The Broken Hearts Story

      The United Kingdom. London. It’s already dark outside. The twilight is thickening over the city, and the sun went down a long time ago. The first stars showed up in the sky, and it's even possible to see the moon, which shines very brightly on a full moon day. A woman with shoulder-length, middle-height red hair and green eyes is living in one of the houses in London. At first sight, she looks a little severe, but actually, the woman is very kind, fair, and caring. Now she is nursing a little girl, who was born a few months ago. When the baby finally falls asleep, her mother quickly leaves the child’s room and goes to the living room to spend some time there.       “Finally, my baby has fallen asleep,” the woman thinks with a slight smile and massages her neck a little. “Now I have some free time to have a rest and calm down. I got tired today…”       The woman sits on the sofa and sighs quietly.       “Of course, being a mother is very good,” the woman thinks. “But it’s very hard. My husband works for a whole day, and I'm sitting at home and have nobody to help me. That’s good someone from our family comes here sometimes. Or it would be very hard for me.”       A few seconds later, the woman takes a magazine with news from the show business lying on the sofa and starts slowly turning pages, sometimes glancing at the child's room to come to the voice of her little daughter in case she needs it. At some moment, she sees an article about some celebrities and the clothes they put on for award ceremonies or the premieres of movies.       “Gosh, how it’s boring…” the woman thinks, quickly turning pages of the magazine. “Nothing interesting…”       Later, the woman loses interest in the magazine and puts it on the sofa again. Then she deeply sighs, sits for two more seconds, gets up from the sofa, and slowly comes to the window, crossing her arms over her chest. And while she is watching everything that is happening behind her home, the woman starts thinking of something that has kept her worried for a few days.       “I still can’t get that girl out of my mind…” the woman thinks. “I’ve thought about her not for the first time… But who’s she? I can’t remember her…”       The woman frowns strongly.       “Maybe, I should take a look at some photos or names in the address book?” the woman asks herself. “What if I find something that I need?”       Wasting no time, the red-haired woman goes to her room and starts looking for an album in all the drawers of the writing table and the dressing room with clothes and many others things in it. Some time later, she finds what she needs, sits on the bed, and starts quickly turning pages to find some photos. And the woman quickly finds a photo that was taken some time ago.       This is a common photo, in which a young man and a girl are standing next to each other and hugging each other tightly. Their eyes are full of bright gloss, their smiles are absolutely true, and they look very happy and try to press themselves to each other as close as possible. There is no tension between them. The man looks very proud, and the girl silently says that she is very happy to be next to this person, who lets her know that she is safe.       “I know these people…” the woman frowns slightly. “I clearly remember that I know them. But where could I meet them? Where? I can’t remember…”       The woman moves her eyes off the photo for two seconds.       “A bride with brown hair, a man with black hair, happy smiles…” the woman thinks. “What could it mean?”       The woman shakes her head.       “My gosh, my memory has been very bad since I gave birth,” the woman thinks. “Why did I forget who those people are? And why have I been thinking of them for a few days?”       Some time later, the woman starts to realize something.       “Wait…” the woman thinks. “That’s… That’s the girl… Named Raquelle! Raquelle Cameron… Of course! That’s her! That’s Alicia’s niece, who somehow gave me a photo of that girl and her boyfriend. She asked me to tell her what would be waiting for them in the future… Yes, yes… And that’s Terrence, her boyfriend… Right…”       The woman nods.       “I remember that the girl somehow went to my home to ask me about Eleanor Woodham,” the woman thinks. “Alicia had problems with that woman… Right, right…”       The woman keeps viewing the photo and thinks for two seconds.       “I wonder, how is that girl living there?” the woman asks herself. “And why did I decide to think of her?”       The red-haired woman starts to view this photo better.       “I remember I told her about a meeting a man and a wedding,” the woman recalls. “Her lines on the palm said she was supposed to get through something hard. She would get through much before getting peace in her life.”       The woman bites her lip slightly.       “I’d like to know how she’s living with her boyfriend,” the woman thinks. “Did she listen to me when I told her that her obsession with a career could ruin her relationship? I should call Alicia somehow and find out what’s happening there. Or better find photos of her palms on the Internet and read it again.”       Some time later, the woman has to stop reflecting on this situation because she heard a loud, masculine voice in the living room:       “Amelia! Amelia, I'm home!”       The woman named Amelia puts the photo she is holding in her hand on the writing table and quickly goes into the living room, where she sees a man of the same or a little older age with short, dark hair. He is a little taller than his wife and does not look like a handsome folk, but he is not ugly at all. Intelligent, smart man, who adores his family.       “Hey, Raphael,” Amelia greets with a slight smile.       “Hey, sweetie,” Raphael pronounces amicably.       Amelia shyly kisses the man named Raphael on the cheek and gets the same answer from him.       “I was waiting for you later,” Amelia says with a slight smile. “You’re back very early today.”       “Today’s plans were completed,” Raphael says confidently. “So, I was allowed to go home.”       “So, great…”       “That’s good! I’d have some rest. And spend time with my beloved girls.”       With these words, Raphael hugs Amelia and presses her to himself for two seconds.       “Your beloved girls really miss you when you’re not near,” Amelia confesses with a slight smile.       “What did my sweetheart cook for dinner?” Raphael asks.       “Erm… Honestly, I haven’t cooked anything yet…”       “No?”       “But I shall quickly cook up something…”       “Okay, I shall wait then. Take a shower and change my clothes.”       With these words, Raphael puts his jacket where it should be hanging.       “How is Hailey doing?” Raphael asks. “Doesn’t she probably let you relax again?”       “Oh, yeah, she got me really exhausted today,” Amelia confesses tiredly. “But that’s good Hailey has fallen asleep. She didn’t wanna sleep for a long time. But I fed her enough and changed her diaper.”       “She has become very restless lately.”       “Yeah… She calms down only in the arms of you and me.”       “It happens.”       “You’re right…”       “Oh, listen, I’ll go to wash my hands quickly and come back.”       “Sure. I shall think about what to cook…”       Raphael goes to the bathroom, and Amelia sits on the sofa and starts thinking of the girl named Raquelle, who she has had in her mind for a long time.       And some time later, the man is back in the living room.       “Listen, are you alright?” Raphael frowns slightly. “You’re kinda exhausted.”       “Hailey just got me a little exhausted,” Amelia confesses quietly.       “Maybe, I better cook something? Why would you do this?”       “No, no, it’s okay! I’ll quickly cook something now. Have dinner with you.”       “Haven’t you eaten?”       “Nope, I tried to put Hailey to sleep.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Raphael runs his hands over his face with a tired sigh. “I’ve gotta take some free days and watch Hailey somehow. For you to have some rest.”       “It’s alright, sweetie,” Amelia smiles slightly. “Don’t worry. Watching a child is the same hard work as yours.”       “Honestly, I’m actually going to take a vacation for one month. I should only talk to my boss.”       “Would be great. We’d go somewhere together.”       “Yeah, spend time as a family.”       Raphael sits on the sofa in the living room and leans back, while Amelia watches him with a slight smile.       “You know, Raphael…” Amelia pronounces thoughtfully. “I thought of that girl again…”       “Really?”       “Yeah…”       “I wonder, what made you so interested in her?” Raphael wonders, being aware of the fact that Amelia often thinks of that girl. If you’re thinking of her not for the first time!”       “Yeah, but you know… When I thought of her again, I decided to check all the photos we have. And I found a photo among all of them…”       “A photo?”       “Yes. Two young people.”       “That’s someone from our familiar people?”       “Nope, you don’t know that girl and that man.”       “So, you know them.”       “I know…” Amelia nods. “I do…”       “So, did you recall something about her?”       “Yeah… And I'm surprised I forgot her.”       “Yeah…” Raphael chuckles. “After the birth of Hailey, you started to forget a lot.”       “Thank God, I remember at least my name and who my family is,” Amelia replies funnily. “That’s good.”       “And thank God, not everything’s so hard. After giving birth, many women literally go crazy.”       “Yeah, it happens…”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, which Raphael breaks:       “So, what about that girl?”       “Her name is Raquelle Cameron,” Amelia says confidently.       “Raquelle Cameron?” Raphael asks. “Is that a niece of Alicia?”       “Yes, Raphael, that’s really Raquelle,” Amelia nods. “I told you she went here to find out something about my former friend, Eleanor Woodham.”       “Yes, yes, your former friend wanted to revenge on her for the murder of her father, but she died after men in blue shot her down.”       “I also suggested that the girl let me read her palm, and she agreed. The lines on her palms said she would get through many hard things and would experience much before getting peace in her life.”       “And she’s supposed to have one marriage and a few children.”       “Right! I also warned her that if she didn’t change the way she treated her work, she would easily ruin her relationship. I advised her to think about it before getting married.”       “You think she would ruin it?”       “I don’t know, honey…” Amelia falls into silence for two seconds. “But I’d like to think Raquelle listened to my advice. I’d like to think she didn’t choose a career.”       “Don’t you read news of the show business?” Raphael wonders. “What if something is written about Raquelle as she is a famous model?”       “My gosh, when do I read the news? I could lie on a sofa, drink tea, turn pages of a magazine, or watch the TV some time ago. But now I’ve got a little daughter. Who wants permanent attention.”       “I just heard someone from my colleagues say that the girl started working much harder after she started an affair with the famous actor.”       “Really?” Amelia frowns slightly. “So, was I right? Would Raquelle ruin her relationship?”       “Well, if it’s so, I doubt she’s got time for her boyfriend,” Raphael shrugs slightly.       “Oh, God…” Amelia runs her hands over her face with a quiet sigh. “What’s that girl doing? Doesn’t she appreciate the happiness she got?”       “Maybe, she didn’t actually want to date someone?”       “Yeah… Raquelle said she didn’t want to start a relationship and get married. But her relatives were pressing on her.”       “So, she started to date someone to make them fall into silence.”       “Most likely. I see no other explanation.”       “In this case, her relationship was already doomed. You should date someone at your wish, not for a wish to make someone happy.”       “Yeah, but I thought she loved her boyfriend.”       “Oh, who knows…” Raphael sighs tiredly. “Maybe, she was pretending that she loved.”       “Who knows… Anyway, we should feel sorry for her because that girl’s life is by far not good. And her problems are not over. A lot of time will be gone before she gets peace.”       “Don’t you know how she’s living now?”       “Alas, I don’t. I thought of calling Alicia and asking her about it. Maybe, she knows something about the life of her niece.”       “Exactly! Better call your friend and ask her about everything. Instead of torturing you with guesses.”       “Sure. I shall find free time and call her. And I hope she will be home.”       “Or you better actually forget that girl. She’s nobody to you to worry about her life. Even if her relationship is gonna be ruined, it’s her fault. Her business.”       “Yeah, but I can’t do it… I do really worry about that girl. Her fate is kind of special… The lines on her palms do differ from what I had to see before.”       “Oh, darling…” Raphael sighs tiredly. “How much you love the palmistry…”       “It’s my hobby. And I love everything about it.”       Raphael says nothing and just embraces Amelia tightly with his arms, while she just flashes a slight smile and enjoys pressing herself to her beloved husband, who listens to her and spends time with her even when he is very tired after a long day at work.       

***

      It’s still London, The United Kingdom. A middle-aged woman is sitting at home and drawing something with a pencil and a ruler on a writing table. Her name is Alicia Middleton. She is an aunt of Raquelle and an older sister of Elizabeth Cameron, the mother of her niece, who died many years ago along with Jackson Cameron, the girl’s father. The woman is drawing sketches of clothes she comes up with for her pleasure, having a rest and relaxing after a long day at work or homework. Although the woman does not work in the fashion business, she loves to draw various sketches anyway.       After drawing another beautiful sketch, Alicia puts aside the pencil and the ruler she used to draw something on a piece of paper, focuses her eyes into the distance, and thinks about what’s happening in her niece’s life.       “I wonder, how is my Raquelle doing there?” Alicia asks herself. “Is she happy in a relationship? What’s actually happening to her and Terrence now? It’s been a few months since the beginning of their love affair, but I haven’t talked to her about what happened to her life… What’s changed… How she feels, being in a relationship with a man… I wanna ask her about everything.”       Alicia sighs heavily.       “I’m sorry that my phone isn’t working, and I’m not able to talk to her…” Alicia thinks with sadness in her eyes. “A hooligan cut off some cables… And a master is going to come tomorrow. Besides, I will be able to buy a new mobile phone only next week when I get a salary.”       Alicia shakes her head.       “Funny…” Alicia thinks gloomily. “I’ve got no way to contact someone… Crushed my mobile phone… And I can’t use my wired phone… I could even think about pigeon mail!”       Two seconds later, Alicia sharply gets straight.       “Right…” Alicia smiles slightly. “Nobody has canceled the sending of letters and telegrams. I can still send a letter to my girl and explain everything.”       Alicia nods.       “Yes…” Alicia thinks. “I think I shall write a couple of lines for Raquelle. Since the phone is not working, I can always write a letter to her…”       Wasting no time, Alicia gets up from the table and starts to search for what she needs in her room. Luckily, the woman quickly finds a clean page of paper and a black pen, sits on the table, putting all the drafts she was working on aside, and starts to write a letter:       “Hello, Raquelle!       This is your beloved auntie, Alicia. How are you doing there? I haven’t seen and heard you for a few months because you haven’t called or written to me. Why did you suddenly forget about me? I do worry about you so much! And I want to know what’s happening in your life! How are you living with a man? Are you happy? Did you understand that being in love with someone is very good?       I’m writing this letter to let you know that I’m not able to call you because my phone is not working now. To be clear, someone cut off a phone cable. But I’ve agreed about everything with a master, who promised to fix everything. And when they do everything, I shall surely call you.       If you want to know how I am doing, everything is fine. I still keep working at the university. Students love me, and colleagues respect me. I am working on getting ready to adopt the girl from an orphan house. Yes, yes, I’m still getting documents for that. Sadly, it all takes a lot of time. Honestly, I didn’t think everything would be so hard and last for such a long time, but thank God, I am solving everything. Soon, I will be able to take the girl with me and call her my daughter. I can’t wait for that moment! I’m going to prepare a room for her very soon. If only you knew how much I want to introduce her to you! I’m sure she would like you, and you would love her. That girl is very good. I’ve spoken to her many times, and she agrees to be my daughter. She cannot wait for me to take her home.       Please, send me your answer shortly after you receive this letter. I will be waiting for news about your life with impatience. Give greetings from me to all your friends and close people. And remember that I love you very much, and I am missing you. Maybe, someday, I will come to you and see how you’re doing there.       Kiss. Your auntie, Alicia.”       After finishing writing her letter for Raquelle, in which she said everything she wanted, Alicia quickly reads it to check if there are mistakes in the text. And then she folds the letter in half, takes a small envelope that was worthless for a long time from the table, puts the letter in it, sticks it down carefully, and does not forget to point where this letter should be sent.       “Ready!” Alicia pronounces with a slight smile and puts the letter on the table, silently promising herself not to forget to send it to her niece. “Tomorrow, I shall go to the post office and send it.”       Alicia sighs quietly and thinks about something for a few seconds, still sitting on the table and folding her hands in front of her.       “I don’t feel quiet…” Alicia thinks with anxiety in her soul. “As if something happened to my girl… I can’t stop worrying about her.”       Alicia sighs heavily and looks around with sadness in her eyes.       “My gosh, I can’t wait for the letter to be sent to Raquelle…” Alicia thinks. “Can’t wait to receive an answer from her… Me to calm down and make sure that I just dreamed up.”       Although Alicia feels something not very good, she does not know what’s actually happening to Raquelle, and what Simon is going to do, or how he is torturing her in all possible ways, wishing to do his best for her to stay alone, always suffer and forget what living a quiet, happy life means.       

***

      The United States of America. New York. The next morning, Raquelle decides to go to Natalia’s home, seriously talk to her, and tell her everything she thinks about the fact that the blonde allegedly helps Simon find everybody to surround her. The girl does want to hear all the truth from her friend in any way and find out why Natalia stopped communicating with her so suddenly and has not thought of visiting her friend in a few days. Although Raquelle did not believe Natalia could do that at first, Simon made her sure that the girl really betrayed her due to jealousy and a wish to destroy her.       So, Raquelle is sitting on the dressing table and looking in the mirror with her head proudly raised, not being lazy of gathering her hair into a puffy ponytail and doing makeup to make her face look much better.       “I’m about to find out what she is hiding from me,” Raquelle thinks, frowning slightly. “Find out all the truth about why that girl suddenly stopped communicating with me. I shall make her admit that she is really jealous of me and wanted to have everything I got.”       Raquelle moves a short look at a half-open window.       “And I swear, if that bitch really works on Simon to revenge me, I will strangle her with my own hands…” Raquelle thinks. “That bitch will pay me for daring to do that to me. She will lose all of her hair! I swear…”       So, Raquelle makes the last changes to her look and looks at herself again, being finally ready to go to Natalia’s home. The girl gets up from the table, takes some things, puts them in her purse, makes sure that she takes everything, leaves the room quickly, and goes downstairs to the first floor.       Meanwhile, Terrence is sitting in the living room where Raquelle is going, who looks very gloomy and nervous. The man has lately thought too much and stopped smiling and being happy about something as much as he did before. He looks like he is sick of being a taken man, and his own girlfriend irritates him a lot.       After seeing Raquelle go down and come to the exit from the house, Terrence looks at the girl with some contempt in his eyes and asks loudly and rudely:       “Hey, where are you going?”       Raquelle says nothing and just pretends that she is looking for something in her purse, not even going to look at Terrence.       “Did you become deaf?” Terrence resents.       “What’s your business?” Raquelle throws rudely.       “I am asking you, where are you going?” Terrence demands an answer more rudely. “Answer my question now!”       “None of your fucking business!”       “Where are you the fuck going?” Terrence sharply gets up from the sofa. “Being dressed like this!”       “What do you mean being dressed like this?”       “Like this!”       “Huh, why do you care?” Raquelle hums contemptuously.       “So, did you go to seduce men? Want to make someone else unhappy? What you did to me was not enough for you? Are you going to ruin the life of someone else?”       “You should not care where I go!” Raquelle moves her eyes sharply to Terrence. “Or should I tell you everything I do, where I go, who I talk to, and something like that?”       “Do not forget that you are still my girlfriend and living in MY house,” Terrence says rudely.       “And what? We will break up soon, and I will get out of here!”       “I cannot wait! But while you are living in my house, you have to follow my rules!”       “What are you are talking about?”       “You must tell me where you go and what you do.”       “I must tell you nothing! And I go wherever I want. Did you get it? Or do I repeat?”       “I ask you again, WHERE ARE YOU THE FUCK GOING?”       “NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS!” Raquelle shouts.       “STOP SCREAMING HERE!”       “You were the first one to get excited!”       “I repeat, you MUST tell me everything you do! And you must LISTEN to me and OBEY my commands!”       “As far as I remember, there is not a line like in any documents.” Raquelle rolls her eyes with her arms crossed over her chest. “And there’s nothing like that in our non-existing contract.”       “Stop pretending to be nobody knows who! Do not forget that I can easily lock you at home and allow you to go nowhere if you, bitch, make me too angry.”       “In this case, you will regret it very much. And I will surely go to the police and tell them how you are mocking me.”       “Are you threatening me?”       “And I shall blame you for agreeing with Simon! I will tell them about the letters, the false articles, and everything you are doing now. May the police deal with you.”       “You will do nothing to me,” Terrence says with his head proudly raised.       “Oh, I will do!” Raquelle exclaims confidently. “And you will never get rid of the shame you would get on you if I told everyone what the all-favorite man of all girls is made of.”       “Close your mouth, bitch!”       Terrence sharply comes to Raquelle, tightly grabs her wrist, and focuses his icy look on her eyes.       “I will ruin your career to the fuck and do my best for you to be afraid to leave home if you threaten me and have hysterics,” Terrence threatens with anger in the eyes.       “So, would you tell everyone I am crazy?” Raquelle wonders. “Huh! Who would believe you!”       “EVERYONE will believe me! I have a great influence in the show business, and I can easily ruin the career of any celebrity and or help them.”       “Oh, yeah!”       “Better do not make me wild, scumbag. Or you will be begging me for forgiveness for your disgusting behavior. STANDING ON YOUR KNEES!”       Raquelle simpers contemptuously.       “Before making me beg for forgiveness, look at yourself, bastard,” Raquelle throws rudely, getting her hand sharply out of Terrence’s strong grip. “I will not humiliate myself for such a stinker like you and get down on my knees to beg for forgiveness for what I am not guilty of.”       “No matter if you want it, you will have to get down on your knees. AND PAY FOR ALL THE BAD THINGS THAT YOU HAVE DONE TO PEOPLE!”       “Go to the fuck, motherfucker!”       “You should not act like this, Raquelle Cameron. I can ruin your career to the fuck. Do something worse than what Simon did. Do my best for you not to get off the dirt that I would push you into.”       “Be careful because it might be back to you as a boomerang,” Raquelle warns confidently. “I do believe that bad things you do will happen to you, early or late.”       “I have been a part of the show business much longer than you have been a part of the modeling business. And I have much more contacts, thanks to which it would be easy for me to ruin your life so that you do not get rid of shame until the last day of your life. Wherever you would love to run, everyone would know you. Everyone would insult and humiliate you. Nobody would even love just to stand next to you.”       “Do not force me to hit you strongly and destroy this house to the fuck,” Raquelle threatens with a finger, looking at Terrence with eyes full of hatred.       “Or I can go further and actually put you in a mental hospital until the last day of your life,” Terrence threatens in a lower and ruder voice. “Because you should go there.”       “You better go to a clinic and get therapy!”       “You better close your fucking mouth, bitch…”       Terrence tightly grips Raquelle’s yawl, looking at her from above, with contempt and hate, while she does not look scared and looks at the man confidently enough.       “If you keep making me wild, I swear I shall make you regret,” Terrence says rudely. “You will regret standing in my way.”       “Do not threaten me, MacClife!” Raquelle smirks evilly. “I’m not afraid of you!”       “You are an idiot! A brainless idiot, who naively believes people will not believe me! THEY WOULD DO! They would do! Everyone would stand by me! Because I am much closer to you and can see what’s happening to you. People would believe a close person more.”       “Go to the fucking hell with your threats!”       “You think I am kidding? I am not! If you do not obey me and do everything I say, you will regret it. You will think of Simon in a good way and understand that his tricks were just stupid things!”       “Alright, I have no time for such a sick psycho like you. Get out of my way and let me go! Or I shall get sick of your pretense.”       When Raquelle goes a few steps back, Terrence tightly grabs her under an arm, sharply turns the girl on himself, and grabs her hair with a free hand so painfully that she makes a quiet squeak and winces.       “I say it again if you cannot get it well: you will be doing what I tell you to do,” Terrence hisses through his teeth with anger in his eyes.       “I did tell you I hated people telling me to do something,” Raquelle recalls rudely.       “I DO GIVE A FUCK ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE AND DISLIKE! I SAY – YOU DO!”       “WHEN YOU BREAK UP WITH ME AND FIND ANOTHER WOMAN, YOU WILL CONTROL HER! THIS THING IS NOT GOING TO WORK WITH ME!”       “SHUT UP, HYSTERICAL LADY!” Terrence pulls Raquelle’s hair much stronger. “GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW AND STAY THERE!”       “Go to the fuck, bastard,” Raquelle throws rudely.       “I SAID, GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW!” Terrence rudely pushes Raquelle off himself and pushes her to the stairs to make her go to her room. “I SEE YOU DRESSED UP! WANTED TO SHOW THE FUCK HERSELF! AND YOU DARE TO SNAP ME!”       Despite the way Terrence is behaving, Raquelle is not going to obey this enraged man and miss a chance to tell her friend everything she thinks about her. But there is no need to hide that she is shocked by the behavior of the man, who never let himself say something like this, but has turned into a senseless beast and treats his own girlfriend like something disgusting. Even when they were fighting as hard as a cat and a dog, the man did not act so terribly.       “Calm down, hysterical guy!” Raquelle throws rudely. “Or someone will call a mental hospital.”       “YOU MUST OBEY ME!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs. “GO TO YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW! AND STAY THERE!”       “I am not going to listen to you!”       “DO NOT MAKE ME WILD, BITCH! OR I WILL TAKE YOUR PHONE AND KEYS FROM YOUR CARS!”       “Seriously?” Raquelle opens her mouth slightly with a contemptuous smile and crosses her arms over her chest. “Why did you start making such statements? Since when have you decided you would talk to me in THIS way?”       “Since I was born as a MAN!” Terrence shouts. “WOMEN MUST OBEY MEN!”       “What you’re talking about! Even such mentally ill people like you? Can psyches really decide how people should live?”       “I shall pull your hair out if you keep snapping at me.”       “You stood in the way of the wrong girl, MacClife. If you thought I’d be afraid of you, shaking for you and taking your disgusting behavior, you are wrong.”       “I said YOU WOULD GO NOWHERE!” Terrence rudely pushes Raquelle in the back again. “GO UPSTAIRS BEFORE I, BITCH, STRANGLE YOU!”       “Since when have you turned into an insolent and non-educated man and dared to treat me like a doormat?” Raquelle resents. “DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD?”       “YOU, SCUMBAG, DARE TO SNAP AT ME? DO YOU DARE TO GO AGAINST MY WORD?”       “You have NO right to tell me what to do! I am not your prisoner! Not your slave! Not your property!”       “YOU ARE MY GIRLFRIEND! MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND!”       “I WILL STOP BEING THE ONE SOON!”       “Do not forget you are living in MY house!” Terrence throws, getting wilder and wilder and definitely fighting with himself not to do something terrible to Raquelle.       “Come on? In YOUR house?”       “There is NOTHING of what you bought. In this house, everything belongs only to ME! Your property is only your fucking clothes and your boxes, pots, and bottles, for which there is no place here.”       “Of course!” Raquelle rolls her eyes up, sniffing loudly. “You’ve got very fewer clothes! So fewer clothes that THE FUCKING DRESSING ROOM CAN BARELY BE CLOSED!”       “Better do not be mean to me. And I do advise you to remember well that you are living here just because you are my girlfriend. If you were not the one, I would immediately kick you out with your stuff.”       “Yes, I don’t deny you bought this house. Before we decided to live together. But we’re going to break up very soon, and I shall leave. And you will live as you want.”       “Every day, I dream of our breakup more and more.”       “Excellent! I will take my stuff and get out of here to the fuck very soon.”       “So, until you become single, I tell you to OBEY me in everything! I tell you to do EVERYTHING I say! And you WILL GET SLAPS in the face in case you don’t obey me!”       “I say again, I’m not your prisoner. And I am not going to become the one.”       “Do not make me wild, Cameron!”       “I am not going to obey you. Obey the one I hate to death. But if you want to dominate someone with a wish to feel much more confident, you better find another lady.”       “I do not care what you are going to do,” Terrence says rudely.       “Moreover, from a certain time, I have not considered you a boyfriend of mine,” Raquelle says quietly. “You are a stranger to me. A neighbor, who I have to share the house with as well as a room.”       “Huh, as if you thought I was your boyfriend before,” Terrence simpers contemptuously, crossing his arms over his chest. “As if you remembered that you had the one. Remembered of being a fucking taken girl!”       “So, as we’re strangers to each other, we shouldn't care what we do. I am an adult person, and I have the right to do whatever I want, not asking anyone for permission. And you should not care about what I do or where I go.”       After quietly letting Terrence know that she is not going to listen to him, Raquelle turns around sharply and goes to the hall door.       “Where are you going?” Terrence resents loudly. “WHERE ARE YOU GOING, I AM ASKING YOU? COME BACK NOW! HEAR ME, IDIOT? CAMERON!”       But Raquelle does not pay attention to Terrence’s shouts and, making knocks from her booties with no high heels, leaves the place, leaving which makes her feel much better.       “GO WHEREVER YOU WANT!” Terrence screams irritably at the top of his lungs. “YOU MAY NOT BE BACK HERE! I WILL PERSONALLY SEND YOUR STUFF TO YOU IN A TAXI! IF YOU LEAVE ME YOUR ADRESS! OTHERWISE, I WILL JUST THROW EVERYTHING I SEE IN THE TRASH!”       Terrence exhales sharply and looks at the hall door with evil in his eyes until Raquelle loudly slams the door, tightly clenching his hands into fists and breathing heavily enough. He is resentful of the girl’s behavior, who acts like she is allowed to do anything and gives a damn about what the man tells her. MacClife does not like the fact that she lets herself behave like this and does not obey the one, who she is dating, and in the house of who she has lived for a few months.       “Fucking bitch…” Terrence blunts under his breath, groaning very quietly and slapping himself on the forehead. “I do wanna pull you by the hair… Or just kick you out of home with all your stuff.”       Terrence quietly hums.       “So, you have to leave outside,” Terrence adds. “So, you become homeless… If you leave, it will happen because your family will not wish to accept you. They were waiting for the moment you’d meet a man and get out of the home. Your grandfather and your aunt will not take you back. Both of them will tell you to live with your boyfriend or on your own. Because you’re no longer a little girl. Yes, enough! You lived with your grandfather until you turned twenty-four.”       Terrence exhales sharply.       “However, I give a fuck,” Terrence pronounces quietly. “Give a fuck about what’s going to happen to you. Do what you want…”       After sitting on the sofa for some time, Terrence decides to get up and go to his room. The man slowly gets up from the sofa, goes upstairs to the second floor, and enters the room of Raquelle and him. He locks the door because he does not want anyone to bother him. Then the man falls on the bed like a stone, moving his dead eyes to the ceiling.       At some moment, Terrence calls the memories of some moments that happened to him and Raquelle at the beginning of their acquaintance with sadness in his eyes. When none of them could think they would have to get through such a cruel test of their relationship almost one year later after they met each other, and eight months later after starting a relationship. Which they probably failed.       “I’m starting to regret starting this affair more and more…” Terrence thinks with sadness in his eyes. “Regret deciding to date that girl. I thought she’d make my life better, but everything got much worse. Cameron never loved me and started to date me just to shut her family up. And I, idiot, didn’t notice it. I didn't notice that the girl was just playing with me. I woke up when she began to ignore me on purpose and ask her managers to find as much work for her as possible.”       Terrence shakes his head.       “Fuck, how it hurts…” Terrence thinks. “It’s so hurt that I wanna cry… It’s hurting that I chose the wrong girl… Not the one that would love me… But I could’ve chosen any other girl. So many girls are ready for anything for me and shout with my pretense… They would really love me. But I chose the one, who did not need love at all. Who cares only about her career. Who does not even dream of family… I am an idiot… The idiot, who shouldn't have run after that girl.”       Terrence sighs quietly and later stops his eyes on the framed photo. He and Raquelle are photographed. They look happy and careless. At least it seems so when viewing this photo that the man takes in his hand after he rolls onto the side and starts holding his weight on an elbow.       “It’s gonna be hard to forget everything that happened between us, but I have to do it,” Terrence thinks with sadness in his eyes. “Since that girl doesn’t care about me, I will not also care about her. I mean, I’m already not interested in her. I don’t feel what I felt for her in the beginning… Her indifference to me killed all my feelings… I tried to save our relationship, but she didn’t appreciate it.”       Terrence sighs quietly, sits up in the bed slowly, puts the framed photo aside, and looks into the distance without emotions, at the door that leads to the dressing room and is placed against him.       “It’s hurtful to me to admit it, but unfortunately, this is the end of our marriage,” Terrence admits to himself. “Having an affair with her was my greatest mistake that I will regret all my life… I don’t like this life… I’m starting to think of a breakup more and more… About a wish to start to live the way I did before… I wanna forget I knew the girl, who didn’t appreciate everything I did to her.”       Terrence shakes his head.       “So sorry that I was blind and noticed nothing due to my love for her,” Terrence thinks. “And the people around us were so happy for us that they didn’t say it was too early to get married. If they’d stopped us, everything would’ve been otherwise. Very sorry that my mother didn’t see that girl didn’t actually love me and said Cameron was the best one of those I had dated. If she’d opened my eyes, I would’ve thought well before standing in the way of that sick careerist. I'm so sorry that I didn’t believe Simon when he warned me that the girl would not give me happiness. How right that man was… How right he was…”       Terrence looks around with a sad look several times and slowly runs his hands over his face, also stroking down his hair.       “How I wish I woke up someday and realized there was no affair between her and me…” Terrence thinks. “The one to irritate me so much never stood in my way… I really wanna understand it was just my nightmare… I wanna start to live a quiet life… Wanna be happy about what I have… And the only solution to this problem is a breakup… This is the only way I could get peace back and get off that girl.”       Terrence keeps sitting in his room, thinking about what’s happening, dreaming about getting his former life back, starting to regret deciding to stand in the way of Raquelle and not thinking that it would lead to such sad consequences. The events that would turn living in a relationship into torture and make him regret actually starting it.       

