There's room to wait

Episode 3

"What's the matter? Are you enjoying the view at the door?" The woman's clear and bright voice sounded like music to the ears, accompanied by the tapping of high heels on the floor, ringing next to Sarah's ear.

Sarah, leaning against the door, clueless about what to do next, hears the voice and scurries to Elaine's side like she’s been saved, whining, "Miss Chasey..."

The male assistant also comes to his senses, following Sarah a step behind, somewhat surprised. "Miss Chasey, why... why did you come up?"

He had just called the assistant director to explain the situation, and the assistant director said he would come up to communicate, but instead of Brian Holt coming up, the person involved came up directly.

"It's okay; don't panic." Elaine pats the young assistant's shoulder to reassure her, then casually answers the male assistant, "Director Holt went to welcome Mr Neal and Mr Marshall. Director Willis and my agent are tied up in a meeting, so I volunteered to come up."

When the male assistant called, Elaine was sitting with the two directors, listening to the situation unfold.

Cary, not wanting to offend Sibley or Elaine, had just played peacemaker, mentioning there seemed to be some misunderstanding between Sibley and Sarah, and Sarah couldn't enter for now. Elaine knew there couldn't be any misunderstanding between Sibley and Sarah that could cause such a reaction; this was probably Sibley's way of showing her displeasure towards Elaine through Sarah.

But deep down, Elaine feels somewhat relieved by this.

When she first heard that Sibley was willing to share a room with her, Elaine felt both excited and uneasy. She was excited about the proximity and uneasy because... was Sibley too calm and composed about her presence?

She's not afraid of Sibley hating or resenting her for the past; she's only afraid that Sibley truly let go of everything and was able to naturally treat her as the most familiar stranger.

Fortunately, Sibley's actions tell her—she's not very calm either.

Maybe she agreed to share the room just to avoid causing trouble for the production team?

Elaine puts on a smile, walking towards the room while pretending to be composed. "It's nothing serious. Miss Reyes might have just been joking with you, or she was still groggy and hasn't come to her senses yet. Why do you both look like you're facing a great enemy?"

She deliberately didn't ask the director to come up and mediate, and now she's intentionally using a light tone to calm the two, aiming to downplay the issue. She doesn't want to trouble Sibley and risk any rumors about her being difficult.

Her tone, laced with familiarity and nonchalance, truly diminishes Elaine's indignation caused by Sibley's rudeness and brings an inexplicable sense of calm to the male assistant beside her. Only Elaine herself knows how her heart is pounding like a drum inside her chest.

She leads her two assistants, following her step by step, and finally stops in front of that solid wooden door. This is the closest she's been to Sibley in years—just a door apart.

Elaine's hand, hidden in the sleeve of her trench coat, clenches tightly into a fist to suppress the involuntary trembling of her fingertips. After a moment, she adjusts her best smile and reaches out to knock on the door.

"Ley Ley, it's me, Elaine," she squeezes out the words from her throat. Only after speaking does she realize how hoarse her voice is.

She stands at the door, smiling while anxiously awaiting a response from inside, like waiting for an uncertain verdict.

Fortunately, the person inside seems to know her agony. As soon as the words leave her mouth, the door promptly opens.

"Miss Chasey, long time no see; please come in." This time, the person greeting her is not the stunning face that haunts Elaine's dreams.

It's Sibley's assistant, Sophie Frazier, wearing black-framed glasses and a professional, composed smile. She glances at Sarah behind Elaine, and while welcoming Elaine, she explains about Sibley's actions, "I'm sorry, Miss Chasey. Miss Reyes was catching up on sleep due to jet lag and got woken up suddenly, a bit grumpy, and started your assistant. I hope you don't take it to heart."

Sophie Frazier has been Sibley's assistant since her debut and is more than familiar with the relationship between Elaine and Sibley. There was a time when Elaine and her could share their deepest secrets.

"No need for such formality, Sophie; even though we haven't seen each other in a long time, it shouldn't be this strange, right?" Elaine spoke warmly, her jesting tone tinged with bitterness.

Sophie smiles and remains noncommittal.

Seeing this, Elaine doesn't push further but changes the subject, turning to tease Sarah beside her. "See what I just said? You guys really are inexperienced, truly disturbing someone's sweet dreams."

After speaking, she turns back to Sophie and says, "We are the ones who should apologize for disturbing Miss Reyes's rest." She pauses, considerately adding, "Is Miss Reyes still resting? Is it convenient for us to move in? If not..."

Before she can finish, she hears a cold voice inquiring from inside: "Sophie, who is it?"

In an instant, Elaine stiffens involuntarily, her gaze shooting past Sophie and directly into the room.

Sophie stepped aside a bit, turning back to reply, "Miss Reyes, it's Miss Chasey and her team. I was just preparing some refreshments for you in the dining room. You sleepily answered their knock and then shut them out again."

Elaine's eyes eagerly pierced into the room, her fingers trembling slightly in her coat pocket. Unable to wait for a response from inside, she steps forward eagerly, following Sophie's retreating figure.

The next second, her anxious gaze finally finds the figure she has longed to see.

The tall woman with her hair cascading down her shoulders stands near the hallway entrance, holding a delicate bone china cup, her gaze serenely sweeping over the newcomers.

