Freya had been staring off into space throughout her entire workout session.

She had followed her personal trainer's instructions to a tee and had made every effort to perform all her workouts in perfect form. However, her face was completely devoid of any expression throughout the entire session.

The private trainer sighed and then told herself that she still preferred the old Freya: the one who poured everything into each training session but did so with a highly expressive face; the cheeky one who would slack off occassionally or do something deliberately just to annoy and tease her.

The workout session lasted for two hours. Next up would be her training course, most of which involved teaching new models on ways to dispel performance anxiety, how to deal with questions from the press, et cetera. Freya's mind did not register a single word by the lecturer, though. Even after the lecturer had wrapped up the lecture, Freya remained in her seat, staring lifelessly on the surface of her desk.

Some time later, Candy walked up to her, "Freya, it's time for lunch."

Freya stared at Candy blankly. "Oh," she said. Then, like a robot, Freya stood up and followed Candy to the cafeteria.

Training was a physically taxing affair, which was why Freya was usually excited during lunch time. Today, however, not even the aroma of roast chicken breasts or the sight of fruit salad and yogurt could bring the life back into her. She just sat there, indifferent to everything. Her huge and beautiful eyes were void; she had no presence at all, as if someone could stare straight through her when they look at her.

"Freya, starving yourself won't do, you know." Candy shoved a fork into Freya's hand, "Your health is the most important thing."

That comment broke Freya's trance.

"Yeah, she's right. My health is the most important thing. I need to take care of myself. I've made a promise to Chris," Freya thought.

She ate one mouthful, and then another...

One after the other, Freya gobbled up the food on her plate. She finished the food, even if everything tasted about as bland as candle wax. She had to eat. She had to take good care of herself.

"Do you want to go home, or do you want to stay at the company?" Candy asked Freya when the training course for the afternoon had ended.

Freya glanced at the westbound sun, "I want to go home."

She had no idea what she would do after she got home. All she wanted was to shut herself away and be alone. She want to be by herself.

"Okay, then." Candy sent Freya downstairs. After that, she sent Gavin a text.

Brian had to do overtime today. Joanne, on the other hand, had gotten off work early. Before, she would have gone straight to Brian's company to look for him. But now, she wanted to see Freya.

Joanne wanted to be there for Freya during the time she needed her the most.

Joanne had found out from Gavin that Freya had already gone back to her apartment, so she gave Winston the address of Freya's apartment.

Both Su Jian and Freya owned the keys to each others' apartments, so when she got upstairs, she entered the apartment without ringing the doorbell. She was hit by the reek of alcohol the moment she entered.

"Freya!"

Joanne dashed into the living room and saw Freya sitting on the carpet in front of the couch. Contrary to Joanne's expectations, Freya was not drinking herself into oblivion. Instead, she was toying with the two bottles of alcohol in her hands.

Joanne's pounding heart slowed down in relief; a drunken Freya was the thing that Joanne feared the most.

Joanne walked over and relieved Freya of the bottle and glass, "Have you eaten yet? I'm going to make something for you, okay?"

"Don't worry," Freya said. Her voice sounded scratchy still. "I won't drink. Joanne, I won't ever touch alcohol again."

Back then whenever Chris rejected her, Freya would always numb herself with alcohol. She had even thought of it as a cool thing to do. Her father had always nagged her to never touch alcohol, saying that alcohol would lead her into trouble one day.

Well, now she knew: her father had not been lying. In fact, she was now paying the price for not taking her father's advice.

"Freya," Joanne said, sitting down beside Freya. "There's still a chance, you know. You have to snap out of it, and return to your usual self. This thing will pass, and when it does, my brother will come to you."

"I don't even have the right to show my face at Everbridge Group anymore," Freya said. Then she let out a self-mocking laugh, "My dad had warned me about this ages ago. He said that with my personality, I'd definitely cause trouble if I drink. Well, I guess reality has shown that my father was right."

A drop of tear spilled from the corner of Freya's eyes. She wiped it off stubbornly. Then, she stood up and began rummaging through the apartment for all the alcohol she kept. After that, she poured every single drop of them into the sink.

True understanding as well as the ability to tell right from wrong would come only after something had been experienced directly, and that applied to all human beings.

Joanne opened Freya's fridge and peered inside. Other than yogurt and some milk, the only other food there were several packs of frozen food. There was also a bunch of lettuce which looked nearly dehydrated.

Joanne turned on the stove and boiled a bowl of wonton, which she seasoned with stock. Then she added the lettuce into a bowl after washing them. After that, she poured the stock-flavored wonton soup into the bowl. The lettuce regained its greenish appearance as it boiled in the hot soup, which was now releasing a pleasant aroma into the air. Finally, she sliced up a leftover cucumber and placed the slices into a small bowl before serving them up to Freya.

Freya felt a heaviness in her chest, right where her heart was; her heart felt so heavy that it almost felt as if it could sink into her stomach. She honestly did not have much of an appetite, but she still forced herself to sit up and eat.

Don't do anything stupid. Look after myself. That was what she had promised Chris.

Joanne squeezed two glasses of fresh fruit juice after Freya was done eating. She sat with Freya at the balcony to chat.

Ever since Joanne got married, they had very little chance to sit down like this and just chat, especially after Freya single-minded decision to become a model.

"Freya, I don't want you to keep going like this," Joanne said frankly.

"I won't. I just need a few days to accept the reality of everything," Freya said, taking a sip of fruit juice. "I know I can't go on like this too. My career has only just begun. I must pull myself together no matter what. But Joanne, please, can you guys give me a few days to just work through everything?"

"Alright," Joanne said, covering her hand. "Freya, I'm waiting for a better version of Freya to come out from all this."

