"So, what did you two talk about? How many embarrassing tales did she divulge?"

Sebastian jumped slightly at Rose's voice, pulled out of some faraway world. He turned to face her, both of them now bundled up inside the car. The evening had been a raging success, with the hotel being the highlight of every conversation. In her head, Rose had already begun planning the next few stages, riding the wave of giddy excitement that came with the territory. But Sebastian had seemed... off, the whole evening, ever since Naina had abducted him. And Rose was beginning to get anxious.

"Oh, nothing," he said, pushing on a smile. "Just the usual. You know. 'Don't hurt her, or else.'."

Rose's eyebrows knit together, but she nodded, deciding to not dig too deep. Instead, she stirred the conversation towards the hotel, and the unbelievably heavy workload that they would soon be dealing with. Because, tiring as it was, it was fun. A successful start to a new project, an event well done. It was fun. It was supposed to be fun.

But, as Sebastian went off to park the car and she stepped into the empty house, a shadowy, suffocating reminder crept back in. 

This was how it actually was. The real ending to every big project. Every outing, every grand day. A silent, empty room, with nobody there to celebrate with. 

"You okay?"

Rose sucked in a sharp breath,  turning around to face Sebastian, who was standing out in the snow, car keys in hand, and a very worried expression etched on his face. 

Which made sense; finding your wife quietly standing in the doorway, staring into the dark, was probably not the most comforting sight.  

"Mhm," Rose quickly nodded, stepping aside to let him in. "Just post-event blues. They'll be gone by tomorrow."

Words Rose wanted to believe, truly. But, as the next day melted into the next week, the gnawing void only seemed to widen up under her. 

Sebastian had been busy all week; interest in the hotel was sky high, and he had lines of meetings set up; with advisors, investors, accountants, all of which he had tried taking Rose to. But each time, without fail, she had found an excuse — hardly believable ones, at that. Eventually, Seb had just stopped asking. Aside from their meals, he seemed to not be present in the house at all.  

And selfish as that was, it made Rose unhappier still.

Another week crawled past, and the grip Rose's bed had on her intensified. The same, familiar feeling that had kept her tied to her room the last couple of years was back with such intensity, that the one week of bliss when it had taken a small vacation seemed to be a part of some dream. This was her real life. This cold, empty room was where she belonged. Not in apple orchards with hopping bunnies, or by breakfast tables overflowing with warm conversation. 

It was two whole weeks after the event when the monotony that they had fallen into broke. 

The sun had barely inched past the horizon, and Rose's room was still awash in the fading orange glow of the sun's lurking light, when an untimely knock sounded from her door. Rose, wrapped fully under the blanket, cast a glance at her phone, taking note of the time. Still a good three hours to dinner. Sebastian had no reason to be knocking this early. 

"Come in," she called out, her voice muffled by the blanket. She hadn't bothered to get up.

"Um. Hi," Sebastian's voice was hesitant. Unsure.

Slowly, Rose pushed the blankets down, enough to peek her head out and look at him. Still dressed in formals, with his hair only slightly messed up, it was clear that he had only just returned from his meetings.

"How... how are you?"

Rose narrowed her eyes at his question. 

"Perfectly fine," she bit out, not sure herself why her words came out as sharp as they did. 

"That's nice," his smile was weak, and Rose could see he was trying. Something she knew she should do too. But couldn't. She simply couldn't. As Sebastian realized that the bedraggled girl before him was not going to contribute to the conversation at all, he continued, "So, I was thinking, maybe I was wrong."

"About?"

"The whole... trip thing. Maybe a change of scenery would actually be nice?"

"I'm good."

"Rose."

It was the exasperation in his voice that finally made her snap.

"What?" She pushed her covers off, her voice rising multiple octaves higher. "What? You think this is fun for me? You've been off, socializing, meeting with hundreds of people, while I have been in here, all alone, and now suddenly you want to go off one some honeymoon? Why do you get to decide everything!?"

Sebastian blinked once. Twice. And then an expression took over his face that Rose had been yet to see. 

Anger.

"Excuse me?" There was a bite to his voice that she had never heard before, and for a second, she could see him as the world probably did. Not the man wearing penguin aprons and cooking for her everyday, but as Sebastian Price, a cunning businessman, a cutthroat billionaire. "I tried to get you involved in every single meeting, Rose. And I have given you your space. But I am not going to quietly watch as you choose to rot away in here, and I will not be blamed for trying to help."

"I didn't ask for your help," Rose muttered, her voice already having lost some of its edge.

"So what, you just want to stay locked up here forever? You want to keep skipping meals and looking more gaunt every single day? Is that your plan?"

Rose was silent.

Sebastian sighed, his shoulders slumping with dissipating anger as he took a seat beside her. "Rose, please. This isn't healthy," he started, his voice much softer. "I don't know what happened, I don't know why you suddenly withdrew completely, but I want to help. This is all very foreign to me, but I want to do something, because seeing you stay locked in here, all alone, every single day, it is —" he cut himself off, turning his face away.

"What?" Rose's voice was quiet, questioning. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Just..." He looked at her, scanning her face, trying to find the right words. "You need to get out of this room. Please. Think of it as a favour to me."

Rose turned her gaze away from him to look across the room, taking in the clothes strewn about haphazardly all over the floor, the crumpled bedsheets, the candy wrappers from when she couldn't bring herself to eat much else. It was bad.

"When do we leave?" She asked quietly, eyes trained on her hands.

Sebastian's shock and relief was evident in the quick breath of air he let loose. "Tomorrow morning, if that's okay with you?"

Rose pursed her lips, putting in the effort to nod.

Maybe this would be good. Maybe, just maybe, things would change.