Violet knew she needed a good sleep, but she was too busy juggling after the agency's demands since Fang Li was still on medical leave. By night, she had to catch up on her studies since her tourist guide exam is in a month.
That night, as she revised a little, she thought she could have an early sleep, only to find herself attending worriedly to Sebastian's cuts and injuries from his filming scenes earlier during the day. Worse was that he rarely uses a stand-in during his scenes, so his injuries and bruises were bad.
Sebastian noticed her wince each time she nursed a new bruise or cut, and he couldn't take it when she wanted to move to his back.
He gently held one of her right arms as their gazes met. She was frowning in agitation, while he was frowning as an act to send her away.
"Leave. It's done." He instructed heartlessly on purpose, hoping she would not retaliate.
"No, it's not. There are so many cuts behind…" Before she could continue, he stood to push her, falling gently on her back to the couch while supporting her.
"Don't think I didn't know what you're up to. You still need to sleep. Besides, you need to look good for tomorrow night. Give the study a break..." He gently explained to her, noticing a dim light from her room for the past few nights, followed by the sound of her flipping the book occasionally.
She carefully took a deep breath, not knowing whether to retaliate or to oblige before notifications were heard from their mobile. He moved away to check, and so did she.
News of his divorce saga resurfaced again with rumours that Janice met him during his photoshoot schedule for the magazine the other day.
"The fake medical report will cover this in no time by tomorrow night. You would need to prepare your disguise well by then." Violet reminded him with the intention to comfort him, but instead, it reminded him of a pre-planned date night indirectly set up by Sam for him and Violet to reconcile.
It was a matter of time before Violet got to know about it, since it would be an act. He was thinking of ways to properly apologise and explain things to her by then. On the sideline, he was glad it was going to be promotion week for the movie he was filming next. That would give him more chances to spend with her, but if tomorrow night's reconciliation goes wrong, the entire week would end up in agony for both of them.
As he tried to find ways to sort things out with her, he couldn't stand watching her sleepy eyes trying to screen every news. He lifted her up to bed instead after failing to talk himself out of it.
It caught her off guard and gave her no chance to retaliate. Instead, she obediently stayed put as he gently patted her to sleep by her side. Besides, it was too comforting not to fall asleep, especially knowing he was by her side the whole night.
Meanwhile, Sam was in his office speaking to Jade that night.
"So, what's the plan tomorrow for little Vi?" Jade excitedly asked, knowing he was flying to celebrate the last day of her filming era.
Sam chuckled at her excitement. "Do you really think it's ideal to have them paired together?" Sam questioned.
"You have no idea, baby! From the interactions I have seen, Vi is very different when she is with Sebby. I'm sure you noticed too. You're so smart. When she is with Dex, it feels like she has to always look after him and prioritise him, but with Sebby, it works both ways. There are times when you could feel they both had a tacit understanding altogether and often are in sync without having to say much. The only problem is the tabloids surrounding Sebby…" Jade's explanations aligned with Sam's.
"But you know how tough it is, don't you? Like… Us… If possible, I don't want you to quit either." Sam lamented as Jade wanted to say something further, only to be held back by her nausea. She quickly muted Sam, but he heard her as though she was about to throw up.
Sam felt something was off when he was muted. "Baby, you're alright? Are you unwell?"
Jade was taking deep breaths while drinking water to kill the nausea before unmuting him. "Yes, yes… Got to go. I need to finish filming. So there's a lot to rush. I will speak to you again tomorrow! Love you!" Jade said hastily before hanging up and running towards the washroom to throw up.
Her assistant, Mei Jia was getting worried about her condition.
"Do you want to see a doctor? This has been continuing for a while now." Jade held her hand up to her.
"We will go after the preparation for the award ceremony over the next weekend. Meanwhile, keep my diet more bland, please." Jade requested as Mei Jia nodded.
"I will try to free up some time for you to rest well. It's been too overwhelming." Mei Jia commented as she nodded nonchalantly.
At the back of Jade's mind, she was more excited about her surprise announcement during the award ceremony next week, whether she won or not. It was a promise she made to Sam. She was going to keep it cause she knew he was worth it.