Freya smiled. Then, as if using the fruit juice as a substitute for alcohol, she clinked her glass to Joanne's before taking a few more sips, "Isn't it time for you to go home?"

"I want to stay here to keep you company," Joanne said.

"Thank you, Joanne." Freya wrapped Joanne in a hug. "But really, I'm fine. I won't go nuts like I did last night. You should go home and keep Brian company."

Just then, Joanne received Brian's call. On the phone, he asked her if she was planning to come home tonight.

Joanne glanced at Freya hesitatingly. Freya snatched the phone from Joanne's hand, "You should come and pick up Joanne. I'm fine on my own."

Freya hung up and then smiled at Joanne, "Hey, it's not like you can keep me company everyday starting from today, right? Brian would hate me to death if you do that. Look, I have to get used to this eventually. I'll get better."

the latter half of Freya's statement was likely meant for her own ears.

Joanne scrutinized Freya. She had an inkling that something inside Freya had changed, and yet she could not tell what it was. But at the same time, it also seemed like Freya had not changed at all.

Joanne's phone rang again shortly; Brian was downstairs.

"Alright. You should go," Freya said, pushing Joanne out the door. "Don't worry about me. I'll call you if there's anything."

Joanne gave Freya a quick hug before turning around to walk down the stairs. She saw Brian's car parked in front of the gate the moment she walked through the gate. Winston got out from the driver's side to open the door for her. She got into the car and sat down beside Brian.

"How's Freya?" Brian asked.

"Seems okay. She isn't as emotional as yesterday," Joanne said. "She'll probably be fine after two days."

"You don't have to worry. I've already asked her manager to push back everything in her schedule," Brian said.

"She... What kind of work does she have?" Joanne asked curiously. Freya had only made her debut recently, so she was not that popular yet. And yet she already had jobs?

"The photos she did for Vogue was well-received," Brian said blandly. "Two magazines are now looking to have her do their cover photos. Also, Candy was in the middle of securing a deal with a Top Model contest organized by a TV station. The sooner she can pull herself together, the sooner she'll become a big hit."

Joanne thought about what she had just been told. Then, she typed everything up in the form of a text and sent it to Freya through WeChat.

Joanne knew Freya's personality well; her ability to bounce back would be kicked into full force once it was given a bit of stimulation.

For a while, Brian just stared at Joanne's phone. Then, all of a sudden, he handed his phone to her.

Joanne stared at him in puzzlement, "What?"

Brian pointed at WeChat's icon on her home-screen. "Help me install this," he said.

"You want to... install WeChat?" Joanne felt as if she was choking. "Brian, is this a joke?" She had thought that Brian would never touch a messaging app.

Brian arched his brows, "What, you can use it and I can't?"

Joanne nodded with zest, "You can. Of course you can..."

What she was curious about was why Brian would suddenly want to install it now after years of never using it.

Regardless, Joanne had installed the app for Brian and then registered an ID for him. When she passed the phone back to Brian, he took her phone as well; he scanned the QR code, and they mysteriously became friends on WeChat.

Even more mysterious was the fact that after Brian added her as friend, his face was that of... satisfaction?

Brian looked at his one and only WeChat friend with interest, which of course, led to him clicking into Joanne's WeChat moments.

"Hey, don't look!" Joanne had taken great care to avoid adding friends frivolously; all her contacts consisted of close acquaintances and friends only. That was why all the WeChat moments she had shared with her friends were rather, well, immodest. Although she had been posting only one WeChat moment per month, each of them was quite... lengthy.

Brian scrolled through her moments, and it did not take him long to see the moments she had posted during her time as a student in the United States. His brows raised at what he saw. "You gambled at Las Vegas before? Huh. And you even won a few pots."

"I went there with Freya." Joanne recalled those days back in the United States. Young and fearless back then, they had brought along a few hundred US dollars to Las Vegas. They played a few rounds and ended up winning enough money to treat themselves to a big meal.

That was the first time she had earned money with so much ease. In her excitement, she had shared it on WeChat. Neither she nor Freya had tried gambling again after that.

It could be due to sheer luck that they won the first time. Something like this would not happen a second time, that much they knew.

"I'll bring you there next time," Brian said. "It's on me if you lose."

"Actually, my poker skills aren't too bad," Joanne said, angling her head to look at Brian. "There's a chance I might win."

Brian smiled, "You can take it all if you win."

Joanne was hit by a sudden realization. Brian had promised to take her a quite a number of places already: the winery in France, Las Vegas... Although neither of them had mentioned anything about the divorce for the past few months, the fact that their marriage would only last for two years was still on her mind.

Brian was such a busy man, and two years was such a short amount of time. Could he actually fulfill his promises?

Perhaps the impermanence of their marriage had slipped his mind when he made those promises?

Also surprised and confused by Brian's sudden appearance on WeChat were the group of people who had access to Brian's private number, such as Gavin, for instance.

Gavin was at a bar, drinking with a bunch of his buddies. When he launched his WeChat app, he immediately received a notification telling him to add the WeChat ID of one of his phone contacts. When he saw that it was Brian, however, he was so startled that he nearly dropped his phone; he immediately suspected that something had gone wrong.

So he asked his buddies to check their phones too. They ended up nearly dropping their phones too.

In the past, they had never been able to convince Brian to take an interest in this app no matter what they said. And yet now... he had installed it.

To test things out a little, Gavin added Brian as his WeChat friend. Surprisingly, the friend request was accepted quickly, which made him even more suspicious. Then Gavin sent over a text, "Did you lose your phone?"

The reply came in the form of a voice message. In fact, it was Joanne's voice, "He didn't lose his phone. I installed it for him."

"Aha, now it all makes sense," Gavin thought, nodding.

His drinking buddies nodded as well. It made sense to them too.