Life Without You

Chapter 43 - The Reveal

Leon plopped into his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Having to say goodbye to Ariel and Andy after the end of their Yellowstone trip made him feel rather despondent. The entire trip was one big mess of emotions for him. It felt light-hearted and fun because of Andy, it felt familiar because of Ariel, it was aloof because of Hiroshi and it was stressful because of Hiromi. In the end, Leon never had the solo holiday he wanted, but it did not feel like it was entirely ruined. Just different and bittersweet.

Leon stretched out for something at the bedside table, but there was nothing to grab hold onto. He turned to realise that he was unknowingly trying to reach for what would have been booze. He was astounded at his body's odd reaction, something that he did not do at the rehab!

In order to distract himself, he reached for his phone. The thought of Ariel kept popping in his mind. Now that he got her current number, should he text her, or wait for her to text him? He looked at her number, nervous at how to approach Ariel. To call or to text? Would she mind having long chats with him like they used to? Oh, how he missed those moments.

Defeated on the idea, Leon went to his Instagram instead. He noticed that Hiromi Fujita had followed him. Ugh! No way would he follow her back! But he checked her Instagram anyways. Predictably, she was so full of herself. Every picture in there was on her, about her and more of her! What other talent did she have apart from a pretty face with hideous make-up and an expensive wardrobe paid by her rich father? She was even featured on Rich Kids of Instagram.

Scrolling past the comments of his last post of Yellowstone, Hiromi Fujita had written a creepy comment:

@HiromiFujita: Miss our times together ❤️❤️❤️

Many people replied to her comment and connected the dots based on her recent Instagram posts that she was in Yellowstone around the same time as Leon. The internet was abuzz with speculations, but thank God he refused to take any picture with her otherwise she would have shown off to the world and embellish the narrative.

As he scanned the comments, @CherryBerryKiss was at it again with another comment:

@CherryBerryKiss: Finally, the #real Leon Waltz is back

Bingo! She was spot on! Leon opened his mouth in disbelief.

In another photo of him against the backdrop of stars in Yellowstone, he proposed a bit of fun with his fans by asking them to write a poem about the start. He scrolled past his fans' attempts at poetry, just to see if @CherryBerryKiss wrote anything. 

There it was again:

@CherryBerryKiss: Let the stars be our upward trajectory, to our dreams in unity, may our love soar high above, like freedom renewed on the wings of a dove

The poem sounded familiar. It had to be from someone he knew. Leon tried hard to recollect from his memories but none came to mind.

This was getting uncomfortable.

If Avon's PR team could not bother investigating who @CherryBerryKiss was, Leon would have to think through a strategy on how to weed her out himself.

——-

"Really? You guys finally met?" Camila clapped her hands in excitement. She had flown back from Los Angeles for a weekend stay.

"Yes," Ariel admitted to meeting Leon at Yellowstone.

"And how are you feeling about it?" asked Rita.

"Well," Ariel shrugged. "Just like that. Now Andy wants to see him regularly."

"See? Fate's bringing you two together," Camila sang.