FOUR

The legs are stiff. She felt paralyzed suddenly while standing in her former house which still looked the same as before she left it two weeks ago.

"Ave."

Rebecca touched her shoulder lightly. The woman reminded her silently through her gaze if she had to enter her former house now. But Avelyn had a hard time doing it. She was afraid to see Michael's reflection on the porch, living room, or bedroom. The man had obviously left a lot of memories there, and Avelyn couldn't shake them off.

"Mrs. Avelyn?"

Someone who knew Avelyn frowned in surprise and immediately opened the gate wide. The short, gray-haired man was a gardener who had worked at Avelyn's former home since Avelyn lived in the house with Andrew.

"John,” said Avelyn like a whisper. She was too clumsy to face John now, and it seemed he knew nothing about her troubles at Columbia.

“Finally, you came home, we have all been waiting for your return, ma’am. Please come inside, ma’am. I think Nicholas has prepared a delicious meal inside to welcome you back."

The gardener kept on rambling on without paying attention to Avelyn's pale face which was about to burst into tears. Since earlier, Avelyn had been holding back her tears from falling because the chatty man made her feel guilty for the whole house who was about to say goodbye to him.

"Come on Ave, I have a shooting schedule in two hours," warned Rebecca worried as she glanced at her watch. Tell her she is cruel because she thinks about her job when her friend is sad. But she had to do it now, otherwise Avelyn would continue to be a display statue in front of her former home without even stepping in.

“Thank you for opening the door for us, John. We will go inside."

Rebecca took over Avelyn's task of replying to John's barrage of kind words the man used to greet her. And after that she immediately dragged Avelyn into her former house, which had the door wide open for them.

"Mrs. Avelyn."

Seeing the look on Nicholas's face, Avelyn knew the butler knew it all. But maybe the man was still keeping it a secret from the others so that there would not be an uproar when she arrived. Moreover, Avelyn really hated being given pitying looks after what happened. So what Nicholas has done so far, it is right in Avelyn's eyes.

"I have prepared your belongings, ma’am."

"Thank you. But I'll stick around for a bit. "

Rebecca let Avelyn unsteady toward her room on the second floor. That woman does need a little time to mourn everything before she really leaves the house. Her memories with Andrew are actually not the most important to Avelyn. But her memories with Michael were what Avelyn wanted to remember before leaving.

"After we left, you could tell the truth to the gardener up front," said Rebecca to Nicholas as they were engulfed in a long silence.

From behind his stiff face, Nicholas nodded at Rebecca, then he returned to his silence like a statue, with a very strong body and tight fists on the right and left of his body. Inwardly Rebecca reflected on Nicholas's almost statue-like stiffness. If only the man's stomach had not flared from breathing, Rebecca would have thought he was a statue.

"After this house is sold, what will you do?"

Rebecca knew it was a privacy question, but she was bored right now, so she decided to ask a personal question that sounded very disturbing to Nicholas.

"I got a new job at Mr Andrew's apartment."

“Oh, so he has planned to stay with his lover and make you their servant? Hmm... he move forward quickly huh." Rebecca said sarcastically.

Nicholas cleared his throat for a moment to get rid of his nervousness, then he became a statue again when Rebecca asked him no more questions.

“That was fast, Ave. I thought it took you an hour to prepare everything."

“Everything has been well prepared by Nicholas, so I don't have to linger over it. Thank you Nicho for these two years. May you always be happy wherever you are."

"Thank you again Mrs. Avelyn, see you again."

Nicholas bowed politely as Avelyn and Rebecca walked past him. Each of them carried a suitcase in their hands without looking back to see Nicholas, who was still stoically bent until they disappeared behind the door.

-00-

"I thought you had a lot of stuff."

"Only this. Everything else is a gift from Andrew, and I don't want to take them along with me. "

"Then the ring?"

Rebecca couldn't take her eyes off the ring on Avelyn's ring finger that Avelyn had been spinning around while she was nervous.

"The gift Michael gave me when he proposed," Avelyn replied softly.

The only thing she has from Michael is this, so she will take care of it wholeheartedly so that she never forgets that man's wholehearted love.

“Time will heal everything, Ave. So during that time, you have to be patient. "

"Hmm, I'll do it." Avelyn replied lazily.

Then Avelyn chose to pay attention to every scene on the busy streets of Chicago that she was about to leave. Cafes, pedestrians who always fill the sidewalks, then the sound of honking their horns when they don't want to give in to another car is something that is so interesting to see at this time.

