The Secrets Hidden In The Scars

      It’s about four o'clock. There are not so many people in one of the cafés in New York. A few seconds ago, two young and cute girls, a blonde and a brunette, entered here. Both have a short height, but the girl with blonde hair gathered into a loose tuft is a little taller than the brunette, who has her hair brushed in a puffy tail. When they enter the café, they start to look for a table to sit on, drink, and eat something. Some time later, the blonde suggests sitting at a free table near a window, and the brunette agrees shortly. The girls sit at the table and put their coats and bags near them.       A little later, a young, charming waiter, who looks like he is of the same age as the girls, comes to them. He gently smiles at both of them, but gives much more attention to the hazel-eyed brunette that he definitely liked. But the girl takes it indifferently and does not hurry to answer the man back.       “Good afternoon, girls,” the waiter greets politely, holding a pen and a little notebook in his hands. “What are you going to order? If you want, I can give you a menu.”       “Oh, no, no, thanks,” the blonde glances at the waiter. “I know what I want… Please, give me a big glass of hot chocolate. I do want to get warm in this cold weather and make my mood a little better.”       “Nice choice,” the waiter quickly takes a note in the notebook, glances at the hazel-eyed brunette, and gives her a charming smile. “What do you want, sweet lady?”       “Same,” the brunette smiles shyly. “We would really like to get warm…”       The waiter silently takes another note in the notebook.       “Alright…” the waiter says thoughtfully. “Do you want something yet?”       “Not yet,” the blonde refuses politely. “But if we want something, we will call you.”       “So, alright then. In this case, you will have to wait for a while. Your hot chocolate will be cooked in one minute.”       “We will wait, do not worry,” the brunette nods, folding her hands on the table.       “Alright. You will get your order soon.”       The waiter leaves slowly, thinking about something with sadness in his eyes. The girls look at each other, and the blonde with gray-blue eyes laughs and smiles slyly.       “M-m-m, listen, Helene, I think that guy liked you,” the blonde notices thoughtfully. “He got quite sad ‘cause you talked to him a little coldly.”       “Gosh, Jessica, what a stupid thing!” Helene smiles shyly. “I talked to him well. I wasn’t rude and mean.”       “I don’t mean it, silly. He was giving you the eye, but you rejected him literally with a gaze.”       “You do know I’m not interested in men like him. Even if I spoke to him, I wouldn’t fall in love with him.”       “Really?” Jessica rounds her eyes. “I thought that guy was pretty good. Young, sympathetic… Fits you so well…”       “If you want, you can try to get his attention on you. I’d be glad if you finally got your happiness.”       “It’d hardly be possible,” Jessica moves his eyes to the cash, near which the waiter, who accepted the girls’ order, and is now looking at Helene. “Look, he’s standing near the cash and looking only at you. As if I’m not here!”       “He can watch me if he wants,” Helene crosses her arms over her chest. “I don’t mind…”       “Oh, Helene, don’t be so gloomy and sour! If you met a guy, you’d immediately be funnier. Your whole world goes around only some people. You did even refuse to celebrate your birthday, even if you had invited someone at home and had a party.”       “Ah, Jess, I’ve got no reason to be happy and don’t wanna celebrate my birthday,” Helene replies quietly, sighing heavily and looking around the whole café indifferently. “I can’t be happy if I know something is happening to at least one of my close people…”       “Oh, something’s happening to Mrs. Marshall?” Jessica asks, looking at Helene with sadness in her eyes. “Are you worried about her?”       “No, thank God, Grandma is absolutely fine.”       “But why are you so sad, friend? I don’t remember when I saw you happy and funny the last time! You’re always gloomy! The only thing that distracts you, at least for a while, is your job.”       “You do know what I’m worried about. Do I need to explain something?”       “But, Helene…”       The friends have to stop the talk because the waiter comes to them and carefully places two glasses of hot chocolate on the table. After this, Jessica smiles at him shyly, and Helene nods, barely looking at him.       “Thanks a lot,” Jessica thanks gently.       “Yeah, thanks,” Helene says quietly.       “If you need something, I will be not far,” the waiter replies.       The waiter gives Helene a smile again with some hope in his eyes and leaves to do his business with a plate in his hands, going to a room where only the members of the café staff are allowed to go. Jessica watches the man until he hides and then looks at Helene, who starts to slowly drink from her glass.       “So, what are ya gonna say, dear Helene?” Jessica asks. “Will you say what’s the reason for your sadness?”       “Jess…” Helene pronounces tiredly.       “Helene, you know me well! I will not get off you until you tell me what I wanna hear. So, I advise you to say everything now and not to make me get the confession outta ya.”       “Gosh, okay, okay… If you wanna know, the reason for my sadness is Peter Jackson Rose. Are you happy now?”       “Oh!” Jessica quietly claps her hands with a slight smile. “That’s what we should’ve proved! I did know he was the reason for your sufferings.”       “I’m worried about him, Jess. I haven’t been able to call him for a few days ‘cause he turned off all his phones. Sometimes I think something horrible happened to him.”       “C’mon, friend, why would you panic?” Jessica drinks some hot chocolate from her glass. “What if Peter finally decided to wake up and start to work with his band?”       “You do know he decided to leave it. I told you about the band’s meeting with their manager!”       “And what? Couldn’t Rose change his mind and think he’d do a stupid thing by getting outta the band?”       “No, Jess, he’s determined.”       “Well, if he gets out, it’s okay – why do you care about it? It’s his life. He can decide what to do with it.”       “You’re unfair. We both know his depression might lead to terrible things. Peter is hurting himself and making himself think he’s ugly and disgusting.”       “What if he’s really disgusting?” Jessica assumes. “He thinks only of himself and makes people give him attention on purpose.”       “Jessica, stop saying it!” Helene throws gloomily and takes a sip of hot chocolate. “Peter is getting worse every day! He’s acting like this not because he’s really so terrible. He just needs help. But I can do nothing ‘cause I don’t know the reason for his sadness.”       “Gosh, Helene, why are you so worried about him?” Jessica moans tiredly. “I’m sure he won’t even say ‘thanks’ to you for what you do to him. Rose is an egoist! He thinks only of himself! Since that idiot treats his friends like this and doesn’t appreciate them, it says everything about him. Maybe, people were right when treating him terribly somehow, ‘cause they knew Peter was a scumbag.”       “Listen, honey, I completely understand you’re mad at him because of what he did to you,” Helene sighs heavily. “But please, understand him… He has a deep depression and might kill himself. The fact that he cuts his wrists wouldn’t lead to anything good. But I’m afraid that Peter would wish to kill himself someday and cut himself so much that nothing would help him.”       “May he go to a doctor, so they give him antidepressants.” Jessica drinks some hot chocolate from her glass. “There are lots of psychologists, psychiatrists, clinics… He could get help anywhere.”       “Do you think it’s so easy to persuade him to do it? I'm sure that he’s been getting ready to die! Peter is consciously destroying himself and doesn’t aim to get out of the hole he got into.”       “He can do what he wants!” Jessica throws gloomily. “I will not move a finger for him! And I advise you to give a fuck about him. Because trying to help him wouldn’t lead to anything good. Someday, Rose will shout at you the way he did to me. Or actually swear!”       “Get it, he’s not guilty… The depression does make him act like this! With this condition, a person might suddenly express aggression without a reason. You could say something to him that made him so furious.”       “He does know what I told him, even if he refuses to confess it. If he reacted so hard, it means there was a part of the truth about my words.”       “And who asked you to say that? You did see he felt bad, and you should’ve supported him! I did support him, and he didn’t push me away and even asked me to stay. You just need to know what you can say, but what you cannot.”       “Wait for a while, Helene. You’re gonna think Rose is a fucking bastard soon and wish to leave him alone, stopping wasting your time on that hysterical girl.”       “No, Jessica, I will not leave him, even if the whole world is against him. Even if he wants to turn his back on me. If I have to, I’m ready to be his sitter and stay by his side all days long to know he’s fine.”       “You’re silly! You’re wasting the best years of your life on that sick idiot! Instead, you could’ve met a guy, fallen in love with him, gotten married, given birth to children, and something like that.”       “I know he needs me and will be with him, despite nothing. And yeah, if I hadn’t insisted, he wouldn’t have gone to the meeting with the manager. He would’ve been waiting for that man to go to his home and made his condition much worse.”       “It’d be great! Rose obliviously needs a good shakeup and washing of his brains. Of course, if he has them…”       “My God, friend…” Helene sighs heavily and takes a few sips from her glass. “Please, don’t be so aggressive with him, at least for me. It’s madly hurtful to hear someone say such terrible things about him. I wanna help him get really happy.”       “Give a fuck, Helene, don’t waste your time. You won’t make him stay in the band and keep working. If he decided something, it would happen. Accept it, at last!”       “But I hope I'll do something for one week that the guys have to make a decision for the future of their band.”       “Peter does give a fuck about the band and hardly wanted to start all of that.”       “Yeah, but he liked music and wanted to become a musician or at least work with something that had to do with that sphere.”       “Do you think he doesn’t like music now?”       “Yes, as you see, everything has changed,” Helene takes a couple of more little sips from her glass. “Pete stopped loving even what he loved with all his heart.”       “So, the guys and their team have to find someone to replace him.”       “George is gonna do that if the band wants to kick him out.”       “But doesn’t his band want it? Right?”       “I dunno, I can’t say,” Helene shrugs. “Peter said nothing about the others’ opinions. He just only told his one and said if he was kicked outta the band, it’d be okay.”       “What do you think?” Jessica takes a couple of sips of hot chocolate. “Do they want it? Or not?”       “I don’t think. The guys were very close to each other. But after the conflict, nothing left from the former attraction.”       “My gosh…” Jessica sighs heavily and thinks for two seconds. “I’m sorry, we don’t know the band’s members. We could ask them about everything.”       “Even if we know them, what would change?” Helene throws her hands up.       “What if Peter told them something? I’m sure they could know something and tell us.”       “Us?”       “Maybe, I’m mad at Rose, but I’m interested in what kind of demons he has in his mind.”       Helene thinks for two seconds, frowning slightly.       “Of course, I doubt it, but I think it’s quite possible,” Helene notices thoughtfully. “Maybe, he was more open to the guys than me.”       “I think they could help us a lot now,” Jessica says confidently. “Or at least make the situation a little clearer…”       “You know, Jess, I recalled something… There is a guy named Daniel in their band. He plays bass guitar.”       “Do you know him?” Jessica rounds her eyes.       “No, I don’t know him personally and have seen him a couple of times. But Peter told me a lot about him and said he fought with him. That one was laughing at his failures too openly. So, Pete got excited…”       “I guess Daniel could tell us very much… How does he look, by the way?”       “Honestly, I barely memorized how he looked. I remember only the fact that he has dark hair and is almost as tall as Peter… Well… Maybe, a little lower…”       “And Rose’s second friend?”       “The second member is their leader… He plays guitar and sings…” Helene smiles slightly. “And I must confess that he has an incredible voice. He brilliantly played in movies and sings pretty well.”       Jessica frowns slightly and thinks for two seconds, but then she opens her mouth slightly.       “Listen, Helene, isn’t that the six-foot-tall handsome actor, who used to be very popular at the age of sixteen or eighteen as an actor?”       “Yes, that’s him,” Helene confirms. “He’s really incredible and unbelievably handsome. The man of a dream for any girl.”       “I remember… And yeah, what’s his name?”       “Erm… I dunno… I don’t remember his name… I know it’s not very common, but I can’t remember it.”       “Yes, yes… That name is not very rare but not too common… Damn! I remembered it some time ago!”       “I think we should re-watch movies with him and pay attention to movie credits.”       “Let’s have a movie marathon at my home, find discs with movies, in which that actor played, and watch them.”       “Alright, I agree,” Helene agrees with a slight smile and drinks some drink from her glass. “Somehow, I’ll go to your home, and we’ll re-watch them.”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Jessica drinks from her glass, and Helene glances aside and sees fewer people going somewhere to do their business or sitting on tables alone or in little companies.       “Okay, what about the other guy?” Jessica asks thoughtfully.       “Daniel? I don’t know, friend… I don’t have his contact and address. And we’ve got no common familiars. Except Peter, of course…”       “Damn, what a task!” Jessica exhales sharply, putting her hand on her forehead. “Why can’t you find someone when they need you so badly?”       “We can’t find Daniel, don’t even hope. I think we should look for that actor, not him. We have a higher chance of meeting him on the street. If it happened, we’d come to him and explain the situation. I believe he’d understand us and tell us something.”       “Well, you’re actually right…” Jessica scratches the back of her head. “Actors and singers are famous people, and it’s easy to recognize them on the street.”       “Hey, I just recalled that he’s engaged to a girl.”       “Yes, yes! I remember! She’s quite a famous model. Very beautiful and charming. They say she drove almost all men in the world crazy.”       “Yes, she’s been pronounced one of the most sexual girls in the show business. And the couple of her and that actor is one of the most attractive ones. I remember everyone being excited by the news that they were gonna break up. But later they said they were still together.”       “I heard something about it… But I didn’t aim to understand it.”       “That couple says nothing to journalists. They just confirmed they wanted to break up, but refused to give more details.”       “I see…” Jessica glances aside for a second, folding her hands on the table. “By the way, that model has a very beautiful name, but I can’t remember that… Holy crap, my memory is bullshit! I can easily forget what happened yesterday or actually five minutes ago.”       “Yeah, you have problems with your memory,” Helene laughs shyly.       “But you remember everything,” Jessica hums, looking at Helene gloomily. “You could recall the names of those two. Why couldn’t you memorize the names of that actor and the model he’s engaged with? Maybe, we’ll get some clues!”       “Excuse me, Jessica, but I don’t often watch the news of the celebrity world and know only what someone from my surroundings always talks about. For example, the breakup of the actor and the model… I thought my head would’ve exploded because of those talks… But thank God, those two reconciled, and my familiar people exhaled with relief.”       “That’s wrong, you could learn so much.”       “Then I advise you to write down everything you hear and find out. Get a diary, so it's easier for you. Open it, see what you did, and call the memory.”       “Thanks for the advice, but I still have a clear mind.”       “Aha,” Helene laughs shyly. “Clear mind and holey head…”       “Ah, that’s how?” Jessica opens her mouth slightly. “Okay! Then I will do something to you when we drink the chocolate and leave this place. You will remember that for a long time.”       “I’m ready to bet that you forget it.”       “No, my sweetie, I will not! I will even set a reminder on my phone and type, ‘Kick Helene’s ass when we leave the café.’”       Jessica takes her purse and starts to search for her mobile phone. But after she checks all the pockets, she does not find it.       “My honey, what are you gonna type in?” Helene laughs shyly. “Did you take your phone with you? Or did you decide to write it on your forehead or hand?”       “It seems like, no…” Jessica moves her eyes off her purse and moves them to Helene. “I didn’t do…”       “Yeah, how didn’t you forget to dress up?” Helene chuckles kindly. “People would be laughing at you if you were proudly walking on the street in a pajama and with a haystack on your head. Or actually, naked.”       “Okay, Marshall, think you’re lucky this time. But next time, I will not forget that and will kick your ass.”       “Oh, yeah, I am so lucky!”       “For a while, Helene, you aren’t gonna be happy about your luck forever.”       “Oh, Taylor, you’re incorrigible…”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, as the girls drink their hot chocolate, which is not as hot as it was when it was just brought here. They are looking at everything that surrounds them and watching some waiters, who are accepting orders and giving them to their colleagues.       “Hey, didn’t Peter ask anything about me?” Jessica asks with sadness in her eyes.       “Actually, yes…” Helene says thoughtfully. “He says he’s very sorry for doing that to you.”       “Why doesn’t he wanna apologize?”       “He thinks it’d be wrong to come to you and say just, ‘sorry.’ He’s afraid you wouldn’t understand him and would keep being mad even after his apologies.”       “Hm, is it better to be silent and hide from everyone?” Jessica wonders gloomily, crossing her arms over her chest.       “Don’t be mad at him, Jess. You could just go to his home at the wrong time and say too much. You love telling all the truth and being silent about nothing.”       “Right, I said what I thought of him. But if he doesn’t wanna understand how disgustingly he behaves, it’s his problem.”       “I can’t deny it. When I went to his home, and Peter opened the door, he looked like he wanted to kick me out. But he didn’t do that and even got a little confused when seeing me.”       “You’re his best friend, who is the whole world to Peter. So, he didn’t kick you out. Maybe, he’s flattered ‘cause you’re the only one to be ready to stay by his side and waste your time on that idiot.”       “I’m sure if everybody knew the real reason for his behavior, nobody would even think of being mad. Everyone would love to be by his side and help him.”       “What could be unclear! His personal life isn’t okay! While guys of his age have slept with lots of girls, among whom there are insolent whores and good girls, Rose doesn’t even think of it. And notice that he’s doing this at his wish and doesn’t wanna meet a girl and hook with her.”       “Yeah…” Helene exhales quietly with sadness in her eyes. “Of course, it’s a little suspicious, but it might probably be his wish. Maybe, he isn’t just ready for that.”       “But meeting a girl would change nothing! Nobody’s gonna make him marry and have children! He should just talk to someone. If he gets a crush on someone, he will forget about all of his ‘I don’t want’.”       “I think when the time comes, he will want it. But now we should just help Peter get out of the depression and not let him kill himself. You and I and those guys are the only friends of his, who must be by his side. He has nobody else but us… If we all leave him, he’ll stay all alone and destroy himself.”       “You’re right about loneliness… He really has nobody… He’s never had a father, sisters and brothers, grandfathers, or grandmothers. He always talks about his mother without a wish. Peter has always said she gave a fuck about him and wondered why she gave birth to him.”       “Really? Peter has never talked to me about his family… After I introduced him to Grandma, I let Rose know I would’ve been happy to meet his family. But he said I shouldn’t have done that.”       “It’s weird…” Jessica frowns slightly. “Did he say it ‘cause he thought his mother wouldn’t accept you even as his friend?”       “Maybe… But don’t you know much about his family? You studied with him in the same class, were his friend, and were supposed to know his parents!”       “No, I know nothing about his family. Someone from school somehow spread a rumor that his mother was an alcoholic, but it wasn’t confirmed. Peter was silent, and teachers tried to calm the guys down.”       “But why did they think Peter’s mother was an alcoholic?”       “I dunno. The guys just didn’t like Rose and were ready to humiliate him in any way. Even spread rumors that his mother couldn’t live a day without a bottle of vodka. Because his schoolmates didn’t get on well with him, I never believed it was true.”       “They didn’t probably love him so much if they dared to spread those rumors.”       “You’re right… The poor guy suffered enough because of them…”       Helene sighs heavily with sadness in her eyes and shakes her head, while Jessica swallows nervously, glancing at her hands for two seconds and the simple silver ring she is wearing on the middle finger of her left hand.       “You know, Helene, I think we shouldn’t really leave him alone,” Jessica says with sadness in her eyes. “Although I still can’t forgive Peter for what he did to me, I don’t want that man to keep destroying himself. At heart, I’m still worried about him and wish him only the best.”       “I will personally never leave Rose and will do my best to save him,” Helene says confidently. “I promise I’ll find a way. Find the actor and bassist and ask them everything I want to know. For Peter, I’ll do anything.”       “No, Helene, you will not do, we will do.” Jessica puts her hand on Helene’s hand. “I agree to help him get over this bullshit and find ways to save that guy.”       “Do you really want it?” Helene asks, staring at Jessica surprisingly. “I’m sure you won’t change your mind and turn your back on him?”       “No, I won’t turn my back on him and will help him. For him… For you… You’re my close friend, and I want you to stop worrying because of your friend’s problems.”       “In this case, we will not give up, will help Peter, and will be by his side, despite nothing.”       “Let’s do it for our friendship.”       “Yeah… For friendship.”       Jessica and Helene give each other a hand to shake it slightly and break their handshake a few seconds later, deciding not to give up and help Peter, who is slowly killing himself and probably about to kill himself.       