At the sight of Elaine, she seemed to imperceptibly furrow her brow.

Elaine's heart ached, and the composure she had forced upon herself crumbled in an instant.

Yet she couldn't bear to look away, staring blankly, greedily locking eyes with Sibley's calm ones.

Sibley looks at her, silent, a ripple in her amber eyes that quickly vanishes.

"Miss Reyes?" Sarah calls out, seeing Elaine frozen in place.

Elaine's throat tightens at the sound, pulling herself out of her disarray. She bites her tongue sharply, using the pain to regain composure. Then, she looks down, blinks away the tears at the corners of her eyes, adjusts to a soft smile, and looks up at Sibley, genuinely expressing, "It's been a long time, Ley Ley. We... finally see each other again."

At last, it's the harmonious scene of old acquaintances meeting.

"Indeed, it has been a long time." Sibley observes all the emotional changes in Elaine, subtly suppressing her surprise. Her thumb gently caresses the rim of the cup, the smile not reaching her eyes.

"Come in first," Elaine says, stepping aside with a welcoming gesture to Sarah, and then politely to the male assistant, "Thank you. There's no trouble here anymore; you can reassure Director Holt."

Sibley signals to Sophie, who understandingly leads Sarah towards the room arranged for Elaine.

Elaine politely sees the male assistant off, the forced smile on her lips vanishing as soon as the door closes.

Elaine doesn't know that when they are the only ones left alone in the vast living room and she has her back turned to Sibley, Sibley bites her lip and allows herself to take a deep, indulgent look at her.

By the time Elaine turns back around, Sibley has already composed all her emotions, carrying her cup nonchalantly to the coffee table.

She smooths her skirt and sits down, takes a sip of hot milk tea, and then casually asks Elaine, "Aren't you going to catch up?"

Elaine gazes at Sibley, her eyes undisguised with somber tenderness. She regains a bit of the genteel demeanor Sibley once knew well, walking slowly to the armchair beside Sibley to sit down.

"Would you like some? Sophie has just prepared afternoon tea for me." Sibley lifts a glass teapot, pours a cup of hot milk tea, and, with a small piece of cake, pushes it towards Elaine.

This demeanor, as if they are truly just old friends reuniting, paradoxically increases Elaine's nervousness.

Seemingly gentle but actually distant, this is Sibley's guarded stance toward those she's not close to. Elaine once felt lucky to be the sole recipient of Sibley's gentleness. She never thought that one day she, too, would face such an inaccessible Sibley.

Watching Sibley's serene profile, her hands clenched and unclench on her lap, she musters the courage to say, "Urh, Ley, I..."

"Sibley." Sibley suddenly turns her head, correcting her seriously.

Elaine's breath catches, her open mouth freezing into a ridiculous shape.

Sibley's gaze is heavy as she scrutinizes her, her eyes filled with an emotion Elaine can't decipher, complex and opaque.

After a moment, Sibley scoffs, as if talking to herself, "Forget it; what past do we have that's worth recounting?" Standing up, her voice flat, she says, "I'm travel-weary and was in a hurry to catch up on sleep, so I haven't had the chance to freshen up. I'll take my leave first."

All the words Elaine wants to say are blocked by Sibley's cold and indifferent attitude. Even though Elaine has braced herself to be shamelessly persistent, she is still left speechless and pale.

She watches as Sibley's figure disappears behind the wooden door, then looks down at the hot milk tea and the black forest cake that seems especially dark, touches her forehead, and her face falls in dejection.

Sophie, having settled Sarah, exits the room. Upon reaching the living room and seeing only Elaine by the coffee table and her expression, Sophie guesses that Elaine must have felt the chill of a Siberian cold front.

"Still not a fan of chocolate, Miss Chasey? It's not bitter; it's actually quite tasty. Miss Reyes particularly likes this one: " Sophie can't help but try to cheer her up, familiar as they are.

Elaine consoles herself, reasoning that it's normal for Sibley to be fed up with her, the lousy ex.

She sighs deeply, casts a plaintive glance at Sophie, and picks up the fork and knife, starting to say, "Ah..."

She pauses for a second, her eyes dimming, and corrects herself, "Didn't Sibley use to like matcha flavor? Don't coddle me; she dislikes bitterness too."

Sophie's face darkens, hinting more. "You said it yourself; it was in the past. In these last few years, Miss Reyes has..."

She stops mid-sentence, feeling she's stepping over the line, and changes the topic: "Never mind, it's nothing. I'm going to find Miss Reyes."

Elaine, hearing the phrase "you said it yourself; it was in the past," feels the calm in her heart begin to churn once again.

Indeed, times have changed. She wonders if her one-sided desire to rekindle the past is just a relentless, unwanted entanglement.

Her gaze grows even more somber; she mechanically cuts a small piece of the cake, chewing slowly, bite by bite.

But before the funeral, Sibley cried beside her for a long, long time, so much that it pained even her, as if she were the one who had died. Was it just a dream?

The bitterness of the cake seems to spread from her tongue all the way to her heart...

With the last bite, despite the sweet milk tea, Elaine still feels her nose sting with the tartness.