His Addiction

Chapter 9

It was a hectic week for Bash. He didn't get much rest before meeting the cast of his films for the promotion now in Dallas. So many reporters and their questions couldn't be avoided either, the same way he tried not to be rude to answer the hosts when they brought up the stuff from his personal life that had nothing to do with his profession. The cast members were thrown in a tight spot and tormented, but they managed it like Bash did, changing the matter. "They won't let us catch a break, will they, guys?" The lead heroine groaned. "Why don't they try to understand we have a life too? I bet they're coming after us to spread stories about us being in a relationship like they did the last time. This. . .this has to stop. I feel like taking their company to court sometimes."

Bash questioned absentmindedly, "Is it your fiance again absentmindedly?"

"Hell, no." She laughed. "He's okay with it, despite him being a teacher. All problems come from my side. They keep the same thoughts about me as they had when I was in school. People change with time, but dad won't believe that until I get hitched."

The girl at her side interjected. "Then do that. What are you waiting for, Amelia?"

Amelia scoffed at her co-star, Crystal. "If he tells me, I will fly to Sydney and marry him. But things are complicated right now."

"We're here for you, Amelia. Don't worry.." Kedric, in the driver's seat, asked, "The situation will be under our control, right, Bash?"

"I hope so."

Bash muttered, looking outside the window. He wished Madeline's family didn't make things more difficult for him than they already were. Last week, after landing there, he immediately returned Madeline's call after seeing her missed calls on his number. Her mother called her home only to throw an envelope at her face where they found Bash's pictures of different women coming out of hotels. Madeline said she tried to convince her parents that they were all fake, but it went in vain when she failed to answer them.

Madeline was raised in a very conservative family, and any rumor would be triggering. It had something to do with her brother's death, but she never shared it, and Bash pushed her in this matter. Now, he was thinking about proposing to her at their success party. Bash had everything planned, and that factory he was supposed to build would be the wedding gift for Madeline, but he didn't want to humiliate her with that gift, the deal he was never meant to get. She deserved the world. He would give her that no matter what.

"I think Madeline has started believing in you finally." Bash blinked when Crystal said that. "They are just rumors. Nothing is going on between you and Amelia, but she. . . Well, the crew wouldn't make a deal out of it anymore, so it's good, you see." He frowned, not liking where she was going with that. He could hear the bitterness in her tone, but she giggled while saying, "But we can't blame them, can we? It sometimes gets hard to keep up with her and her interruptions during the scenes we're playing."

Looking over his shoulder, Bash asked calmly, but from inside, he was boiling in rage, "What are you trying to say, Crystal?"

"Please don't take the wrong idea about what she said, Bash." Amelia laughed awkwardly to change the matter before things turned ugly in the car. "Madeline. . .We must say she's good at it. Her tips helped us in many ways in the final shoot."

"Look, I want to be honest with you, alright? Nobody said this to you before, but you now you should know what we felt about seeing Madeline on the set, interrupting us in our every scene with you. We. . .Our partners get jealous, too, and we have to work on clearing the misunderstanding they get after seeing us with someone else on the internet and reading comments, but don't you think she is too much? Joining the crew and creating a disturbance in their work by telling them what to do and what not to do?"

"I didn't know her presence bothered you this much." Bash clenched his hands. No wonder his girl looked edgy when they used to return home after the shoot in the last few months. She had been going through so much bullying but never complained to him.

"No, she's indeed a sweet lady." Crystal tried to sound joyful, but her voice betrayed. Nine months was no joke. Their movie would be released next week, so she had no intention of holding back her frustration this time. "From helping us with our make-up and costume to bringing food and water for us. . .she did everything, but this was not a fashion designer's job. Hundreds of employees work under her in her office. If she had done the slightest for them, they wouldn't have left, and her company didn't go bankrupt. . ."