***

      Meanwhile, Daniel and Anna are at their home. Today, the man decided to spend time with his beloved girlfriend. At the moment, he is sitting on the bed in his room and playing guitar, and the girl is sitting in front of him and smiling slightly while listening to the magnificent melody, which perfectly fits such a charming, low voice that she could listen to forever. She has always liked watching her sweetheart pluck the strings and strike the chords skillfully. And she literally stops breathing when he sings, and she does not want him to stop doing this.       Sometimes Anna also sings quietly along with Daniel and gets him surprised by her talent. Their voices harmonically fit together and sound just incredibly. The man has been playing and singing for a long time, getting more confident thanks to his sweetheart, who is listening to him closely with a slight smile on her face and shaking with a rhythm.       But after playing a light, relaxing song for three or four seconds, Daniel stops singing, strikes the last chords, and plucks the strings slowly. When silence settles in the air, Anna applauds quietly, still looking at her sweetheart tenderly and making him happy with her true, wide smile.       “Gosh, sweetie, it was amazing!” Anna admires. “I can listen to you forever.”       “I just love playing and singing for my charming beauty,” Daniel smiles shyly, still holding his guitar on his laps and fixing some strings. “It gives me much more confidence and makes my play thousands of times better.”       “You sing so that it’s possible to get stuck and wake up only when you’re shaken by the shoulders.”       “Yeah, I can’t deny I could charm anyone with my voice.” Daniel fixes his hair with a proud look. “But actually, I liked the way you sang with me much more. It was wonderful. Of course, I knew I’d be nicely surprised, but you got me much more surprised.”       “Really?” Anna rounds her eyes. “You really liked it?”       “I madly liked, my princess. I thought you and I could be a duo and record a couple of songs that if my band was broken up. Maybe, not at a studio, but at least on a video…”       “Are you suggesting that I sing with you?”       “Why not? You’ve got a very beautiful voice and sing incredibly. I’m sure many people would love your talent. I could give you a couple of lessons, so you feel more confident, but you sing wonderfully without it.”       “Maybe, I could call the memories of my piano and vocals lessons that were definitely worth it…” Anna shrugs with a shy smile.       “Piano lessons?” Daniel puts his guitar aside. “Were you taking music lessons?”       “Yes, I did… I was about six or seven when I got my first lesson… And I must confess that even if I did it well, I couldn’t take piano lessons and never loved it.”       “Did your parents make you do it?”       “My mother. She thought I should’ve played that instrument because she could do it. And my family really liked praising me for their friends, saying something like, 'See how talented our daughter is!'. I remember Mother making me come to everyone and play the piano. And she rehearsed much with me ‘cause she was afraid I’d make her ashamed of guests.”       “And what was your age?       “I had to show my talents at the age of eight when I learned to play more or less well. But I did really want to stop that show and go to my room.”       “And why didn’t you like a piano?”       “It’s too hard to play it. I don’t feel it when I play songs. It’s not for me. But I had to bite the bullet and play.”       “Honestly, I’ve never liked a piano, too… And I’ve never had it. I think this instrument is only for girls.”       “But I know men, who play the piano. My parents had many familiar people, many of whom were obsessed with classic music.”       “Did you probably fall asleep when having to listen to it?”       “I did…” Anna laughs shyly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “And honestly, I like singing much more than playing. Anything but classic songs or opera. Which I listened too much to in childhood thanks to my mommy. She often took me to theaters and endured a sense of beauty, as she said.”       “Oh, my poor girl…” Daniel pronounces with sadness in his eyes, caressing Anna’s head. “I know how it’s terrible when you’re made to do something by force.”       “Yeah… Mother wanted to give me a love for classics but eventually got the opposite effect, and I hate it. She and I have always been different. She was literally shaking when she saw a guitar or drums. I remember Father and her seeing a performance by a rock band on TV and getting horrified by how terrible it was. But I really liked it and was dancing and trying to sing along. That’s why my mother was, saying softly, shocked.”       “But that’s so awesome! How couldn’t someone love such cool music that makes your legs dance? I personally adore a guitar and can easily play any type of them: rhythm, bass, solo… Gimme anything!”       “I adore guitar, as well… An electric guitar always sounds wonderful. And you can play such nice melodies on an acoustic guitar.”       “I can’t deny it…” Daniel glances at the guitar lying on the bed and slightly plucks a couple of strings. “It was a little hard to learn to play it, but I’ve practiced enough for a few years and think I could play without getting ashamed of people.”       “Don’t be shy, pretty boy,” Anna smiles shyly, running the back of her hand over Daniel’s cheek. “We both know you’ve conquered the hearts of many people and gotten many fans around the world. Thanks to your incredible talent and magnificent voice.”       “Yeah, but…” Daniel glances aside for a second, bending one leg under himself. “But I’m starting to think that our effort would go down the train.”       “Why do you think so?” Anna asks with sadness in her eyes, stopping to smile. “Haven’t you and Terrence made a decision for the band?”       “Nope,” Daniel shakes his head. “I mean, we’ve decided what we wanna do, but there’s nothing that would help us move from the point.”       “You have a little more than one week to give your manager a clear answer. Today is September, 13th, but you need to give the answer on the twenty-two.”       “I know, but we can do nothing. Terrence and I still have a little hope that Peter will be back with us, but we aren’t sure it'll happen. Thinking of his condition on the day we met George, we’re starting to be afraid we almost lost our drummer.”       “And would you have to search for a new drummer?”       “We’d have no choice, but we don’t want it. Despite promising each other to find a way to save the band, I doubt we’d do it. I’m starting to think more and more that we should accept Rose’s departure and either search for a new drummer or give a damn about the band and forget about our dreams of fame.”       “So, did you also start to think it’s all worthless?”       “Everything’s leading to that, Anna. Forgetting about my dreams and fantasies, I’m also starting to understand there’s no way to solve it.”       “But you didn’t wanna give up so easily,” Anna caresses Daniel’s knee softly. “Did you and Terrence exchange your places? Do you think everything is lost, not him?”       “Terrence does think we’ll hardly do something,” Daniel exhales sharply, running his hand over his hand. “But he doesn’t wanna give up, either… He got a long-awaited chance to become a musician, but then everything went wrong…”       “I get it…” Anna moves her sad eyes to her hands for a second. “But what’s gonna happen if your band is broken up?”       “I dunno, Anna,” Daniel shrugs. “I think Terrence and I would keep communicating. We aren’t strangers and have managed to befriend… Maybe, we still can’t be called best friends, but I like talking to Terrence. Of course, he loves showing off a little, but he’s a good man, who you always have something to talk about with.”       “Maybe, you should think of creating a project not related to ‘Against The System’?”       “No, sweetie, if we have the band, it’ll be only ‘Against The System’. But since it’s not at full strength, and we lack Peter, we don’t wanna keep working on this project. If we don’t help the blond, and he refuses to come back to us, the band will be broken up.”       “I get it… Without Peter, you wouldn’t be the band you were when he was with you.”       “Yeah, we’re different without him… Now I can confess it confidently… Every one of us gives the band something, and we eventually get something unusual that everybody likes. Without one of us, it would be different. If MacClife and I started to play together, our music would change. It would be different… Just like both of us…”       “You’re right…” Anna slowly glances down. “We’re used to seeing the band that consists of Terrence MacClife, Daniel Perkins, and Peter Rose… Without Pete or anyone else, the band wouldn’t be the same… A new drummer can’t replace the one to be loved by everyone. At least in your case…”       “Yeah, I know some bands that change their members, and their fans can’t accept them. Everything is just not what they like. It rarely happens that someone becomes the better version of a former drummer, a guitarist, a vocalist, or a keyboardist…”       “It’s sad to say it, but you’d better leave at the right time and let people memorize you as someone they heard about some time ago.”       “Yeah, Terrence and I think so… But damn, I don’t want it! I don’t wanna stop it all. I wanna make music and travel around the world with shows. It’s my longtime dream!”       “Nobody wants it, Daniel,” Anna says with sadness in her eyes, taking Daniel’s hands. “I’d be very sorry if your band disbanded. And I think you need to fight ‘till the end and try all ways. And if nothing changes, I'll just have to accept the fact that ‘Against The System’ will no longer exist.”       “Ah, my beauty…” Daniel moves closer to Anna and presses her to himself tenderly but tightly, cutely kissing her on the top of her head and rubbing his cheek against her cheek, while she just puts her arms around his waist. “Of course, I’ll keep doing my best, but I ain’t sure it’d give us something good.”       “Maybe, there is a little chance to save the band and help Peter? Hope always dies last. A solution may be found when you don’t find it. From where you don’t expect it.”       “I know, but the manager wouldn’t wait for the solution to be found. He’ll break a contract, and then we three will say goodbye to fame and recognition. And we’ll have to get into debt to pay liquidated damages. I don’t doubt it’s gonna be a too great amount that I’d hardly find for a short time.”       “I know… But you three have many friends, who could give you and the guys at least some money.”       “Honestly, I care about it less than anything. I’m worried about the situation with Peter. Now everything depends on whether we can find out what’s happening to him. Terrence and I are more focused on it.”       “Would you sacrifice the band for him?” Anna asks thoughtfully, stepping back from Daniel a little and looking at him questioningly. “If you and Terrence had to disband the band to save Peter, would you agree to give up on your dream for your friend?”       Daniel falls into silence for two seconds, but then exhales quietly and glances at Anna.       “I think we would,” Daniel replies confidently. “At least, I’d do that. Because I wanna make amends with Peter and help him. Maybe, some time ago, I wouldn’t have moved a finger for him, but now I can’t give a damn on someone to be by far not a stranger to me.”       “And wouldn’t you get upset if George really canceled a contract with you and made you pay liquidated damages?”       “I’d get upset because of the time wasted for nothing. But if the studio and the PR agency want it, they can get all the papers ready and cancel our agreement. Stopping collaborating with Smith wouldn’t be a tragedy for me. George has shaken everything outta us in the time we’ve been working with him. He always calls us idlers, idiots, and morons. I only called the softest and most innocent words – sometimes he said something worse.”       “I don’t understand why you’ve been working with him and didn’t change the manager earlier.”       “It happened. We didn’t have time to search for the one to manage our business and help our team promote the band. But if an unreal miracle happens and saves our band, changing the manager is gonna be the first thing on our to-do list.”       “First, you should think about the decision about your band’s future. You have two ways of finding solutions. But it’s impossible to choose one of the ways, ‘cause you and I know why. And the second one might make your band something you wouldn’t like to see it.”       “That’s why it’s so hard. We can’t decide what to say to Smith in almost one week, ‘cause we should get Peter back to the band or search for another member and let the band become different.” Daniel exhales sharply and runs his hand over his face. “Oh, I don’t know what to do… Time is going, but we need to make a decision now.”       “Ah, Daniel…” Anna sighs heavily, softly caressing Daniel’s head and kissing him on the cheek that she tenderly caresses. “I’d like to help you or advise you something, but I can’t. Because I don’t know what to say and do…”       “No, don’t say it, my sweetheart,” Daniel puts his hand on Anna’s hand that is put on his cheek, softly takes it, and puts it on his chest. “You’re helping me well. You’re by my side and trying to find words to support me. It means very much to me. At least a couple of nice words from you can make me feel better.”       “But I’d like to be more necessary and better.”       “I’d feel much worse if I didn’t have you by my side,” Daniel replies softly, puts his hand on Anna’s cheek, and kisses her tenderly on the forehead. “I’d definitely give a damn about the band’s problems because they can’t be solved.”       “I get it… I’d also give a damn about everything if I didn’t have your support. I do wanna help my close people somehow, but I don’t know what I can do.”       “Do you mean not only the band?” Daniel slightly fixes Anna’s hair and kisses her temple.       “Yup, I mean Natalia. I don’t like what’s happening to her…”       “Hey, what’s actually happening to her? When she was at our home, I didn’t like her appearance. Natalia was withdrawn and definitely lying when talking about many things.”       “I dunno…” Anna shakes her head with sadness in her eyes. “The last time I saw her happened two days ago. On the day Terrence came here… And I must confess that I didn’t like her condition, either.”       “She has a secret that nobody knows.”       “Yes, I’ve been trying to find out just something for a long time, but everything’s worthless. Natalia doesn’t wanna tell her secret and always avoids the answer when she has another thing to talk about.”       “Hasn’t she dropped a hint?”       “Nope. But she doesn’t deny something happened to her. Besides, she became withdrawn and depressed, and she prefers sitting at home all day long. I barely persuaded Natalia to leave home, ‘cause she wanted to go nowhere.”       “Gosh, what could happen if she’s silent and destroying herself consciously?”       “I don’t know, Daniel… I could only assume it had to do with Raquelle, knowing something happened a few months ago. But the girls reconciled a long time ago and forgot about their fight.”       “You know, Anna, I must confess that Natalia sometimes reminds me of Peter.”       “Why do you think so?” Anna looks at Daniel surprisingly.       “I dunno… But I thought of her when I saw what happened to Peter. I thought of his condition on the day we fought at the studio… Of course, he was fine, but the more time goes by, the worse the situation is getting.”       “The problem is depression. Natalia assumed Peter suffered from it. When a person loses interest in life and wanna do nothing, it’s one of the signs that they have depression.”       “Do you think she also has depression?”       “You did see her condition. And who knows what happened to her for four days.”       “Maybe, she hints at what happened or tells everything soon?”       “Raquelle said her grandfather and aunt believed Natalia would stop hiding what she was worried about and tell them everything soon. Because she’s been silent for a long time and would like to confess everything soon. Rochester was always talkative and not able to keep secrets. Of course, she didn’t tell them to harm someone, but you shouldn’t have told that girl secrets and rumors.”       “I think they know her better than me,” Daniel shrugs. “I’ve known Natalia not for so long to judge her character and say who she is.”       “They do know, but they can’t persuade her to speak. Even her parents know nothing about what’s happening to her. Natalia confessed that she fought with her mother because of that.”       “Her mother?”       “Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Rochester are also trying to find out what happened, but they can’t do it.”       “Terrence said her mother was at his home, but he found out nothing from her.”       “Terrence’s home?” Anna frowns slightly. “I believe Natalia doesn’t know it.”       “I think, no. But I’d like to know what Natalia is hiding if she’s afraid to talk about it. As if someone’s gonna kill her if she says at least a word.”       “Anything could happen. And I’m sure Edward has to do with it.”       “I believe so, as well. Terrence also suspects that Edward has to do with it. But that guy denies everything and avoids the answer as well as Natalia does.”       “Oh, gosh, what happened to them?” Anna shakes her head. “It seems like Edward terrified her so much that she’s afraid of him like fire and refuses to open her mouth.”       “We need to be careful with that guy, beauty. Of course, he seems to be so sweet and fluffy, but he has something that doesn’t make me trust him.”       “Yeah, I’m starting to doubt Edward is a good partner for Natalia. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got into trouble.”       “Yeah, about problems…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully, putting a finger on his lip. “Do you know someone is threatening Terrence and Raquelle again?”       “What?” Anna rounds her eyes. “Again? Does someone want to revenge on Raquelle? Simon Ringer number two?”       “No, no, Simon doesn’t have to do with it. This time, Terrence and Edward are in danger, not Raquelle.”       “Terrence and Edward?” Anna opens her mouth and closes it with her hand. “But how? What did they do?”       “I dunno. But a few days ago, Raquelle and Terrence got the anonymous letters on the same day. I personally saw the servant gave one of the letters to MacClife. But nothing was clear, ‘cause it had a start that was found in the letter Raquelle got.”       “And what was written in it?”       “They would be dead soon. And it said if they knew what to do, and who to ask, they would discover the secrets hidden by those, who surround them.”       “Hm… The secrets hidden by those, who surround them… Does it have to do with Edward and Natalia?”       “Maybe… Moreover, Raquelle openly blamed Edward for having to do with the threats. Because there are too many coincidences: the strange behavior of Natalia and Edward, a fear of saying something wrong, and a readiness to lie to hide the truth.”       “Listen, what if it’s true? I prefer believing it, ‘cause sometimes Raquelle may be absolutely right, even though she might do crazy actions and assume impossible.”       “But Terrence doesn’t believe it and defends his friend. But I agree with Raquelle and believe it’s quite possible. I have nothing against Edward, but I don’t like him.”       “He should believe her… I think it’s easy to guess: people surrounding them, undiscovered secrets… He could match the facts and assume Edward has to do with it.”       “I know and will try to make him think about it. I’m meeting him tomorrow. So, I will make him forget about his good relationship with his friend and watch him better.”       “Then I’ll find out something from Raquelle… I’ll probably meet her tomorrow…”       “Okay. We’ll do it.”       Anna says nothing and just smiles shyly.       “My clever beauty…” Daniel purrs in a low, nice voice, putting his hand on Anna’s cheek with a slight smile and softly caressing it. “Sunshine…”       Anna takes Daniel in her tender hug with a slight smile, snuggling her nose into the man’s shoulder and putting her arms around his neck. He immediately answers her back, hugging the girl by the waist with one arm, holding her by the back of her head with a free hand, and sometimes caressing it. Being in her hug, he feels a nice warmth spreading all over his body and some calm that lets him relax with the thought that he has someone to be able to support him and help him overcome any bad events.       Daniel needs Anna’s support so badly. He loves her so much and relies on her help. She is his beloved person, for whom he wants to reach something. The man is so attracted to his girlfriend that he is terribly afraid of losing her someday. His feelings for this cute young girl with a baby face are too strong, and he is not going to give her to another man.       A few seconds later, Daniel and Anna step away slowly and smile at each other slightly. Then the girl tenderly caresses the man’s cheek and runs her hand slowly over his hair, saying in a soft, quiet voice:       “You know I’ll always be by your side. Maybe, I can’t always help you, but I’ll try to find words to calm you down and encourage you.”       “I don’t doubt it, my treasure,” Daniel replies softly. “The most valuable and wonderful treasure in the world.”       “You make me blush…” Anna looks down with a shy smile, not noticing that she gets a slight blush on her face.       “Telling you the clear truth,” Daniel softly raises Anna’s face by the chin and kisses the tip of her nose cutely. “I can’t hide that I’d do anything for such a charming beauty. Anything to see my baby happy and admire her cute smile and gloss in her incredible eyes.”       “Aw, Daniel, you can’t even imagine how it’s nice for me to hear it,” Anna smiles widely, still getting blushed.       “And it’s madly nice to say it,” Daniel takes Anna’s hand softly. “I’m actually not such a lover of tenderness, but sometimes I can let myself be open. Especially, when I have my gorgeous princess, who I’m ready to make happy, depending on her wishes.”       “Aren’t you really afraid of anything? Or is there something you’re afraid to do?”       “I can’t deny, I have some fears that I wouldn’t like to run into,” Daniel smiles mysteriously, looking into Anna’s eyes. “But I have the one that I fear more than anything.”       “I thought you’d say you feared nothing,” Anna laughs shyly. “Because you always seem so brave and confident.”       “No, Anna, everybody has their fears. Not everyone just wanna talk about it. And I don’t tell anyone about them. Some of them are nothing, but some of them could be a threat to my life.”       “Erm, you know…” Anna looks down for a second or two. “I must confess that I also have lots of fears that I’m terribly afraid to run into… But I have the one that I fear much more than anything. I got it some time ago and didn’t think I’d be afraid of it like fire or a gun…”       “Aren’t we thinking of the same?” Daniel asks, squinting his eyes slightly.       “Let’s check?”       “Say what we fear together after the count ‘three’.”       “Agree!” Anna nods.       Anna and Daniel count to three and say at the same time:       “I'm afraid to lose you.”       The lovers stare at each other surprisingly and open their mouths slightly.       “To lose me?” Anna wonders truly. “But why, Daniel? You know well that I need nobody but you and will always be with you, whatever happens!”       “I’m countering: why do you fear losing me? I’m not gonna leave you and love you with all my heart!”       “Somehow, I said I was afraid that my parents would find me and decide to tear us apart.”       “If you think your parents could stop us, you’re wrong. Nothing would change if they got us separated. We’d find a way to meet anyway. Well, at least, I would think up something.”       “Yeah…” Anna laughs shyly. “Knowing your creativity in it, I can believe you.”       “C’mon, sweetie, we were very lucky your parents left somewhere for their business, and we could meet in the city and also spend time at your home.”       “Agree, although my parents thought they put me under home arrest, they missed so much. And I could meet you and the girls in the city and at my home, but I also moved into your house.”       “You were sly and quickly used the chance you got.”       “If you wanna get out of control of your several parents, you’d run away from anywhere.”       “I get it. But remember, if we’re separated, it won’t lead to the end of our relationship. We’ll keep dating as often as possible. You will give it all to me and will be able to relax and just wait for a meeting with me.”       “Alright, Mr. Perkins, may it happen as you wish,” Anna smiles widely, puts an arm around Daniel’s neck, gives him a short, tender kiss on the lips, and looks into his eyes, while her face is very close to his one. “You won’t get off me so easily. Because I will not let you go.”       “So, will my fear not come true somewhere in the future?”       “Nope! At least, in the nearest few years…”       “Few years? Just a few years?” Daniel touchily presses Anna to himself and puts his chin on the top of her head, which he kisses tenderly. “No, princess, it’s little for me. I’d like to live with my girlfriend – or maybe even my wife someday – ‘till the last day of my life and raise our children… What do people say when they get married? Until death does us apart?!”       Anna smiles mysteriously, quite positively reacting to the fact that Daniel softly hinted that he would see her as his wife and even a mother of his children in the future.       “Don’t ya think we’ll just live all our life?” Daniel asks softly, caressing Anna’s head tenderly. “Right, my sunshine?”       “Everything depends on your wish, sweetie,” Anna smiles shyly. “I’m ready to obey your wish and do what you want.”       “It’s nice to me, but I also wanna know you agree with me and wouldn’t do that against your wish.”       “I’d die for you.” Anna puts her hand on Daniel’s cheek and kisses cutely another, against which she rubs the tip of her nose.       “Better not, or you’ll deprive me of the meaning to live and reach for my dreams,” Daniel moves some strands of Anna’s slightly wavy hair aside, which get out of her puffy tall. “Who would inspire me by her pretense and comfort me at hard moments?”       “Just want you to know I’d do anything for you.”       “I believe you, beautiful,” Daniel tenderly embraces Anna, pressing her closer to his chest and caressing her head. “I do.”       The lovers stay in each other’s hug for a few seconds until Daniel steps back from Anna a little and looks into her eyes, giving her a tender smile that can drive her crazy as well as his magnificent, low voice. At some moment, he glances at her lips, and the girl slyly smiles, definitely guessing what he has on his mind.       “Trying to read my mind?” Anna asks. “Wanna know what I’m thinking of when looking into your charming eyes?”       “Well, maybe…” Daniel replies thoughtfully with a sly smile, at this moment shyly placing one hand on Anna’s knee and softly caressing it, but later moving it to her thigh and running the palm of his hand over her legs. “But you can say nothing, ‘cause I know everything.”       “Really? So, try to guess what I’m thinking about now. And I’m allowing you to do it if you guess.”       Anna keeps looking at Daniel with a sly smile, waiting for him to understand what she wants. The man looks into her eyes and smiles tenderly, deciding not to do what she wants shortly but to play some time. The girl often sends him some gazes to let him know she dreams of an incredible kiss. However, the green-eyed beauty does not wait for too long. Daniel shortens the distance between Anna and him quickly and confidently, kissing the girl on the lips, getting her involved in a kiss, making her feel her heart stops for a moment. The girl puts her arms around the brunet’s neck and runs her fingers through his hair, while he hugs her around the waist with one arm and places another around her shoulders, and helps her move closer to him.       Anna makes much more sure that Daniel does not have an equal. He gives wonderful kisses and can give the girl great pleasure and make her literally shake from the excitement. Just one touch of his lips on her tender, velvety skin makes her feel dizzy. Her whole body immediately gets goosebumps, and her breath gets much louder and heavier. And when the man starts kissing her lips and the gracious curves of her swan neck, she cannot hold down her quiet moans from the incredible enjoyment.       “Oh, gosh, Perkins, you’re imitable, as always,” Anna exhales quietly with a slight smile, closing her eyes for two seconds.       “You just have no right to doubt it…” Daniel replies in a low voice, steps back from Anna’s neck after a short kiss, looks into her eyes, and runs his fingertips over her cheek tenderly. “So, can I read your mind?”       “Even better than I thought.”       “In this case, I can keep making all your wishes come true…” Daniel runs his lips slowly over Anna’s cheekbones and cheeks, and grabs her chin tenderly with his mouth for a second. “I know them so well… And I see I can make them come true…”       “Try then…” Anna rolls her eyes with a sly smile, biting her lip for a second with a sense of peace. “We’ll see how you can make me pleased…”       “Aw, beauty…” Daniel leaves a short kiss on Anna’s lips and then another on the curve of her neck, over which he runs his slightly open mouth. “You do know that I’m a professional at it! I know what you like very well.”       Daniel softly grabs Anna’s face and touches tenderly her lips with his lips, giving her a short, innocent kiss and then much longer and deeper ones. While one hand of her strokes his soft hair or caresses the nape of his neck, and a second one slowly caresses his back, the man lets himself lower his hands, caressing the curves of her thin waist and running his fingertips over her spine. Every new second, every one of them gets more obsessed with strong emotions that make them breathe unevenly and feel their hearts beating like crazy or actually stopping for a second. The girl does not also hide her sensual sighs and quiet moans. Especially, when her sweetheart starts to cover her whole neck with kisses or just runs his lips over it.       “Yes, that’s my girl!” Daniel rejoices with a smug smile, grabbing Anna’s earlobe with his mouth very tenderly, softly kissing the area behind it, and feeling a little dizzy from the smell that she is spreading. “My charming and gorgeous beauty…”       “Gosh, how it’s nice to hear it…” Anna purrs with a wide smile, playing with her puffy tall a little and wrapping a few strands on her finger, opens up a zipper of her satin dark red shirt, and kind of accidentally shows up her collarbones and attractive décolleté, slightly pulling down her top with thin straps made from the same material. “Madly nice…”       “Because it’s the truth…” Daniel leaves a couple of exciting kisses on the front of Anna’s neck, while she exhales quietly with closed eyes, taking a nice-to-touch shirt off her shoulders, one of which he also tenderly kisses. “My girlfriend is the most beautiful, most attractive, and most beloved one…”       Daniel does forget to give some attention to Anna’s attractive collarbones and both of her breasts that are half-closed with a satin top, giving them very tender kisses and running his fingertips over them. That’s what makes her feel a slight shake in her whole body and moan from the nice tension in her abdomen.       “M-m-m, someday you’re gonna kill me with your caresses… Anna says in a little hoarse voice, tenderly caressing Daniel’s neck with her fingertips with a sly smile, running her hands confidently over his chest, and feeling that his muscles get tenser and tenser. “My heart might not just take what you’d do and not be able to stop and then beat like crazy.”       “But I’m still alive,” Daniel shrugs with a shy smile, running his hand through Anna’s hair and caressing her back or a curve of her waist with another and squeezing and caressing her buttocks tenderly. “Though, after all of your actions and words, I could’ve died from a stopped heart about thousands of times…”       “I'm making more sure that you’re crazy…”       “Yes, I am crazy…” Daniel bites Anna’s ear slightly and pulls the soft skin on her neck with his teeth very tenderly. “Just mad and wild… Because I got such a wonderful prize that I wanna cover with kisses and never let her go.”       Daniel kisses Anna sharply on the lips, holding her by the back of her head, and gives her a more passionate kiss that would get his girlfriend much more excited. She answers it with pleasure, tenderly stroking his hair, face, and neck and running her hands slowly over his tough chest. A little later, he runs his lips over her neck with a heavy breath and smooths it with exciting kisses. The girl makes sensitive sighs and unconsciously leans her head back. The man undoubtedly uses it to cover the front of it, more sensitive to touches of his lips, with kisses. He slides slowly to her collarbones and breasts, which he covers with kisses, squeezes in his hands tenderly, and caresses, feeling how often they are rising and falling.       Anna barely finds the will to resist the incredible caresses of Daniel, who knows how to drive her crazy and make her think only of him. Just to play with him a little and tease him. The girl waits for the man to get too excited, relax, and lose any vigilance, as he gets busy with kisses and caresses on her body. And when he wants to give her an unforgettable kiss, the red-haired beauty sharply steps back from him. And while he just realizes what’s going on, she easily strikes him down on the bed, sits over him, and softly grabs him by the throat, looking into his eyes with a sly smile.       “So what, pretty boy, let’s play?” Anna asks in a low, seducing voice.       “Hey, I haven’t finished it!” Daniel protests with a quiet laugh.       “It’s my time to drive you crazy!”       “C’mon, baby, don’t show off. Come to me…”       When Daniel barely touches Anna’s thighs, she grabs his wrists sharply but softly and raises them above his head.       “Quite, honey, quite,” Anna pronounces quietly, bends closer to Daniel’s face, and gives him a short kiss on the lips. “Nobody’s gonna kill you… Maybe… I ain’t sure…”       Anna leaves a cute kiss on Daniel’s lips again, a few shorter ones, and one more continuous and deeper one. He gets a little tense and feels his heart beating fast. His hands are tightly pressed to the bed by the girl and raised above his head. She does not let him set them free when he tries to. However, at some moment, Anna forgets about it and gets busy caressing the man’s body with her mouth, hands, and fingers, starting from his hair, ears, and neck and slowly going down to his chest and stomach, to which she also gives much attention.       “Damn, Anna, you drive me crazy…” Daniel pronounces very quietly in a little hoarse voice when Anna kisses him on the neck and runs her lips over it, making him shake from a nice excitement over her actions. “If you don’t stop, I won’t be responsible for my actions…”       “You’ll do nothing…” Anna says confidently, bites Daniel’s ear slightly, kisses the area behind it, and barely touches it with her tongue. “Until I tell you to.”       Anna’s low, madly nice voice sounds like an incredible melody for Daniel that makes him relax but makes him feel like he is getting goosebumps on his body. The man is enjoying what’s happening, breathing heavily enough, sometimes closing or rolling his eyes, and making quiet moans. He also takes a chance to caress the girl’s body, running his hands slowly over the curves of her waist, thighs, and tough buttocks, which he squeezes tightly but tenderly. At some moment, his warm hands get underneath her satin tube top and confidently caress her back. That’s why she makes quiet moans during the kiss on his lips and shows much more passion.       “Oh, what did your hand reach?” Anna asks in a low, nice voice, grabbing Daniel’s hair with one hand tightly but tenderly and slightly squeezing his chin with another hand and setting her gaze into his little bedroom eyes. “Did I say you were allowed to?”       “Should I ask for permission to caress my girlfriend?” Daniel smiles slyly, tightly squeezing Anna’s buttocks with his hands and then running them over her slim waist and reaching her breasts, which he caresses tenderly. “I have the right to do it, knowing my charming beauty likes it.”       “Of course, you have.” Anna bites her lip slightly with a sly smile full of some provocation while still sitting on Daniel, tenderly rubbing his chest with her hands, seeing he is getting a little tense from every single touch of her. “But nobody has allowed you to do it yet. As they say, you’re allowed to watch but not allowed to touch.”       “Are you kidding me?” Daniel sharply presses Anna closely to himself, holding her by the back of her head and slightly grabbing her tall that lost its first look, and looks into her eyes with a sly smile. “No, my sunshine, I will not give you this pleasure!”       When Daniel wants to get underneath Anna’s top and caress her thighs and buttocks, she skillfully grabs his hands, raises them above his head, and tightly presses them to the bed, locking her fingers with his fingers. He tries to move his hands and let them go, but the girl presses them so strongly that they are absolutely numb.       “Hey, hey, not so fast, tiger,” Anna laughs playfully, caresses Daniel’s lips with her lips tenderly, and runs her tongue slightly over his palate, feeling that he tenses his muscles with a quiet moan. “Not so fast…”       “Alright, beautiful, I shall make you regret it,” Daniel smiles slyly. “If you make the grip weaker, I will do what you will remember for a long time.”       “Ha, what would you do?” Anna leaves a couple of tender kisses on a curve of Daniel’s neck and bites slightly the most sensitive places of his skin on the front of it. That’s why he makes a quiet moan with closed eyes and a heavy breath. “Threat me with a finger? Or make unsuccessful attempts to get me excited by your kisses and caresses?”       “Why are they unsuccessful? I think they are very successful! I haven’t done my best and shown you everything I can. Trust me, dolly, I can do much more than you can imagine.”       “You’re showing off too much, pretty boy,” Anna says in a low voice, tenderly kisses the area behind Daniel’s ears that she bites slightly, and runs her lips over a curve of his long neck. “Too much…”       “You should believe me, princess,” Daniel clenches his hands into fists slightly. “Someday, you’ll know everything I can do and be very pleased.”       “To make me pleased, you need to apply much effort…” Anna gets Daniel involved in a continuous kiss on the lips, slightly bending her back and making a couple of quiet moans with a heavy breath. “Sadly, you will hardly make such a demanding girl like me happy. For you, I’m the prize that you will never get… Ne-ver!”       Anna runs her fingertips over Daniel’s chest with a sly smile, while he nervously swallows up and is breathing heavily. And then she runs her hands over it, feeling the muscles of his abdomen squeeze strongly and touching his quite tough nipples accidentally but on purpose. The man smiles slyly when the girl lets his hands go at some moment. He waits for a good moment until she brings her face closer to his face and is going to kiss her boyfriend tenderly. At this moment, the brunet sharply places his sweetheart on the bed and grabs her by the wrists, while she makes a quiet squeak in surprise and smiles shyly.       “You’ve been caught, cutie!” Daniel says in a low voice with a smug face. “Now I’m running this show!”       “Oh, I’m so scared!” Anna rolls her eyes and smiles slyly. “And yeah, I haven’t allowed you to feel me up everywhere you wish.”       “I don’t need it…” Daniel kisses Anna on the neck softly and runs his half-open mouth slowly over its curve, breathing in the smell of her tender skin. “I will be hugging and kissing you whenever I want.       “Ah, you’re asking for trouble… Daniel…” Anna, saying the last word in a much deeper and lower voice, rolls her eyes, while Daniel kisses cutely the area behind her ears, which he caresses tenderly with his lips and his tongue. “Asking… If you kill me by your actions…”       “Hey, just don’t get so tense…” Daniel kisses Anna on another curve of her neck, runs his lips over her collarbones, and kisses her small breasts very tenderly, which fit his hands so well when grabbing them and massaging. “I’m doing nothing bad…”       “Aha, nothing…” Anna unconsciously makes a quiet moan and slightly bends backward, understanding she feels a little dizzy and lacks air, while Daniel’s hot breath nicely burns her skin. “I am gonna die from the stopped heart… Well, or faint from a lack of air…”       “I also catastrophically lack air…” Daniel runs his fingertips slowly down over Anna’s belly and shyly gets underneath her satin top, starting to caress her soft and sensitive skin. “And I feel very dizzy… But I don’t pay attention to it… Because there’s one attractive cutie that makes me forget it…”       “Damn, Daniel, please, stop torturing me like that…” Anna moans quietly, bending backward much more with closed eyes, bending her legs at the knees, tightly squeezing a bedsheet with her hands, and feeling she gets a hot flash, while something nicely tickling is getting stronger in her abdomen.       “What, what? Are you asking me to keep doing it?”       “No… I don’t like it… I don’t…”       “Begging me?” Daniel smiles much slier and wider. “Okay, baby, as you’re asking, I must make your wish come true.”       “No, I don’t…”       Anna instantly falls into silence and exhales loudly after Daniel runs his lips from her belly to her abdomen and leaves a few burning kisses on it, squeezing her breasts tenderly, the tough nipples on which he can easily feel through her thin tube top. He does not refuse to grab them with his mouth two or three times, making her feel a hot flash and a strong shake, literally hear a crazy beat of her heart in her head, and greedily catch some air due to the lack of it in her lungs. A little later, one of his hands goes down over the curves of her waist, stays on her thighs for some time, slides to her abdomen, in which everything is literally burning from the strong excitement, puts it between her legs, and caresses her crotch so skillfully that she has nothing but to give up and let herself enjoy what the man is doing to her.       When he raises her tube top upper with his nose, Anna presses Daniel to herself, runs her fingers through his hair, and then gets her hands underneath his soft-to-touch hoodie, caressing his back tenderly and slightly scratching his back. Any touch of his lips to every single part of her soft, flat belly makes the girl shake, and she bends backward like a car, making her boyfriend watch this like charmed and swallow up nervously when seeing all the attractive curves of the feminine body. The owner of which is wearing a beautiful satin suit that consists of a light shirt with a zipper, a thin tube top, and shorts showing her gorgeous slim legs.       After watching his red-haired beauty a little, the man covers her neck with different kisses and slight bites to wake up a passion inside her, caressing her belly with his warm hand and massaging her breasts through the top and underneath it. He silently rejoices when he hears her sensual sighs and loud moans of enjoyment, not doubting he is doing everything right. And Daniel is absolutely right because Anna forgets to think about her wish to play with him and not to let him touch and kiss her. His incredible caresses and dizzying kisses impacted her so much that she is literally ready to cover with kisses. And she, putting her arms around his neck, initiates a passionate, deep kiss on the lips when the man brings his face close to her face, breathes in the smell of her skin, and runs his lips over her tender, little shrunk cheeks.       He answers it with great pleasure, sitting up at some moment and seating up his girlfriend, whom he is holding tightly by the back. She caresses his face, pulls and ruffles his well-brushed hair, opens up a zipper, takes the hoodie off him, and puts it aside. And when she steps back a little to catch a breath, he thinks she wants to leave and does not let her do it, pressing her closer to himself from behind and softly grabbing her by the throat. He lets his hand slide over her collarbones and breasts, stay longer on her naked belly, and move to the inside of her thigh, while his lips run over the area behind her ear, take one of her strips off her shoulder, which he kisses tenderly almost without problems. And then the brunette takes the shirt off the green-eyed beauty and puts it aside.       “You’re headstrong and always get what you want…” Anna notices in a little hoarse voice and moans quietly with her eyes rolled when Daniel tenderly massages her breasts, tightly holding her by the throat from behind.       “I said you’d be pleased,” Daniel says confidently with a smug face right into Anna’s ear, tenderly kisses the area behind it, and runs his half-open mouth over a curve of her neck, the front of which he softly caresses with his fingertips, breathing on these parts with a burning breath and making her moan quietly with closed eyes. “I’ve always been very successful at it… And nobody has been able to resist my charm… My magnificent eyes and deep voice… These two things make everybody crazy…”       “But if I really want, no beautiful eyes will help you make me give up and obey you.”       “Really?” Daniel grabs Anna softly by the hair, leans her head back, and sets his confident, little sly gaze into her eyes, as he puts his free hand on her knees and caresses her legs tenderly. “I need just to look into your eyes for you to immediately give up and do anything I want.”       “Calm down, pretty boy,” Anna smiles slyly with a heavy breath. “You just made yourself think so and are showing off too much.”       “Still hoping to be stronger than me?”       “I’m stronger than all of those, who didn’t find the will to resist your charm.” Anna steps back from Daniel with a sly smile and moves her hair aside, so he sees her half-naked gracious back, on which he immediately stares. “Those, who want you so badly and want to tear all of your clothes and make you moan from pleasure… But I can resist even when I whine from how badly I want you…”       “Whatcha waiting for?” Daniel takes Anna softly by the shoulders, and leaves tenderly a couple of kisses on the nape of her neck and a few parts of her gracious naked back that are easy to reach. “I’m all yours… You can do anything you want to me. Why are you torturing yourself and containing your wishes? You should talk about them openly!”       “Patience, Daniel, patience. I understand that your wish are all the same as mine, but…”       “I don’t want, and I won't!”       Daniel strikes Anna sharply on the bed, raises himself above her, and greedily kisses her on the lips with great passion. At first, she moans quietly and resists, but then relaxes slowly and presses her sweetheart closer to himself, putting her arms around his neck and slightly pulling his hair. The man runs his warm hands over the curves of her waist and buttocks, but a little later he caresses tenderly her soft, naked belly, which he covers with exciting kisses after he leaves a couple of teasing ones on her neck. However, the man returns to this gracious part a little later, using the moment when the girl leans her head back with a deaf moan and shows up the front of her neck, which he caresses with his lips with great pleasure, while one hand of him caresses her face tenderly, and another confidently squeezes and massages her small breasts.       Anna sometimes makes quiet moans or sighs, strongly squeezes a bedsheet, and bends backward like a cat. Her body shakes, and her heart stops after Daniel’s every single kiss or a slight touch of his finger on any part of her skin, on which she gets goosebumps. Maybe, she had relationships with boys and wonderful kisses. But they never did such incredible things that her boyfriend is doing to her. The brunet with a charming smile and attractive brown eyes definitely knows everything about seducing girls and uses it, looking for the most sensitive places and impacting them to drive his sweetheart crazy. Moreover, thanks to him, Anna feels freer and freer and lets herself do what she could not even think about. Daniel definitely taught her much, let her know that there could be many ways to get pleasure, and would definitely be able to show her much more that would not make her indifferent.       

