"Spring Dream In City." was finally announced to be on indefinite hiatus. Besides being blacklisted by the distributor, Lettie's phone number was also blocked by Lettie.
However, while tangible connections were easily blocked, the intangible ones were not. Erasing the scars Lettie left on Basil's heart was not something that could be done overnight. A week passed, and Basil hadn't seen anyone. He hadn't even terminated his contract with Cierra, the love manager. Money flowed into Cierra's salary bag like a taxi meter, but she wasn't happy about it.
Was this considered ill-gotten gains? However, she and Darnell had visited Basil several times, only to be turned away each time. Basil refused to see anyone.
"How many days has it been?" Cierra was asking how many times they had returned empty-handed.
Darnell counted on his fingers and sighed, "Fifth time, I think!" They were usually stopped at the guardhouse halfway up the hill and never made it to the manor's gate.
"Wait!" The guard called them back just as they were about to turn around. "Register your names and phone numbers here, and you can go in."
"Really?" Darnell's face lit up with joy. He had been about to give up, thinking it was all so reclusive. He had decided to just let Basil fend for himself.
They reached Basil's door, found it unlocked, and called out with no response. Fearing it might turn into a crime scene, they rushed in at full speed. Darnell headed straight to the master bedroom on the second floor, but the bed was empty with no sign of Basil. "Where is he?"
"Could he be in the study?" They ran to the adjacent room, opened the door, and saw the director calmly sitting in his office chair, turning around to face them.
"Don't you two have anything to do if you're not filming?"
"We just came to check on you. I'll head back to work soon," Darnell casually sat on a chair. He looked at Basil—others might not notice, but as a makeup artist, he could see the dark circles under Basil's eyes, indicating he hadn't slept well for a long time.
Shifting his gaze from Basil to the trash can, Darnell saw it was full of photos, most of them torn. He understood but didn't say anything. They seemed to be old high school photos, and such trash was better off discarded!
"Have you had lunch?" Darnell asked Basil, genuinely worried that he might be skipping meals after the breakup.
"Not yet."
"How come? It's almost 1 PM and you haven't eaten?" Darnell pushed Cierra forward. "Cierra and I bought some groceries. We'll go prepare something, and it should be ready in half an hour. Just wait a bit."
Half an hour later, Basil was drawn downstairs again by the familiar smell of something burning.
"Where's Darnell?"
"He said he had work to do, so he left early."
Looking at Cierra's back as she cooked, a chill ran down Basil's spine, recalling the last disastrous cooking attempt. He quickly stepped forward, grabbed her shoulder, and turned her around, only to see her eyes red from crying.
Before he could feel any pity, he noticed the pot next to her was emitting white smoke. "What's burning?"
Cierra's eyes widened, and three seconds later, she reacted, "Ah! My curry!" She reached out with her bare hands to lift the lid, but Basil grabbed her left hand and held it in his palm, "Do you want to ruin your left hand too?"
He gave her a look of frustration, turned off the gas, and quickly grabbed a potholder hanging on the wall to lift the lid, but the curry inside was already burnt to ashes.
"My curry~" Cierra didn't care that Basil was still holding her left hand, nor that her right hand was bandaged like a pig's trotter. She leaned into him at an ambiguous angle, feeling utterly disheartened.
Didn't Cierra say curry was the easiest to cook? Why did she mess up such a simple dish? She felt like crying but had no tears, her confidence in cooking completely shattered.
Basil silently led her back to the living room, and after they sat side by side on the sofa, he asked, "Why were you crying earlier?"
"Because my curry burned!"
"Not then, before that. I saw your eyes were red when I came downstairs." At that moment,Basil felt a pang of pity. If he hadn't needed to stop the fire, he might have held her in his arms—
Held her in his arms? When these words hit his mind, he was instantly petrified.
Why could he stay calm in front of Lettie, but feel an urge to embrace Cierra just because of her teary eyes? He was deeply troubled by his inability to understand his own emotions.
"Ah, because I was cutting onions with my left hand and didn't have a right hand to wipe my tears," Cierra waved her bandaged hand, finally realizing why she had been crying so much.
"......"
"But Bas, I'm hungry!" Cierra's stomach growled. After working for half an hour and accomplishing nothing, she was frustrated, but her hunger was even more agitating.
However, Cierra's "Bas, I'm hungry" genuinely rescued Basil. All his worries and troubles over the past few days were nothing compared to the importance of feeding this soft-spoken girl calling him "Bas."
Could it be true that Cierra once said Cierra would be his salvation?