"You are crossing your limit now, Crystal," Kendric interrupted sternly. By then, they had reached the hotel where the entire crew would have dinner. "You shouldn't comment on anything you have no idea of. It's their matter. Let them handle it by themselves." Before parking the car, he glared at his co-star sitting in the backseat, "Now go and join the rest inside. Amelia. . ."

Amelia gave Bash an apologetic look, but Crystal held her stubbornness in her eyes. She said nothing wrong, yet she left with her friend, not wanting to go into any argument with Kedric, who would take Bash's side because of their fathers, who were partners.

"Don't take her seriously. She didn't mean half of the things she said. Then the media. . ." Kendric said, driving his car to the parking space. "Do you remember how uncomfortable she looked when one of the reporters questioned her about her relationship with our director? The guy would be Crystal's half-sister's ex-husband. But she got the role after the audition for her excellent performance as an action female, and people have started making up stories about her even before seeing her on the big screen."

"It's her problem, Kendric. Crystal has to deal with her issue on her own." Bash snapped at him, interrupting Kendric before he could clear the things to him. "How dare she target my girlfriend like that? It isn't like Madeline is the one who is spreading the rumors- "

Bash abruptly stopped when someone he didn't want to think of came into his mind. Emily, Elias, or Milena, whoever she was.

Didn't he react this way to her the first time he had to take the bus with her? And then, that day in the elevator, too, where she had to kick him away to run off? Last but not least, he was rude to her when she didn't think twice before opening the door for him to get him in the car. And today, when his co-worker vented her pent-up anger and frustration at his girlfriend and brought up how Madeline messed everything up with her business, he was getting angry about it and looked willing to destroy Crystal's career for her indirect but blunt remark on Madeline! Maybe Emily had nothing to do with those edited pictures or the stalking, but didn't he make fun of her name in front of his friends that night when Madeline threw a party a day before his birthday? Emily was a bartender there that night. How hard was it for her to hear those comments about her? Bash pressed his lips in a thin line and heaved a breath. Lord, would I even get to forget her? He pitched the bridge of his nose, frustrated with how her thoughts came to his head every time.

Taking off his seatbelt, Kendric sighed, saying, "It's her frustration that made Crystal make rude comments about Madeline. If- "

"Tell me one thing." Bash sternly looked at Kedric. "Did everyone in our crew feel the same about Madeline's presence on our set?"

I should think about Madeline. Bash thought to himself. That stranger had nothing to do with him, and he had a reason to react that way to her in Brazil. Anyone in his place would have thought she was stalking him. Almost whenever Bash went to talk about the deal with Sr. Iglesias, he saw Emily near the Iglesias manor and the head office. In his defense, he didn't know she was the heiress. And then those pictures. . .he didn't get the time to think straight. Now he had the situation under control. His mother helped him to clear this mess, but he could have informed the Oldman about what he had seen that day at the airport. It was her. He was sure as hell it was her. He couldn't erase that from his mind, and he regretted brushing the matter away when Julian tried to confirm with him.

Kendric gulped hard. He kind of felt cornered, but he had to answer Bash anyway. "Take it easy, man. What Crystal said is- "

"Yes or no?" Taking his phone out of his suit, Bash checked his call history and found Elias or Emily's number. After hearing how disrespectfully she talked about him without mentioning his name to her co-worker, he didn't call her anymore. He thought about deleting her number, but his mother's arrival and then that waiter with Emily suddenly became a militant made him forget to do that. He struggled to keep his mind off her, but he couldn't, even with his excessive workload, movie promotion, and clearing misunderstandings with his would-be in-laws and his girlfriend, and do something with the rumors. Now his fingers felt itchy as he looked at that number. . .just to confirm if she was okay. But his ego. . .was bigger than that. Locking the screen, Bash looked coldly at the actor in the driver's seat. "Answer me, Kendric. I won't pick a fight with anyone here if you try to be honest with me."

When Bash pressed the matter, the only thing Kendric could do was to keep his mouth shut and avert his gaze from Bash.

