Bab 9: NINE
The legs are stiff. She felt paralyzed suddenly while standing in her former house which still looked the same as before she left it two weeks ago.
"Ave." Rebecca touched her shoulder lightly. The woman reminded her silently through her gaze if she had to enter her former house now. But Avery had a hard time doing it. She was afraid to see Michiel's reflection on the porch, living room, or bedroom. The man had obviously left a lot of memories there, and Avery couldn't shake them off.
"Mrs. Avery?"
Someone who knew Avery frowned in surprise and immediately opened the gate wide. The short, gray-haired man was a gardener who had worked at Avery's former home since Avery lived in the house with Andrew.
"John," said Avery like a whisper. She was too clumsy to face John now, and it seemed he knew nothing about her troubles at Columbia.
"Finally, you came home, we have all been waiting for your return, ma'am. Please come inside home, ma'am. I think Nicholas has prepared a delicious meal inside to welcome Mrs. Avery back."
The gardener kept on rambling on without paying attention to Avery's pale face which was about to burst into tears. Since earlier, Avery had been holding back her tears from falling because the chatty man made her feel guilty for the whole house who was about to say goodbye to him.
"Come on Ave, I have a shooting schedule in two hours," warned Rebecca worried as she glanced at her watch. Tell her she is cruel because she thinks about her job when her friend is sad. But she had to do it now, otherwise Avery would continue to be a display statue in front of her former home without even stepping in.
"Thank you for opening the door for us, John. We will go inside."
Rebecca took over Avery's task of replying to John's barrage of kind words the man used to greet her. And after that she immediately dragged Avery into her former house, which had the door wide open for them.
"Mrs. Avery."
Seeing the look on Nicholas's face, Avery knew the butler knew it all. But maybe the man was still keeping it a secret from the others so that there would not be an uproar when she arrived. Moreover, Avery really hated being given pitying looks after what happened. So what Nicholas has done so far, it is right in Avery's eyes.
"I have prepared your belongings, ma'am."
"Thank you. But I'll stick around for a bit. "
Rebecca let Avery unsteady toward her room on the second floor. That woman does need a little time to mourn everything before she really leaves the house. Her memories with Andrew are actually not the most important to Avery. But her memories with Michiel were what Avery wanted to remember before leaving.
"After we left, you could tell the truth to the gardener up front." said Rebecca to Nicholas as they were engulfed in a long silence.
From behind his stiff face, Nicholas nodded at Rebecca, then he returned to his silence like a statue, with a very strong body and tight fists on the right and left of his body. Inwardly Rebecca reflected on Nicholas's almost statue-like stiffness. If only the man's stomach had not flared from breathing, Rebecca would have thought he was a statue.
"After this house is sold, what will you do?"
Rebecca knew it was a privacy question, but she was bored right now, so she decided to ask a personal question that sounded very disturbing to Nicholas.
"I got a new job at Mr Andrew's apartment."
"Oh, so he has planned to stay with his lover and make you their servant? Hmm... he move forward quickly huh." Rebecca said sarcastically.
Nicholas cleared his throat for a moment to get rid of his nervousness, then he became a statue again when Rebecca asked him no more questions.
"That was fast, Ave. I thought it took you an hour to prepare everything."
"Everything has been well prepared by Nicholas, so I don't have to linger over it. Thank you Nicho for these two years. May you always be happy wherever you are."
"Thank you again Mrs. Avery, see you again."
Nicholas bowed politely as Avery and Rebecca walked past him. Each of them carried a suitcase in their hands without looking back to see Nicholas, who was still stoically bent until they disappeared behind the door.
-00-
"I thought you had a lot of stuff."
"Only this. Everything else is a gift from Andrew, and I don't want to take them along with me. "
"Then the ring?"
Rebecca couldn't take her eyes off the ring on Avery's ring finger that Avery had been spinning around while she was nervous.