***

      Edward returns home after the walk that led to the serious fight with Natalia, still being depressed by what happened and not knowing if he can overcome this pain someday. The man could take anything, except for the similar betrayal. He did not expect he would hear these words from the one, for whom he was ready for anything, and who he truly loved.       When Edward enters the apartment and closes it, Victoria comes to him after stopping to do something in the kitchen.       “Hey, Edward,” Victoria pronounces softly. “You’ve been back too early…”       “Hello, Mrs. Richardson,” Edward replies quietly and hugs Victoria amicably. “I just got a little tired and decided to go home earlier.”       “But why? You could walk somewhere, while the weather is good. Fall is coming soon, and it’s gonna be cold…”       “Yeah, I know, but I want to have some rest…” Edward takes off his outer coat and pins it on a little hook on the wall near the door.       “Oh… Alright then… Then, maybe, you wish to eat something? I’m cooking something and can give you one plate.”       “It would be great…” Edward smiles slightly. “I love your food.”       “Alright, wait for a while, and then I will call you.”       “Great…” Edward falls into silence for two seconds, trying not to look into Victoria’s eyes and looking at everything but the woman. “Then I will go to my room… I will be there if you need me…”       When Edward, slightly slouching and inclining his head, wants to go to his room with quite a hesitant walk, Victoria puts her hand on his shoulder.       “Edward, are you okay? Victoria frowns slightly. “You look too sad.”       “Yes, I’m okay…” Edward lies in a low voice, while his eyes are running from one side to another.       “I don’t think so… You don’t even look at me when talking to me. It’s a clear sign that a person has something to hide.”       “No, no, it seemed to you, Mrs. Richardson, I’m looking at you,” Edward slowly moves his little tired gaze to Victoria. “I just want to have some rest and maybe take a nap for two hours.”       “Maybe, we talk about what’s happening to you? Or just recognize that you are not fine at all! I don’t ask you to tell me absolutely everything. At least stop lying and saying you’re fine.”       “But I…”       “You know, my sweetie, let’s go to your room and talk there quietly. Don’t stand in the hall.”       Edward says nothing but just inclines his head and, slouching strongly and moaning silently, goes to his room. Victoria follows him, deciding to find out what’s happening to him. And when the man comes to his room and sits on the bed powerlessly, the woman sits down in front of him and looks at him with pity in her eyes.       “So what, Edward?” Victoria asks quietly. “Do you want to tell me something?”       “What do you want to hear?” Edward asks without emotions, nervously fingering over and looking at his fingers.       “Preferably, everything. But I’d be happy to hear, at least, what happened to you on today’s walk. I see that something makes you suffer.”       “No, Mrs. Richardson, everything is fine.” Edward purses his lips for two seconds, glancing aside and tightly locking his fingers. “Don’t worry…”       “Edward, you can lie to anyone, but you will not lie to me. I see that you got some problems and are worried because of it. Something made you shocked to the bottom of your heart. Maybe, you’re trying to smile widely, but your eyes are sad anyway. For a long time.”       “Actually, I’ve always had a little sad gaze. Everybody told me that…”       “I don’t deny. But people often say that eyes are the reflection of our soul, looking at which you can know all the truth about what a person feels. And it makes me think you’ve been unhappy all your life. Maybe, it has to do with your relationship with your father, who, as you say, never loved you. But I think you’re worried about something else.”       “Yeah, I was always worried that my father treated me like that and refused to talk to me when I needed it so badly. But I’ve got no other reason to worry.”       “What are you afraid of? What would happen if you shared what you’re worried about and stopped hiding it from everybody? Do you think lying to everyone is good? No, honey, lying is bad! People don’t believe liars when they want to say something. You might bring everything to a moment when people actually stop believing you even when you tell the truth.”       “You do know well that I’m against any kind of lie and always despise those, who lie.”       “But you are one of them. You can’t hate liars when you are the one.”       “Mrs. Richardson, please…”       “Listen, Edward…” Victoria pronounces softly and puts her hand on Edward’s hands tightly locked. “I understand you have a right not to tell me what doesn’t have to do with me. But I would really like to help you somehow. Like my own son that I never had. It’s hurtful for me to watch you grieve for something and waste your time on something you shouldn’t. At your age, you should have fun with your friends and enjoy your life. But you always stay home or just wander in the city alone.”       “I just like walking in the city alone. Especially in deserted places.”       “I get it, but you should be in companies. I haven’t personally heard you talking with your friends or inviting them here. As if you’re shy.”       “Don’t worry, I spend enough time with my friends. I don’t lack talks with good people.”       “I think you got so busy solving your problems that you forgot about everybody. When you’re free from one-sided jobs, you suffer from something, sitting in your room or walking somewhere alone. And the most important thing is that you refuse to explain everything.”       “I don’t refuse… Just…”       “Then trust me and tell me something about what makes you worried. I will listen to you closely and help with something if I can. Or just say, ‘Yes, I have problems and am worried about them!’ I will get it and know you need support.”       “Erm… I…” Edward inclines his head and glances at his fingers, while Victoria looks at the man with sadness in her eyes.       “The problem is your girlfriend?”       Edward says nothing and just purses his lips strongly, trying to subdue a wish to shed a tear from the disappointment he had to feel today.       “So, yes…” Victoria frowns slightly. “Is everything so serious?”       “Quite serious…”       “A fight happened between you?”       “Yup… During the walk…” Edward understands that it’s quite hard for him to breathe due to the nervousness that he feels while thinking of his talk with Natalia.       “Did you schedule a meeting with her?”       “No, I didn’t know I’d meet her there… I was just moving on and thinking, but then she ran into me.”       “And did you decide to talk, as I understand?”       “Yes… I just asked how she was doing…” Edward falls into silence for two seconds, trying to catch a breath. “We had quite a cold talk and answered with one-word answers…”       “What’s next?”       “And then…” Edward doubles over, leaning on his laps with his elbows and running his hands through his hair. “Everything got worse… Word by word, we started to fight like a cat and a dog…”       “Did you say something hurtful to her? What are you regretting now?”       “I’m regretting not holding myself down toward her. Natalia’s words and behavior made me so enraged that I got as mad as I had never done before. It was a rare case when I was wild.”       “Oh, gosh…” Victoria gets horrified, closing her mouth with a hand.       “You know, at some moment, I thought I looked like my friend,” Edward confesses hesitantly, moving his eyes to Victoria. “He also got enraged when fighting with his girlfriend.”       “Don’t tell me you slapped her, as well! Before the eyes of people!”       “I barely held myself down. At least because we were where there were people. But she wanted to slap me, even though I avoided it and got her a little colder.”       “But what did you say to make her so enraged?”       “It happened by itself…” Edward sighs heavily, looking at the whole room, and closes his eyes for a second. “Natalia tried to make me sure that she was fine, but I got horrified by the way she looked. It seemed like she was deprived of happiness.”       Edward falls into silence for two seconds, pursing his lips much stronger and locking the fingers of his hands tighter.       “Everything was getting worse word by word…” Edward says quietly. “And I said her parents weren’t lucky that they raised such a bad daughter. Well, I told her many bad things…”       Edward does not finish his thought and moves his dead eyes aside, while Victoria gets horrified by what she hears.       “My God, Edward, why did you mention her parents?” Victoria rounds her eyes. “Mentioning parents and getting them involved in a fight that has to do with you two is not allowed.”       “Yeah, but she compared me with my father. I was kind of as horrible as he was. And then she said my mother wasn’t lucky to have such a bad son… She hinted that I was a mamma’s boy that would hide behind her back if I was in danger.”       “You must not mention your parents in anger, hear me! It would make everything worse!”       “Do you think it was good to hear I couldn’t do anything without Mother and was afraid of everything? If I have problems, I get up and go to solve them.”       “I understand it, honey, but mentioning your parents and especially insulting them would be unforgivable. It’s the rule I learned for the years I lived in a marriage with my husband.”       “But I didn’t insult her parents! I didn’t say any bad words! They are not guilty of having such a daughter, who always lies and just pretends to be sweet and fluffy. That girl is actually a snake…”       “Gosh, Edward…” Victoria shakes her head and closes her mouth with a hand. “Why are you saying it about her? She is your girlfriend! How you dare to say these things about the one you love.”       “I doubt I love her after what she did to me. I swear, Mrs. Richardson, I will never forgive her for using me all this time and dating me just because of a fear of staying single. Nobody had a crush on her. I was the only idiot that got a crush on her beautiful face.”       “How did you get these thoughts? Don’t say it about the girl, who is guilty of nothing!”       “Nothing?” Edward rounds his eyes, staring at Victoria. “Do you think the girl could be good if she looks into the eyes and insolently lies? Your beloved Ms. Rochester is a liar! She deceives me and everybody she knows! She does that consciously! To seem like an innocent lamb that they should feel sorry for!”       “But how did she lie to you?”       “She did, Mrs. Richardson, she did. I’ve told you many times that I hate when people look into my eyes and lie insolently. And that girl used me all this time and finally confessed that she had never loved me and dated me just because of a fear to stay without a man that would take all of her caprices.”       “But you are also deceiving many people. Maybe, Natalia herself. I don’t know if she’s really lying, but you’re really pretending that you’re fine.”       “You don’t understand,” Edward throws a little coldly. “That girl really humiliated me and gave a damn about my feelings. Nobody had treated me as insolently as she did.”       “Did you have the brains to ask her to explain everything?”       “I already know everything. And I don’t care that people may not trust me. The important thing is that I know who that liar and betrayal is.”       “If you were much softer to her, she would probably explain something. But I’m sorry that you are behaving disgustingly. “A real man would never insult a girl like this.”       “She deserves it. May she know what a scumbag she is. Just a false and nasty bitch that always thinks only of herself. That gal is the real egoist! She was raised in a rich family and educated like a princess. I’m sorry such wonderful people got such a pathetic gal that changes men like gloves.”       “Gosh, Edward, what got obsessed with you?” Victoria gets horrified, shaking her head and moving her shocked eyes to Edward. “How can you blame that sweet girl for all the sins and call her literally a prostitute?”       “She is the prostitute!” Edward says insolently, confidently. “A nasty, egoistic whore that pretends to be sweet and innocent with the hope of meeting her prince! I do know about her adventures. She hung on the neck of one man and slept with another… And she didn’t stop it after we started a relationship!”       “No, I don’t believe it!” Victoria gets much more horrified by what she hears from such a sweet and innocent guy, who is not like himself and has someone’s body.       “I didn’t want to confess it, either,” Edward says gloomily. “But I have to. And I should’ve gotten suspicious that the girl had many men and hadn’t been as innocent as she tried to pretend. She’s very experienced in love things. Very! She has been changing men literally since she was born!”       “How do you know it? Why do you believe the one to dare to say such an insolent lie about her?”       “Actually, she told me that!” Edward hums contemptuously, crossing his arms over his chest. “That chick told me the truth at least once and let me know she’d had hundreds or thousands of men in her bed.”       “I don’t recognize you, Edward! You aren’t yourself and have turned into a demon! What happened to the sweet boy I knew? Why am I now talking to a beast that dares to insult and humiliate a weak girl?”       “She is the only one to blame for everything. If Natalia had told me the truth when she preferred being silent, lying, and insulting me, I would’ve probably understood her. However, I don’t need her truth now. She can go to the fuck. Rochester confirmed I became another toy of hers. It’s enough for me to make the conclusion that I dated a real bitch for a few months.”       “Wow…” Victoria pronounces thoughtfully, putting her hand on her forehead. “What you turned into… I’m not surprised that the girl refused to tell you something. You scared the poor girl so much that she’s now shaking from you and afraid to open her mouth.”       “Me?” Edward wonders loudly, pointing at himself with his fingers. “So, do you think I scared her to death and made her say she had never loved me?”       “Since she fears you so much and wants to say nothing to anyone, I have a reason to believe you did a disgusting thing to her. Maybe, she did the right thing when she ended your relationship. You became so wild that you could easily stab someone.”       “Ha, do you think I am the one to blame for what happened between that bitch and me?”       “No, Edward, I blame you for nothing. But I don’t like the way you’re behaving. If my husband was alive, he would be shocked by what you say about a weak girl. He would teach you to respect them and not to go down to insults, even if someone humiliated you.”       Edward opens his mouth wider, being resentful that Victoria is confidently blaming him for being guilty of the conflict with Natalia.       “Mr. Richardson, I don’t understand, who are you defending now: her or me?” Edward raises his voice. “That prostitute, who will never get married, or the man, who was betrayed by that cobra?”       “I’m defending nobody because you both aren’t right. She is also guilty of making everything worse and letting herself say many bad things to you. And you scared her to death and made her silent. She is afraid to open her mouth because she doesn’t know what you would do to her after you heard at least one word from her mouth.”       “What are you talking about?” Edward sharply jumps up from the bed and turns on Victoria, putting his hands on his hips. “I have never thought of scaring her! She decided to be silent and lie to everyone. If Rochester wants to stay alone and lose all the people, who would get sick of her false ‘I’m fine’, it’s alright.”       “But why is she afraid of you so much that she doesn’t want to tell you the truth?” Victoria crosses her arms over her chest, frowning slightly. “If you are denying that you’re guilty of terrifying her!”       “Because she is a coward. A false liar! I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept with one of her men and earned money by her naked boobs and ass, which she was shaking in front of them.”       “You know, Edward, I’m not surprised she’s silent. Because you’re now like an enraged tiger that could attack anyone. I would be afraid of being with you when you’re ready to take a gun and kill a person.”       “Mrs. Richardson, I can’t believe you’re saying it,” Edward gets shocked, shaking his head quickly and looking at Victoria with horror in his eyes. “Do you think I like being like this? Not at all! I became the one because of Natalia! She made me as angry as never before. She woke up an animal inside me.”       “No, Edward, you didn’t become the one. You are the one. Or this is how you’re trying to hide your real side. So, you are not the one you want to be. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you got in touch with some bandits and started to rob or kill people.”       “Do I look like I am about to kill someone?”       “You are now. Sorry, Edward, but you’re scaring me, and I’m really afraid of what you might do to me. Since you don’t feel sorry for that sweet girl and do insult her like this, it lets me know what kind of person you are.”       “Holy shit, why did I actually agree to tell you everything?” Edward wonders, clapping himself on his forehead and keeping another hand on his hip. “I did know I would hear reproaches and blames! I was sure you would love to defend that shabby cat.”       Edward starts to walk nervously into the whole room, grabbing his hair.       “Yeah, I didn’t expect it from you…” Edward says with an offense and, slightly squeezing the bridge of his nose, exhales sharply. “Damn, I briefly thought you’d really help me and advise something. But instead, you read me a lecture about how to behave.”       “Your actions speak for themselves.”       “What actions? Do I have to kiss Natalia’s gorgeous legs because she fucks some men and keeps me as one of the toys she had in childhood? When she wanted it, she took it and played! But when she got sick, she threw it aside and got busy with other toys! No, Mrs. Richardson, I still have pride and am not going to become her marionette and believe her lie.”       “You’ve got no right to be so mad at her while you’re lying to everyone. Your close people could just guess what you’re doing secretly from them. But someday, you’ll have to explain everything. Or someone will betray you and say something about you that nobody knows.”       “Even if I have some business, you or anyone else does not have to do with it. And I will solve my problems with Ms. Rochester by myself.”       “How rude and ill-mannered you’ve become…” Victoria shakes her head, looking at Edward from head to feet with sadness in her eyes. “How could such a good, kind, and shy boy turn into a scumbag that doesn’t differ people’s gender. Who could easily humiliate a man or a woman?”       “It’s hurtful for me to hear these words from the woman that I considered my second mother,” Edward says quietly, exhaling quietly. “Because you doubt my dignity and do not want to understand the reasons why I got so mad at that gal.”       “What I just heard is enough for me to make conclusions and make sure that your girlfriend broke all contacts with you in time. Otherwise, she would have become a victim of the man, who is sweet and fluffy outside but a rotten and nasty cad inside. For you, there’s nothing holy. And if Mrs. MacClife knew what you were doing, she would completely agree with me.”       “Oh, you changed your opinion so quickly. You said you blamed me for nothing, but now you are exactly saying I’m a horrible monster, who is not allowed to come to people. Decide what you think of me!”       “I already did. After what you said, I can’t call you decent or good. I don’t know if you are really so or trying to cover your cowardice with your aggression. Maybe, your girlfriend was right that you were terribly cowardly and were ready to hide behind your mother’s skirt. But you aren’t definitely ready to admit it. You decided to become a scumbag to hide your real side. But it wouldn’t make you better in people’s eyes. Early or late, they would know you are a disgusting coward. You may overact when playing a tough and brave guy and get so used to it that you wouldn’t notice how you’d become the one and forget who you really are.”       Edward widely opens his mouth and starts breathing heavily, not hiding that it’s terribly unpleasant for him to hear it from the person, who was so close to him.       “You know…” Edward pronounces. “You said too much… I was ready to close my eyes to blaming me for making Natalia refuse to open her mouth. But the fact that you called me a mammy’s boy is too much. You hurt me to the bottom of my heart and disappointed me, Mrs. Richardson. So much that I no longer want to stay here. I will take my stuff and leave this place today.”       “Alright, if you want to leave, do,” Victoria shrugs. “I don’t hold you. You can take your staff right now. Maybe, after becoming homeless again, life will make you regret your actions.”       “I will leave, do not doubt. I will take my staff and leave your apartment right now. And I will leave the keys in the hall.”       “Then I will leave the room not to distract you from taking your staff.” Victoria moves her little gloomy gaze aside for a second. “But remember, Edward, you will have to pay a great cost for your actions someday. God sees everything and cruelly punishes those, who do bad things. I hope He will give you a lesson that will make you realize how meanly you are behaving. But I’m sure it will be too late to regret something. Because you will lose the trust of those, who love you so far.”       “Life has already punished me. So, I’ve got nothing to lose.”       “So, if it’s nothing, go then. Maybe, you’ll finally stop doing stupid things, find a permanent job, and start to earn money for your life. Not to live on someone’s account and pretend you are pleased with it. Farewell, Edward, I wish you not to make your life much worse.”       Victoria gets up and leaves the room slowly, closing the door. Edward watching the woman with a little gloomy gaze stays along with himself and his problems. When she leaves, the man exhales slowly with closed eyes and looks around the whole room, deciding to take his staff and leave right now. Go to live with his mother, Rebecca, who suggested he move to her a long time ago.       After standing in the middle of his room for some time, Edward quickly finds a big black bag lying under the old, squeaky bed and starts to put everything that belongs to him in it: clothes, shoes, little things, photos, and some other things. He does not care about sorting things out and puts everything in the same bunch. The man empties all drawers of the table and the closet and leaves nothing from what he sees with his eyes. Since he does not actually have so many things, Edward does not spend a lot of time on it, and some time later, he flattens his things and closes the bag with lightning.       After making sure he took everything and forgot nothing, Lockhart looks around the whole room, exhales quietly, puts a belt of the bag above his shoulder, turns around, and goes to the exit with a sharp step. Then he has to place the bag on the floor for two seconds to take his coat off the hook and put it on. Also, Edward takes a duplicate of the keys from Victoria’s apartment and puts them on a little table, on which some little things are lying. After looking at the whole hall with his sad eyes the last time, the man opens the hall door and confidently crosses the doorstep. When he goes down from the eighth floor, the brunet unlocks his car, puts the bag on the backseat, sits on the driver’s seat, puts on the belt, starts the motor, slowly presses a gas pedal, and goes on the road with a wish to go to the home of Rebecca.       

***

      Meanwhile, Natalia is returning home after what happened between her and Edward. The girl slowly enters the apartment, which she unlocks with keys, goes to the living room, and throws her purse on the sofa. After looking at the whole room with dead, red, and tear-stained eyes, she later goes to the bathroom with a hesitant walk. When she ends up near the door she needs, the blonde slowly opens it and enters a spacious bathroom made in tender blue and white shades. There is a perfectly clean, literally new toilet bowl, a gorgeous bath, and a sink, above which a big mirror with a silver frame is hanging. The walls are partly furnished with tender blue matted tiles without paint and just painted with white color. A few halogen lamps that are lighting up the whole spacious room are placed on the ceiling. There is also a little closet with some bottles, balloons and glasses, razor blades, and many other things. Some expensive shampoos, hair conditioners, and shower gels are placed on the small shelf above the bath and used by all the members of the Rochesters.       Natalia quickly looks at all of that with her dead eyes and comes closer to the mirror. The girl leans on the sink with her hands and looks at her reflection, which is as sad and depressed as she is. Honestly, she is horrified by what she sees. Because Natalia cries very much, her blue eyes became red. They do not have the gloss they had some time ago. There is not the fire they had before. They express nothing but sadness mixed with unbearable pain. Sometimes it seems that the girl forgot what it means to be happy and smile widely and truly. The more time is gone, the stronger her depression gets. However, she does not even think of asking someone for help, and she keeps destroying herself.       “Damn, how could people say I’m beautiful?” Natalia wonders quietly. “What did they find about me that made them say it at the same time? I have nothing good! Absolutely nothing!”       Natalia sniffs quietly, still looking into her eyes as if she is trying to hypnotize herself through the mirror.       “You are a horrible person!” Natalia whispers. “You’ve always been horrible! Nasty and disgusting! Because you can’t be friends and love. You turned out to be a disgusting friend, and you can’t love at all. You don’t know what it means to love someone, Natalia. Look at yourself! You’re a real liar! MacClife is right when he says you’re a bitch! The bitch that deceives everyone! You know well he told the truth! Don’t even dare to deny it… You’re not worth even a little finger of anyone you’re speaking to!”       Natalia keeps looking in a mirror without stopping and sees that her own reflection says everything that gets out of her mouth. And the girl starts to be so sure that it’s the truth that she is ready to keep destroying herself and making herself think everything is happening for a reason.       “You’ll never be happy…” Natalia says in a low, little hoarse voice, shaking her head. “Never, you, pathetic bitch! The false scumbag that deceives everyone and is losing the trust of those you love! While others do everything for you, you don’t wanna do almost anything for them. Your cowardice is the one to blame! If you’d told the truth when everything happened and hadn’t decided that it would be forgotten, everything would’ve been otherwise. Edward wouldn’t have despised you and called you a prostitute, and your parents wouldn’t have gotten mad at you. Look, they haven’t called you for a few days and forgotten about you. You’ll see, if you keep doing that, the next ones to leave you will be Raquelle, Anna, and Terrence. They won’t take caprices of such a hysterical bitch like you.”       Making herself think it’s the truth, Natalia struggles with a wish to take something hard and throw it at the mirror as strongly as possible, so it gets broken into thousands of pieces. But the girl understands her parents would have to buy a new one, not her. And they might swear on her for breaking something that either means much to her mother or father or has a very high price.       “You messed up everything and keep doing this…” Natalia continues to say in a low voice, tightly holding the sink with her fingers. Someday, you’ll make everyone turn their backs on you. Nobody will even move an eyebrow if someone knows you wanna die. If you wanted to get support and prove that you care about your close people, you would tell them the truth and stop pretending that everything’s fine. But since you’re a pathetic coward, you’ll have to solve your problems alone.”       Trying to hold down a wish to break something, Natalia later starts to understand that her hands and her whole body start to shake, and she cannot do anything with it. And she gets obsessed with panic and a fear of something unclear. The pupils in her widely open eyes get wider, it’s quite hard for her to breathe, her heartbeat becomes too fast, her hands get sweaty, and it’s very hard to stand on her weak legs. The girl has to grab the edges of the sink tightly not to fall on the floor, to try to calm down somehow, and fight back this wave of panic and fear.       “It’s okay, it’s okay, Natalia, it’s okay,” Natalia whispers quietly. “It’s okay… Forget all these words… You’ll overcome that… You will… You’re strong enough to overcome everything by yourself. Just hold on and don’t let yourself give up… You can…”       Natalia silently laughs at her own words, not believing that autosuggestion would help her. She believes herself much more when she says everybody will leave such a horrible girl, who cannot be a friend very soon.       “It’s okay, Natalia, it’s okay…” Natalia continues to whisper, still breathing heavily and closing her eyes for a few seconds. “Don’t think of bad things… If you’re silent, it’s gonna be okay. Just don’t open your mouth and be silent… If everyone leaves you, you’ll take it. Because you’re strong… Since you ’re strong, prove it and keep silent about what you’re not allowed to talk about.”       A few seconds later, Natalia calms down a little and gets rid of her fear, still being afraid of something and feeling a great shame for those, whom she is insolently deceiving. The girl completely understands she should do her best to be strong, but she wants it less and less. And she does not almost have the strength to fight with the inside voice that always says nobody needs her, everything is happening because of her, and she is guilty of her trouble. And another rude voice does not forget to remind her that she must be silent about something horrible that nobody should know. Because of such strong stress, a wish to kill herself is getting stronger. But at these moments, Natalia thinks of those, who are dear to her, so their images help her get rid of these thoughts. Sometimes it helps her, but sometimes they do not want to leave her, continuing to press and push her to do something crazy.       After staying in the bathroom with her hands leaning on the sink for some time, Natalia later decides to go to her room, which has lately been certain salvation from this cruel, unfair world. The girl exhales quickly, turns on slowly, leaves the bathroom, closes the door, and walks into a big, spacious apartment until she comes to where she spends a bigger part of her time. She lazily sits on her big, gorgeous bed, on which expensive silky, tender pink bedclothes are placed, and looks around the whole room.       Judging the atmosphere, it surely belongs to a young girl with a romantic and very sensitive character, who still feels like a princess, who is supposed to be taken down to a kingdom by a charming prince. The golden backs of the bed are framed with very beautiful patterns, and the door that leads to the large, dressing room, tables, a big, full-height mirror, and a dressing table with many cosmetics, hairbrushes, and face stuff, and different things for hairstyles on it are painted with gorgeous gold and pink patterns. Light parquet is placed on the floor, high windows are covered with transparent tulle and dark pink curtains, the walls are tender pink, and a big chandelier is pinned to the snow white ceiling that lights up the room at a dark time. Maybe, Natalia liked this beauty before, but since she spends almost all her time here and gets stronger depression, she starts to get a little sick of it.       At some moment, she gets sick of sitting in this silence and decides to turn on the music on her phone not to feel so bored. Natalia recalls that she has her phone in her purse that she put on the sofa after coming back home. The girl gets up from the bed, goes to the living room, finds her purse, takes it, and goes to her room again. Then Natalia sits on the bed, opens it, and starts to search for her phone. After finding it, the girl starts to look for something in it, putting her legs on the bed and bending them under herself. Sadly, her parents have not called her or sent her anything. But the girl sees that someone called her from an unknown number literally a few minutes ago and got a message from it. Natalia frowns slightly, unlocks her phone, and checks her incoming messages where she really finds it.       “Now your life is very hard, and you feel bad. I know it very well and feel how you are falling into depression because of what’s happening to you. But trust me, it’s just the beginning of your suffering! It will turn into a real hell, in which you will not survive, very soon. And I will do my best to destroy you and those, to whom you mean so much. And nobody will save you… Because everybody gets sick of your constant lie.”       “Damn, what kind of stupid messages am I receiving not for the first time?” Natalia frowns slightly. “I don’t know this number… And I don’t know who could know it. Only my relatives and close friends know my number! And nobody else! My God, what does it mean? Did I get much more problems?”       Natalia sighs heavily and puts her hand on her forehead, breathing a little heavily and being quite excited.       “If I get one more, I swear I will shoot myself,” Natalia whispers, as her eyes are running from one side to another. “I’d better die than experience what I’m experiencing now. I can barely take this load. But if I get something else on my shoulders, I won’t be able to take it. It’s too heavy… I won’t take it…”       Natalia moves some hair that annoys her off her face and swallows up nervously, setting her dead eyes at the big window, through which daylight gets into the room. But since it’s cloudy today, the room is much darker than it is when the bright sun shines outside.       “Ah, how I wish I was as strong as Raquelle…” Natalia says thoughtfully. “Although it was also hard for her to overcome those difficulties, she didn’t break down. I personally doubt I’ll take this nightmare as well as she did. I don’t have the strength to take this anymore…”       Natalia sits on the bed for two seconds, but then lies down, setting her dead look at the ceiling and putting her hand under her head. The girl thinks about who could send her a message with a threat. However, a little later, she thinks of the one, who could probably do it. But she believes it just cannot be the truth…       

