You Need Me

Chapter 46

"What happened?" Aria asked when she noticed the troubled look on her sister's face.

Maria leaned her back against the kitchen wall. "... Nothing."

Aria stopped whatever she was doing and walked to her twin. Her usually loud sister was disturbingly quiet.

"What's wrong?" Aria asked again.

Maria did not know how she should tell her sister what she heard just now. She looked down at the soup she had prepared for Viola a while ago. It was still warm.

***

"Are you sure about this, Madam?" Tom had repeated the same question for five times.

Viola nodded. "Yes, Tom. I can leave this to you, can't I?"

"You can but... are you REALLY sure about this?" Tom asked again.

Viola smiled at him. "Thank you for everything you have done for me, Tom."

Tom sighed. It looked like whatever he said would not change her mind. "Fine." He glanced at a small bag beside her seat. "Is that all? Your luggage."

Viola nodded. "I didn't have much to begin with."

"Oh... right..." Tom smiled helplessly. He still could not believe what he was just asked to do.

This morning when he came to drive his employer to work like always, he found out Leon was not home. Instead, the mistress was looking for him. He did not expect a divorce talk at all! Tom checked the document again. Leon's signature was there, all right. So this was not just an empty threat from madam because her husband did not treat her well, like all the tv dramas he watched. This was real. Why divorce? Who initiated it? His boss seemed to dot on her, although not everyone could understand his way of showing his affection. Did madam find out something was wrong about Mr. Oliver? What if...

"Tom? Are you listening?" Viola asked.

Tom snapped back to the real world. "Uh... oh... right. I'll take care of this. Oh... would you like me to send you?" Tom offered.

Viola shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm good. I'll just take a taxi."

Silence fell into the living room. "Madam... where are you going?" Tom finally asked.

Viola's eyes turned to the entrance. "I don't know. Maybe I'll go back to Mir... maybe somewhere else, for a while."

"If... if you ever run into trouble, please let me know. I'm sure Mr. Oliver will not mind me helping." Tom said, looking at Viola worriedly.

Viola chuckled. "Thank you, Tom." She hesitated for a while and added. "Please... take good care of Leon."

***

"You are going to lie to Master Ian and Mr. George, Sir?" Tom had come rushing to see his employer to report the shocking news.

"I am not lying, just not telling." Leon replied without looking up from the paper he was reading.

"But, this is a serious matter... what if..."

"You are noisy. Leave if you have nothing else to report." He dismissed his assistant. Tom was appalled by Leon's behavior. How can he just come in to work like nothing happened??? He left the room with thousands of unanswered questions.

Leon threw the paper back to his desk as soon as his assistant left. There was no way he could concentrate on his work now.

***

"What do we do, Mrs. Ellis?"

The senior helper did not know how she was supposed to answer her subordinates. She too, did not expect things to escalate this quick. The master had called her yesterday because he could not reach his son and he was worried about his daughter-in-law. She had tried to convince Viola to stay this morning but the mistress was clearly determined to leave. Nadia cleared her throat. She decided to do what she was told to by Leon.

"If Master called, tell him Madam is on a trip."

"But... what if Master Ian finds out?" Aria looked pale.

"I will take responsibility for it." Nadia replied firmly.

***

It was almost midnight when Leon came back to the mansion, unaccompanied by his assistant. The house was quiet. Nadia isn't here. Before entering the house, he had prepared himself to be confronted by his caretaker's long rant. He was relieved to see Nadia was sensible enough to leave him alone today. He felt tired even though he did not do much work today. Leon climbed the stairs slowly and entered his room. It's quiet. Not that the room was any noisier when Viola was around but the atmosphere had certainly changed. Just as he walked into his bedroom, he noticed something familiar on the console table across the bed. He moved closer and picked up the shiny object that was placed neatly in front of his wedding photo. Viola's wedding ring. Leon sat at the bed's end, looking absent minded. He held the ring inside his palm tightly, so tight he thought he could break it.

"Viola..." Leon unconsciously called her name. There was no answer. The woman he married months ago was no longer here in the house. It felt strange... as if a part of him was missing. Leon laughed at himself. What had she done to make me feel this way... He could feel his vision getting blurry and before long, a drop of warm tear wet his hand.

It was only the first day living without her and he already missed her terribly.