Chapter 35 - Come Back To Me

"Hello? Sidney? Sidney!" Zhe Chouhen panicked when there was no answer on the other side of the phone. "Sidney, I'm not finished! Listen---"

But the call ended.

He breathed heavily, panic rising on his chest. He only said that to avoid getting OOC, and he told her to give up so she could move on, not to kill herself!

He wasn't even using hypnotic suggestions like in Painted Lies! What went wrong!? Had she always been mentally unstable that she would break just from that?

No, that's not it. There must be something else. But for now, he had to go and stop her!

He took his coat without changing from his pajamas and rushed to the door, and once he turned the knob....

"Henry?" Ashton was there, his blue eyes glossy and eyelids red. He sniffled. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Ah, yeah. Something came up---Ack!"

Another electrocution as an OOC warning.

"I really need to go---Urkk....." He felt his heart being zapped, again and again, this act of OOC being more severe than the rest. His legs wobbled and he held his aching chest.

"W-What's wrong? Should I call 911?" Ashton panicked, catching him as he stumbled on his feet. "Henry!"

"I'm fine... You're...." He gritted his teeth ."You're here, so I wouldn't go after all. You must need something from me."

The electric shocks stopped once he said that, and he inhaled a deep breath.

"Are you sure?" Ashton knitted his eyebrows filled with worry. "Maybe you should sit for a bit....."

"Yeah...."

He let himself be brought to the sofa. The famous actor rushed to the kitchen to get him a glass of water to drink. He thanked him, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and came up with an excuse. "It must have just been a heartburn..... I'll be alright."

"Take care of yourself." Ashton said worriedly. "I'm seeing people getting cardiac arrest so much on the news nowadays. What have you been eating lately?"

"I'm eating healthily, Ashton, don't worry about me." 'Henry' set down the glass on his table. "I know that's not the focus of why you're here. You must have encountered a problem. What is it?"

Ashton felt a pang of guilt from hearing this. "Why would you assume that I only came here because of a problem? Can't I just casually check in with my friend?"

"You've been busy lately these years, I could tell. And if it's not that serious, you would have just talked about it with Sidney....."

Speaking of her, behind his back, he had been dialing the poor girl's number again and again. Zhe Chouhen kept on sweating, praying in his head (Come on, Sidney... Pick up the phone! Don't do it!)

At the mention of the girl's name, Ashton's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. I can't talk about anything serious with that woman, or she would start saying nonsense."

Zhe Chouhen's eyes widened at Ashton's complete 180 as he mentioned Sidney. He has read this before, but it's different from seeing it with his own eyes. It took him by surprise. "What happened? You looked like you were crying so..... Have you two gotten into a fight?"

"She told me she wanted to move on an island once we get married." Ashton's tears fell again. "Permanently."

"She wanted you to stop your career?" He asked, adjusting his skewed glasses. (For a good reason too! You should have listened to her!)

"Yes! Isn't that ridiculous!?" Ashton cried. "She used to be so passionate in acting, like she had become the embodiment of art itself! She was beautiful as Luna, as Julie.... with every woman she portrays, I fell in love with her! Yet she's willing to cast it away for a life as..... as some country bumpkin!?"

"She just didn't know what you've been through, Ashton. She must have gotten tired because she had known the entertainment business all her life, while for you, it is a dream that you have achieved. " Zhe Chouhen is the one speaking as himself, not Henry. "You should go back, and speak with her, see each other's perspective----gah!"

"Are you really okay?" Ashton placed a hand on his chest. "Maybe I should call an ambulance?"

"No, you should go to Sidney---Ugh!"

"I have nothing else to talk to her about, Henry. We're done." Ashton said menacingly cold. When he smiled, it looked more like a sneer. "And if what you're saying is true, that we just have many differences due to our upbringing, then there really is no point. She and I will never understand each other. It's better to break away from someone like that, who could take her life for granted."

"No, no, Ashton, it's not that! Don't hate Sidney, she's just----Ughh!"

His phone buzzed with a warning sign.

[Satisfaction Meter going negative. The system has to reboot. Because of this, your actions would not be registered and will be replaced by the original's events. Please act with caution next time to stay in character.]

(Fuck your mother, and all your stupid generations!) He cursed the animal mask app...

And fell unconscious.

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"Ashton? What are you doing here?"

Henry said with much worry, but deep inside he was smiling. His boy has returned to him.

"You look like you're crying?" He gently put a hand on his face. "Are you alright---"

"Henry!" Ashton tackled him with an embrace. "I'm sorry that I have forgotten you all these years. I shouldn't have.... you're the only one who understands me..... sob....."

These words made his sick heart soar, and he patted his back. "Ashton, you're not making any sense. Calm down. Maybe you should sit for a bit....."