"The gift Michiel gave me when he proposed." Avery replied softly. The only thing she has from Michiel is this, so she will take care of it wholeheartedly so that she never forgets that man's wholehearted love.
"Time will heal everything, Ave. So during that time, you have to be patient. "
"Hmm, I'll do it." Avery replied lazily.
Then Avery chose to pay attention to every scene on the busy streets of Chicago that she was about to leave. Cafes, pedestrians who always fill the sidewalks, then the sound of honking their horns when they don't want to give in to another car is something that is so interesting to see at this time.
Even though Avery usually prefers to sleep in the car until she arrives at the next shooting location. What is clear is that the scenery on the road that she often passes has never caught her eye at all. Or if she is not sleepy, she will spend her time reading dozens of comments from people who fill her social media. It had always been something of interest to Avery before all the disaster. Even now Avery is afraid to open her social media. She is afraid that she will be the object of blame in the accident that befell Michiel, because her heart keeps screaming the word murderer every time she remembers Michiel before the man leaves emotionally in his white car.
A long honking sound startled Avery and made her panic at once with an overreaction.
"Bec! Becca! What is wrong? What is wrong?"
"Calm down, Ave. No, nothing," said Rebecca softly, stroking Avery's arm. Just now a car overtook the car in front of them. And it happened at another intersection that had nothing to do with the car Rebecca was driving because they were currently stopped because the traffic light was showing red.
"I thought I thought... oh my goodness." Avery covered her face with her hands and cried. "I thought there was an accident." said Avery again in a trembling voice.
Her nights had never been peaceful since Michiel's death. She is always haunted by feelings of anxiety and gets increasingly paranoid when she hears the sound of car horns around her. If the attack began to appear, Avery would feel her heart beating fast, sweat would also come down her body irregularly. Then, one by one, bad images that are completely unwanted will appear like ghosts that disturb Avery's life. She was afraid, so scared! But she can't share it with anyone. She more than knows that other people are also having their own problems. So she didn't want to burden their lives with her problems even more.
"What are you going to do after this, Ave?"
After Avery felt calm enough, the woman tried to talk to Avery so that she didn't daydream all the way to her apartment. Rebecca was deeply saddened to see her best friend who had lost all her temper after Michiel's death. Whereas before this, Avery was a woman who was fierce and always as immovable as steel.
"I want to go to the agency office. Can you drop me there?"
"Okay. But I don't promise I can pick you up," said Rebecca regretfully.
"I'll take a taxi later. Do not think about me. As long as I know the password for your apartment, it won't be a problem," said Avery chuckled. Truly, Rebecca was so grateful that she finally saw Avery throw a little joke at her.
"Then give my greetings to Mr. Leander. If he's a stunningly handsome bachelor, hurry up and call me, Ave."
Avery chuckled at the joke Rebecca had just thrown at her. She was also very curious about how Mr. Leander Straight looked like, a man who immediately received full power from Michiel after he died. Even so, since last night she had been trying to dig up all the memories in her head to find a little clue related to a man named Leander Straight who might have been in her memory but she had forgotten his form. But no matter how hard she tried until it was almost morning, the memory of this man named Leander simply didn't exist in her head. Even if that man was Michiel's best friend, at least once, she had met him because almost every day Michiel always went everywhere with her.
"We have arrived."
Avery was simply too preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn't realize Rebecca was driving so fast towards Michiel's agency offices. The white building with five floors towered firmly in front of her. From where she sat, Avery could see the window in Michiel's room was tightly closed with a black curtain surrounding it. Yet the window of the room had never been closed that tightly while Michiel was there because he loved to stare at the intricacies of Chicago in the daytime through his large window. Unfortunately, now that room will belong to someone else. And Avery didn't know if the man would open the window as often as Michiel or not.
"See you later. Hopefully that man named Leander doesn't make things difficult for you," shouted Rebecca from the car, waving her hand recklessly.
