Divorce Anxiety
Chapter 147

“Hal” scoffed Kathleen as her scarlet lips curled with cold derision.Spencer frowned and asked, “Doyou or do you not want to proceed?”Astrid froze in response as she took in his question.Spencerexclaimed angrily, “Get lost if you're not continuing with the filming! I'm warning you, don’t botherwith all these useless schemes when you're in my film crew. I don't buy a single one of them! I don'tcare who you have backing you. I'll personally shame you on the internet if you dare to create asituation where I can’t continue with the filming!"Astrid's face stiffened and was stony as shereturned Spencer's gaze. He was clearly different from the other directors she had worked with andcertainly commanded significant influence within the entire film crew.She bit her lip in thought asshe recognized she hadn't achieved her objective and thus had to replace a way to prevent herself frombeing kicked out of the film crew. With that in mind, she didn't dare to retaliate despite beingreprimanded by Spencer at length. She cradled her face and grudgingly accepted that she hadtaken the slap for nothing.Later that evening, the film crew had packed up for the day and wereready to leave. Kathleen strode out and immediately caught sight of Samuel. Why is he here?Histone was heavy as he said, “Get in the car. I have something extremely important to tell you.""I'vepromised Timothy that I would have dinner with him,” replied Kathleen as she gazed at himcuriously.Samuel frowned slightly in response to her sudden announcement.At that point, Timothystrode over and asked, “Mr. Macari? What brings you here?"Samuel coolly replied, “I heard that youwere planning on treating Kathleen to a meal. Is that right, Mr. Currah?"“That's right,” repliedTimothy readily with a nod. He continued, “The director told us to familiarize ourselves with oneanother, or we would only be awkward and distant in the scenes that we acted in together. Thatwould then impact the overall effect that the film brings to people and its success.”A stark coldnessemanated from Samuel's gaze as he asked, “You wouldn't mind if I joined you for your meal tonight,would you?"“Of course not,” replied Timothy, dumbfounded Kathleen's brows furrowed as shefrowned and looked at Samuel. He remarked coldly, “Since the goal is for the two of you to knoweach other better, I'm sure we can achieve the same outcome even with a third party present. It'snot as if you will be doing something else together."Kathleen was rendered utterly speechless by hiscomment. Timothy was a little taken aback as well.”"Come on. Get in the car,” instructed Samuel ashe pulled Kathleen in along with him.Kathleen frowned and asked, “What are you up to, Samuel?"Heshot her an icy cold look that was more than capable of freezing anything in its tracks but didn'trespond to her query. Instead, he merely put on his seatbelt. She glanced at him from the side andbegan, “You...""Seatbelt,” commanded Samuel irately.Kathleen was frustrated but had no choice butto comply and put on her seatbelt. Samuel didn't speak another word and proceeded to drive off.He followed closely behind Timothy as the latter led them toward the dinner venue he hadpreviously arranged.Timothy had made arrangements for their dinner. Furthermore, he hadarranged for a stew for sharing. Kathleen absolutely loved having this kind of food for her meals.Itwas clear that Timothy knew Kathleen very well. Even as she sat beside Samuel, she could feel thewaves of displeasure cascading off him. However, she made up her mind and decided to ignore him.For the entire meal, she only focused her attention squarely on Timothy and engaged him inconversation.Timothy picked up on the fact that Kathleen was giving Samuel the cold shoulder.Instead of helping the latter out, he conversely began to engage with Kathleen moreenthusiastically. Throughout the entire meal, Samuel had barely touched his fork, let alone pick it up.He was infuriated beyond measure at how things had developed but also knew that he didn’t havethe right to be mad.” still remember your newcomer performance during your first year ofuniversity. Your performance was a contemporary dance that truly astounded the audience,”recalled Timothy fondly."What? You actually saw my performance?” asked Kathleen insurprise.”Word spread around campus the very moment you reported on the first day of school. Imean, how could it not? They claimed that a peerless beauty had joined our faculty of performingarts, so everyone inevitably knew of you,” explained Timothy with a chuckle Kathleen was ratherembarrassed and commented shyly, “To be fair, there were quite a few gorgeous ladies oncampus.”