Life Without You

Chapter 24- Progress

"How's Leon doing?" asked Ariel.

"His liver is damaged, but can't say for certain how serious. Doctor's still monitoring," replied Rita.

"Oh," she covered her opened mouth with the back of her hand. "And how did he find the soup?"

"He didn't like it at first because of the strong herbal smell. But when he tasted it, he couldn't stop finishing it till the flask is clean. He says he doesn't mind for more. We didn't tell him you made it since you wanted it to be a secret, so I said it was from a Chinese herbal shop. Right before we left, he asked again for the location of the shop, so I lied that it's near my house. Can't believe you make us do this," Beth rolled her eyes.

"Glad to know I can rely on you guys, always," giggled Ariel as she patted Beth on the back. "I thought he won't drink it because of his pickiness, but it's a relief that he drank it all. Can't believe he finished the herbs too 'cos some of them were bitter to his taste. He didn't need to finish the herbs actually, they were used for flavouring."

"Well, he'll listen to what this nurse says," Beth pointed at herself with her thumb. "The strict diet he has been on must have rebooted his taste buds."

Ariel felt relieved for now, although she remained worried for his ongoing condition.

She learned the recipe from her late father, who taught her the key to making good herbal soups for good health the traditional Chinese way. She consulted a Chinese medicine shop for wholesome medicinal recipes for liver disease and did her own research with a nutritionist.

"You sure you really don't wanna see him?" asked Camila. "I can disguise you, you know."

"It's not that I don't. I can't. Hiroshi won't allow it," Ariel's gaze directed downwards.

"I don't think Leon wants to see her either," Beth reminded Camila.

"He doesn't?" Ariel felt hurt.

"He sulky. I think he's hurt that you avoided him for so long, so he's kinda giving up," said Rita.

"Oh..." Ariel lamented. "Anyway, it's for a good reason. He needs to focus on himself. Better not reveal that I am behind his soups lest he gets mad. But I don't want him to die, so I'll still help him with what I can."

"Miss Beautiful, you clearly have beautiful heart," Rita was touched. "If only Leon could see that."

——————

Every early morning before heading to work, Ariel made a fresh batch of soup using the freshest ingredients she ordered online and from her own garden by cooking them on the same day in a pressure cooker. Once they were done, she had it delivered to Beth through Rita, who passed the flask to Beth at the hospital along her way to work. It was the only thing Ariel could do for Leon under the radar.

Because her kind gesture was not noticed by the media, public criticisms of her silence after her one liner well-wishing post were vicious. Without being seen publicly to visit Leon even once, she was branded as a "hypocrite", "uncaring", "callous", "insensitive" and many more nasty names under the sun.

Some people outside Hinata yelled cruel things to her, while the paparazzi kept interrogating as to what she thought about Leon or whether they'd rekindle their romance. She kept her dignified silence and ignored them, but it affected her emotionally and mentally so she chose not to meet or greet any customer.

Within her, she desperately wanted to reveal the truth to clear her name, and felt like screaming a thousand nasty words back at her accusers and haters.

The public remained in the dark to what really went wrong with Leon, except a brief response from his reps that he collapsed under tremendous stress.

The cyberbullying on Ariel was overwhelming that she pleaded with Mr Fujita and Hiroshi to allow her to address the baseless accusations.

Mr Fujita agreed, "I guess you can't always keep silent. You guard your private life very well, and the accusations they heap upon our Fujita star is hurting our reputation. We don't want such image for our brand, do we?" He glanced at his son, Hiroshi.

"Right," Hiroshi nodded at his father and turned to Ariel, "Draft out a response, but make sure to have me approve it before publishing.

Ariel nodded and started typing out her message in front of her bosses.

——————

Vinny showed Leon the social media response that Ariel put out on Twitter and Instagram:

Being silent on my private life does not make me a monster. We at Fujita are extremely concerned with Leon Waltz's condition. He remains in our thoughts & prayers. Once again, we wish him a speedy recovery.

The photo accompanying the posts showed a group picture of Leon, Ariel, Hiroshi and Mr Fujita on the day Ariel won the competition.

"Want to respond?" she asked him.

He snickered, "Leave it. Don't bother. They don't care. She doesn't care either."

"She's truly an ungrateful hypocrite. Should've come down personally to see you after what you did for her when she was in hospital," remarked Vinny.

"Don't mention her anymore, will ya?" he sulked, although he secretly wished she tried to visit him.

But Vinny was right! How ungrateful this Fujita clown has become after all that he did for her! Oh that $#$@%!

"Anything else you need from me?" Vinny asked.

"Pass me the soup over there," he pointed at the thermal flask that Beth placed on the overbed table.

Vinny wheeled the overbed table over and opened the thermal flask. The soup was getting more aromatic for him as he got used to the taste. In fact, he began feeling some level of alertness and energy returning to him since he started drinking the soups.

"How can you eat that?" Vinny stuck out her tongue with disgust.

"It's still better than hospital food."

Vinny cringed at the smell and looked out the window through the gap between the curtains.

Outside the hospital, fans lifted up placards with the hope that their star could see them. Some camped inside the hospital despite being forbidden to do so. Police were called to escort people off the premises. The fans screamed for him, but Leon was not interested to respond. Their screams were like shards of metal to his ears. Could they not give him peace to recover and rest?

Leon's parents and his brother came to see him every day while staying at his penthouse.

"Is this magic soup? You're looking better," remarked Angel.

"Yeah, but soon, I'll get tired drinking this same soup. I'll ask Beth if that shop has any other kinds of soups."

Beth brought a different kind of soup for Leon the next day - creamy red beet and brocolli soup - it was not Chinese but Leon did not question it. In fact, a different kind of soup was brought to Leon every other day, alternating between vegetarian to light meat soups.

When he asked Beth about the shop name again, she said "Cheung Yin Soups" - "Cheung Yin" was in fact the name of Ariel's father.

"Let them know Leon Waltz is a big fan," said Leon.

"Will do," Beth nodded with a smile.