Avery chuckled at the sight of her friend who started driving recklessly on the busy streets of Chicago because she was almost late for the shooting location which was opposite from their agency office.
"Hello, Miss Avery."
Avery turned her head and found Bertha, one of the receptionists she knew very well here.
"Hello Bertha, long time no see."
"Oh... I'm sorry about your loss, Miss Avery."
"Eee that."
"Even though Mr. Michiel is just your brother-in-law, Mr. Michiel protects you like his own lover. I was so shocked that morning Stuart's manager told us the sad news."
"Yes. Nobody knows if that terrible thing will happen to Michiel." Avery replied sadly. Just now she would have denied that it was not Michiel's lover that Bertha would think so because Michiel often acted as he pleased by telling people that she was his lover.
"Is Mr. Leander there?" Avery asked, trying to divert attention. The topic of Michiel's death had quite a negative impact on her psyche. So she would not let the topic widen and aggravate her almost insane state of being crushed.
"I have no idea. We haven't seen him since manager Stuart announced that Mr. Leander is someone who has been given the power to take over Mr. Michiel's agency."
"How did Stuart know if Michiel gave Leander power?"
"Maybe the lawyer," replied Bertha, shrugging her shoulders. "We all know nothing, miss. Really," said Bertha with a serious expression.
"Okay then, I'll go in first. See you again, Bertha." Avery said goodbye and immediately walked into the white building which would soon be casting more and more Michiel shadows on her head.
-00-
"What are you telling me to come here?" Avery folded his hands lazily across her chest. Meanwhile, the handsome man with light brown hair just grimaced from behind his desk which was filled with papers. With a happy face, the man walked over to Avery, then immediately hugged Avery without warning.
"I won a tender for digital product advertising. And you will be the model."
Avery only gave a faint smile without returning the man's hug. Her reputation as Michiel's sister-in-law brought her a huge advantage as Michiel gave her the job more often than any other model. No wonder her presence there is often the talk of people. Those who were jealous of her often threw gossip that she had sold her body to Michiel in order to get the jobs.
"I wonder at you, why am I always the priority to become a model in those tenders?"
"Because that's their request," replied the man as it is. "You are a valuable asset to this company, so you deserve preferential treatment. Those who often talk about you and make heinous accusations, don't think so. said the man with a charming smile.
"Do you know?" Avery asked in surprise. She thought that he never knew that all this time she was being bullied invisibly by a bunch of junior models who were jealous of her career. She could say that only Rebecca could be sincere friends with her because she was never too concerned about the competition that occurred between the models.
"Of course. Whatever has to do with you, I know. It's just that I don't want to take it too seriously because of you too."
The man released his hug and gave Avery a light kiss on the cheek. For a moment Avery didn't react because the woman seemed to be thinking about something. But when the man started stealing more kisses on her lips, only then did Avery come to her senses and immediately pushed the man's shoulder hard.
"What the hell you are!" Avery yelled loudly. "Don't ever steal anything from me! Not even a kiss!" Avery's temper was fiery.
The glass door Avery just pushed hard because of the emotion she was feeling. A cold and strange chill immediately burst out of the wood-nuanced empty room that Michiel used to work in. In the middle of the room, Michiel's large table seemed to be covered in thin dust. Then by the window, the black curtains occasionally moved slowly as the wind slid in through the openings to give a little fresh air to the room which had now been abandoned by its owner.
"Miss Avery?"
Just as Avery was about to step into Michiel's room, Stuart's manager called her from behind and seemed to frown at her. The tall man with a slightly oriental face continued to stare at Avery deeply with his narrow eyes perfectly framed with white-rimmed glasses.
"Yes? What a coincidence, Stuart. I am looking for you."
Stuart raised an eyebrow, then he coded Avery into the room.
"You want a drink, Ave?" Stuart offered, setting himself a cup of coffee on the table.
