That was when it dawned on him that he had forgotten how to talk to her anymore.
As he drowned himself in liquor by the kitchen counter top, he began to realise how bitter the liquor Violet had been drinking was. He recalled she was not this heavy drinker when they date. He sighed, catching himself only knowing Violet had been drinking neat all this while and not knowing since when, pained him.
He used to think, the more bitter the liquor one savoured, the more hurt was hidden deep within the person. If that was true, then he now understood how much damage he had done to her as he continued to drink away his sober self full of regrets.
Meanwhile, the next day in Qi Tai, Sebastian was in a discussion with his agency to let him take on a short romance genre drama. As he had expected, they disagreed because they wanted to preserve his image as the "King of Mysteries" till the end. Besides, his divorce saga was still in the limelight, they told him to lay low till the filming of his next mystery drama as the second lead. Instead, they offered him a cooking show as a tester on the netizens' sentiment about his returning to filming. He had no choice with to make do with the agency's arrangements as he knew the agency would definitely find more trouble for him if he did not oblige.
Being a little delusional, Janice was also getting more persistent in insisting on knowing who his girlfriend was thereafter, till she had to be put on antidepressant medications. It was probably a blessing in disguise that Violet was recuperating from her miscarriage that whole week and avoided getting involved in the whole accusation.
It also gave Sebastian time to focus on trying to get his hands on a short romance genre drama via Sam's help. Director Shaz was an old acquaintance of Sam who was very impressed and honoured to have Sebastian be interested in his production. Though the production will only start once Sebastian finishes his contract with the current agency, Director Shaz was willing to wait despite any circumstances because he knew Sebastian's dedication and quality of work. Sebastian, on the other hand, was grateful because it was going to be their new agency, "Lucky Clovers'" first drama.
As they both were about to leave the hotel after meeting with Director Shaz in private, who had left first, they were surrounded by paparazzi and reporters over Sebastian's rumour of having a girlfriend. Sebastian and Sam knew exactly who the source of this news fuel was.
Due to the lack of good rest and pressure, Sebastian found himself back at his old sickness, anxiety. What made his anxiety worse was when the reporters asked Sebastian if the rumours of him appearing in a cooking show, and the reason for diverting so suddenly into romance desperately were true. They even knew he was bidding for a place in a romance drama failed and were clarifying if it was true.
He was getting even more disappointed with his agency for revealing such details without notifying him. Just as he was confident to make use of the chance to put pressure on his agency to agree to the romance drama offer, the flashes of the cameras and concurrent voices swarmed him deeper with anxiety.
He nearly fell to the ground, with difficulty breathing. Sam, being quick-witted, quickly pulled him to the car as quickly as he could and shielded Sebastian. Sam counted his blessings for a business meeting as he was dressing up like any businessman. His accidental disguise with his old-fashioned glasses did not give away his identity.
The moment they were inside the car, Sam drove to the hospital, but Sebastian struggled to stop him and shook his head while trying to control his overwhelmed anxiety, and he ended up fainting.
Sam had no choice but to head to the emergency ward first, despite knowing some reporters were trailing them. That gave them a chance to speculate on the news of Sebastian's poor health. The agency had to refute that it was not the agency's fault, but it was that the actor was fighting the divorce saga, and it was taking a toll on his health.
Violet, for some reason, decided to turn on the television that night, after feeling a little better. That was when she caught wind of the news. She instantly made her way to the hospital, forgetting that she should not be there after the scandal, but quickly recalled they had never known who the girl was.
Sam, I'm downstairs. How's Sebby? Sam nearly had a heart attack amid his joy seeing a text from Violet finally.
Meet me at the VIP route. Back door. He replied as he ran over.
When he saw her frailed look in her pajamas, he hugged her. "Vi… You shouldn't be here." He whispered.
"I know… But I'm so worried about him. I haven't seen you for a long while. Have you been well?" Violet checked on him as he held her hands.
"Vi, it's not the time. Sebastian is still not awake. You can't stay here. I will let you know when he is awake, alright?" His voice turned soft and tender towards the end as she nodded with a sad face before being escorted to the taxi stand discreetly to head home.
She had no choice but to head home first with her frail body. For the first time, she suddenly felt was her life was not as bad as she had thought over the past few days, especially when she had contemplated suicide last night.
She had fought so hard for freedom since her mother left. She had just won her freedom, only to find herself wanting to end her life suddenly felt so ridiculous to her. As compared to Sebastian, she was an idiot. She could not imagine just how much Sebastian had gone through in exchange for fame, but thanks to him, she finally pulled herself out of her depression abyss.
While waiting that night, she distracted herself by looking up at their work progress and knew they had issues with choosing candidates as she ran through the list with her HR expertise and chose a few to be shortlisted for interviews. Something else caught her attention.
Lucky Clovers
She beamed seeing the company's name as she ran to the front of the mirror and admired her tattoo.
RIght, Vi. This clover is sure to be your lucky charm! She cheered to herself as she continued to browse through Sam's documents.
She then noticed the new jobs of Sebastian including the cooking show and his romance drama with a cliche title, Love Me, Marry Me. She really wanted to peep at the script when she heard the main door of his house open and shocked her as she dropped some documents on the floor.
She wanted to run away to hide only to see Sam helping Sebastian to the chair only to be frightened by Violet as Sam quickly slammed the main door shut.
"Vi! You're lucky his assistant didn't come up!" Sam scolded her.
"But he never let them…" She pointed out while raising an eyebrow as Sebastian smiled.
"You're fine?" Sebastian asked weakly as Violet was reminded of her condition before this and nodded.
"You're fine? I thought you weren't awake and all… I thought you would be back like tomorrow or something…" She asked in return while Sam carried his bags to his room as Sebastian shook his head.
"I didn't like staying in the hospital. It makes the anxiety worse…" He explained as she quickly picked up the documents she dropped and he saw the script.
Her guilty gaze met with his as he smiled. "What the contrary… We scored our first short drama for Lucky Clover and I ended up being held back by my old sickness."
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to… I mean, I didn't peep. Isn't this your current agency's job?" Violet asked as he went up to her and took the script. She then helped him sit on the couch as Sam returned to the living room.
"I will leave you both alone. If you need anything, I'm next door!" Sam purposely said loudly, trying to get through them before leaving.
"It's our first job when I leave the agency. We went to meet with the director today…" Sebastian explained as Violet smiled.
"But, it doesn't explain why you had anxiety?" She asked, feeling a little confused as his eyes reddened.
At that point, she realised everyone is only human despite their status quo, fame, or net worth. No one can escape from the ups and downs and life.