***

      It’s about five or six o'clock. Terrence and Raquelle decided to walk somewhere in the city. Due to the threats they receive, they try to accompany each other wherever they go. At least, the man minds that the girl goes somewhere without him and insists that she is close to him until everything gets better. The young people arrived in a very picturesque place where fewer people were walking. Because the weather is by far not warn, it’s impossible to walk in a light t-shirt and favorite jeans, and people have to put on some coats.       Wearing similar denim suits, Raquelle and Terrence are slowly going on a wide path and sometimes meeting people of different ages. The girl holds the man under an arm and presses closely to him, and he keeps his hands in the pockets of his unbuttoned denim jacket. On the way, they meet the paparazzi, who take a few pictures of the famous couple. However, the lovers do not pay attention, just go their way, and even smile and wave a hand at the annoying people with cameras. Moreover, they also run into their fans, who ask them to sign something and take a couple of photos with them. Neither Terrence nor Raquelle refuse to do it and have the pleasure of taking a photo with everybody, signing something, and answering some questions. But the man has to lie about the band’s future, which everybody is worried about, not to make them excited by the news that “Against The System” might be broken up in almost one week.       “Time goes too fast,” Raquelle notices with sadness in her eyes. “You have almost one week to make a decision.”       “Yeah, but we don’t know which answer we should give,” Terrence replies quietly. “But we still hope Peter will change his mind and come back to the band.”       “Hardly…” Raquelle puts a thumb in the pocket of her jeans. “He said he left the band because he didn’t care about it.”       “He thinks so because depression is killing him. If he got the help, he wouldn’t say these things. I’m sure about it.”       “Maybe, you’re right. But you can’t force him. He should decide he wants to get out of it and ask for help.”       “Now it’s our main problem. But Daniel and I are trying all possible ways. For example, we’re still looking for Peter’s friend, who George talked with. We have an assumption that she could know much more than we do.”       “What’s hard about finding her and talking to her? I’m sure she’ll understand you if you explained everything to her!”       “The problem is that we know nothing about her. We have no phone or home address and don’t know her familiar people. Daniel has seen her a couple of times and memorized that she was a short brunette. But this description fits many girls living in New York.”       “Doesn’t Daniel know her personally?”       “Nope, Peter and he have met her on the street two times, but Daniel didn’t talk to her and was just waiting for the blond to talk to that girl.”       “Wanna say Peter didn’t acquaint them?”       “I believe, no. And it’s very bad 'cause that girl could help us. We think it’s the only way to find out just something about what’s happening to Peter. We have no other suggestions…”       “What if his friend knows nothing, as well? Since he says nothing to both of you, why should Peter share his problems with a girl?”       “Maybe… But as I’ve said, we’re trying everything. Of course, if we knew someone to know Peter, we’d ask that person about everything.” Terrence falls into silence for a second. “Daniel and I don’t wanna lose him as a friend and as a drummer. We’re doing our best to get that guy back in the band. Or just make him sure we can help him if he tells us what’s wrong.”       “Why don’t you and Daniel just go to his home? Or call him? Try to talk to him quietly and find no hard ways, unsuccessfully trying to find his friend, who you know nothing about!”       “We can’t call him, as his phone is turned off. Somehow, I tried to call him, but his number was unavailable. And home…” Terrence thinks for two seconds, slightly pursing his lips and looking at everything in front of him with a sad gaze.       “What?” Raquelle frowns slightly.       “I don’t know, I can’t explain…” Terrence shakes his head. “Just… We just understand it might be worthless…”       “Go to his home alone, without Daniel, Peter doesn’t feel confused because of his pretense. You didn’t fight with him – so, Rose could talk to you. Just be soft and patient with him and don’t press, and he will confess everything. You should talk to him and let him know he can count on you.”       “You know that I tried to talk to him after meeting George. But he refused to talk to me and explained nothing. Peter didn’t even show aggression for Daniel and behaved quietly, saying Perkins was right in everything, and he had no right to deny what was allegedly true.”       “You two make everything harder by delaying this visit. I don’t understand, why you didn’t do it before. You could talk to Peter at his home and make him sure to confess everything.”       “I’m afraid it’d lead to nothing good…” Terrence replies gloomily. “Since so many attempts have given us nothing, what’s the point in doing that again? I’m gonna be honest, I’m starting to accept the fact that Peter wouldn’t be back in the band, and Daniel and I would have to disband it.”       “But you can’t leave Peter! If you do it, you will lose him one fateful day. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually killed himself.”       “I get it. But what do we do if the friend refuses to say something, no matter how soft you are, and you have no common familiar people, who could make the situation clearer and drop a hint on a reason for his problem?”       “Gosh, why have you lately been so pessimistic?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “You almost stopped being sure about what you do! I didn’t notice it before. You were always too confident. What happened to you, pretty boy?”       “Oh, I don’t know why I doubt everything,” Terrence sighs quietly. “Although Daniel and I promised each other to save the band and help Peter, I think every one of us will go our separate ways anyway. I’m afraid our effort will be worthless, and we’ll waste time trying to save what we’re about to lose.”       “I think you both know you have a very small chance to get Peter back in the band, everything might change with a new drummer, and you won’t probably get on well with them. That’s why you don’t try to do anything and are just waiting for the day you tell your manager your band is broken up, and you cancel the contract with the studio.”       “Your words have a part of the truth… Somewhere at the bottom of my heart, I’m really waiting for this week to be gone to say goodbye to the studio and George and disband the band.”       “But you’ve always wanted to sing! You’ve been proud of how much you’ve achieved in such a short time! Many people try to get into something for years, but your band performed as the opening act earlier than you got a suggestion to sign a contract.”       “But I tried to get into the music business for years. Remember how many times I heard refusals or was deceived after talks with quite famous people. I reached something just thanks to my stubbornness.”       “Does it mean nothing to you? It was your dream – to become a musician and sing your own songs!”       “I’m dreaming about it and want to release my album someday,” Terrence shrugs. “But you can sing not only in the band but also as a solo. If the band is broken up, I’ll be trying to start a solo career. Maybe, after talking to the people from the studio, I will make them sure to sign a new contract with me. However, I can easily make music without contracts with a studio. We have lots of independent artists that release music for their own money.”       “What if you meet a failure in a solo career?”       “I think I’ll start accepting offers to act in movies. Not to leave the show business forever… Well, if I don’t get at least a part of the fame I had even in acting, I’ll become a common person and get a job.”       “Well…” Raquelle thinks for two seconds, slightly biting her lip. “But why don’t you tell your manager everything and ask him to cancel a contract?”       “Erm… Yes…” Terrence falls into silence for a second and swallows up nervously. “Yeah… We should’ve probably done it a long time ago. I think Daniel and I will talk about it tomorrow.”       “Does it mean you refuse to fight for the band?”       “If my friend doesn’t want the same, destroys himself consciously, and rejects any help, there’s no meaning in continuing this senseless show. We’d better end it all and forget what we wanted to do. I’m sure two years later, people won’t remember that I had a band called ‘Against The System’. We actually did nothing grandiose to be remembered forever. We don’t have even our own songs that would be released officially.”       “Ah, Terrence, Terrence…” Raquelle sighs tiredly and looks her eyes down for a moment. “Your pessimism is killing me… It seems you need a little to be insecure about saving your band and yourself.”       “You did suggest we cancel a contract earlier. And I think it would be the right decision. There’s no meaning to waste time and try to do what would hardly be possible.”       “I thought you’d resist it,” Raquelle shrugs. “That’s why I said it… But now you’re acting as if it should happen.”       Terrence sighs tiredly, looks at what’s surrounding him with a dead gaze, hugs Raquelle around the shoulders, and kisses her cutely on the temple.       “Ah, Raquelle, let’s stop this talk for a while…” Terrence suggests. “Honestly, it’s not very pleasant for me to talk about it… And my band is now placed in the second place.”       “But what’s placed on the first one?”       “You and my family.”       “Really?”       “Did you doubt it?”       “Of course, no!” Raquelle shakes her head with a slight smile. “I know how much you love your family.”       “Very much,” Terrence stops slowly and turns to Raquelle, while she does the same. “As much as the one that became the love of my life. The one, who’s gonna become a part of my family soon.”       “Gosh, Terrence, don’t make me blush before people’s eyes,” Raquelle smiles shyly, closing her face for a second.       “But it’s the truth, my queen.” Terrence caresses Raquelle’s cheek tenderly with a slight smile. “And I don’t wanna hide it.”       “So, don’t you want to do it?”       “At all! But it’s very hard to control me when being where people walk,” Terrence playfully slaps Raquelle on the nose with a mysterious smile. “And not to let myself play a little…”       “Hey, hey, MacClife, don’t get excited,” Raquelle laughs shyly, stepping back from Terrence. “I know you haven’t played enough, but keep yourself under control. We aren’t home.”       “Can’t I do it just a little?”       “Yes, just a little!”       “But, Raquelle…” Terrence whines with pity in his eyes.       “Okay, calm down!” Raquelle exclaims, pushing Terrence slightly on his rib. “When we go home, we will talk.”       “Oh, no…” Terrence, pouting slightly, crosses his arms over the chest.       “Hey, don’t get mad, please,” Raquelle clenches her hand into a fist and hits Terrence slightly in his forearm, looking at him innocently. “You know that we agreed to be discreet in public. And we’re well-educated people… Right, sweetheart?”       “Yeah…” Terrence smiles slightly. “Sure…”       Seeing Raquelle smile at him cutely, Terrence cannot hide his smile. And a little later, he lowers his hands, hugs the girl tenderly, putting an arm around her neck, presses her as close to himself as possible, and leaves a slight kiss on her cheek.       “You’re forgiven, sweet lady!”       “Really?” Raquelle smiles widely, keeping going straight. “Oh, thank you for forgiveness, sir! You’re very nice to me!”       “You’re just too attractive for me not to forgive you.”       “Nice to hear it…” Raquelle falls into silence for two seconds, looking at Terrence with a tender smile. “From such a handsome guy…”       “Well, the thing I will never doubt is my handsomeness,” Terrence says with his head proudly raised. “Nature gave me all the best that a man may have.”       “Yeah, nature was very generous to you.”       “Gotta agree… I even got the same type of girl: as irresistible and attractive as I am.”       “Aw, sweetie…”       Raquelle kisses Terrence cutely on the cheek and puts her head on his shoulder for two seconds, while he smiles shyly and tightly hugs her beloved one. But then he becomes more serious and exhales sharply.       “Okay, jokes are jokes, but it won’t solve the problems,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “And I mean not only the band’s problems, but also the situation about the letters.”       “Hey, when are you gonna bring Edward to clean water? You could invite him to our home a long time ago, and we would do what we agreed about.”       “Sadly, I can’t do it tomorrow, ‘cause I agreed to meet Daniel to keep talking about the band’s fate and attempts to try to help Peter. But after tomorrow, we could really invite Edward to our home and shake all his secrets out of him.”       “Does it mean Anna and I would stay alone again? So, I think we could meet and spend time together.”       “Only if she went to our home.”       “Why?”       “Didn’t you forget someone was threatening us? You do not better leave home alone.”       “We’ve gotten no threat for two days, and nobody has come to you on the street.”       “It means nothing, Raquelle! If they haven’t threatened us for a long time, we can’t say that man gave up.”       “Do we have to stay home and be afraid of someone, who we don’t know, but who knows everything about us and wants to destroy us? Moreover, I’m gonna have a very important photoshoot that I can’t miss soon.”       “It’s not a problem. Either I will drive and take you out, or a personal driver will take this responsibility.”       “Would you tear yourself apart between me and your business?”       “If the situation is too serious, I’ll forget about my business and protect you, so any scumbag doesn’t touch you, at least with a finger. Until we get a confession out of Edward about what he’s hiding, we better be careful.”       “I’m starting to think Edward would hardly give up so easily.”       “Don’t worry, my sunshine, I’ll do my best for that kid to speak in five minutes. We need to see his reaction when we read the letters with his pretense. If Edward has to do with it, he’ll get nervous.”       “Yeah, we haven’t warned the servants about it.”       “We need to talk to them today and ask them to help us. We could even thank them somehow.”       “But where are the envelopes with those letters? I hope you didn’t throw them off after we read them?”       “No! C’mon! They’re in the drawer of the table placed near the bed on my side. But I think we need to put these letters in new envelopes and sign them the way they were signed before.”       “Do you think Edward wouldn’t care about what’s written on them? If he read what’s written by us, he’d immediately realize it’s the handwriting of one of us.”       “I hope he would care about the envelopes or wouldn’t actually pay attention to them. He will focus his attention on the letters. We can’t rewrite them on a new piece of paper. They should stay the same.”       “Then we need to find a couple of clean envelopes, place the letters in them and close.”       “Exactly! And we’d see what my friend would say.”       “I’m sure we’d make our plan come true. Edward should know he’d have to tell everything, early or late.”       “If he’s not too brainless, he will do. Anyway, I’ll make him tell us everything about the man, who started all of this, and how my friend is connected with it.”       “I can’t wait to make this situation clearer and find out what they want from us…” Raquelle sighs quietly. “I don’t feel quiet…”       “Don’t worry, we’ll find out everything on the day we invite Edward to our home,” Terrence says confidently. “Now that little tomboy won’t avoid the answer, ‘cause I’ll press him to the wall so tightly that he’ll tell me everything.”       “I hope, Terrence, I hope…”       Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, during which Raquelle holds Terrence under an arm, still going somewhere with him with a slow step and going by some people of middle age who do not recognize them as the famous personas and get delighted when seeing them.       “Hey, when did you see Natalia the last time?” Terrence asks thoughtfully.       “The last time?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “Oh… Long ago… On the day, we went to Anna and Daniel’s home.”       “Didn’t you notice how she behaved? Maybe, something seemed strange to you?”       “Well, yeah… She was too quiet and silent. She was kind of reflecting on something or calling the memories about something…” Raquelle shakes her head. “Honestly, it’s unlike her. Because Natalia was always quite loud and active.”       “And didn’t she hint at any problem?”       “Nope, no hints…” Raquelle frowns slightly and moves her questioning gaze to Terrence. “But why? Why are you asking?”       “I don’t know how horrible everything is ‘cause I haven’t seen your friend for ages… But when I was at Daniel’s home the last time, he compared Natalia with Peter.”       “Peter? But why? What does he have to do with her?”       “Daniel just thinks both of them have a similar condition. One is sad and depressed, and another seems the same.”       Raquelle frowns slightly and thinks for two seconds.       “Yeah, Natalia was really strange. She quietly talked about anything that didn’t have to do with her.”       “Damn, did your friend look so horrible that Dan decided to compare her with Pete?”       “I didn’t personally like her appearance. And I noticed she lost interest in everything she loved. When Anna and I asked her something, she answered questions with an absolute indifference or a false smile.”       “Wow!”       “Exactly! Do you know she used to love being in a gymnasium often and always watched her body closely?”       “Yeah, she was obsessed with workouts.”       “So, Natalia told Anna and me that she didn’t go to a gymnasium for a long time. Even though she had visited it somewhere two or three times per week.”       “Well, maybe, she got sick of it? Moreover, she knows enough about it and could do it by herself, without a personal trainer.”       “Yeah, but she never missed workouts. As long as I remember her, she always had scheduled workouts on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. But if she missed at least one, she went on another day – for example, Saturday.”       “Well, I dunno… You better know her habitats.”       “And her mood is very changing… First, she’s sad and depressed, but then she smiles widely and says life is wonderful. She's literally ready to cry, but then she can’t stop laughing at what’s not supposed to cause a laugh.”       “That’s interesting!”       Terrence and Raquelle sit on a bench placed not far from them in a deserted place.       “It’s another sign that something is not right with her,” Terrence says confidently. “Say, didn’t she show any kind of aggression without a reason?”       “Nope, no aggression,” Raquelle shakes her head. “Natalia always behaves very quietly and calmly. It seems that she wouldn’t get mad if someone told her something bad.”       “Maybe, she pretends to and keep her emotions inside? And someday she’d lose her patience, and your friend would tell everything at once?”       “I think it’s also possible. And I’d like to see Anna and talk to her about Natalia. They meet more often than I meet her. And I believe Anna met her after we three did and could tell me a little bit more about Natalia’s condition.”       “Oh…” Terrence exhales quietly. “You know, Raquelle, I have nothing against your meetings with your friends. But now I wouldn’t like you to be outside alone. You should know danger may be hidden anywhere.”       “But I ain’t gonna walk everywhere all alone and wander in the whole city in deserted places where anyone could commit a crime,” Raquelle shrugs.       “I’d feel much quieter if you met your friends at our home. If you had a girly talk, I could go somewhere and find something to do.” Terrence glances at Raquelle and runs the back of his hand over her cheek. “I’m doing it for you… Because I’m worried about you and don’t want any scumbag to touch you, at least with a finger.”       “Of course, it’s very nice to me that you’re worried about me.” Raquelle puts an arm around Terrence’s neck with a slight smile and runs her fingers through his hair, pressing much closer to him. “But I’m no longer a child. I’m already twenty-five.”       “If you’re twenty-five, it doesn’t mean you’d stand by yourself if you got attacked as well as I was.”       “I hope nothing like that will happen to you and me.”       “Oh, I don’t know, Raquelle…” Terrence embraces Raquelle around the shoulders, while she puts her head on his shoulder and sets her gaze into the distance. “If the situation is dangerous, we might be attacked many times.”       “I know… So, we need to bite your friend through as soon as possible and think about how to solve this problem he got us involved in.”       “We will do it after tomorrow. And if I know Edward is connected with those letters and the attempts on me, he will have to pay much for that.”       Raquelle says nothing and just sighs quietly, while silence settles in the air for two seconds. But then the girl glances at Terrence’s face and slightly touches the bruise under his eye that got kind of green in the past two days.       “Hey, how’s your bruise doing?” Raquelle asks. “It hurts?”       “It's going slowly. The fact that I put ice on it helps me… I always did it after a fight with guys that gave me lots of bruises.”       “You’re lucky you didn’t suffer much. That man could’ve hurt you so much that you would’ve had to go to the hospital.”       “I’m sorry that the paparazzi saw me with this bruise under my eye and took a photo of it. I bet a false article is published in newspapers in a few days.”       “Aha, they could say I gave you bruises,” Raquelle laughs shyly. “The all-favorite man doesn’t listen to his fiancée and got what he deserved.”       “It would be the stupidest thing. Of course, you’re my sassy girl and can get too excited, but you wouldn’t have the strength to give me these bruises.”       “M-m-m, if you make me angry, I will give you more painful bruises under your eyes…” Raquelle smiles mysteriously. “It seems like you still know me bad…”       “Don’t be so mad, my sweetheart.” Terrence embraces Raquelle around the shoulders and kisses her cutely on the temple. “Being soft and tender fits you better. And I wouldn’t personally like to give reasons to discuss us and think you or I are bad.”       “Nobody would discuss rumors for too long. Everything would be forgotten early or late, and they’d find new things to talk about.”       “Yeah, but people are still talking about our canceled breakup.”       “Oh, Terrence,” Raquelle moans quietly, closing her face with her hands. “Don’t remind me of it, please…”       “But it’s true, my love. Some journalists still write articles and reflect on why it could’ve happened. They might even ask someone to comment on our gestures and words to get a clearer picture.”       “We just give no new reasons to discuss us. Maybe, when everybody knows about the problems of ‘Against The System’, they’ll start to talk only about your potential breakup.”       “Everybody knows it, no matter how hard we try to hide it. The girls, who asked us to take a photo with them, exactly asked what happened to the bad, and what kind of conflict happened between us.”       “But they didn’t ask about Peter and Daniel! So, they just know about the conflict… I don’t know how, but still…”       “I know I wouldn’t be able to hide the truth forever. But now I wouldn’t like everyone to know everything. Yes, maybe, we need to get our fans ready that our album may not be released. But now I don’t have the courage to do it.”       “I get it… I think you should talk to Daniel and find out what he thinks of your fans and the media.”       “Yeah, I’ll talk to him,” Terrence presses Raquelle much closer to him, still hugging her around the shoulders, while she takes him under an arm and keeps her hand on his knee. “Maybe, he thinks we’d better stop lying to everyone and tell all the truth about Peter.”       “Okay… Anyway, whatever you decide, I’ll always support you and what you and Daniel are gonna decide.”       “Thanks, Raquelle.”       Terrence kisses Raquelle on the cheek with a slight smile, while she smiles much wider. And then the man looks at the watch he is wearing on his left hand.       “So, I think we could get ready to go home,” Terrence says thoughtfully.       “What?” Raquelle frowns slightly and looks at her watch. “But it’s not too late! Where do we rush?”       “Until we go home, we spend for about one hour or one and a half hours.”       “But, honey, let’s walk a little longer or go to another place? We have no reason to rush and could spend the rest of the day together.”       “When we were leaving home, you said you agreed to walk for two hours and then go home.”       “Now I changed my mind! I wanna spend the rest of the day with you and…” Raquelle smiles slyly. “Maybe, find a place where we could play a little…”       “Hey, my naughty girl, get up and get ready to go home before we meet the pals of the man, who is threatening us.”       “Alright…” Raquelle pours with offense and crosses her arms over the chest. “You’re so changing, MacClife…”       “Hey, sweet lady, I advise you to stop pretending to be a rebel girl and to obey your fiancé,” Terrence says confidently but softly, gets up quickly from the bench, and turns to Raquelle.       “But…”       “No word, Ms. Cameron. Get up and follow me.”       When Raquelle wants to open her mouth, Terrence takes the girl’s hands and pulls her on himself. When the girl gets up, the man sharply presses her closer to himself and hugs her tightly by the waist, around which he wraps his strong arms. At this moment, their eyes meet, do not look aside, and start closely looking at each other’s faces. When every one of them breathes in the dizzying smell of their partner, their hearts stop for a moment and start to beat much faster, and they take a breath away for a second or two. Terrence and Raquelle try to resist the temptation to go further for some time, while their faces are very close to one another. But then they give up, barely touch each other’s lips with their lips, and smile widely, feeling a heavy, hot breath from the partner that makes them get goosebumps on the back.       “Erm, we aren’t actually home…” Raquelle says quietly, while her eyes are slightly closed, her face is too close to Terrence’s face, and her hands are placed on his wide shoulders.       “I know…” Terrence pronounces with a wide smile in a low voice, breathing in the incredible smell that Raquelle spreads and drives him crazy. “But how do I hold myself down while you’re so close to me?”       “Then let me go, so the problem is solved.”       “Maybe, you let me go?” Terrence caresses Raquelle’s face with his hands, looking into her eyes like charmed. “I won’t let you go ‘till you do it.”       “How do you actually dare to suggest me that?” Raquelle opens her mouth slightly. “You pressed me to you so that I couldn't move, and now you want me to let you go!”       “Your eyes just tell me I shouldn’t let you go, ‘cause you don’t want me to.”       “Don’t they tell you that I could do something before people’s eyes? For example, slap you on your ass!”       “C’mon, do it! Kick my ass right here and now! I’m not sure that I’d leave it without an answer. But you can be a bad girl for a while.”       “Why not?” Raquelle smiles slyly, puts her arms around Terrence’s neck, and gives him a short kiss on the lips. “I think not only do girls love bad boys, but guys also love bad girls.”       “Well, as you’re sick of being a good girl, you can play a little right before people’s eyes.” Terrence, looking into Raquelle’s eyes confidently, moves his hand shyly to her buttocks, while she makes a slight chuckle.”       “Get your hand off my ass now. Or you will regret it!”       “C’mon?” Terrence confidently puts another hand on Raquelle’s buttocks. “Which one? Left or right?”       “I said everything, MacClife. If you don’t do it, you’ll have to regret it.”       “I’m afraid I won’t take this torture if you decide to go home or to our favorite place, where nobody will bother us.”       “Do we need an audience and photos on social networks and articles in magazines and the Internet?” Raquelle hugs Terrence much tighter and puts her head on his shoulder. “These minutes should belong to us two…”       “I have no reason to be afraid and hide nothing.” Terrence tenderly caresses Raquelle’s head and puts his hand on her cheek. “What’s wrong with my wish to show my love for my beloved girl and not being sick of proving it? If I’m pictured when caressing your gorgeous butts and breasts, I’ll be glad to proudly show what all men in the world were deprived of. May they be jealous of me, ‘cause I took their place. Really incredible one…”       “I’ve never doubted you’re a lusty male…” Raquelle smiles slyly and snuggles her face in a curve of Terrence’s neck, on which she breathes with a hot breath, making him shake slightly. “Madly lusty… And too self-confident…”       Using the fact that she is the head lower than the man, Raquelle leaves a couple of tender kisses on a curve of Terrence’s neck, feeling his breath gets much heavier. And how strongly all of his muscles tense when she bites slightly a couple of the most sensitive places of the skin on it! The man has to do his best to control his emotions and not to succumb to temptation in a common place. And the girl kind of provokes him on purpose and definitely loves making him nervous in this way.       “Well, something like this… Raquelle smiles mysteriously, sharply steps back from Terrence, and fixes the shoulders of his denim jacket, “So, if you wanna have some fun, I’m suggesting going to our favorite place and having some fun.”       “Yeah, are you gonna test my patience for the whole way and provoke me?” Terrence wonders.       “Let’s test the power of your will. It’s been very bad… But when we come, a wonderful surprise will be waiting for you.”       “Ar-r-r… Alright! I agree! But if you get me too excited, I will surely talk to you when we’re at the right place.”       “You better hurry up, sweetie… Hurry…”       Raquelle goes somewhere on the straight path with a flirty smile, laughing shyly and fixing her hair slightly. Terrence chuckles slyly, watching her, and catches her quite quickly. After this, the lovers tightly lock the fingers of their hands and slowly go where the man’s car is. Raquelle and Terrence pass some distance, talking about something, laughing quietly and not refusing an innocent flirt and some words that would wake up fire inside each other.       But at some moment, Raquelle looks forward and sees something that makes her stop smiling instantly. The girl stops sharply and starts to look at that like charmed, looking scared and tense. Some people with a rude and unpleasant appearance wearing total black and dark glasses and having dark hair are standing at some distance away from her. None of them sees the girl and hardly cares about them. They are talking about something actively. But she looks at them as if she recognized someone and got scared of something horrible that caused a bad presentiment.       Terrence immediately notices Raquelle getting kind of white and freezes, setting her widely open eyes into the distance. The man comes to the girl and puts his hand carefully on her shoulder.       “Hey, Raquelle, are you okay?” Terrence asks anxiously. “Why did you stop?”       “That gang…” Raquelle pronounces, pointing at the company standing far away from her. “I fear them… They look suspicious…”       Terrence also glances at the company that Raquelle means and does not know why she got so scared. He looks at the men for a few seconds, but later understands he knows one person from that company or definitely saw him somewhere.       “Oh, shit!” Terrence pronounces with horror in his eyes. “Not again!”       “Erm…” Raquelle stutters. “What…”       Terrence looks at the whole place quickly and finds a big tree, behind which he could hide. Then the man sharply takes the hand of Raquelle understanding nothing and quickly takes her to the tree, while she slightly opens her mouth.       “What’s the fuck going on?” Raquelle wonders, being a little irritated. “Why did you bring me here?”       “Calm down, calm down,” Terrence replies in a whisper, putting a finger on his lips. “Better look there.”       “Yeah, I see!” Raquelle rolls her eyes. “But what’s the point in staying here like partisans?”       “We need to!”       “Oh, you found a good time to play spies…”       Raquelle wants to leave the hideaway, but Terrence immediately takes her hand and pulls her onto him to make her stay where she is.       “Stay in the same place and don’t speak so loudly,” Terrence whispers much quieter with widely open eyes. “If you don’t want those people to do something to you, stay here and don’t show up.”       “Can you explain what the fuck is going on?” Raquelle wonders in a whisper. “Why did you make me come here after you saw those people?”       “I will explain, but don’t act like a capricious girl and just listen to me.”       “Okay, I’m listening to you…” Raquelle exhales sharply.       “You see that man, whose lip is broken?” Terrence points at the one, who is speaking more than the others do. “That’s him, standing near a beard one!”       “Well, yeah, I see him… Should we care about it? I don’t know that man, and the fact that his lip is broken says nothing to me.”       “It’s very important, Raquelle, listen…” Terrence hides behind the tree, leaning on it with his back, and puts his hands on Raquelle’s shoulders. “I know that man. And I don’t doubt I saw him some time ago!”       “Know? But how? Is that your pal?”       “Nope, it’s not a pal, it’s an offender. He attacked me two days ago.”       “Him?” Raquelle rounds her eyes. “Attacked you?”       “Yes! I recognized him shortly after I looked at him. I remember his broken lip well… And it seems like I gave him too strong hits since his yawl is uneven.”       “My God…” Raquelle looks at the man, who was recognized by Terrence, with horror in her eyes. “No, no, wait, wait… Are you sure that’s the man? Maybe, you are wrong? Did you confuse him with someone?”       “Yes, I am, and I know that’s the one! Look, I’m the reason why his lip is broken. I broke it when he attacked me.”       “You did that?” Raquelle wonders, opening her mouth widely and looking at the man, who attacked Terrence. “Wow, you hit it hard… His yawl is a little uneven… It’s seen when he says…”       “He probably thought I’d let him beat me and give tons of hits! No! I broke his lip and struck a couple of teeth out.”       “Wow… By the way, he’s so creepy. I’d feel horrible from being with him in the same room.”       “Yes, he’s really unpleasant. It wasn’t also a pleasure to be with him,” Terrence winces slightly. “And he didn’t definitely take a bath for one week ‘cause he smells strong. How those people take those smells and quietly stand next to him!”       “As far as I understand, all those people are his pals. And it seems like your offender is the leader, judging how closely they’re listening to him. And he speaks very much…”       “Yeah, he definitely rules that pathetic gang… Which is ruled by the one they are working on. And which my friend is connected with.”       “Do you think Edward knows that man or someone of those people?”       “I’m sure he does. If that man knows him and confidently said I should’ve asked my friend, Edward is aware of who he is. That kid knows everything. And he will tell me everything about this case.”       Raquelle says nothing for two seconds and shrugs, watching the suspicious men, who are still talking about something. She sees Terrence’s offender waving his hands, a second one nods with his arms crossed over the chest, a third one is searching for something on his phone, and a fourth one is slowly smoking a cigarette.       “So, and what do we do?” Raquelle asks, moving her eyes to Terrence. “We need to go on that path, but they’re standing on it! If we come closer, they can easily attack us!”       “No choice – we’ll be waiting for them to leave,” Terrence replies quietly.       “What? Did you go insane?” Raquelle knocks at her temple with a finger. “We may stay here ‘till the evening! Who knows when they'll get out of here and finally let us come to the car!”       “We’ll stay here as long as we need. Let’s better watch them and see what they’re gonna do. I’d really like to know more about those, who work on the one, who wants to kill us.”       “Well, yeah, we have no choice…” Raquelle says irritably, exhaling sharply. “Do you naively think we’d hear something from their talk, being a few miles away from them?”       “Of course, we’d hear nothing. But since we have to stay here, it would be great to watch them.”       “Okay, let’s play spies,” Raquelle exhales sharply.       “If they see us and wanna attack, they won’t dare to hurt you,” Terrence says confidently. “They’ll deal only with me. If one of them touches you, he’ll have to regret it.”       “You always find a reason to show off and prove how tough you are,” Raquelle snuffs quietly.       “I’m doing it for you. If I weren't be with you, something would’ve happened to you a long time ago.”       “Okay, okay, I know.” Raquelle points at one of the men with a phone in his hands. “Better look there! That man is gonna call someone!”       “Ready to bet he is calling his boss, who started this bullshit.”       “Yeah, maybe…” Raquelle rolls her eyes. “He wanna know if they should seat us on an electric chair and shoot thousands of volts through our bodies to gut them and sell our organs.”       “What kind of thoughts!” Terrence frowns slightly, sharply moving his eyes to Raquelle. “What sort of movies did you overwatch with your friends? Did you get sick of snotty romances and decide to examine a collection of horror movies?”       “What do movies have to do with it?”       “At least because someone might be too dumbfounded after watching a movie,” Terrence chuckles quietly. “Look, my sunshine, or you won’t sleep at night because of a horror movie that would get you too shocked.”       “You definitely think of the same. Or something worse than getting organs out of our bodies.”       “No, Raquelle, of course, I don’t like this situation. But I don’t think of such horrible things that, honestly, make me feel a vomit.”       “I’d bet.”       “You’ll bet later!” Terrence glances at the strangers. “Let’s better listen to what those men say. Look, the one, who attacked me, took the phone from his pal’s hands and started to talk to someone.”       “As if it would help us…”       “Quiet, Raquelle, I’m trying to hear what they say. I can barely hear it from here…”       Raquelle, moaning quietly, rolls her eyes, closes her face with her hands, and tiredly looks at Terrence, who carefully shows out of the hideaway and closely listens to the talk of the company. The man, who recently attacked MacClife is talking with someone he calls a “boss”. But due to the long distance, Terrence can only hear some fragments that he can hear.       “Yes, yes, we are sure about it! They should be here! A familiar guy of the beard working as the paparazzi called him and said he saw that couple in this place and took a photo of it…”       “No, no, we have not seen them yet but are closely watching every single corner of this park. If that man and that gal come here, we will do everything we need…”       “Yes, Chef, no doubts! Those two are surely here! We saw the car of that man, which is placed not far from us. To reach that old horse, those two have to go by us. And when it happens, we will give them caught…”       “No… No, do not worry, Chef, we are doing our best to find that plucked peacock and his sexy cutie. While Westbrook, Bolton, and I wash the brains of that bastard, Holland and Knight deal with that cutie and see if she is really as freaking sexy as everybody says…       “They would not hide from us! If they want to get out, we will start chasing them. You did allow us to haunt them if they wanted to leave. They will have to listen to us and remember that playing jokes with you is very bad…”       “What, what? No, no, Do not worry! This place is not very popular, and everybody gives a fuck about them. Holland’s buddy said nobody but a few little girls paid attention to them. Come on, Chef, nobody will hear and know anything. We will do it clearly and carefully…”       “Ah, alright! Yes, I got it! Do not worry, we will scare those two so much that they will become speechless. At least, the gal will do! She will be able to do nothing against the five of us. And her beloved fiancé will not protect her because he will be neutralized…”       Thanks to these fragments from the talk, Terrence does not doubt that he means him and Raquelle. And understanding this, the man gets very nervous with the feeling of a fast heartbeat.       “Holy shit, seems like they really wanna attack us,” Terrence says with horror in his eyes. “I’m not surprised that they know where we were, ‘cause some familiar paparazzi told them everything.”       But Raquelle says nothing and thinks about something, looking at every single man in the company very closely.       “Hey, Raquelle, what do you think? Do you agree?”       Terrence glances at Raquelle, who continues to watch the men, one of whom just finished talking on the phone, and thinks about something with horror in her eyes.       “Hey, Raquelle, can you hear me?” Terrence asks and pushes Raquelle slightly into the rip. “Raquelle, I’m talking with you!”       “I hear you, I’m just thinking about something…” Raquelle replies thoughtfully, not moving her eyes off the men.       “Oh, do you know I don’t like your thoughtfulness? Did you start to think of horrible things and imagine yourself as the victim of one of those men, who’d do something unimaginable?”       “Nope… No time for fantasies…” Raquelle sharply moves her little dumbfounded eyes to Terrence. “Terrence, I think I also recognized one of those people.”       “Erm…” Terrence frowns slightly. “Pardon, what?”       “I know one of them, too! I saw him some time ago!”       “What do you mean?”       “See the man, who is standing with his back turned to us?” Raquelle asks, pointing at one of the men. “He’s standing next to the one, who attacked you!”       “I do… The one with a beard?”       “Yes, his coat’s edges are ripped.”       “I see… But what made you pay attention to him?”       “I recognized that man!” Raquelle glances sharply at Terrence. “He was walking near my car and left that letter on the windshield! The same face, the same beard… Even the clothes are almost the same…”       “That’s him?” Terrence wonders, setting his rounded eyes on Raquelle, frowns slightly and shakes his head sharply. “Wait, are you sure about it? He’s now standing with his back turned to us! How did you see him?”       “At some moment, he just turned so that I could see his face. I have no doubt that was the one.”       “Oh, wow…” Terrence looks at the suspicious company that has not moved yet. “Damn, their ‘boss’ chose such ugly and disgusting men as his accomplices on purpose.”       “Agree, being next to any one of them would make you scared to death. They could easily kill someone and have no regret.”       “I guess they had to do it somehow. And those men must go to prison.”       “But they will hardly be caught. That type won’t give up so easily.”       “I can’t deny…” Terrence falls into silence for two seconds, watching the man, who left the letter for Raquelle. “Hm, everybody is listening to that man closely, as well… I guess he’s the right hand of the bastard, who attacked me.”       “Maybe, but it seems like the opinion of every one of them is important. Nobody stops anyone, everybody is listening to each other closely…”       “They do need to work off the money that their boss probably pays them. So, they try so hard.”       “That’s good that man just put the letter on the windshield and didn’t break my car. Or I would’ve had to pay much money for repairs and stay without my sweet girl for a long time…”       “You know, when that man attacked me, I thought he would’ve better broken my car. After he beat me, I couldn’t get up on my feet for five minutes. And then I just made myself do it, ‘cause I knew nobody would’ve helped me.”       “Well… Yeah… You’re right… Paying much money for the repair of your car is better than barely creeping and moaning from pain in the whole body…”       Raquelle and Terrence watch the ones, who attacked the man, who left the letter to the girl, and three more unfamiliar people. It seems that none of those men is going to leave, and they are going to find and scare someone. The lovers understand it well, but can do nothing to avoid something bad. But at some moment, the man, who threatened Terrence, turns where there is the tree, behind which the lovers are hiding, and squints slightly.       “Hey, guys, look, those lovebirds are hiding behind the tree!” the one, who attacked Terrence, says in a rude voice.       The friends of the man immediately move their eyes where Raquelle and Terrence are hiding and smile slyly.       “Right!” the stranger with a beard smiles slyly. “I recognize that gal! And that plucked peacock.”       “Ha, they thought they would outsmart us and hide,” the third man smirks contemptuously.       When Terrence and Raquelle realize they have been noticed, they get quite excited and round their eyes. Moreover, the girl also gasps quietly and gets sharply white from a fear that something is going to happen now.       “Oh, no, they’ve noticed us!” Raquelle gets horrified in a shaking voice, turning to Terrence and closing her mouth with her hands. “No!”       “Okay, okay, it’s okay, my sunshine, don’t panic, please,” Terrence replies confidently, trying to keep calm and cold, and softly takes Raquelle by her forearms. “It’s gonna be okay, they won’t hurt you.”       “We won’t avoid bad things now! They will get off us! I have a bad presentiment!”       “It’s gonna be fine, I say. I promise I won’t let them even come to you.”       “How? Those two or three will be holding and beating you, and the others will deal with me! If there was only one man, we could count on something. There are five the fuck of them! FIVE!”       “Quiet, Raquelle, I swear it’s gonna be fine,” Terrence replies confidently, taking Raquelle by the shoulders a little tighter. “Five or ten – I don’t care. I won’t let anyone come to you.”       “Oh, my gosh, my gosh…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice, breathing heavily. “They’ll do something to us… I’m imagining what kind of horrible things they may do. We’re gonna die, Terrence! They will not leave us alone ‘till they get off us. They won’t do…”       Raquelle closes her face with her hands, starting to make quiet sobs and shaking slightly from a fear that gets quickly obsessed with her. Terrence thinks hard for two seconds, looking at Raquelle or glancing at the men, who do not rush to come to them. And then the man comes closer to the girl, softly grabs her face, and looks into her eyes.       “Raquelle, say, do you trust me?” Terrence asks quietly.       “W-what?” Raquelle makes a quiet sob, moving her eyes to Terrence and wiping off tears under her eyes.       “Do you completely trust me or not?”       “Of course, I trust! What kind of question?”       “Trust me then,” Terrence moves his hands to Raquelle’s shoulders and softly squeezes them. “I’ll do my best for us not to suffer.”       “Are you sure nothing would happen?”       “I am! If we’re together, we can overcome anything.”       “I doubt…”       “Don’t be afraid, sweetie, it’s gonna be okay,” Terrence tenderly caresses Raquelle’s cheeks and kisses her on the forehead. “Just trust me and do what I’m gonna say.”       Terrence slightly raises Raquelle’s face, keeping a gaze into her eyes.       “Now we’re together and will overcome any trouble,” Terrence adds confidently. “Maybe, I’d have to suffer somehow, but I won’t let them do anything to you.”       “But I don’t want them to do anything to you!” Raquelle exclaims with wet, widely open eyes.       “I will do my best for them not to do. Anyway, I’m ready to apply effort to protect you and not to let them mock you.”       “You won’t be able to get away from five people!”       “I will, my love,” Terrence promises confidently and caresses Raquelle’s head tenderly. “Just believe in me and be close to me. I won’t leave you and will save you from those stinkers.”       “Well…” Raquelle pronounces hesitantly, looking down and sniffing quietly. “Okay… I believe you…”       Terrence looks at Raquelle with pity in his eyes, hugs her tightly with his arms, and kisses her cutely on the top of her head, pressing her closer to himself. Meanwhile, the strangers quickly talk about something with each other and confidently go to the lovers. All those people with a furious and severe gaze take something similar to knives from the pockets of their coats on the way and squeeze them tightly. That’s why tears come to the eyes of Raquelle getting much whiter from fear, and she starts to shake strongly, gets much whiter, and breathes much heavier.       “They’ve got knives!” Raquelle whispers quietly, sharply closing her mouth with her hands. “Gosh… Gosh… Gosh…”       “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay…” Terrence calms down in a soft voice, caressing Raquelle’s head and kissing her on the temple. “Fear nothing…”       “Hey, MacClife, come here along with that gal!” the man, who attacked Terrence, demands in a loud and rude voice. “Stop hiding like a coward with the hope that I will not bury you! I did not get off you the last time, scumbag.”       “Hey, cutie, let’s have some fun!” the man, who left the letter for Raquelle, with an evil smile. “I lack good sex and am sure you’d satisfy me enough. Show me everything you can, baby! Prove that men around the world have a crush on you for a reason.”       “You will touch her if you bury me, bastard,” Terrence says coldly under his breath, keeping a cold gaze on the men. “But before you do it, I have time to beat the face of you and your pathetic pals.”       “Hey, are you a coward?” another man asks loudly. “As well as your little friend? Where is your toughness? Or can you only work your tongue and be confident verbally? Edward is also a cowardly puppy that can only snap.”       “Stop being there and hiding your fiancée from us,” another man says and opens the jackknife that he is holding in his hands. “We want to get something into your head and tell you the words of one respectful gentleman.”       “They’re getting closer and closer!” Raquelle gets horrified, sharply shaking his head with dumbfounded eyes. “They’ll kill us!”       “No, Raquelle, they won’t do,” Terrence replies confidently. “Not this time, not in this place! We will not even come to them…”       “What?” Raquelle glances sharply at Terrence. “What do you wanna do?”       “I’m not gonna give up on those five so easily, and I won’t let you do it. And I give a fuck about what they wanna tell us.”       “But…”       “Ready to do what I’m gonna say?” Terrence asks confidently, moving his eyes to Raquelle and softly taking her by the shoulders.       “Yeah, but…”       “Then run away from here! Now! Before they come to us!”       Terrence sharply takes Raquelle’s hand and quickly leads her away somewhere, quickening a step more and more every second.       “Hey, you two, stop!” the man, who attacked Terrence, shouts. “STOP THE FUCK, I SAID!”       “That bastard is asking for trouble!” one of the men notices in a rude voice.       “It’s okay, we will now catch these lovebirds and wash their brains.” The man sharply turns on everybody. “Follow them! Do not dare to move your eyes off them, or I will cut your heads off!”       The man and his four friends of him rush to run after Terrence and Raquelle. But catching them is quite a hard thing because the man runs very fast and ends up quite far from the strangers.       “Where are we running?” Raquelle asks loudly, breathing a little heavily and barely catching Terrence, as he runs too fast. “We’re running in the deepest place of the park, but we should leave it and come to the car!”       “First, we’ll get them a little confused and then get into a car and leave this place,” Terrence replies confidently. “Make them leave that path and come back there!”       “They won’t leave us and will be chasing us ‘till they lose our track.”       “I aim to do it!”       “What if they start to chase us in a car? It would be easier for them to catch us and cut us off. And your phenomenal speed wouldn’t save us!”       “If we have a chance to avoid a meeting with them, I will undoubtedly use it!”       “I doubt they’ll get off us.”       “If they’re too insolent and stubborn, I’ll have to wash their brains.” Terrence sharply stops for a second and quickly looks around the whole territory. “Here!”       “They’re running after us!” Raquelle exclaims with horror in her eyes, looking back and seeing that the suspicious company of the men is chasing her and Terrence. “Those people are getting closer and closer!”       “Don’t look back and just follow me!”       “STOP NOW, BASTARDS!” the one, who left the letter for Raquelle, bellows at the top of his lungs. “WE WILL CATCH YOU AND SAY EVERYTHING WE WANT!”       “YOU ARE A COWARD, MACCLIFE, YOU ARE!” the fifth one from the company says. “IS THIS HOW YOU ARE PROTECTING THE GAL FROM US? A GOOD MAN WOULD TALK TO MEN, NOT RUN FROM THEM LIKE A MOUSE RUN FROM CATS!”       “I hope you won’t succumb to their provocations,” Raquelle specifies with horror in her eyes, breathing a little heavier and getting more and more excited. “They may know it’s easy to make you enraged and do it on purpose!”       “May they say what they want – I won’t talk to them! Especially when you’re with me!”       There are so many asphalt paths that lead to different sides of this beautiful and quiet place. It’s possible to see trees that are three times higher than any person literally on every single step, and some part of the ground is covered with bright green grass. Benches with little cans, in which people can throw off some trash, are placed somewhere. And some indicators help people orient themselves on the street and not get lost in this large place where there are so many paths. They do help Terrence choose the right way and lead Raquelle after him.       Now the lovers do not pay attention to the beauty of this gorgeous place. They need to save themselves from the five men with knives in their hands and furious gazes. While they do not stop shouting something and provoking MacClife Some memories of the past get obsessed with the girl, and she gets really horrified because of a cold gun in their hands, with which they might kill her and her fiancé. This fear gets Raquelle paralyzed and confused. If Terrence was not by her side now, anything could happen to his fiancée because of the fear that deprives her of all self-preservation instincts.       But Terrence himself keeps calm and did not even move his eyebrow when those five men began to get closer to him. At heart, he is a little horrified, but he completely understands that the only way to save himself and Raquelle is to run away. Running where the eyes look is better than feeling a knife put against the head or throat. His main goal is to get the criminals confused. And he is doing this well so far, leading the whole company to the deepest place in the park and leaving them far behind. And later, he gets a chance to come back to where he ran with Raquelle and uses a moment. Terrence sharply turns where he needs and goes where his car is placed, making the girl run after him. And one minute or two, the lovers finally run to their car, even if those people do not leave them and keep an eye on them, being furious because the man is not reacting to their commands to stop.       “HEY, ACTOR, ARE YOU STUPID?” one of the gang bellows. “WE DID CLEARLY TELL YOU TO STOP!”       “DO NOT DARE TO SLOW A STEP!” the one, who attacked Terrence, threatens. “I SWEAR, BASTARD, I WILL CATCH YOU AND BURY YOU ALIVE RIGHT IN THIS FUCKING PLACE ALONG WITH YOUR PATHETIC GAL!”       “BUT AT FIRST, WE WILL PLAY WITH HER A LITTLE AND SEE HOW GOOD SHE IS AT SEX!” another man says confidently. “BUT I DO NOT DOUBT SHE IS SUPER! ALL WHORES ARE USUALLY GOOD, BUT THAT BABY COULD SURELY DRIVE ANYONE INSANE!”       “Don’t listen to them, Terrence, I’m begging you,” Raquelle begs with pity in her eyes. “Don’t even dare to succumb!”       “If you weren’t with me, I’d bury them alive with pleasure,” Terrence says a little coldly and confidently, holding himself down so hard not to do what those men want. “I will not forgive those, who dare to insult you like this.”       “Calm down, sweetie, calm down. They’re doing it on purpose.”       “Yeah, we’ve finally come!” Terrence lets Raquelle’s hand go and quickens a step, as he runs to the driver's door of his car. “Get in the car now!”       Terrence unlocks the auto with a key that can do it a few miles away from it. He runs to it, opens the drive door, seats on the driver’s seat, and sharply closes it. Raquelle also runs to the car quickly, opens the passenger door, and gets into it.       “First, we’ll drive quietly, but if they start to chase us, I’ll have to drive to the fullest,” Terrence jabs, putting the key in an ignition switcher, and starting a motor.       “They’re gonna chase us,” Raquelle says excitedly, looking around with quite a heavy breath. “And I’m afraid to imagine how it all would be over.”       “That’s why I advise you to put on the belt.” Terrence puts on his safety belt quickly. “I can’t guarantee that they’d leave us alone.”       Raquelle reaches for the safety belt with a heavy sigh and puts it on. Terrence turns on the first speed and quickly goes on the road, pressing the gas pedal quite strongly to leave as soon as possible. And the four that are chasing the lovers just run to this place. The furious man, who attacked Terrence, runs on the empty road, sees the familiar car hiding, and gets enraged.       “FUCKING ASSHOLE!” the man, who attacked Terrence, screams at the top of his lungs. “SCUMBAG! BASTARD! I WISH YOU DIED!”       “Get cool, Tobias, it’s late…” the man with a beard, who left the letter for Raquelle throws gloomily. “We missed them.”       “We cannot let them leave! CANNOT! I DO WANT TO BEAT THE FACE OF THAT BASTARD AGAIN! The last time was not enough for him.”       “Yeah, do you want the chef to cut off your head?” one of the men wonders loudly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Michael did let us know we were not allowed to kill that bastard, his fiancée, or his friend earlier!”       “But we must not let them go!” the man with the surname Tobias says confidently and points at the car that was placed near Terrence’s car. “Everybody, in the car! NOW! I can catch his car and cut him off for a few seconds.”       The four men get into by far not the new car, which Tobias unlocks with the keys. He quickly starts the motor, turns on the first speed, and presses the gas strongly. That’s why the car sharply gives a start with a whistle and a disgusting squeak, believing he would easily catch Terrence because there is only one road in this place, and the first turn is quite far from here.       

