Life Without You

Chapter 80 - Will you?

After finishing her plate, Ariel went out to the living room and saw Ivy helping Mrs Waltz with Christmas decorations while Andy and Mr Waltz were creating their own decorations with art supplies.

Everyone froze when they saw her walk in.

"Morning mum!" Andy greeted with unusual excitement.

"Morning. What're you doin'?" she asked.

"Erm...doing some art?" Andy showed off one of his creations.

"Nice," Ariel flashed a thumbs up a star he created with ice-cream sticks covered in gold glitter.

"He's such a talented boy. Even I'm learning from him," Mr Waltz chuckled when he flashed his own replica.

"Yours look great too, Mr Waltz," she smiled. "Angel, what are you doin'?" She noticed he was unpacking what looked like fireworks rockets in a large carton box. There was some camera equipment on the table next to it.

Angel panicked, "Er...counting decor." He quickly placed the bubble wrap over the contents in the box so that Ariel could not see them.

This was getting even more strange. Something was wrong with everyone and they were all acting so secretive. Yet, Andy seemed to gel along very well, as if he knew but not her.

"By the way, have any of you guys seen Leon?" she asked.

Everyone exchanged glances with each other.

"Well, he's out with errands. He'll be back. Meanwhile, why don't you go up to rest?" said Angel.

"Rest? I just woke up! Let me help out with the decorations."

"No!" Everyone said in unison. Ariel cocked her head back in the surprise response. This was really strange. It was as if they did not want her to be there.

"We've more than enough help for now," Angel gave a big grin with an okay gesture.

"But I've nothing to do."

"You can help walk the dogs," Mrs Waltz suggested.

"Alright," Ariel gave in. "If you say so."

———

After she returned from her walk with the dogs, Ariel was told by Mrs Waltz not to go inside the living room because Angel and Ivy were handling "fragile decorations and did not want to be disturbed". The strange vibes everyone was giving gave her cause for concern, and it did not help her rising anxiety and uncertainty. Leon messaged Ariel that he would return late in the night as he still had "things to do", things that he refused to describe in detail to her.

Why was he having a hard time being honest with her?

She decided to text Hiroshi, who would occasionally message her. He relayed the good news that Hiromi was progressing a lot better but she still suffered from panic attacks every now and then. They got her a Persian cat and a poodle to keep her company when she got afraid to sleep alone in her room. Since the kidnapping incident, Hiromi's Instagram and TikTok had since been deactivated.

"Why don't I show you what Leon did?" Mrs Waltz said to her, interrupting her messaging to Hiroshi.

"Yeah, sure," said Ariel.

She followed her to the greenhouse where the edible flowers that Leon had planted were blooming well.

"Nice," Ariel ran her fingers across the colourful petals.

"He's taken quite a liking to gardening. But he still needs improving," Mrs Waltz added.

"I love flowers. My friend, Rita is a florist. She'd be impressed if she sees these. Let me take a picture and send it to her," Ariel snapped a picture of the flowers with her phone and sent it to Rita.