Recently he made coffee in the pantry because he wanted to take a walk as well to get rid of his boredom. It can be said that the atmosphere at the office has not returned to normal after Michiel's death because the office does not have a physical replacement leader.
"Thanks, but I just had a drink. Well, long time no see," greeted Avery with small talk. It felt rude if she immediately told the man that she came this time because she wanted to resign as a model.
"You look even more gloomy than usual. I'm sorry about your loss."
"Thank you."
After that there was silence. Either Avery or Stuart, they became awkward with each other because they hadn't really gotten along very well. Michiel often monopolized her familiarity with the man in this office, who never liked that she looked familiar with other men besides himself, so Avery rarely got into long chats with Stuart or the other men in this office.
But even so, Avery often watched Stuart from afar. More or less she knows how the life of Stuart, who is a man of mixed Chinese and Canadian blood who was raised by his parents in Florida. Stuart's parents are corn garden owners who frequently export maize to all parts of America. Financially, Stuart is actually a rich man. But he didn't have a knack for agriculture, so he chose a career in Chicago as a manager.
"Okay, so what do you want to talk about?"
Avery placed her hands on the table, straightened her originally slightly bent body, then looked at Stuart intently with her pretty round eyes. "I want to step down as a model here. I'm moving."
"Why all of a sudden? Is it because of Michiel's death?"
"Mmm… maybe. I want to calm down and start a new life."
"Are the rumors true?"
"Rumors about what?" asked Avery incredulously. Her thick eyebrows just clicked together when her brain was busy thinking.
"If you and Michiel have a special relationship."
Instantly Avery chuckled at Stuart's words. Although the laughter didn't sound sincere, Avery felt genuinely funny at the statement Stuart had just made. "Yeah, brother-in-law and sister-in-law relationship. You're taking the jokes too seriously, Stu."
"Hmm... I thought you guys were in a relationship like lovers. But Ave, you have a shooting schedule the day after tomorrow." In a flash, Stuart changed the subject of their conversation from personal to work.
I will still do it. For the last time."
"Then the fine? You are still under contract with us."
"You take it easy. I'll pay the fine by next week. My lawyer will take care of everything. And speaking of the new leader, have you met Leander Straight?"
"Now that's what I also wanted to ask you for a long time." Suddenly Stuart becomes even more excited when they start talking about the mysterious man who will replace Michiel in the office.
"What's wrong with that man?"
"I've never met him. But according to Michiel's lawyer, the man was his best friend. Have you met him before?"
"Even the tips of the nails, I've never seen him." Avery snorted irritably. She thought Stuart was going to give her information about the man named Leander.
"Strange. Suddenly Michiel's position was handed over to a stranger who had never shown the bridge of his nose here at all. After all, when did Michiel empower that man? He should have touched me on that if he had given power to someone else."
"Tsk, don't be silly, Stu." Avery said with a snort. "Nobody knows if Michiel will have an accident and... and... die." Avery's throat just choked up when she talked about Michiel's death. Immediately her heart rate began to increase, and it took her a while to normalize everything.
"I'm sorry, Ave. I know it's tough, and I shouldn't be offending it. But I was just surprised, because that man only communicated through Michiel's lawyer."
"Then the emails from him?" asked Avery incredulously.
"That is me. I'm the one who emailed the models on his behalf because it was asked by Michiel's lawyer a few days ago. He said the work here had to keep going while waiting for him to be ready to take over the responsibilities given to him by Michiel."
"Oh, I see. Too bad I won't have time to meet him."
"I'll send your greetings to him when he becomes the new boss here." chuckled Stuart. His glasses also moved up and down, following the rhythm of his crisp laughter.
"Then I'll go now. Our business is clear, right? See you next time, Stu. You're the best manager I've ever known," said Avery, stretching out her arms to embrace Stuart. And without being awkward, Stuart immediately returned Avery's hug while giving Avery a gentle pat on Avery's fragile back.
"Good luck, Ave."
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone