The Broken Hearts Story

      The next morning, Natalia decided to check out some stores. Yes, she completely understands the danger of meeting Simon Ringer or his accomplices, who may threaten her. But the wish to go out and check what is selling in stores was much stronger than a fear of getting caught by those, who are working on Raquelle’s offender. And honestly, Natalia does not want to sit at home and hide from everyone like a dangerous crime girl. That’s why she decided to walk a little to relax, think and put her mind in order. Not to get too much attention, the girl put on inconspicuous clothes, made not a very bright makeup, and gathered her hair in a ponytail.       Natalia leaves a store, in which she bought nothing, and keeps going on somewhere straightly. And after walking in a shopping center for some time and visiting a few more stores, in which she also puts an eye on nothing, the girl decides to walk where people do not usually go. Just like Raquelle does, the blonde loves going there sometimes because walking in that type of deserted place helps her put her mind in order. And now she decides to go to one place, leaving the shopping center some time later, getting into her car, starting the motor and going on the road that is absolutely free today.       On the way, Natalia starts thinking about what’s happening in Raquelle’s life and being a little sad that she has nobody to spend time with because her friends cannot meet her for different reasons.       “Gosh, how boring it is…” Natalia thinks and sighs with sadness in her eyes while watching the road and holding the steering wheel tightly. “Everyone's at home… I have nobody to spend my time with. Anna has to stay home due to the ban of her parents, but Raquelle doesn't wanna leave home ‘cause she’s afraid of Simon and his accomplices.”       Natalia sighs heavily, changes the speed with a gearbox, and presses the gas pedal a little stronger. That’s why the car starts driving much faster, leaving behind some others autos, which are driving as slowly as snails.       “Ah, my poor friend…” Natalia thinks with sadness in her eyes. “That man did ruin her life when he slandered her and made everyone believe that she’s a hooligan, who definitely had some mental issues and thought she was much better than any other people.”       Natalia simpers quietly.       “He thought much before deciding to do it…” Natalia thinks. “And people are too naive idiots. Because they all believed that absolute lie and were disappointed in the one they called their idol. They did know that girl had a brilliant reputation, but they turned their backs on her.”       Then a car suddenly drives on the road with a whistle at full speed, nearly crashes some transports, and almost breaks a side window of the car of Natalia, who is resentful of what happened.       “Hey, where are you are going?” Natalia resents loudly. “You got drunk? You should not get in a car then!”       Natalia growls quietly and holds the steering wheel tighter with both hands.       “He is an idiot!” Natalia throws gloomily. “That fucking racer almost broke my car! And he almost gave problems to others. Oh, shit… How could these people actually be allowed to drive?”       Natalia hums quietly and glances at a driver, a car of whom the reckless driver drives by, and who gets out of the window to shout out something loudly, gesticulating actively.       However, this event gets out of the mind quickly, and the way is going on without meeting such a type of driver. Natalia is quietly driving the car, watching the road, and thinking about something with sadness in her eyes. At some moment, she turns on the radio and quickly finds a station after hearing quite good music, which is perfect for driving a car.       Some time later, Natalia starts coming to a quiet, deserted place. It’s possible to see only sand around and the endless edges of the ocean. The strong wind brings up and brings away big waves and sometimes can raise up a part of sand and spin into a swirl. Now it’s gloomy outside. That’s why everything around her is kind of gray and sad. If the weather was sunny, this place would surely have much more colors: the sky would be bright blue, and the water would have the same shade. There would be an incredible picture…       Natalia thinks this place is beautiful and decides to stop here. The girl leaves her car on the road with the hope that nobody will need her transport. She switches off the motor, takes her small purse, leaves the car, and locks it with a key that she puts in a pocket of her jeans. After this, the blonde places the handle of her purse above her shoulder, slowly and quietly comes closer to the water, and sits on the sand in front of the ocean, starting to look into the distance and thinking about what’s happening to the lives of her and her friends.       “Everything’s changing every day…” Natalia thinks with sadness in her eyes. “It's getting worse… Sometimes it seems like there’s no end to the black path… No hope that everything will be fine someday. We’ll never run into bad people… And we’ll have no problems…”       Natalia sighs heavily, finds a stick near herself, and starts drawing on the sand some figures, which she closely looks at.       “Now everything has changed: we don't go anywhere, we don't meet anyone else…” Natalia thinks with sadness in her eyes. “Every one of us is busy with our problems… Nobody has time for each other… Even if everything was otherwise… Honestly, I didn’t notice it before. I didn’t think of bad things.”       Natalia sighs heavily with sadness in her eyes again, running a free hand over her hair.       “Ah, how I wish this nightmare ended as soon as possible…” Natalia thinks. “Everything became as good as before… I want the girls and me to spend time together, just like we did in old times… I want us to be happy about every single moment and feel careless…”       Natalia tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.       “What do I do while the girls are busy with their business and can’t meet me?” Natalia thinks. “Where do I go? What do I do? I would have the pleasure of going somewhere to have fun. Meet sympathetic men… I wanna do this with my friends. But I can’t do this…”       Natalia closes her eyes for two seconds.       “I can’t wait for my dad to solve his problems at work and decide to go to Mexico again…” Natalia thinks. “Honestly, I wanna go back there… Wanna go back to my grandma… Yes, my heart bleeds, knowing she’s ill. But I feel good there. I feel like it’s my home. I could actually think of moving there to live someday. I adore Mexico… Really…”       Natalia spends some time sitting in front of the water, watching the ebb and flow that calms her down and relaxes her a little, bending her legs at the knees, enfolding her legs with her arms, and sometimes cracking a slight smile. And then she looks around, slowly gets up, and starts quietly walking across the seaboard, sometimes moving her hair off her face when it gets into her eyes due to the strong enough wind.       But walking on the sand in front of the ocean and enjoying the nice sounds of tidal waves, the girl does not guess that Richard is watching her with great interest. He was walking in the city for nothing with his backpack on his back and passing by the place where the blonde-haired beauty was walking, whom he memorized very well when coming to her car and giving her the letter from Simon. The guy was madly happy and decided to watch and follow Natalia’s tracks, trying to stay invisible. He is carefully following the girl a few meters away from her and trying not to lose his goal.       “M-m-m, she’s a cute girl…” Richard thinks, biting his lips slightly. “Beautiful… Being very confident, proud… Very feminine… Tender… Yes, of course, she’s as tall as her friend is, but thanks to her unreal beauty, I would give a damn about her tall height. The man, who would get such a cutie, would be very lucky.”       Richard smiles slyly and slowly looks at Natalia from behind, paying attention to the gorgeous body that she works so hard at.       “She’s got such a cool ass…” Richard notices silently. “It's probably much better to touch… M-m-m… I’d check it…”       Richard follows Natalia’s tracks for some time and looks at her from behind for some time. But seeing that she is walking in circles for nothing, he gets sick of hiding and staying invisible. The guy decides it's time to show himself and scare the girl a little. Moreover, Simon gave him a command to do it… So, Richard relaxes his shoulders slightly and goes to Natalia very confidently, while she is going to leave this place and go somewhere else: either her home or somewhere else.       “Hey, blonde!” Richard exclaims loudly, raising his hand, and calls Natalia to him. “Come here!”       Not expecting that someone else but her would be here, Natalia shakes slightly and turns on the voice hesitantly.       “Erm…” Natalia pronounces hesitantly, getting a little nervous. “You mean… Me?”       “Ha!” Richard smirks sarcastically and crosses his arms over the chest, coming to Natalia by this moment, while she already feels her heart starts beating several times faster because of fear. “Who else! There is nobody but you and me here!”       “Erm…”       “We need to talk,” Richard says confidently. “I want to say something to you.”       “What do you want from me?” Natalia asks with a scare in her eyes. “Say, what you want! I will give it to you, and we will say goodbye without questions.”       “You would hardly give me what I want.”       “You need money? I will give… Give you everything I have,” Natalia swallows up nervously, while her widely open eyes are set on Richard. “I have not very much… But… I shall give… I swear…”       “Of course, money is good,” Richard smiles slyly. “But you can choke yourself with it.”       “Listen, sir…”       “Are you the one to go home of MacClife and Cameron yesterday?” Richard asks coldly, setting his cold, piercing eyes on Natalia.       “Erm, excuse me, what?” Natalia asks surprisingly.       “I ask you again: were you the one to go home of Terrence MacClife and Raquelle Cameron? And give them the letter I gave you?”       “Letter? What kind of letter?”       “Which I gave you yesterday! Did you give it to your friend?”       “I…” Natalia pronounces in a little shaking voice. “I do not understand what you are talking about!”       “Do not pretend to be an idiot, blonde,” Richard throws coldly. “You do know what I mean.”       “What do you want from me?”       “Did you forget me? Or did you not memorize?”       “I don’t know you!”       “So…” Richard frowns slightly. “It seems like people were right when they said blondes are too stupid and can only know Dolce & Gabbana from Versace?”       “Listen, young man, who are actually you?” Natalia wonders, sharply shaking her head. “What do you want from me?”       “Ar-r-r… Holy shit…” Richard growls irritably. “Yesterday, I came to your car, asked if you lived in that neighborhood, and you said you came to visit someone. And I gave you the envelope and asked you to leave it under the door of MacClife and Cameron’s house.”       “Envelope?” Natalia rounds her eyes. “Leave?”       Natalia falls into silence for two seconds and frowns slightly.       “Wait…” Natalia pronounces thoughtfully and thinks for two seconds, putting a finger on her lip. “Minute… I saw you somehow! Your face seems familiar to me.”       “Come on?” Richard pretends to be surprised with a false smile.       “Erm…”       A few seconds later, Natalia calls the memories of yesterday's letter and starts to guess that Richard is the guy, who she talked to yesterday.       “Of course!” Natalia pronounces and clicks her fingers. “Of course! You were the one to try to get on the territory of Terrence and Raquelle’s house. You were the one the security did not let in! Of course!”       “Oh, wow…” Richard raises his hands up. “The girl remembers!”       “And you gave me the letter!”       “M-m-m, as it turned out, you are not such a brainless blonde as I thought,” Richard smirks ironically. “Not like some blonde idiots that I know.”       “What do you want from them?” Natalia wonders and shakes her head. “Why are you and your accomplice chasing them?”       “I’m just doing what I am told,” Richard says with his head proudly raised. “And my boss has reasons to take revenge on your friend.”       “Leave my friend alone! She did nothing bad to Simon Ringer! But he’s mocking her like that! For the second time! That man almost ruined her career and her whole life.”       “She was guilty. She should not have stood in the way of that man.”       “Raquelle has done nothing to him!” Natalia says a little louder. “N-o-t-h-i-n-g!”       “Quiet, quiet, beauty, quiet,” Richard replies quietly with a slight smile. “Why are you screaming like this?”       “My friend suffers for nothing! Ringer was the one to start all of that!”       “As Simon wants revenge, I am sure that he has a real reason to do.”       “Your Simon must get therapy! He’s got mental issues!”       “Alright, alright, girl, I am not deaf and can hear you well. Speak quieter.” Richard smiles slyly. “Or do you hope someone will hear you? Nobody will do it. And nobody will help you. Nobody will believe you if you want to report me to the police and say that… Let’s think… I harassed you and wanted to rape you.”       “What?” Natalia rounds her eyes.       “Hey, maybe, let’s go to have some fun, cutie?”       Richard comes to Natalia very closely with a sly smile, shortening the distance between him and the girl.       “Are you out of your mind?” Natalia resents loudly and steps back from Richard sharply. “Do not even dare to touch me!”       “Or what?” Richard wonders. “Would you complain to your mommy and daddy?”       “You better do not get close to me!” Natalia starts threatening Richard with a finger. “Or you will really regret it!”       “I am doing nothing yet!” Richard smirks loudly. “But you are going to scream as if I am going to fuck you.”       “Do not dare!” Natalia sharply steps back from Richard a little. “I will not be silent and will report you to the police! And you will pay for that!”       “I do not advise you to do that,” Richard replies confidently. “If you or your friend report to the police, you will immediately die. Die so fast that nobody will understand anything.”       “It’s time for Simon to go to prison! Or go to a mental hospital! He must get therapy! Instead of quietly walking in the city and thinking of a way to take revenge on my best friend.”       “I would bet who goes to a mental hospital…” Richard smiles slyly. “Your friend… Or her boyfriend…”       “How you dare!” Natalia resents. “How you dare to say it about my friends!”       “It's the truth, blonde,” Richard throws his hands up. “The ones with mental issues are those two.”       “My gosh, how much money did that stinker pay you if you are now doing dirty things together?”       “When the revenge is done, Simon promised to give me much money,” Richard smiles slyly with his head proudly raised. “Which I shall spend on making my life better. Because you see, I am sick of getting pens. I do dirty work but see no money. However, a great reward is waiting for me soon.”       “How would he get such great money? Did Ringer spend not all the money on his friend to make him publish false notes about my friend?”       “You should not care about it, Natalia.” Richard comes closer to Natalia with a sly smile. “Should not care…”       “You know my name?” Natalia wonders, rounding her eyes.       “I know much,” Richard replies confidently. “About you… About your friend… About everybody to surround her…”       “But… But…”       Natalia swallows up nervously, looking at Richard with a scare in her eyes and feeling great fear for him.       “For example, I know you are absolutely single,” Richard says in a lower voice. “You’re trying to find a rich man so hard…”       “I said, do not get closer to me!” Natalia sharply jumps back.       “If you start resisting and shouting, you will be dead. Just like your friend, who would have to pay my boss for everything she has done to him. I do not doubt that he is going to celebrate victory.”       “He will not do!” Natalia protests loudly. “She will find a way to destroy him! If Raquelle did not sue him the last time, he will not avoid a punishment again.”       “If only her wish to fight with my boss did not lead to something bad for her. Her and those, who surround her…” Richard comes closer to Natalia again, looking at her from head to foot. “By the way, girl… When you are close, you seem more beautiful… I wonder how many man’s hearts you have broken. How many men have tried to get such a stunning cutie?”       Richard takes a small strand of Natalia's blond hair and starts twirling it in his hands, looking at this one with one eye or moving his eyes into the blonde’s ones.       “And you know, I would try to capture your heart and make you mine,” Richard says thoughtfully and closely looks at Natalia’s face, while she looks at him with her widely open eyes and full of a scare.       “What?” Natalia pronounces hesitantly.       “I liked you shortly after I saw you. You’re very sexual and attractive… And…” Richard looks at Natalia from head to foot again and bites his lip slightly. “I would not mind what you could do in a bed.”       “Are you out of your mind?” Natalia gets much more nervous. “You… You… Are you actually eighteen? It seems like you are very young!”       “Right, I am younger than you. But you know, I give a fuck! When such a gorgeous girl with big boobs and a tough ass is standing next to you, you give a fuck about any age difference. As people say, age is just a number… So, your unreal beauty slayed me so hard that I would not care about dating a girl, who is older than me.”       “I want to disappoint you, I do not like you at all!” Natalia slightly raises her head up, trying to pretend that she is not afraid, but actually shaking for Richard like a coward bunny. “Even a little bit!”       “You know, sometimes it happens. At first, you cannot tolerate someone, but then fire sharply burns up.”       “Not in your case!” Natalia steps sharply as far away from Richard as possible. “Instead of helping the sick bastard, you better go to study or work.”       “Said by the one, who does nothing and has the pleasure to spend money of her mommy and daddy,” Richard smirks contemptuously. “You would also better get a job! You would earn money and buy something…”       “I will decide what to do without you!”       “Well, if you don’t want to work for a whole day in a hot office and get little money, you could become an alias of Simon Ringer.”       “What?” Natalia rounds her eyes.       “You would help me and my boss and make all of his wishes come true. Simon would love to have a couple of loyal people.”       “Never!” Natalia steps back from Richard again. “I will never betray Raquelle and those, whom she means very much to! And I will not help Simon destroy her for any amount of money.”       “Think well, cutie,” Richard smiles slyly. “She is guilty of the fact that I caught you here. And she will be guilty of all the problems that are going to happen to all of you.”       “My friend is guilty of nothing! Simon did start this game! I don’t actually know why. But it's not her fault!”       “It's alright, it's alright, Simon and I will see what you say at the nearest time. See who is going to be the one to stay by the side of that gal and defend her as hard as possible.”       “That man knew all of that would not lead to anything good for him. But Simon kept poisoning the life of my friend. And he dared to tell the whole world the disgusting and false information.”       “I’m going to say more: Simon will not give up until he gets what he wants,” Richard says confidently. “Until your friend falls at his feet. Being exhausted, humiliated, unhappy, lonely…”       “It will not happen!” Natalia proudly raises her head up. “Simon will not get what he wants!”       “Oh, he will do…” Richard nods with a sly smile. “Yes, he would need time. But trust me, it’s going to be worth it.”       “No!”       “Think, Natalia. Think well before you decline the offer of the collaboration. If you don’t want it, you will suffer enough. And you will regret not agreeing to be by our side.”       “I did say I would not work for your accomplice for anything in the world!” Natalia says loudly.       “Don’t want?”       “No!”       “So… Very sorry… I’m very sorry that we did not get such a good alias. That could give us very much…”       “Keep looking for accomplices! I will stay by the side of my best friend! And I will never believe anything you are going to tell me about her!”       “You are an idiot!” Richard sharply shortens the distance between him and Natalia again and tightly grabs her by the throat. The girl's heart jumps out of her boots, and she strongly shakes, being afraid that this guy might kill her right here and now. “You could save your life. Earn money…”       “Never!” Natalia starts shouting. “Never!”       “Alright, beauty, if you don’t want to collaborate with us, do not do it. We can do it without you.”       “I wish your plan was ruined to the fuck!”       “Come on, come on, don’t scream, and don’t be so sassy… You don’t want me to kill you right here.”       Richard squeezes Natalia’s throat tighter, seeing a scare in her widely open eyes.       “Don’t do, don’t do!” Natalia jabs excitedly. “Don’t kill me! Don’t do!”       “So, you got scared?” Richard smirks evilly. “Don’t you want to die because of your friend?”       “Don’t do, don’t do… I don’t want to die… I don’t!”       “Remember, blonde, those, who surround your friend, are on the hook of Simon and me. We know where you are all living, where you are walking, and even where you are at a certain moment. So, if you don’t want to die earlier, do not dare even to move.”       “You will do nothing!” Natalia says confidently. “Nothing!”       “Oh, no, we will surely do. Not everything at once, actually. We will be doing everything slowly. Slowly. To make our pleasure last longer. And make you suffer longer.”       “You’re crazy…”       Natalia sniffs quietly.       “You are as crazy as Simon is…” Natalia pronounces in a little shaking voice. “You two are worth each other.”       “Your friend should not think she would get away with Simon so easily and make him sure to stop,” Richard says confidently. “She may just hope that she will change his mind by words, money, and apologies. But no. Nothing will help her.”       “But why?” Natalia shouts. “Why does he hate her so much?”       “You will know everything soon. Of course, if you survive until that moment and want to keep supporting Raquelle after everything you are going to get through because of her.”       “Raquelle has done nothing bad to Simon. She did not know him! He did come into her life and did his best for people to think she went out of mind.”       “She is actually a little crazy. But after what she is going to get through, she will live her last days in a mental hospital.”       “Do not dare to say it about her! DO NOT DARE!”       “STOP SCREAMING HERE!”       Richard squeezes Natalia’s throat very tightly, while she suffers from the lack of air and hits the guy’s hand to make him let her go.       “No matter if you want it, what should happen is going to happen,” Richard says confidently in a low voice. “Simon will not leave that gal alone. He prepared a terrible surprise for her. She does not know what she is going to run into at the nearest time.”       Richard keeps silent for two seconds.       “Just like all her friends and relatives like you or her boyfriend,” Richard says confidently. “My boss will also make your lives worse, and I will help him with great pleasure.”       “Do not dare!” Natalia exclaims. “Do not do this!”       “And we have just an excellent plan that we will make come true with the help of my friends. Trust me, they are always ready to help me and have never betrayed me yet.”       “So, does Simon have so much money if you all agree to do what he wants? Or do you believe in his empty promises? Are you going to dance attendance upon him, but eventually get nothing?”       “That’s what you think. I personally believe Simon. And I will help him with pleasure.”       “Whatever you say, Raquelle will never succumb to Simon’s provocations and not believe the lie he is going to tell her,” Natalia replies confidently.       “We will see. If Simon says something, he is going to prove it with real proof. And he can also speak very well. He can find arguments to make someone sure about what he wants.”       “That’s why everyone believes him! He washes everyone’s brains, and people listen to him open-mouthed! Somehow, Ringer made my friend’s life much worse and made her fans turn their backs on her and think that she was crazy.”       “Right,” Richard smirks quietly. “He did it.”       Richard slowly moves his hand off Natalia's throat with a sly smile, and she exhales with relief and grabs it slightly, feeling that her heart is beating fast from the fear she is obsessed with right now.       “He managed to blame the guy named Terrence James MacClife for everything,” Richard adds. “Her current boyfriend, who fell in love with the gal. Well, or who he just wanted to fuck constantly. So, he started to date her.”       “Simon knew that Raquelle would blame him for everything,” Natalia replies confidently. “He used his chance at a very good moment.”       “Maybe, he did…” Richard smiles slyly. “Anyway, their beautiful story will not last for a long time. Their relationship will be ruined at the nearest time.”       “Why would their relationship be over?” Natalia wonders. “They love each other!”       “Are you so sure?” Richard smirks evilly.       “I am sure!”       “No… Your friend and her boyfriend just tell everyone how happy they are together. And how much they love each other. But people believe them. Everyone thinks they make a perfect couple. Think they are literally destined for each other. I must admit that they are good actors. Anyone would believe that those two really love each other so much.”       “If they didn’t love each other, they would not have started a love affair.”       “I don’t know… Maybe, they needed this affair. For PR. To become more popular. Did it really work, huh? Your friend has had shoots for many magazines and commercials every fucking day for a few months. And MacClife has not been forgotten… Even if he does not act now and cannot make his career much better,”       “It’s just your personal assumption.”       “Think what you want, but I am telling you the truth. The relationship between Raquelle and Terrence is doomed. They will break up very soon and not wish even to think about dating.”       “Why are you so sure about it?”       “As Simon says, your friend and the one to be still her boyfriend are connected only with unbelievable passion and strong sexual affection. And their relatives were so happy they decided to start dating that they did not ask them what they felt for each other. They forgot to remind them that people date and get married not only for the incredible sex and gorgeous bodies.”       “Come on…”       “Yes, yes, blonde. A relationship cannot exist just because of that. You also need to take care of each other. Not only consider your partner a sexual object. Your friend hardly cares about her boyfriend and is hardly interested in what’s happening to him. And he gives a fuck about her.”       “How could you know it?” Natalia simpers contemptuously. “I doubt that people of your age understand what real love is and know why people actually get married.”       “No, cutie. Even being a twenty-year-old guy, I do understand these things very well. Much better than the one that guys do not want to notice. Or they notice you but find you just a sexual object. Just like the all-favorite Terrence MacClife does it towards your friend, Raquelle Cameron.”       “Do you really care who pays attention to me?” Natalia resents loudly. “It is my personal business!”       “You know, I do not care how many boyfriends you’ve had, how many of them have rejected you, and how many times you’ve been used as a toy.”       “What’s your problem, then?”       “But I do not doubt that someday you will wish to marry so much that you will be blind and get married to the one, who will find you only a sexual toy. Just like in the case of your friend. She began to date someone just because of the attraction.”       “Raquelle loves Terrence!”       “Maybe, that’s true. Maybe, she really loved. And she was blinded by love for that talentless actor. She was too stupid to understand that the man was using her to satisfy his needs. That girl still thinks she and her boyfriend have a great love for life. And she makes everyone thinks the same.”       “That’s not the truth!”       “But it’s alright… Alright. They will get colder to each other very soon, and they will be dreaming of ending their relationship and getting rid of this burden as soon as possible. And finally become single.”       “Do not dare to say these things about Terrence!” Natalia resents rudely. “He loves Raquelle with all his heart and can do anything for her. And trust me, he needs her not only for fun.”       “I do not think so. I do not doubt it! Simon has always said Terrence liked only a gorgeous body about your friend that any man could have gotten. Nobody would miss a chance to caress it. That man said it to my boss… Ringer said he never heard that the boyfriend of your friend liked something else about her. So, here’s the conclusion that MacClife dated Raquelle just to have the one, who would satisfy him every single day and let him know that he is irresistible and desiring again and again.”       Richard smirks evilly.       “But nobody knows if she pleases him now,” Richard says thoughtfully. “What if that girl always refuses to have sex with him? Blames her work, tiredness, and something like that.”       “You just envy him,” Natalia says confidently. “You envy because such a beautiful and desiring girl like Raquelle belongs to him, a successful actor and favorite man of all the girls around the world.”       “Huh, successful!” Richard simpers contemptuously. “He acted in a stupid movie and played a certain macho, and all the little girls got a crush on him and drooled over him.”       Richard laughs evilly, shaking his head slightly with his arms crossed over his chest.       “He does not rush to get off the mark of that little boy,” Richard says thoughtfully. “He chose love. He preferred to go to look for his beloved Raquelle, who was so scared of shame that she got out of the USA and was hiding and shaking for a long time. Shaking at the thought that someone would point at her and start insulting and humiliating her. Ah…”       Richard smirks contemptuously, rolling his eyes for two seconds.       “That man fell in love with that girl to distraction!” Richard throws gloomily. “Ah, how it’s romantic…”       Richard shakes his head.       “Yeah… He just wanted to caress the young, beautiful body. Which, as one legend says, was not fucked by any man. So, MacClife bean to hide from people and went to London secretly, where that girl ran away after she got ashamed.”       Richard smiles slyly.       “He could not miss a chance to fuck the virgin,” Richard says thoughtfully. “Any man would be proud to be the first one for a girl. But I don’t exclude that it was just an image of the gal. And she was not actually a virgin, and she fucked many men. For fame and money.”       “Do not dare to say it about my friend,” Natalia resents, clenching her hands into fists. “She did not fuck men! Terrence was really the first man of her.”       “Oh, I give a fuck! The fact that he fired my boss and went to search for your friend is more important. And he found her.”       Richard, putting a finger on his lip, moves his eyes to Natalia.       “So, I’m making a conclusion that the man definitely got used to getting what he wanted,” Richard says thoughtfully.       “Maybe, that’s true,” Natalia raises her head proudly.       “I cannot exclude that you could help him somehow.”       “I did not help him. He found Raquelle by himself.”       “Who knows, who knows…” Richard laughs evilly. “But I must admit that I am really surprised that there are girls, who can be friends. Without finding a reason to cut one another’s throat.”       “My gosh, how did you know so much about us?” Natalia wonders. “Do you really care if I helped Terrence find Raquelle? Do you care if he fell in love with her? Do you really care about them?”       “Actually, I don’t care. And I don’t the fuck know why I’m talking so much to you.” Richard exhales sharply. “I was actually going just to scare you and tell you not to even move and try to do something. But your beauty slayed me so much that I forgot everything. And many things went wrong.”       “Please, don’t kill us…” Natalia begs with sadness in her eyes. “Don’t hurt us… Leave us alone… Let us just live a quiet life… We don’t even know Simon and did nothing bad to him.”       “Are you kidding me?” Richard smirks evilly.       “Please, don’t do this…”       “Alright, Natalia, stop making puppy eyes with the thought that it would pity me,” Richard throws coldly. “I will not pity you! Neither you, nor those, who surround you!”       “No, for God's sake… Don’t do it!”       “Do not dare…” Richard threatens Natalia with a finger. “Do not even try to run away and do something against me and Simon. Do not forget that Simon and I know everything and can get you out of our way at any time. So, if you don’t want to die, do not even move. And do not dare to help Raquelle. If you do just something, you will all have to pay for that.”       “We will not leave Raquelle, despite nothing! Nothing will make us turn our backs on her! Nothing will make us fight with her!”       “We will see, Natalia, we will see. Remind your friend that if she or her boyfriend goes to the police, both of them will regret it. And it has to do with you and those, who surround that couple.”       “Yeah, how would you know they would go to the police? Your familiar people would say it?”       “It’s none of your business.”       “Scumbags!”       Natalia starts gesticulating actively and threatening Richard with a finger when she says very loudly:       “You will go to prison anyway! Early or late! We will do our best for you to get what you deserve. If we have to give our everything to get that, we will absolutely do it. Nobody is going to sit, do nothing and wait for being killed and buried somewhere. We will not do!”       “Ha!” Richard smirks evilly. “Listen, are you always so tough and sassy? Or do you want to hide your fear and make me sure that you are not shaking for me like a coward bunny?”       “Me?”       “Not me!”       “Erm…”       Natalia wants to say something, but Richard does not the girl even open her mouth:       “Say no word. I clearly see that you are shaking from fear. No matter how hard you try to hide it.”       “Anyway, I will not be silent and wait for someone to kill me,” Natalia says coldly, clenching her hands into fists. “I will not do!”       “If you don’t want to die, you better stay as quiet as a mouse. And never forget one thing.” Richard comes closer to Natalia and sets his cold gaze into her eyes. “We are watching you, your friend, and those, who have to with Raquelle. And you will not hide. We will find you in any place in the world. And we will turn you to dust if someone goes against us.”       “You will get arrested early or late!” Natalia exclaims. “Early or late! Kindness always gets a win over evil!”       “Ah, how it’s funny…” Richard laughs evilly. “It’s so funny…”       “Justice will glory anyway! You and Simon will not stay free. You will not be!”       “I said everything, Natalia. And I think we can say goodbye right now.” Richard goes two steps back from Natalia. “I do not say farewell to you. Because it might happen that we will meet again. So, I am saying something different. See you soon, blonde! Look around often and don’t do stupid things that might make you regret very much.”       Richard raises his head proudly, turns around sharply, and goes away. Natalia is watching him with her widely open eyes and full of scare until he hides somewhere. What just happened really scared the girl, who thought this guy could have easily killed her with his own hands.       “Oh, shit…” Natalia exhales sharply, putting a hand on her heart that is beating very fast. “My heart almost jumped out of my chest from fear…”       Natalia closes her eyes for two seconds, trying to breathe quietly and calm down somehow.       “I thought that guy would’ve killed me right here,” Natalia says quietly. “I was really scared… Oh, my gosh…”       Natalia runs her hands over the top of her head to the nape of her neck.       “Yeah…” Natalia pronounces thoughtfully. “I naively hoped for the best… I hoped Simon wouldn’t hurt me… He’d need only Raquelle… But it seems like I was wrong…”       Natalia swallows up nervously and quickly looks around.       “Simon doesn’t definitely bluff…” Natalia assumes. “He wanna drive my friend and those, who surround her, crazy.”       Natalia shakes her head.       “No, no, no…” Natalia whispers. “No… I won’t let it happen… I will leave… I will leave before Simon finds me. In Mexico, I could feel much quieter. Much quieter…”       Natalia sits slowly on the sand, bending her legs at the knees and focusing her look into the distance.       “Oh, God, I wish Dad solved his business and decided to go to Mexico to Mom and Grandma as soon as possible…” Natalia begs quietly. “The sooner it happens, the better. I’ve gotta leave before something bad happens to me. And go nowhere for some time…”       Natalia inclines her head slightly and closes her mouth with a hand.       “Damn, I’m an idiot…” Natalia swears. “I shouldn't have left home… I should’ve stayed there… Dad stayed home today. With him, I feel more or less safe. He would let no one hurt me. My gosh… My gosh….”       Natalia grabs her throat, moving her widely open eyes to the ocean.       “But I’d have to tell him about Simon,” Natalia says thoughtfully. “I would have to tell what kind of game he got Raquelle and all of us involved in. He knows nothing yet. But I’d have to explain why I wanna go to Mexico so badly. He’d understand me. And he’d probably do his best to solve his work business sooner.”       Natalia sighs heavily.       “I can't stay here anymore…” Natalia decides. “I’ve gotta go home… And go nowhere for a few days. Then I will see… If nothing bad happens, I can go somewhere in the city. But now I’d better not show up. Yeah… I’ve gotta go home… Home…”       A few seconds later, Natalia gets up quickly on her feet and goes to her car, which she left on the road. And then she unlocks it with a key, gets in the driver’s seat, starts the motor with her shaking hands, and easily goes on the road, still being obsessed with fear and sometimes looking around to make sure that nobody else is watching her.       The girl is starting to regret leaving home today and deciding to go where nobody would hear her. Natalia makes sure that Simon decided to change the rules of the game and started to threaten Raquelle and everybody surrounding her. The blonde used to think everything would be fine, and that man would need only her friend, but after meeting Richard, she is not sure that it’s just words and a wish to scare someone. It’s getting clearer that Ringer is not the one to say and not to do. He is the one to say and do.       Natalia does not know what to do or how to save herself from what might threaten her. She could sit, do nothing, and wait for Simon to get sick of playing catch forever. But by doing nothing, the problem would not definitely be solved, and that man would not change his mind about bringing the case to an end. However, doing something is also dangerous… And this kind of suspense scares the girl much more than anything.       

***

      Anna is still sitting at home and going out nowhere because her parents gave her a ban on getting out. That’s why the girl has to stay in her room for the whole day and find something to do, reading some books or magazines for a larger part of the time. Now her father and mother are not home because they are working. It makes the girl happy because nobody reads her lectures about how she should behave at these moments.       The red-haired girl is currently sitting in her room and reading a book that tells a story about true love, which gets a victory over evil in the end. The girl just adores this sort of story and could read something like this for hours. She is actually quite a romantic girl and dreams of a gorgeous prince, falling in love with him at first sight, getting married to him, and living with him happily after.       But Anna is a little upset that she is surrounded by many people, who try to make her sure that she is too adult to dream of a prince on a white horse and should grow up because only little girls could dream of that. However… The girl does not stop hoping that her dreams will come true someday and make her feel like a princess next to a decent man.       “My gosh, how much I love stories of love…” Anna thinks with a slight smile. “In which kindness gets a win over evil… In which a prince and a princess get married and go to their castle. Well… Or a man and a girl have a wedding and live together in a spacious apartment or a gorgeous house…”       Anna puts the book aside and leans her chin on the flat of her hand while lying in bed at her forefront.       “Ah, I wish the same story happened to me…” Anna dreams with sadness in her eyes. “I wish I had a man that would make me feel like a princess… That would understand me and support me in any situation. And wouldn’t tell me what to do…”       Anna sighs quietly.       “God, send me a man like this…” Anna silently begs. “Send me the one to save me from an unwanted marriage with the one I don’t love. I don’t wanna spend the rest of my life without love. I don’t wanna live like all my relatives. May someone save me from that. Someone I would love to get married at my will.”       Anna glances at her hand and looks at her French manicure, which is carefully made on her thin, long fingers.       “And wake my parents up…” Anna thinks. “Do something for them to understand that I wouldn’t be happy if I was married by force. The one they consider a decent one. I want to choose my boyfriend by myself. I wanna decide who to live with and who to love… I have the right to do it. I have…”       While Anna dreams of meeting the one to make her life much better, her mobile phone starts calling and slightly vibrating while lying on the bedside table near the bed. The girl believes that her parents are calling her with a wish to teach her something or remind her of having to get ready for the wedding with the one they want to be her husband. She does not want to answer but understands that even if she does not do it, she will not avoid the talk. That’s why Anna quickly takes her expensive, soft pink smartphone and runs a finger over the sensor screen to answer the call.       “Hello,” Anna pronounces without emotions.       “Hey, beautiful,” the masculine, low, very nice to hear voice pronounces. “It’s me.”       “Oh, hey,” Anna replies, silently exhaling with relief because she received a call not from her parents.       “How are you doing there?” the man asks, definitely trying to be as soft and gentle as possible.       “More or less,” Anna replies shyly. “When I heard your voice, my mood got much better.”       “M-m-m, that’s how…”       “That’s the truth.”       “And I called you just to hear your voice,” the stranger confesses.       “So, you did?”       “I did. And I got much better.”       “You have problems?”       “Nope, I just have many things to do. I got a little tired, to be honest.”       “Oh, I’m sorry…”       Anna falls into silence for two seconds and smiles slightly, feeling a little shy and silently praying that she does not say anything wrong.       “Listen, Anna, I must confess that I really liked our walk yesterday,” the man confesses.       “I loved it, too,” Anna nods. “Thank you so much for taking me to such an amazing place.”       “I would be very happy if we met again.”       “It would be great.”       “Maybe, we go out somewhere to walk?”       “I would be happy to do it, but honestly, I don’t know if it’s possible,” Anna replies with sadness in her eyes.       “Why?” the man gets upset.       “It’s all my family. Yesterday, I told you that I had to run away from home without my parents’ permission, who banned me from going somewhere.”       “Don’t they really let you go just to walk?”       “Sadly…”       “Oh…” the man pronounces thoughtfully. “I’m very sorry…”       “But don’t worry.” Anna smiles slyly with her head proudly raised. “If you invite me to walk, I will leave home without permission again.”       “Aren’t you afraid?” the man wonders.       “Nope!” Anna shakes her head. “Not at all!”       “Wow! You’re a brave girl!”       “I just don’t like when I’m under control. And when I’m banned on something.”       “Same about me. I really hate when someone gives me any limits.”       “It’s absolutely fine in my family. It’s fine when older people decide how you should live and literally choose your life.”       “And don’t you want it?”       “No, I don’t wanna live by their rules,” Anna shakes her head confidently. “They believe they know what’s better for me, but it’s actually not the truth.”       “Honestly, I haven’t met someone, whose family would decide everything for them.”       “So, meet the first one!” Anna laughs shyly. “Anna. Anna Seymour.”       “Nice to meet you, charming lady!”       “Anyway, I shall put an end to all of that at the nearest time and decide how to live.”       “What do you mean?” the stranger wonders.       “Yes!” Anna thinks for two seconds. “I wanna choose a good moment and run away from home.”       “Run away?” the man wonders. “Are you sure you want it?”       “Yes, I want to do it. I wanna live as I want without depending on my parents’ opinions. I wanna decide what to do and what my life should be like. I don’t like that everything is decided for me. My family forgot that I’m already twenty-two and no longer a child. Agree, I do have a right to my opinion.”       “Absolutely agree.”       “So, I wanna end this show.”       “But where would you go? You have a place to live?”       “Erm, nope…” Anna bites her lip slightly. “No place…”       “No place?” the man wonders.       “Of course, I could ask my friends to help me, but they have too much to care about. And I’d be a ballast for them.”       “And what do you wanna do?”       “I dunno,” Anna shrugs slightly. “But I will think up something. Because I ain’t gonna leave everything as it’s happening. If I keep doing nothing, my parents will marry me off.”       “Marry you?” the man gets nervous.       “To the unloved man. The man they think is decent.”       “Oh, Anna…” the stranger sighs quietly. “I’m really sorry…”       “C’mon, don’t think about it!” Anna waves her hand. “It’s my problem, and I’ve gotta solve it. Look for a home… Get a job… Not to die from starvation and to buy everything I need…”       “Why! I really want to know everything about you.”       “Don’t worry, I will solve everything on my own.”       “Listen, beautiful, I’ve got one idea!” the stranger confesses thoughtfully.       “Idea?” Anna frowns slightly. “What?”       “I could help you with housing.”       “Oh, do you know someone to help me with a place to live?”       “I do…”       “Who’s that? Would you give me contacts?”       “Why do you need contacts?” the man wonders. “You’re now talking to the one that’s ready to help you.”       “What?”       “I suggest you live in my house.”       “What?” Anna smiles slightly. “Your house?”       “I work much and don’t almost stay home. I go there literally only to eat, take a shower, sleep and change clothes. So… It would be at your disposal if you accepted my help.”       “Are you serious?” Anna wonders truly, getting quite nervous after this man suggested she lives at his house.       “Absolutely.”       “Erm…”       “If you’re worried you’d bother someone, don’t be. I live alone. And the only people, who could visit me, are my friends and some neighbors.”       “You live alone?”       “Yup, alone. Without parents, without a girlfriend, and without someone else. I don’t even have a cat or dog.”       “That’s how…”       “If you’re interested in my suggestion, I’m ready to help you.”       “Erm…” Anna bites her lip slightly. “No… No… Sorry, but it’s impossible.”       “Impossible?” the man wonders.       “I can’t accept your suggestion… I’d feel embarrassed from living with you.”       “C’mon! I’d be happy to help such a beautiful and amazing girl.”       “No, no… Sorry… I can’t do… We… We’ve known each other for a few days…”       “Who cares? I don’t suggest you sleep with me! You’d live with me as a friend. I’d free a room especially for you, and you’d live in there.”       “No… I… Probably… I’d bother you.”       “You’re kidding?” the stranger wonders truly. “I would be happy to help you and give my house to your disposal.”       “Thanks, but I have to decline your suggestion.”       “Think better, Anna. I’m suggesting this help as a friend. And I’m sure that you’re a very good person, who I could trust.”       “Nope…” Anna pronounces hesitantly. “I’d feel like I owe you… I’d better ask my friends for help…”       “I promise I'll claim nothing back. You would live at my house as long as you wanted. I would let you do anything in my house. Sleep, take a shower, cook, eat anything you’d find in the kitchen… I wouldn’t deprive you of comfort.”       “Sorry, I can’t do this…”       “Agree, living in a large, spacious house is way better than living in a small apartment or room.”       “Yeah, but I’d feel ashamed…”       “Think, Anna. Think well.”       “No… I’ve thought.”       “I’d claim no cent from you and wouldn’t make you do any kind of homework.”       “Thanks a lot…”       Anna tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.       “You’re very kind and sweet, and I’m truly grateful to you for your wish to help,” Anna says in a quiet, low voice. “But I can’t accept your suggestion.”       “Do you feel embarrassed because we’ve known each other for a few days?” the stranger specifies.       “One more reason…”       “Listen, I understand it seems strange. But I really wanna help you. Moreover…”       The stranger falls into silence for two seconds.       “I’ve got a feeling that we’ve known each other for a whole life,” the man confesses. “As if I met you by far not yesterday.”       “Really?” Anna smiles slightly.       “Yes. I realized it during our yesterday's walk.”       “You know… Honestly… I feel all the same… I also feel that we… We’ve always known each other… It’s so easy to talk to you.”       “I also get pleasure from it. And I wanna know more and more about you.”       “Nice to hear it…” Anna gets blushed.       “Well, as we feel so good next to each other, why don’t you wanna accept my friendly help?”       “How could I live with the one, who is nobody to me now? Neither a friend nor a boyfriend nor a husband…”       “I swear I wouldn’t hurt you. And I wouldn’t harass you.”       “Hey, as it turned out, you’re headstrong!”       “I will not calm down until such a charming girl accepts my help.”       “Oh, my gosh…”       Anna closes her face with a free hand, not hiding her wide smile.       “So what?” the stranger asks.       “Okay…” Anna sighs quietly. “Okay, I shall think of your suggestion. But I can’t promise I’d accept it.”       “Thank you, at least for that!”       “Anyway, thank you so much,” Anna thanks shyly. “You literally fell from the sky to help me start a new life…”       “Maybe… Maybe…”       “Yeah, but now I can’t run away anywhere. Even if… I decide to accept your suggestion.”       “Afraid?”       “I wanna wait for some time. Get ready… Get ready to leave… No matter what… Leaving my own home would be hard. Even if I literally can’t breathe.”       “I understand it, Anna,” the stranger replies softly. “If you need time to think, I will give it to you. I'll be waiting for your decision as long as you need.”       “Thank you so much,” Anna smiles shyly. “You’re very nice to me.”       “It’s always nice to help a good person. Especially, if it’s a beautiful, charming girl with perfect manners.”       “Oh, my gosh…”       Anna closes her face with her hand for two seconds.       “Anyway, I’d be very glad if you accepted my suggestion,” the man confesses, whose voice is low enough but very charming and melodic.       “Thanks a lot,” Anna replies with a slight smile. “I shall think about it.”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, which the strange man breaks with reluctance:       “Oh, listen, beautiful… I’m really very sorry, but to my regret, I have to end our talk. I have many important business issues today. I barely found a free minute to call you.”       “Okay…” Anna sighs quietly with sadness in her eyes. “If you have to go, I won't hold you.”       “I will call you a little later. To agree about our next walk.”       “I’ll be impatiently waiting.”       “But if you have some problems, feel free to call me. I promise to do my best to help you.”       “Okay, I will do.”       “Okay, Anna, bye.”       “Bye. See you soon.”       Anna finishes the talk with a slight smile and puts the smartphone on the table near her bed. After this, the girl rolls onto her back and sighs quietly, setting her eyes full of happiness on the white ceiling.       Maybe, she has known that guy for a few days, and they just talk and get to know each other better. But something tells her that the man is the one she has been waiting for. Anna is sure that she is not wrong this time, and her meetings with the one to have such a charming low voice would not be over at the nearest time.       “Oh, my gosh…” Anna pronounces with a wide smile. “When I talk to that man for some time, my mood gets much, much better.”       Anna sighs quietly.       “Hey, maybe, that is man really my salvation?” Anna asks herself. “Maybe, he can save me from the marriage I don’t want? Maybe, that man is the one I’d love to marry at my will? What if I’m lucky? I would really love to…”       Anna closes her eyes for two seconds.       “Because I really like that man very much,” Anna confesses. “I’ve never felt as good with someone as I feel with him. And yesterday's date was the best one in my life. It was so interesting to spend time with him… He knows so much… It’s clear that the man is quite smart. Educated… Sweet… Amicable…”       Anna laughs shyly, slightly bending her legs at the knees.       “Oh, gosh, I think too much of him!” Anna exclaims excitedly. “I don’t know him, but I literally wanna marry him! My God… What am I doing?”       Anna closes her eyes for a few seconds and starts thinking of yesterday's date with the man she got a crush on with a wide smile on her face. She would keep spending time in her dreams and not being able to forget him. But the girl is brought back to reality by another call on her mobile call.       “Oh…” Anna sighs with disappointment. “This time, that’s surely someone from my parents. Or they decided to use the heavy artillery and tell my grandmothers and grandfathers to wake me up.”       Not looking at the screen, Anna runs a finger over the screen and puts the phone to her ear.       “Hello!” Anna says for the second time.       “Hello, girl,” a very low, disgusting, and nasty masculine voice pronounces, unconsciously making the girl get slight goosebumps on the skin.       “Excuse me…” Anna shakes slightly.       “I believe you've already started to regret what’s happening in your life because of one person.”       “U-h-h… I don’t understand…” Anna sharply jumps up from the bed. “Who are you? What do you want from me? Did you type the wrong number?”       “No, I typed the correct number and reached the one I needed,” the man replies confidently. “I never get wrong when calling someone or sending messages.”       “Erm…”       “And this time, I wanted to call you. My sweet Anna.”       “What?” Anna rounds her eyes and starts getting very nervous, feeling that her heart starts beating much faster. “How did you know my name?”       “I know very much,” the stranger replies quietly and confidently. “Nothing can be hidden from me. Because I would know everything anyway.”       “Listen, sir…”       “You got nervous, huh? Started to be afraid and imagine the worst turns of events?”       “Erm, I…” Anna stutters.       “Your friend made the lives of all of you much worse. Did she not?”       “My friend?” Anna rounds her eyes.       “You’re probably starting to think that she is a terrible person because the quiet life of everybody surrounding her is over. Because of her.”       “I do not understand…”       “Come on, girl… Don’t you really understand anything? Don’t you guess anything?”       “Listen, I…” Anna sharply falls into silence for two seconds. “Wait… Second…”       Anna thinks for two seconds again and then finally guesses about who could call her.       “Simon?” Anna asks. “Ringer? Simon Ringer! Is that really you?”       “Bingo!” the man happily exclaims, whose voice really belongs to Simon. “Bingo, girl!”       “What do you need from my friend and me? What do you want from every one of us?       “Listen, girl, as it turned out, you are very smart,” Simon smirks evilly. “I thought you would not even guess who you were talking to. But no… So… It seems like studying at the university taught you something.”       “What do you need from my friend?” Anna asks quietly. “Why did you start all of this and keep poisoning her life? Why are you going to do this for the second time?”       “It’s easy! Your friend just must pay for everything she has done to me.”       “What did she do? Raquelle has done nothing bad to you to get insulted and exhausted like this!”       “No, my sweetie, you are wrong…” Simon confidently shakes his head. “You know nothing about your beloved Raquelle. You don’t know who she really is.”       “I know my friend very well!”       “Do you really think your friend is such an innocent girl, who pretends to be the one for her friends and relatives?”       “Believe me, we know her much better than you do.”       “No, you all know nothing about her.” Simon smiles slyly. “But I promise I shall surely show you the face of the real Raquelle Cameron. You will see what that bitch is.”       “I do not know what you want to do this time. But whatever you want to do, we will not leave her alone and will help her get off you.”       “I would bet you do. I really doubt someone would stay by the side of that girl after you know all the truth about her.”       “Stop palavering me!” Anna exclaims. “I’ve known Raquelle for ages, and I see what kind of person she is.”       “Trust me, I have also known her not for the first day,” Simon replies confidently. “And I am absolutely sure that she is a bad girl. A nasty girl, who has ruined the lives of many people. Who may ruin the lives of much more people.”       “Huh…” Anna frowns slightly. “What do you want to say?”       “I want to say that everyone will see her real face very soon. I will open your eyes soon and prove that the allegedly innocent angel named Raquelle Cameron is not the one she is pretending to be.”       “What?”       “Do you all think she is so kind, loyal, and grateful? No, my darling, that girl is not the one! Besides, she cannot appreciate what she has.”       “If you want to tell a lie about her again, you can stop trying,” Anna replies confidently. “We will never believe she could behave like a patient from a mental hospital. And actually… Whatever you say, nobody will believe you anymore.”       “Do not rush to make conclusions,” Simon says quietly and confidently. “Your friend will show everybody who she actually is very soon. You will see that Raquelle cannot appreciate her close people or take care of them, and she frames them.”       “What kind of nonsense are you talking about?” Anna resents loudly. Raquelle does appreciate her friends much more than you think. And she cannot do terrible things. That girl is well-educated!”       “Really? But some people do not think so! And the fact that she framed you all is a reason to reflect on whether it’s dangerous for you to stay by her side.”       “She is guilty of nothing!”       “Moreover, let’s be honest! Raquelle cares about her career much more. She does not care what will happen to those, who surround her. She would not get upset if she stayed all alone. But if something happened to her modeling career, and she lost a chance to walk on a runway, shaking her ass, and pose in a bikini for a camera, your friend would not take it.”       “Do not say bullshit!” Anna throws coldly. “Raquelle loves her friends and relatives and helps them!”       “You act like a girl in love, who does not notice the weaknesses of her man,” Simon laughs evilly.       “Leave Raquelle and all of us alone, Simon,” Anna says quietly but confidently. “Stop slandering her!”       “But who slanders her?”       “You!”       “Me? I actually told everyone the truth! But sadly, nobody believed me!”       “Did you really think everyone would believe the stinker, not the one to be loved and respected by people?”       “Their love and respect will be gone when she shows the real her. And the girl with a perfect reputation will no longer shine just as bright as a star.”       “Stop, Simon! Enough! Somehow, you slandered her and almost deprived her of everything she had. Is that not enough for you? Do you want to destroy her? Drive her crazy?”       “Maybe…” Simon smiles slyly. “Maybe…”       “Don’t make it worse for you. Stop before it’s too late.”       “No, my sweet girl,” Simon replies confidently. “I shall go until the end and never stop.”       “Raquelle is not guilty of you! She should not suffer without a reason.”       “She is suffering because she deserved it.”       “You must suffer!” Anna says a little coldly. “Not Raquelle!”       “Come on…” Simon smiles very slyly. “If I tell everyone what she said about her friends and relatives, I doubt someone would wish to be by her side.”       “Who did she say that to?” Anna wonders. “What did she say?”       “It does not matter. The important thing is that there are people, who your friend personally told what she actually thought of those, who surrounded her.”       “What are you talking about?”       “It’s the truth, Anna. Trust me, if everyone knows it, Raquelle will stay all alone. Her friends will leave her alone, and her boyfriend will not wish to keep dating that bitch… And her relatives will not be happy with the acts of their wonderful Raquelle. Who they have loved for their whole life.”       “Stop palavering me!” Anna demands a little louder. “We have already gotten over that and are not going to believe you.”       “Wrong! Very wrong!”       “You are a liar, Simon! The liar that has mental issues! Who must get therapy!”       “Come on, girl, do not be so nervous,” Simon says quietly with a slight smile. “Relax… You’re too tense… Very excited…”       “Keep your mouth shut if you don’t want to get the punishment you deserve.”       “By the way, I’m going to tell you a secret about her boyfriend, who already regrets standing in the way of such a nasty girl like her.”       “Seriously?”       “Yes, yes! I heard him saying this to one person. He said he got sick of the relationship… She got sick of the girl, who did not pay attention to him. Who is obsessed with her career.”       “It’s a lie!” Anna protests. “Terrence loves Raquelle! And she loves him! Both of them love each other and are very happy together!”       “Sadly, your friend forgot about her boyfriend after she began to live with him. When they enjoyed each other for some time, she went to work on a photoshoot as if nothing happened. And she asks her managers to give her as much work as possible not to see the one to be disgusting to her.”       “Is that what you want to see?”       “That is what’s actually happening to their family. Didn’t you notice that photos of Raquelle are published on the covers of magazines literally every day, and she participates in almost all the fashion shows? Her face has been shown literally everywhere in the past few months!”       “Who cares? Raquelle is a successful model, who is invited to shoot and participate in fashion shows!”       “Yeah, right… Maybe, her career really got better. But the question is how it impacted her relationship with her boyfriend. What if she actually doesn’t give him attention? What if MacClife is starting to think of leaving her more and more every day?”       “Do not wait for him to leave my friend alone!” Anna says with her head proudly raised. “Terrence is a celebrity and knows how much strength and time shootings, interviews, and trips take!”       “Alright…” Simon exhales sharply. “If you don’t believe me, I am advising you and your friend Natalia to talk to Terrence and ask him how happy he is in the relationship with your friend. I am sure that you will discover many interesting things. And you would understand that the relationship that everybody has found perfect is not wonderful. Those two do pretend that everything is alright.”       “Are you trying to tell everyone a lie and slander Raquelle for us again?”       “Not at all!”       “Don’t you feel sorry for the wasted time? It’s a worthless talk! I personally regret wasting a few minutes of my life on you and what you are trying to tell me!”       “You still don’t believe me?”       “I will never do!”       “Alright! If you don’t want, don’t do!” Simon clears his throat quickly. “Then do not say that your friend went nuts after she began to live with her boyfriend. Or she went a little crazy because she had worked too much. She feels no sorry for her and gave a damn about everything and everyone to make people forget how the media was discussing her disgusting act.”       “What?” Anna rounds her eyes, being in a stupor after what she heard.       “You did not mishear it,” Simon says confidently. “Overworking would lead to anything good. It would lead to stress, tiredness, and even mental issues. I knew many people, who became victims of dependence on work. Sadly, they did not let themselves relax and were always in tension. They always tried to prove to someone that they were worth something. Just like mommies and daddies of children, who they want to make A-students or someone they don’t want to be.”       “Do you think…” Anna pronounces hesitantly. “Raquelle is… Crazy?”       “Sadly, yes, my girl,” Simon nods confidently and smiles slyly. “Your friend is out of her mind and needs therapy.”       “No…” Anna shakes her head. “No, it can’t be the truth!”       “Raquelle has been out of her mind since she was born,” Simon keeps speaking. “She does not just always show it. You’re supposed to be an idiot to openly let people know that you are like a patient of a mental hospital you ran away from.”       “You’re lying… Lying!”       “Anna… My sweetheart… I completely understand that it’s hard for you to confess it. Hard to believe that your friend is sick. But sadly, it’s the truth.”       “But…” Anna bites her lip slightly. “Raquelle never… Showed it…”       “Maybe… But some people told me that the girl could have hysteria for no reason,” Simon confesses. “She could easily shout at everyone and cry too bitterly for nothing.”       “People usually publish articles about these things. I’ve personally never seen them. Not saying about your slander!”       “Nobody lets them do it! The managers of that girl try to support the image of an innocent girl with a perfect reputation. They threaten to sue anyone, who wishes to make posts about her hysterics on the shoots or the way she bullied some people she worked with. So, nobody wants to pay much money! That’s why everyone is silent! And they post only good things.”       “I refuse to believe it!” Anna says confidently. “I refuse!”       “The modeling business is too severe. And actually, to work in the show business, you should have strong nerves and great patience. Because of competition, scandals, intrigues, rumors, and something like that. Raquelle’s mental health got worse when she was a child because she was regularly bullied at school. But the modeling career ruined it at all. The condition of your friend was able to be controlled and even made better. But after becoming a model, she lost a chance to become healthy. The pressure became really insane. And eventually, Raquelle did not take it. She became a hysterical psycho, who took it out on innocent people. Who got mad at everyone because someone hated her for many years.”       “She did not get mad!” Anna protests. “Raquelle didn’t break down and get worse! That girl is not even mad at anyone and forgave those, who were bullying her!”       “That’s what she said! But that girl is actually obsessed with a wish to take revenge and prove to her offenders that she is worth something. Do you wonder why Raquelle sinks her teeth into her modeling career? Because it’s a perfect chance to prove that she is attractive, sexual, wanted, and successful. That girl keeps proving to everyone that she is worth something again and again.”       Anna says nothing and swallows up nervously. She is sure that Simon is trying to tell the lie, even if he tries to make it look like the truth, focusing on some words and giving quite great arguments. However, his words make her have some doubts. A belief that there might be a part of the truth about his words.       It’s even enough for Simon. He wanted to make the girl doubt just something about her friend. The man uses his charm and tries to speak very quietly, slowly, and confidently, making the girl sure that’s the truth and making her relax and feel some easiness. Ringer brilliantly chooses the intonation to notice what she should pay much more attention to.       “Really?” Anna asks hesitantly.       “Absolutely, my girl,” Simon replies confidently. “Absolutely.”       “But…”       “Besides, there is a possibility that she could inherit her mental issues.”       “Inherit?”       “Yes. Somehow, I talked to someone, who knew her late mother, Elizabeth. And that person said that she was not also quite healthy.”       “Raquelle’s mother? She was unhealthy?”       “She could have hysteria for no reason,” Simon lies in a soft, clear voice. “Her family really got sick of her!”       “But I heard her mother was a very shy woman!”       “Oh, Anna, do not make me laugh!” Simon laughs shyly. Elizabeth was always very insolent and shameless, and her mental issues made her condition much worse.” Simon smirks quietly. “Besides, how she could be shy when her older sister was shaking her ass for men for money and was well known in almost the entire Great Britain as a high-paid whore.”       “Erm…” Anna stutters and bites her lip slightly. “Y-yeah… Right… Raquelle said…”       “And she killed one of her sugar daddies. I heard that he was a very rich, powerful businessman.”       “It’s… The truth…”       “So, she was a whore, and her sister had mental issues. Which got much worse after the wedding and the birth of her daughter. She actually went out of her mind! She behaved disgustingly and made all of her relatives nervous. Someone even wanted to bring her to a mental hospital. But she did not go there… Elizabeth died…”       “Oh, my gosh…” Anna closes her mouth with a hand.       “And I’m afraid that the same situation is happening to her daughter. Raquelle has had multiple hysterics. And she even fought with some people.”       “Fought?”       “Yes! With men and women. While men managed to hold her down somehow, women suffered enough. Someone got their hair pulled out, someone got broken nails, and someone actually got fractures and bruises.”       “My gosh…” Anna starts to believe what she hears more and more, rounding her eyes full of horror.”       “And I would not be surprised if someday Raquelle took a knife and stabbed someone. It might really happen.”       “No…”       Every second, Anna starts to believe that Simon is telling her the truth more and more against her wish. This man is too confident while telling her everything he comes up with literally on the way, getting much pleasure from it. The man does know that any charges require proof. But he found the words that would look like the truth. And he understands that even if he does not make the girl sure that it’s dangerous to speak to Raquelle, he can at least make her think about whether she should communicate with the one, who is allegedly mentally sick.       “So…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully. “She… Can… Kill?”       “She can do it, Anna, she can do it!” Simon exclaims.       “My gosh…”       “That’s all, my sweet girl. Make conclusions… Your friend is crazy. And the problem is not about feminine hysterics. It’s a real mental issue. Sick people like her must be held in a mental hospital. And they are not especially allowed to make children. I would not like Raquelle to give birth to a couple more sick girls or boys. She actually must not make children because they would be as sick as she is.”       “But at first sight, she seems to be absolutely fine…” Anna shakes her head.       “Yes, right. But it’s just a wrap. And you haven’t run into her hysterics. But trust me, early or late, Raquelle will express the aggression for you, Natalia, and those she knows.”       “Oh…”       “So, if you don’t want to suffer and die because of Simon, keep yourself far from her,” Simon recommends confidently. “I don’t want such a sympathetic young girl to be in a grave because of that sick bitch.”       “Erm…”       “And I also worry about Terrence. Somehow, I warned him that standing in the way of Raquelle was dangerous because she could get so excited that she would kill someone. But he did not listen to my good advice and, being blinded by love, went to find her… MacClife lost his mind and pissed me off when I told him not to even dare to get closer to her.”       “But… Terrence never said it to us…”       “Ah…”       Simon sighs quietly with a sly smile on his face.       “That’s what love does to a human…” Simon shakes his head. “Terrence fell in love with Raquelle so much that he even began to date her! A few months later, after meeting her! I would not be surprised if he already began to think of a wedding.”       “At least, his feelings were true,” Anna says quietly. “Terrence loved her with all his heart…”       “Oh, he loved her to death…” Simon replies confidently. “He wanted to meet her since he saw her in a magazine. Or watched an interview from the red carpet… I can’t remember… But from that moment on, Terrence tried to meet her. Ah…”       Simon shakes his head.       “That’s how the gal charmed the guy!” Simon exclaims. “Terrence wanted to be with her so badly that he listened to nobody, who told him that she was dangerous. He wanted only one thing – to meet Raquelle and make her belong to him.”       “Wow…”       “Poor guy… Poor guy… He suffered so much because of that sick egoist. Gosh… But he could’ve noticed that she was not healthy. Because they did not get on well at first. The gal was not quiet and obedient. She snapped, swore, gave him slaps in the face, and threatened to hit him between his legs…”       “I believe you,” Anna nods. “Terrence has never lied about what he felt for Raquelle.”       “It’s alright, I think he would wake up soon and realize that he got in touch with the crazy girl. And he would break up with her at the nearest time out of harm’s way. There are so many beautiful and good girls, who dream of making him happy. He has been praised much since the movie ‘American Love Affair’ was released!”       “There’s the reason…”       “And to keep your nerves safe, I am advising you and your friend to keep yourself far from that girl not to let her hurt anyone. Standing in the way of psychos is dangerous. And when a human has relatives, who had the same problems, something would hardly help him or her.”       By this moment, Anna gets almost white after what she heard and looks into the distance with dumbfounded eyes, starting to be very afraid that she and Natalia might really suffer from the allegedly sick and crazy Raquelle. The girl can say nothing because she is too shocked by Simon’s statement, who is silently whooping after successfully completing one of his missions.       “Yeah…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully. “You’re right…”       “But even if my words did not make you sure that your friend was sick and loved only herself, you can keep supporting Raquelle,” Simon says thoughtfully. “But I am advising you to be careful with her because she is very dangerous. If you give a reason, she will explode like a bomb and destroy everything in her way… If it happens, it will be too late to change and regret something…”       “You…” Anna swallows up nervously. “Made me… Think…”       “So, I am very glad,” Simon smiles slyly. “I am glad you listened to me.”       “Yeah… Thanks…”       “Anyway, I warned you. You will decide what to do. I don’t want to insist upon anything.”       “I got it…”       “But don’t worry, that girl will not stay unpunished,” Simon promises confidently. “I will do my best for your friend to go where she belongs.”       “If it’s so… She… Better… Get… Therapy…”       “Right!” Simon falls into silence for two seconds. “Oh, alright, I think I will end our talk. Thank you for agreeing to listen to me.”       “You’re welcome…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully.       “All the best, my sweet Anna. Take care of yourself. Maybe, I will call you again a little later.”       Simon turns off the call with a sly smile, and then Anna hears only beeps ringing on the phone. Which wakes her up from a trance and makes her realize that she would no longer have to hear this voice that seemed to be disgusting but later became either nice or at least fine.       “Goodbye…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully.       After looking into the distance with her widely open eyes for a few seconds, Anna being a little dumbfounded puts her mobile phone on the bedside table and shakes her head, being really scared by this call. Which made her doubt whether it would be right to keep communicating with Raquelle. It made her think that it might be dangerous for her and Natalia. And actually, for those, who know Raquelle. Especially, now, when the situation is tense enough, her friend may show the real her and make everybody sure that Simon did not lie against her wish.       “My gosh, isn’t Raquelle really healthy?” Anna asks herself quietly, closing her mouth with a hand. “Did the modeling business make her mental health much worse? And now, when she definitely overworked and ran into this situation, she might go out of her mind.”       Anna shakes her head.       “Simon is absolutely right…” Anna says thoughtfully. “That girl may show herself… Show the real her…”       Anna swallows up nervously.       “Oh, gosh…” Anna exhales sharply. “Gosh…”       Anna sits on the bed and grabs her head with both hands.       “What if Mr. Cameron was right when he didn’t want Raquelle to become a model so hard?” Anna asks herself. “What if he knew something like this would happen to his granddaughter? What if he tried to save her, but that girl didn’t listen to him and eventually brought everything to going crazy. And she got manically obsessed with her career… Obsessed with a wish to prove something to someone…”       Anna shakes her head, barely holding down tears and being really frightened by what Simon told her.       “Does she really want to seem fluffy and sweet to everyone and is hiding her mental problems so hard?” Anna asks herself with horror in her eyes. “As far as I know, her mother, as Simon said, was really out of her mind after Raquelle’s birth. Mr. Cameron and Alicia, who fought with her sister, can confirm it.”       Anna exhales sharply.       “Is everything repeating?” Anna asks herself. “Is the same waiting for Raquelle? Is she gonna do what her mother did? Is she gonna piss everybody off and go insane? Would it really be better for Terrence to run from a girl like her before it’s too late?”       Every new second, Anna starts getting more nervous, refusing to believe that her friend would really do that. To be clear, she does believe Raquelle could not do that. However, her mental issues could easily make her do something horrible that might end badly for those, who surround her.       “My gosh, how awful…” Anna shakes her head. “Oh, my gosh…”       Anna closes her mouth with a hand and puts it to her heart, which is beating fast.       “No…” Anna pronounces in a little shaking voice. “No… Meeting Raquelle is dangerous for me now… I don’t wanna suffer because of her.”       Anna swallows up nervously.       “It would be better to stop speaking to Raquelle for a while…” Anna says thoughtfully. “I’m afraid to be next to people, who have mental issues. Now we have the situation when Cameron may really get nuts and do something.”       Anna glances at the window.       “Yeah…” Anna pronounces confidently. “I will not contact her… Or she might really do something terrible to us. Do what Simon talked about. There’s something about his words that makes me believe him… That girl is really kind of sick… So, I’d better stay far from her.”       Anna embraces herself with her arms.       “Yeah, I need to talk to Natalia about it and tell her that she should stop speaking to Raquelle for a while…” Anna decides. “And it would be great to warn Terrence. Before he suffers… If only Raquelle didn’t do something more horrible than her mother did to her father. And her sister… We can’t let it happen… We can’t do this…”       It seems like Simon’s plan started coming true little by little. As a result, Raquelle’s friends are starting to abandon her because of what he said and because of their fear for their lives. Forgetting all the promises they gave somehow… Maybe, Ringer did not make Anna absolutely sure that Raquelle is really mentally sick and might be dangerous to people. But he definitely made her have doubts and think if it would be dangerous for her if she kept speaking to her friend and supporting her. And most likely, Anna might be struck out of the list of people, who Raquelle could count on without a doubt…       