He led him to the sofa, and they stayed embracing for a while.

"Tell me everything." He ran his fingers on Ashton's hair, perversely sniffing it. "Don't hold back, dear."

Ashton poured his heart to him, telling the whole story, not just what happened that day Him slowly noticing about Sidney losing her acting skills, him trying to make her happy with trips, how hurt he was when she brought up memories about his home... They talked for hours, with Henry only saying a few things to agree or disagree. When he brought up memories of Kansas, he recalled fondly how he and Ashton used to play as kids in wheatfields, how they would pick and smell sunflowers.....

"Those days aren't bad... I don't mind returning back to the places where we used to play tag but...." Ashton laid his head on his shoulder. "Asking me to stay there and never return to the city is too much. And..... I don't want to see my family anymore."

"I know." Henry said.

"She doesn't know what it's like. Stuck in a town that always stays the same, with people who make fun of you for not being good at what they do, for being weak to carry bundles of hay all day... Calling you names." Ashton buried his head deeper into Henry's neck. "Seeing art as just for dandies, those who are lazy and cannot raise families....."

"She doesn't know the great pains we took just to get out of there. Even losing a bit of your eyesight....."

"It's nothing, Ashton. Look at where we are now in exchange. It's worth it." Henry pushed up his glasses, and patted his head.

"Yes.... Now, I'm a little worried for her, Henry. I think I may have been a little too harsh. She doesn't know what we've been through, so it's really not her fault that I got upset." Ashton said. "I want to break it with her on good terms, it just wouldn't work out. All the years we've spent felt like such a waste, though....."

At hearing this, Henry scowled, but only for a split-second. "Don't be upset anymore, you should rest. You can talk to her once you're mind is cleared."

"Can I stay here?" He asked.

Henry grinned. "Of course. You can always stay with me. You always have a home to come back to with me."

He led Ashton to his bed, and they slept together, embracing like lovers. He wants more than a hug, but Henry is a patient man.

After all, good things come to those who wait.

The next three days, Ashton stayed with him to sulk, following his suggestions to let the heat of the break-up die down a bit before returning to his house with Sidney.

Then, one early morning, the police came knocking on their door.

Henry knows already what it was for. he anticipated it. It was another reward for his efforts that he can now reap.

"How may I help you, officers?" He smiled at them brightly. "Is there are a problem?"

"We'd like to ask if you know the current whereabouts of Ashton Florice. His management committee told us they didn't know, and that you were the closest person to him that we could contact, since he has no kin in the city." The police officer with a gut said.

His partner, one with olive skin, peered a bit inside. Henry blocked his vision as naturally like a dancer would.

"What do you need with Ashton Florice?" He asked amicably.

"We would like to inform him that Ms. Sidney Lane... Is dead." The olive-skinned officer said.

Henry acted shocked. "How did she.... Is he being suspected of something?"

"No. Autopsy has determined it is suicide through poisoning." The fat one said. "We would question him a bit, but other than that, all we have come is to let him know about the bad news."

Ashton stirred from the bed and went to approach them, surprised that the police were here. His heart fell. "What's this, Henry?"

"Ashton....." Henry patted his shoulder. "I need you to prepare yourself, this officers have unfortunate news for you. It's about Sidney."

"What about her?" Ashton's pulse starts to quicken.

"Sidney killed herself."

Ashton's world started to blur, and swim in different places.

They informed him more of the details, the time of death, which was the same day their neighbors heard them fighting and saw Ashton leaving the house. Her last call a few minutes after the alleged argument was with one Harry Wotsil, who was possibly using a burner phone, since they can't find any traces of him. Seeing the flyer on her vanity table, it must have been a scammer pretending to be a psychiatrist, and they suspect he must have said things that further aggravated her.

Then, the neighbor, which was an elderly couple both veteran stunt performers, were worried and checked up on her the next day. They found her lying on the floor with 13 empty bottles of perfume, which she has ingested a few minutes after her call with Harry Wotsil. A single bottle of the perfume itself is not that lethal, but it has alcohol, and ingesting more than 30 milliliters is enough to cause lethargy. And she drank more than a liter of it, and was not rushed to the hospital on time.

But Ashton could not register all these details in his mind. Sidney is dead, and that's all there is to it.

And it may have been his fault.

His attention was caught by the east wall of Henry's living room. Hanging there was his portrait, which he didn't know was entitled 'The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name'. But he knew that painting jumpstarted his career, making people believe that he is the most beautiful man in the world.

And yet something changed in the painting.

It looked.... A bit off. Instead of a gentle, bright smile as he was sitting on their former run-of-the-mill sofa, leaning on it with a carefree air to him....

That smile now seemed to be filled with malice. It was the smile of an evil man.

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