***

      Some time later, Raquelle arrives at the place where Natalia is living to start a scandal and blame her for alleged revenge from jealousy. It takes less than an hour to reach the place she needs. But if there had been traffic jams on the roads, she would have had to spend much more time on a trip. Anyway, the brunette is already here, and she comes to the skyscraper she needs. She leaves the car in a parking lot, switches off the motor, takes her purse, gets out of it, locks it with a key, and comes confidently to the entry to the building.       After waiting for an elevator to come, Raquelle enters it and waits for it to bring her to the floor she needs. When its door opens, the girl confidently goes down the hall for some time, not caring about people, who go by her and do not care about her, and later comes to the door she needs. Then she starts ringing the doorbell very hard, being obsessed with a wish to tell her friends everything she thinks of her.       Natalia quickly opens the door and rounds her eyes when she sees the gloomy Raquelle standing on the doorstep. It’s possible to see that she looks quite sleepy, and her loose hair is definitely not done yet.       “Raquelle?” Natalia pronounces in a sleepy, slightly shaking voice.       “Hello,” Raquelle greets gloomily. “Friend.”       “Erm… Hello… It’s been… A w-while…”       Seeing her friend, Natalia gets a little nervous, calling the memories of the words of Richard and Simon about Raquelle having mental issues and worrying that this girl might do something to her.       “We need to talk,” Raquelle says coldly, crossing her arms over her chest and not going to talk like a friend. “Right now!”       “Erm…” Natalia pronounces hesitantly and bites her lip slightly. “Talk?”       “So what? Would we be talking here for everybody to hear? Or would you allow me to come into the apartment?”       “Erm…”       Natalia scratches the back of her head and quickly looks around with a scare in her eyes, not stopping thinking of the words of Simon and not being ready to talk to her friend, who does not look nice and sweet.       “Y-yes, of course,” Natalia pronounces hesitantly and steps aside. “Come in… Come in…”       “Thanks,” Raquelle throws coldly.       Keeping her head proudly raised, Raquelle confidently enters the apartment and goes to the living room, while Natalia closes the hall door. Then the blonde hesitantly comes to the brunette, who looks very gloomy and still keeps her arms crossed over her chest.       “Sit down, please,” Natalia suggests hesitantly, pointing to the sofa.       “Thanks,” Raquelle throws coldly, looking at Natalia with a contemptuous look and still standing in the same place with her arms crossed over her chest. “I prefer standing.”       “Erm, listen… Don’t get hurt at me for… Not visiting you for the past few days…” Natalia swallows up nervously, glancing at her hands for two seconds. “I have had some business… So, I…”       “I do not care about your business!” Raquelle reaches out her hand with the palm turned on her friend. “And you can say everything to someone else, who would believe you.”       “Listen, Raquelle, I have very little time…” Natalia lies as confidently as possible. “I… I would not be able to talk to you for a long time. I need to do too much and then go to…”       “Stop lying to me!” Raquelle shouts and sharply throws her purse on the sofa. “Stop!”       “Raquelle, what’s wrong? What happened to you?”       “The thing that happened to me is that I got a rag in my circle. The nasty rag that, however, has been near me all this time and known absolutely everything.”       “Rag?” Natalia opens her eyes widely.       “Just do not pretend that you don’t understand anything.”       “Sorry… But I don’t really understand you.”       “You are the rat, Natalia Emily Rochester!”       “What?” Natalia wonders, rounding her eyes.       “You are a betrayal!” Raquelle says loudly, threatening Natalia with a finger. “The most disgusting and nasty friend in the world!”       “Me?” Natalia points at herself, being shocked by what Raquelle just claimed. “What do you mean?”       “Yeah, Rochester… I did not expect that from you… I did not expect that you would be next to me for such a long time just to take revenge on me.”       “My gosh, Raquelle…” Natalia shakes her head, looking at Raquelle with dumbfounded eyes. “What are you talking about? What did I do? Why did you get so mad at me?”       “What a cad you are…” Raquelle hisses with anger in her eyes. “Scumbag… Bitch, who has had me wrapped around her finger!”       “I had you wrapped around my finger?”       “NOT, THE FUCK, ME!”       “Hey, hey, quiet… Don’t scream, please.”       “I WILL BE SCREAMING! MAY EVERYBODY KNOW YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME!”       “Raquelle, did you go insane? Why do you the fuck say these things?”       “You understand everything, Natalia,” Raquelle says rudely. “YOU DO KNOW YOU ARE A BETRAYAL!”       “You’re crazy…”       “So, blondie, did you think I wouldn’t find out about what you were doing behind my back?”       “What was I doing?”       “No, my dear, you are wrong. Now I do know what you did. I know you are not actually my friend.”       “What are you talking about?”       “Now I know what a bitch you are! JUST A BITCH!”       Almost shouting out the last words, Raquelle runs to Natalia quickly and slaps her in the face as strongly as possible, and then the blonde sharply grabs her cheek.       “Raquelle!” Natalia gets horrified loudly, looking at Raquelle scarily and rubbing her cheek. “What are you doing? Why did you slap me for?”       “Cad…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth. “Envy, false bitch, who is the reason for all my problems.”       “What are you talking about? What got obsessed with you?”       “It’s because of you, scumbag!” Raquelle shouts irritably, looking at the confused Natalia getting pale shortly with her widely open eyes. “I am suffering and losing everybody, who is dear to me, because of you!”       “Are you going insane just because I didn’t visit you for a few days?”       “YOU MAY NOT EVEN COME! I DO NOT NEED YOU!”       “Calm the fuck down!” Natalia raises her voice a little. “Why are you talking to me like this? You went to my home and began saying some bullshit!”       “So, would you keep pretending to be an idiot that understands nothing?”       “Listen, did you really go insane because of Simon?” Natalia wonders, being resentful because she hears these things from Raquelle and got a slap from her for no reason for the first time. “Why are you the fuck doing this?”       “Stop pretending to be an innocent lamb!” Raquelle demands rudely, starting to nervously shake and clenching her hands into fists. “YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING WELL!”       “Can you explain what’s wrong?” Natalia demands. “Explain the reason why you came here and decided to take it out on me?”       “Yeah…” Raquelle smirks evilly. “You were pretending to be a friend very well. You were working so hard… You did your best to make the wishes of your boss come true.”       “My God, what boss?” Natalia throws her hands up.       “You did your best to tell everyone my current location and my family’s location.”       “Raquelle…”       “You said nothing to anyone?” Raquelle stops loudly. “Yeah? You wanted to say it?”       “Listen, Cameron, are you really healthy?” Natalia puts her hands on her hips. “Were you thinking for a long time before coming here and blaming me for that bullshit?”       “Bitch… It’s all because of you… Because you can’t keep your fucking mouth shut… Because you wanted to revenge me from envy.”       “What?” Natalia resents loudly.       “One slap would not be enough for such a bitch like you. You must get all your hair out. And someone must make you so ugly nobody to look at you.”       “Listen, maybe, I should call an ambulance? If you have mental health issues! You would get an injection and calm the fuck down!”       “Now you will need an ambulance, not me! Because I shall make you so ugly that nothing will be left of your beauty.”       “Yeah… I am starting to make sure that you really have mental issues. You really look like a sick, hysterical girl.”       “Ah, am I sick?”       “Not me!”       “So, do you envy me being much luckier in life than you are?” Raquelle specifies with her head proudly raised. “I have a job, met a man, and got the love of fans… Everyone loves and praises me… I earn good money and could buy anything I want.”       “I envy you?”       “And you are still continuing to live off your parents, wasting their money and hanging around clubs or traveling abroad in search of a rich man.”       “What are you talking about, hysterical girl? Who made you say that? Did Simon wash your brains like this?”       “You know, you are guilty of that. You’ve never even tried to change anything. You were pleased with everything. And you don’t plan to work.”       “How long ago did you get mental issues?” Natalia crosses her arms over her chest. “Or were you pretending to be good for people and hiding that it was dangerous for people to be with you?”       “My mental health is fine!” Raquelle screams and starts waving her hands, definitely wishing to start a fight and strangle Natalia with her own hands. “Your conscience is not fine!”       “My gosh, you are really sick. You really went out of your mind because of Ringer!”       “How could you betray me? How could you do your best to turn my life to hell?”       “I did nothing bad for you to treat me like this!”       “Just because you have always envied me and my success!”       “I’ve never envied you! And I’ve always been happy about your success!”       “YOU ARE LYING! INSOLENTLY LYING!”       “I am not deaf! Do not scream at my home!”       “You are mad… You are mad because searching for a man gives you nothing, and they consider you just a sex toy they can play with. And I got a man after the first attempt. I just met the man and began to date him shortly.”       “Do you want to say I could be called a slut just because I meet men and spend time with them?” Natalia wonders with her widely open eyes.       “You answered your question!”       “How… How do you dare? How do you dare to insult me like this?”       “Many people are right when saying there is no feminine friendship. Because someone like you does not know what that is.”       “I can’t be a friend?”       “No, I cannot! I’ve always been a good friend of yours and supported you in everything. But you, cad, put a knife in my back!”       “It’s a lie! LIE!”       “And you did have the reasons: work, money, fame, love, acceptance, and personal happiness. I had all of that, but you have reached nothing in this life. You can only mention the fact that you waste the money of your parents. And of course, show your rich list of men you’ve had.”       “How do you dare to claim it?” Natalia resents.       “And you were so lucky Simon stood in your way, who suggested you destroy me together. And you, bitch, agreed! Then you began helping him poison my life, giving him all the phones and addresses of the people from my circles and telling him everything you heard from me.”       “What?” Natalia wonders loudly and hums with her arms crossed over her chest. “I gave Simon the phones and addresses?”       “Do not deny anything! I know everything!”       “What kind of bullshit are you talking about, crazy lady? Go to calm down and sleep a little! Because you went really nuts because of Ringer!”       “Why did you want to hurt those, who did not have to do with that?” Raquelle wonders loudly. “Why did you tell Simon where Terrence’s mother lived, who almost had a heart attack?”       “Are you crazy, Cameron?” Natalia knocks at her temple with a finger with her widely open eyes. “Are you blaming me for the fact that Ringer scared his mother?”       “Do you understand what you the fuck did? Terrence almost killed me! And he claimed what happened was my fault! I did that to her! Even if I’m not guilty of anything!”       “If she saw you were acting like a patient of a mental hospital, she would really get worse,” Natalia says confidently. “Because that woman thought you were shy, decent, and educated. But she would see a mentally ill lady.”       “DO NOT DARE TO CALL ME ILL! DO NOT DARE! I AM HEALTHY! HEAR ME, HEALTHY!”       “You really went crazy because of Simon! All your thoughts are just about him! All your talks are about him! And now you started to believe that man started threatening everybody and is guilty of other people’s problems?”       “If you, bitch, had not helped him contact everybody I knew, everything would’ve been fine.”       “I did not tell Simon any addresses or phones!” Natalia says with her head proudly raised. “And I especially did not tell him where Terrence’s mother lived!”       “Maybe, you should stop lying?” Raquelle suggests rudely. “Confess that you are his accomplice!”       “Huh!” Natalia smirks contemptuously. “You probably told him everything he wanted and then decided to blame me for that.”       “Ah, I am the one to blame for everything!” Raquelle puts her hands on her hips. “Do you think I put myself in this hell? Paid for my own humiliations for revenge?”       “I would not be surprised,” Natalia says, crossing her arms over her chest. “Since you went out of your mind.”       “You all think I am crazy, but it’s not the truth!”       “You just got too obsessed with your work and overworked. And when Simon promised to revenge you, you actually went on the wrong side.”       “STOP SAYING I AM CRAZY!”       “You stop proving that you are the one! Even the one, who believes that you have good mental health, would believe that you’re sick after seeing your behavior.”       “I don’t know what Simon promised you to make you betray me so easily, but I swear you will pay me for that,” Raquelle threatens Natalia with a finger. “I will bring both of you to prison and charge you with threatening my life!”       “What?” Natalia simpers loudly.       “I am not kidding, Rochester! You will go to prison for ages! I shall do my best for your mommy and daddy not to get you out of prison thanks to their money.”       “My gosh, you’re really sick…” Natalia shakes her head. “Sick…”       “By the way, Terrence will join you if that stinker is also standing by you. If he, as I thought, agreed with that sick bastard.”       “Oh, you also got Terrence involved in it!”       “I bit that bastard through at once! But I forgot it later and began to think he was a good man. I tried to make myself sure that my first impression was wrong.”       “My gosh, poor man… How could he live with the crazy idiot that must go to a mental hospital and take drugs for a few months?”       “Ah, he is poor…”       “I am surprised that he did not leave you much earlier and did not actually refuse to live with you. You ruined the guy’s life. He could’ve found any other girl but chose you.”       “Unfortunately for you, yeah?” Raquelle simpers evilly. “You wanted to get that man and dreamed of marrying him? But you got enraged when I seduced MacClife first?”       “What?”       “Such a good reason for revenge and an attempt to get me separated from my boyfriend! Who hates me and treats me like a doormat.”       “If he treats you like this, you are guilty of that,” Natalia says confidently. “Who would like the fact that someone prefers a career over a beloved person? Nobody! So, if Terrence is mad at you, he just lost patience. He got sick of standing your indifference to him!”       “I DO NOT NEED HIM!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “You can take that sick bastard! And get married to him when we finally break up!”       “Yeah, Cameron, you’re really sick… And you don’t understand what you’re saying now.”       “I DO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING! AND I SAW THE WAY YOU LOOKED AT MY BOYFRIEND!”       “Yeah? How did I look at him?”       “YOU UNDRESSED HIM WITH YOUR EYES! DREAMED OF MAKING HIM YOURS! AND GOT MAD BECAUSE THAT MAN DID NOT PAY ATTENTION TO YOU!”       “I love Terrence just as a friend.”       “Exactly! LOVE! YOU ARE NOT INDIFFERENT TO HIM! YOU WANT TO MARRY HIM! AND WANT TO KEEP DOING NOTHING! AND GET FAMOUS THANKS TO HIS SURNAME!”       “Listen, do I really call an ambulance so they take you away for two months? Maybe, therapy will help you calm down and come to yourself a little?”       “Yeah, Rochester…” Raquelle shakes her head. “I really trusted you… You were almost like a family member to me… I literally thought you were my sister. I thought I could trust you with all my secrets.”       Raquelle sniffs quietly, understanding that her eyes get wet with tears caused by disappointment and pain from realizing the fact that Natalia allegedly betrayed her.       “But you, bitch, did not appreciate everything I did for you,” Raquelle says with tears in her eyes. “You betrayed me… Pretended to be my best friend and planned to destroy me. Wanted to ruin my life.”       “My gosh, who said that bullshit to you?” Natalia wonders. “I said nothing to anyone and was not going to do it!”       “So, do you understand you were pinned to the wall, but you did not want to tell the truth?”       “You really believed that bullshit and now think I allegedly betrayed you?”       “IT IS THE TRUTH!”       “No, it’s not the truth! I have never envied you, tried to revenge you for something, and especially not thought about stealing Terrence from you.”       “You are lying! LYING!”       “Because of Simon, you stopped watching what you say. You just say what comes into your mind first.”       “You think I am dreaming up? I am not! Simon told me everything! Told me you helped him with great pleasure! How you were pleasing him alongside that kid!”       “And did you believe everything he said?” Natalia simpers loudly. “My gosh, Cameron, you’re an idiot! A naive idiot that believed the stinker!”       “He gave enough proof of you having to do with trying to destroy my life to the fucking hell.”       “Raquelle…”       “Yes, I didn’t want to believe it and did think he was saying bullshit. But later, Ringer told me everything, and I woke up. I realized I had a betrayal by my side all the time.”       “I didn’t betray you!” Natalia shouts loudly, with despair, barely holding down tears coming to her eyes. “Did not betray!”       “Would you keep saying you did nothing?”       “I will do! Because I did nothing to you!”       “Alright, you can say nothing. I do know everything I need. And I made sure that you were a bitch.”       “He is playing with you, fool!” Natalia shouts, knocking at her temple with a finger and sharply shaking her head. “Wake up! And understand it, at last!”       “It’s alright, I will no longer be such a stupid idiot,” Raquelle replies rudely. “I will think very well about what to say because anyone could betray me. Anyone could easily stand by Ringer and help him destroy me. Just like you and MacClife already betrayed me.”       “Do you understand you look very stupid now? Look stupid, blaming me for the betrayal! It’s just…”       “I can’t believe it…” Raquelle shakes her head with tears in her eyes. “Can’t believe I have been a friend of yours for so many years… For ages… I’ve told you so much… Told you so many secrets…”       “Raquelle…”       “But you preferred ruining our longtime friendship… Even if I still don’t understand what I did to deserve it.”       “Listen…”       “When did you get so mad at me? When did you change and become so terrible? When I got famous and rich?” Raquelle falls into silence for two seconds and shakes her head. “If you didn’t want to be my friend, why didn't you tell me that before? We would’ve stopped communicating at our wish! And you wouldn’t have had to take revenge on me and ruin my life!”       “Listen to me, at last…” Natalia shouts, losing patience more and more.       “I do not want to listen to you!” Raquelle stops sharply. “I do not want! I always thought you were loyal to me, but I was a toy in your hands.”       “I have always been loyal to you!”       “Did you think you could play with me and stop? No, my darling, you are wrong! You cannot do this trick with me! I am not going to be a friend of betrayals and those, who go against me.”       “Said everything?” Natalia asks. “Or would you keep screaming and waving your hands?”       “Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle runs her hands over her face with a quiet moan. “I wish I didn’t know you… I wish I hadn't come to you on that day, after lessons at school. If I had known you would be such a bitch, I would not have ever talked to you. And I would’ve kept being alone!”       “If the guys had seen you like this, you would’ve never become friends with someone.”       “I don’t understand why I have been a friend of yours for so many years. How could other people be friends with you?”       “They are! Very many people! And nobody has complained about me.”       “You can’t be a friend! You can’t keep your mouth shut. You’ve always been too chatty and could easily tell anyone some important information. And I, idiot, told you so many secrets… Which you probably already told someone. Told someone what I wanted to keep a secret.”       “I’ve never told anyone something when you asked me to say nothing.”       “Of course! Never!”       “I can keep secrets and know when I could say something, and when I could not do it!”       “I can’t keep anything a secret. Because of you! Because of the nasty, jealous betrayal that did just a disgusting thing to me and showered me and my feelings with mud.”       “Can you actually hear yourself? Hear what you say?”       “What an idiot you are…” Raquelle pronounces quietly and looks at Natalia from head to foot with contempt in her eyes. “Just a stupid idiot that can’t be loyal, be a friend, and love those, who are the fuck attracted to her so much.”       “Do not dare to insult me at my home. Do not dare!”       “I wish you were never married! I wish all the men kept considering you a fucking slut, who has been fucked by so many people. Who would never be something serious for anyone.”       At this moment, Natalia loses her patience. The girl was trying to keep calm and not to strangle Raquelle until the very end. But now she loses her temple and forgets all the good things that have to do with her friend. And she wants to do something to her… The blonde looks around with a hard enough breath, takes a pillow from the sofa, and throws it at Raquelle as strongly as possible. It eventually gets into her face.       It makes Raquelle much more enraged. She really wants to strangle this girl with her own hands. Besides, nobody could stop them and break them up if they wanted to pull each other by the hair.       “You…” Raquelle pronounces with a heavy breath and her widely open eyes. “You…”       “If you say one more bad word about me, I swear I shall pull all your hair out,” Natalia threatens Raquelle with a finger. “I am not kidding, bitch! You will pay me for everything. I will not let you insult me at my home.”       “Bitch… I shall kill you… KILL!”       Raquelle instantly runs to Natalia and raises her hand to slap the blonde as strongly as possible. But the blonde gets to get off the hit in a miraculous way and grabs the girl's hand, which is a few millimeters away from her cheek. And then Natalia slaps Raquelle in the face as strongly as possible, breathing heavily enough and looking at her with evil in her eyes. The brunette being definitely shocked energetically rubs her cheek that is burning after the strong slap in the face, getting literally green from evil, and stopping controlling her emotions and everything she does and says.       “You…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth. “You… I will never forgive you for it… Never… NEVER! I WILL STRANGLE YOU! RIGHT HERE!”       Raquelle makes a second, successful attempt to slap Natalia in the face, running to the blonde again and slapping her in the face as strongly as possible. Because of this hit, Natalia jumps back but does not fall down, grabbing her cheek instantly and rubbing it slightly for two seconds.       Great tension settles in the air. The girls that were the best friends are now looking at each other with evil in their eyes, breathing heavily enough, tightly clenching their hands into fists, and dreaming of pulling out each other's hair. The first one believes her close person helped Simon ruin her life. The other got wild because she was insulted and humiliated for nothing. None of them remembers everything that has happened between them. They forgot they got on very well and never raised a hand to each other or even raised a voice.       At some moment, Natalia, being shocked, confused, and mad at the same time, runs to Raquelle and slaps her in the face as strongly as possible. After this strong hit, the brunette grabs the cheek that got the slap again and also falls on the sofa.       “You better close your mouth!” Natalia demands rudely. “OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!”       After Raquelle gets up on her feet, Natalia rudely pushes her so that the brunette falls on the floor and barely hits her back against the edge of the sofa.       “I already listened to you, and now you will listen to me, dear Raquelle Allison Cameron,” Natalia says loudly. “You will close your fucking mouth and listen to what I am going to tell you!”       Natalia tightly clenches her hands into fists.       “Simon is having you wrapped around a finger, stupid chicken!” Natalia says loudly. “You became a victim of him! He wants to do his best to make you feel lonely. And he got it! Because you believe that cad. Believe that I am standing for him. Though, I would never help that stinker or have any business with him. I would never betray you! Because I appreciate…”       Natalia falls into silence for a second.       “I mean, I appreciated our friendship,” Natalia fixes herself. “I’ve never bet on you as a thing and always treated you very well. Even too well. I said many times that I wanted to get to know you much better, even when I was a friend of our schoolmates. Even when they tried to turn me against you and told me some dirty things about you. After you began to talk with me for the first time, I started to understand that those people were wrong. Because you seemed a very good and kind person to me. I have never betrayed you. I have always been by your side in any situation.”       While Natalia expresses her resentment, Raquelle gets up on her feet and gets much more engaged, definitely dreaming of attacking her friend with fists and breathing as heavily as a furious bull from anger.       “Alright, bitch…” Raquelle hisses through her teeth. “I will now decorate your face and pull out some hunks of your hair. AND NOBODY WILL STOP ME!”       Raquelle sharply runs to Natalia with a loud growl, tightly grabs her by the hair, easily strikes her down, and falls over her while the blonde cries from fear and surprise.       “Idiot!” Natalia screams. “Let me go now! LEMME GO! CAMERON, DO YOU HEAR ME? A-A-A-A!”       “I shall kill you, bitch,” Raquelle says in a rude, low voice. “KILL YOU!”       Raquelle slaps Natalia in the face as strongly as possible.       “GET IT, BITCH!” Raquelle screams.       “YOU ARE SICK!” Natalia clams with horror in her widely open eyes. “SICK!”       “CURSE YOU! BITCH!” Raquelle pulls Natalia’s hair much stronger, while that one screams from pain. “SLUT! BETRAYAL! BITCH!”       “Said by the bitch…” Natalia hisses through her teeth.       After choosing a good moment, Natalia gives Raquelle a very strong slap in the face, after which the brunette instantly falls to the floor. And she does not have time to understand how the blonde attacks her with fists, with which she gives her a few hits on her body, grabs her by the hair, and drags her on the floor for a few seconds while Cameron screams from pain and tries to get loose.       “LET ME GO NOW!” Raquelle screams at the top of her lungs. “BITCH! WHORE!”       “I will kick your ass now, psycho idiot,” Natalia says confidently. “You will regret BEING BORN IN THIS WORLD!”       Natalia gives Raquelle a few strong slaps in the face and pulls her by the hair on different sides for two or three seconds.       “Since nobody thought of pulling you by the hair enough, I will do it with great pleasure,” Natalia adds.       “STOP!” Raquelle shouts. “IDIOT! LET ME GO! GET OFF ME!”       The former friends drag each other by the hair, give strong slaps in the face, or give painful hits with their hands or legs for a few seconds, either rolling on the floor, standing on their knees, or getting up on their feet. Sadly, there is nobody around, who could break up the two excited girls, who threaten to kill each other with shouts, forgetting how warm their relationship was.       At some moment, Raquelle actually grabs Natalia by the hair and hits her head against the sofa, while the poor blonde shouts loudly and cries and wants the one, who turns out to be really crazy, to stop torturing her like this.       “UGH, I FEEL PAIN, BITCH!” Natalia screams. “LET ME GO, IDIOT!”       “GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!” Raquelle demands loudly when Natalia starts fighting with her hand in hand. “DO NOT DARE TO TOUCH ME!”       Having a short fight is enough for the girls to dishevel each other’s hair, tear each other’s clothes, and even give each other a couple of little bruises. But despite that, fortunately, everything does not lead to bleeding or more serious traumas. They just generously share slaps, hit each other with hands, and scream from pain when their hair gets strongly pulled.       It could last much longer, but at some moment, Natalia gets to strike Raquelle down the floor, who got up on her and started giving painful hits with both hands on everything she sees. And when the two girls get up on their feet, breathing heavily and literally being obsessed with the devil, they fight hand in hand for a few seconds. After this, Natalia pushes the brunette onto the sofa as strongly as possible. As a result, Raquelle hits the back of her head against its back, feeling quite a strong pain from the not very weak hits of her former friend. And Natalia got too much: her home clothes are destroyed, and her hair got very disheveled.       The long, tense silence after such a cruel fight between the former friends does not last for a long time. All this time, they are breathing very often and looking at each other with hate that only probably enemies could have. None of them even thinks of continuing to be friends and being close people to each other. While Raquelle being literally green from evil is about to kill her with her cold look full of contempt and dreaming of bearing her enough, Natalia understands that her eyes get wet with tears. And now she does not doubt that this girl is mentally ill and must stay far from people.       “SICK BITCH!” Natalia screams at the top of her lungs. “LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME! WHAT YOU DID TO MY CLOTHES!”       “YOU DESERVED IT, SCUMBAG!” Raquelle shouts. “YOU WILL THINK BEFORE BETRAYING YOUR FRIENDS AND DREAMING OF GETTING THEIR MEN!”       “You must get therapy. And keep you far from people.”       “Soon, you will have to stay far from people not to scare them with your ugly face.”       “Simon was absolutely right… You’re sick…” Natalia sniffs quietly. “Of course, I thought someday you would have this type of hysteria and scream like a hysterical girl. But I did not think you were such a crazy psycho. I didn't think you’d literally love to kill me.”       “Did you think you would get nothing after betraying me?” Raquelle simpers contemptuously. “No, dear! You will pay me for everything you did!”       “I DID NOT BETRAY YOU!” Natalia screams with despair. “I DID NOT BETRAY!”       “SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”       “Yeah…”       Natalia falls into silence for two seconds.       “I'm making much more sure that Terrence made a great mistake by starting to date such a psycho idiot like you,” Natalia says confidently and sniffs quietly. “I am really sorry for that man. Sorry that you did not appreciate everything he did to you.”       “I DO NOT LOVE HIM!” Raquelle says angrily. “I DO NOT LOVE! AND I HAVE NEVER LOVED!”       “It’s not a surprise to me. But you’ve confessed it.”       “I DO HATE THAT MAN! HATE! I CANNOT WAIT FOR US TO BREAK UP! I CANNOT WAIT TO START TO LIVE THE LIFE I HAD BEFORE!”       “You know, I also want you to break up as soon as possible. And I am sure it would happen. Because Terrence finally found out who you are and realized that you did not need him so much.”       “YOUR DREAM WILL COME TRUE VERY SOON, UGLY! SOON! THAT BASTARD WILL BE SINGLE! SOON!”       “Terrence and I have lately often talked about his relationship with you. We talked about what’s actually been happening in your life over the past few months. How he stopped feeling like he was a desired man because of you. How much he misses the former life when no girl dared to reject him. Terrence could’ve chosen anyone to TRULY love him. And not to use him.”       “YOU CAN GET THAT BASTARD!” Raquelle screams irritably. “I DO NOT NEED HIM! AND I AM GOING TO BREAK UP WITH HIM!”       “Huh, he will not stay with you!” Natalia simpers evilly, crossing her arms over her chest. “No man would like being ignored SO OPENLY! Did you think Terrence would take it forever? No, dear, you are wrong! Everything has a limit! And now MacClife cannot wait to get off the sick bitch like you.”       “MAY HE GO TO THE FUCK! I HATE HIM! HATE HIM FOR TREATING ME LIKE A DOORMAT! HE SHOULD PROBABLY START BEATING ME OR RAPING ME TO GET ABSOLUTELY WORSE FOR ME!”       “You are guilty of everything, Cameron! If you loved Terrence and had not forgotten about him after you began to live in the house with him, that man wouldn’t have gotten colder to you. He would not have given a damn about you and your problems. Why would he the heck care about your business when you don’t care about what’s happening to him? Or do you, egoist, think everyone owes you? Everyone must dance attendance upon you and clean your mouth! No, Raquelle, nobody owes you!”       “Of course! I OWE EVERYONE! I MUST SOLVE MY PROBLEMS, MUST FIND A MAN, MUST GET MARRIED, MUST MAKE CHILDREN, MUST EARN MONEY, MUST BUY AN APARTMENT, AND SOMETHING LIKE THAT! I ALWAYS OWE SOMEONE!”       “If you didn’t love MacClife, why did you actually decide to date him? Why were you crying about your love for him? You would’ve kept shaking your ass on a runway and shooting half-naked for magazines! Everyone would’ve been much more grateful to you!”       “I am no longer going to live as other people think right. From now on, I will decide how to live. I will decide how much I want to work, when I want to get married, when I want to have children… I will piss everyone off, who will just drop a hint on what I should do. I will pity nobody. Even my family.”       “Then get out of our lives and forget us! Live as you want and build your career! And don’t dare to get close to us when you someday realize what you did. When you realize you lost the wonderful man, who was ready to give you the whole world and do everything for you. When you regret not appreciating his love.”       “I DO NOT NEED HIS LOVE! DO NOT NEED! I actually want to know nothing about that scumbag!”       “Just like he does. Terrence no longer loves you and hates you for hurting his feelings. No girl dared to do such a terrible thing to him. No girl mixed his feelings with mud. No girl.”       “It’s alright, let him accept the fact that sometimes people might be rejected.”       “I wish someone did the same thing to you someday. I wish someone rejected your feelings and spit in your face. I wish you had a one-sided love and suffered from not being loved.”       “How much I was wrong…” Raquelle pronounces coldly, shaking her head slightly. “How I was wrong when I thought I was surrounded by loyal and loving people. But I was surrounded by scumbags. Like you and that bastard, MacClife. You two are betrayals.”       “You know, Cameron, I am now also regretting being a friend of you,” Natalia says confidently. “Simon bit you through much earlier and realized what a sick bitch you are, who thinks only of herself and can only shout and wave her hands.”       “Do not dare to insult me!”       “We didn’t believe you were mentally unstable. But now you have shown it. And believe me, when everyone knows it, nobody will wish to have a deal with you. Nobody will befriend you and especially fall in love with you.”       “A-A-A-A-A-A!”       Raquelle closes her ears with both hands for two seconds with a loud, irritating shout.       “ALRIGHT, STOP!” Raquelle screams. “I’M SICK OF HEARING THIS BULLSHIT! IF YOU ALL STOOD BY THAT BASTARD SIMON AND LICK HIS ASS, IT’S FINE!”       Raquelle takes her purse from the sofa and goes to the exit sharply and quickly.       “I am leaving!” Raquelle exclaims. “Or I shall really pull all your hair out and make your beautiful face ugly.”       Raquelle wants to open the door and run away from here as far as possible, but at some moment, she turns on Natalia, who is literally crying and being shocked, and looks at her with a contemptuous, icy look.       “Forget my phone number!” Raquelle demands loudly. “And never call me! Also, forget my home address and do not go there. Forget that I actually exist in the world!”       “I shall do,” Natalia pronounces confidently. “I don’t need a friend like you. And I will not suffer and cry. I don’t suffer from a lack of friends. But you will stay all alone someday. And You will be embracing a cat or a dog. Well, or your photos. If you’re such an egoist.”       “Wonderful then! As you’ve become such a good friend to Terrence, you can support him in everything. Or actually start to date him and get that idiot. Live with him and make him happy, fucking homewrecker.”       “I will say nothing in reply to the bullshit of the sick, brainless idiot.”       “I do give a fuck about how you would live and what you would do. But remember, I will not leave it unpunished! And I am warning you, if you, Ringer, and MacClife do not leave me alone, I will bring you three to prison. I swear you will regret that and know who Raquelle Cameron is.”       “Everybody knows it, Cameron. Do not even try.”       “Goodbye, Natalia Rochester. I hope we never meet anymore. Live happy, betrayal!”       Raquelle gets out of the apartment as quickly as a bullet and sharply slams the door. Natalia watches her until the brunette leaves. The girl keeps standing in the same place, being deeply shocked by what just happened. She would have never thought the situation would be so hard that they would start a cruel fight and get a wish just to think of making each other ugly. A few years ago, the brunette and the blonde would have laughed at someone, who would have said something like this would happen to them and ruin their long-time friendship.       Natalia would not definitely come to herself at the nearest time after what she had to hear and take. Her friend… To be clear, her former friend believes she is a betrayal. Through her behavior, she unconsciously confirmed Simon’s words about her mental issues.       “My gosh…” Natalia pronounces very quietly, understanding that she is shaking much, her heart is beating much faster, and tears are slowly rolling over her cheeks. “I can’t believe it…”       Natalia sniffs quietly.       “I lost my friend…” Natalia pronounces in a little shaking voice. “Lost…”       Natalia, having tears in her eyes, falls down on her knees near the sofa and doubles over for two seconds.       “I can't believe everything is really happening to me,” Natalia whispers. “I lost my best friend… She told me such terrible things and blamed me for the betrayer…”       Natalia sniffs quietly, starting to let her emotions go out after she stayed alone.       “Why?” Natalia asks herself. “God… Did I really deserve it? Why? I don't get it! First, my grandma got sick, then Simon’s accomplice threatened me and accosted me openly… And now I've fought with my best friend because of that stinker… The stinker, who made her believe what never happened…”       Natalia makes another quiet sob.       “I have never betrayed Raquelle,” Natalia pronounces. “Never… And I wasn’t gonna do that… Even if she is not healthy, I have never thought of revenging her and doing something bad… And I wasn’t gonna steal the man from her. Simon told her bad things about me, and she believed them… My God…”       Even though it was hard for Natalia at times, she tried not to cry. Or she at least tried to control her wave of tears and emotions. But now, when she was literally pushed into the mud, she is not able to hold herself down. She is broken. She is unhappy. She has to suffer. Suffer because Simon decided to make her a victim and turn Raquelle against her.       At some moment, Natalia quickly gets up on her feet, runs to her room, lies onto her stomach on the bed, and starts crying bitterly, closing her face with both hands and not trying to hold herself down.       “Why do I have to take it all?” Natalia asks herself in a shaking voice. “Why? Why was it me? W-why?”       It should be noted that Natalia had suspicions that Simon could have done his best to ruin her friendship with Raquelle. She thought it might have been possible. And now that man got what he wanted and got the two former best friends to fight as hard as possible. The girls would hardly reconcile and forget what happened between them. And nobody knows what’s his next step or how he is going to get the poor Raquelle exhausted. Nobody knows how much he is going to torture her and do his best for her to feel worse and worse.       

***

      After leaving the home of Natalia, who became a former friend of her, Raquelle goes to her car placed in the parking lot, gets in the driver’s seat, quickly fixes her disheveled hair that got worse during the fight with the blonde, starts the motor and presses on the gas pedal as strongly as possible to leave this place, silently swearing she would never be back where the one to allegedly betray her and their friendship is living.       Raquelle does not hide that she is disappointed and still feels very excited and mad after this fight. She trusted Natalia for so many years. She considered her a close friend… Almost her own sister that she has never had. But now, she had to find out that the girl allegedly betrayed her cruelly. Betrayed her when she especially needed someone’s help and support.       However, even if she is terribly mad at her former friend, it’s bad for Raquelle to remember how she fought with Natalia, dragged her by the hair, gave her very many slaps, and even left a couple of bruises on her body. And somewhere at the bottom of her heart, the girl is glad everything did not lead to something more horrible and serious because she would not like to be guilty of someone getting sick or disabled.       After what happened, Raquelle decides to count only on nobody but herself. She does not want to wait for someone to wish to help and support her, at least with a couple of words. The girl decides to solve the current problem. Her main goal at the moment is to deal with Simon as soon as possible. No matter how she would do this: alone or with someone’s help. But Raquelle does not know how she would deal with him or whether she could actually get off that man on her own.       That’s what the girl is thinking about while being in her car with open windows, holding the wheeling steel tightly, and watching the road with an indifferent look. The strong wind is blowing up her face and her long hair, which sometimes gets into her eyes. However, Raquelle does not care about it now…       “I can’t believe she betrayed me and thought I was sick,” Raquelle thinks with sadness in her eyes. “That stupid lady ruined our long-time friendship for her own goals. But that girl was like my sister, which I never had…”       Raquelle changes the speed with a gearbox.       “We also fought…” Raquelle thinks tiredly. “We were beating each other with hands and legs, pulling each other by the hair… Doing what we had never done… But if I’d stayed there longer, I would’ve really pulled her hair out and made her so ugly that no man would’ve looked at her.”       Raquelle shakes her head.       “My gosh, what I’m doing…” Raquelle thinks. “I’m doing what Simon is dreaming about… I’m acting like a crazy girl… And I’m making everyone believe in it…”       Raquelle sighs heavily.       “Anyway, now I really stayed alone, along with my problems,” Raquelle thinks. “As Simon said. I have nobody to count on but me. From now on, nobody will help me. Nobody will comfort me, support me, or advise me on what to do. But I would like to talk to someone about it so much… Sadly… There’s nobody around…”       Raquelle gives another sigh.       “It’s okay, I will get through it,” Raquelle decides silently. “I must be strong. I've gotta fight. I mustn’t let my emotions take control of me! Since I stayed alone, I should keep fighting. If I do nothing, Ringer will do his best to turn my life to hell. Or erase me from this world.”       Raquelle changes the speed with the gearbox.       “Now my most important goal is, to get off Simon as soon as possible…” Raquelle thinks. “And when I do away with him, maybe, I will start a new life. I hope I will have already broken up with MacClife and made him leave my life…”       Raquelle glances at a car that goes by her.       “I’ve gotta think of what I’m gonna do,” Raquelle decides. “But I do know I would better leave. Go to another city… Or even another country… To start my life over again and forget everything that happened here and everybody I know. Maybe, I even quit the modeling career… Find something to do… I don’t know what… But I will find something. Besides, people began forgetting me. They don’t talk about me as much as they did before. As if the story of the slender left some tracks after itself.”       Raquelle sighs heavily.       “Okay, I will think about it later,” Raquelle thinks. “First, we’ve gotta deal with Simon. And then think about what to do. Where to run from everyone I know. Where I could be just a girl that nobody knows…”       Some time later, Raquelle decides to get everything that distracts her from driving the car out of her head and continues her way. Because she should not go anywhere, she decides to go back home. Even if she does not want to come back to where she feels very bad.       But actually, Raquelle has not lately felt that the place where she is living is her home. By behaving so disgustingly, Terrence did his best to make the girl come back to his house with a heavy heart and make her moan because she would have to be where she would be happy to run away from as far as possible. However, she is going to leave the home of her boyfriend at the nearest time because she cannot wait to get off that man once and forever.       