Besides, she cannot wait to help run his business in Qi Tai together. She was confident Sebastian would love the idea. After the abrupt hang-up, Sam was worried and couldn't help suspecting that her condition had anything to do with their night of reconciliation.
Hence, tomorrow's trip to Lagopool was certain.
The next day, while Violet went to catch up with Maliwei on his publication in Lucky's Clover, Sebastian went to the Caux endorsement event during the day by himself. He didn't want Violet to be around the event, knowing Janice would be there, though it was risky since Sam had flown off.
Violet only knew when Sam called her from Lagopool.
"You left him alone at the event?! Are you insane?! Why are you only telling me now?!" Violet bellowed at Sam in front of Maliwei, who tried to calm her.
That's when Violet realised it was probably another set-up by Sam as she closed her eyes, holding her head.
"Not too late for you to go ahead and look after him. That dress… is what he prepared for you. After all, it's time for me to treat your sister-in-law well. It's her last day of work." From Sam's tone, Violet knew better not to argue further and let him hang up.
The award ceremony was mid next week, which was also the reason the film promotion was scheduled alongside to let the involved actors and actresses attend the event.
"You should go to the Caux event now. It had just started after all. Tonight's dress would do some charm." Maliwei suggested as he pointed at a yellow half shoulder dress for the charity event at night, but Violet sighed in frustration.
She didn't want to wear it cause she was still angry with Sebastian knowing he prepared it for her. However, she wanted to cause it was pretty.
"I can't. That will only attract more attention. I have to go like this first. But I wanna listen more to your production though. Look at the charming outcome of your comic! It's going to be a hit, but first, I came to ask if you're keen on script writing or video editing since you're drawing digitally too?" Violet asked hastily, trying to distract him from noticing anything about her frustration with the situation.
"Something's bothering you about Sebastian?" Maliwei pointed out directly as Violet frowned.
"Why? You're single now. Why can't you date anyone else?" Maliwei asked in a teasing manner.
"It's not about that…" Violet denied as Maliwei chuckled.
"If this were a movie, you would be asked to date tonight, and the ending would be a blossoming new love." Maliwei teased, which caught Violet off guard as she chuckled.
"Why must it always be romance? Can't it be a slice of life? After all, I have just let go of love. I don't know if I should embark on a new one so fast…" Violet lamented.
"Vi, I have known you since our younger days. Since when are you this hesitant? Looks like if you embark on this one, it should last very long. So, it's only right for you to take all the time you want…" Maliwei agreed as Violet smiled.
"Now, go save your prince…" Maliwei teased as Violet chuckled.
"You know what? I don't think I want to… cause they both clearly knew of each other's plans. If he didn't tell me to turn up till tonight, why do I care?" Violet tried to put on her rebellious strike.
"Are you sure you won't be bothered?" Maliwei chuckled as he continued amending his storyboard.
"I doubt I would. Anyway, where were we? Oh, let me sort out the chapters here a bit for you." Maliwei, though a little skeptical with Violet's forcible ignorant on Sebastian's situation, played along with her act to help him with his comic's amendment, but sure enough, it didn't last long.
It took Violet 20 minutes before she started to check her phone for Caux event updates.
Maliwei saw it was about time for her to set out to the charity event tonight, too, so he went to fetch her dress. She was stunned for a moment. "No, it's not time yet." She refused to get dressed.
"Why don't you pick him up from the event in this dress?" Maliwei was hinting to her to teach Sebastian a lesson as Violet raised an eyebrow.
"You're smart… Right, I should bring his disguise too and drive a different car to pick him." Violet gladly accepted Maliwei's ideas before setting out thereafter with Sam's four-wheel drive.
I will be at the lobby waiting with your disguise for tonight. QMT4688
Violet texted Sebastian, who was maintaining his demeanour while watching the fashion show, to look good during the event's candid pictures.
When he finally read the text, he squinted his eyes, wondering what Violet was up to. He thought they were going to meet at the event tonight, but her text had proven she knew about Sam's whereabouts and sneaky plan.