The Love that Never Really Dies (Sasha and Sebastian)

The housemaid felt bad for not doing her job well, but Vivian fell into deep thought while staring long

and hard at the ribbon.

Withered flowers? What withered flowers?

As she continued to rack her brain, she noticed a faint scent of sandalwood on the ribbon.

Sandalwood? Could this be...

Suddenly, Vivian felt a sharp pain in her chest as all sorts of emotions surged uncontrollably through

her mind.

She then grabbed the housemaid by the wrist and asked, “What about the flower? Where is it?”

“Flower? Uh... W-We threw it in the trash outside, Ms. Vivian!”

Vivian got so agitated that she leapt to her feet and ran straight outside in her pajamas with her hair

unkempt.

I knew it! It was my birthday yesterday! There's no way he wouldn't come!

With tears running down her face, Vivian made a mad dash for the town's dumpster and began

rummaging through the trash.

Fortunately for her, the waste collectors had yet to arrive, as it was still very early in the morning, so

she was able to find the withered flowers.

In fact, they weren't even flowers.

They were actually vines growing just outside Aquene Temple's entrance, which was the only place

one would ever find the plants.

As the vines were constantly exposed to the smoke from the temple's incense burning, they had a

distinct scent of sandalwood on them.

Clutching the vines tightly against her chest, Vivian fell to the ground and broke down in tears.

Nobody knew how disappointed she was when she saw that it was Karl who had saved her last night.

She wasn't expecting for him to not show up at all, especially at a critical moment like that.

He really did keep his promise of never showing himself in front of her ever again.

The housemaid panicked when she came running over and saw Vivian bawling her eyes out on the

ground.

“I'm sorry for throwing it away, Ms. Vivian! It's all our fault! Will you please stop crying?” she apologized

profusely.

“I-I'm not crying... T-These are tears of joy! Now, I need you all to help me bring these vines back to life!

Otherwise, I'll tell Daddy to fire you all!” she stammered while sobbing.

For a moment there, Vivian seemed to have returned to her spoilt, unreasonable self when she was a

kid. All she wanted was to save those withered vines.

B-But these vines are already withered... How on earth are we going to save them?

The housemaid thought to herself with a conflicted look on her face.

For whatever reason, Vivian's behavior changed drastically ever since she brought the vines home.

Instead of staying in the dormitory at school like she usually did, she started coming home every single

day.

She would check on the vines once in the morning, and once in the evening.

In order to save the vines, Vivian read a ton of books, did an extensive research online, and even

consulted botanical experts for advice. She spent so much time and effort on it that she began

neglecting her studies.

What is going on with her? It's just a few strands of vines! Why is she so obsessed with them?

Worried about Vivian's condition, the housemaid decided to tell her parents about it when they spoke

on the phone one day.

“Ms. Vivian has been behaving very strangely these days, Mrs. Hayes. She neglects her studies and

spends all of her time tending to a pot of vines. We've tried to talk some sense into her, but she won't

listen. What should we do?”

“Vines? What vines?” Sasha asked in confusion.

“Hold on, Mrs. Hayes. I'll send you a picture of it right away,” the housemaid said.

Sasha tapped on the picture that she received seconds later, only to freeze in shock when she saw

what it was.

Aren't these the vines from Aquene Temple?

Sebastian, who happened to be next to her at the time, leaned in to have a look when he saw her

shocked expression.

“Who is it from?” he asked coldly.

“I don't know. The maid says Vivi found it from the dumpster. Sebby, do you think Kurt gave it to her?

No one else comes to mind if you ask me,” Sasha replied.

“Kurt?”

“Yeah, it's only found at Aquene Temple. I doubt Vivian's brothers and grandpa would send her such a

thing on her birthday,” Sasha rationalized.

Sebastian fell silent after hearing that.

Those vines are unique to Aquene Temple. According to Master Shin, these vines grew from the ashes

of the incense that were dumped in the soil outside the temple. That's why they smell just like the

incense used in the temple.

“What's on your mind?” Sasha asked.

“Nothing. How is Kurt doing? Has he finished his exams?” Sebastian responded.

“I think he's sitting for the final paper today,” Sasha replied, feeling confused.

Why is he bringing that up? Shouldn't he be trying to find out who gave those vines to Vivian? If it was

Kurt, then we should ask him why he gave such a gift to her. Doesn't he know that Vivian misses her

family?

Sasha didn't seem to get the implied meaning behind Kurt's actions.

Her train of thoughts was interrupted when Sebastian went to his desk and retrieved a folder from the

drawer.

“Sebby?”

“Fax this to Clearwater High School tomorrow. Tell the teachers there that Kurt was applying for

Atlantius University,” he said while handing her a college application form.q