***

      Raquelle and Terrence have been driving on the empty road for a few minutes and believe they ran away from those people. While the man tries to hide his emotions and keep calm, the white from fear girl is shaking slightly and breathing heavily enough.       “Do you see them?” Terrence asks, holding the steering wheel and watching the road.       “Nope, I don’t,” Raquelle replies, sharply turning back. “But they’d hardly leave us alone.”       “Yeah, I believe so. They could make an unexpected surprise.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle leans back in the passenger seat and closes her eyes for two seconds. “It seems like our nightmares aren’t over yet… And they would hardly be over at the nearest time.”       “It’s gonna be fine, sweetie, don’t be afraid. I promised I’d do my best for them not to hurt us. So, we got off them.” Terrence looks into the rearview mirror. “I think they left us alone, ‘cause I don’t see them behind.”       “It doesn’t mean we could quietly go outside and no longer meet them somewhere.”       “Yeah, and you wanted to visit Anna,” Terrence chuckles quietly and changes the speed with a gearbox. “But I think you understand how dangerous it is for you to be outside alone. It’s clear they ain’t gonna leave us alone.”       “Do you think being at home would be much safer? Or with you? They do know where we’re living and can visit us at any time.” Raquelle exhales sharply and hugs herself tightly with her arms. “Somewhere in the middle of the night. And scare ‘till death…”       “I don’t deny, but being at home would be much safer. It’s quite hard to get on our territory for a stranger. There are wonderful guards in our neighborhood. I haven’t heard that some of our neighbors got robbed, and some people got into someone’s houses.”       “I dunno, I can’t be sure about it. It’s dangerous to be everywhere now…”       “I swear I will not leave this business without my attention and will do my best to save us from any threat.”       “Maybe, we go to the police? It’s a criminal case! Those men and their boss may be sentenced for threats and a planned attempt to harm!”       “We aren’t able to prove it yet. We have to save the visit to the police for later. And if we run into a bad officer, even having the letters will not be enough to get our report accepted.”       “But what do we do? Are we gonna be afraid that we’d be wounded somewhere?”       “Nope. At first, we’ll listen to Edward and make him tell everything about that man, and then decide what to do and look for real proof of the fault of that man for everything that is happening to us.”       “Then we need to talk to Edward immediately and find out who that man is. As the letters say, we need to ask someone, we must do it.”       “I promise, Raquelle, we’ll do it after tomorrow. We’ll call Edward and invite him to us. Trust me, I will be very cruel to him and get the confession out of him by force.” Terrence shakes his head sharply and hums, grabbing the steering wheel much tighter. “Oh, Edward… I will give such a shake to my friend that he will remember it for a long time. But if something else happens, I’ll definitely hate him and call him my enemy.”       “I think I’ll add some fuel,” Raquelle throws gloomily, crossing her arms over her chest. “Sorry for saying it, but I almost got my hair white because of your stupid friend. I don’t know what kind of trouble he got us into, but I also began to lose trust in him.”       “It seems like you treated him with mistrust for the reason. As if you knew that guy would give us many problems and make us suffer much.”       “Now, I’m sure that’s why I had such unpleasant feelings during the first meeting with Edward. And the assumption that appearance can be deceiving confirms it.”       “Agree, nobody would’ve thought Edward could do that. And if something happened, he would be the last one to blame because of his pretty face.”       “I think so,” Raquelle exhales sharply. “But it’s okay, it’s okay! I will tell him everything I think of him while I’m sitting like on needles and worried about my life as much as I did when Simon almost ruined my life.”       “I completely get you, my sweetheart,” Terrence smiles shyly. “I’m also terribly shaking because of this situation.”       “Really?”       “You think I’m not afraid? No, Raquelle. I’m as horrified as you are. But I’m worried about you, not me. Because I must save you from bad things. And I can’t let anyone at least touch you with a finger.”       “But you look like an unbreakable wall that can be broken by nothing.”       “But I’m screaming loudly and shaking like a little scared girl deep inside.”       “I still feel how fast my heart is beating…” Raquelle says thoughtfully, putting her hand on her heart that is beating like crazy and feeling its sound echoes in her temples, and exhales slowly with closed eyes. “Damn… I got too scared…”       “Don’t be, beauty…” Terrence says softly with a slight smile. “While you’re with me, and I’m safe and sound, nothing threatens you.”       “I know, but I don’t feel better.”       “It’s okay, don’t think about it. Now we’ll go home, calm down and have some rest. And when I’m back home after spending time with Daniel tomorrow, we will be planning a meeting with Edward.”       “Oh, I can’t wait to know…”       Raquelle does not say what she wants because she and Terrence hear the loud beep of a car behind them. They sharply turn back for a moment and see the auto that was placed near them when they were leaving that place. And Tobias, MacClife’s offender, is driving, pressing the gas strongly, and looking at the car that is moving in front of him with evil in his eyes.       “That’s them?” Raquelle gets horrified. “That’s those men? They caught us?”       “Most likely! It seems like that car was parked near ours when we were leaving there.”       “So, that’s really them!”       “I don’t doubt! It seems like they won’t get off us and will be chasing us ‘till either we get out, or someone spends the petrol.”       “Holy shit!” Raquelle swears, clapping on the driver’s door and quickly looking around at what surrounds her. “There’s only one road here. We can’t turn to try to get them confused again.”       “Yeah, we aren’t lucky… And I wouldn’t like to drive between trees and get into the mud.”       “If they don’t leave us alone, we’ll have to give a fuck about the rules and shorten the way like this.”       “I hope we will not…”       At this moment, Terrence and Raquelle feel a very strong push in the back. Tobias speeded up on purpose and strongly got into the back of the car of MacClife which shakes sharply.       “Fuck, they wanna break my car?” Terrence sharply turns back for one moment, being furious.       “They already did,” Raquelle replies quietly. “I thought the hit was very strong.”       “Yeah, I see…” Terrence looks through the rearview mirror and sees his offender driving the car. “That bastard, who attacked me, is driving… I see him… The fact that I would pin against a wall with pleasure.”       “If only he and his pals didn’t pin us against a wall…” Raquelle exhales sharply, putting her hand on her forehead.       “They won’t do. Won’t have time. They will…”       Terrence and Raquelle feel another much stronger push, from which their car sharply gets pushed forward, and the girl makes a quiet squeak.       “Hey, did they go insane there?” Terrence asks irritably, sharply turning back. “I will kick that scum’s ass!”       “They are not going to leave us alone ‘till they get what they want,” Raquelle says quietly in a little shaking voice, starting to shake much stronger from the fear and feeling her heart beating fast. “They need us…”       “They won’t get it! Only over my dead body!”       “I’m frightened, Terrence… I’ve got a very bad presentiment… It all will end badly…”       “Badly for those stinkers. If that scumbag crushes my car again, I swear I will give him an account for my car repair that he will never be able to pay. Even his boss’ money won’t help him!”       While Terrence says it, tightly squeezing the steering wheel in his hands, Raquelle moves her scared, widely open eyes aside and points at the car that starts getting faster and overtaking.       “Erm…” Raquelle stutters with a scare in her eyes. “Terrence… It seems like they’re overtaking…”       Terrence glances at Raquelle’s side sharply and sees that the car controlled by Tobias is really getting faster. While the man’s offender presses the gas strongly, the man with a beard, who left the letter for Raquelle and is sitting in the backseat, opens the window and gets out of it to shout out something the lovers do not hear.       “HEY, BASTARD, STOP NOW!” the man shouts at the top of his lungs, waving his hands sharply. “IF YOU DON’T DO IT, YOU AND YOUR FIANCÉE WILL BE DEAD!”       “GET READY TO PAY MONEY, SCUMBAG!” Terrence shouts, tightly holding the steering wheel with his widely open eyes. “ANOTHER HIT BEFORE AND I TURN YOU INTO DUST, ASSHOLE!”       “BETTER SHUT UP, HYSTERICAL GIRL! STOP YOUR OLD HORSE NOW ON THE CURB AND GET OUT OF IT ALONG WITH THE GAL!”       “Alright, scumbag, when I know everything my friend knows about your boss, I will make you pay for everything,” Terrence says with evil in his eyes, moving his eyes to the road. “I won’t be scared by your threats.”       “Listen, Westbrook, I believe that man isn’t gonna stop,” Tobias notices rudely.       “C’mon, crush the side of it!” Westbrook insists. “As strongly as possible!”       “I’m sorry that the girl is sitting closer to you, not that hysterical peacock,” the third man, sitting in the car, says. “We could crush his crate strongly!”       “Who cares about it!” Tobias exclaims. “I’m gonna scare that cutie a little! Who is pale there. She is about to faint from fear!”       Tobias gets into the side of the car where Raquelle is sitting. Although it gets carried away, Terrence quickly turns the steering wheel and starts going straight again.       “OUCH!” Raquelle shouts.       “HEY, UGLY, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS NOW!” Terrence shouts at the top of his lungs, being furious, sharply moving his eyes to the window on Raquelle’s side and starting to wave his hand sharply.       “It’s just a beginning!” Tobias smiles evilly. “GET IT AGAIN!”       Tobias crushes the side of Terrence’s car again. Raquelle gets carried away with a loud shout, feeling how hard this hit is. In anger, MacClife turns the steering wheel sharply and hits strongly the front of the car, in which his offender is sitting. It gets carried away, and the girl screams from fear again and presses into the seat as strongly as possible.       “No, Terrence, don’t do it again!” Raquelle begs loudly with pity in her eyes, grabbing Terrence’s arm tightly.       “Sorry,” Terrence jabs, pressing the gas pedal much stronger, so the car moves faster, and seeing his offender does not leave him behind. “But that scumbag got me enraged.”       “They will not leave us alone!” Raquelle sharply gets pushed forward after a strong hit in the back of the car. “Until we reach the main highway where there are lots of cars, they’ll hardly leave.”       “I know… And I’m afraid I have no choice… It’s probably the only thing that would help us get off them,” Terrence thinks for two seconds and exhales sharply. “So, Raquelle, I’m afraid to tell you that, but I have to. It’s gonna be a wild trip that you will remember all your life.”       “What?” Raquelle gets horrified, moving her widely open eyes to Terrence. “What are you gonna do?”       “You said you trusted me.” Terrence glances at Raquelle. “Do it now. I know it’s very risky and dangerous. But I’m ready to do it for your salvation.”       “No, no, don’t say you’ll start to drive at high speed,” Raquelle shakes her head with pity in her wet eyes.       “I will, Raquelle!” Terrence says confidently, trying to keep cold outside. “We have no choice, but I can do it.”       “Terrence, please, don’t do it… I’m horrified…”       “Don’t be, sweetheart, nothing will happen to you. I swear on my life.”       “No, honey, for Christ…”       “Hold on tight because it’s gonna be a crazy race. And it starts now.”       Terrence focuses his attention on the road and presses the gas pedal as strongly as possible. Two moments later, his car sharply gives a start with whistles and a more disgusting squeak of wheels and starts to get faster. Literally stopping breathing, Raquelle presses into the seat strongly, not holding down tears that are getting out of her dumbfounded eyes, and praying to everyone that everything is alright. And seeing Terrence’s car sharply gives a start and drives on the road at a crazy speed, the men, who are chasing him and Raquelle get enraged but are not going to give up.       “Oh, I feel the gal will die after that!” Westbrook smirks contemptuously, crossing his arms over his chest. “She’s shaking now, and she will hardly survive this crazy race. She will die earlier.”       “And IT’S VERY BAD!” one of the men throws rudely. “Michael needs that gal as well as MacClife and Lockhart. That bastard may ruin all our plans if he kills her because of his stubbornness.”       “You’re right, Bolton, we need to make MacClife stop,” another man says confidently.       “Knight is right!” Westbrook exclaims. “Since we started, we must go until the end.”       “Don’t miss him, Tobias, hear me!” another man jabs, clapping Tobias on the shoulder.       “You think I will give up so easily?” Tobias simpers. “You’re a moron, Holland! I WILL NOT EVEN THINK OF LETTING THAT BASTARD AND THAT SLUT GO!”       Tobias tightly squeezes the steering wheel in his hands, slightly licking his broken bottom lip.       “So, Terrence MacClife, let’s see how you can drive at high speed,” Tobias says confidently. “I think you and your fiancée will remember this race for a very long time. If that bastard refused to talk to us, he will pay for it. Get ready, guys, I am starting to speed up.”       Tobias presses the gas pedal as strongly as possible. That’s why the car sharply gives a start with whistles and squeaks of wheels and starts flying on the only road in this wood place, on which there are two “fighters”.       It's impossible to describe the horror that Raquelle feels while being in a car that is driving at a crazy speed – somewhere one hundred miles an hour. While a speed indicator is rising fast and showing a bigger number, her fear is getting stronger and stronger, and she does not try to calm herself down with some thoughts because it’s worthless now. And at some moment, Raquelle gets much more frightened because she thinks about what happened to her parents many years ago when they died in a car accident. She even starts to think she is supposed to end her life that way.       Raquelle can barely speak or hear the sound of her crazy heartbeat echoing in her head. Every single muscle of her body is very tense, and she literally stops breathing, setting her widely open eyes into the distance. Everything the girl has to do is to pray that nothing happens to her and Terrence, and they survive this race. But she starts to believe that they should not expect a happy ending in this situation.       Terrence tries to keep collected and cold and focuses his attention only on the road, not letting the steering wheel and grabbing it tightly with his hands. The man completely understands that he risks his life and the life of Raquelle by deciding to do such a crazy thing as a race at a crazy feed. But he must get off the criminals who do not leave him alone and are driving at the same speed as he is. Sometimes he glances at the rearview mirror and sees them speeding up quickly and reaching for him every time he leaves them behind, at least for a while.       Maybe, it seems like Terrence is calm outside, but he is actually horrified. He is strongly shaking, and his widely open eyes full of horror betray all the emotions he is trying to hide. Due to the crazy adrenaline in his blood, the man feels it’s quite hard for him to breathe, his pulse gets faster, and his hands are shaking slightly and getting sweaty. Nevertheless, the man keeps indifferent and looks at the road, forgetting about Raquelle and not paying attention to her loud sobs, tears, and shouts that she makes at times. It’s madly hard for him not to let himself get confused by the strong excitement. But he is trying hard to keep his emotions under control. Because Terrence must be collected and focused and not let himself relax. He understands that the lives of Raquelle and him are in his hands. The life of his beloved person, for whom he decided to do this crazy thing.       Both of the cars have been driving on the wide road for two or three minutes in a wooded area at a high speed that reaches about one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty miles an hour. Adrenaline in the blood is high, a heartbeat is too fast, a breath is heavy, and a head is full of the worst thoughts. Luckily, there are no other cars on the road, on which they are driving. And the road is quite wide – they even go to the outcoming road without the risk of running into another car.       At first, Terrence leaves the men far behind by driving at a speed at which only motorcycle riders or reckless drivers could drive. But later, the car of Tobias, Holland, Bolton, Westbrook, and Knight catch the auto of MacClife quickly. And a few seconds later, the automobiles drive on the road near one another. At some moment, Terrence glances aside for a moment and sees the men’s car that tries to overtake him by going on the outcoming road. And they stop sharply, so MacClife does it. But the brunet turns the automobile sharply aside and goes around it, making them chase him at high speed again.       “Damn, it seems like they’re serious guys,” Terrence jabs quietly, having to shout out the sound of the roaring motor. “We won’t get off them so easily.”       “Now we won’t surely do away!” Raquelle shouts nervously, tightly holding the handle on the door of the car. “You did provoke them by starting to drive fast!”       “If we hadn’t gotten out, those bastards would’ve killed us!”       “We would’ve better stayed there and let them do what they wanted! Instead of DRIVING IN THE CITY AT THE HIGH SPEED!”       “Yeah, do you want to have a knife put against your throat?” Terrence literally starts to shout.       “Nope! But we will die sooner now.”       “We won’t die, I promise. I have experience in driving at this speed and can control a car in any situation.”       The automobile of the criminals sharply gets into the side of Terrence’s car when it starts to drive near this one. The iron horse of the man gets pushed aside, and Raquelle screams loudly with her widely open eyes.       “Did they go crazy?” Terrence shouts, moving his eyes to the car controlled by Tobias is going. “HIT YOURSELF ON YOUR HEAD, ASSHOLE! MAY YOU BRUSH YOURSELF IN THIS CASE ALONG WITH YOUR BASTARDS!”       “Oh, gosh, why do you make me experience this horror?” Raquelle asks with tears in a shaking voice, pressing into the passenger seat as strongly as possible. “I’m so frightened… I don’t want to die…”       “So, we’ll see what you’re gonna do if I speed up to one hundred and five miles an hour,” Terrence says confidently with an evil simper. “You reached one hundred without problems, but what about something serious?”       “What?” Raquelle gets horrified, being ready to strangle Terrence with her own hands. “One hundred and five miles an hour? MacClife, did you go insane? Only the craziest people drive at this speed! Stop this nightmare right now! HEAR ME, YOU, FUCKING IDIOT, STOP THE CAR NOW! I WILL LEAVE IT! STOP IT, I SAID!”       But Terrence does not react to the hysterical shouts of Raquelle. He turns on the last speed and presses the gas pedal as strongly as possible, getting the most out of it. A few moments later, the man’s car starts moving on at an unreal speed and leaves Tobias, Holland, Bolton, Knight, and Westbrook far behind.       “HOLY SHIT!” Tobias bellows, sharply hitting the steering wheel with his hands. “That scumbag decided to press the gas again!”       “That guy is risking,” Knight notices in a rude voice. “As MacClife decided to reach one hundred and five miles an hour, the gal, and he are dead.”       “You said he drove a car well,” Holland replies, sitting in the passenger seat.       “Yeah, but no experienced driver would be able to drive a car at such a crazy speed.”       “Seriously?” Bolton simpers evilly. “Ha, c’mon, buddy, people could drive at a much higher speed! Some idiots speed up to two hundred!”       “That old horse isn’t able to break records,” Westbrook notices confidently. “It’s clear that MacClife bought it a long time ago. Maybe, even in the beginning of the 00s.”       “I’d bet…” Knight says thoughtfully.       “We will check it out,” Tobias smiles slyly. “Since that suicide bomber decided to challenge us, we are accepting it. And that’s why I will also reach one hundred and five miles. I will cut that bastard off so that he and his fiancée have to listen to us.”       “Are you an idiot?” Holland shouts, knocking at his temple with a finger. “We’ll crush!”       “Yeah, we shouldn’t miss these two, or Boss will kick our asses.”       “We already missed!” Westbrook replies. “They’re impossible to catch! We’ll have to tell Michael that we lost their track.”       “And hear him screaming at us for making it happen?” Knight wonders rudely and loudly. “We should’ve just scared MacClife again and let the gal know she also got serious problems.”       “That bastard is guilty!” Tobias throws coldly. “He probably wants to play a hero and show off for that dolly. Gals do love these things! Loved in all times!”       “Listen, men, let’s leave them alone and go to Boss’ home,” Westbrook suggests confidently. “If they aren’t stupid, they understood they should be careful. And if they read the letters from Michael, they know everything.”       “No, Westbrook, I won’t give up so easily. That scumbag MacClife really got me enraged, and I want to destroy him. I WON’T CALM DOWN UNTIL I BREAK HIS CAR TO THE FUCK!”       “Give a fuck, Tobias, you can do nothing,” Holland tries to stop his friend. “We might die if you weren’t able to control the car!”       “You think it would stop me?”       Tobias presses the gas pedal as strongly as possible and tightly grabs the steering wheel with his hands. And a few moments later, his auto starts to drive at a high speed that is quickly getting closer to one hundred and five miles an hour.       Terrence does not stop trying to get off the criminals by driving on the empty road, the edges of which are fenced with metallic constructions. It’s possible to see strong dents in some places of them, and many of them are deformed or struck down. Sometimes turns on are too sharp. If someone gave the wrong reaction, a car might get pushed aside and crush a tree at high speed. But Terrence controls the car well and easily overcomes it.       Raquelle says goodbye to everybody she loves and starts to make much more sure that her life will end in the same way the lives of Elizabeth and Jackson Cameron, her parents, ended many years ago. The girl starts to regret leaving the home and does not stop praying that this nightmare she got involved in by Terrence does not lead to anything tragic. But some time later, the lovers see a big truck placed on the roadside with lots of wood boards in it. To the horror of Raquelle, Terrence is going on it and is probably not going to turn anywhere. The whole, short life flashes before the girl’s eyes. She wants to kill Terrence for making her shake, cry, and be nervous.       “You see a truck standing there?” Raquelle shouts irritably.       “Yes, I do,” Terrence replies coldly, not moving his eyes off the road.       “Do you want us to crush it? TURN ON ANOTHER SIDE NOW! YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID?”       “I know what I’m doing and will turn it aside at the right time.”       “Did you go insane?” Raquelle shouts, waving her hands sharply. “DON’T YOU SEE A FUCKING BIG TRUCK STANDING IN FRONT OF YOU? YOU WANT US TO CRUSH IT AND DIE?”       “Hey, stop screaming at the whole salon,” Terrence throws rudely. “Because of your wild shouts, I can’t focus on the road!”       “I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SCREAMING IF I HADN’T GOTTEN INTO A CAR WITH SUCH A SICK IDIOT LIKE YOU!”       “Ar-r-r, you’re starting to irritate me!” Terrence grabs the steering wheel much tighter, understanding that everything starts burning inside him. “So, if you don’t want me to do stupid things, you better shut up and make no squeak.”       “YOU ARE A REAL PSYCHO, TERRENCE MACCLIFE!” Raquelle shouts, starting to beat Terrence on his arms and making him more irritated. “I swear, I will kill you with my own hands if we survive! You, scumbag, will pay for making me take it! I HATE YOU, BASTARD, HATE, HATE!”       “WILL YOU FINALLY STOP SCREAMING?” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs, moving his eyes sharply to Raquelle for a second. “Remember, if I crush something and lose control of my car, YOU AND YOUR HYSTERICAL SHOUTS will be guilty! I’M ABOUT TO BECOME THE FUCK DEAF!”       “YOU CAN ONLY SCREAM! YOU HAVE NO BRAINS TO DO MORE!”       “LOOK AT YOURSELF FIRST!” Terrence shouts.       “YOU CAN’T LIVE QUIETLY! You always wanna get in trouble and beat everyone’s faces!”       “FUCK, CALM DOWN NOW! STOP STARTING THESE HYSTERICS! I started all of this for your best. So, those bastards do not hurt you!”       “AH, FOR MY BEST?” Raquelle screams loudly, starting to breathe like a furious animal that is ready to attack anyone. “For my best, did you decide to kill me, huh? ARE YOU SICK OF LIVING WITH ME? REGRET DECIDING TO MARRY ME?”       “JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND BE SILENT!”       “If you decided to kill me in this way, CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ALMOST DID IT! I will finally die! You will meet another gal and live with her happily after!”       “You can close your mouth and JUST SIT QUIETLY?” Terrence asks quietly and then louder and louder.       “I CAN JUMP OUT OF THE CAR! YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO SPEED UP TO KILL ME!”       “I SAID, SHUT UP!” Terrence lets the steering wheel go for two seconds and rudely grabs Raquelle by the hair, setting his icy and furious look into her wet eyes full of tears and fear. “Remember, if you make at least one squeak, I will hit you so strongly that you WILL EVEN BE AFRAID TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH! GOT IT, BITCH? IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO WAKE UP AN ANIMAL INSIDE ME, SIT THE FUCK QUIETLY AND MAKE NO SQUEAKS!”       Terrence sharply pushes Raquelle making a loud sob off himself and focuses his attention on the road, tightly grabbing the steering wheel with his hands that are shaking from the tension. This time, the terribly white girl decides to say nothing and is just shaking from fear strongly and starts to cry quietly. The closer the automobile of Terrence is getting to the truck, the stronger she gets obsessed with panic. The wider her eyes that are running from one side to another are getting. Her heart is beating like crazy, and she gets a couple of drops of sweat on her forehead. Sometimes it’s so hard to breathe that she thinks she is about to fall into darkness earlier than she dies.       Meanwhile, Tobias, Holland, Knight, Westbrook, and Bolton are only a few meters behind but try to keep an eye on the car of Terrence, who sees them in the rearview mirror and keeps moving on with the thought his idea would be good.       “Holy shit, he is really sick!” Knight notices with horror in his eyes, tightly grabbing the handle of the back door and shaking slightly, while the transport is moving at high speed. “It seems like it’s not one hundred and five miles, it’s two hundred miles!”       “Yeah, that bastard is a tough nut,” Holland throws gloomily. “But I must confess he’s doing it well. His cowardly friend wouldn’t do that… That puppy can only work his tongue and do nothing.”       “He’s showing off for his woman – you should get it!” Bolton says confidently. “Michael was absolutely right when he said Terrence was too confident and could do crazy things, not thinking of the consequences. He wants everybody to praise him.”       “Oh, judging by the white face of that gal, she’s gonna kill him earlier than they crush the truck that idiot is going on,” Westbrook smirks contemptuously. “If only she didn’t faint.”       “He decided to add gas again!” Tobias swears with evil in his eyes. “Alright, scumbag, you are dead. You want to get off me at the speed of two hundred miles an hour, but you won’t. Get it, asshole!”       Tobias adds the gas again and speeds up the car as much as he has never done before. The man tries to control the situation so hard, but understands he does not have enough experience driving at this speed. Unlike Terrence, who does it kind of easily and knows how to act on too sharp turns. His offender gets too many problems with it, but he does not give up for a wish to revenge and keeps pressing the pedal strongly and trying to turn the car around.       It seems like death is waiting for Terrence being cold outside and Raquelle being scared to death. While the girl cannot stop crying and imagining what would happen to her when the car crushed the truck, the man stays indifferent. He watches the road with a cold gaze, tightly holding the steering wheel with his hands, pressing the gas as strongly as possible, and finding a way to try to get away from the criminals.       Terrence’s car is a few miles away from the truck. A little bit before death is inevitable! The speed has already reached one hundred and five miles an hour. Stopping sharply is impossible. Wood views barely run before the eyes, and it’s impossible to look at them better because they go by too quickly. The moment when the car crushes the truck and loses all parts is getting closer. The moment of the death of Raquelle and Terrence is getting closer. When their family, friends, and most loyal fans grieve for their loss. Just like Elizabeth and Jackson’s death made their family members grieve. Their daughter might die, as well as her fiancé, who is getting closer to the truck that is two or three times bigger than his car.       The pale from strong fear Raquelle almost accepted the fact that she would die and cannot say a word. And if she says something else, Terrence will lose his patience and do something terrible to her before they die. Both of them do not watch what they say and do when they are so tense… When everything literally burns and squeezes inside. But at the last moment, when Terrence’s car is a few centimeters away from the big truck, the man sharply turns the steering wheel around along with Raquelle’s shouts, not letting himself relax for a second and feeling how the sound of the crazy heartbeat literally echoes in his temples, and every single muscle hurts due to a too great tension. The car gets sharply pushed aside with a whistle and squeaks, but one moment later, MacClife turns the steering wheel along and quickly lowers the speed, while the girl is shaking and literally not breathing with widely open eyes. After this, the man does not stop and keeps moving on at a high speed.       Holland, Westbrook, Tobias, Knight, and Bolton see that Terrence magically avoided his death. The five men open their eyes widely and fall into a stupor after what they see, and look at each other questioningly.       “Holy shit!” Westbrook wonders loudly. “You saw it, guys?”       “Indeed, I’m shocked!” Holland shakes his head. “He avoided a crush when he was a few millimeters away from the truck.”       “But how?” Knight wonders loudly. “How could a person turn the steering wheel so sharply and avoid a crush at the last moment? You’re supposed to have an excellent reaction!”       “But as you see, that man did it,” Bolton notices. “And I must confess that it was really cool.”       “Yeah…” Tobias exhales sharply, weakening the control of the road, but continuing to move on at a high speed. “Although I hate that bastard, I must confess he is excellent at driving. He won…”       “Ha, who said people couldn’t drive at these speeds?” Westbrook smirks loudly, crossing his arms over his chest. “That man reached almost two hundred miles and magically avoided a crush! Would the one to drive a car for the first day do it?”       “Are you kind of smart?” Holland smirks contemptuously.       “Okay, let’s think that the horndog and his bitch were lucky,” Tobias says coldly, looking at everybody. “At least, the chef won’t kill us because they didn’t die earlier. They saw everything, and now they will remember they have serious problems.”       “We’ll see if he gets out like this next time,” Knight says thoughtfully.       “Next time, that idiot, his fiancée, and his friend will be at the house of our boss and killed to the fuck,” Westbrook says confidently. “I think Michael is gonna tell Wainwright and Brown to defeat her, while we’ll deal with MacClife and his pal. And then we should deal with Lockhart’s girlfriend.”       “Right!” Bolton exclaims. “Their father is already dead and is now watching his sonnies somewhere in heaven. But they will go after him soon. As well as their pathetic mother and the brainless girlfriend of that puppy.”       “Oh, guys, I feel Michael is gonna reward us generously if we destroy all those people.” Tobias smiles slyly, leaning back in the seat, relaxing a little, and driving the car for pleasure. “Having such a wonderful boss, we can have no worries about our lives. And all these catches are a perfect chance to have fun, warm up our legs and hands, and beat some bastards’ faces. Like MacClife Ah, I can’t wait for the chef tells…”       Tobias does not finish his mind because Holland sitting in the passenger seat opens his eyes full of horror widely when he sees the car getting closer to the truck, crushing which Terrence magically avoided.       “TOBIAS, WATCH OUT!” Holland screams at the top of his lungs.       Tobias does not react and turns the steering wheel, and the car crushes the truck placed on the roadside. The hit is so strong that the big thing sharply gets pushed up, and all the wood boards fall on the windshield of the car. The front of it is destroyed, the glass gets broken, and a great plume of smoke starts getting out of the hood.       Since the five men were pinned with a safety belt, none of them suffered. Maybe, only Tobias strongly hits his head against the steering wheel but stays awake, feeling a little pain in his head. And Holland wipes tracks of blood off his face after a strong hit against the passenger door with his temple. The others sitting behind did not suffer so much, but they hit their heads against the driver's seat and the passenger's one, which got pushed back and squeezed them so strongly that they cannot even move their legs.       Terrence and Raquelle see what happened to those, who were chasing them. They turn back and see the car with Holland, Tobias, Westbrook, Knight, and Bolton started to smoke strongly, and all the boards fell on the windshield and broke it. While the girl keeps looking at the car, the front of which is destroyed, with her eyes full of horror and fear, the man turns on the road and slowly lowers the speed. Later, they start to drive at a speed of about eighty miles an hour, but the number is getting slowed down to sixteen miles.       

