Chapter 26

Chapter 26
To say that Marianne had not known peace since meeting Dylan and Vivienne would be an understatement. She did not know why in her mind, she imagined ever getting moments of peace when she was around Vivienne and Dylan. She guessed it was because of Vivienne's change of behaviour that she had some hope.

But as always, it was a problem that was obviously the fault of Vivienne. It was actually about her change of behavior. Or, lack thereof, she would say.

It was the day after Marianne came to her epiphany about Vivienne's behavior. She was spending the day making calls and doing research on the best ways to try and help Vivienne. In the past, she had dealt with people who had similar problems but never to the degree that Vivienne had it. Marianne concluded that it was because Vivienne was so famous that it definitely changed the way her brain functioned and differentiated her from the other patients she had.

Marianne was using the office space she was given by the hotel. It was her own private space that none of the other guests could go into without her permission. Marianne would be shocked if someone randomly came to her office seeking professional help. She would help them no problem but she hoped that it would not happen. Not on the days when she would be figuring Vivienne out and coming up with a solid plan.

It was about noon when it all went downhill.

Marianne was in the office after she had eaten at the restaurant. It had been about thirty minutes since then. So everything unfolded in that time. Marianne was scrolling on her tablet when the door practically flew open.

Startled Marianne almost dropped her tablet and looked up to see a few people standing at her door. They looked panicked. Once the door was opened, the noise from outside was let in and she noted that it was a lot louder than usual. It sounded like a school cafeteria, a bunch of people shouting at the same time. Some voices were louder and screecher than others.

"Is there a fire?" Marianne asked and rested down her things and got up from the couch.

"No, no fire. Not yet at least." the guy at the front of the group exhaled.

When he said that everything clicked into place. It was a fight. And a bad one. And of course, they decided to run to the therapist to see if she could help.

"Where are they?" Marianne sighed.

The group let her through the thick crowd of people looking to see what was going on. They took her where the pool was. It was an indoor pool with the roof open up. There were flowers and plants all around it and the pool was usually a happy and relaxing place, but when she got there, it was clear what was the problem.

Everyone had basically cleared away from the couple and was standing far away enough to not get in the blast radius but not too far so that they had a good enough view of everything that was going on.

The group that led her there basically pushed her into the open away from where the people were.

Vivienne and Dylan were standing at the side of the pool and that side was completely empty. The rest of the people were on the other side and some of them had their phones out. Marianne rolled her eyes at the priorities of those people. Marianne really needed to bring up Vivienne's friend's choice.

"-absolutely ridiculous of you. Fooling me. Did you think that that was funny? You know, all the times I thought that you could not go any lower, you always surprise me with something else."

"Well, what was I supposed to do when you were this close to leaving me."

"Change! For real!" Dylan raised his hands over his head. "Did you really think that pretending was going to do anything for you?! It actually made it worse, no shit, right!"

"Well, did you expect me to be perfect?! I try for you and you-"

"Try?!" Dylan laughed and backed up. "Oh please. Don't even try to bring up bullshit like that because we both know that's not true! Was stealing, you trying! Or slapping someone!"

Marianne puffed her cheeks and swallowed down a cough. She was sure that Vivienne had slapped many people in her day, so this probably would not be new news.

"Aren't you going to step in and do something?" Marianne heard a voice behind her.

She looked and saw that the group that brought her there was all looking at her.

"I'm just a therapist not a referee." Marianne shrugged.

They all screwed up their faces a bit and Marianne laughed a bit. "I'm joking. I stop couple quarrels for a living. I'm just observing for now. A lot of interesting facts can be revealed when one is angry."

Marianne went back to observing the couple.

There were times when she would have a couple arguing and she would just sit there and listen. It was not always a good thing to step in and stop an argument. Some couples have some unresolved anger and the longer it stayed in the worse it got, so Marianne let some of her couples argue it out until they calmed down, and then she would go from there. She would step in when things got violent or if she heard enough and they just started to shout for no reason.

"I'm honestly surprised that I was able to be fooled by you. You, who does not even know that there are consequences for your actions and that you can't always get away with the things you do. It seems like you are too immature to realize that."

"Dylan. Are you really going to say that? Can't you see things from my point of view and understand that I was doing this so that I didn't lose you."

"Then you should have been honest. Or better yet, never done those things in the first place."

Marianne just listened and nodded along. It seemed like he found out that Vivienne was fooling him. She wondered how long he knew and how he found out. Did he finally realize that Vivienne was Vivienne and that there was no way she could be acting like that or was it that she slipped up and he caught it?

Dylan turned away from Marianne. "Sometimes I wonder if this is all an act. Because it's honestly incredulous how someone can act like that."

Because he turned around, he made eye contact with Marianne. She could see that shame and embarrassment in his eyes and turned away from her gaze, walking away from Vivienne. But Vivienne was not having and went after him. It was then that Marianne decided to step in and stop the fight. She was sure that Vivienne would start the entire thing up again. But because she was clearly on the losing side, it would just be her spouting a bunch of useless reasons as to what she did and why Dylan should not be mad.

Vivienne raised her hand as if to hit Dylan but Marianne saw that coming and held her hand before she could. Vivienne was too focused on Dylan to notice her and when she stopped her Vivienne was so taken back that she stumbled a few steps back.

"What are you doing?! Mind your business!"

Vivienne shouted and tried to pull her hand away.
The few times she had to physically stop a fight. It always ended up in her guards having to restrain one of her clients. Marianne was also pretty good and keeping someone restrained and when she had her serious therapist face on, it sometimes worked wonders for her.

"You are my business. Now calm down. I'd rather not have flown to Bali for nothing." Marianne had a dead serious look on her face, which seemed to shock Vivienne into calming down.

"Ms. Blake..." Dylan looked over at them.

"I get that you are upset but don't do something you can't take back. You're here to get married. Not scratch each other's eyes out. I did say that couples can fight before their wedding but not to this degree." Marianne let go of Vivienne's hand and she returned her gesture with a glare. "You know, I'm also surprised you were able to fool Dylan as well. Because you never fooled me for a second." Marianne said as she leaned down closer to Vivienne.

She humphed and turned away. Her face was pink, either from the shouting or because Marianne was now scolding her.

"Anyway, enough of this. You two come with me. Shall we solve this like civil adults?"

"I don't-"

"Did I look like I was asking for your opinion?" Marianne looked at Vivienne and tilted her head, silently asking her to question her again.

With that, the three of them went off to Marianne's temporary office. It seemed like even on the days when she did not have to, she would be dealing with Vivienne and Dylan. What Vivienne did was pretty serious and she wondered if she would be able to help them through it this time. In the past, Marianne would not have been shocked if Dylan dumped Vivienne, but now she would be shocked if he didn't call off the whole thing.