The past: A phrase which here means: "Before the Baudelaires were born".

The past: A phrase which also here means: "Before Esmè met Jerome".

Location: The town that Esmè used to live in with Jerome.

Esmè woke up in her fancy living room next to a still sleeping Olaf surrounded by empty glasses, snack bags, and crumbs.

"Olaf, wake up. We gotta clean this mess up" she yawned. "(Snoring) Huh? What? Oh, Esmè. Good morning, did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I slept alright. Now, can you please help me clean up?" she asked again. "I slept alright, too" mumbled Olaf. "Why do you need this place so clean?" he asked.

"Clean buildings are in, dirty buildings are out!" she replied. "Fair enough" said Olaf. The two threw away the empty snack bags, and Esmè vacuumed to get the crumbs and drink stains off the furniture. After that, she drove Olaf home and they bid goodbye. "Is this the boss?" said a deep voice pointing to Olaf. "Hooky, who's this?" he asked. "Uh, he's here to apply for your theater troupe" answered the hook-handed man. "Follow me to my 'acting room' and we'll see just how much talent you have" said Olaf. "What should I do?" asked the hook-handed man. "Wait down there in case anyone els come in!" he replied harshly. "Ok, will do" he said, his feelings a little hurt now. But he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It's against the rules to question Count Olaf's judgement or how he treated his associates. "So, why are you applying for my theater troupe? What could've possibly made you want to come here?" asked Olaf. (A/N, just so you guys know, all the backstories from the associates are are either exaggerated or completely fabricated). "Well, I grew up in a poor environment. My dad was working two jobs to support me and my mom who was super depressed after her mother died, so I had to fend for myself a lot of the time. There was almost never any food in the house and when there was it was food I had stolen from the grocery store. But I got out of that situation when I turned 19, I moved out and tried looking for a job. But no one would take me so now I'm here. I had heard about you in a couple theater reviews" he explained. "That was the most boring 50 seconds of my life, you're hired" insulted Olaf. "Nice, I gotta call my mom about this" said the bald man with a long nose. He went downstairs and called up his mother, Lucy on his cellphone. "Hello?" she asked. "Mom? I finally got a job! No, this not a dream. My boss is Count Olaf, that theater guy I was telling you about when I was younger" he reported. "Hmmm, very interesting. But I gotta go, Zack just ordered a pizza and his rooftop hot tub isn't gonna wait for us forever". "Who's Zack?" asked the bald man with the long nose. "My new husband, silly. Your father and I decided to go out separate ways so I got on Tinder and it matched me with Zack. And by 'separate ways', I mean I asked for a divorce". "How long have you guys been married?" he asked. "5 years. We tied the knot 6 months after you left home. We went on two dates and he proposed on the second one". "On the second date? Mom, that's a short amount of time, you guys barley know each other. Wait, why didn't you tell me about this?" asked the bald man with the long nose. "When I first got on that dating website, I was still depressed. But Zack came in and made me not depressed anymore. I'm just kidding, I just didn't care. Ohh! Gotta go, the pizza's here! Bye!". "Wait, mom. Wa-" he yelled. But Lucy had already hung up. The bald man with a long nose clicked off his phone and sat down. "Worthless" he muttered.