***

      Some time later, Raquelle arrives at the place where she is living. After passing by the security post and reaching the territory of the house, the girl leaves her car in the special place for it. When she switches off the motor, gets the key out of it, and takes her purse, Raquelle gets out of the one, locks the car, and slowly comes to the hall door.       The girl quietly opens it, closes it after she enters inside, and goes to the living room, looking around. She wonders because she does not see anyone here: neither Terrence, the servants, nor anyone else.       “It’s weird, where is everyone?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “Why is there nobody here? Neither MacClife nor the servants… Where are they all? They left?”       Raquelle looks around the living room again.       “Hello, is somebody here?” Raquelle asks loudly. “Somebody! Am I alone here?”       While Raquelle looks around and decides to check other rooms, some time later, Blair shows up in the living room from nowhere, looking a little tense and holding something that looks like a white envelope.       “Raquelle?” Blair pronounces quietly with a scare in his eyes. “Is that you?”       First, Raquelle shakes slightly and then quickly turns on the voice.       “Blair?” Raquelle pronounces amazingly.       “I heard your voice and decided to come here,” Blair says quietly.       “Listen…” Raquelle looks around again. “Where is everybody? Where did they leave?”       “I do not know,” Blair shrugs. “Honestly, I came back here some time ago and saw that there was nobody here… Neither the servants, Mr. MacClife, nor you…”       “So, nobody?”       “Nobody? When I came here through the door for servants, I didn’t find Christiana and Violetta.”       “That’s how… Alright… I got it… They probably went to do some work.”       “I think they will be back soon. Violetta and Christiana probably went to a store. To buy something…”       “Maybe…” Raquelle tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Okay, I shall go to my room and lie a little… Read something… If you need something, let me know.”       Raquelle wants to go to her room without any emotions on her face, but Blair stops her.       “Erm, Raquelle, wait, please,” Blair says quietly.       Raquelle turns slowly to Blair and looks at her without emotions.       “What’s wrong?” Raquelle asks.       “Someone sent this letter to you,” Blair replies hesitantly.       “Letter?”       “Yup… But I don't know who sent it to you because there is no signature here.”       With these words, Blair gives the envelope with a letter to Raquelle.       What?” Raquelle rounds her eyes. “No signature?”       Raquelle sharply takes the letter from Blair's hands with horror in her eyes and looks at it from all sides.       “Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle gets much more nervous.       “Do you know who sent it?” Blair asks, tightly locking her fingers.       “Yeah… It seems like I know who this letter is from… I mean, I’m guessing who could write it.”       After opening the envelope with her shaking hands and stepping aside, Raquelle begins to silently read the letter that she finds in it. And what she reads in the text makes her heart beat several times stronger and faster than before.       "I am saluting you, Raquelle Cameron!       I see that you are doing, saying softly, not very well. To be honest, I am very glad it is happening. All your close people and relatives left you… You stayed alone… So, it means there is nobody to defend and support you. Ah, my poor girl… Everybody left you… Oh… Oh… Oh…       But you know, my darling, that’s what I want to get! Yes, yes, I do want to destroy you and turn your life into an endless hell. And remember, I will not stop doing what I want until I get what I want. Until I see you having no strength to resist me and being ready to give up on the fight with me… If you show just a little resistance, I will keep torturing you and pressing on your weaknesses."       While reading the letter, Raquelle decides to sit on the sofa for her best because she knows she may expect anything from Simon. After moving her eyes off the letter for a second and breathing in deeply, the girl keeps reading the text:       "…I see that you are still willing to fight with me and make me pay for what you had to take then, one and a half years ago. Yeah… But I am advising you to give up, my girl. Because all your efforts would be worthless. Whatever you do, I will take a win. No… Of course, if you want to keep feeling terrible things and unbearable suffering, it’s alright, keep resisting. To be honest, I would be happy to torture you and watch you suffer a little longer. I do love making pleasure last longer. I love torturing someone and then waiting for something for a long time. It’s such a wonderful feeling… M-m-m-m…"       Every second, Raquelle starts to think that the ground is crumbling under her feet, and the words in the letter do not give her hope for the best. The girl realizes more and more that she would not get away with Simon so easily, and he would get what he wants, despite her attempts to find a way to destroy him.       The girl stops reading the letter for a few seconds, getting horrified by thinking she would give up on Simon and let that terrible man do anything he wants to her. But then Raquelle pumps much air into her lungs and keeps reading the letter of her offender:       "…But remember, you have very little time to resist. I am not going to take you trying to resist me and finding a way to get away with me forever. Early or late, your time to pay for everything I had to take because of you will come. So, I am advising you to stop begging your familiar people and friends to help you save yourself… But… Who could you ask for help if everybody left and betrayed you? And why would they help the one, who is mentally ill? I think at least your friends and boyfriend have already made sure about it and are not even going to talk to you.       However, you will do nothing on your own, no matter how hard you try to find a way to destroy me. Remember, you are absolutely helpless and can do nothing against me. It was one of the goals on my list. But I have other goals that I am going to make come true at the nearest time. You will know what kind of goals I have a little later. But everything will get clear when the time comes. Now keep living with the suspense and suffering from it.       This is everything I wanted to tell you. Actually, I have too much to tell you. But I think I will not get you so shocked… Or any kind of ammonia will not help you. I will be getting you ready for your loss and revealing my plans little by little. I like a type of torture that tortures someone for a long time and then kills him or her at all, not something that kills you immediately.       I hope you will listen to my advice and be a good and clever girl, who realizes that playing with Uncle Simon is worthless because you might pay a very high cost. If you do everything I say, you will suffer less. If you keep being a headstrong donkey, you will not know peace.       I wish you a good day, my darling Raquelle.       Best wishes, Simon G. R."       Raquelle is sitting on the sofa and looking into the distance for a few seconds with dead eyes. Simon openly claimed that she could stop doing something because it would not help her get saved from him and the revenge he wants to make come true. The girl understands that the man is right because she really has nobody to ask for help and does not know how to get saved from him on her own.       It seems like there is no other way but to sit down and wait for that horrible man to do something. Wait for weeks, months, or even years for him to destroy her. Be under the pressure, wake up every day in suspense, and ask herself if this day is going to be the last one for her. This waiting is like any kind of torture. And Simon definitely understands it because he wants to torture Raquelle morally. Torture her with suspense. Torture her until she accepts her fate and realizes she will be dead very soon.       Blair is still standing in the same place and did not leave when Raquelle was reading the letter from Simon. At first, she looks at the girl with sadness in her eyes, and then she comes to her hesitantly and touches her shoulder slightly.       “What’s written in this letter, Raquelle?” Blair asks carefully. “Who is this from?”       But Raquelle gives no answer and keeps looking into the distance. It makes Blair start worrying about the girl, who becomes kind of white shortly after what she reads in the letter and definitely looks dumbfounded.       “Raquelle, are you alright?” Blair shows anxiety. “You feel bad?”       “No…” Raquelle pronounces quietly and slowly.       “Maybe, I should give you water?”       “Don’t do… Don’t do…”       “What’s written in the letter and got you sharply white?”       “Nothing…”       Two seconds later, Raquelle shakes her head, while tears are coming to her eyes.       “Nothing is written,” Raquelle repeats. “Nothing… Nothing… Nothing!”       Raquelle puts the letter and the envelope on the edge of the sofa, sharply gets up from the sofa, runs away to the bathroom with tears in her eyes, locks herself there, and starts crying without stopping all alone, not noticing that she lets the letter and the envelope fall on the floor after getting up.       “Raquelle…” Blair pronounces with sadness in her eyes.       Blair watches Raquelle until the brunette locks herself in the bathroom. The servant thinks of something for a few seconds with sadness in his eyes, and then she wants to come to the sofa and take the letter from the floor to give it to the girl later. But at this moment, Terrence comes into the living room, and she, shaking slightly, steps back. By the way, the man looks a little quieter than before, but he still seems very gloomy and unhappy with something. He sees Raquelle running away in the bathroom because she walks a few meters by him. And he pays attention to Blair standing next to the sofa with both hands folded in front of her.       “What happened to her?” Terrence asks coldly. “Is this one more caprice of the lady?”       “Erm, she…” Blair wants to say hesitantly. “She…”       However, the confused Blair does not have to explain anything because Terrence moves his eyes to the floor and sees the letter from Simon that Raquelle accidentally flicked away on the floor.       “Oh, what is that?” Terrence asks thoughtfully. “It’s hers?”       Terrence quickly takes the envelope and the piece of paper, which he gets interested in.       “Interesting…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully. “Who is this from?”       Terrence sits on the sofa and starts to read the letter that he just took from the floor. And after reaching the last line, the man shakes his head.       “I can't believe it…” Terrence quietly blunts under his breath. “Is Simon going to torture her until the end? Until he gets sick of it? He may not get sick very soon. That bastard does love making everything longer…”       Terrence runs his eyes over the letter over the lines that are written in it again.       “Holy shit, why does Ringer want from her?” Terrence asks himself. “What does he need from that girl? I can’t understand what he wants to get.”       Terrence exhales sharply.       “What a mean person…” Terrence shakes his head. “So, he likes a type of torture that kills you slowly but rightly… Is that bastard going to torture her until she actually dies?”       Terrence growls crossly with rolled eyes.       “Ar-r-r, I can't stand Simon Ringer!” Terrence thinks with evil in his eyes. “That bastard has already done so much. If we didn’t have him in our lives, everything would be fine. At least, I would really live quietly.”       Terrence puts the letter on his laps and nervously rubs his hands.       “I wish you burned in the hell, bastard…” Terrence thinks. “I hate you… Hate…”       Maybe, at heart, Terrence feels sorry for Raquelle, who has to endure the kind of infinite torture of Simon, who will not stop and will go until the end to make his wishes come true. But on the other hand, he does not have a wish to help her. Because of her indifference to him, he does not want to know anything about what she is doing, solve the problems of his girlfriend, and support her somehow. And the fact that everybody thinks she is mentally ill, and she unconsciously confirms this fact by behaving quite aggressively towards many people also makes him stay far from the crazy girl and let her solve her problems on her own.       “Although I’m sorry for her, may she solve her problems on her own…” Terrence decides. “I am not going to help the one, who has always given a fuck about me. She should only say we can break up, and she can go to the fuck. May she live her own life that I no longer care about. I will deal with Ringer only in case he dares to hurt me somehow. If that scumbag wants to do something to me or my close people. I shall strangle him with my own hands.”       Terrence exhales sharply and runs his hands over his face. And then he moves his eyes aside and sees Blair still standing in the same place where she has been standing since he came into the living room. The young servant looks a little tense and scared and is kind of afraid of making this man mad, who has lately looked not very kind and nice.       “Oh, Blair, that’s good you’re here,” Terrence says quietly. “I want to ask you about something.”       “What?” Blair asks quietly.       “Don’t tell Raquelle that I read this letter.”       “Don’t tell?”       “Yes… And yeah…” Terrence takes the letter and the envelope and points them to Blair, who takes these things, looking at the man a little hesitantly. “Take this letter and hide somewhere in your room.”       “Erm, alright…” Blair nods slightly.       “I will decide what to do to the one later: throwing or saving. Keep it with you now. Okay?”       “Alright… I will save it.”       “Thanks, Blair.”       Terrence quietly gets up from the sofa and goes upstairs to the second floor, thinking about something. Blair watches him for some time, and when the man hides, the girl moves her eyes to the letter and decides to read it. And its content makes the servant more shocked every second.       “My gosh…” Blair thinks with horror in his eyes. “Is that the man, who already tried to ruin her reputation and slander her? Is he trying to do the same thing again? What if he has to do with the fact that Terrence and Raquelle’s relationship has lately gotten much worse?”       Blair moves her eyes off the letter.       “Yes, they didn’t get on well and didn’t almost talk,” Blair thinks. “They acted like strangers, who never loved each other. But the servants and I heard them fighting many times. Heard how terribly Terrence treats Raquelle. Sometimes he crosses the line and acts like a real stinker, who literally wanna make his girlfriend a prisoner…”       Blair sighs quietly.       “Gosh, if only Raquelle didn’t suffer because of that man…” Blair expresses hope. “He’s so close to raising a hand on her… If it hasn’t happened yet…”       Blair swallows up nervously.       “What if it would be better if they broke up?” Blair asks herself. “Raquelle would live her life, and Terrence would stop being so gloomy and upset… Why do they torture themselves if they feel so bad together?”       Blair shakes her head.       “And the problem with Simon…” Blair sighs quietly. “Poor Raquelle… She didn’t deserve everything that was happening to her. She didn't deserve those tortures Simon Ringer wants to put her under. She didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Even if she doesn’t love Terrence too much, it doesn’t mean that girl should suffer.”       Blair moves her eyes to one of the windows in the living room.       “She’s guilty of nothing,” Blair thinks with pity in his eyes. “Simon is the only one to blame for everything. He must suffer and pay for everything he does. Does it for the reason that nobody knows about…”       Blair shakes her head.       “My gosh, why does Raquelle have to suffer so much?” Blair wonders. “Why? When would her problems be over? When would she live a quiet life? How could she stay strong, brave, and happy when she has to always run into something?”       Blair sighs quietly.       “Anyway, you are strong, Raquelle,” Blair thinks. “I’ve always been a fan of you. Always admired your power of will. Even if it’s very hard for you now, you will get through it. Just hold on and don’t give to that stinker, who went out of the mind and is trying to turn everyone against you. I would not personally believe anything he would love to tell us. And I’m so sorry that your close people did believe he was right. Terrence and your friends… They did a very bad thing to you. Very bad… But you should hold on. Even if you stay alone. Hold on, sweetie, hold on. I believe in you. I do.”       A few seconds later, Blair decides to put all these thoughts aside and hide the letter of Simon at the plea of Terrence. So, she goes upstairs quickly to the second floor, runs to her room, and just puts it in one of the drawers of the writing table. Then the young servant slightly fixes her hair, pulls down her dress, goes down, and starts working on many things she has to do.       