***

      Raquelle and Terrence are going somewhere straightly for five minutes, saying no word after the man made the girl silent by screaming and thinking of something. Later, the young people arrive in a deserted place where everything is kind of gray, there are very many elevations and friable sand or slightly green grass. Quite dry trees are placed somewhere, and weak wood fences were placed on the edges of the only road, but now they are struck down, broken, or deformed. The sky has been kind of gray almost all day long and has many dark clouds on it. It’s very silent here – no sounds of singing birds, barking dogs, or meowing cats. There is nobody around here: no person, no bird, no animal, no insects.       After stopping the car on the roadside and putting the hand brake on, Terrence exhales slowly with closed eyes and raises his head. Now he lets himself relax and tries to start to breathe quietly and get rid of the great tension his whole body is obsessed with. And Raquelle looks into the distance with her gray, scared eyes full of tears, thinking of something and still shaking strongly. She still looks very white, unconsciously opens her mouth at times, and feels she gets sweat on her forehead, and a strong coldness gets over all her body that makes her cower, trying to warm up and calm herself down somehow.       “Damn, I did it…” Terrence pronounces quietly. “Did… It was really cruel, but it was worth it… I promised I’d do it, and I did it… Did!”       Raquelle does not react to what Terrence said and keeps looking into the distance and thinking about something terrible, not paying attention to what is happening around her, and literally forgetting to breathe sometimes.       “Of course, there were cases when I was afraid to do something,” Terrence adds, trying to breathe quietly and putting his hand on his heart that is beating very strongly. “But it was the most dangerous thing I had ever done. That’s good my skills in extreme driving were good for me and helped me control the care at that speed.”       Terrence leans back in the seat, exhaling slowly with closed eyes and running his hands over his tired face and black hair that strongly stands out against his white skin, which became much whiter due to the great tension. All this time, Raquelle says nothing and still looks into the distance with her shocking gaze. After what happened, she got so mad at the man, whom she wants to strangle with her own hands or just get off him, at least for a while.       A few seconds later, Terrence notices Raquelle does not talk to him at all, does not look at him and does look into the distance with a dumbfounded gaze.       “Erm, are you listening to me?” Terrence asks a little hesitantly, waits for two seconds, and clicks his fingers in front of Raquelle’s face. “Raquelle, hello! I’m talking with you!”       Raquelle moves her gloomy look on Terrence very slowly and looks at him with evil in her eyes for two seconds, feeling she is ready to explode and being obsessed with strong hate for this man.       “You are an idiot, MacClife,” Raquelle says in a little hoarse, low voice. “The sickest moron that I have ever met.”        “Oh, here we go again…” Terrence exhales slowly with rolled eyes and leans his head back for a second. “What are you not happy with this time?”       “What am I not pleased with?” Raquelle shouts loudly, being excited. “What am I not pleased with? WHAT AM I NOT THE FUCK PLEASED WITH? AS IF YOU DO NOT KNOW!”       “Hey, don’t scream like a psycho in my car,” Terrence raises his hands. “I heard enough of your shouts that could have made me deaf.”       “Ha, I would bet who is a psycho here! Only a mentally sick person could think of starting to drive in the city at a crazy speed! TWO THE FUCK HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR! TWO HUNDRED!”       “We had no choice!” Terrence exclaims loudly, getting more irritated. “Or those bastards would have killed us!”       “Ah, yeah! Didn’t you use your stupid head to think we could've been crushed? Huh, MacClife, didn’t you think of that?”       “Yeah?” Terrence loses his temple and starts to gesticulate actively. “Did you use your stupid head to think you could’ve been wounded with a knife?”       “Seriously? I would have rather died from a knife wound than felt WHAT YOU MADE ME FEEL WHILE DRIVING AT THE CRAZY SPEED! Do you think it would’ve been better if we'd been crushed in the car than gotten our throats cut?”       “But we got off those stinkers and can relax now.”       “Ah, does it give you pleasure?” Raquelle waves her hands sharply. “LOVE MAKING ME NERVOUS AND SIT LIKE ON NEEDLES!”       “Close your mouth, hysterical girl.”       “BECAUSE OF YOU, I ALMOST GOT MY HAIR GRAY AND DIED FROM FEAR! You cannot the fuck imagine what I felt WHILE SITTING IN THE CAR ALONG WITH A PSYCHO THAT DECIDED TO DESTROY US.”       “Stop SCREAMING at me!” Terrence raises his head more and more. “MY HEAD IS GOING TO TEAR FROM YOUR WILD SHOUTS!”       “If you came up with an idea to kill me in this radical way, you almost did it. But you changed your mind at the last moment.”       “Are you mentally alright?” Terrence knocks at his temple with a finger. “Or do you become wild and get mental health issues when getting some problems?”       “I don’t have mental issues, my dear, you have them,” Raquelle says rudely. “Everybody talks about YOUR mental problems, not MINE! SO, THERE IS ONLY ONE PSYCHO HERE – IT’S YOU!”       “Do not make me enraged, Raquelle,” Terrence barely holds his aggression down, clenching his hands into tight fists. “You do know that you may really regret waking up an animal inside me. Your shouts already made me barely hold myself down.”       “I do regret leaving home with you! If I had not gone anywhere with you, IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED! IF I WERE NOT HERE, YOU COULD DRIVE AT THE HIGH SPEED AS MUCH AS YOU WANT!”       “Yeah, you’re really crazy,” Terrence shakes his head sharply. “You don’t know what you are saying!”       “Why did you THE FUCK start to drive like crazy? You had no other ideas in your head? YOU SHOULD HAVE CHOSEN THE ONE THAT ALMOST BROUGHT ME TO A HEART ATTACK!”       “Why are you the fuck screaming at me?” Terrence raises his voice much more, sharply waving his hands. “I DID SAVE YOUR FUCKING LIFE, BUT YOU, THANKLESS PIG, ARE ACTING LIKE THIS! You must say, ‘thank you’ to me, ‘cause we stayed alive and did not suffer because of those bastards!”       “Oh, holy Terrence, thank you so much for almost killing the both of us!” Raquelle snuffs loudly, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. “FOR ALMOST SENDING ME TO HEAVEN, TO MY PARENTS!”       “Why are you trying to get? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT’S THE POINT IN BEHAVING LIKE A SICK, BRAINLESS IDIOT AND SCREAMING AT ME?”       “WHAT DID YOU GET BY STARTING THIS RACE?”       “WE REMAINED SAFE AND SOUND!”       “AH, THAT’S WHAT!”       “Stop having hysterics,” Terrence demands rudely. “If you do not want to regret much, do not make me furious. I DO HAVE MANY PROBLEMS AND AM NOT GOING TO STAND YOUR FUCKING SHOUTS! Go to your friends and complain to them about the consequences of your PMS!”       “You do have PMS!” Raquelle shouts with evil in her eyes. “LIFETIME! YOU GOT IT IN AN EARLY CHILDHOOD!”       “AS IF YOU ARE AN INNOCENT ANGEL!”       “I regret going to marry the psycho, who almost killed me!”       “I DID TELL YOU TO SHUT UP!” Terrence screams, strongly hitting his hands against the dashboard of his car. “I do not want to wash your brains and be cruel! BUT YOU MAKE ME BECOME THE ONE I DO NOT WANT TO BE!”       “YOU BETTER WASH YOUR BRAINS, SCUMBAG! THE PSYCHO BASTARD THAT MUST GET THERAPY!”       Breathing heavily enough, Terrence sharply grabs Raquelle by the throat with an irritated growl, presses her into the passage seat, and sets his icy gaze in the scared eyes of the girl, who gasps loudly.       “Listen, bitch, you are asking for serious trouble,” Terrence hisses with evil in his eyes, while Raquelle tries to catch some air that she lacks, as her throat is squeezed tightly. “I AM SICK OF YOUR HYSTERICAL SHOUTS! SHUT UP! CALM DOWN! I AM DONE!”       “Oh, oh, oh, started, started!” Raquelle barely pronounces. “Find a sedative in your first aid kit… Get a couple of tablets… You became too wild…”       “If you do not calm down, I WILL GET THE WHOLE PACK IN YOUR MOUTH!” Terrence threatens, tightly squeezing Raquelle’s throat with one hand and grabbing her by the hair with another hand. “I TO SHUT YOU UP AT LEAST FOR FIVE SECONDS!”       “You can kill me… Not to suffer… Come on, MacClife, strangle me… You will be single… And find a slut that will make you happy… Just like you did it somehow!”       “If you don’t close your fucking mouth, I WILL HAVE TO REGRET SOMETHING I MAY DO TO YOU!”       “You already annoyed me!” Raquelle sharply pushes Terrence off herself and starts to beat him on his head, arms, and stomach, breathing too heavily and not holding her emotions down. “Bastard! Scumbag! Stinker! Asshole! Motherfucker! I hate you! HATE! HEAR ME, I HA-A-A-ATE!”       “Hey, if you do not calm down, I will drive you to a mental hospital and leave you FOR A LONG TIME,” Terrence threatens, barely grabbing Raquelle’s hands and setting his gaze full of evil at her with a heavy breath. “OR I WILL LEAVE YOU HERE AND GO HOME. YOU WILL DO IT BY YOURSELF!”       “HUH, WITH PLEASURE!” Raquelle shouts crossly. “I CAN ACTUALLY TAKE MY STUFF AND GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE! AND CANCEL OUR WEDDING!”       “Alright, take! When you pass about one or two hundred miles on your feet, you will decide it.”       “HA, THANKS FOR SUGGESTING!” Raquelle smirks contemptuously. “I did want to get off the psycho bastard THAT MAKES ME FEEL VOMIT!”       Terrence sharply raises a hand to slap Raquelle in the face with an irritated shout. But something stops him immediately and makes him contain himself. Tightly clenching a hand into a fist and breathing too heavily due to the strong tension in his body, the man barely makes himself stop and not do what he might regret much.       “So?” Raquelle smirks contemptuously, crossing her arms over the chest. “Why did you stop? COME ON, BEAT ME! GO, MACCLIFE! What are you afraid of? Slap me in the face! To make me contempt you! And make me leave you!”       “COME ON!” Terrence sharply hits the steering wheel with his hands with a loud growl. “Get out of here and go home on your feet! If you can think well by that moment, we will quietly talk. But now I do not want to see you! I will be waiting for a sweet and kind girl, not a rude, non-educated bitch that ran away from a mental hospital.”       “WILL DO WITH PLEASURE! RIGHT NOW!”       “Go, go, I’ll see what’s gonna happen to you after this walk! But I will quickly check my car and go home with comfort!” Terrence sharply grabs Raquelle by the yawl and squeezes it strongly, setting his furious look into her eyes. “I WILL GO IN THE SILENCE! WITHOUT FUCKING SHOUTS AND HYSTERICS THAT MAKE ANY QUIET PERSON ENRAGED!”       Terrence sharply turns Raquelle’s face off himself, takes off the safety belt, opens the door of the car, and quickly leaves it. The girl hums loudly and sits for two seconds before she leaves the salon. And then she closes the door so strongly that her fiancé sharply moves his gloomy gaze to her.       “HEY, DON’T CRUSH MY CAR!” Terrence throws irritably. “I’ll kill you if you break something!”       “THERE’S NOTHING TO BREAK!” Raquelle screams loudly, waving her hands. “YOUR OLD HORSE IS BROKEN!”       “Get out of here before I strangle you,” Terrence glances at Raquelle and sees her beating one of the wheels with a leg very strongly. “I TOLD YOU TO BREAK THE FUCK NOTHING!”       “With pleasure! If His Highness wants to get off me, I WILL MAKE HIM HAPPY WITH GLADNESS!”       “GET THE FUCK OUT!”       “I WILL DO!”       “SHIT THE FUCK UP! AND GET OUT OF HERE!”       “FUCK YOURSELF, SCUMBAG!”       “BITCH!”       “HORNDOG!”       “HYSTERICAL LADY!”       “PSYCHO BASTARD!”       “GET OUT, I SAID!”       “I HATE YOU, BASTARD! I’M CURSING THE DAY WE MET!”       Raquelle sharply turns upon and runs, where her eyes look not to see Terrence, whom she madly wants to kill. The man does not pay attention to the girl and closely examines his car, which was broken by those, who were chasing him. It’s possible to see a big dent on the back of it, and the glass is strongly crushed. The table with a car number is not pinned tightly and is about to fall at any time, one of the reversing lamps is broken, and another has a couple of cracks.       “Fuck, they crushed half of my car,” Terrence resents, examining the back of the car and trying to fix the number, so it does not fall somewhere in the way. “The dent is too strong, one of the reversing lamps is broken, the glass is broken… Oh… Shit, it requires a serious repair that costs much. And I need to think about the table, or it might be lost on the way…”       Terrence exhales sharply and puts his hand on his forehead, examining his half-broken car with dumbfounded eyes.       “Damn, if someday I get all of them caught, I’ll make them pay the money I’ll have to pay for this repair,” Terrence says crossly. “Until the last cent! Well, if I don’t do it, may the insurance company pay moral damage. Today or tomorrow, I’ll talk to someone to manage it. I don’t know how many documents I’d have to get ‘cause I’ve never crushed my car so seriously, but I hope I'll get the money soon.”       After finishing examining the back of the car, Terrence decides to look at the side of the car on the passenger seat, which was also crushed many times. The damages are less serious, but still require serious repair. It’s also possible to see one big dent on the slightly deformed door, the askew rearview mirror, and the broken glass on the passenger seat.       “Oh, it seems like my car got squeezed by something very strongly,” Terrence says thoughtfully. “And if everyone sees it like this, they’ll think I was in a car accident and start to find out details. The media does need to know everything to annoy me with questions. But now I don’t want to explain anything, and especially to lie. There has been too much lies lately… For example, I have to lie because Daniel Perkins and Peter Rose fought, and the blond is gonna leave the band.”       Terrence leans his back on the driver's seat and crosses his arms over his chest, looking around the place where he is.       “What if we disband the band?” Terrence asks himself. “There’s no hope that we will solve everything. We’d disband the band and stop having to lie… Although Daniel and I promised each other not to give up, I don’t think he has great hope a miracle will happen. We understand nothing good would happen. At least one problem would be solved…”       Terrence runs his hand through his hair and thinks for two seconds, raising his head and closing his eyes.       “Holy shit, Edward also got problems…” Terrence says gloomily. “Shit! I would’ve never thought he’d get into something. That guy seemed quite calm and level-headed… I thought he was really so shy, sweet, and fluffy… But I think people are right when saying still waters run deep. Oh… But it’s okay, I won’t let him be silent. Either he will tell everything at his wish, or I will press that puppy against a wall and torture him until I hear just something from him. May he explain what it means.”       Terrence slowly walks in circles for one minute or two near his half-broken car, keeping his arms crossed over his chest and feeling a cold air that makes him shake slightly and try to warm himself up by rubbing his arms. Until some time, the man does not think of Raquelle and does not care about where she went. But then he shakes slightly when he understands he is all alone here.       “Hey, stop!” Terrence exclaims and looks around quickly. “Where’s Raquelle? Where did she the fuck go? Did that stupid gal really decide to go one hundred kilometers to our home?”       Terrence crosses his arms over his chest, stopping not far from his car.       “Great, she started hysteria, screamed like crazy, thought of literally everything that happened between us, and got out. If she hadn’t left and continued to shout in my ear, I wouldn’t have taken it and would have driven her to a mental hospital. That bitch got insane after we ran into those men. And she dares to say something about me! Ha, she is guilty of making me enraged! She did know how much I didn’t want to become wild, but she provoked me.”       Terrence exhales sharply with closed eyes and runs his hand over his hair.       “Yes, I can’t also say I’m not guilty,” Terrence confesses. “But this time, I didn’t provoke the conflict and held on ‘till the end not to beat her much or kick out of her home with her stuff. It’s okay… Maybe, when she walks outside, she’ll get sober and normal. I think I did the right thing by getting that crazy one out of my car. I hope it will be a lesson for her… But I must confess, I didn’t expect that Raquelle would decide to take such a long way on her feet. I thought she talked to the wind… But that girl was really too headstrong…”       Terrence starts to walk in circles near his car again and rubs his hands to warm himself up.       “Yeah, I understand she could get scared when we were driving at high speed. But being so hysterical was too much! I had no choice: running or letting them mock her. I couldn’t let those bastards touch her, at least with a finger… And eat her with a lusty gaze… We should’ve run away from them, or we would’ve died sooner than I would’ve crushed the truck… And…”       Terrence thinks a little and rounds his eyes.       “Second…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully and stops sharply, putting a finger on his lip. “Raquelle’s parents died after crushing a truck at high speed! Her father couldn’t stop the car due to the broken brake line. We could’ve died in the same way! That’s what could probably become another reason why she had a strong hysteria. She was afraid of that race because of what happened to her parents.”       Terrence slaps himself on the forehead.       “Holy shit, I should’ve guessed earlier!” Terrence swears. “I did really cross the line… Damn… Mother is probably right when she says I may do something, not thinking of the consequences. I messed up everything again…”       Terrence closes his eyes and runs his hands folded together over the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly and breathing heavily enough.       “Oh, who made me say all of that?” Terrence moans quietly. “She would’ve rather said everything she wanted… Why did I start to fight with her? Why, MacClife? You’re just a moron! The moron, who might lose everything because of my incontinence! At least you had the brains to stop and not to slap her in the face again…”       Terrence falls into silence for two seconds and looks around.       “Okay, I need to brace myself and stop whining,” Terrence decides confidently. “I’ve gotta find her and drive her home as soon as possible. She’s now too excited and may do any stupid thing. That crazy lady might really pass hundreds of miles from here to our home! May she say everything she wants, or actually say nothing. May she beat me, insult me and recall all the sins… But I must get her into the car and drive her home.”       Terrence looks around and closely looks at everything he sees far, thinking about where Raquelle could go. At least, she is not seen now. The man does not know where to find the disappeared girl, gets more nervous, and is worried that something bad might happen. At first, Terrence is confused and does not know where to go. But some time later, he calls the memories of the last words he told Raquelle before she left. He even remembers where she went because he threw a short look at it. Not thinking much, the man decides to check out these places. He locks his car with a key and quickly starts to go on the unknown path, silently praying that he finds his fiancée as soon as possible before she decides to do a stupid thing.       

***

      Meanwhile, Raquelle ran far from the place where Terrence stopped the car and is just quickly going where her eyes look. The girl does not care about where she is now, and whether she gets out of here. Because of her anger and stubbornness, she is ready to pass hundreds of miles to her home. But now the girl is just walking in the deserted place, in which gray colors dominate and make her feel much sadder and do not make her mood better.       She is still obsessed with a strong hate for Terrence and wants to strangle him with her own hands. Raquelle had to apply some effort to make herself leave as far as possible and not to fight with the man much more.       “I hate this idiot…” Raquelle thinks, frowning strongly, walking in the place she does not know with a sharp, quick step. “I do wanna strangle that scumbag! I almost died from fear while sitting in the car and literally saying farewell to everyone! Scumbag! I hate him! Curse him!”       Raquelle is obsessed with these thoughts for a long time, and she is sure she will not forgive Terrence and will keep fighting with him and blaming him for all his sins. But some time later, the girl gets a little cold and comes to herself after what happened. Although the cold wind makes her shake, she soberly looks at some things. She realizes more and more that Terrence did it for her best and tried to save her. She gets horrified when understanding that she said too many offensive things that will not be forgotten and will impact her relationship with her fiancé, who tried to hold on until the end not to break down.       “Oh, gosh, what I told him!” Raquelle gets horrified, setting her dumbfounded eyes into the distance, stopping not far from the high abyss, from which she can see a big part of this place. “Oh, shit! Who made me say it? I shouldn’t have started that fight! I should’ve been silent and just gone somewhere shortly after we came here.”       Raquelle comes to the edge of the abyss very slowly, looking at the horizon and feeling tears still getting out of her eyes, and a strong shake gets over her body that gets quite cold.       “I think Terrence did the right thing when he made me go home on my feet,” Raquelle thinks. “It’s definitely what would help me wake up and start to think clearly. I definitely needed this shocking therapy.”       Raquelle glances down for a moment and looks at her feet, feeling terrible because of a sense of shame for her disgusting behavior that might ruin her relationship and make Terrence angry, fall out of love with her, and do something that would make them cancel their wedding.       “Gosh, I’m such a thankless pig…” Raquelle thinks with tears in her eyes. “I could really thank him with words. Terrence wanted to do his best. He is not guilty of having to run away. Yes, he made me shake and die from fear. But we stayed alive. I’d say I owe him twice ‘cause he did his best to save me from death… For the second time…”       Raquelle sighs heavily and swallows up nervously.       “My God, what was Terrence thinking about when seeing me as a wild psycho?” Raquelle gets horrified. “And hearing all those insults I told him… He’s probably regretted getting in touch with me thousands of times. And deciding to save me… He probably thought it would’ve been better if those men had done something to me and washed my brains.”       Raquelle closes her face with her hands and makes a few quiet sobs, crying not from fear but from a sense of shame that she gets obsessed with after she calms down a little.       “How do I show up before his eyes after everything I said?” Raquelle thinks. “What if he calls the memories of the past offenses and wants to break up with me? No, no! I don’t want it! I don’t want Terrence to leave me! Sometimes being with him is hard, but being without him is much harder for me. I can’t live without him…”       Because of the strong excitement and remorse, Raquelle crying bitterer and bitterer starts to shake from the coldness. Now nobody can tightly press her to oneself, warm her up with a tender hug, and give her a warm coat, so she feels much better. However, she cares about it less than anything. All her thoughts are about what happened some time ago, and what kind of consequences it led to and might lead to.       When she calms down a little, Raquelle starts crying bitterly again and being less able to hold herself down more and more every second, understanding she literally chokes with her own tears. And a few seconds later, the girl suddenly starts to feel almost the same wave of panic that she had when worrying about the situation with Simon Ringer. She is obsessed with fear, even if there is no reason to be afraid. Raquelle’s skin gets quite white, and her heartbeat becomes much faster. Its sound literally hits her temples. The breath is getting too heavy, her hands are getting sweaty, and her whole body starts shaking strongly and shrinking from coldness or fear and a wish to turn into something little. Moreover, she has a dry throat and cannot swallow up a lump in this one.       Raquelle tries not to succumb to her emotions so hard, looking into the distance with tears in her dumbfounded eyes and literally making herself breathe not to choke from a lack of air. The strong and cold enough wind blows up her hair and face, over which tears still keep running down slowly. Some time later, the girl realizes it’s quite hard for her to stand on her feet, and she starts to feel strong dizziness. That’s why the girl loses the balance and falls on her knees like a stone, feeling so bad that she believes she is about to faint. At some moment, Raquelle opens her tear-stained eyes and raises her head, while her hands are free and relaxed, seeing everything a little blurry and feeling quite a strong weakness that does not let her get up.       After watching the gray clouds that covered the sky, the white, shaking girl slowly glances at the furthest views, while friable sand gets stuck to her foot and hands. Raquelle tries to calm down and control her condition somehow, but she cannot do it. Her fear of something is getting stronger, and her symptoms are deteriorating much more. She sits on her knees for some time and unsuccessfully tries to breathe in some cold air. But then she gives herself to her fears. That’s why she gets much worse. Moreover, she is afraid she is alone among elevations, dry trees, and uneven paths. A new wave of panic gets obsessed with the girl much stronger. She starts to believe she cannot breathe and is about to get dragged into the infinite darkness.       Even if she has a wish to scream out at the top of her lungs and beg for help, Raquelle cannot do it because her voice is getting hoarse and quiet, and unclear. Besides, the girl starts to feel a strong pain in her chest that does not let her breathe well. As if someone is tightly strangling her with both hands and not letting her breathe in some air. Since it’s getting colder outside due to the strong wind, Raquelle tries to warm herself up by rubbing, as she sits on her knees near the edge of the abyss, cries bitterly and pays no attention to her loose, little disheveled wavy hair that constantly gets into her eyes and mouth.       

***

      Terrence has been trying to find Raquelle for a long time, who was kind of swallowed up by the ground. He is quickly walking everywhere and checking every place, but his searches have led to nothing yet. That’s why the man gets quite nervous and regrets letting the girl go so far.       “Damn, where did she go?” Terrence wonders, looking around and paying no attention to the black strands of his hair that constantly get into his eyes. “Where could she go that I can’t still find her?”       On the one hand, Raquelle’s great stubbornness makes Terrence a little angry. As if she decided to make him find her in this large place on purpose. But on the other hand, he gets obsessed with a bad presentation, which makes him keep searching and hoping he will find the girl and drive her home. This bad presentiment makes Terrence stop being mad and start to seriously worry about the girl. He starts to think he is about to get obsessed with a wave of panic, and something starts pressing on his chest and not letting him breathe in and breathe out.       “Oh, shit, what is this?” Terrence wonders, putting his hand on his heart that is beating too fast and exhaling slowly with a sense of shake in his body. “Why do I think something happened to her? Did it all lead to terrible consequences? But being so excited, Raquelle might do many things.”       First, Terrence believes he thinks up and is just too worried about Raquelle. But a few seconds later, his anxiety is not gone. He cannot stop thinking that something happened to the girl, and he must find her. However, searching for her does not give him good results for a long time. The man starts to regret leaving home and starting this nightmare that saved their lives, but definitely made their relationship worse. Terrence wanted a little walk with a nice person. But this wish led to quite sad events.       After running some distance for a long time, Terrence stops sharply and starts to look around the whole territory. The fact that he has not found Raquelle makes him much more nervous, even being afraid to think he will be able to do nothing to fix the situation. After searching half of the territory, the man starts to think his fiancée left and is now taking a long way home. So, Terrence decides to get into the car and check out this place with the hope that he will meet the girl somewhere on the way.       But when he looks around the whole territory the last time, Terrence raises his eyes up to elevations and sees a feminine silhouette. The man, squinting slightly, looks at it better and quickly recognizes Raquelle sitting on the edge of the abyss with her hands folded in front of her and looking into the distance. It’s impossible to see that she is experiencing a wave of panic from here, but the girl keeps shaking and crying with a sense of weakness and dizziness.       “Damn, it’s so good she hasn’t left,” Terrence exhales with relief. “I must take her out of here and drive home before she really decides to reach it on her feet. If only God didn’t let her jump from that abyss…”       Terrence shakes immediately at this moment and decides not to waste time, sharply giving a start and running to one of the abysses, on which Raquelle is now.       

