The Secret Island
CHAPTER 57: Celine’s Office

Celine's meeting ran late. And once she got in the car, there was this traffic that angered her even more. There was a car crash in front; it was something that made her run her fingers through her hair. Re-routing made her waste even more time. She expected to be back at the office around two in the afternoon, and once she was back, a certain someone that always read his book at the reception area was missing. She was immediately alarmed.

Where is he? Where has Martin gone to? Has he given up already? Or what happened to him? She could sense he was not well since the morning. Or what was wrong with him?

Her thoughts sprung out a million different ideas of the worst things that might happen to him. Her palms started to sweat as she looked to her left and right. Not seeing him was unexpected. He was always here. He was here when she left, and every day before today, he was always here.

Before she went mad with worries, Celine quickly walked to see Kathy. She was still walking to some customers. Still maintaining her manners, Celine kept quiet and waited. No matter how impatient she was, she didn't want to interrupt a conversation. After a few torturous minutes of waiting, Kathy wrapped up the conversation, and the customers left. Celine then got a chance to ask the most pressing question of the moment. "Kathy, where is Martin?"

"Well..." Kathy was hesitant, and Celine immediately knew she had done something Celine might not authorize, but what was it? Her silence was annoying, and that angered her even more.

"I asked you where is Martin?" Celine raised her voice. It was something that she rarely did. The last time she did that, there was something seriously wrong with the presentation Kathy gave her, but that was one of the exceptional incidents. Kathy was visibly stunned by the question; she looked down, and her hands stammered.

"About an hour ago, he was tired, I think. I saw him falling asleep right on the chair here. So, I took the liberty of inviting him to rest inside your office. There is a sofa inside. I think he might feel more comfortable that way." Kathy spoke each word with difficulty. She was visibly sweating and looked away.

Once she heard that, Celine rushed inside her office, leaving Kathy standing there confused.

No...if he was in there, then he already saw her office. He would know that she was doing all that for him. He must have seen the layout of the room. He must have seen the picture frame on her desk. No...

But when Celine opened her room, she was standing there speechless with the image before her eyes. Inside the almost empty room, a room that was her office in the past many years, a lonely room where she was the sole owner, something else was different. With his presence, something had completely changed within the room.

She spotted a tall figure lying on the cream-colored sofa, sleeping. He was just sleeping there in the room that was designed in the layout that he liked. In contrast to the colorful atmosphere of the space outside, her own office was plain and simple. It didn't have much furniture. The color was overwhelmingly white and cream. Other than the work desk, cupboards for her documents, and a few decorative pictures, there were that long sofa and a big built-in bookshelf that occupied one wall. Martin inspired that conner...

Since the beginning, since she started to consult her interior designer about it, she intended for the corner to be Martin's very own reading corner. She did it with the hope that someday... if he came back, he would be sitting there, doing things he always does. Celine drew up an image inside her head, imagining herself working on her desk, and once she took a break from work, looking up from all these documents, she hoped to see him sitting there, reading on the sofa that was always empty. That place was always empty...until today.

When she really saw him being there, she was not dreaming. Celine could only stand still. Every muscle was unmoved, tears welled up, and she felt numb in her whole body. Then her legs started to move forwards, motioning to the man sleeping on the sofa.

Once she walked closer to Martin, concerns crept up to her face because she could see Martin clearly being in agony. He gritted his teeth, his hands in fists, and mumbled some words she didn't understand. She could sense that his nightmare had returned.

Although she ignored him and tried her hardest to look the other way, she couldn't stand seeing someone she loved in pain. From what she had observed, his nightmare had returned, and all symptoms were all back. Whatever happened during the time he was gone from her life, whatever happened that he refused to talk to her about, whatever happened was the cause of his nightmare.

Part of her blamed herself, and part of her blamed him for not telling her anything. But most of all, she was mad at herself for not being persistent enough with the question. She felt useless for not being able to do anything in a situation like this. Celine was shaking all over and not knowing exactly what to do. At last, she simply followed her instinct.

Celine got on her knees and wrapped both arms around the man who was unconsciously mumbling incoherent words-the same as she had done a long time ago.

Once she got close to him, the words that she could hear made tears flow down her cheeks with sympathy...

This situation was getting too much to bear. She grabbed onto his hand and held it tightly. She hoped her presence could help him ease his pain, whatever it was, no matter what memories were hurting him. But whatever she did in this instant yielded no effect. He still mumbled the same words over and over again and thrashed about.

"Help...help...please...."