“Stop being humble already!” exclaimed Timothy with a laugh. Then, he added, “Back then,everyone knew for a fact that you would be famous eventually. After all, there were several directorswho had already picked you out for parts in their productions. It's just that no one expected youwould stop coming to school once the mid-year break for your second year ended."Kathleen wasmomentarily dumbfounded. She thought back and realized that she had already gotten married toSamuel at that point in time. She sipped from her glass of water before she explained, “My familywanted me to maintain a low profile at the time. That's why I ultimately didn't pursue a career inacting."Timothy shot her a long and meaningful look as he said, “It's a pity. You could have gottenfamous much earlier.”It was clearly being suggested that Samuel had held her back for several yearsand in doing so, had affected her career prospects. As he listened on, he reflected and realized hehad never gone to visit Kathleen at school during her university days. He didn't know what heruniversity environment and experience were like either. He had only picked up from the occasionalwhisper here and there that she had been very well received.Ah! Timothy's saying all these onpurpose!After their meal, they headed out of their private room, and Timothy made his way to thecounter to foot the bill. However, Samuel reacted faster and beat him to it. He pulled out his creditcard and said, “Bill, please."The staff at the counter hesitated for a moment but finally accepted thecard from Samuel.”Didn’t we agree that I would be treating for this meal?” asked Timothy as hestared meaningfully at Samuel."Thank you for letting me hear so much about Kate and heruniversity days. This is nothing more than my way of showing my appreciation to you,” repliedSamuel coldly.Kathleen glanced at him and couldn't help but wonder why he was behaving sostrangely.Timothy smiled and said, “If that's the case, I'll take you up on your kind offer. Let me sendyou home, Kate.”"Why are you sending her home? Do you want her to appear on the headlines thenext day?” asked Samuel aggressively. He continued, “Don’t you know just how viciously and cruellyyour fanbase will defame her online?"“Mr. Macari, there's nothing going on between Kate and me.We're innocent,” stated Timothy simply.”Do you think the fans out there would believe that?”demanded Samuel as he grabbed Kathleen's wrist. He continued, “She doesn't need you to send herhome. Also, I feel that both of your acting skills are excellent. In view of that, there's no need toimprove your relationship off the stage any further. I'm sure you'll perform well nevertheless." Withthat, he tugged at Kathleen and dragged her away.Timothy's eyes flashed dangerously for amoment as he took in Samuel's words.It seems like Samuel still has feelings for Kathleen.Kathleenwas dragged away from the restaurant by Samuel and back to his car. As she was infuriated, thesecond Samuel joined her in the vehicle, she exclaimed, “What are you doing, Samuel!"He sat theresullenly before he replied in a low voice, “I won't allow him to get close to you.”"My affairs arecompletely none of your business! Who are you to intervene? I'm only colleagues with Timothy, doyou understand? Samuel, even if we view each other as family, you've crossed the line this time,”fumed Kathleen.Samuel swallowed hard but coolly kept his silence.She adjusted her tone of voiceand added, “Even if I have feelings for Timothy and want to become a couple with him, that's alsonot something you can interfere with and control.”Samuel’s face contorted into an utterly uglyexpression as her words sank in. He realized that she could fall in love with anyone else but himself.To be fair, this was a fact he was long aware of, but he simply could not accept it. Even though healso knew he had no right to step in or make a judgment, he ultimately still couldn't control hisemotions.He was afraid that someone would steal Kathleen away from him and that those menwould be so gentle that they would win over Kathleen's heart. Deep down, he was fully cognizant ofjust what kind of man she loved.She pursed her lips for a moment before she stated, “It seems likeyou've yet to internalize our relationship, Samuel. I've said before that we won't even have thechance of being friends if you continue to cross the line like this.”His already paper-thin lips werenow pressed together so firmly that they almost formed a single line. He finally spoke up and said,“I'm sorry."She didn't comment any further and only lowered her eyes to stare at the floor for therest of the journey. It didn’t take long before Samuel had driven her right to the Johnson residencesdoorstep.As she released the clasp of the seatbelt, she decided to leave some parting words for him."Samuel, I hope you head back and take some time to think things through. If you continue tooverstep the boundaries and intrude into my life, I promise you that I'll hide from you and avoid youforever.”With that, she prepared to step out of the vehicle. However, Samuel grabbed hold of herwrist and declared in a low voice, “I dropped by to replace you for something legitimate. It's someinformation on Astrid.”"He handed the packet of documents over and continued on with his coarsevoice. “Take a look at what's inside. If you have any questions or issues, feel free to call me."He knewthat he couldn't push her too much, or it would only achieve the opposite outcome. She was rightwhen she had said that he needed to get used to the nature of their current relationship. At the endof the day, they were really just ordinary friends labeled as family.