Chapter 33

Chapter 33
Marianne almost left Bali that night. It was only because the friends of Dylan begged her to stay.

"You're their only hope. You're probably the only person willing to help them. And now that we have got to this point, no one else will want to deal with them," one of his male friends said.

"I'm sure they can find someone else. Whether they be motivated by money or with the will to crack down on their relationship and fix it is none of my concern anymore." She tried to push past them but was unsuccessful and just ended up being blocked.

"But no one is probably as patient or as skilled as you. Everyone here thinks that you were crazy for getting yourself involved in this, but now we see that it is because you are able to handle such things. And besides, it would not make any sense to hand them off to anyone else because you are the one who has dealt with them the longest and now have the best gauge of their relationship and them individually," a female friend of Dylan’s said.

Marianne just scoffed at her points. "Patient. If I were patient, then I would not be leaving. I would not be so ready to leave this all behind and never have to deal with Vivienne and Dylan ever again."

"We get that this is all frustrating, but they still need your help regardless. Dylan going back to Vivienne is disappointing, but no one was surprised by it. Even though they caused a big scene because of their last fight and all that. It's not shocking to anyone. Did you really think that Dylan would have pulled away from Vivienne and moved on like that?" the first guy asked her.

"Well, with the way he was behaving, he had me convinced that he was ready to leave it all behind. Maybe not to move on quickly, but definitely ready to leave this part of his life."

"It seems like you are not one hundred percent aware of how many times this has happened in the past. Most of the time no one from the public knew about it, but he would always declare that he would leave Vivienne and then five minutes later, he would be running right back to her. Dylan loved Vivienne, that is no secret, but he also knows that she drives him absolutely crazy. And I can bet that next week he's going to be right back where he was a few days ago. Regretting his life decisions and wanting to run away," another one of his female friends said.

"Then why do you guys stick with them? Isn't it just plain annoying to see this happen?" Marianne gripped her suitcase tighter, ready to barrel through the blockade at any moment.

"Because unfortunately we still care about Dylan. He's a good person. Just very misguided. And that's why we want you to be with him and help him through this. You're the only person who genuinely cares to help," someone further in the back of the crowd said.

"There is someone else out there who can help. I'm sure that there is someone who so desperately wants to crack this case open and be the one to finally make Dylan and Vivienne break up. But that person will not be me, because I do not have eternal patience like a lot of people would assume. I get pissed and frustrated like everyone else. And right now, I am tired and pissed and frustrated." Marianne gave them a smile and once again attempted to move through the crowd.

"Please, please help them," the first guy said to her.

Marianne was not interested in the beginning, but she had realized that he was Dylan's closest friend—the one who would have been his best man.

"So let me just hear this clearly. Do you want me to help them overcome all adversities and get married and be a happy couple? Or do you want me to break them up?"

The group was silent for about a minute. The silence was almost deafening as she looked around for some sort of answer. They just looked at each other, as if silently coming to a decision.
"We want you to help them through marriage," he said.

Marianne let out a breath. "You're crazy."

"Please, Ms. Blake," one of the females said. "We just want him to be happy, and we know that if they don't get married then Dylan will be heartbroken and will probably blame himself in the end, thinking that he was the reason for not being able to help Vivienne change, and then things will get bad."

"But I told Dylan that the best thing for them is to leave Vivienne so that she can focus on herself and get better. If Dylan and Vivienne remain then she will not get much better and then they will fall apart eventually. I do not know how many times Dylan will go back to Vivienne, but at some point, he will honestly drive himself insane," Marianne pointed out.

They didn't say anything at her words. It was clear that Dylan was also the one in the wrong in this situation. Marianne had not even considered thinking of Vivienne to be in the position as the one to call everything off because she knew that Vivienne would be very resistant to that idea.

Even if she brought up the fact that it would be very hard for her to get the proper help she needs if Dylan were by her side, Vivienne would just claim that Dylan was the one who would make everything better and fight down her opinion as if it were unimportant.

"I cannot in good conscience help those two when I know that in reality it will not be doing anything. There needs to be a separation. Vivienne needs to have known that she and Dylan would break up and never get back together so that she can then have that in her mind as I help her overcome everything."

They didn't move, and she was able to get around them and head towards the lobby door. The only people in the lobby were her, the group trying to stop her, and the receptionists. So there was no one else there to witness that. The last thing she needed were people running to tell Dylan and Vivienne about her actions. She just hoped to leave quietly and let that speak for itself.

"Then just do it until the marriage. Help them until the wedding and if they don't break up by then, then we'll be content. But please just try. Once they get married, there is a very low chance that Vivienne will ever let him go. Only then will it be a losing battle and we would not blame you for leaving. It's just for a couple more weeks," a female voice spoke up behind her.

Marianne rubbed her head and bent over slightly. There was no way that she could be considering staying. Why would she cause herself more stress in an attempt to help people that didn't seem to want it. "I don't know..."

"Just until the wedding. Come on. They need someone by their side willing to help them. Continue with Vivienne's therapy and stress the idea that in order for both of them to be happy they need to split up. If not, they will be each other's destruction."

The way the sentence was worded made it sound very dramatic, but that was actually the fact of the matter. Vivienne would never get better and probably get worse and Dylan would lose his mind because of Vivienne. And if they had kids... oh if they had kids. It would be a crime against humanity. Those kids would have a hard time because of their parents and probably grow up and become very difficult people.

"If I try and fail. Will you let me leave, no discussion, nothing?" Marianne looked back, her head telling her that it's a bad idea.

They all gave each other hopeful smiles. "Yes."

The constant back and forth with Vivienne and Dylan were killing her, but now she had a newfound goal. She needed to break them up within the next few weeks or both of their lives would fall apart in the future.

She thought about all of this as she watched Dylan and Vivienne being all lovey-dovey together. They had all come down to the beach to have a barbecue, and Marianne stood back, taking in everything. The two were standing together, laughing and being affectionate, like the perfect couple. Acting as if things were not falling apart the day before. Marianne studied Dylan's face and could see that he looked happy, but there was a sort of tightness to his expression.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Had he already started to regret his decision? Dylan was just a bubble of doubt and uncertainty. And now that the tables had turned, she was ready to take advantage of that.