***

      Evening. It’s about six hours. The day is getting closer to the end. Simon and Richard are in one of the sports bars in the city, in which there are not so many people, having a good mood, drinking some non-alcohol drinks, and watching a hockey game along with everybody rooting for their favorite team. And while watching the game, Richard had the pleasure to tell about today and the way he completed one more mission from Simon.       “By the way, Simon, I completed your mission,” Richard says confidently, taking a sip of a drink.       “What mission?” Simon frowns slightly, holding a high glass of drink in his hands.       “I scared our blonde-haired beauty.”       “Come on?”       “I tracked her down.”       “Wow… Where did you find her?”       “I was just walking in the city, passing by a certain place, and saw her walking all alone. So, I watched her a little and decided to scare her.”       “Wow…” Simon smiles slightly. “So, didn’t you even have to go her home?”       “I did not do it,” Richard raises his head proudly. “Luck was on my side today.”       “Excellent…” Simon takes a little sip of the drink. “What did you tell her?”       “What you wanted,” Richard replies confidently. “If she or someone yet went to the police, they would be dead. And I told her everything you said about Terrence and Raquelle’s relationship… The fact that they are together just because of passion and sexual affection. But they will break up soon and forget about being married.”       “And I am ready to bet that girl denied that their relationship exists because of that,” Simon smiles slyly.       “Oh, she really did! She tried to make me sure that they loved each other and would do anything for the one they love.”       “Either that gal knows nothing about what’s really happening to the relationship of her friend, or she doesn’t want to admit that you and I are right.”       “Who knows, Simon…”       “By the way…” Simon takes a little sip of the drink. “How much did that girl get scared when she saw you?”       “Well, how to say…” Richard pronounces thoughtfully and also takes a sip of the drink. “Honestly, I thought I would have had a deal with a great coward. But I didn’t…”       “So, isn't she a coward?”       “Not, the fuck! She was pretending to be sassy! Trying to snap and threatening to go to the police.”       “And I hope you did not believe her?”       “Come on, boss!” Richard exclaims. “Of course, no!”       “Wonderful!”       “You should’ve seen her big eyes! The whole life of her probably passed by her eyes when I talked to her and flirted with her a little.”       “Come on?” Simon laughs shyly. “Did you flirt with her?”       “I could not resist! That blonde is too sexy and attractive. And I don’t care that she is older than me.”       “I get it, man, I get it…” Simon takes a sip of the drink. “No man would be able to resist.”       “But I’m going to say one thing. That girl is not liable to fear. Natalia would not definitely cry if she heard a couple of words of threatens.”       “Yeah…” Simon agrees. “She is a coward but loves showing off.”       “Your dearest Raquelle's friend is quite a sassy girl.”       “Absolutely agree,” Simon takes a couple of sips of the drink. “She wants to seem tough but can’t do this.”       “I’d watch her if she ran into real bandits. Or a man, who would love to fuck her against her wish. How she would fight with him.”       “I think she would be happy. Natalia never misses a chance to shake her ass for a young guy.”       “She does it at her will. But what if she is harassed by a man she does not like?”       “She would hang out with him anyway! If that man had much money, he would have a very good chance to get her attention.”       “I wouldn’t personally believe if I was told a girl from a rich family would decide to date a guy that got only underwear and a tool brush.”       “By the way, one of my familiars saw her in a nightclub, a few days ago.”       “Really?”       “Yes! He told me that girl was openly flirting with a young man.”       “That’s how…”       “Oh, yeah! He said she came to him, and that one was happy to have fun with a beautiful, sexy girl.”       “I’m not surprised.”       “But actually, my familiar has seen that blonde in those places not for the first time.”       “M-m-m…” Richard smiles slyly. “So, is she a permanent client of such places like that?”       “So true! She often spends time with some men. Who, however, consider her just a toy for fun. They’d fuck her and forget her the following day as if nothing happened.”       “Does your acquaintance know her personally if he recognized Raquelle’s friend?”       “Yes, somehow he spent a good time with her.” Simon drinks a little bit of his drink. “But after having one meeting, they stopped communicating. And that girl kept picking on other men. It’s one of the reasons why my friend did not want to continue to communicate with her.”       “And what about her?” Richard asks. “Didn’t Natalia recognize him? Or didn’t she see him?”       “I guess she does not remember him. She walked by him quietly and did not even look at him…”       “Didn’t she say hello?”       “Oh, no!” Simon smirks evilly. “What you want, boy! When you flirt with so many men almost every single day, you quickly forget previous men. If you ask her to call all of her admirers, she will not call even a half of them.”       “That’s true,” Richard nods.       “But my familiar did memorize that cutie very well. And he recognizes her every time she comes to a dance club to pick up a new man.”       “Anyway, she’s got a rich experience in communicating with men.”       “Yeah, she’s a fickle girl…”       “She just knows she’s beautiful and sexy. So, that’s what she is using.”       “She’d have something to remember.”       “I hope she won’t stay alone because no good man would love to be with a girl, who has such a rich list of exes.”       “We will see, Simon… We will do…”       Simon says nothing and just smirks quietly and drinks a little bit from his glass. Richard laughs quietly and moves his eyes to the TV to watch the hockey game, which almost all the visitors to the bar are watching.       “What an awful pass!” Richard resents. “Where you hit! You’ve hit the post enough! Idiots!”       “Do you really care about it?” Simon asks.       “Sure! I also love watching soccer. But hockey is way better.”       “That’s how…”       “The Ice Hockey Championship will start in two months, and I will have the pleasure of standing by the USA team. And now I am watching NHL games. Washington Capitals vs. Los Angeles Kings.”       “Alright… I am personally obsessed with old movies. I really love movies of the twentieth century. Many of them are true masterpieces. Nobody could film something much better.”       “C’mon, it’s boring!”       “It’s not boring! You know how many interesting movies I have watched for my whole life.”       “I can get pleasure only from watching comedies. Movies with deep meaning are not for me.”       “If I had a chance to become a director, I would film true masterpieces. Which would be no worse than the greatest movies of those times.”       Richard says nothing, just exhales quietly, and moves his eyes to the TV.       “Washington Capitals is the best!” Richard exclaims. “Ye-a-ah!”       Richard makes a loud whoop, raising a hand clenched in a fist up, and then those, who stand by the same team, shout it, as well.       “I got it all…” Simon smiles slightly.       Silence settles in the talk of Richard and Simon because the young man is closely watching the game alongside many visitors to the bar.       “Hey, boy, tell me how you flirted with the blonde,” Simon says with a sly smile.       “Well, I told her a couple of words about her beauty,” Richard confesses. “And when I came very close to her and touched her hair, she shook as if I was a beast.”       “That’s how…”       “Oh, you would see how she was shaking when I said she was beautiful and sexy. She heard that for the first time…”       “Really?”       “And I did not lie to her. She is really a beauty! If she was younger than me, I would definitely try to hook her up. Well, or I’d use her to get incredible sex.” Richard smiles slyly. “Something tells me that she is very good at that.”       “I would like to see her face when you were trying to pick her up,” Simon laughs shyly.       “And imagine me getting to seduce her and making her sure to stand by us. And she would help us take revenge on Raquelle and poison her life…”       “Oh, it would be just incredible!” Simon smiles widely. “We would need an alias like her.”       “Sorry that she refused when I suggested her that.”       “You suggested she become one of us?”       “Aha.”       “So… Sorry… Very sorry that she missed such a wonderful chance…”       “Hey, do you remember you said you knew how to make her fight with Raquelle?”       “I do…” Simon thinks about something for two seconds. “And you know… I think it would be enough for us just to tell Raquelle that Natalia is standing by us to make her have doubts about her friend’s loyalty.”       “But she refused!”       “And what? Cameron would believe it anyway! We need only to work a little. And I already know how to make her get mad at her friend.”       “With your skill to persuade… I don’t doubt it.”       “I can do this,” Simon says with his head proudly raised and takes a couple of sips of drink. “Now, when Raquelle started to lose the support of her friends and boyfriend, it would be much easier for me to turn her against her own friend. Make her tear that one apart… And unconsciously prove that my words about being mentally ill are true.”       “Do it then!” Richard encourages cheerfully. “Don’t waste time!”       “Of course, Richy… Sure…”       “If you want to, you can ask me for help.” Richard drinks a little bit of drink from his glass. “I would be happy to confirm that Natalia became our accomplice and is now helping us with everything.”       “Yeah, your help would be good…”       “May the girls fight with each other not only because they are jealous of each other's beauty and success.”       “You are absolutely right…” Simon drinks a little bit of the drink with a sly smile. “Moreover, Natalia could have a real reason to envy Raquelle. And I want to make Raquelle sure about it.”       “Why would she envy?” Richard wonders.       “Think better, man… Yes, maybe, Natalia is really quite a beautiful girl of the tall modeling height, with long, gorgeous blonde hair, a very feminine body, and a memorable face… But she has nothing more to be proud of…”       “Why does she have nothing? She’s got a very rich list of men!”       “Right… But there are other things. For example, Raquelle, I must confess, built a brilliant career. She is surrounded by the love of her fans and got quite a handsome and successful young actor as her boyfriend… Yes, they are about to break up soon, but still… That gal already dated someone, but nobody even proposes to Natalia to have a wedding.”       “Listen, Simon, you’re right!” Richard smiles widely. “A more successful friend is such a good reason for any girl to envy so hard and dream of doing her best to ruin that person's life.”       “That’s what I mean!” Simon clicks his fingers. “One girl needs any reason to be jealous of another. Money, boys, career, beauty… They’re ready to cut each other’s throat for anything.”       “I do not doubt this plan would perfectly work. Those girls would one hundred percent fight to the hell, and Raquelle would surely pull Natalia’s hair out because she is allegedly pretending to be a friend and planning revenge.”       “That’s why I’m going to make an accent on that.”       At this moment, Simon and Richard stop talking because one of the hockey teams scores a goal, and people in the bar start whooping happily and drinking something from drinks.       “GO-O-O-O-OAL!” Richard shouts at the top of his lungs. “Washington scored! Finally!”       “The goal is beautiful…” Simon notices with a slight smile when the goal of one of the members of the team is shown again.       “The goalkeeper didn’t even realize how that one did it!”       “Excellent, guys!” Simon loudly claps his hands. “Excellent!”       “Listen, let’s drink for those cool guys!”       “Yes!”       “For Washington Capitals!”       Simon and Richard click their glasses against each other and drink along with everybody with pleasure, being happy with the long-awaited goal from their favorite team. A few seconds later, the people calm down a little and keep watching the game.       “So, where did we stop?” Richard asks thoughtfully.       “On the way to make Natalia and Raquelle fight,” Simon recalls confidently.       “Listen, I believe it's strange that, despite having such a fabulous look, she has not found a boyfriend. Why do men get attracted to her just because of such a beautiful face and such a gorgeous feminine body?”       “What if she claims too much? And men cannot make her unreal wishes come true?”       “Yeah… Maybe… She is a certain princess! A girl from a provided family. She probably always got everything she wanted when she was a child.”       “And she doesn’t probably hide it. She doesn’t hide that her mommy and daddy have a lot of money.”       “It’s strange men don’t get caught on their money. Anyone would be happy to live in luxury. Not only do girls look for rich men and want high-costed gifts. Men also would not mind getting a sugar mommy.”       “Yeah, I'm also interested in it…” Richard pronounces thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “That princess probably has too many unreal claims. In the opposite case, she would've gotten married a long time ago.”       “You know, I personally wonder to know who would eventually become her boyfriend and agree to make the caprices of that rich girl come true.”       “What if she has nobody? What if the friend of your dearest Raquelle stays alone forever?”       “Well… If she does not refuse from claims that could be like those that a member of a royal family has, she will have to get a couple of cats and give her love to them.”       “Oh, c’mon!” Richard waves his hand. “She will find a rich old man and live on his account. And he will be spending his money on her and using her eternal beauty.”       “Just like her friend, who she is going to fight with at the nearest time. And who is going to break up with her boyfriend. He is going to be afraid of being with an allegedly sick, hysterical girl and break up with her once and forever.”       “Do you think Raquelle would meet an old man, live on his account, and keep building her career? Not being afraid that the man would need her attention. Not thinking she would have to pay for her wish to live a beautiful life.”       “Maybe. Of course, if she survives. I can’t promise I wouldn’t love to kill her at the end of my revenge.”       “She would not have to search for a man.”       “Right…”       Silence settles in the talk for two seconds, during which Richard glances aside and takes a little sip of his drink.       “By the way, what about Raquelle’s second friend?” Richard asks. “Did you call her, as you wanted?”       “Oh, yeah, I called that girl today,” Simon smiles slyly. “Anna…”       “She got scared to death?”       “I think so…” Simon takes a sip from his glass. “Ah, she was talking to me so quietly…”       “So scarily… An innocent angel literally came out of heaven.”       “Was she speaking like that from scare? Or that’s her usual voice?”       “Usual. That young girl has got a very quiet and soft voice. Melodic…”       “You said that she was raised in an intelligent family.”       “Yes, they kept that girl under hard control and banned her from much.”       “Wow…”       “You know…” Simon glances aside. “At some moment, I even got pity for her. I didn’t want to scare such a tender creature… But I braced myself and talked to her, not feeling sorry for her.”       “Did you tell her about Raquelle? About her alleged mental issues?”       “I did! I said her beloved friend was mentally sick and could literally kill someone.”       “She believed?”       “Maybe, she did not, but I did my best to make her doubt that Raquelle was healthy. I tried to find good enough arguments. I told her about my alleged familiar people, who knew about her hysterics… About her managers, who allegedly threaten to sue anyone for posting something bad about Cameron… Reminded her that Raquelle’s mommy also went a little insane after the birth of her daughter.”       “Raquelle’s mommy?”       “Yes!”       “She was out of the mind?”       “Exactly! I don’t know if it had to do with her pregnancy, after which many women go crazy, but Elizabeth, that was the name of her mother, sucked much blood out of her family.”       “That’s how…”       “That’s the truth. Besides, Anna knows about it very well. She knows that the mommy of her friend was crazy.”       “Listen, is it happening that Raquelle is living the life of her mommy?”       “I could say so…” Simon replies thoughtfully. “Even if Raquelle hasn’t given birth to a child yet, and her mommy got pregnant at once after the wedding.”       “Alright…” Simon drinks a little bit while Richard glances at the TV to watch the game. “Ah, I would like to see that red-haired girl after saying goodbye to her. She was probably shaking like a little doggy… She could not believe her best friend Raquelle really had mental problems… She was afraid of suffering because of her.”       “You know, I would also believe you if I were instead of her,” Richard replies thoughtfully.       “I did say I could easily talk into people and make them sure about what I want,” Simon replies with his head proudly raised.       “I don’t doubt! Your skill to make people sure about something worked excellently again.”       “Yes, Richy…” Simon drinks a little bit from his glass. “I’ve always been able to mess people around. Always been able to find leverages, thanks to which I could control a human. Besides, I learned one thing.”       “Which?”       “When someone hears something shocking, he or she gets through a few stages, starting with denying it and finishing it with taking what he or she finds out little by little.”       “Yeah… I heard about that…”       “First, Raquelle’s friends and relatives will be denying that my words are true, but they will take this fact little by little. Everything looks quite true and is cursing me. But they will soon accept that fact. Believe me. And start pissing that girl off. From fear. From reluctance to have a deal with the mentally sick one.”       “And I think Raquelle’s friends really started to doubt her after what we told them.”       “Trust me, they already decided not to stand in her way.” Simon takes a sip of the drink with his head proudly raised. “Everything looks quite true. I reflect on what I am going to say very well. Because I am not an idiot that would talk to the wind.”       “I see,” Richard smiles slightly.       “And knowing the story that happened to her mother after the birth of her daughter, everybody will make much more sure that the gal may have some mental issues.”       “Hey, Simon, do you think Raquelle herself can get excited and piss off all those people someday?”       “Of course, she can. You can actually do much in anger. And even if you start to regret something, it will be too late to change something.”       “Definitely…”       “And to make it happen, I will be confidently pushing Raquelle to do that. I will be depriving her of her closest people, turning her against them, and getting her as exhausted as possible. And when the time comes, she will start to believe that she is really sick.”       “Do you think Raquelle would start acting like a hysterical girl, not noticing that?”       “If I turn her on the right track, Raquelle may easily end up in a mental hospital.”       “What if she doesn’t believe something you’d tell her?”       “She will surely believe, Richard. Surely. I will find out what to say to make her lose her temple and start a scandal for her close people. Who will surely think that the girl is out of her mind and run away from her to save themselves.”       “If you work hard, they will start to understand you were absolutely right, and that gal is really mentally sick.”       “I shall do my best to make it real.”       “It would be great if she started a scandal for them and ruined her relationship with those people.” Richard takes a sip of the drink. “Besides, later, those people would easily tell the whole world that you slandered her. I think people would believe her closest people more than a stranger man. They could tell about the problem with that girl.”       “You’re right…” Simon smiles slyly. “Those people could really help me whitewash me… Prove to the world that I did not lie. Even if nobody still knows that it was my work. If it happened, people in the whole world would turn their backs on Raquelle.”       “It would be a nightmare for her.”       “Yes, but it's just the beginning of the horror that girl is going to get through. I just began my revenge and have not gotten her exhausted enough. My dessert is still waiting for everybody.”       “You’re right…”       “Raquelle's friends probably already realized that they would be in danger if they continued to communicate with her. And it would push them to a wish to refuse to meet that girl at the nearest time.”       “Definitely…” Richard takes a couple of sips of the drink. “Excellent plan, Simon! After that, the gal is going to literally dream of death.”       “She will not take everything I prepared for her,” Simon says confidently. “And she will not take it alone. Everybody will not care about Raquelle and her problems.”       “By the way, what are you going to do after Raquelle's friends and family do not wish to communicate with her?”       “I don’t know yet…” Simon shrugs slightly. “I’m still thinking about it… But now my main goal is, to turn them against Raquelle. And we will see later… Maybe, I come up with one more excellent idea…”       “I got you…” Richard leans on the bar table with an elbow and on his chin with the flat of his hand. “Anyway, whatever you think up, everything is going to be alright.”       “Thanks, Richy!” Simon smiles widely. “I know you believe in me.”       “It couldn’t be otherwise! To be honest, I am actually admired by you. Your power of will. Your sense of purpose. Your confidence.”       “At least someone admires me…”       “If you reveal to the world what Raquelle really is, everyone will admire you and hate that model.”       “Hey, do you remember I told you I would need your friends’ help?”       “Yup, I do!”       “So, I want to tell you we would need them if I wanted to make a second and final part of the plan come true. Would they help us?”       “Of course, Simon! My friends would help you with pleasure at any time! I need only to tell them about it and ask them to do it, and they will come to help us shortly and do whatever you’d ask them about. Those tough guys are trustworthy and have never betrayed me.”       “That's good…” Simon smiles slyly. “We do need trustworthy people…”       After drinking some drink, Simon claps Richard on the shoulder with a slight smile. And then they spend some time watching the hockey game along with the other people, some of whom resent that one football player strikes down another one.       “Oh, what a fall…” Simon winces slightly.       “Yeah…” Richard pronounces thoughtfully. “It’s a one hundred two-minute penalty!”       “I hope he will do…”       “He did… The referee did it.”       “Wonderful!”       “Oh, it seems like Los Angeles Kings are going to start the third period in the minority. A little time before the end…”       Richard and Simon watch the game for some time, which gets Ringer busier and busier, who has actually always been indifferent to sports games.       “Thank you so much, Richard,” Simon thanks with a slight smile.       “For what?” Richard specifies.       “For helping me with my business and being my wonderful partner in crime.”       “Thank you, Simon!” Richard replies with a slight smile. “Thanks for giving me a chance to make my life better.”       “I am so lucky I met you a few months ago… You always understand me at once and agree with any word of mine. You know, I do love when people agree with me…”       “I’m glad you came into my life. Thanks to you, I can hope that I will live a little bit better soon. Besides, it’s always nice to talk to someone, who is older than you… Get some life experience.”       “I’m always here for you! I’ve experienced much and could always give you a piece of wise advice.”       “Thanks, but at first, I’ve gotta get out of poverty. Wise advice would hardly be good now. I’ve always dreamed of living like a rich person. And holding at least one large bill.”       “You will do it soon, buddy,” Simon replies confidently. “We are going to have a new life, new personalities, new names, a lot of money, and all the best that a human can have.”       “I can’t wait!”       Richard takes a sip of the drink.       “I’m imagining myself being a rich macho surrounded by very beautiful girls and doing whatever I want,” Richard dreams with a wide smile.       “Trust me, when you become rich, girls will fall at your feet,” Simon says confidently. “Money impacts on some ladies much better than any love potion.”       “Do you think so?” Richard laughs shyly.       “Sure!”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Richard and Simon look around and see people, who are either sitting at tables with some drinks in their hands, or drinking them while standing near a bar table, and someone tries to flirt with sympathetic waitresses working here. But whatever they are doing, almost everybody is carefully watching the hockey game that everyone is watching on a big TV.       “The important thing is that we don’t give up,” Richard says confidently. “Don’t refuse what you really want.”       “I am not going to do it.” Simon smiles slyly and puts his glass on the bar table. “I’m not the type of person, who gives up so easily.”       “Are you really determined about your wish to revenge Raquelle for the sufferings she gave you and trying to sue you for slandering her?”       “Yes, Richy, I am absolutely determined. I always go until the end and fight until the last breath. Even if I die, I will not get back!”       “Even if you have barriers in your way?”       “Even if there are many of them!”       “In this case, I am really proud of you, boss. I believe in you and know you will make your dream come true.”       “I'm proud of myself not less than you are, my loyal friend.” Simon takes his glass with a drink in his hand with a wide smile. “And right now, I am suggesting that we drink for success.”       “Yes, with pleasure,” Richard agrees and also takes his glass in his hand.       “For our business to go on as smoothly as it is now.”       “For success!” Richard and Simon pronounce at the same time.       Simon and Richard raise their glasses with a drink and take a few sips from their glasses.       “So, let’s watch the hockey game?” Richard suggests. “Literally two minutes before the end of the second period.”       “Yes,” Simon agrees. “Although I’m not a lover of sports games, this game is quite interesting.”       “C’mon, Washington Capitals!”       Richard confidently shouts words of support for his favorite team, and someone from the visitors repeats them after him. He and Simon have the pleasure of watching the hockey game closely alongside the other people, who are not shy about rooting for their favorites loudly and swearing when football players unsuccessfully try to score a goal. And of course, they do not forget to drink their drinks, which are getting gone sip by sip.       