That was what it needed for Bash to leave the car and hail a cab home, where his Eline would be with his late maternal uncle's family, and didn't care about the scene he created there and how he ignored his director's call, as that was how disturbed he was.

Bash was determined to make everything right. . .starting by deleting the number of that girl who shouldn't be his concern.

Fishing out his phone from his jacket, he unlocked the screen and checked the call history. Just when he was about to delete that, he brushed his thumb accidentally on the screen, and the ring was heard in the line, much to his horror, "What the f**k!"

His eyes darkened. Enraged, he thought about cutting the call, but Bash changed his mind instantly, knowing she wouldn't pick up. At least he could confirm she was okay, even though the chances were small. But if she picked up his call, what would he say then?

His throat felt constricted. He wasn't in the mood to fight her if she made some snarky remark, but. . .but he would forgive her for this time. Moments later, the beeping sound stopped, and a high-pitched voice was sounded in the line, "Hola, Cherries speaking."

"Oh," It wasn't her he wanted to hear. Swallowing his disappointment, he asked while tightening his grip on his cell, "Hey, there."

The little girl questioned in her sing-song tone, "You Millie's freied? Hi, I'm her chichter."

After babysitting his nephew and nieces for some time, Bash could tell he had done his Ph.D. in the baby language. "I would be your sister's friend, darling. Could you pass the call on to her?" He was glad the little girl accepted his call, so he talked politely to her.

"She's in nonchpetal." His brows furrowed, not understanding what she tried to mean. "I talked. Last day. She poimise home soon. Home. Take me. She will. Soon." Cheryl took a deep breath and said, stifling, "You pray, okay? We pray. You should pray. Right?"

"Okay?" Bash said, frowning still.

"Si, senhor!" She squealed. "Cherries likes you. You have mine. You can. Candies. Only one, okay?" The corner of his lips curved up, and his eyes glinted in amusement as he listened more to that girl, forgetting how his co-star had pissed him off not even an hour ago. The girl, who was having a tough time telling her name, promised him, "When you come, you get one from Cherries. Okay?"

"I'm looking forward to meeting you, love. It's nice talking to you."

Though he didn't get any news about her, he could sense the situation was okay there, and the girl whose custody she wanted was now with her. It was her number, so Emily had to be with Cherries or whatever her name was.

Later, he cut the call, looked at his screen for a couple of seconds, and blocked the number before deleting it finally. If only he hadn't done that and waited for her call, many things could have been avoided, which would change their lives for the worse.

~

"Did your dad call?"

Bash heard his aunt Catherina when he stepped into the backyard garden where all her colony's children played like they usually do after school. The mansion garden had become more like a playground where their parents also came for strolling to keep their eyes on their children. Nobody is allowed to step inside the mansion unless they are family members. Bash looked relieved that his aunt kept her promise and didn't turn her home into a museum. That much Catherina loved children and their presence in her home.

"No, but he will be okay."

Madeline said, and Bash halted on his steps and hid behind the pillar. The women sat together at a distance from the children.

But Catherina's gaze didn't waver from a particular boy who couldn't be nine now sitting on a swing away from the rest and ignoring the girls who wanted to sit on his swing like usual. As if he owned that. The kind of cousin Bash got, whom his aunt adopted, reminded Bash so much of him when he was that boy's age. And the kid didn't like his would-be sister-in-law at all.

"He better be," Catherina said. "Sebastian has got to clear his name himself. Those pictures were fake that he showed to your family. His director and filmmaker are strict. I heard how rudely they talked to him about him not joining his co-stars for the interviews. It's a big-budget film, and rumors that the actors have problems with any particular state or language would bring them misfortune. The media and social influencers only care about selling the story and getting more followers on their public accounts."

"I know." Bash heard Madeline say, but he didn't notice how she clenched her right hand at her side.