***

      Raquelle barely finds the strength to overcome her emotions and subdue the fear she got obsessed with. She still has drops of tears rolling on her cheeks and still gets a strong shake on her white and cold body. It’s still hard for her to breathe, and the unpleasant pain in her chest lets her know about it every time she tries to breathe in and breathe out. The dryness in her mouth gets stronger because she opens it very often, and it’s still hard to stand on her weak legs.       Raquelle tries to get up two times, but she got so weak that she decides to spend her energy struggling with her condition, because of which she feels a strong weakness, dizziness, and a wish to close her eyes. The girl realizes more and more that she is not able to get over it by herself and needs someone to distract her from bad thoughts and help her come to herself and start to see the world clearer and brighter. Raquelle believes it’s been like forever since she came here, even though it’s been thirty or forty minutes. The girl still sitting on the edge of the abyss, pumps some air into her lungs at times and does not choke from a lack of it. But it’s still very hard for her to struggle with a strong shake, dizziness, and a slight vomit that came to her throat and made her think she was about to clean her stomach. She got so obsessed with her terrible condition and her emotions that she does not notice anything around and even starts to forget where she is.       Maybe, Raquelle would be sitting on the edge of the abyss for a long time and trying to overcome the consequences of what happened some time ago. But later, the absolute silence is broken by a too familiar male voice that she would recognize in any condition. Even if she is about to die. It belongs to Terrence, who does not come too close to Raquelle and looks at her confidently when saying:       “I hope you aren’t going to jump off this abyss and leave alone.”       Raquelle shakes strongly and literally stops breathing, understanding her heart misses a beat. Her consciousness was kind of cloudy, but Terrence’s voice got her sober immediately and woke her up from a trance.       “Terrence…” Raquelle whispers in a little hoarse voice, opening her red, tear-stained eyes widely and understanding she is afraid to look into Terrence’s eyes.       To make sure she did not get hallucinations, Raquelle turns her head slowly where Terrence is standing a few meters away from her and looking at her with a little sad gaze. Then she barely finds the strength to stand up, trying to stand on her weak legs that are about to bend from weakness and strike her down. The girl wants the ground to swallow her up from shame and is terribly afraid to look at the man after everything she told him. Raquelle is so ashamed that she wants to run as far as possible. The girl even tries to do it, taking a hesitant step aside with her eyes down. But Terrence instantly takes a confident step up, not definitely going to leave without her.       The girl needs a few seconds to brace herself at least a little and find the courage to look at the man much more confidently but with tears in her red, puffy eyes. And the fact that Terrence does not look like he is ready to kill her in anger helps Raquelle relax a little and make herself stop thinking of running and wishing to take a long distance from here to home. The lovers look at each other with a sense of shame in their eyes for some time, trying to overcome the awkwardness they feel. But then the man takes a few more steps toward the girl, who shrinks from shame and looks at him scarily, shaking slightly from the weakness in her legs. And then she also makes herself do the same and quietly sniffs. Then every one of them takes small, diffident steps, but gets faster as soon as they get closer and more confident.       And when they are a few centimeters away from each other, Raquelle hangs on Terrence’s neck with quiet sobs, hugging him as tightly as possible and starting to cry bitterly. The man immediately answers the hug with a quiet sigh, putting his arms tightly around the girl’s waist, snuggling his face in her shoulder, and touching her cheek slightly with his cheek. At some moment, he even lifts her off the ground for some time, but then places her on her feet and presses her much closer to him. While she is crying bitterly, snuggling her face in a curve of his neck and being terribly afraid he might leave her here. However, Terrence is going to leave nowhere without her and will go home only with her.       A few seconds later, Raquelle starts speaking, even if her voice gets quite hoarse and very quiet:       “Sorry…” Raquelle makes a couple of loud sobs, shaking strongly from the tension in her whole body. “I’m really very sorry…”       “Don’t make me so nervous anymore,” Terrence whispers softly, puts his hand on the back of Raquelle’s head, and runs his fingers through her hair. “Hear me… Don’t run away anywhere. Especially in this condition.”       “I didn’t want to shout at you and blame you for what you didn’t do. Please, Terrence, forgive me… I’m such an idiot… Just a brainless idiot…”       “It’s okay, sweetie, you forgive me. I should’ve gotten so excited and shouted at you. I should’ve let you speak out and not reacted to your actions.”       “I swear, I don’t think you’re the one I called you. And now I can say you were absolutely right…”       “Not everything… I also said and did many bad things I shouldn’t have done.”       “Please, don’t get mad at me, and don’t think I’m really a psycho that ran away from a clinic,” Raquelle begs in a shaking voice, caressing Terrence’s head. “I… I just went insane… I had my mind blown out… I… I didn’t know what I was saying and doing…”       “Sh-h-h, don’t excuse yourself, I get it.” Terrence kisses Raquelle cutely on the top of her head and caresses it. “It wouldn’t have happened if I had thought a little. I should’ve guessed you had such a terrible condition because you thought of what happened to your parents.”       “Yeah, I was thinking about it,” Raquelle slowly steps back from Terrence and looks at him with eyes full of tears and pity. “I really thought we’d die just like they did. I… I made myself think it was our time…”       “I understand you,” Terrence replies confidently, caressing Raquelle’s face with his hands. “I’m really very sorry for making your experience such great stress. Please, don’t get mad at me…”       “Now I understand what Mother and Father could feel when going on the truck at full speed,” Raquelle confesses in a much more shaking voice. “It was impossible to avoid it ‘cause their brake didn’t work… But the brakes on your car worked well, thank God.”       “The most important thing is that we stayed alive and got off those stinkers.” Terrence embraces Raquelle with his arms and snuggles his face on the top of her head. “You do know I did it for you not to let those stinkers touch you, at least with a finger. My goal was to protect you. For that, I was ready to risk.”       “I know,” Raquelle pronounces quietly, inclining her head, and puts her arms around the small of Terrence’s back. “I’m really so ashamed of behaving like a psycho idiot. I don’t know what got obsessed with me… I really went insane and said everything I thought about. I didn’t know what I was doing.”       “Please, Raquelle, don’t blame yourself,” Terrence replies softly, still embracing Raquelle with one arm, carefully wipes off a tear that rolls on her cheek, caresses the girl’s head, and fixes her hair. “I understand why you reacted like that.”       “There’s no excuse for that!” Raquelle makes a loud sob. “I shouldn't have behaved so disgustingly and provoked you for a scandal, knowing well you could easily get excited and do what would end our relationship.”       “It won’t happen, sweetheart.” Terrence kisses Raquelle cutely on the temple, as he keeps his warm hand on her cheek. “I’ll always be with you, even if I get mad at you too much.”       “You can’t even imagine how frightened I was…” Raquelle confesses in a shaking voice, breathing heavily from the excitement that is getting stronger. “I thought I’d die from fear earlier than we’d crush the truck.”       “Believe me, I was also afraid we could die. But I was more worried about you. Anyway, I was confident about myself and knew I’d do what I wanted.”       “I know…” Raquelle inclines her head. “But I wouldn’t say so, recalling your face at that moment.”       “If I’d gotten confused and had hysteria, those people would’ve done something to us. I literally made myself brace myself and do my best to save both of us.”       “And I’m truly grateful to you for that…” Raquelle starts to breathe heavier and heavier. “For not letting trouble happen… And being with me…”       “Hey, hey, why are you so nervous?” Terrence steps back from Raquelle and softly takes her by the shoulders that he caresses tenderly. “Calm down, sweetie, it’s all over. You and I are safe and sound and will go home, so you have a rest and come to yourself.”       “We could’ve died… Died… Just like my parents did… I literally saw… Our lives ended as well as their lives did…”       Raquelle gets obsessed with a wave of panic and fear for the third time in the past few minutes. But this time, it’s definitely stronger than the previous ones. The girl feels that she starts to shake again. Her heart is beating so fast that it might tear from too strong tension. And every time she tries to breathe in and breathe out, she gets a pressing pain in her chest. The brunette getting sharply white does not hold down tears and feels so exhausted that she is not able to overcome a new attack.       Terrence watches Raquelle, who is getting worse and worse every second, with his widely open eyes full of horror. He gets kind of confused, not knowing what to do when seeing the girl literally choking from a lack of air.       “Are you okay?” Terrence expresses anxiety, tightly holding Raquelle by the waist and caressing her cheek tenderly. “You’re kinda white…”       “I…” Raquelle pronounces quietly, not being able to pump air into her lungs due to the pain in her chest. “I… I…”       “You feel bad? Tell me what's happening to you!”       But Raquelle cannot say a word and is just shaking strongly with tears in her eyes and grabs her throat, thinking someone is choking her very strongly. The girl starts to understand that she strongly feels dizziness, and her legs bend under her. She tries to explain everything to Terrence, but she suddenly loses her voice. Raquelle can only move her lips soundlessly. But it does not help the man understand what happened to his fiancée.       “Raquelle, please, tell me what’s happening to you!” Terrence begs with horror in his eyes, being seriously worried about Raquelle, who is choking from a lack of air, shaking strongly, and standing on her feet only thanks to the fact that he is holding her tight by the waist. “You scare me!”       Two or three seconds later, Raquelle feels that her legs are sharply getting weak, everything goes blurred before her eyes, and all sounds around her are heard like through a deaf, unbreakable wall. After the short, unsuccessful fight with a wave of panic and fear, the girl falls sharply to her knees with a heavy breath and a quiet moan, grabbing her head. Terrence immediately grabs her by the waist and falls to the ground with her, pronouncing loudly with horror in his eyes:       “Oh, damn, Raquelle!”       While Terrence is hugging her tightly and pressing her against himself, Raquelle starts to choke literally much more. Her whole body is obsessed with such a strong weakness that she thinks she would not be able to get up. She feels dizziness every time she slightly turns her head, and invisible hands are squeezing her throat much tighter and depriving her of a chance to breathe somehow.       “Raquelle, sweetie, please, tell me, what’s happening to you?” Terrence begs with horror in his widely open eyes, pressing Raquelle to his chest, in which she snuggles her nose, and softly caressing her cheek. “How can I help you?”       But Raquelle says nothing because she loses her voice and hears everything Terrence says like through a deaf wall. Tears show up in her closed eyes and are rolling over her white cheeks. Her whole body becomes soft in the arms of the man, who is holding it suspended, pressing her to himself and getting frightened by how his deathly white and literally icy fiancée looks.       “My gosh, you’re shaking…” Terrence gets horrified, kisses the shaking and choking Raquelle on the top of her head, caresses her white cheek, and takes her icy hand shaking strongly. “And icy… My girl…”       Terrence hugs Raquelle much tighter and caresses her head, looking around with a little scared gaze and not knowing what to do. The heart bleeds when seeing the girl trying to catch some air that she terribly lacks. A little later, the man checks her pulse on the wrist and opens his dumbfounded eyes wider.       “Holy shit, the heart is beating like crazy…” Terrence says in a little shaking voice. “Fuck…       Terrence shakes his head and swallows up nervously.       “Please, Raquelle, explain, what’s happening to you?” Terrence begs, caressing Raquelle’s cheek and head. “I must know how to help you!”       Raquelle barely finds the energy to tell Terrence just something. Moreover, he gets sharply white from horror while looking at the literally dying girl, whom he is holding suspended.       “P-panic…” Raquelle pronounces in a hoarse and quiet voice. “F-fear… I can… Can do… Nothing… I’m powerless…”       “Quiet, quiet, honey, quiet…” Terrence says softly, caressing Raquelle’s head and fixing her hair. “It’s okay, try to calm down. Everybody’s alive and unharmed. Nobody has died.”       “I feel bad…” Raquelle pronounces in a literally dying voice, grabbing her throat. “Very bad… Someone’s strangling me… I can’t breathe…”       “Calm down, my sunshine, nobody’s choking you. It seems to you.”       “Please, someone…” Raquelle grabs Terrence by his t-shirt tightly. “Help me… I can’t take this anymore…”       “My gosh, what’s happening to you?” Terrence gets horrified, kisses Raquelle on the top of her head, and presses her close to himself. “It’s okay, my girl, calm down, please…”       “I can’t control myself… I… Don’t belong… To me… I don’t feel… Like me… It’s not my body… Not mine…”       “Raquelle, please, stop scaring me,” Terrence begs with pity in his eyes, starting to panic because he does not know how to help Raquelle, who does not stop shaking. “Please, calm down…”       “NO!” Raquelle suddenly shouts desperately, literally fighting for every breath of air, grabbing Terrence by the t-shirt much tighter and pulling it strongly. “I wanna get back! I wanna get back to my body! I can’t control it! CAN’T! CAN’T!”       “Quiet, sweetie, quiet, don’t scream… Sh-h-h-h…” Terrence hugs the shaking Raquelle tightly and caresses her head tenderly. “First, try to relax… You’ve got no reason to be so horrified…”       “Please, someone, help me…” Raquelle begs loudly with tears, barely understanding what’s happening around her due to the clouded mind that is focused on the fact that she is getting choked. “I’m getting strangled… I’m choking… Save me, please! I don’t want to die…”       “No, no, don’t say that, you aren’t dying.” Terrence glances at the face of the deathly white and terribly exhausted Raquelle and softly caresses her cheek, while she is tightly pressed to his chest and bends backward as if she is put under torture. “It’s just your imagination. You made yourself think someone was strangling you, and you were about to die. Nothing is happening now. Nothing!”       “I feel very bad… I can’t breathe… My heart is beating in my head… In my body… And I feel very cold… Very… Bad… Terrible…”       “Oh, my girl…” Terrence gets horrified, kisses Raquelle on the forehead, and runs the fingers of his free hand through her slightly matted, disheveled hair, exhaling slowly and trying to control his excitement, with which he is getting more and more obsessed. “Holy shit, why did I actually decide to do that? If I hadn’t decided to drive at the high speed, nothing would’ve happened. You’re such a moron, MacClife, such a moron! Damn, seems like I’m about to get hysteria…”       Terrence squeezes the bridge of his nose with a free hand and exhales slowly again, feeling it’s hard for him to breathe. He starts to get confused because of this hopelessness and barely controls himself not to forget about Raquelle suffering from a strong panic.       “Do something…” Raquelle moans quietly, painfully, grabbing Terrence by the t-shirt strongly and pulling it, as her head is pressed to his chest and choking because of tears that start getting out of her closed eyes. “I’m getting worse and worse… I feel weak… Terrible weakness…”       “Please, tell me what I should do to help you. I can’t watch you suffer anymore. If you don’t get better, I will also go insane and shake.”       “Oh…” Raquelle makes another painful moan. “I feel so bad… Much… I'm choking… I need some air…”       Still choking from a lack of air, Raquelle steps back from Terrence and gets up sharply with a wish to go somewhere and do something. But the next second, she puts her head on the forehead with a feeling of strong dizziness and wants to fall when her legs get sharply weak. The girl almost hits her head, but the man, who gets up along with her at the same time, grabs her immediately and places softy her soft body that seems to be a rag doll to ground.       “Hey, hey, Raquelle…” Terrence jabs with horror in his widely open eyes, grabs Raquelle’s face softly with one hand, and claps her slightly on the cheek. “Raquelle, don’t lose consciousness! Don’t lose consciousness! Hear me! Talk to me!”       Raquelle has not lost consciousness, but she does not realize what’s happening around her, hears everything through a deaf wall, and understands that her dizziness gets kind of stronger. She does not react to Terrence’s claps on her cheek or any of his words, breathing heavily with half-closed eyes, while one of her relaxed, but shaking hands is lying near her, and the other is placed on her stomach.       “Don’t faint, stay with me,” Terrence says softly but quite excitedly, caressing Raquelle’s cheek or clapping it not to let her fall into darkness, while she opens or closes her eyes slowly. “Say what you want, but don’t be silent.”       All this time, Raquelle hears Terrence’s words through a deaf wall. She does not realize how her eyes roll and close slowly at some moment, and she falls into the infinite darkness, stopping to hear and understand everything and making any sounds, while her head leans sharply back, and her body gets absolutely soft in the arms of Terrence, who does not know what to do due to the strong excitement.       “Raquelle…” Terrence pronounces quite excitedly and slightly claps Raquelle on the cheek, while her dark hair stands out against her unhealthy skin color. “Hey… Answer me! Raquelle! C’mon, wake up! Please…”       Terrence presses Raquelle close to himself, kisses her on the top of her head with his slightly shaking lips, and caresses her cheek with the same shaking hand.       “Sweetie, please, don’t scare me,” Terrence begs with pity in the eyes and claps Raquelle slightly on her white cheeks. “C’mon… Say something… Oh, my girl…”       Terrence puts his hand on the white cheek of Raquelle and looks at her face for two seconds, understanding that it’s getting harder for him to breathe due to the pain in his chest.       “Please, sweetie, please…” Terrence begs in a little shaking voice. “Please…”       Terrence swallows up nervously and kisses Raquelle on the forehead.       “Oh, my girl…” Terrence pronounces quietly. “My poor girl…”       Terrence rubs his cheek against the top of Raquelle’s head, getting much more horrified, as he is holding his terribly pale and cold girl.       “I’m sorry…” Terrence presses Raquelle’s head to his chest, running his fingers through her hair on the top of her head. “I’m sorry about putting you under this stress… I’m sorry, my baby…”       Terrence hugs Raquelle tightly for two seconds, snuggling his nose into her shoulder.       “Damn, I didn’t think it would happen…” Terrence says excitedly, caressing Raquelle’s head and shaking her like a little child. “If I’d known that race would scare her so much, I wouldn’t have done it…”       Breathing quite heavily and feeling a lump in his throat that he cannot swallow up, Terrence moves a few strands of hair off Raquelle’s face, still pressing her soft body to himself tightly. And then he notices that she is literally icy and energetically rubs her arms to warm her up a little. A few seconds later, the girl starts to make quiet moans. But then they get louder and more painful. Raquelle starts choking again, putting a cold hand on Terrence’s tough chest.       “C’mon, Raquelle, breathe…” Terrence jabs excitedly but quietly and softly, putting his warm hand on Raquelle’s cheek. “Breathe deeply… Come on…”       Raquelle is not able to speak, but she starts to hear what Terrence says a little better, even though his words still sound like they are coming through a deaf wall. Nevertheless, somewhere at the bottom of her cloudy consciousness, she has the thought that if the man were not by her side, she would not overcome this attack. His hugs and any touches make her feel calm and help her not to go insane.       “Raquelle, listen, please,” Terrence says quietly, grabs Raquelle’s face softly, and sets his gaze into her dead eyes, which look into the distance and see everything blurry. “It’s all over, you have no reason to be afraid. I understand you feel very bad, but I’m begging you, brace yourself and try to calm down. And I swear, I’ll never make you feel that shock. I promise, sweetheart, I won’t do anything like that anymore.”       Maybe, Raquelle barely realizes what Terrence says, but she is still not able to speak due to the thought that she cannot breathe. It’s too hard for her to focus on something else and forget about her breath issues because her brains insist that she feels very bad.       “Although I never run into these attacks, it’s easy for me to imagine what you feel,” Terrence says softly, caressing Raquelle’s back, arms, and head. “And I feel madly hurt… I wanna fall into hysteria when I see you like this. You can’t even imagine how much I wanna let myself give up and start to panic from fear. But I do know you need me.”       Terrence takes Raquelle’s hands while she tries to pump some air into her lungs with her inclined head.       “Please, Raquelle, stop scaring me like this,” Terrence begs with pity in his eyes. “You just made yourself think you were choking, and believe it now. Now the problem is your mind – what you think about. But trust me, when you distract yourself and think of something good, your attack will be gone. Recall something good and think of it.”       After looking at her for two seconds, Terrence tenderly kisses Raquelle on one cheek and caresses another. And then he succumbs to his wish to leave a tender, continuous kiss on her lips. It definitely has a positive effect because the girl takes a breath away and feels a nice warmth that warms her icy body up a little, finding the will to pay her attention to other feelings that help her relax a little. But when the man steps back a little, she sharply grabs his denim jacket with her hands, looking at him with pity in her eyes as if she begs him not to leave her alone.       Terrence finds it as a plea to hug her and does it, sharply pressing Raquelle to himself and taking her in his hug that she accepts quite greedily as if it’s something like a breath of air. And while she makes loud sobs, hugging him tightly and keeping her hands on his back, the man softly caresses the small of the girl’s back with one hand and puts another one on her head, which she puts on his shoulder, and caresses it.       The symptoms of the attack have not gone yet, but some time later, good changes happen to her condition. Raquelle gets the ability to speak, even if she makes a long pause between words because of her more successful attempts to breathe in as much air as possible.       “T-t-t-terrence…” Raquelle barely pronounces with a painful, little hoarse voice.       “Quiet, quiet, sweetie, it’s okay…” Terrence replies softly, running his fingers through Raquelle’s hair. “You’re with me, safe and sound, nobody’s gonna kill you…”       “Are you… Real? Aren’t you my imagination?”       “No, I’m real and with you,” Terrence kisses Raquelle cutely on her temple. “I will always be.”       Raquelle snuggles her nose in Terrence’s shoulder with a quiet sob, grabbing him by the collar of his denim jacket with her fingers and pulling it with the hope that it would help her relax a little.       “I’m frightened…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice. “Too horrified… I’m going insane… But I don’t want… I don’t wanna go insane… I wanna be me… Stop feeling… Like… I’m living… In another body…”       “You will not do, sweetheart, I promise,” Terrence promises confidently and kisses Raquelle tenderly on the cheek. “Breathe deeper and think of something nice.”       “Don’t leave me… Please, Terrence, don’t go… I need you so badly… Or I will die… I can’t do it by myself… If you leave, I’ll feel bad again…”       “Don’t worry, my sweetie, I won’t leave you and will do my best to help you. Just brace yourself and try to calm down. If this attack continues for five more minutes, I’ll go insane.”       “I’m trying, but I can’t,” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “I have no strength to struggle with this condition… I feel so powerless…”       “It’ll be gone soon. If you’re able to speak now, so, you and I are on the right track.” Terrence hugs Raquelle tighter and starts to run his hand over her back slowly. “Breathe as deeply as possible and think of good things…”       Raquelle slightly raises the corners of her mouth to try to smile, but her smile is kind of false. Nevertheless, Terrence found a way to help her calm down, and now the girl is getting better every second. At least, she can breathe well and stops feeling pain in her chest, and her heart stops beating like crazy. A tight hug from the beloved man gives him good results. And the pretense and the smell of such a close man make her mind get clearer and get all bad thoughts out.       Some time later, the girl comes to herself, stopping shaking and being able to breathe quietly. Her vision gets clear, and bad thoughts stop chasing her. Understanding he has no reason to worry, Terrence slowly steps back from Raquelle, looks at her for two seconds, and puts his hand on her shoulder with an anxious gaze.       “How are you?” Terrence asks softly. “Feel better?”       “Yup, I feel much better,” Raquelle nods, exhaling slowly and tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.       “Are you sure? Maybe, something else hurts you?”       “No, no, I’m fine now.” Raquelle glances at Terrence and smiles slightly. “Thank you so much. Without you, I wouldn’t have overcome it.”       “Fuck…” Terrence exhales sharply with great relief and puts his hand on her head. “Do you know you’ve scared me twice? When you ran away nobody knew where. And now, when this attack happened to you.”       “But you didn’t mind letting me leave.”       “Yeah, but I didn’t the fuck think you’d really agree to take hundreds of miles!”       “Well… If I made a few stops and had a rest three or four times, I would reach home to a deep night or an early morning. But I think it would be very good for me.”       “Now I think we should’ve just walked somewhere apart for five minutes to calm down.”       “Yeah, if I’d done that, I wouldn’t have been able to overcome my panic attack.”       “Oh, that’s a horrible panic attack!” Terrence exclaims, exhaling sharply with a hand put on his heart. “I nearly died from fear! Literally gave birth! I never thought I’d see you in such a scary condition.”       “If you knew how scared I was…” Raquelle sighs heavily. “I barely remember everything that was happening, but I can say what I felt.”       “Did you get so scared that you even fainted?”       “Yeah, I got too scared… At some moment, everything went back before my eyes… I had a feeling that someone turned off all sounds… I fell into darkness and don’t remember what was happening. But I wasn’t getting tortured by the feeling that I was getting choked…”       “And don’t you remember what you said?”       “I do remember. I thought my body didn’t belong to me ‘cause I couldn’t control it. I… I wasn’t me… I felt very bad and really thought I was dying… From a lack of air… Or getting my heart torn… And when I tried to tell you what I felt, I could not… I lost my voice… And all sounds were heard like through a deaf wall… I didn’t almost hear you… And I couldn’t answer when you asked me to say what happened… I was getting dragged into a hole… That was creepy. I was kind of dying…”       “Okay… Did you have similar attacks before? Or did it happen for the first time?”       “No, they happened…” Raquelle glances at her hands locked tightly for a second. “Several times… After I left home and asked Grandpa Frederick to let me live with him. I had such strong stress that I was choking sometimes and thinking I’d faint. I had a terrible weakness. That’s why I slept literally for hours.”       “My gosh… And how often did you have them?”       “Well, about three or four times… But I would’ve suffered much more if I hadn’t lied in bed all day. There were days when I got better and went out to walk.”       “Did Mr. Cameron know about those attacks?”       “No, I told nobody about them. Neither Grandpa nor Aunt Alicia… Even the girls don’t know I felt so bad… I was literally dying…”       “Gosh…” Terrence gets horrified, shaking his head. “But how did you overcome it if now you looked like, heaven forbids, dead?”       “Those attacks weren’t so strong. I could overcome them by myself.” Raquelle sighs heavily. “But now it didn’t work. I felt like dying…”       “I understand why you lost consciousness after you almost fell off the roof and magically survived. So many things happened that you couldn’t handle it.”       “Right… To be honest, I was half-conscious when coming to the meeting with Simon. I felt very bad. I didn’t choke from a lack of air, didn’t feel like my body belonged to someone, and wasn’t in a daze… But I wanted to faint. To clean my stomach. And my heart was beating like crazy… “       “Didn’t you want to tell someone about your attacks? What if you had something like what you just had? Someone would’ve hardly helped you!”       “I know, but I didn’t wanna scare Grandpa and Aunt. They were madly worried about me, even if they didn’t say it aloud. I’m afraid to imagine what would’ve happened to them if they had had to watch me literally die.”       “Yeah, you’re right, but you should’ve asked someone for help. Besides, sometimes I think you take problems not easier than Natalia.”       “Those attacks didn’t often happen to me. When the problem with Simon was solved, I stopped getting attacks and forgot about them. But now I just got too scared ‘cause we could’ve died just like my parents did. And I felt the shame of you… For what I told you in anger…”       “Oh, shit…” Terrence exhales sharply, running his hand over his hair. “But what would have happened to you if I hadn’t found you, and you’d decided to go home on your feet? Luckily, I raised my eyes up and saw you sitting on the edge of the abyss.”       “C’mon, Terrence, I’m not a baby to always be under someone’s view. You don’t have to be with me all the time. I have no right to deprive you of freedom and literally tie you up to me with handcuffs.”       “I know… But you did the hell scare me!” Terrence puts his hand on his forehead. “Damn, I thought I was gonna get this attack. And when you don’t know what to do or where to run… It was also hard for me to breathe, and my heart was beating like crazy.”       “I wouldn’t have thought something would be able to scare you.” Raquelle smiles shyly and caresses Terrence’s cheek tenderly. “You’re so strong and brave. Something hardly could scare you.”       “No, Raquelle, you’re wrong,” Terrence shakes his head with a slight smile. “Yes, I don’t deny I’ve loved playing with fire since childhood and sometimes wanna feel some drive. But I have some fears that I’m afraid to run into someday.”       “For example?”       “For example, losing the one I love.” Terrence carefully moves a strand of hair off Raquelle’s face and kisses her temple. “The one, to whom I’m attracted… Whose death I almost witnessed one day.”       “You know well that I’m also afraid of it. It would be a real nightmare of mine.”       “I’ll never leave you, no matter what you are. Swear or scream like a hysterical girl – it doesn’t make sense. I love you for what you are. With all of your shortcomings and dignities. I’m smitten over you.”       “Aw, Terrence,” Raquelle replies with a wider smile, tenderly caressing Terrence’s face with her hands. “Of course, sometimes you’re also a psycho, who makes me terribly horrified. But I love you anyway and accepted the fact that you have a hard character.”       “But I’m trying to be better.”       “I know. But I’m glad you recognize it and try to fight with it. With a changing success, of course, but still.”       Terrence smiles much wider and takes Raquelle in his tender hug, which she accepts with pleasure, while she runs her hands slowly over his back and presses herself to her beloved man, who spreads such a nice warmth.       “Hey, forgive me for screaming at you and saying nobody knows what again,” Raquelle apologizes truly. “I swear, I don’t think you’re what I said. I didn’t know what I was saying and was too mad to think well.”       “Don’t apologize, my sunshine, you’re guilty of nothing,” Terrence replies softly, tenderly caressing Raquelle’s head and kissing the top of this one. “You forgive me for not controlling myself and letting me do that to you. And almost slapping…”       “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m not angry at you.” Raquelle kisses Terrence cutely on the cheek and strokes his hair tenderly on the top of his head.       “And sorry for scaring you and bringing you to this horrible condition. If I’d known it would scare you so much, I would’ve found another way to get off those men.”       “Don’t blame yourself, Terrence, you wanted to do your best and were doing everything to save me. Let’s forget this horrible situation. The fact that we almost died and fought so much that we almost killed each other. And the fact that I scared you with my panic attack.”       “Well…” Terrence steps back from Raquelle. “I’ll forget the fight with pleasure… But I’m gonna see the race in my nightmare for a long time.”       “Me too… It seems like your friend got into the problems that he would hardly solve easily.”       “I know… And now I want to make him explain everything and wash his brains much more. After these adventures, Edward will not get off me until he explains what it all the fuck means.”       “But don’t show too much aggression to him. He’s your friend…”       “Yeah…” Terrence throws gloomily. “The friend, because of whom we nearly died… And because of whom you got a panic attack.”       “I’m the one to blame for a panic attack because I couldn’t control my emotions,” Raquelle bites her lip for a second. “And because we died…”       “I’m the one to blame? You wanted to say it?”       “No, no, I didn’t mean it…” Raquelle shakes her head sharply. “You’re guilty of nothing! And even if we hadn’t run away, we would’ve been wounded with the knives they had. They didn’t wanna just scare us…”       “You think they wanted to kill us?”       “Quite possible…”       “Well…” Terrence frowns slightly. “Maybe… But let’s not guess. Let’s invite my friend to our home and make him tell us everything.”       “Oh, I can’t wait… I wanna find out everything about this story and what the man we don’t know needs from us.”       “Be sure – after tomorrow, Edward will tell us everything about that man and reveals the real side of him.”       “I believe, sweetie,” Raquelle smiles slightly.       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Terrence just smiles shyly and then quickly looks at the whole territory with his little tired look.       “Okay, I think we better go home,” Terrence says and rubs his forehead slightly with a hand. “Honestly, what happened deprived me of energy.”       “I hope you won’t leave me here and make me go home on my feet,” Raquelle smiles shyly.       “No, you will go only with me. I mean, you will get into my car. And yeah, even if you had kept snapping and screaming, I would’ve just placed you above my shoulder, gotten you into the car, and driven you home.”       “Don’t worry, my sweetheart, I won’t be screaming, beating, and biting you,” Raquelle jokes, cutely caressing Terrence’s cheek. “And I ain’t gonna crush your car.”       “Oh, thank you so much,” Terrence laughs shyly. “By the way, can you get up and walk?”       “Yup, I think I can…”       Terrence gets up on his feet quite quickly and helps Raquelle do the same, grabbing her under an arm. And then they quickly shake the sand and dirt off their clothes and help each other if they cannot reach some places.       “Hey, I must confess that you drive a car very well,” Raquelle notices amicably, trying not to pay attention to slight dizziness. “Where did you learn it?”       “Well, I just love playing with fire,” Terrence smiles mysteriously, takes Raquelle’s hand, and goes to his car. “And one of my hobbies was racing at high speed. When I was a child, I was just examining everything about cars. But when I got a driver's license at the age of sixteen, I started to get busy with it.”       “Couldn’t you wait to get into a car and start to drive in the city?”       “Right, I couldn’t wait for the day I got a license in my hands. I loved racing with my friends in my free time. And I even took extreme driving courses and finished them successfully. I was taught much and learned something from my more experienced friends, who advised me to take those lessons.”       “Have you always driven well?”       “Yeah, I’ve always driven well and haven’t gotten into a car accident yet. Well… Not saying about today, when those stinkers crushed my car.”       “I believe those courses gave you good things. Because only a professional with a wonderful reaction could drive a car so well at the speed of almost two hundred miles an hour.”       “Agree, maybe, it had been just fun for me, but today I had to use my skills to the fullest,” Terrence smiles shyly with a proud look. “But I knew I’d do it and was confident about me.”       “Did your mother approve of your hobby? Didn’t she try to stop you?”       “Nope, Mother knew nothing, and I was doing my best to hide the truth. But if I got some traumas, I told her I just had a fight. And I had to lie many times ‘cause I often got little traumas: lots of bruises or strong hits… I thought she would’ve better known about fights with boys than about extreme driving lessons. She was worried about it much, but Mother would’ve been much more excited if she’d known about my love for races.”       “Were you afraid she’d ban you from it?”       “Yeah, she could ban me from something if she didn’t like it. For example, Mother somehow banned me from speaking to a hooligan that went to my school. He wasn’t aggressive, but he was very problematic and constantly got me and his friends into trouble. And somehow, he went so far that many parents began to prevent their children from speaking to him.”       “Didn’t you think she could guess about your hobbies, but say nothing?”       “I dunno, maybe… But we’ve never talked about it… And I’ve never praised my success for her. Because Mother had to suffer much because of me and my bad behavior. So, I shouldn’t have gone too far.”       “I get it…”       Raquelle falls into silence for two seconds, thinking about something, and then smiles shyly, moving her eyes to Terrence, whom she takes under an arm with a free hand.       “Anyway, you’re a fine fellow, Terrence,” Raquelle says softly. “I highly appreciate your effort and admire your driving skills.”       “Thanks, Raquelle,” Terrence smiles shyly. “Glad you appreciated it… I started to think you got mad and would’ve strangled me with your own hands instead of thanking me.”       “Well, if I hadn’t gotten out of the car, I would’ve killed you… Or at least just beaten you strongly… But now I've calmed down, and I can appreciate all of that. And I truly thank you for what you did for me.”       “The risk was great, and the consequences were not nice. But I’m glad everything ended well, and you and I are safe and sound.”       “Thanks to you, my hero,” Raquelle smiles widely, putting her head on Terrence’s shoulder for two seconds and cutely kissing him on the cheek. “You didn’t get confused for a second… I would’ve gotten numb and done nothing to save myself, ‘cause I would’ve been too scared.”       “Doing that took much effort…” Terrence stops smiling and glances aside for a second. “But I’m sorry that I’ll have to pay a lot of money for a car repair. Judging by my count, it’s gonna be quite a great amount.”       “Everything’s so serious?”       “Yes, the back of the car suffered much: a great dent, broken lamps… The passenger door and the trunk lid got very deformed, and the glass is broken strongly in some places.”       “Sometimes we have to sacrifice something… This time, we had to sacrifice the car to get saved from those stinkers.”       “I’d better have my car crashed than watch what I had to watch with horror a few minutes ago.”       Raquelle smiles slightly and inclines her head slightly, while Terrence softly lets her hand go, confidently puts an arm around her neck on the way, and kisses her cutely on the temple, pressing her closer to himself. The girl puts her arms around his waist with a wider smile and puts her head on his shoulder, later putting her hand on his back and aiming to press herself close to her close man, who gives her his warmth and warms her up in such cold weather. Thus, the lovers slowly go somewhere until they come to the half-broken car placed in the middle of the deserted path in a place they do not know.