A Farewell After Being Reborn

After hanging up on Linda, it was time to board the flight. Sage, Donald, and Dexter passed security and boarded the plane.

Two hours later, they landed in Colville. Since it was late in the day, they checked in at a hotel first and planned to visit Donald's friend the next morning at the hospital.

Later, Sage brought Donald and Dexter to savor some local delicacies. When they returned to the hotel, she checked her phone and saw a missed call from lan, which she believed she overlooked because it was noisy at the restaurant.

She also noticed that he had texted her, asking, “Have you landed?" Since the text was from an hour ago, she didn't bother to reply to him. She picked some clothes from her luggage and headed to the bathroom.

After lan returned to Solaris Estate from Holcomb Manor, he was greeted by Wanda in the main hall. She asked if he needed a glass of water, to which he responded with a shake of his head.

The estate felt unusually lonely and desolate when he returned home that day, even though everything else remained the same.

"Mr. Holcomb, I stored the cakes you brought home last night in the fridge. Would you like to give them out or keep them for Mrs. Holcomb?" Wanda inquired. She did not know what to do with the cakes since lan never liked snacks and desserts.

Had Wanda not brought it up, lan would have completely forgotten about the cakes as he regarded them as unimportant.

Sage had insisted on buying the cakes for Linda and Donald. However, she and lan forgot about the cakes after the incident last night.

Sage, always thoughtful, would buy souvenirs and local delicacies for the family when she traveled.

On that topic, Sage loved finding interesting restaurants and showing them to him, hoping that he'd join her to check them out. He always declined her invitations because he considered them a waste of time. After multiple rejections, Sage decided to buy snacks back home to share with him. Even then, he'd never stop to entertain her.

Every time, she'd look disappointed, but she'd regain her vigor the next day and continue pestering him.

At that thought, lan texted her again, "What do I do with the cakes?" He waited for a while, but she did not reply. He turned to Wanda, saying, "Just leave them in the fridge for now."

Then, he went upstairs in huge strides. Originally headed to the study, he couldn't help but make a detour to the bedroom when he passed by. Wanda would not clean the bedroom, which was a private space, unless she was told to. Thus, the bedroom remained just as Sage had left it.

A towel rested on the bed, probably carelessly tossed there by Sage. The bed was filled with Sage's pillows of all shapes and sizes. Her favorite mug and decor were displayed on the bedside table.

After briefly scanning the room, lan was about to leave when he noticed an item in the trashcan. It was the crystal night lamp he had bought for her on a business trip.

During the trip, he spotted that bunny-shaped night lamp in a duty-free store, which reminded him of Sage and her bunny-shaped lantern. He purchased the lamp and placed it in her room.

She was fond of the lamp and moved it to the bedside table. Why would she throw out the lamp for no good reason?

He texted her, "Why is the crystal night lamp in the trashcan? Is it broken?" She offered no reply.

lan retired to the study, where he replied to a few emails. He received no notifications on his phone.

Last night, he had called and texted her a few times. Not only had she ignored all his calls, but she had also blocked him on social media.

He called her once and texted her thrice today, but she had ignored all his attempts at contacting her. Feeling infuriated, he called Terry and said, "Look into Sage's hotel and the number of the front desk. Send the information to me now."

After hanging up, he finally received a notification on his phone. Upon checking the content, his face fell.

Calvin texted him a screenshot of Sage's Instagram post. He asked, "lan, where is Sage? I thought she was having fun at Greenfield Resort just yesterday ?"w