***

      Five days later. Raquelle’s friends are not going to support her, at least with good words, even if they promised not to leave her and made her sure that nothing could ruin their friendship. Nobody has visited the girl in the past few days. They got so scared of suffering somehow that they decided to break contact with her at such a hard for her moment. And they probably thought the words about her allegedly mental problems could be true…       And it should be noted that Raquelle’s relatives do not also wish to talk to her because they have not called her and asked how she is doing. The girl has tried to do it one or two times, but nobody has answered her. Phones are silent. No notifications about missed calls or incoming messages on the screen. Nobody cares what’s happening to the girl. At least, she thinks so…       Anyway, Raquelle is now experiencing what she was afraid to run into more than anything. Everybody left her alone, and they do not rush to find out how she is doing. The girl has nobody to ask for help and support. She has to try to get through everything and find a solution by herself. But she does not know how to help herself. She does not know how to deal with the one, who began to take away everybody, who was dear to her.       Raquelle has not also talked to Terrence since they fought for the first time since they started to date. Moreover, the man has been disappearing somewhere since the day of the fight and could easily be back home at late night. And he has not even tried to talk to the girl and apologize to her for his behavior. Even if he regretted being quite rude to her at first. Something literally made him forget it and barely take the pretense of the girl. As if MacClife runs away somewhere not to see the one to make him feel aggression and hate on purpose. Somehow, Raquelle tried to ask the servants where Terrence could go, but none of them answered because he said nothing to anyone. Even the security of the neighborhood could not help the girl… However, after that, she stopped caring about it and quietly accepts the fact that her boyfriend always goes somewhere. She just does not care. She does not care about what he does or says.       Because all of her close people left her alone, Raquelle feels lonely and needed by nobody… She wants to cry because nobody wants to help and support her somehow. And the girl does not guess that everybody turned their backs on her because they believed in her alleged mental issues and were afraid of communicating with the mentally ill girl, who could do anything.       Now Raquelle is sitting on the bench placed on the back of the sofa and watching the horizons with sadness in her eyes, trying to relax a little and dream of something good. No clouds in the sky, and the weather is warm and sunny. The amazingly warm weather for the beginning of spring. But even this wonderful atmosphere does not make Raquelle’s mood better or make her think of something nice that would distract her from what has been torturing her for a few days.       “My gosh, it’s been a few days, but nothing is changing…” Raquelle thinks with sadness in her eyes, sitting on the bench and pressing her legs against herself at some moment. “No hope… No salvation… Nothing that would help me solve this problem…”       Raquelle sighs heavily.       “Sometimes I wanna disappear and never run into those I know,” Raquelle thinks. “Make everyone believe that I died… And start to live a new life. Become a different person that nobody knows. I wish I had a chance to do it…”       Raquelle swallows up nervously, glancing at the horizons she sees from the place where she is sitting.       “As I thought, everybody probably started to think I was guilty of what’s happening to us,” Raquelle thinks. “Even if they swore they wouldn’t leave me and wouldn't believe that stinker… They’d always support me… Not at all! Now, when I really need support, there is nobody by my side! Everybody gave a damn about me! Nobody cares about what’s happening to me. As if even if I die, nobody will probably care about it… Or I will be remembered only in that case…”       Raquelle presses her legs much closer to herself and leans her chin on her knees.       “My friends…” Raquelle thinks with sadness in her eyes. “They left me… Natalia and Anna haven’t visited me for a few days. Even if they promised not to leave and always to be by my side… And often visit… But now what? Nothing! Everybody forgot me! Forgot! There is not me!”       Raquelle shakes her head.       “Even Grandpa and Aunt disappeared, and they don’t answer my calls…” Raquelle thinks. “Do they also not care about me? Did they think they could forget me after I began to live with my boyfriend? As if they were waiting for me to get a boyfriend and move into his house. As if they would’ve agreed to give me to him even without marriage. Even if I had decided just to live at his house.”       Raquelle moves her eyes up to the sky for two seconds, seeing a little crowd of birds flying high above her.       “Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle sighs heavily. “I have nobody to share my experiences with. And I’m silent about asking for help or advice… It seems like people are right when they say you shouldn’t rely on others. You can believe nobody because people can take their words back… Just like those, who surround me, did. They washed my brains and then hid. Nobody needs me… And I probably became guilty of what’s happening to me.”       Raquelle closes her eyes for two seconds, sits on the bench for some time, and looks into the distance with sadness in her eyes, sighing quietly at times, wishing everything was as good as it was before, and regretting not appreciating the time that was careless and quiet.       And then Blair comes to her a little hesitantly. As if she read the girl’s mind about a wish to share what she is worried about with someone. Even if she was actually walking by to do her business.       “Oh, Raquelle, you’re here…” Blair pronounces hesitantly. “I didn’t know you were here… I thought you left somewhere.”       “As you see, I didn’t leave,” Raquelle replies thoughtfully.       “Erm… Are you alright?” Blair bends her arms at the elbows. “You look kind of bad…”       “No, I’m alright,” Raquelle puts on a smile. “Just feel a little sad…”       “Sad?”       “Yes…”       Blair watches Raquelle with sadness in her eyes, shifting her weight from one foot to another. And two seconds later, the girl moves her legs off the bench, slightly claps on the place next to her and says:       “Sit with me for a while?”       “Me?” Blair rounds her eyes.       “Talk a little…”       “Well…”       “Nevermind, I don’t insist. I’m just suggesting.”       “Erm… Since you’re suggesting… Why not?”       Blair comes closer to Raquelle a little hesitantly and sits down next to her.       “Don’t be afraid,” Raquelle pronounces shyly. “I would do nothing bad to you.”       “I’m not afraid…” Blair shrugs slightly. “Not afraid at all.”       Blair falls into silence for two seconds and moves her sad eyes to Raquelle.       “Sorry for meddling in your business…” Blair says hesitantly. “Are you… Worried about what’s lately happening to you?”       “Yup…” Raquelle nods. “I’m worried…”       “I get it…”       “Oh…” Raquelle inclines her head and sighs heavily. “So much has rained thick upon me… I don’t even know if I can take it all…”       “Is that man the one to be guilty of everything?” Blair asks hesitantly. “The one that sent you the letter? Which you read along with your friend!”       “Yes… He promised to turn my life into hell and has already reached something.” Raquelle sighs much heavier than before. “My friends haven’t visited me or called me for a few days. They decided to ignore me as if I don’t exist.”       “Did you fight?” Blair wonders.       “Nope, they just got scared. They’re afraid Simon would love to do something to them… And they gave a damn about their promises about never leaving me.”       “What if the reason is different? Your friends are actually very good!”       “No, Blair, they left me…” Raquelle protests confidently. “Left me when I needed their help and support so badly. The girls forgot that they recently called themselves my best friends forever. The way they said nothing would ruin our friendship.”       Raquelle shakes her head.       “And now I understand that nothing can last forever,” Raquelle adds. “Even a long-time friendship might be over early or late.”       “But the girls didn’t tell you they didn’t want to befriend you,” Blair recalls.       “Why would they say something? Everything is clear! When I got serious problems, nobody got a wish to help me. So, they aren’t my real friends. Not the friends that would go through fire and water for me. They do talk to the wind. Both of them.”       “Raquelle…”       “I stayed alone, Blair… All alone. I have nobody that would hug me and say everything’s gonna be okay.”       “What about your relatives?”       “They don’t also have a wish to talk to me. I somehow tried to call Aunt and Grandpa, but none of them answered me.”       “Maybe, they were busy? Worked or went somewhere to visit someone or do business?”       “I also sent them messages. But they didn’t reply… And I’m sure they didn’t even read them…”       “Maybe, your friends could leave you, but your family would never do.”       “Yeah…” Raquelle chuckles quietly. “They were waiting for the day I’d finally meet a man and move to his house. Grandfather and Aunt were literally forcing me to find a boyfriend for so many years. And when I found the one, both of them were very happy, gave me to him, and thought they could forget me and give a damn about my business. And their talks about minding the life with a man without marriage is just bullshit.”       “No, Raquelle, don’t say that,” Blair protests softly. “Your family didn't forget you.”       “You don’t know them… Every day, I was getting sick of hearing that it was my time to get married and give birth to children. They were literally ready to ban me from working to make sure I would finally meet a man.”       “They were just worried about you. Worried that you might’ve stayed alone if it had been time for them to leave this world.”       “Yeah, sure…” Raquelle moves her eyes into the distance. “If I hadn’t gotten a boyfriend, I would’ve lost patience. And decided to move… Live alone… Not to hear that it was my time to think of marrying.”       “You think you’re the only one?” Blair wonders. “No, Raquelle! Many girls get through it! And men may be put under pressure. You’re not the only one to suffer from permanent questions about a wedding and children.”       “I started to get tortured by this question when I turned eighteen. Both of them are for early marriages and believe you should get married when you’re young.”       “Sometimes my mother also tells me it’s my time to think of a wedding. Yes, she doesn’t make me do it. But we sometimes have this type of talk.”       “They wouldn’t have probably cared who I would’ve gotten married to. And even if a man had been bad, Grandfather and Aunt would’ve told me to live with him.”       “No, Raquelle, don’t say that. They wish you the best and wouldn’t have let you get married to a bad man.”       “Honestly, I am starting to doubt if I actually want to get married…” Raquelle confesses a little hesitantly. “If I actually want to date men…”       “Why? Aren’t you happy in the relationship?”       “Nope, but… I… I can’t say I’m absolutely happy…”       “But you’re loved.”       “I doubt Terrence loves me. And I am starting to think more and more about whether my decision to become his girlfriend was good.”       “So, did you begin to date him just to calm your family down?”       “I dunno, Blair…” Raquelle falls into silence, getting sadder and sadder, while Blair looks at the girl with pity in her eyes. “But everything hasn’t lately been as good as it was before. And Terrence has disappeared somewhere lately.”       “Did you fight?” Blair asks.       “I could say so… He screamed at me… When I began to talk about his father. Who MacClife talked to his mother about.”       “His father?”       “He went loose. I never saw him being like that. Even when we fought as hard as a cat and a dog at first. And I was really scared.”       “And when are you going to talk to him about it?”       “I doubt we’ll actually talk again…” Raquelle sighs quietly. “We haven’t talked in the past few days after that fight. Besides, I've seen him only a couple of times. He’s hiding from me.”       Raquelle chuckles shyly.       “Yeah…” Raquelle pronounces thoughtfully. “He screamed at me and is now running away from me. Instead of apologizing to me.”       “Listen, Raquelle…” Blair pronounces a little hesitantly.       “I don’t get it… What did I do to make him keep his nose up and refuse to come to me and apologize to me for his behavior?”       “The case is about his father…”       “Father? Do you think he got nuts because I just asked why he and his father got such a bad relationship?”       “I’m sure about it.”       “But why?”       “You know that I've been working at Terrence's house since he bought this house before you began to live together. And one of the things I learned is that he gets hurt when someone talks about his father. I mean, he can’t handle them at all.”       “Can’t take them at all?”       “You shouldn’t have asked him about his father. Terrence always gets very angry when he hears something about that man.”       “Really?”       “He always barely holds himself down when his mother starts talking about him. She does it every time they meet or talk on the phone.”       “But why? Why does react to that so excitedly? What did that man do to him? I remember he got tense on the day I introduced him to Grandfather Frederick because of his question about why I met only his mother. But I didn’t pay attention to that and didn’t wanna meddle in this case. But now… Now I wonder to know what it all means.”       “As far as I know, his father was a very cruel person.”       “Cruel?” Raquelle rounds her eyes.       “He beat Mrs. MacClife multiple times when that man was married to Terrence’s mother.”       “He was a witness?”       “It was happening before the eyes of the little Terrence…”       “How young he was?”       “Very young. And honestly, I’m a little surprised that he could remember it because he couldn’t even speak at all or was just learning how to do it.”       “Maybe, someone told him?”       “Probably. But Terrence has believed that his father is a tyrant for his whole life.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle shakes her head. “Is that really true?”       “His mother hardly told him that. Parents don’t usually tell children about that and actually aim to pretend that everything is alright.”       “Do you think it could be the truth?”       “Maybe, that’s the truth…”       “Hey, who expressed a wish to get divorced?”       “Erm… As far as I know… It was Terrence’s father.”       “Terrence’s father?”       “Yes…” Blair falls into silence for a second. “Somehow, Terrence’s father took his stuff and left home. Leaving his little son and his mother alone on their own.”       “Oh, gosh…” Raquelle rounds her eyes and closes her mouth with a hand.       “On one side, I could understand Terrence because his father did not a very good thing. He was mocking his mother and left her… That’s the act of by far not the best man.”       “But if that’s the truth, why did Mrs. MacClife forgive Terrence’s father after everything she got through? As I understand, that woman keeps communicating with him!”       “MacClife can’t just keep being mad for a long time,” Blair replies quietly. “She’s got a very kind heart… Even too kind… She’s never mad at anyone. At least I didn’t hear something about that woman hating someone.”       “Wow… To forgive the one, who beat you and speak to the one as if nothing happened.”       “She keeps a good relationship with him and sometimes meets and calls him.”       “And where is that man now?”       “A few years ago, Terrence's father got married to another woman.”       “Another woman?”       “They’ve got children. It seems like two… Boys…”       “So, it means Terrence has brothers?”       “Yeah, but he doesn’t call them like this and refuses to recognize them as his brothers. He calls them no other way but children of my father, whom he made with another woman.”       “But they aren’t guilty of what their father did.”       “Alas, but Mr. MacClife doesn’t understand it and wants to hear nothing about accepting them.”       “That’s how…”       “Mrs. MacClife has been trying to persuade Terrence at least to talk to his father and meet his brothers for many years, but he refuses.”       “What does he want from him?”       “Explain something… Explain his behavior… Reasons for his actions…”       “Why doesn’t she want to explain? I’m sure she knows something.”       “Alas, she believes only her ex-husband should explain everything. He did a bad thing – he should explain it. But Terrence doesn’t need explanations.”       “Wow…”       “So, that’s how…” Blair tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “That’s the story.”       “Alright…” Raquelle nods. “That’s why he reacted like that…”       “Now, do you understand it’s hurtful for him to remember the one, who did it to his mother and him?”       “I do… I understand the way he treats his father is explainable.”       “I understand him well. Because I wouldn’t also forgive a father, who would do it to my mother. But thank God, my dad was a wonderful man.”       “You said he died.”       “Yup, died… A long time ago…”       “Alright…” Raquelle sets her sad eyes into the distance. “Nevertheless, I don’t understand Mrs. MacClife. I don’t understand why she keeps communicating with her ex-husband after what that man did to her.”       “Ah, I don’t understand her, either,” Blair shrugs slightly. “Mrs. MacClife took that humiliation, but she forgave him so easily. I wouldn’t stay with this type of man and would run away from him…”       “Me too…”       Raquelle falls into silence for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. On one hand, she is mad at Terrence because he raised a voice against her and has not recognized his fault yet. But on the other hand, she feels really sorry for him because he watched his mother Rebecca suffer since he was a child, does his best to make her life better, and does not overload her with his problems.       “But that’s good she tries to make her son sure that he doesn’t have to do with what happens between her and his father,” Blair says thoughtfully. “Because Terrence wasn’t beaten in childhood…”       “He actually tries to keep her away from stress,” Raquelle confesses. “He doesn’t overload her with his problems.”       “That’s right. Terrence could easily tell his friends everything, but he hides much from his mother.”       “Hey…” Raquelle moves her eyes to Blair. “How did you know it? How do you know what happened between Terrence’s mother and father?”       “Somehow, I talked to his mother when she came to visit Terrence,” Blair confesses. “He wasn’t home, and she decided to wait for him. So… We talked a little… I told her something about my life, and she told me about hers. And at some moment, Mrs. MacClife told me that story.”       “Did she say Terrence’s father beat her?”       “She said he thought so.”       “Thought?”       “I don’t know why she said it… Maybe, it’s hurtful for her to think about it… Or maybe, that woman decided to forget everything that happened…”       “Hm…” Raquelle frowns slightly. “It’s all kind of very strange…”       “Yeah, but she asked to tell nobody about it. Especially, Terrence himself.” Blair keeps silent for two seconds to clear her throat. “So, I’m asking you not to tell anyone about it. Or it will be bad for me. And I might get fired for being too talkative. But I can’t lose my job. I am the only one to provide for my family.”       “Don't worry, Blair,” Raquelle smiles slightly, putting a hand on Blair’s shoulder. “I won't tell anyone what you told me. It will be our secret.”       “Right?”       “Right.”       “Thank you so much…” Blair smiles shyly. “You’re very nice to me.”       Blair and Raquelle share a slight smile and say nothing for a few seconds. They could talk about something yet, but Terrence comes to them, who literally runs to the back of the house, being quite mad and looking like he is ready to tell someone. The two girls move their eyes to Terrence and do nothing while expecting his next actions. And MacClife himself throws a contemptuous look at Raquelle, and, breathing too heavily with his hands clenched in fists, frostily tells Blair:       “Blair, leave us alone, please.”       Saying no word, Blair gets up from the bench and goes away quickly enough, leaving the back of the house and deciding to go to do her work.       And Raquelle is sitting in the same place and starting to understand that her heart starts beating several times faster than before from fear and anxiety. The girl does not know what to expect from Terrence, who looks like he is ready to kill her. He definitely came not to apologize to her. He came to fight with her again. That’s what Raquelle thinks about when looking at her boyfriend with scared, widely open eyes and literally dreaming of running away from him as far as possible. She sees the man’s eyes are full of anger and hate, and he is about to do something incorrigible he might regret very much later.       When Blair hides in the house and closes the door after her, Terrence grabs Raquelle under her arms sharply and tightly and pulls her on himself, making her get up on her feet and give a quiet squeak from pain with her widely open eyes.       “Remember, bitch, if something happens to her, I will never forgive you,” Terrence hisses through his teeth, still holding Raquelle getting sharply white under her arms and keeping his cold gaze into her scared eyes. “Never! Hear me!”       “W-what?” Raquelle wonders, breathing heavily enough, and shakes his head. “Her?”       “I do not know what I will do to you if something much worse than what has already happened happens to her because of you.”       “My gosh… What are you talking about? I… I don’t u-understand you…”       “Do not pretend to be an idiot! You know everything well!”       “What do I know? Can you explain what’s going on? Instead of screaming like crazy!”       “Simon managed to reach my mother!” Terrence shouts irritably. “That’s what I am talking about!”       “Your mother?” Raquelle rounds her eyes.       “Yes, my darling!” Terrence sharply lets Raquelle’s hands go and rudely pushes her off. “Two days ago, that sick bastard called her at home and started to threaten her. He told her about you and all your business… And he even promised to visit her at the nearest time.”       “No…” Raquelle shakes her head. “No, it can’t be the truth…”       “Do I look like I am lying?” Terrence resents coldly. “Am I the fuck telling tales?”       “Erm… But…”       “Because of that call, my mother got very excited and asked me to come to her. And when she told me everything, her blood pressure got sharply stronger. It was so strong that it was impossible to make it stable. I had to call an ambulance.”       “Oh, gosh…” Raquelle folds her hands together and brings them to his mouth, looking quite anxious. “I can’t believe it… My gosh…”       “She was madly lucky that she got away from it easily,” Terrence says coldly. “What if that bastard had brought her to a heart attack! My mother would not have taken it!”       “How is she doing now? Is Mrs. MacClife alright?”       “Excellent! But if everything had been worse, she would have died! Because of you!”       “Because of me?”       “No, because of ME!” Terrence smirks loudly. “Because of me, my mother had high blood pressure that made her look so bad that I was frightened!”       “But… Wait…” Raquelle shakes her head. “But how did Simon know her phone number? How does he know her address?”       “You better ask him about it!” Terrence throws rudely. “Maybe, he tells you something!”       “My gosh… Wasn’t he bluffing? Did he really manage to find out the home addresses of those I knew?”       “You are asking me?” Terrence points at himself with a finger. “Me?”       Terrence contemptuously sniffs and crosses his arms over his chest.       “Do you dare to ask me questions, answers for which you know very well?” Terrence resents.       “How could I know it?” Raquelle throws her hands up.       “Who else could give Ringer all of our addresses and numbers?”       “I have nothing to do but tell him this type of information!”       “So, you do have! Or you really went out of your mind! You gave Ringer the phone numbers of all of your friends and relatives, and you cannot remember that!”       “The phone numbers of all my friends and our relatives?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “What are you actually talking about? Are you insane?”       “No, I am actually not insane! Unlike someone!”       “You don’t want to recognize your fault for screaming at me a few days ago for no reason, but now you come to me and start to blame me for the fact that your mother almost died.”       “You are guilty!” Terrence shouts. “GUILTY!”       “Of course!” Raquelle raises her voice, crossing her arms over her chest. “I brought her to that condition! I called her and said nobody the hell knows what and scared her very much.”       “Do not pretend to be an innocent lamb, Raquelle,” Terrence shouts. “Do not do!”       Terrence pushes Raquelle rudely to the bench, on which she sits, and crosses his arms over his chest.       “I, bitch, see you through!” Terrence throws rudely, clenching his hands tightly into fists. “I see what a nasty bitch you are.”       “I am a bitch?” Raquelle points at herself with a finger. “Seriously, MacClife?”       “Because of you, we are in trouble! BECAUSE OF YOU! You are guilty of the fact that we have to hide and shake because one crazy bastard calls everybody after taking our data from you.”       “I did not give him any numbers or addresses,” Raquelle says irritably. “I did not do!”       “Yeah, do you think Ringer threatened only my mother? No, Cameron, you are wrong! Natalia told me what happened to her a few days ago.”       “What?” Raquelle opens her eyes widely. “Natalia? What happened to her?”       “She met Simon’s accomplice! Who began to harass her openly and later threatened her and all of us.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle shakes her head sharply. “No… I don’t believe it…”       “Now the poor girl is even afraid to leave home because she is sure that Simon and his friend are chasing her everywhere.”       “It can’t be the truth…”       “It is the truth! Especially when one sick bastard has the addresses and numbers of those, who surround you.”       “He did not lie…” Raquelle pronounces quietly. “Didn’t lie… Simon knows everything… Absolutely everything…”       “And yeah, I forgot to say that Anna also suffered from Mr. Ringer,” Terrence says confidently.       “Anna?” Raquelle moves her eyes sharply to Terrence. “Also?”       “Simon himself called at her home,” Terrence says coldly. “He threatened and terrified her. And he told her who you really are. What a nasty egoist with mental issues you are.”       “You’re lying!” Raquelle cries. “You’re lying!”       “The girls told me everything! They called me on my mobile phone and complained about you. They said they began to worry about their lives because they’re on the hook of Ringer.”       “No… Gosh… Girls… They can’t suffer… Can’t… I don’t want…”       “So, as that bastard knows the addresses of our friends and relatives, we are now in danger. We may die. At any time! Because of you.” Terrence sharply points at Raquelle with a finger. “You are guilty of everything! Nobody else is guilty! You are the only one to be!”       “Me?” Raquelle wonders with pity in her eyes.       “If not for you, we all would live a quiet life! Without thinking that we might die at any moment.”       “Why are you blaming me for everything?” Raquelle wonders, not believing that Terrence is blaming her for everything that is happening and being shocked by the fact that one of her close people says that she is the reason for all the problems. “You do know well that it’s not the truth.”       “Not guilty?” Terrence wonders loudly. “Are you serious?”       “I’m not guilty that Ringer went out of mind and decided to take revenge for something I don't know about yet!”       “Of course, you are not guilty…” Terrence rolls his eyes. “Our innocent angel… How could we think so? You’re a perfect girl! Perfect girl with a brilliant reputation!”       “Why do you treat me like this? Why, Terrence? Why do you easily take back your words about not leaving me in trouble and helping me solve the problem? Some time ago, you swore you’d be by my side!”       “Do you seriously think I would support you?” Terrence wonders loudly. “Support the one that gave everybody THOSE problems? Why do I the fuck need you? I don’t want to solve the shit you got all of us involved in!”       “You’re unfair to me…”       Raquelle gets up slowly from the bench, turns her back on Terrence, and steps back from him.       “I did nothing bad for you to do this to me…” Raquelle says quietly with sadness in her eyes. “Nothing for you to take your words back so easily.”       “Yeah?” Terrence smirks evilly. “Have you ever asked yourself why Natalia and Anna don’t visit and call you at all?”       “I don’t want to believe they left me, as well.”       “They did leave! Want me to tell you why? Tell you? I will do it! With great pleasure!”       Terrence puts his hands on his hips and raises his head up as if he is mocking the poor Raquelle and feeling no sorry for her. It seems like he does even get pleasure from humiliating his own girlfriend.       “Because they also think you are guilty!” Terrence says rudely. “Guilty of the fact that they have to look around every minute not to run into Simon or his accomplices, of whom there might be too many.”       “I don’t believe you!” Raquelle shouts with tears coming to her eyes, grabbing her hair with both hands. “They couldn’t betray me so cruelly!”       “Don’t believe me if you want, but Natalia and Anna told me everything,” Terrence replies much quieter, crossing his arms over his chest.       “Close your mouth…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth, breathing heavily enough. “Close your mouth! AND NEVER OPEN IT AGAIN! I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOU!”       “They told me Simon confirmed that you have mental issues and are dangerous to people,” Terrence says with his head proudly raised.       “Ah, so, did I become a mentally sick one for all of you? A hysterical girl!”       “He has always known it. And he warned me that I would not better stand in your way. Because you are sick and must get therapy.”       “Everything is fine with my mental health,” Raquelle says rudely. “It’s alright that all of you decided to blame me for what’s happening. But do not dare to make me a crazy lady!”       “Nobody does. You are really crazy.”       “I AM NOT CRAZY!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “NOT SICK!”       “Hey, hey, don’t scream at the whole neighborhood! What if our neighbors decide to call an ambulance for you to be taken to a mental hospital and drugged with a sedative?”       “Do not dare to say I’ve got mental issues,” Raquelle threatens Terrence with a finger. “Don’t dare… Or you will regret it very much.”       “You know, I think there’s a part of the truth about it… A great part of the truth. And you are showing it now. You need only to show up for your friends like this to make them believe Ringer.”       “Close your dirty mouth, stinker… CLOSE!”       “Hey, how much blood did you suck out of your family because of your hysterics?” Terrence keeps mocking. “How many nerves did they spend on such a sick idiot like you?”       “I AM NOT SICK!”       “Not surprised that they wanted to give you to a man so badly. Because they got sick of fighting with your hysterics. And they understand it’s worthless to spend money on clinics because it would not help you anyway.”       “I wish you choked yourself…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth. “You to shut up once and forever.”       “Yeah… Everything happens for a reason. Even the scandal when you were allegedly humiliated for no reason. Ringer did not lie. He tried to tell everyone the truth. Which, sadly, nobody believed.”       “No reason? NO REASON?” Raquelle turns on Terrence sharply and focuses her cold look on him, starting to gesticulate actively. “So, am I the fuck the one to blame for the fact that Simon slandered me and made everyone think I am a sick, hysterical girl? Guilty of making everyone think I am a sick, hysterical girl?”       “I am very sorry I did not listen to that man when he told me who you really were,” Terrence says confidently. “I wouldn’t have had to suffer… And my mother would’ve been fine.”       “Seriously?” Raquelle simpers. “You believe that false stinker? Not me?”       “Now I believe him! And your friends do not doubt that he told everyone the truth. Simon found very good arguments that could prove that if someone stands in your way, he or she will regret it very much.”       “Ha, did you forget how you tried to prove to me that you didn’t believe that stinker and judged what he did towards me?” Raquelle puts her hands on her hips, slightly squinting her eyes. “Did you forget how the media was showering me with mud because of him? Did you forget how that stinker easily turned everyone against me?”       “If someone decided to come back to that story, I would be happy to tell VERY MANY interesting things,” Terrence says confidently.       “It’s not the truth! NOT TRUTH!”       “Yeah…” Terrence contemptuously looks at Raquelle from head to foot, while she breathes hard enough and tightly clenches her hands into fists. “It seems like the story of your parents is repeating… Your mother got nuts and was annoying your father with uncontrolled hysterics. And you are following her way and want to annoy me.”       “What?” Raquelle rounds her eyes. “What do my mother and my father have to do with it?”       “The reason is that your father left her because she annoyed him. Your mother was mentally sick and got everybody exhausted by her hysterics. Not surprised that he lost patience. Living with that woman would’ve been something like hell.”       “Do not dare to say it about my mother,” Raquelle threatens Terrence with a finger. “Or you will regret it.”       “So, you want to say I am lying? Simon is lying? His acquaintance, who knew much about your mother’s hysterics, lied?”       “Shut up… Shut up, or I shall strangle you with my own hands.”       “So, is it hurtful to hear it, huh?” Terrence smirks evilly. “Did you get used to the fact that everyone admires you? Are you trying to prove that you’re worth something? You want to always hear praises?”       “Do not make me mad, scumbag! DO NOT DO!”       “Nervous… So, I’m absolutely right.”       “I can’t believe it…” Raquelle shakes her head. “I can’t believe you forgot everything you told me and promised me somehow. And I can’t believe you want to make me a psycho idiot that allegedly went out of the mind.”       “Yeah, aren’t you acting like a psycho girl?” Terrence wonders. “You are shouting like a victim… Waving your hand like a sick girl… Your eyes are about to pop out…”       “Ah, I am shouting and waving my hands…” Raquelle resents loudly. “Don’t you want to see yourself? Don’t you want to remember how you ran here with your widely open eyes and started shouting at me! Blaming me for being guilty of what’s happening!”       “You do know the reason why everything that is happening is you. Besides, you blamed yourself for that some time ago. But now take your words back and blame your imitable Simon for everything.”       “Maybe, everything is happening because of you?”       “What?” Terrence simpers loudly. “What are you talking about, crazy lady?”       “What if you decided to get away with me and ruin my life to the fuck? You are sick of me, but you don’t know how to get off me! And you thought of nothing better but starting to get me exhausted by your hysterics.”       “What?”       “Did you have to do with spreading those rumors? Was I really right when I believed that you were guilty of that for a long time?”       “Did you get out of your mind, hysterical lady?” Terrence knocks at his temple with his widely open eyes. “Sick, hysterical gal!”       “So, MacClife, you got nervous, too?” Raquelle smirks evilly, putting her hands on her hips. “So, am I also right? Did you decide to get off me and ruin my life? Are you sick of pretending to be loving? Are you sick of pretending to be innocent? A good, sweet guy that you decided to play.”       “Come on?”       “I still remember you being the one to blame me for slandering me for a long time. I did not forget that you threatened to ruin my life and my career. And now I have reasons to suspect you were an accomplice to Simon and helped him somehow.”       “Oh, fuck…” Terrence runs his hands over his face with a tired moan. “It seems like Simon was absolutely right… You are really mentally sick. You are as sick as your mother was.”       “Don’t dare to call my mother sick!” Raquelle hisses, clenching her hands into fists. “DO NOT DARE!”       “It’s dangerous to be next to you because you may easily think about killing.”       “What?”       “I wouldn’t be surprised if someday you stole a pistol and shot everyone to the fuck.”       “You went out of your mind?” Raquelle knocks at her temple with a finger. “Simon washed your brains so hard that you say nobody the fuck knows what!”       “No, girl, vice versa!” Terrence throws with contempt in his eyes. “Simon helped me open my eyes! He opened my eyes and showed me who you really are!”       “Yeah? Who am I really?”       “A sick, hysterical gal that thinks only of herself and gives a fuck about those, who surround her!”       “Come on?” Raquelle closes her arms over her chest. “Better look at yourself, my dear. You’re shouting at me, looking for a reason to fight, and blaming me for all the sins for no reason! Would a normal person behave like this?”       “Deny everything as much as you want,” Terrence says confidently. “But you cannot hide the truth. The truth about the fact that you’ve always been ill. And you became a greater psycho after you started to work as a model.”       “Close your mouth, bastard…” Raquelle demands coldly, breathing heavily enough. “Close… Or you will regret it! REGRET! I SWEAR!”       “I am starting to wake up more and more and clearly understand that Simon was absolutely right. When he warned me that I should not have gotten in touch with you. But that was clear. Besides, there were people, who worked with you a long time ago and told him about your hysterics. That you were trying to hide from everyone so hard.”       “Ha, since you’re defending Ringer so hard, everything is happening because of you,” Raquelle says rudely.       “What?”       “You gave him the numbers and addresses of our friends and close people and decided to blame me for that.”       “No, that’s really funny…” Terrence simpers loudly. “You’re really crazy!”       “No, Terrence, you are crazy! If you decided to frame me and ruin my life.”       “I can easily ruin your life. Easy! I could do my best for those you know worked and work with to turn their backs on you. And be sure, everyone will believe me. Nobody would doubt I would be telling the truth.”       “Yeah? Maybe, you confess that you are working for Ringer?”       “Me?”       “Was I really right when I thought you were accomplices, who decided to agree against me?”       “Yeah, you really went out of your mind…”       “Is it time to make his plans come true? And that’s why you started to do your best to frame me?”       “Oh, fuck…” Terrence shakes his head with a slow sigh. “Hard case…”       “So, are you going to confess?” Raquelle asks. “Confess that you are an accomplice of that stinker and decided to help him do your best for me to stay all alone and go crazy from your regular mockeries at me?”       “Of course, I know about feminine craziness and have gotten over that many times… But I never thought I would meet the one, who would have to-o-o many of them.”       “So, don’t do, don’t say! I understood everything a long time ago! And I am very sorry that I succumbed to your charms and gave a fuck about all my suspects. Even if it was my great mistake.”       “And as it turned out, feminine hysterics and mental problems could make a truly hellish mix…”       “Oh, my gosh, how it’s funny to hear it…” Raquelle smirks quietly. “How it’s funny…”       “It’s clear that Simon knows people much better than me. He quickly bit through the one, who was pretending to be an innocent angel so hard. And he wanted to do a nice thing and tell the truth to the whole world.”       “I’d bet who has more demons! I would bet!”       “Why would we bet? There is only one hysterical girl! Psycho, egoistic idiot!”       “Come on?” Raquelle wonders loudly. “Don’t you want to look at you? The way you look now!”       “I am absolutely healthy. Unlike someone.”       “You are screaming at me, blaming me for stupid things, and managed to wash the brains of my friends. You are the reason why they refuse to speak to me.”       “Because of me?”       “Because of you!”       “Actually, they want to live! They don’t want to die because of one stupid, sick girl, who definitely must get therapy. That’s why your friends refuse to communicate with you. And they would hardly love to communicate with you again.”       “If you don’t stop turning them against me, I will really lose them.”       “I promise you will lose not only your friends,” Terrence says confidently in a low voice. “When people find out that you are an unstable psycho, your career will surely be ruined to hell. It will happen not because of slander, but because of the real proof that will be revealed to the whole world.”       “I wish your career was ruined to the fuck!” Raquelle throws rudely.       “Be angry as much as you want, but you must understand that the truth will come to light early or late, and everybody will know the real you.”       “I wish someone told everyone about the real you, you, nasty scumbag!”       “Besides, I am not sure if your relatives would be happy to see you… They do not want to visit you and find out how you are doing. When did you talk to them for the last time? One week ago? Two? Maybe, one month? No? More?”       “It’s none of your business! NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!”       “So, it seems like I understood everything. Those people don’t need you. They are sick of having to deal with the unstable idiot, who sucked so much blood out of them. Who might be very dangerous to people.”       “CLOSE YOUR DIRTY MOUTH!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “CLOSE!”       “Probably they dreamed of giving you to a man so badly and exhaling with relief. Being happy that they wouldn’t have to watch the psycho girl, who is living her mother’s life and is about to make her friends and relatives turn their backs upon her.”       “Ar-r-r, how much you irritate me…”       Raquelle turns back on Terrence sharply and starts looking into the distance with her eyes full of evil, breathing heavily enough and not being able to forget what she just heard from the man, who is definitely getting pleasure from mocking her in this way. Who is not ashamed of blaming her for all the sins and thinks she is a mentally ill girl! And who dares to say something about her mother.       Raquelle did not really expect that Terrence would be such a mean, nasty and horrible man… To be clear, she did know that he had a hard character. But the girl did not think her boyfriend would believe the one to wish to ruin her life and turn her close friends and her own boyfriend, love for who she no longer thinks about, against her.       “So, Raquelle, I advise you to think a little,” Terrence says confidently with his head proudly raised. “You stayed alone. Nobody wanted to help you. Even your grandfather and aunt left you. They don’t call or text you. They don’t care about you. Don’t be surprised that those people wanted to marry you off and give you off so badly. Your grandfather and your aunt wanted to get off you. They wanted to give you to a man. The man, who already got sick of you.”       “Nobody holds you!” Raquelle shouts and points at the door. “Get out! Go wherever you want!”       “And you know, I do not feel sorry for you. At all. Because you deserve everything that is happening to you.”       “What did you say?”       “What you heard. What’s happening is your punishment. The punishment for doing a nasty thing towards those, who loved you.”       Being mad and losing any patience, Raquelle sharply turns on Terrence, comes to him, and raises her hand to either slap him in the face or at least hit him on something. But the man instantly reacts to her action, grabbing the hand of his girlfriend and later doing this with her second one when she tries to hit him as painfully as possible, starting to remind him of the one Simon talked about and look like a girl with mental issues.       “Oh, no!” Terrence throws coldly. “This time, I will not let you give me slaps in the face so easily. I WILL NOT LET YOU! YOU HEAR ME?”       “Let me go!” Raquelle demands rudely, trying to get her hands out of Terrence’s grip.       “Hey! Calm down now! Calm down, I said! CALM DOWN! YOU CAN THE FUCK HEAR ME!” Terrence looking at the enraged Raquelle with his widely open eyes grips her hands tightly while she is trying to get loose and resisting. “STOP IT! I WILL NOT STAND YOUR HYSTERICS AT MY HOME!”       “I am living here, TOO!” Raquelle recalls coldly. “So, it is not just a house of YOU!”       “Look at yourself, crazy lady!” Terrence strongly shakes Raquelle, tightly holding her by the wrists. “You’re starting to look like a patient in a mental hospital.”       “I AM HEALTHY!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “YOU ARE SICK! YOU! YOU! YOU!”       “I was a real idiot… Holy shit… Why didn’t I listen to Simon? Why was I such a blind idiot? Why did I think I’d be happy with the sick bitch? Who was behaving like crazy from the beginning!” Terrence looks at Raquelle contemptuously from head to foot. “I am an idiot… I thought everyone would be jealous because I got such a cool girl. That everyone dreamed about. I was sure I was madly lucky! But no! I became a victim! Your victim!”       “Ah, victim…” Raquelle rolls her eyes up. “Ah, poor… You became a victim…”       “Other men can’t imagine how LUCKY they are that they didn’t stand in the way of such a hysterical gal like you. I took on this burden and now have to pay for it.”       “Close your fucking mouth, scumbag,” Raquelle hisses through her teeth with evil in her eyes. “Or you will really regret it!”       “I am very sorry for the lost time. The time I could’ve spent with any other good, decent girl. That would’ve loved me. And would’ve been HEALTHY!”       “I DID SAY, NOBODY HOLDS YOU!” Raquelle screams irritably. “GO WHEREVER YOU WANT! I DO NOT CARE WHERE YOU WOULD GO!”       “I SHALL DO!” Terrence throws loudly, setting his widely open eyes full of hate in Raquelle’s eyes. “FAR FROM THE SICK IDIOT LIKE YOU!”       “WONDERFUL THEN! I am also sorry for wasting more than one year of my life on you! I could’ve lived a quiet life and built my career. But you stood in my way and RUINED MY LIFE!”       “I already understood that you give a fuck about me and agreed to date me just to make your family get off you.”       “Ah, that’s how…”       “I am very sorry they taught you nothing before we had a love affair. They did not teach you to be a good girlfriend. You don’t know what that is.”       “As if you know!” Raquelle rolls her eyes. “Your mother was explaining to you what being a good boyfriend meant for a few days!”       “If you were a good girlfriend and did not forget that I existed, I would be a good boyfriend.”       “Ah, how tender you are! You, poor guy, are forgotten!”       “But why would I try to explain something to a brainless person. Who is also mentally ill.”       “Your mother would’ve better explained that being in a relationship meant supporting a girlfriend and helping her solve her problems.”       “Why should I solve your fucking problems?” Terrence simpers contemptuously. “Why I the fuck need you! I have so many things to do, and you think I should deal with your problems! The one that does not care about my problems and would never solve them.”       “You’ve finally revealed the real you!” Raquelle throws gloomily. “You’ve shown the way you treat me!”       “You are guilty of that!”       “I am guilty?”       “Our relationship got worse just because of you. Because you gave a fuck about me.”       “Do not blame just me for everything!” Raquelle resents. “You also have to do with it, and you have been too busy with yourself all this time.”       “The one to be too busy with her is you! You care only about you and your modeling career.”       “It’s a lie!”       “You could lose anything, and it would not make you upset. But if something happens to your career, you will not take it.”       “Shut up, scumbag! SHUT UP!”       “I am telling the truth! And I am not going to hide it.”       “Close your mouth! Stinker! Scumbag! MOTHERFUCKER!”       Raquelle barely gets her hands out of Terrence’s grip and wants to hit him as strongly as possible.       “I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs, being very close to falling into a hysteria that it would really be dangerous for people to be next to her. “CURSE YOU, SCUMBAG! CURSED!”       “Your curses will come back to you just like a boomerang,” Terrence says confidently, controlling the situation and tightly holding Raquelle’s hands.       “I WISH YOU STAYED ALONE! I WISH EVERYONE HATED YOU AND SHOWERED WITH MUD!”       “Stop screaming! My head hurts because of your defeating shouts.”       “I wish the day you’d stop acting like a peacock came,” Raquelle wishes rudely, trying to get her hands out of Terrence’s tight grip. “I wish you had nobody! I wish you, scoundrel, paid much for everything you’re doing to me!”       “Calm the fuck down! CALM DOWN!”       “Be sure, someday everything will be back to you as a boomerang! People will start turning their backs on you! And you will never become a successful actor, and you are needed by nobody as a musician. Nobody will need your stupid songs! NOBODY, HEAR ME! NOBODY!”       “Alright, if you do not calm down now, I will call an ambulance so they take you away to a mental hospital where your place is,” Terrence threatens loudly, taking Raquelle’s hands much tighter and shaking the raged girl slightly. “I am sick of hearing your wild shouts that probably the whole neighborhood hears!”       “MAY THEY HEAR IT! MAY THEY HEAR THAT THEY ARE LIVING NEXT TO THE NASTY BASTARD!”       “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”       “MAY THEY KNOW YOU AGREED WITH RINGER TO DESTROY ME AND RUIN MY LIFE!”       “If you don’t shut the fuck up, you will regret it very much,” Terrence threatens loudly.       “DO NOT DARE TO THREATEN ME! DO NOT DARE!”       “FUCK, WHEN WILL YOU FINALLY SHUT UP?” Terrence sharply pushes Raquelle off and tightly clenches his hands into fists. “I DO WANT TO HIT YOUR INSOLENT FACE, SO YOU CALM DOWN A LITTLE!”       “You better hit yourself,” Raquelle throws coldly. “Maybe, your brain would come back to normal, and you’d understand that you look like a psycho bastard.”       “Keep your mouth shut, bitch.”       “Alright, stop! I do not wish to listen to you! You annoyed me to the fuck!”       “If only you knew how it’s disgusting to see your face!”       “Holy shit…” Raquelle shakes her head. “I can’t believe it… I can’t believe I agreed to date you. Why did I decide to choose you? I’ve got so many fans, among whom I could choose anyone! But I chose the one, standing next to who is really disgusting to me!”       “Any man would run away from such a sick idiot in a few minutes,” Terrence simpers contemptuously.       “You haven’t run away yet! It’s been more than one year, but you’re still here!”       “I am not going to be with you anymore!”       “WONDERFUL! WE ARE BREAKING UP THEN!”       “Thank God, I didn’t marry you. Because you do not deserve to be a part of the MacClife family. Our surname cannot be placed next to the name of the mentally ill, hysterical girl.”       “EXCELLENT! WE AGREED ABOUT EVERYTHING!”       Raquelle turns around sharply and wants to leave the back of the door. But when the girl goes to the door that leads to the living room, Terrence sharply closes the way with his body and looks at his girlfriend arrogantly.       “Let me go now!” Raquelle says quietly, crossing her arms over her chest.       “You will go nowhere,” Terrence says coldly still standing on the doorstep like a statue.       “Let me go, I said!”       “You will leave when I want!”       “You are nobody to me! Let me go!”       “Why do you rush?” Terrence grabs Raquelle under an arm with an evil smirk, doing this much more painfully and making her make a quiet squeak and strongly wince from the pain. “Would you lock yourself in the room and start crying? From realizing that you are absolutely hopeless! From the fact that you give trouble to people.”       “As if you gave someone happiness!” Raquelle throws rudely.       “No matter how much you cry, nothing will help you. You will suffer until the end of your life and stay all alone soon.”       “I agree with anything to get off you! You’re like a pain in the throat! Like a burden that is dragging me down. Which I want to get rid of at the nearest time.”       Raquelle gives Terrence painful hits on his arms multiple times and then strongly pushes him off the doorstep. As a result, the man shakes slightly but keeps his balance.       “I could repeat that I really regret meeting you on that fateful day many, many times,” Raquelle says quietly and confidently. “Our meeting was a great mistake, for which I will be paying for my whole life. But I will never pay for it. Because the cost is too high. Giving my life wouldn’t be enough to pay.”       Raquelle sharply turns her back and quickly enters the house, while Terrence is still standing where he was standing before, watching the leaving girl silently and not trying to prevent her from leaving.       “You’re right about it…” Terrence pronounces quietly. “Absolutely right…”       Terrence slowly comes to the bench and sits on it, running his hands over his face with a quiet sigh.       “I think the way you do,” Terrence adds. “Our meeting was really a fateful mistake, Raquelle Allison Cameron. The mistake, for which I will also be paying for the rest of my life. And the cost of that mistake is too high. We would not pay for that for a long time. And I will regret being so blind and not listening to those, who tried to tell me what you really are.”       Terrence sighs quietly again with sadness in his eyes, sits on the bench placed at the back of the house for some time, and looks at everything he sees now. The man does not regret everything he just said to Raquelle, whom he is definitely very mad at, and who he hates with all his heart. Yes, some time ago, he promised not to leave the girl and to help her solve the problem. But now Terrence is really impossible to recognize! This man changed for the worse and started to do what he would not have done before. It’s hard to say why. Maybe, he was just pretending to be good. Or maybe, Simon washed his brains and turned him against his own girlfriend, whom he insults and humiliates with no fear.       