"He is more like a son to me. My husband brought him to me when he was in that kid's size." Catherina put down her tea and looked at the child she adopted last year from a nearby orphanage she sponsored. The boy couldn't talk, but she told no one anything about his disability. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Catherina said, smiling in sadness, "His parents' separation affected him deeply. We had to do everything to make him normal like other kids, but part of him broke when his uncle passed away."

Bash's chest tightened, remembering his maternal uncle. He was like a best friend to him, but illness took his uncle. Little Bash thought his uncle was healthy but didn't know he only had a few months left in his hand when he took him from Juliette. Catherina loved children so much, but she didn't have one. She gave all her time to Bash, and when he left Texas after he turned seventeen, she brought the whole community into her home, the kids, turning her garden into a park, and started spending time in orphanages more.

"I'm sorry." Bash noticed how his girlfriend wrapped her hands around his aunt, as compassionate and considerate as a woman she was. That was how she was in his eyes, but again, he didn't see the cold glare she was sending his new cousin's way, who was squirming uncomfortably on his favorite swing where he liked to sit and look at the creatures his age who he could be friends with and wouldn't laugh at him just because he couldn't talk. This. . .the land where she was now was supposed to be Sebastian's. Her man took care of the widow all his life, and now that boy suddenly popped into their lives? Knowing Bash, he would die before accepting anything from his parents for the grudges he had been holding against them. And now, when Bash reopened his uncle's business, which that man couldn't continue due to his health issues, he couldn't claim the property as his? This was so not acceptable to her. He had even cleared his name after months of his tries. Good thing that he couldn't get a hold of the person who did that, else. . .Madeline shivered at that thought and smiled forcefully at Catherina, saying softly, "I hope there is something I could do for you."

"I am grateful you have come into my son's life. Without you, he would have. . ." The lady's voice wavered, and pain flashed in Bash's eyes, but he pushed that away. He was blessed to have these women in his life, and his mother, despite the wrong decisions she made. Everyone has flaws, and this was taught by the woman he was madly in love with, who helped him to accept the way his family was and feel blessed for who he still had on his side. "Promise me you won't leave him again. Juliette is wary of you, but I know you will keep him safe and happy. She is hard to please but will accept you as Sebastian's father and elder brother did." Holding Eline's hand, Catherina pleaded with tears in her eyes. "He will do everything for your family to keep them safe if you let him. Please don't leave him, no matter how things turn out. I still regret it. . .for not choosing his uncle over my family in my time. His world was foreign to me. Thinking I wouldn't have survived, I left, but look where I am today. An empty shell without him."

"Do you regret meeting Mr. Fernandez the first time after your divorce?"

Madeline asked in curiosity, even though she wanted nothing but to go to her room and sleep, closing the windows tight. This lady at her side couldn't be in her early forties who could get married and have a family and children, moving out of her late husband's property with that disabled boy she adopted without telling Sebastian, whom Catherina regarded as her son.

"I regret that moment when I stopped fighting for my love and believed I could never be happy with him." That was what I thought. Madeline sneered inwardly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Catherina when a tear slipped down her cheek. "If only I had stayed, listening to my heart, I would have given him this life he had always longed for with so many children here playing in our home."

To Madeline, Catherina married that dying man to get his property. And now, when it was Sebastian's time to claim what should be his, the golddigger brought a boy today, telling everyone how lonely she felt since Bash left for his higher studies.

"But he isn't here to see this, is he, Catherina? No matter what you do now, it won't bring your late husband to you." Unaware of the presence of Bash, when Madeline had enough of the melodrama of the widow, she smiled forcefully at Catherina and suggested to her while ignoring how hurt and shocked the lady looked at her inconsiderate words, "Why don't you find someone for you as your life partner instead of turning your home into a children's playground in someone's remembrance who died a long ago? Love. . .is abundant. You will always find one. Please accept this fact. Like Seb, your adopted son will leave you too. Hell, the boy can't even talk. I don't get why you are wasting your time on someone so hopeless as him. He would be nothing but a waste of your mon- "

Before she could say more, she was startled when Bash roared behind her, "Madeline!"