Unpacking Emotions

Melanie takes the next few days pondering if Kalinin asking her to move to Orion is the right decision to make and she would have loved to get a second opinion from someone else but she has been betrayed by friends too many times and now she had cut off all her friends for the sake of her mental health.

Melanie hands over her beauty studio to Shirley to manage for the six months that she may likely be away from Pearl Coast and she ties up a few loose ends.

Melanie books her flight to Orion and informs the parties involved that she will be in Orion the next day.

Melanie did not think saying her goodbye to Shirley was going to be hard because her assistant was the coolest thing that she had to a friend at the moment.

The next morning, Melanie ducks out in the early dawn of her last days in Pearl Coast, packing stuff, and saying her final goodbye to her assistant, She then checks in for her six-hour flight to Orion at the airport.

She gets a coffee and makes herself comfortable and on the plane, she watches movies, reads, and thinks about Alex, remembering everything they have been through as her heart, tries to detach.

With each tick of the clock in her life, she descends into a new chapter and lands in a place where how to reclaim herself is something that she wishes to remember again.

As she steps off the plane into the toasty terminal, Melanie looks around for her identical twin sister Kalinin eagerly waving at her. They hug without words as they had last seen each other two years ago at their mother's sixtieth birthday party and had only kept in touch through video calls.

“Look who’s here!” Kalinin exclaims.

Melanie notices Kalinin’s two-year-old daughter who is initially cowering away behind her mother's dress, yet on recognizing Melanie's voice, she runs into Melanie with open arms.

Melanie inquires about her brother-in-law, Martins, and finds out that he is at work. They grab an airport trolley and Melanie can't wipe that smile off her face as she is home where her family is.

Kionna rambles on excitedly in the car seat, nestled between her mother and Melanie, and as Melanie gazes out upon the city that the last time she visited was four years ago, and for some reason, she just feels a surge of rightness.

Pulling up to Kalinin's warm and cozy house, Melanie feels that is where she belongs and she is ready for a new beginning.

When they got home, Kalinin and her driver helped Melanie bring in the bags and after being left alone, Melanie tried to settle into her room but soon became frustrated about her new normal which is now Living in Orion.

She tries to get over Alex's cheating and She weighs the loaded secret. It is true what Melanie had said to Kalinin, that her relationship had felt like a smothering one but she left out the part about Alex cheating.

Ashamed of herself because she is engaged to marry in three months Melanie decides to take the truth of what happened to her grave.

Now that she is trying her best to move on, she can't help but feel that her sister will feel betrayed if she ever finds out about the full truth.

She fishes out her sketch back from her half-unpacked stuff and then using brushes, she then lays out all of her emotions on paper, resulting in a visual being that represents the whirlpool within.

Melanie is working hard at her art when Kalinin suddenly sticks his head in with a… somewhat creepy smile.

“Hey, sis! What’s up?” she asks, noticing the chaos. This makes Melanie laugh, a little abashed.

“I am very fine,” Melanie lies before taking her attention back to what she was doing.

“I’m surprised you can even move in here!”Kalinin chuckles, teasing Melanie about the mess.

Kalinin sits beside her, asking about life beyond her art explosion and Melanie admits that she is just trying to figure things out so that Kqlinin and her husband will stop worrying.

Kalinin points out that breaking up with Alex should have lifted a weight off her shoulders, but Melanie’s discomfort deepens, knowing that Kalinin is saying that because of how she feels about Alex.

With her defenses up, Melanie reminds her sister that Alex is her first love but there was a point in their horrid relationship where his jealousy became too overwhelming.

Although Kalinin avows that breaking up with him was the right thing to do, but for Melanie, her words are condemning because Kalinin never really liked Alex from day one.

"I’m just trying to save you from overthinking your situation” Kalinin raises her hands surrender but Melanie is still unsettled and finds Kalinin's manner off-putting.

“Orion was is one place to bring you back to, to get you in the right head space,” Kalinin explains.

“Actually, Martins and I felt the need to do something for you and we really didn't know how exactly to go about it, so we both made the decision to sign you up on a dating site” Kalinin informs Melanie, carefully studying her reaction.

“Is this a joke?” Melanie asks blinking back in shock.

“Does it look like one?” she answers her question with another question.

When Kalinin laugh and confirm that its just a little joke, Melanie is perplexed until she snaps.

“A dating site…really?” Melanie scoffs.

“We thought that it was time for you to start living again” Kalinin answers without looking like she is sorry for what she and her husband just did.

“It’s not that simple!” her voice cracks.

“it is not easy to just turn over, and act like everything is alright when it is not.” she snaps.

“Everything reminds me of him…It feels like a weird thing to say but I don't think I will ever find someone who will love me the way Alex did.” She continues.

‘’You got it hard, I know,” Kalinin admits.

“What if I don’t want to date? Can’t I just focus on myself?” Melanie asks softly after crying in Kalinin’s embrace.

“You can't let the past define you though. And so you have to get on with it.” Kalinin says.

“Martins and I have been working to help you since you told us, but it seems something is missing in place of what we’re trying to do,” Melanie listens with a softening of expression.

“I feel tied down to my past. So, No, I'm Not Going to Date” Melanie makes her decision.