***

      It seems like Simon is absolutely satisfied with what’s happening at the moment. Standing in front of a small window, through which some light gets into the small room, the man is dreaming much of feeling a sweet taste of victory after revenging Raquelle and reaching all the goals he wants to make real.       “Excellent…” Simon smiles widely. “That nasty girl stayed all alone. Now, nobody can help her. Nobody even thinks about it. Cameron also believes that she is in a hopeless situation. Her close people think she is crazy, and they do not want to stand in the way of the one to be allegedly ill. And she probably, already thought about her relationship with her friends after I turned her against one of them.”       Simon evilly laughs and shakes his head.       “So, Raquelle…” Simon says confidently. “Now you’ve made sure that I am not going to play with toys. I’ve already written you a letter, in which I said I would be torturing you very slowly first. So, you have no strength and wish to fight with me. And then I would start slowly killing you. Yes, yes, girl, you would die. And trust me, nobody would know who would kill you and how. Because I would do my best to hide tracks and do everything quietly, without noises.”       Simon smirks quietly.       “I cannot wait to deal with you,” Simon raises his head proudly. “I have never loved you neither as a person, a photo model, nor even as an actress. I have actually never loved you. And I will always hate! Why – you will know only when it’s your time to die.”       Simon starts stroking his chin.       “Of course, I’m sorry that my first plan failed,” Simon says thoughtfully. “I am sorry that I did not turn the whole world against you when I slandered and humiliated you. I wanted people to forget you and stop admiring you because you did not deserve it. So… You will have to get through more tortures from Uncle Simon, who does not forgive offenses and does not forget those, who stand in his way and tries to go against him.”       Simon smugly laughs with his mouth wide open.       “Ah, Raquelle Allison Cameron…” Simon shakes his head. “I have been waiting for this moment for so long… The moment when I would watch you humiliated and absolutely broken. And it will happen soon… Soon, you will be lying at my feet and begging me to leave you alone. And crying without stopping when I give you a chance to say your last words. Which I will probably tell those, who turned their backs on you now.”       All this time, Simon is turning a golden wrapping from a candy that he found in a pocket of his jacket. While he is thinking about revenging Raquelle very soon for all the bad things, Richard comes into the room, groaning quietly and holding some products in his hands. All this time, Ringer has been at his home and waiting for his accomplice to be back from a shop where he went to try to buy something.       “Oh, fuck, I'm so sick of those beggars on the streets,” Richard says irritably. “It seems like I look like a generous rich man, who gives his money to everyone. But I actually, barely have money for food.”       Richard grows crossly and goes to the kitchen with his products.       “I barely had money to buy food…” Richard adds and puts everything he bought in the refrigerator carelessly. “I eat some shit that always makes my stomach hurt. But I do wanna eat something fine.”       Richard returns to his room, where Simon is now.       “And the cashier decided to mock me when I didn’t have some dollars for something,” Richard confesses. “She told me to get a job instead of complaining and counting pens. Huh! Do I go to work as a cleaning man or loader for a little money? I was a beggar and would always stay the one!”       “Don’t get excited, Richard,” Simon replies quietly. “Calm down, please.”       “You know how sick I am of all of this! Why does everyone think they should tell me to get a job or at least go to study?”       “Believe me, buddy, they stand in my way every day. All those beggars annoy me and beg me to give them money, even if I do not have it and barely get it. And unfamiliar people tell me to go to work. But at my age, it’s very hard to get a job. You could go to work somewhere. But where would a forty-year-old man work? Nowhere!”       “Thanks, but I’d rather rob someone or kill by the order of a man. He would treat me better and pay me much more than those, who call their colleagues something like dust and pay little money to them.”       “Absolutely agree.”       “Oh, fuck…” Richard runs his hands over his face with a quiet moan. “I’m sick of all of this…”       “Wait for a little, Richard,” Simon advises quietly. “I do believe we will live much better after the revenge is done.”       “I’d like to believe it…”       “Don’t think about it. Better focus on our main goal. We shouldn't give up right now when half of the way is already taken.”       “I know, Simon. But understand me: I cannot take those beggars, who have pity on their faces and look at me with puppy eyes when begging me for money, at least to buy a loaf of bread.”       “I understand. But please, get these things out of your mind. Now I am going to blackmail Raquelle and make her think she is absolutely helpless, and nothing will save her from me. And trust me, that gal would really believe and think nothing would save her. Besides, I am more than sure she would not even go to the police because she would believe they would not help her.”       “Oh…” Richard moans tiredly. “Moreover, a street dog annoyed me and almost pooped on my shoes. I thought I would’ve killed that bitch if she destroyed these fucking shoes. I’ve got only one pair!”       “Richard, you think of the wrong things.”       “Sorry, Simon…” Richard runs his hands over his face. “I’m just irritated by all of that…”       “Try not to think about it and to calm down,” Simon says with a slight smile, clapping Richard on the shoulder. “Think of what’s important to us two.”       “You know I am supporting you and ready to do anything for you,” Richard replies confidently with a sly smile. “You have taken half of the way. You need only to do a little bit to feel this incredible taste of victory.”       “Yeah, I can’t wait to feel it…”       “I am ready to bet that she kills herself if you bring her to despair and very deep depression.”       “The most important thing is that she doesn’t do it earlier than I need it. Or my plan would be ruined.”       “Why? If you didn’t deal with the gal, you would deal with her boyfriend. I mean her soon-to-be former boyfriend.”       “Don’t worry about him. I shall deal with him, as well. He would not hide from me. Even if that guy believed he would get off Uncle Simon by leaving that girl.”       “You’ve got much to do…”       “Yeah, I’ve got no time to miss…”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Simon glances at the window he is standing near.       “By the way, did you send the letter of happiness to Raquelle?” Richard asks with a sly smile.       “Yes, I did,” Simon replies confidently. “And I guess she has already received it. The servants already took it from the mailbox and gave it to that cutie.”       ‘Definitely…”       “Hey, Richy…” Simon claps Richard on the shoulder with a sly smile. “Do you think Raquelle fainted after she read the letter?”       “Most likely,” Richard shrugs slightly. “Because gals are very sensitive. If you tell them some shocking news, they will fall senseless with painful moans.”       Richard simpers quietly, crossing his arms over his chest.       “Ah, poor girl!” Richard exclaims ironically. “How much she has had to tolerate in the past few days. And her whole life…”       “She talked about it in all of her interviews,” Simon notices. “She wanted everyone to pity her. She understood that people with sad fate would get much more love. And she knew that everyone would love to feel sorry for her.”       “Or she was told to do it.”       “Maybe. Managers aren’t stupid and do know how to promote any celebrity. So, they told Cameron to always play on pity. And it worked.”       “Yeah, worked well…”       “So, as she pretends to be a strong and brave girl, she should prove it. May she get through everything I’ve prepared for her.”       “That’s right! What’s her favorite phrase? Stay strong, brave, and happy? Or something like that.”       “The one.”       “Probably, her managers came up with it.”       “Who knows. Anyway, be sure she would no longer be the one after she lost the support of her close people and understood her situation was hopeless.”       “She already did it a long time ago. Don’t worry.”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Simon thinks about something. Then he throws a quick glance aside and looks at Richard, who looks a little tired.       “Alright, Richard, I think you need to have some rest,” Simon says confidently. “You look tired…”       “You don’t need me?” Richard specifies.       “No, no, you can be free now. Have a rest, sleep, and have fun with girls… But when I need you, I shall call you.”       “Don’t you want to stay for dinner? I would cook something, and we would eat together.”       “No, I will better go home. Have a rest. I’m also a little tired.”       “So, alright then,” Richard shrugs slightly. “I will not make you stay longer.”       “Moreover, I have to walk on my feet for a very long time. You know that my car died forever, and I have no money to repair it.”       “I get it. But if you need something, call me at any time. I will leave everything and immediately come to you.”       “Sure.”       Richard and Simon shake each other by the hand to say goodbye and share a slight clap on the back.       “See you later, boy,” Simon pronounces with a slight smile.       “Goodbye, Simon,” Richard says goodbye amicably.       Two moments later, Richard brings Simon to the hall door, opens it, and closes it when he leaves his room. Ringer quickly leaves the old hostel, being in which makes him feel terrible, closing his nose with a hand not to smell those disgusting smells that settled in the air.       After going outside, Simon starts slowly going somewhere on his feet, thinking of his grandiose plans for the future again and looking for the moment his revenge will come true. The man really wants to see Raquelle’s face when she realizes that nothing and nobody will save her. When Ringer would be able to do anything that he would come up with to the poor girl…       “Soon, I will finally take revenge on that girl and become the happiest man in the world,” Simon thinks with a wide smile. “A half of the way is taken. I need just a little before I am two steps back from the final. The final that will be happy for me and sad for my beloved Raquelle.”       Simon quietly smirks with a part of mockery, putting on the hood of his gray hoodie.       “Everything is going on much better than I expected,” Simon silently notices. “I thought I would have to work hard and apply much effort, but I have to do almost nothing. People believe me almost immediately and turn their backs on that gal. Or they just see what she actually is…”       Simon smirks quietly and evilly.       “By the way, it seems like I forgot about the relatives of that girl…” Simon thinks. “Wishing to scare her friends and turn Terrence against his girlfriend, I forgot about her beloved aunt and grandfather… Even if I could easily call them… Well, or just to tell them what their beloved girl did… Or they could easily run to their girl and begin to comfort her. But I don’t need it. I want everyone to leave her, including her relatives.”       Simon bites his lip slightly and starts stroking his chin.       “Besides, I could think up something to make them turn their backs on her…” Simon decides. “I cannot miss this moment and let these two try to do something against me.”       Simon smiles slyly.       “But it’s okay, I will think up something quickly,” Simon thinks. “It happened not very well… I scared MacClife’s mommy, but I forgot about Cameron’s relatives. No, it shouldn't happen.”       After thinking about what kind of pain he could give Raquelle so she breaks down and goes crazy from what’s happening now, Simon decides to save this question for later and just to have some rest to continue to make his plans come true again tomorrow and get closer to his biggest dreams slowly but rightly, which he has had for such a long time.