How does one make sure that the leaves stay on the tree forever?
It’s impossible. One cannot simply bend the rules of nature. Leaves will certainly fall, and new ones will take their place. The process perpetuates until the tree dies.
‘‘Nicole, what say we stop this lollygagging and do something fun instead? Let’s see… oh, I’ve got a joke, you want to hear it?’’ asked Sheila after taking a deep breath.
Nicole was unperturbed. Keeping a straight face, she continued to stare blankly at the fallen leaves.
Meanwhile, Sheila’s heart was racing. She was afraid that the silent treatment from Nicole was because the latter would start acting up again. After all, it always ended up making Nicole oblivious to her surroundings while behaving like a gonzo animal.
‘‘Forget about what I said, Nicole. Jokes aren’t quite your style, huh. It’s alright; I get it. We can do something else, though. Do you have anything in mind?’’ said Sheila with a timid tone.
‘‘Well then, how about some shopping?’’ Nicole turned around and finally glanced at Sheila.
Sheila was startled for a while. Although she gave that suggestion, she was still worried that Nicole’s illness would take over her conscious mind at the shopping district. If that were to happen, it would definitely be on the news the ensuing day.
Nicole would then have to kiss her project with the Muir Group goodbye. And after that, she would probably be notorious for her ‘‘stellar performance’’ at the shopping district for years to come.
Taking all that into consideration, Sheila concluded that it would be perilous to go with her proposition. So instead, Sheila tried to come up with a better proposition to deter her from going shopping.
However, Nicole seemed adamant that she was going shopping. As a matter of fact, she was murmuring to herself about the kind of outfit she was going to wear and listing out the things she was going to buy on a piece of paper.
‘‘Nicole, instead of shopping, why don’t we check in with the kids at the Seet Residence. What do you say?’’ Sheila stared at her with her big round eyes.
After contemplating for a while, Nicole answered, ‘‘Hmm… Why don’t we go shopping first, then we can go check on the kids. We can even get some gifts for them at the shopping district.’’
Hearing her answer, Sheila went silent for a while.
She then tried a different approach.
‘‘Nicole, how about this, you can ask Davin to help you buy the things you want at the shopping district. In the meantime, we’ll go and check on the kids at the Seet Residence, okay?’’ suggested Sheila.
Nicole pondered on it for a while and said, ‘‘Hmm… but I’m not sure what to buy for them. Let’s just head to the mall and take a look. I’ll buy anything that catches my eye.’’
Once again, Sheila was left speechless and didn’t know what to say.
At this point, it looked like Nicole was inevitably going shopping. Sheila thought about asking for Davin’s aid – to help prepare a contingency plan if things went south.
‘‘Alright then, Nicole. Why don’t you go and get changed while I’ll wait right here.’’
Nicole nodded and went into her bedroom to change her clothes.
In the meantime, Sheila went to the courtyard, looking anxiously for Davin. She then saw Davin, on his lonesome, leaning against a wall while checking a maid out. Furious, she rushed towards him and gave him a shove.
Davin was startled as it was all too sudden.
‘‘Why did you push me out of the blue!’’
‘‘It’s Nicole. She insisted on going shopping at the district mall.’’
‘‘Shopping? Why don’t you just accompany her?’’
‘‘What if her illness relapsed at the shopping mall, huh? Are you going to take responsibility when she starts kicking and biting all the other customers there? She’ll be a laughing stock if the news gets out. The Seet Group’s reputation will only go downhill from that point on!’’
Davin nodded his head in agreement after listening. Sheila is right. It could end up disastrous.
However, he thought about it for a while and said, ‘‘Women like shopping right? Just let her do what she likes, she’ll be more happy that way anyway. Besides, with you by her side, you’ll be able to conciliate her if anything goes wrong. Just try to calm her down so that her illness won’t act up again.’’
Sheila finally budged, but she still had a bad feeling about going shopping with Nicole. The premonition that something terrible would happen overwhelmed her when she thought about it.
‘‘Davin, why don’t you tag along with us?’’
‘‘Me? I can’t because I’m still trying to find the puppeteer hiding in the shadows. Besides, I’ve finally found a lead, so that’s why I must keep investigating. I can’t just let this opportunity slide through.’’
Sheila curled her lips and left anxiously about the whole shopping trip.
Davin, on the other hand, felt that Sheila was just being too paranoid. It’s just a shopping excursion, so what’s the worst that can happen? They’ll be back before they know it.
After that, he turned around and continued spying on his target.
Nicole was just done changing, so she walked out of her room to meet with Sheila. When Sheila saw Nicole, she was so captivated by Nicole’s clothes that she stared at them for a good few seconds. Her lustrous and wavy hair dropped on her shoulders, being effortlessly perfect. On her body, she was donning a gorgeous pink top with a pair of funky palazzo pants. The pairing of clothes might seem odd, but Nicole was still able to pull it off perfectly.
