Rianna climbs the stairs to the first floor. She doesn't expect to see anybody tonight, it is late already, and all she wants is to dive into her bed and sleep. As soon as she reaches the top of the stairs, the door in the attic opens and a ray of light lit up the hallway.
"Hey," greets Jimin.
Rianna waves at him. "Hey"
Awkward silence falls between them again. "Well, if you don't need anything for me, then I guess I'll head in.."
"Have you eaten yet?" cuts Jimin.
Rianna stares at him in disbelief. "Yes I have, actually. Before I went to my second job."
Jimin's head hangs down, and Rianna thinks that she can hear a low key sigh coming from him. So she smiles. " But if you haven't eaten yet, I'll accompany you."
He lifts his head, there's a new sparkle in his eyes. "I have snacks too. And beer."
" I'll skip the beer, but I'll take the snack. Just go down first, I'll go change my clothes and go down."
A door slams open from the other side of the hallway. Jasper comes out, his eyes show signs that he is sober but he still has the aura of a benign dog wagging his tail. "Did I hear beer???"
"Jimin apparently has beers." Riana chuckles and points at Jimin who still stands in the attic.
"Jim my man!! You are still alive! Long time no see, man" yells Jasper over enthusiastically. Jimin shows no reaction, not even his signature shrugs. Rianna chuckles even harder. "Anyhow, beer? I have some too. Let's drink mates! All of us!!"
"I'm in." says Rianna. It's been a long time since someone offered her drinks. She has work tomorrow, but work be damned. She turns her head towards Jimin. "And you? Jim, my man?"
Jimin shrugs and sighs. "Fine."
"You all go downstairs first, I''l change my clothes first."
"No." answers both of them at the same time.
"We can't sit down together downstairs, unless you want to sit on the floor." answers Jimin.
"Or on my lap" whispers Jasper, and he winks that sends some shivers down her spines.
"You wish." snaps Rianna. "Where then? I only have one chair and a bed."
She looks at Jimin, but he only stares back at her without saying anything.
"Well, then you all are invited to my humble shack!" exclaims Jasper.
***
Michel tosses and turns under his blanket. This blanket feels different than what he has at home, it's approximately 1 layer too thick, and the corner of the blanket is not perfectly lined with the cover. He tries to ignore it, it's already 11 pm, he has no time to fix the blanket, he needs to sleep. But sleep is not something he can do while his brains keep telling him that the left top corner of his blanket is not perfectly lined up. After half an hour struggling, he wakes up and takes off the cover of his blanket.
By the time he fixes his blanket (which costs him half an hour), he is completely awake. That annoys him. If you go to bed late, your rhythm will be messed up. But too late, even if he goes back to bed, he will not be able to sleep, and his rhythm has been messed up anyway since Rianna left. So he changes his pajama into his trousers, put on his Burberry sweatshirt, and go to the lobby to have a drink.
He sits on a couch in the lobby of Premium Hotel, the hotel his family owns. He likes spending time in his own hotel, not only because it's his, but his hotel always has the same kind atmosphere in every branch. So no matter where he stays, he always feels like he is home. He orders a jack daniel on a rock, and opens his diary.
He started writing a diary, well, more like a journal really, since Rianna left 2 months and 10 days ago. Since he found his home empty after he came home from work at 19:00, everything changed. He couldn't read, he couldn't fall asleep at 11. And the next day he fell asleep at work, something that never happened before. He didn't understand it, so he wrote the first entry that very night. Writing every variable of his day, like how high his temperature is in the morning, and in the night, his stress level, what time he had his lunch, dinner, and what was on the menu. He tried to analyze what was the problem that caused some systematic disruption in his system, afterall that's his strong point.
However, after 10 days journaling diligently, he found nothing in his daily life that could explain his problem. Well, except that all 10 days have a common denomination: there is no Cathy, and no Rianna. He couldn't do anything about Cathy, even though he missed her dearly, and terribly. But surely there must be something to do about Rianna? There must be a way to get her back into his life. He'd do anything! He needs to do everything. He needs her in his life, so he can go back to his old life, his peaceful life where everything is uneventful, and predictable. He needs her back so he can work, because now all he can think of is just her, and Cathy. He needs her back so she can explain to him how he should handle his feeling of hopelessness. Most of all he needs her back, because, well, he feels like he is dying slowly without her.
He grabs his phone and call his best friend, and also his legal consultant. "Steph, Michel here."
There's some rustling at the other side of the line. "Jezus Michel, you scared me. Did something happen? Are you still in Amsterdam? Wait, why are you still awake?"
"How do you flirt with women?" inquired Michel.
There's 10 seconds of silence before Stephanie answers. "Have you been drinking Michel Huisman? What women?"
"Bring her flowers or something, take her to dinner. Wait what?" stuttered Stephanie. " What women? You're married!"
"She asked for divorce so how do I get her back?" insists Michel.
"Jezus fucking hell Michel! Rianna asks for what?!" thunders Stephanie.
"Divorce." answers Michel calmly. "That's a form of legal separation when two married people are.."
"I fucking know what divorce is, for fuck sake." bellows Stephanie. " Now hang on, and tell me everything!"