Begin Again

CHAMOMILE

Monday.

'It's the best drink to cure insomnia. Here, take a sip,' Piper handed a brim-filled thermos of chamomile tea to Delano. The others were equally worried about his performance. 

He was having nightmares these few days, the most recent one was about thousands of pieces of broken glass shattering onto his bare back, cutting into his skin, flesh and bone, the feeling of warm blood trickling down his body which was shivering in pain. It felt like something inside of him had been torn out, and he was dying alive. 

Besides, Austin hasn't exactly been welcoming, and his pranks were definitely getting onto Delano's nerves if that's what he was planning to do, though Delano had a better job of hiding his anger by giving him the silent treatment. 

And for goodness sake, everything was going wrong.

***

Last Friday night, Delano sat numbly at his desk, his right hand gripping too tightly on some page of a reference book that it might fall off any minute, his left hand drooping by his side -- fist clenched, while his thoughts wandered far beyond that little house of theirs. 

In his mind replayed his mother's words when he came home that day. 

Your father wasn't joking when he said that there was no turning back once we decide to walk through that door. 

'That senseless man...' Delano closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, punching his fist into his wall with a loud thump, ignorant of the pain he was causing himself. 

'What's wrong?' Belle asked when they met. Her perfect black hair was covering half of her delicate face as the cold wind blew strong. 

Delano lifted his finger to tuck a strand that was dangling in front of her forehead, though his eyes were looking behind her, at the direction of his previous home and he could almost swear that he could see the iconic Hollywood sign from Griffith Park. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't in that expensively customized penthouse, but on a rooftop with the most delicately resplendent girl he had ever seen. 

'It's my father,' he said and gulped. All the past memories came haunting him all over again at the mention of Flavien, the broken glass and promises, the lost happiness and marriage, and the unreachable path of future. Belle's concerned eyes gave him every bit of courage he needed to continue, though his heart was aching when the feelings of betrayal and cruelness came rushing back. 

'He had all the publishing companies refuse to publish my mother's new book, and the republishing of all her previous ones were discontinued,' he choked on his last word. 

'Wait, what? How?'

'He threatened them with his publicity stunts. He has plenty of those.' Delano rolled his eyes. 

'But you do have the money from movie production, don't you?'

'He cleared my name from all our movies and froze my bank account. He's obviously trying to cut off all our source of income.'

Belle frowned. It took her a moment of silence to continue. 

'How's... your mother taking the news?'

Delano held her hand tightly in front of his chest, which was warm and a definite contrast to the cold prickly night. 

'She's devastated, Belle.' 

'I'm so sorry, Delano.' She threw her hands around his neck and gave him a long cuddly hug. It was all he needed then. Somehow his mind felt calm and assured when he was with her, and though he knew that they hadn't met each other for long, he couldn't deny that she was everything he could not pull himself away from. 

'It's okay. At least, he can't take you away from me.' 

Delano closed his eyes, while she turned her head so that she could look at the peaceful expression on his face, and she didn't realize that there were tears glistening in her eyes and they shone like green stars in the moonlight.

***

The sun hung in the sapphire blue sky like a yellow chandelier, and its rays left shadows of dust dancing on the window pane. It was a perfect Monday afternoon to get cozy on the bed and take a two-hour long nap after drama practice. But the atmosphere in Maison de Café was as heavy as the dark clouds that were gathering somewhere else in the world. 

Fletcher was sitting opposite of Delano, with Sydney and Piper on his right, and Zeke on his left. They were sitting in a irregular looking circle, probably looking like a bunch of teens who were trying out some kind of ritual from a storybook, the only things missing were the holding hands part and candles. 

'He's...' Piper paused when she couldn't manage to find the right adjective to describe Flavien as Delano told them everything that had happened, of course, leaving out Belle's existence. She was going to say 'cruel' or 'selfish' but those weren't exactly the polite words to label someone else's father. 

'There's got to be something we can do to help,' Fletcher pursed his lips. The frustration was obviously written on his slightly tanned face, which had arose from the helplessness he could see in Delano's eyes. 

'Hey, look at this,' Zeke suddenly said, breaking the short silence moments later. He held up his phone, and what shown on his screen was no other than 'Cadieux Production's New Movie Released' and beneath the big bold words was the title 'Weeping Thorns' and a picture of Flavien in his suit and tie, a fake smile plastered on his face as the cameras flashed in his way as if he was going to be on the cover of the Vogue magazine. 

'Wait. I might know someone who can help,' Sydney's eyes lit up at the mention of the latest entertainment news, and immediately all four other pairs of eyes were on hers, desperately waiting for her to reveal the identity of the secret savior. 

'My cousin, Jean, works at Cadieux Productions. She's one of his private secretaries,' She finished, wiping the expectant looks off their faces. 

'One of?' Piper asked. 

'Yeah, he has around eight of them. She maintains his personal income and expenditure bank accounts.,' Sydney explained. 

'Well then, what are we waiting for? Call her already!' Zeke rushed. 

'On it,' Sydney took out her phone and started texting. 

Delano lay his back on the couch silently, watching his friends get worried and anxious for his cause, and he smiled without realizing he did. It was nice to know that there's a handful of people who actually cared about being there for his pitfalls and not just his success stories. 

'Thanks, guys.' He said, and received more smiles than he could ever imagine.