Life Without You

Chapter 9 - Hard to Resist

Following the updates on Ariel's life became a both daily obsession and misery.

Like an obsessed fan, Leon stalked and spied on her Instagram, but without literally clicking to follow her account else it would set tongues wagging like wildfire.

Fujita had certainly groomed her image well.

Jovial pictures of her in her glowing skin, silky cascading hair and sweet smile, along with her confident and relaxed poses with her recipes and other activities made her look so irresistibly attractive. It came as no surprise that male fans were leaving messages of love and desire in the comments section.

"❤ Marry me, sweet baby ❤," commented one male fan.

"Forget Leon, kiss me instead!" said another.

Not only were many comments dissing Leon and crying out to Ariel to take them, many of them also carried lewd and creepy suggestions.

Typically, he knew never to take fans' comments too seriously, and he hoped Ariel was aware of that now that she was a serious celebrity. She did not reply to any comment for professional reasons. It was obvious someone was managing the account for her, as his PR team would do for him too, even though he could access his own account as well.

But he could not help feeling irked, even livid. Those filthy men want a piece of her? Never! At least he got a taste of her delicious lips. Fat hope to those pathetic bunch! Her bodyguards better do a good job to trash any guy who wants to touch her, or he would do it himself!

Comments dissing him without knowing what actually happened between them was even more maddening that he sorely wished he could get his hands on those idiots!

While he scrolled through the comments, Leon grimaced as that familiar pulsing pain above his stomach area returned. It had been haunting him recently and it seemed to occur more frequently now. Sometimes his body would tremble if he went without a drink for long stretches of time, but it would stop temporarily when he drank.

Today, the pain was getting unbearable and his beer in his hand did not stop the pain for some reason. He called Rico to fetch him to the doctor immediately.

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"NO," Leon shook his head with an affirmative after he was given the results of his health screening by the gastroenterologist.

"Mr Waltz, your liver readings are clearly not good. Please reconsider my advice to seek rehab soonest for your alcohol addiction, or you'll lose your liver, even your own life," the gastroenterologist reasoned.

"I can't be an addict," Leon scoffed. "I'll just cut down my intake if that's the case."

"It's not that straightforward. Giving up alcohol would require a lot of help and - "

"Just issue me some medicines and painkillers. I'll watch myself," Leon demanded impatiently, to which the gastroenterologist reluctantly nodded with a sigh, "Very well. But please reconsider what I have advised before it's too late."

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Rehab? Ha!

Leon sneered at the doctor's absurd reasoning as he journeyed on his way back home. All he needed to do was to cut down the number of drinks per week. He wouldn't give up a good wine or two. After all, everyone drinks, even the elites in his network, so how was his habit any worse? But he knew he drank more than the rest - maybe slightly more.

The medicines would do fine in keeping his health in check, and his gym sessions should strengthen his body, although he felt more lethargic at the gym recently too.

He began to cut down his alcohol intake, but self-discipline proved to be more difficult than he anticipated.

The minibar stacked with the finest collection of alcohol varieties kept calling his name every time he passed by.

A little drop won't hurt, he reasoned one day after a lengthy mental contemplation. He opened a $10,000 bottle of Château Cheval Blanc that he got from France and took a tiny sip.

The taste of a single drop of that exquisiteness hit the roof of his mouth and made him crave for more. Soon, his stolen sips burst into endless streams down his throat. Before he realised, he had already finished an entire bottle. Resting his chin on the crook of his arm on the counter, he stared at the red stains raining down the inner walls of the empty glass bottle.

What have I done!

He squeezed his eyes shut in sore disappointment at himself.

Well, it's just one bottle...pretty harmless. Today is a stumble, tomorrow it'll be back to the straight and narrow, he assured himself. After all, the wine made him feel relaxed and high, and helped him to forget his stress and troubles.

Those stolen moments became more and more frequent, after his constant mental promise to himself to go teetotal the next day kept being defeated by temptation.

Despite Anna's and Evan's constant reminders of his health every time he drank, they eventually gave up when their stubborn boss dismissed them with a lash of his tongue. Leon clearly hated being told what to do.

It was obvious to everyone around him that his addiction was getting out of control, but he was too blind and drunk to see it.