***

      After one more fight with Terrence, the excited Raquelle goes outside through the hall door, breathing heavily enough, barely holding tears down, and being insulted by what she just heard. Being in this place is becoming more unbearable. It literally chokes her. The girl always felt very uncomfortable in the house that the man bought before he and his girlfriend moved in. But now, when MacClife began to behave so disgustingly, and he is not shy about insulting, humiliating, and blaming her for all the sins, this place became literally a prison. Became literally the place where she wanted to run away from. And never come back…       Raquelle walks in circles for some time in front of the hall door on the territory, on which her current home is placed, not caring about the beauty she can see around her. Bright green grass around, little bushes and flowerbeds on the edges of brick fences, and straight roads made of white tiles, on which anyone could walk and leave somewhere in a car. The territory is not very large, but large enough to walk as freely as on the back of the house.       “No, I can't take this anymore…” Raquelle says irritably. “I can’t… I wanna leave… I’m sick of being stuck in these walls… I’ve gotta go somewhere and walk. Or I might go crazy at this place that I already wanna run away from.”       Raquelle exhales slowly with her eyes closed.       “And someday I shall surely leave this place,” Raquelle promises. “I will not stay here to live. Live in a place that’s never been close to me. The place where I feel terrible. May MacClife live here alone. And be happy that Simon and he got me exhausted.”       Raquelle swallows up nervously.       “Yes, I shall go…” Raquelle nods. “And I don't care who’s gonna watch me. I’ve got nothing more to lose. The bad things I was afraid of had already happened. So, I’m getting out of here. And going where my eyes would look…”       A few seconds later, Raquelle quickly comes back into the house, goes upstairs to the second floor, and goes to her room to find the keys from her auto, her purse with her stuff, and her phone. After she takes everything she needs, the girl leaves the house almost in a run, goes to her car, gets into it, starts the motor, and leaves the territory of the house, pressing the gas pedal as strongly as possible and going where her eyes look.       

***

      Terrence needs some time to calm down a little after this hard talk. And when he understands that he has become calm enough, the man returns to the house and quickly looks around the whole living room. After glancing at one of the windows, he sees that Raquelle’s car is not there and makes a conclusion that the girl left. Terrence does not know where. But he definitely thinks of something, judging by his little gloomy look.       And a little later, MacClife sees Christiana, one of the servants, who is cleaning up the floors in the whole house with a mop and a wet rag that she soaks in a special solution in a can placed near her and wrings it enough. Not thinking much, Terrence quietly comes to her and pronounces gently:       “Christiana… Can I ask you something?”       Christiana distracts herself from her work, stops cleaning the floor, gets straight, and looks at Terrence.       “Yes, Mr. MacClife,” Christiana pronounces quietly.       “Tell me, please, didn’t you see Raquelle here?” Terrence asks. “She is in her room now?”       “Erm… Raquelle… She has left!”       “Left?”       “Yes… I saw that she got into her car and left a few minutes ago. And before doing it, she had gone upstairs and taken something from her room.”       “You say she left…”       “Yes, she did…”       For some reason, the word "left" makes Terrence get some suspects and think of something serious. But he does not say anything and nods slightly.       “Alright, thank you so much,” Terrence thanks quietly. “You can continue to clean up.”       Terrence turns around and goes somewhere quietly, while Christiana watches the man kind of questioningly.       “What's happening to him?” Christiana asks herself, frowning slightly and squinting her eyes. “Something serious definitely happened between him and Raquelle because that girl left, being literally depressed, and he looks like someone told him something shocking. They definitely fought… But why?”       Christiana frowns slightly.       “Did their obsession with work lead to getting cold to each other?” Christiana wonders. “It seems like that’s the truth. Even if we did warn them many times that they could not forget each other. And here we are! Terrence and Raquelle had a serious fight.”       Christiana shakes her head.       “No…” Christiana thinks. “Of course, I understand everything… All couples fight at times… But these two had a too big fight, knowing that they have not talked to each other for almost a week. Or snap at each other every time they are somewhere.”       Christiana sighs quietly.       “Oh, youth…” Christiana shakes her head. “They think of themselves… If you date or get married, be pleased to take care of each other. And listen… Support… If it keeps happening, Terrence and Raquelle will really decide to break up. I mean, they will do it… But I’m more than sure that they will get no lesson. And they will keep breaking up and coming back together multiple times. Oh, God…”       After thinking about Terrence and Raquelle, who might bring their relationship to a breakup, Christiana puts her mind aside, clears her throat quickly, and starts cleaning the floor with the mop, quietly singing a song under her nose to make herself have some fun while working.       