Even though Avelyn usually prefers to sleep in the car until she arrives at the next shooting location. What is clear is that the scenery on the road that she often passes has never caught her eye at all. Or if she is not sleepy, she will spend her time reading dozens of comments from people who fill her social media. It had always been something of interest to Avelyn before all the disaster. Even now Avelyn is afraid to open her social media. She is afraid that she will be the object of blame in the accident that befell Michael, because her heart keeps screaming the word murderer every time she remembers Michael before the man leaves emotionally in his white car.

A long honking sound startled Avelyn and made her panic at once with an overreaction.

“Bec! Becca! What is wrong? What is wrong?"

“Calm down, Ave. No, nothing," said Rebecca softly, stroking Avelyn's arm.

Just now a car overtook the car in front of them. And it happened at another intersection that had nothing to do with the Rebecca’s car because they were currently stopped because the traffic light was showing red.

"I thought I thought... oh my goodness." Avelyn covered her face with her hands and cried. "I thought there was an accident," said Avelyn again in a trembling voice.

Her nights had never been peaceful since Michael's death. She is always haunted by feelings of anxiety and gets increasingly paranoid when she hears the sound of car horns around her. If the attack began to appear, Avelyn would feel her heart beating fast, sweat would also come down her body irregularly. Then, one by one, bad images that are completely unwanted will appear like ghosts that disturb Avelyn's life. She was afraid, so scared! But she can't share it with anyone. She more than knows that other people are also having their own problems. So she didn't want to burden their lives with her problems even more.

"What are you going to do after this, Ave?"

After Avelyn felt calm enough, the woman tried to talk to Avelyn so that she didn't daydream all the way to her apartment. Rebecca was deeply saddened to see her best friend who had lost all her temper after Michael's death. Whereas before this, Avelyn was a woman who was fierce and always as immovable as steel.

“I want to go to the agency office. Can you drop me there?"

"Okay. But I don't promise I can pick you up," said Rebecca regretfully.

"I'll take a taxi later. Don’t think about me. As long as I know the password for your apartment, it won't be a problem," said Avelyn chuckled. Truly, Rebecca was so grateful that she finally saw Avelyn throw a little joke at her.

“Then give my greetings to Mr. Leander. If he's a stunningly handsome bachelor, hurry up and call me, Ave."

Avelyn chuckled at the joke Rebecca had just thrown at her. She was also very curious about how Mr. McLean Huck looked like, a man who immediately received full power from Michael after he died. Even so, since last night she had been trying to dig up all the memories in her head to find a little clue related to a man named McLean Huck who might have been in her memory but she had forgotten his form. But no matter how hard she tried until it was almost morning, the memory of this man named Leander simply didn't exist in her head. Even if that man was Michael's best friend, at least once, she had met him because almost every day Michael always went everywhere with her.

"We have arrived."

Avelyn was simply too preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn't realize Rebecca was driving so fast towards Michael's agency offices. The white building with five floors towered firmly in front of her. From where she sat, Avelyn could see the window in Michael's room was tightly closed with a black curtain surrounding it. Yet the window of the room had never been closed that tightly while Michael was there because he loved to stare at the intricacies of Chicago in the daytime through his large window. Unfortunately, now that room will belong to someone else. And Avelyn didn't know if the man would open the window as often as Michael or not.

"See you later. Hopefully that man named Leander doesn't make things difficult for you," shouted Rebecca from the car, waving her hand recklessly.

Avelyn chuckled at the sight of her friend who started driving recklessly on the busy streets of Chicago because she was almost late for the shooting location which was opposite from their agency office.

"Hello, Miss Avelyn."

Avelyn turned her head and found Bertha, one of the receptionists she knew very well here.

"Hello Bertha, long time no see."

"Oh... I'm sorry about your loss, Miss Avelyn."

"Well, thanks."

“Even though Mr. Michael is just your brother-in-law, Mr. Michael protects you like his own lover. I was so shocked that morning Mr. Stuart told us the sad news."

"Yes. Nobody knows if that terrible thing will happen to Michael." Avelyn replied sadly.

She was just about to deny that she wasn't Michael's lover. But she understood that Bertha thought so because Michael often did as he pleased by telling people that he was her lover.

"Is Mr. McLean there?" Avelyn asked, trying to divert attention. The topic of Michael's death had quite a negative impact on her psyche. So she would not let the topic widen and aggravate her almost insane state of being crushed.

"I have no idea. We haven't seen him since Mr. Stuart announced that Mr. McLean Kaofax is someone who has been given the power to take over Mr. Michael's agency."

"How did Stuart know if Michael gave McLeander power?"

"Maybe the lawyer," replied Bertha, shrugging her shoulders. "We all know nothing, miss. Really," said Bertha with a serious expression.

"Okay then, I'll go in first. See you again, Bertha." Avelyn said goodbye and immediately walked into the white building which would soon be casting more and more Michael shadows on her head.