***

      Meanwhile, Natalia is at Anna’s home and spending free time with her. The girl got through fear of being chased by someone and decided to visit her friend, who is still not allowed to leave home without her parents’ permission. The truth is, her mother and mother do not still know that Anna often runs away from home to meet her mysterious admirer or friends.       The friends, who met again, are now talking about one of Anna’s meetings with her admirer, not thinking about Simon Ringer, who is threatening them.       “Yesterday, I ran away from home and met him again,” Anna confesses with a slight smile, lying in bed on her belly.       “Again?” Natalia smiles shyly, sitting on the bed and holding her weight on her arm.       “Yup…”       “And where did you go?”       “First, we went to a small café. We sat there, drank coffee, ate some dessert, and talked… And then we went to the beach and sat in front of the water for a while.”       “On the beach?”       “Aha, yesterday was wonderful weather. It would’ve been a sin not to sit under the sun at least for five minutes. Of course, swimming in the ocean is too early now because the water is still cold. But nothing stops you from just sitting on the sand and admiring the views… And talking to the one, who you have the pleasure of spending time with…”       “Great…”       “My gosh, friend…” Anna sighs dreamily. “I feel so good with him… You know how I get upset when we have to say goodbye. I really want those magical moments to last forever.”       “Do you really like spending time with that guy?” Natalia smiles slightly.       “Very much. Being with that man is very easy. So nice… So good… I… I’ve never felt as good as I do next to him.”       “M-m-m, friend…”       “Besides, he’s also an excellent interlocutor, who would always find something to talk about. And he doesn’t annoy me or make me feel bored.”       “So interesting in talking?”       “Yup. Much.”       “Not as boring as those, who your parents make you spend time with?”       “Oh, Natalia, please, don’t remind me of my parents…”       Anna sighs quietly with sadness in her eyes, slowly sitting up.       “Every time I think of my parents’ severe faces, I suddenly get goosebumps on my back,” Anna confesses thoughtfully.       “Haven’t they still caught you running away from home?” Natalia wonders.       “Thank God, no. Moreover, I try to come back in time. When I understand it’s time to go, I quickly run home.”       “What does your admirer think of it?”       “He understands it. But he says he gets upset ‘cause we can’t spend more time together.”       “I get it…”       “Well, at least something,” Anna shrugs slightly. “That’s very good.”       “Yeah, that’s good your parents don’t lock you under the key and put bars on the windows,” Natalia laughs shyly. “Or you wouldn’t be able to see your handsome.”       “No, luckily, they haven’t thought about it yet. Besides, I try not to provoke them. Mother told me to read her boring books and then tell what they are about, and I do this.”       “Do you memorize something?”       “What can I do? Or I’d have to read them over and over. Mother believes I must know what’s written in them.”       “Do you understand something?”       “Nope, I just upload information to my brains like a flash drive,” Anna replies funnily. “And I keep it.”       “Alright…”       “Oh, c’mon, let’s not talk about it!”       “Indeed… Why we do…”       “And actually, all the tales say there are no barriers to love. So, I would find a solution to any problem. Even if I’m put in a high tower, just like Rapunzel was.”       “But there is no love between you and that guy!”       “No love. But we feel very good together. I feel like I’ve always known him. As if that’s what I need.”       “Well…” Natalia pronounces thoughtfully. “You’re kind of right…”       “Don’t worry, sweetie, it’s gonna be okay.”       “Yeah, but you know…” Natalia bites her lip slightly. “The fact that everything is happening too fast makes me nervous.”       “Too fast?” Anna wonders.       “Yes. You’ve known each other for two weeks but started to communicate very… Closely… I would say…”       “What’s wrong with it?” Anna shrugs with a slight smile.       “I don’t know… Just…” Natalia smiles shyly. “It gets me suspicious…”       “But it might happen! There are people, who start dating literally after a second date, or get married one week later after meeting.”       “Yeah, but it makes me worried.”       “Why?”       “Aren’t you afraid that guy may not show the best side of him?” Natalia asks carefully. “Now he might seem sweet and fluffy and actively comes into your life, but then that man might start mocking you. Become someone like… A violator…”       “Violator?”       “Yes. I heard they’d aim to come into the life of a girl very quickly and hurry up too much. That’s why they quickly get married and make children.”       “Stop, Natalia, you’re dreaming up!” Anna waves her hand. “My fan is not a type of them! He’s very good! Sweet, kind, gentle…”       “Violators always seem like this from the beginning. They wanna make you sure you don't find anyone better than them.”       “No, no, friend, it won’t happen! You do know I’ve got a good smell for bad and good people. I see who I could believe and who I couldn’t believe. When I looked at that guy, I realized he could not be mean and cruel.”       “Don’t trust what you see. Don’t trust what you’re told.”       “I trust my intuition. My feelings. It has never betrayed me. Thanks to that, I rejected all the bad people. Or I communicate with them as less as possible.”       “What if your intuition betrays you?”       “My gosh, Natalia, why did you start talking about violators?” Anna wonders, sighing quietly. “Why do you believe that guy could do something bad to me?”       “I don’t wanna say he’s really a violator. And I don't wanna say he’s bad. I just… I just don’t like that everything is happening too fast.”       “Actually, that guy and I don’t rush. We just communicate and get to know each other better. I tell him about me, and he’s happy to share everything about his life with me.”       “Yeah, don’t rush…”       “You say it like I’m gonna marry him today or tomorrow and wouldn’t delay making a baby.”       “I wouldn’t be surprised if you dreamed about it. Dreamed of that man saving you from a marriage with someone you don’t love.”       “Yeah, I don’t deny…” Anna smiles shyly. “Sometimes I think he’s really my salvation. Salvation from the unhappy life…”       “Aren’t you afraid your dreams may be ruined?”       “They may be ruined if you don’t stop saying that guy may betray me.”       “I do worry about you. And I don’t wanna lose you because of that man. Don’t want you to stop communicating with all your friends because of him.”       “You exaggerate everything, Rochester. And you’ve got a too great fantasy. What did you overwatch while being home for a few days?”       “Okay, okay!” Natalia raises her hands up. “Okay! I’m silent! If you’re sure about what you’re doing, keep doing it. I just wanted to warn you and tell you not to listen open-mouthed and believe every single word of that man.”       “I just enjoy the time I spend with that wonderful man. Enjoy the pretense of the one I’ve never felt bored with. Who completely understands me and always acts very gently.”       “Do what you want, friend. If that guy has always invited you on a few dates, it means he isn’t indifferent to you and definitely counts on something.”       “Who knows, sweetie,” Anna shrugs slightly. “But I won’t rush and count on something. And I believe I just met a good man and befriended him.”       “Okay, okay, Seymour, I got it,” Natalia laughs shyly. “Have fun, have fun… Since you got such a good chance.”       “Thanks, Blondie.”       Natalia says nothing and just laughs shyly. Silence settles in the air for two or three seconds, and then Anna moves her little sad eyes to her friend.       “By the way, did you hear something about Raquelle?” Anna asks hesitantly. “I haven't heard anything about her for quite a long time.”       “I don't know,” Natalia shrugs slightly. “I haven't seen her for a few days. And I'm a little afraid to meet her.”       “Still afraid?”       “I am.”       “Weren’t you afraid you could be under the view of Ringer’s pals or him when leaving home?”       “I was a little afraid. But honestly, I’m sick of being home. And Dad said I’d better go somewhere. Nothing has happened for a whole week, and it means nothing’s gonna happen.”       “You think nothing would happen?”       “I dunno, friend.”       “But your father may be right. I’ve gone on two dates in the whole week, but nobody has ever watched me. Nobody has threatened me.”       “Yeah, but that man has called me a couple of times.”       “Right. I got calls from him, as well.”       “He chooses such the right words that I’m starting to believe him more and more.”       “Honestly, me too.”       “And the most important thing is that Ringer doesn’t lie. Everything is the truth.”       “You’re right. Anyway, we can start getting out of home somehow. If we’re just getting calls.”       “We could do… But we’d better be careful.”       “Yeah…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully.       “But we’ve gotta prevent visiting Raquelle.”       “Why?”       “Do you remember what Simon told us?”       “She might have mental issues?”       “Exactly! What if Cameron gets really nuts and makes our lives much worse? I’m starting to believe that Ringer is not lying to us.”       “You think that’s true?”       “I don’t exclude it…” Natalia inclines her head and moves her eyes to her hands. “And now, when this situation is happening to her, she may easily lose her temple.”       “I dunno, Natalia, it all makes me have tons of questions,” Anna sighs with sadness in her eyes. “We’ve known Raquelle for ages, but we've never noticed anything like that about her.”       “Yeah, right… But on the other hand, she might hide her hysterics.”       “Why? For people not to think anything bad about her?”       “Exactly! Agree that it’s quite possible…”       “I dunno… Maybe, that’s the truth…”       “Maybe, she… Erm…” Natalia bites her lip slightly. “She could get nuts when she began to fight with Terrence after their first meeting. Mr. Cameron said he was doing his best to calm Raquelle down.”       “Do you think Mr. Cameron was hiding the fact that she was out of the mind?” Anna rounds her eyes.       “It could happen.”       “But when you and I spent time with her, she seemed quite fine.”       “Seemed, Anna. It didn’t mean Cameron was really healthy.”       “She might show a propensity for hysterics, but that doesn’t mean she is really crazy.”       “You know, as her father left her mother because he got sick of taking that woman’s hysterics, it means Cameron took after her.”       “You’re right… The story of her parents makes me reflect on it…”       “Oh, yeah…”       “By the way…” Anna throws a quick glance aside. “Don’t you know what happened between them? I barely know that story and just heard about it from Raquelle a couple of times…”       “I don’t know much either,” Natalia replies thoughtfully. “But it seems like her mother got such strong depression that she made her close people insane and fought with Alicia to the hell. That’s why Raquelle’s father wanted to divorce her.”       “But why did she get depression? There must’ve been a reason!”       “Nobody knows a real reason. Or at least nobody says about it.”       “Postpartum depression?”       “Maybe. And if that woman had been mentally unstable since birth, it could make the situation worse.”       “That’s how…”       “Anyway, I think if that woman was mentally ill, her daughter could take those problems after her.”       “You think it’s hereditary?” Anna rounds her eyes.       “Most likely. And as Simon said, the start of a modeling career played its role. You do know there is such a great competition, and they give high claims to present models: height, weight, diet, habits and something like that. A person with weak or bad mental health would hardly take it. Early or late, he or she would drive oneself to depression that would be cured only in a clinic.”       “You’re right…” Anna nods. “That thing is not the only one that might destroy Cameron. But also the fact that she overworked and isn’t gonna stop.”       “Exactly! Overworked! It also might make the situation worse!”       “That’s what I mean.”       “By the way, as Terrence said, some time before Simon came into their lives, she had been very irritated and sharply reacted to many things.”       “Yes, yes, he said something about it… Sometimes Raquelle was so irritated that it was impossible to spend time, go on dates with her, and just talk.”       “I know, because of that, they haven’t spent time together for ages. And it made Terrence really upset.”       “Yeah, it seems like she stopped caring about him. Simon was right when he said Cameron cared only about her modeling career. She could lose everything and wouldn’t get upset. But if she stopped shooting and walking on runway shows, it would be a catastrophe for her.”       “Right…” Natalia nods. “Cameron has always been too obsessed with her career. She could work non-stop for hours.”       “Yeah… After the beginning of the affair with Terrence, she started working literally two times harder. As if Raquelle worked so hard on purpose.”       “I know. That’s why she didn’t almost have time for her own boyfriend. She forgot him! He became nothing to her.”       “I’m surprised that he was taking it for so long.”       “Yeah, but now he has lost patience. He is getting irritated by the fact that Raquelle doesn’t notice him and keeps acting as if she is still not in a relationship with him.”       “I’m so sorry for him…”       “So, Cameron did her best to make him colder to her. MacClife said he stopped feeling what he felt at the beginning of their relationship.”       “I understand him,” Anna nods. “Was it so hard for Raquelle to give him a few minutes, talk to him and find out how his day was?”       “She didn’t even want to do it! I’m silent about sex or any kind of foreplay! Terrence said he tried to save his relationship many times, but Raquelle refused to do.”       “It seems like she was ignoring him on purpose. She accepted any kind of work not to see him.”       “It’s the truth! Cameron started to date MacClife to make her family shut up. You know well that her grandfather and aunt always told her that she should’ve gotten married and made children.”       “I know…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully. “If not for them, Raquelle wouldn’t have thought about it. She wouldn’t have gotten married, or she would’ve found someone at a very old age. When she would’ve had nobody.”       “And even if she married in old age, it would be her wish. Now it happens that Raquelle started to date the man to make her family happy. So, they calmed down and stopped torturing her with questions.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Natalia sighs quietly with sadness in her eyes. “It seems like Simon was right when he said their relationship would be over soon… Raquelle became irritated, and she refuses to spend time with her boyfriend, and Terrence got colder towards her and started to regret dating that girl.”       “I'm sorry that Mr. Cameron and Alicia didn’t tell her what being a good girlfriend meant.”       “Yeah… No matter what, I think they also did a bad thing.”       “You’re right. Judging this situation soberly, I could say they’re guilty of the fact that Raquelle’s relationship is unhappy.”       “No, they’re guilty of hurrying her up to marry. A relationship is something that must be done at your wish. They aren't the ones, who should live with a person.”       “And Raquelle didn’t want to date anyone and brought everything to the moment when her boyfriend got cold to her and is now thinking of a breakup.”       “Be sure, they’re really gonna end their relationship very soon. And forget about dating each other.”       “Everything’s coming to it…” Natalia assumes with sadness in her eyes and sighs quietly. “A breakup… And our friend is guilty of that.”       “That’s right… If you start to date a boyfriend, you should not forget him. And give him at least two minutes of your time.”       “Oh, my gosh…”       Natalia sighs quietly.       “We were so happy Raquelle started to date someone that we didn’t notice some things,” Natalia notices with sadness in her eyes. “Nobody saw that it was too early for Terrence and her to start to live together.”       “Yeah, so sorry we were all so blind,” Anna agrees. “And these two were in a rush.”       “And again, Simon clearly noticed that they were connected only with passion. It took a few months to kill it and make them stop being happy about their relationship and regret it.”       “Sadly, it’s true… And as we’ve said, Raquelle is more guilty of that. She was the one to forget Terrence after moving into the house with him and keep working like crazy. As if she was running away from him and looking for a reason to see him as rarely as possible.”       “And she worked so much that it was impossible to hide her mental problems…”       “Yeah… So, Terrence can confirm that she gave first sighs of that…”       “Oh, my gosh…” Anna slowly runs her hands over her face. “What’s gonna happen to her? Everything might get so hard that she would go really insane and eventually end up in a mental hospital and have to take drugs.”       “And it will happen!” Natalia exclaims. “I don’t doubt.”       “I think so.”       “And I think you and I made the right decision.”       “About not communicating with Raquelle?”       “Yeah. You and I should keep ignoring Raquelle. I don’t want her to get nuts and do something to us. I don’t wanna suffer because of her.”       “Well, as Terrence is advising us not to communicate with her and to let her calm down, the case might be very serious.”       “Maybe, this situation would get solved later, and we would try to talk to her. Or ask MacClife what’d happen to her… Well… If he doesn’t break up with her by that moment, of course…”       “You’re right,” Anna agrees. “It would be much better for us.”       “And…” Natalia sighs heavily. “I understand that we’re doing a disgusting thing to her. We’ve always been her friends and supported Raquelle when she felt bad… But you know… I’m afraid… Afraid to go to her home… Something tells me it wouldn't lead to anything good. Besides, I’m afraid if you and I keep speaking to her, Simon and his little accomplice will do something more terrible to us. Not just call and threaten or get us caught outside…”       “Honestly, I wouldn't also like to meet her for a while,” Anna confesses a little hesitantly. “Somehow, I told you I’m terribly afraid to have a business with an unstable person because you never know what to expect from them. They are unpredictable.”       “I know…”       “So, let’s not talk to her for some time. And then we will see.”       “Yeah… Agree…”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, after which Anna moves her sad look to the window and sighs quietly, folding her hands in front of her.       “Ah, how it’s hurtful that the relationship between Terrence and Raquelle is going to be over soon,” Anna confesses with sadness in her eyes. “They were such a beautiful couple…”       “Their fans were right when dreaming of them being together,” Natalia smiles slightly.       “I think their couple was named somehow.”       “Yeah… Tequelle… They’re often called like this.”       “Yeah, Tequelle…”       “Sadly, but Tequelle will stop existing soon,” Natalia sighs quietly.       “Because of Raquelle. She was doing her best for him to fall out of love with him… And she lied to us when swearing she loved him and saying she was ready for anything for that man.”       “My gosh, she is really a stupid idiot…” Natalia sighs heavily. “While many girls have a crush on him, she does her best to get off him…”       “Yeah… Any girl dreams of being instead of her.” Natalia smiles mysteriously. “I wouldn’t also reject a man like him.”       “Who knows,” Anna shrugs slightly. “Maybe, the friendship of you and Terrence would become something more. If Raquelle didn’t appreciate what she was given.”       “I wonder how our couple would be named if I became Terrence MacClife’s girlfriend.”       “Well… Erm… Let’s assume… Nerrence!?”       “Nerrence?”       “I can’t think up anything more!”       “Yeah…” Natalia smiles slightly. “Sounds good…”       Natalia and Anna say nothing and just laugh shyly for two seconds.       “By the way, I forgot to tell you something,” Anna confesses.       “What?” Natalia frowns slightly.       “Yesterday, I talked with Terrence and told him about Simon’s calls. And then he told me something.”       “What?”       “Imagine, as it turned out, two days ago, Simon dared to call Terrence’s mother and scared her much.”       “Simon called Mrs. MacClife?”       “Yes!”       “Oh, my gosh…” Natalia puts her hand on her heart.       “MacClife went to her after she asked him to do it. She told him everything and then suddenly got high blood pressure. They tried to stabilize it on their own but didn’t do it. So, Terrence had to call an ambulance. Doctors injected her with something and told her to have a rest and not to be nervous.”       “Wow…”       “Thank God, everything ended well. Or he would’ve gotten one more problem out of the blue. He would’ve had to take care of his mother… Or actually bury her if she hadn’t taken that hit.”       “How does she feel now?”       “She’s fine now.”       “Poor woman…” Natalia shakes her head.       “That’s how… That’s what our beloved Raquelle did…”       “Yeah, she did… But Simon is not better.”       “How could he actually dare to call her and say what made the woman have a heart attack?”       “And the most important thing is, how did he get the numbers and addresses of those, who know Cameron?”       “Who knows!” Anna shrugs slightly. “But since we aren’t so stupid to give them to everyone, there’s only an assumption – it has to do with Raquelle. It might happen that she gave him these addresses.”       “You think?”       “I wouldn’t be surprised. Anything may come into the mind of mentally ill people.”       “I wonder, is Ringer gonna threaten everybody to know Raquelle? Or does he need only her close people? Someone like Terrence, you, me, her grandfather, and her aunt…”       “I dunno, friend… Anything may happen.”       “Anyway, if Simon or his accomplice start threatening me in any way again, I will do something for my safety with no doubts,” Natalia says confidently. “I won’t let them make me a part of what I’ve never had to do with.”       “I think I’ll do the same if they don’t leave me alone.”       “My dad already knows the situation and promised to help if we needed it.”       “And we can also count on Terrence. He could confirm everything for them to believe us. If we, for example, wanted to go to the police.”       “Agree. His help would be very good for us…”       “Anyway, we aren’t powerless,” Anna smiles slightly. “Raquelle stayed alone. We’re still together. It means we can get through this trouble.”       “I wish, sweetie…” Natalia pronounces softly. “I wish…”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Anna and Natalia shyly smile at each other. And then the red-haired girl moves her eyes to the clock hanging in her room and understands that her parents are back home.       “Oh, my gosh, the time!” Anna gets horrified, closing her mouth with a hand. “My parents are gonna be back home soon!”       “Wow, time flew too fast…” Natalia replies thoughtfully. “It seems like I came to you to talk some time ago.”       “You know, I think you better leave before they see you and start a scandal.”       “Yeah… You’re right…”       “Don't take offense at me for kicking you out. But understand, I’m doing this for your best. Because I don’t want you to take something from them… My mother and father could easily read you a couple of lectures. Because they banned me from inviting friends to our home. I mean, my parents have never allowed me to bring those they don’t find decent here.”       “C’mon, sweetie! Don’t be sorry! I understand it!”       “Come to me somehow next time. And we’d spend time together. Watch a movie, eat something… Find something to do!”       “With pleasure!”       “But now sorry… You have to leave.”       “It’s okay, Anna. I wasn’t gonna stay long, either. Dad asked me to go to a store and buy some food. The refrigerator is empty. He gave a list of what I should buy.”       “Okay then…”       Anna hugs Natalia with a slight smile, shares an amicable kiss on the cheek, and steps back two seconds later.       “Thank you so much for visiting me,” Anna thanks, holding Natalia’s hands. “Thanks for making my day better. And making me have fun. Being here is so boring and lonely. I’ve got nobody to talk to…”       “Remember, they haven’t taken your mobile phone from you yet,” Natalia replies funnily. “You can always call me or text a message on WhatsApp if you wanna talk.”       “Or a computer with the Internet. To contact you on Facebook.”       “Yes! I’m online for you at any time.”       “Okay.”       “Let me know when your parents aren’t home, and I’ll visit you with pleasure.”       “Undoubtedly.”       Anna and Natalia smile at each other again, get up quietly from the bed, and go to the hall door after the blonde takes her purse and places it above her shoulder.       “Bye, sweetie,” Natalia says goodbye softly.       “Bye,” Anna smiles shyly.       When Anna opens the hall door, Natalia leaves to do her business, thinking about something on the way and checking something in her purse. After closing the door after her friend, the red-haired girl sighs quietly and gets a little sad.       “Oh, I stayed alone again…” Anna pronounces with sadness in her eyes, sighing heavily. “And I’m under the lock and key as if I’m a criminal… I can’t go out anywhere… Oh, my gosh…”       Anna runs her hands over her hair, slowly going to her room.       “If someday I get married, I won’t let my husband control me as well as my parents do,” Anna confidently promises. “I will not do… If it happens, I will leave that man with no regret. I will be looking for someone to respect my right to personal space and not to ban me from anything. I will not let my husband control me and tell me how to live. I will not do it. And I will not let the unwanted wedding happen. Never. Even if I have to run away from home, I shall do this. And I will never regret it. Never…”       Anna thinks about something for a few seconds, tightly embracing herself with her arms. And then she decides to distract herself a little and spend some free time by reading another book. And she chooses a story about love and a touching relationship between the lovers, who, as the synopsis says, are going to have to get over many tests to get together eventually and live happily after.       While she has to stay home and do what her father and mother say, and her friends do not visit her, books are something like friends for Anna. They help her forget all the bad things and dream of meeting a man one beautiful day, who would take her with him and treat her like a queen, not forgetting that there is no longer a little girl named Anna. She is an adult girl, who knows what she wants more than anything. And who would not let anyone decide how she should live, and what she should do.       

***

      Some time later, Raquelle arrives at a coast where nobody usually walks. Nobody knows if this is an abandoned beach, or if people just do not want to spend time in this place today. But the girl believes that this is the perfect place to walk and try to forget everything that is happening in her life.       Raquelle has never been in the place where waves of the endless ocean come up and come off the seaboard, and there is only much sand around. The bright blue sky is covered with clouds, and the sun is hidden somewhere behind them.       After parking her automobile not far from this place, Raquelle leaves it, locks it with a key, puts it in her purse, comes closer to the water, and starts slowly walking along the seaboard, watching everything she is surrounded by with interest and breathing in clean air that makes her mind much clearer. The bad thoughts are leaving her little by little, and tension in every part of her body gets much weaker.       At some moment, the girl calls the memories of running to the beach when she was a child after she found out her parents were dead. Those memories make her shed a tear and think of the pain she felt when she realized that she became an orphan. Raquelle feels pain now. Because everybody turned their backs on her, and she started to feel unhappy and lonely.       It’s possible to say that the girl lost almost everybody, who she loves and considers her closest people. Her friends seriously believe in her mental problems and think she is guilty of what’s happening to her, and her own boyfriend has become quite cruel towards her and is also sure she is mentally ill. And her grandfather does not call his beloved granddaughter and does not even send her letters… And her aunt forgot about her and is not probably going to reply to the messages her niece sent her.       “My gosh, I can't believe I'm losing those I love with all my heart because of one person,” Raquelle thinks with sadness in her eyes, sitting on her laps and drawing figures on the sand with her fingers. “Somehow, Simon already tried to slander me when he told everyone the lie about me. Now he's dreaming of ruining my life by depriving me of my close people. Making everybody leave me alone. He dreams about it…”       Raquelle makes one more quiet sob, not stopping doing this since she left her home and decided to go where her eyes looked.       “How do I make Ringer leave all of us alone?” Raquelle asks herself. “What does he want from me? What does he try to get by doing all of this? I don’t get it… Why does that man treat me so terribly? I never knew him! I did nothing bad to him!”       Raquelle sighs quietly.       “Why did that man actually stand in my way?” Raquelle asks. “Why, God? Wasn’t what he did the last time enough for him? First, he slandered me to the whole world and sent me anonymous letters, and now he decided to do his best to make all my close people turn their backs on me. Wouldn’t I get off him, and would I have to be afraid of what he could do to me until the last day of my life? How long is this going to last? Why do I have to get through that? Why can’t my life be quiet? Why?”       Some time later, a sudden call breaks the thoughts and cries for help from someone. It instantly makes Raquelle come back to the cruel reality. The girl sighs quietly, quickly finds her phone in a purse, runs a finger over the screen, and puts the smartphone to her ear.       “Hello,” Raquelle pronounces in a dead voice.       “Hey, sweetheart, how are you doing?” Simon’s cheerful, happy voice pronounces. “Didn’t you decide to go out of home? Or did you go for a walk?”       After hearing this really disgusting voice, which makes her wish to clean her stomach and break her smartphone, Raquelle sharply gets up on her feet. The girl would recognize the owner of this voice even if she were too close to her death.       “I will never forgive you for that, bastard!” Raquelle throws loudly with evil in her eyes… “Never, hear me!”       “C’mon, sweetie, quiet, quiet…” Simon pronounces with a sly smile. “Don’t be so nervous.”       “Scumbag! Because of you, all my friends turned their backs on me!”       “Come on?” Simon shows a surprise. “Everybody turned their backs on you?”       “They think I’m guilty of all the problems that we got out of the blue. And because of you, they believe I’m mentally sick! They think I could literally murder someone!”       “Ah, poor girl!” Simon gasps falsely. “Ah, my poor lady… They think you are crazy…”       Simon laughs quietly, making Raquelle madder and madder.       “Stop laughing, Ringer!” Raquelle tightly clenches her hand in a fist. “That’s not funny! NOT FUNNY!”       “So, you stayed alone…” Simon rejoices. “You are lonely, broken, unhappy… You don’t know who to ask for help…”       “You really went insane! Do you have nothing to do but take revenge on me?”       “So, as I understand, you feel just terrible.”       “Awful! If I had an opportunity not to communicate with you anyhow, I would do my best to avoid meeting you.”       “Do you really think it would help you?”       “Of course, it would do! If not for you, everything would be fine in my life. FINE!”       “Do not be a naive idiot, Raquelle,” Simon simpers evilly. “You would not have lived quietly, even if you had refused to talk to me on that day. I would’ve turned your life to hell. And I would not have left you alone.”       “Why? Why are you doing this? What do you the fuck need? Why do you get me so exhausted? What did you the fuck turn everybody against me?”       “Someday you will know everything. But now I want you to suffer and take tortures. I want to watch your life ruined, and watch your close people give a damn about you and your problems.”       “And you have already gotten it! Everybody turned their backs on me! I’ve had to get through what’s happening to me by myself for a few days.”       “Ah, my poor girl…” Simon sighs quietly. “Ah, how bad you feel… Your friends decided to ignore you, your family forgot you, and your boyfriend growls every time he sees you.”       “Yeah, you made them break their promises. The promises of not leaving me in trouble.”       “That’s why you should never say people around you are one hundred trustworthy. If one of them got scared, they would instantly disappear. Because they would prefer life over a friend.”       “Maybe, you are right,” Raquelle pronounces quietly. “But I am sure they would wake up soon and realize that you had them wrapped around your finger. And I’m actually not mentally ill and would not hurt anyone.”       “Oh, sweetie, do not hope it would happen. Now all your close people are very mad at you. They are because their quiet life is over. But someone’s one was not so quiet… Just like the lives of you and your boyfriend.”       “What?”       “Everything had been bad between you before I told you about my plans.”       “It’s none of your fucking business!”       “Listen, didn’t Terrence raise a hand on you there? Or is MacClife holding himself down because he does not want to become a bastard, who dares to beat a girl?”       “Before you came into my life, he had treated me well. But after you – I don’t know how – washed his brains, Terrence changed and became a rude and shameless bastard.”       “Yeah…” Simon laughs evilly. “Listen, girl, do you actually know you should take care of your man? He is not a doll you could put in a closet when you’re sick of it. If you started an affair, you should’ve taken care of him from the beginning. And what? You went on shootings literally the following day after you moved into his house.”       “You think what you want to think,” Raquelle says quietly, feeling that every single muscle of her body is tense. “What you are dreaming about.”       “Oh, my darling, do not try to make me sure your marriage had been perfect before I showed up.” Simon shakes his head with a sly smile. “Of course, I do not care when you had sex the last time or how long ago you went to walk together. But I do not doubt there has been nothing between you, and you have lived like neighbors for a very long time.”       “You do not have to do with our personal lives,” Raquelle throws rudely. “And you have no right to meddle in it.”       “Come on, Cameron! I do know everything. And you must have understood that it could not last until the very end. Everything has limits and an end. And now the moment when the wall that was barely standing is finally crushed has come. Terrence and you became strangers to each other and cannot stand each other.”       “You talk very much, Ringer. Don’t you think?”       “I knew it would happen! In the past few months, you never went on a date or even to a shop to buy something. You always went somewhere alone. You were busy with yourself. Your career. You do not care about each other. You have yourself in the first place.”       “Anyway, I can congratulate you,” Raquelle replies coldly. “You got what you wanted. You did your best for my relationship to be close to the end.”       “Do you want to say I am guilty?”       “Yes, you!”       “No, Raquelle…” Simon shakes his head. “You are guilty of ruining the relationship between you and Terrence. You made him get colder to you and stop admiring you the way he did before.”       “Everything had been fine between me and Terrence before you decided to meddle in our life!”       “Tell these stories to anyone, but I would not believe them.”       “Listen, Simon…”       “You’ve lied enough. Because of a wish to make everyone think the relationship between you and MacClife is just perfect. Even if it’s actually far from it.”       “I don’t want to hear your opinion. If you called me to do that, you can end this talk.”       “Anyway, my tricks would open everyone’s eyes and make them see the real side of the relationship between the second-rate model and the pathetic actor. I’ve already gotten very much…”       “You’ve gotten just one thing – you made everybody turn their backs on me and start to think that I am a sick, hysterical girl.”       “Yeah, I made those people think about whether you are loyal to them and whether it’s dangerous for them to be with you,” Simon smiles slyly. “And I think I got a stronger effect when I called the mother of your boyfriend and scared that sweet woman a little.”       “So, did you really call her?”       “I did… Of course, I was sorry for that old woman, but what could I do? Revenge is the dessert, which sometimes may not be enough for you, and which you always want more and more. It’s very hard to stop when it gives you pleasure.”       “Why did you call Terrence’s mother? Why, Simon? That woman does not have to do with it! And you almost brought Mrs. MacClife to death!”       “I wasn’t going to kill her. I just told her about your tricks. And I let her know that her beloved sonny, who is so attracted to her, hid very much from her.”       “You’re sick… Just sick…”       “Yes, yes, Terrence has always preferred saying nothing to his mother about what he gets into. This time, he also wanted to tell his mommy nothing about what was going on. So, I did it instead of him. And I made her doubt that you would hardly be a perfect daughter-in-law of her.”       “Do you know that MacClife started a great scandal for me? Do you know that he blamed me for making her blood pressure higher?”       “M-m-m, that’s how…” Simon laughs shyly.       “You have fucking fun, but someone blamed me for everything again! Even if I love that wonderful woman and respect her as the mother of my boyfriend!”       “So… It means I am using the right leverages and controlling those people. As good as marionettes. Your friends are afraid of such an allegedly psycho-hysterical girl like you. And your boyfriend is regretting rushing to suggest you date him and definitely planning to break up with you.”       “What do you want from me?” Raquelle demands an answer in a low voice. “What would you, motherfucker, get if you turned those people against me? What did I do to you that you want to destroy me and my life so hard?”       “Oh, my sweetheart, I want to destroy you for quite an explainable reason,” Simon replies confidently. “But you will know it a little later when the time comes. When you can change nothing, and your close people cannot save you.”       “I had not known you before you came into my life.”       “Yeah, maybe, you did not know me. But I have known you for my whole life. Your short life that is full of many events.”       “What?”       “You know, girl…” Simon falls into silence for two seconds. “I must confess that I really like torturing you slowly but rightly. I like knowing you are suffering, losing your close people, and staying alone. Alone. Broken. Emptied. Humiliated. Lost the meaning of life.”       “I swear, Simon, if I have at least a little chance to turn you to dust, I will immediately use it,” Raquelle threatens with anger in her eyes, clenching her free hand into a fist. “And I will sue you and also do my best to bring you to prison. You, scoundrel, will pay me for everything! For every second that I suffer.”       “We will see. Maybe, you do not live until that moment…”       “I hate you, motherfucker… HATE! HATE! CURSE YOU! SCUMBAG! BASTARD!”       “Okay, okay, calm down, my darling, calm down,” Simon says quietly. “I am not deaf and can hear you well.”       “I WISH YOU WERE BURNING IN THE HELL! I AM SUFFERING BECAUSE OF YOU! AND LOSING EVERYBODY I LOVE!”       “Better leave your shouts for your boyfriend or friends. Use it to annoy them and make them believe that you are really mentally sick. Now they may have doubts, but after you show yourself like a hysterical girl, everybody will believe me. They will be by my side. Maybe, they will even help me destroy you.”       “Do you want, so to say, to recruit them? Do you want to create the Simon Ringer army to deal with me once and forever?”       “Maybe…” Simon smiles slyly. “I want to create my army. The army of haters of Raquelle Cameron.”       “What a scumbag you are, Simon… Just a scumbag…”       “Yeah, do not forget what I told you during our first meeting. If you go to the police, you will regret it. And it also has to do with your close people.”       “Come on?”       “I am carefully watching you. And I am aware of everything you are doing and who you are talking to. Nothing can be hidden from me.”       “And how are you doing it?” Raquelle wonders. “Telling your accomplices to watch my house and my friends? Or did you come up with a more creative way?”       “Oh, Raquelle, if I want it so badly, I can easily get into your mind and know everything you think about. But I do know your thoughts. I do not need to guess them. Your thoughts are in my hands. As clear as a tear. Besides, having such contacts as mine, it would be very easy for me to find something out. If you didn’t know, fame comes up and comes away, but your familiars will always be familiars.”       “Ha, what kind of contacts could you have, Simon?” Raquelle simpers contemptuously. “You are nobody! A fucking beggar! Who met a little kid and made him make your wishes come true.”       “Huh, do you mean Richard? Yeah… He’s a good boy… He does everything I tell him and agrees with me on everything.”       “I wouldn’t be surprised if that boy had to do with some crimes and could easily go to prison.”       “I don’t care about his business. The important thing is that he should do everything I say and do his best not to run into the police. Other things do not matter.”       “You know, Ringer, I do not know what you are going to do and how you would like to ruin my life along with that little kid,” Raquelle says loudly, excitedly, being literally ready to strangle Simon with her own hands for him to leave her alone. “But remember, if you keep poisoning my life and my closest people's lives, you will pay for it. I swear, I will do my best to make it real!”       “Ha, you have already showered me with mud!” Simon exclaims rudely. “You did it so hard that I am going to have that terrible brand for life. A brand of a liar and a man, who wanted to PR on your name. Yes, nobody knows it yet. But if someone finds it out, I will be dead.”       “You should have thought before telling everyone a lie about me with the hope that you’ll get famous thanks to my famous name.”       “I would have done that! DONE! If not for your friends! They messed up everything!”       “Early or late, a lie would come to light. You should understand it well.”       “I will never forgive you for that humiliation. Hear me, NEVER! You, scumbag, will pay me for that! Now it’s my time to make you feel as humiliated as I did when one fucking photographer and his girlfriend exposed me.”       “Yeah?” Raquelle gets truly amazed, rounding her eyes. “And how? How are you going to ruin my life?”       “Well… Maybe… I have something to tell you about one of your close people…”       “Whatever you say, I would not believe it.”       “Maybe, you do!”       “Knowing you’re an absolute liar, never!”       “Alright, let’s check it now.” Simon falls into silence for two seconds, getting ready to make one of his plans come true with a sly smile. “How many times have you asked yourself how I find out where you go and have the phone numbers and home addresses of your friends and relatives?”       “Oh, do you want to confess it?” Raquelle wonders. “Do you want to tell me how you got the numbers of one of my friends and the mother of my boyfriend?”       “Maybe, darling… Maybe…”       “Something tells me I would hear nothing good…”       “I don’t think so.”       “Maybe, you stop lying? How long are you going to wash my brains?”       “You know, Raquelle, it wasn’t hard to find you and your relatives,” Simon says with a sly smile. “Because you have so many friends! Who are so 'loyal…' And one wonderful person helped me get a phone number and the home addresses of the mother of your beloved boyfriend.”       “What are you talking about?” Raquelle wonders. “Did you go insane there? What do you want to tell me?”       “I want to tell you the name of the person, who betrayed you and helped me get all the data that must be confidential.”       “So, who did you decide to make a part of this story this time?”       “I want to tell you that the one, who helped me find you, your boyfriend, and his beloved mommy was your friend,” Simon says confidently.       “My friend?” Raquelle frowns slightly.       “Yes. And the name of the friend, who betrayed you, is Natalia Emily Rochester.”       Raquelle opens her eyes and mouth widely and cannot say a word for a few seconds, being shocked by what she just heard.       “What?” Raquelle wonders with horror in her eyes.       “What you heard,” Simon pronounces quietly. “Your best friend, Natalia, helped me very well, and I am madly grateful to her for doing this to me.”       “What did you say?” Raquelle resents much louder.       “You heard everything right, my darling. Natalia really helped me find Terrence’s mother and gave me the addresses and phones of your friends and relatives.”       “How do you, nasty scumbag, dare to tell me that? Did you go crazy there?”       “Yes, I understand it’s hard for you to admit it. But I am telling the truth. Natalia Rochester is a betrayal.”       “You are lying! Natalia would never do it to me! I believe her, and we have always been loyal to each other! She cannot do such a disgusting act.”       “Sorry, my dear girl, but you are very young and know people badly,” Simon replies without regret. “They could do everything… Even betray.”       “You are lying, LYING!” Raquelle shouts irritably. “Natalia would never betray me like that. She is my best friend!”       “No, Raquelle, I am not kidding, and I am saying it seriously. Natalia used a moment when I showed up again and decided to take revenge on you. She gave me all the addresses of your friends and relatives and told me something interesting. For example, about your relationship with your boyfriend. About how worse it got due to your absolute indifference.”       “No…”       Raquelle shakes her head, barely holding down not to pull all of her hair out.       “Stop…” Raquelle pronounces in a little shaking voice. “Please, stop… Stop poisoning me much more…”       “You wanted to know how I got the addresses and numbers of everybody you know. Alright! Now you know the truth.”       “I don’t believe you! Don’t believe my friend could do that to me.”       “Sorry, Raquelle, but it’s the truth,” Simon replies without emotions on his face. “I completely understand your feelings, but accept the fact that your friend is a betrayal.”       “Scumbag…” Raquelle tightly clenches her hand in a fist. “Stinker… How much blood are you going to suck out of me?”       “Believe me, I didn’t also understand why that sweet girl decided to go against you,” Simon says confidently. “But later, she told me she actually never loved you and did not consider you her sister.”       “SCUMBAG!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “I HATE YOU! CURSE YOU, SIMON RINGER! BURN IN THE HELL! I HATE YOU! I HATE!”       “Natalia has always envied you, my dear. Yes, she has been silent about it and has really been a friend of yours. But it does not mean she would not be obsessed with envy for you. For your success… You are a girl, who built a brilliant career on your own, got famous around the world, got the love of your fans, became a role model for many of them, and got Terrence MacClife himself. Who all the girls are drooling over… Including your friend Natalia.”       “Close your dirty month, bastard…”       “Do you think she wouldn’t like to be in his arms and get the hot and passionate kisses that you were getting? No, Raquelle, she would love to! That girl has been terribly jealous of you and dreamed of being instead of you and becoming the girlfriend of this man since the beginning. Natalia dreamed of getting a famous actor as a boyfriend, becoming Mrs. MacClife, and making children with such a gorgeous man.”       “SHIT UP, STINKER! SHIT UP! OR I WILL TURN YOU TO DUST!”       Raquelle grabs her hair, fighting with a wish to pull it out, falls into hysteria, and shouts at the top of her lungs from anger, hate, despair, and pain.       “STOP TELLING ME ALL OF THAT!” Raquelle keeps screaming. “I WANT TO HEAR NOTHING!”       “And while Natalia was visiting clubs and flirting with all men, who were not interested in her, however, you quickly seduced Terrence, whom you fought with as hard as nobody the hell knows who at first,” Simon says with a sly smile. “And you made him your boyfriend. You got an excellent piece, I must admit.”       “STOP! STOP!”       “So, it made your friend enraged because you were lucky to become a girlfriend of Terrence MacClife, not her. But Natalia didn’t take her envy and was taking all of that so hard and pretending that she was very glad for you and your boyfriend. But her happiness was fake. She was actually obsessed with a sense of envy for you and your success…”       “I WILL NOT BELIEVE YOU! I WILL NOT BELIEVE IT!”       “You got everything by yourself, and she has not met a man, works nowhere, and wastes the money of her parents. She did not want to get married to a common man because they would not have enough money for her wishes. Natalia would have to go to work. But it is not a part of her plan because she is used to doing nothing and wasting her parents’ money, which they transfer to her card every week. She is used to living like a princess and doing nothing. Well, her mommy and daddy are not going to kick her out of home and do not make their daughter start to earn something.”       “Shut up, Simon, shut up, I can’t hear it!”       “However, she cares about the fact that she is not working much less than the fact that no man has proposed to her to marry, and she missed a chance to become a girlfriend of Terrence MacClife himself. But I don’t exclude that now, when you’re close to breaking up with MacClife, he will pay attention to your friend and wish to invite her on a couple of dates. And then it might happen that he would even love to marry that blonde. With the thought that she would love him much more than you did.”       “A-A-A-A-A!”       Raquelle starts walking nervously in circles on the whole beach with an irritated shout, getting madder and madder by what she hears from Simon, who is making her doubt Natalia’s loyalty.       “That’s why your friend thought of destroying you,” Simon says too quietly with a sly smile, stroking his chin. “But she didn’t know how… However, she was so lucky that I wanted to come into your life and take revenge on you… One day she met my familiar, who helps me with my revenge, and he suggested they do it together. And, of course, Natalia agreed without thinking. So, she became our alias, gave us all the contacts she knew, and told us something about your life after the beginning of your affair… And I’m going to say more… That girl keeps telling me what’s happening to you. Absolutely everything…”       No matter how much Raquelle would like to refuse to believe it, she admits that the reason for Natalia's behavior may be real. Knowing that the girl is not definitely going to find out how she is doing for a few days, her friend may really have to do with what’s happening. And the brunette wants to cry upon realizing that the one she trusted so much was pretending to be a good friend and planning revenge caused by envying her success.       “No…” Raquelle pronounces in a strongly shaking voice, understanding her eyes are getting wet with tears, and sniffs quietly. “No, that’s not the truth… I don’t wanna believe it…”       “Raquelle, my sweet girl, I completely understand your feelings,” Simon says with false sympathy. “I understand that it’s hurtful to know your allegedly best friend was pretending to be the one and was with you just for her benefit. But unfortunately, it’s the truth…”       “No…” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “No…”       “When I found out about the reason for her revenge, I couldn’t believe it for a long time. You have such a strong friendship, as she said. But I heard that…”       “Why did she do it?” Raquelle wonders in a shaking voice with tears. “Why did Natalia do it? My closest person, to whom I have trusted all my secrets for so many years!”       “Close people could betray, as well. So, you should not believe anyone. You cannot count on someone and wait for someone’s help.”       “My gosh… Oh, no…” Raquelle sniffs quietly, understanding that she is slightly shaking. “It would’ve been much better if Terrence had done that to me. It wouldn’t have killed me so strongly if the one, whom I have not trusted since the beginning, had done that! But not the best friend, who I have known literally for my whole life! Since I was eleven…”       “That’s why I have never believed in ladies’ friendship. It does not exist. Because women always envy each other. Especially those, who are more successful and beautiful than they are.”       “Is it happening because of her? Am I suffering because of her?”       “Of course, because of her. Natalia is really jealous of you because you got your luck and kicked the asses of those, who were bullying you. She is envying you because she has gotten nothing. Well, not saying about a very long list of exes. But is that really something she could be proud of?”       “My God… My God…”       “What did your friend do to make someone proud of her? Nothing! Nothing to kick someone! So, as she can reach nothing, and men use her for their goals, this is a wonderful reason to hate a friend and start poisoning her life.”       “She is a bitch…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth. “Just a bitch…”       “Oh, yeah, she is…” Simon smiles much wider. “And you called that bitch your best friend.”       “Oh, Rochester…” Raquelle pronounces in a lower voice. “I shall pull your hair out… I SHALL DO! I WILL MAKE YOU SO UGLY THAT NO MAN WILL EVER LOOK AT YOU!”       “Get cool, Raquelle, calm down,” Simon says softly. “Don’t get so excited.”       “GET COOL? GET COOL?” Raquelle clenches her hand tightly in a fist. “HOW I COULD BE QUIET WHEN MY FRIEND BETRAYED ME! SHE HELPED YOU! SHE DID HER BEST FOR YOU TO RUIN MY LIFE!”       “Of course, Natalia is really a bitch, who deserves the worst,” Simon replies confidently. “But try to calm down first. And then you would talk to her and find out why she hates you so much.”       “I WILL KILL THIS SCOUNDREL!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs with her widely open eyes. “AND I WILL KILL YOU, JERK! FOR ALL OF MY SUFFERINGS!”       “Quiet, quiet, sweetie, quiet…”       “BURN IN THE HELL, RINGER! ALONG WITH TERRENCE, THAT BETRAYAL, AND YOUR ACCOMPLICES! I HATE YOU ALL! CURSE YOU!”       Not letting Simon say anything, Raquelle instantly ends the call and throws her phone on the sand. Then she grabs her hair with both hands and nervously walks in circles on the whole beach, breathing heavily, giving sobs at times, and looking at everything she sees around her with her wet eyes.       Anyway, the girl has been caught in one more trap by that man and believed him… He found good arguments that made her sure that her friend was not loyal to her. Natalia is not definitely going to help Raquelle, and she truly believes that she could have mental issues. And she might be jealous and wish the relationship between her and Terrence was over.       Because Simon easily washed her brains and made her sure that her friend was a betrayal, Raquelle gets madder and madder, understanding that she is very tense and obsessed with a wish to strangle or kill someone. The girl is so furious that she might easily prove to everybody around her that Ringer’s words are true and make herself look like a hysterical girl that could scream at anyone for no reason, attack anyone with fists, and even take a gun and kill someone.       “Bitch…” Raquelle pronounces with a hard enough breath. “Scumbag… Bitch… Hate… Hate…”       A few seconds later, Raquelle takes her phone, shakes the sand off it, and puts it in her purse.       “I can’t believe it…” Raquelle shakes her head. “Can’t believe…”       Raquelle sits down on the sand in front of the ocean and starts thinking about the talk with Simon. More specifically, what he told her about Natalia.       “My gosh, I don’t wanna believe Natalia betrayed me so cruelly…” Raquelle says in a shaking voice, pressing her bent legs to her chest. “I can’t believe she was pretending to be my friend and burning from jealousy… She gave Ringer the contacts of my relatives and friends… And she also put an eye on MacClife…”       Raquelle smirks quietly.       “That’s why she always smiles at him cutely…” Raquelle says in a lower voice. “She definitely put an eye on him… Ar-r-r-r… Bitch… So, she wants to seduce a rich man and get married to him to keep doing nothing.”       Raquelle nods.       “Everything’s clear about you, blonde…” Raquelle says confidently. “Simon has revealed you… Revealed your absolute lie. You betrayed me. Betrayed…”       Raquelle swallows up nervously, starting to believe Simon and be sure that Natalia really became an alias of that man and really helps him in everything.       “Bitch…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth. “Bitch… How could she do this? How could she do it to me? What did I do to her if she decided to betray me and ruin our friendship? Did Rochester forget how much I’ve done to her for the years we’ve been friends? Did she become a bitch just because I’m lucky in life, but she still hangs around clubs with the hope that she will meet a rich man, who would get married to her and not make her work?”       Raquelle sets her gloomy gaze into the distance, watching the wind bring and take big waves away.       “That’s why you left me so suddenly…” Raquelle concludes thoughtfully. “As it turned out, you’re working on Simon… And you are spying on me to tell him everything. Of course… There’s no other way in which he would know what’s happening in my life… And control the people so well, making them believe him. I told you everything, and you ran to that stinker and told him everything.”       Raquelle simpers quietly with a part of contempt.       “Yeah…” Raquelle exhales sharply. “I did not expect it from you, friend! I can’t believe you chose the side of that scumbag and betrayed me. I can’t believe there has been a betrayal in my circle. Even two betrayals. Including that bastard, MacClife…”       Raquelle growls irritably.       “I wish you both burned in hell, scumbags,” Raquelle throws gloomily. “I hate you… Hate…”       Raquelle tightly clenches her hands into fists.       “Alright, blonde bitch…” Raquelle pronounces in a low voice. “I will deal with you… And I shall make you answer all my questions. You will pay me a lot for betraying me. If you decided to do that, I will not let you live a quiet life. You will see, Rochester. You will know who Raquelle Cameron is. You will see…”       Natalia is definitely lucky that Raquelle is not with her right now because her friend would surely do something. For example, she would attack her with fists… Or she would actually strangle her with her own hands… And make Rochester sure that Ringer did not lie when talking about Cameron’s mental issues.       By this moment, Raquelle really forgets that she did not think Natalia could betray someone. And she does not think Simon could tell a lie about her on purpose and frame the blonde to make the girls fight as hard as possible, and make Raquelle feel lonely, depressed, and broken.       Nobody knows what kind of surprises are waiting for this girl at the nearest time. But Raquelle herself thinks that’s not everything, and Ringer is going to keep mocking her and doing his best for her life to become a real hell. So, she gets worse and worse every time. For her close people to hate this poor girl more and more and make absolutely sure that she really has mental issues.