The Lost And Forgotten Memories

      However, Edward quickly braces himself and starts to talk to Jeremy and William, while Terrence is still looking at the unfamiliar guys with interest.       “Guys, is it really you?” Edward cannot believe it.       “Oh, yeah!” the taller guy exclaims.       “Of course, we grew up and changed,” the lower guy adds. “But not so much not to be recognized.”       “Erm…” Edward stutters. “I…”       “Yeah…” the taller guy pronounces. “What a gloomy face you’ve got. We thought you’d be happy to meet us.”       “Exactly, dude, it’s been seven or eight years since we met the last time,” the lower man adds. “But you didn’t probably think of us.”       “Erm,” Edward pronounces a little hesitantly, scratching the back of his head and swallowing up nervously. “No… I… I’m glad… I’m glad we met. Really. That’s cool we met.”       After hesitating for two seconds, Edward gets up from the table and greets the two men by shaking them awkwardly by the hand, feeling terrible discomfort but deciding not to start any scandals.       “We came here to eat something and saw the familiar face,” the lower man says. “We thought, watched you from afar, and got overwhelmed, ‘That’s our bro, Edward!’ That brainless hothead that just adored looking for trouble.”       “That’s how…” Edward wonders with a slight smile.       “Hey, bro, you haven’t changed at all,” the other guy notices cheerfully. “Maybe, you just became more similar to Father. But you’re still the same. Your pretty face didn’t become more adult.”       “But you became more similar to Isabella,” Edward says amicably. “There’s something from Father, but you have a stronger resemblance to your mother.”       “Yeah, we really are,” the taller guy replies thoughtfully.       When he hears Isabella’s name, Terrence gets up quickly, comes closer to the men, and asks:       “Isabella? Your mother’s name is Isabella?”       “Well, yeah,” the lower man shrugs. “Our mother’s name is Isabella Thorn.”       “Hey, Edward, isn’t this…” the taller guy wants to ask thoughtfully, frowning slightly and looking at Terrence better.       “That’s correct, my bros,” Edward smiles slightly. “It’s Terrence. My older sibling and your half-brother.”       “So, really?” the lower guy wonders with widely open eyes.       “Really, really,” Edward nods confidently. “You can meet your older brother. The eldest one.”       “Wait, are they our half-brothers, whom Father was talking about so much?” Terrence gets a little confused.       “Yup, they are.” Edward points at the lower man, and then the taller one. “So, this is Jeremy. And this is William.”       “So, then I’m glad to meet you,” Terrence replies amicably with a slight smile.       “Us too,” Jeremy and William say amicably at a different time.       Not paying attention to the awkwardness, Terrence greets William and Jeremy amicably by sharing a handshake and a slight smile.       “We’ve finally met our elder brother!” William exclaims cheerfully. “I must confess that we were sure that we’d meet the image of Father at a young age if we met him.”       “Indeed, the young father is standing in front of us!” Jeremy adds cheerfully.       “Yes, sometimes children may be very similar to their parents,” Terrence replies with a shy smile. “So, I’m one of them. Everybody, who sees Father and me, says we’re the images of each other.”       “Edward is also similar to Dad,” William notices thoughtfully. “He is now especially much.”       “It happened,” Edward throws his hands up with an innocent smile.       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which the four men keep feeling embarrassed because of such an unexpected meeting, which nobody was ready for.       “I must confess that I feel kind of awkward…” Terrence confesses a little hesitantly. “I… I didn’t think I’d meet the children from Father’s second marriage someday.”       “We didn’t also think so, but we’ve heard a lot about you,” Jeremy replies amicably. “Father often talked to Mother about his children from the first marriage. I mean, you. Edward lived with us. There was no need to talk about him!”       “She always knew about me?”       “Yup, Father told Mother about you.”       “I think Isabella would’ve accepted Terrence ‘cause she always treated me well,” Edward gives his opinion. “Although I can’t call her my close person, we always got along well.”       “No, Edward, Mother has always treated you very well,” William replies confidently. “Jeremy and I have never heard a bad word about you or Terrence from her. She still respects both of you.”       “I know, but I didn’t feel like I was attracted to my family.”       “Father said a lot about it,” Jeremy confesses. “And he believed you felt lonely at our home.”       “Well…” Edward crosses his arms over his chest. “Maybe, if you two had treated me well, I would’ve felt a little better.”       “C’mon, bro, we were joking!” William laughs shyly. “We were kids and barely understood something!”       “So, did you wake up and suddenly get a love for me?”       “At least, we’ve never hated you. And we’ve never despised you because you are not our sibling.”       “Oh, it definitely makes me happy.”       Jeremy and William say nothing and just make quiet chuckles, while Terrence glances at the table, at which he was sitting with Edward.       “Listen, guys, let’s sit at the table?” Terrence suggests. “Talk, get to know each other better… Talk about how we’re living…”       “Actually, Will and I should go somewhere for our business,” Jeremy replies thoughtfully. “But I believe we have a little time to talk.”       “C’mon, let’s talk a little and say goodbye,” Edward waves a hand. “We’re now waiting for our friends, who haven’t come yet. We’ve gotta discuss some things.”       “Okay, we agree,” William shrugs with a slight smile.       Terrence, Edward, Jeremy, and William sit at the table, and the youngest MacClife brothers take off their backpacks and put them on the backs of their chairs.       “You know, Edward, we got kind of sad when Mother found out what Father did from Uncle Michael, left home, and took us with her,” William confesses thoughtfully. “You weren’t home on that day, and we didn’t say goodbye to you.”       “Yes, you may not believe it, but we really missed you,” Jeremy adds confidently.       “Did you miss bullying me?” Edward laughs quietly.       “Yeah, bullying you was cool. But we really missed you.”       “How it’s touching!”       “Hey, don’t ya believe us? Didn’t you actually think of us when we didn’t communicate?”       “Come on! Of course, I did! I thought of all the mockeries and pranks that you made toward me.”       “C’mon, Eddy, don’t be mad!” Jeremy waves his hand. “I said we were stupid and young and understood something only when Father and Mother punished us. But now we wanna befriend you and Terrence.”       “Come on!”       “Yes!” William exclaims. “We’re brothers, after all. Maybe, you’re not our sibling, but you’re our brother.”       “Did I say I’m angry at you?” Edward wonders. “Yes, I don’t deny that I still have some bad feelings. But I’ve never said I’m mad at you and don’t wanna speak to you at all.”       “But judging by your gloomy face, you aren’t happy to see us,” Jeremy notices thoughtfully.       “Don’t pay attention to him, guys,” Terrence throws with a slight smile. “Edward is always distrustful and finds something bad about everything.”       “But you’re naive and trustful,” Edward blunts with both arms crossed over his chest. “And it leads to bad things for you.”       “At least, I’m always ready to give a chance to someone to show the best side of them if they want it.”       Edward says nothing and just tuts quietly, looking at Terrence a little disapprovingly, while his brother, is nice enough to William and Jeremy having nothing against MacClife, Sr.       “Hey, guys, you said you left home when your mother took you with her…” Terrence recalls thoughtfully.       “Yeah,” Jeremy shrugs. “Uncle Michael told Mother about Father’s first marriage, which wasn’t finished. It made her super insulted, and she fought with Dad on that day and took Will and me to her relatives for a while.”       “And some time later, she came back home and told Father to take his stuff and leave,” William adds. “After this, Mother quickly got the marriage canceled and banned us from seeing him and reminding us of that man with her pretense.”       “And Uncle helped her make that process faster.”       “Did you know about those things that Uncle Michael was doing for a long time?” Terrence frowns slightly. “Did you know how much he hated Father?”       “Oh, at some moment, Father started to talk about him very often. And he was full of hate every time. He said Uncle destroyed his whole life and was terribly jealous.”       “And when did you meet him?”       “Some time before Mother heard about Father’s first marriage. Uncle came into his life and started to annoy Dad, who was always very wild and nervous because of that.”       “But we never meddled in their relationship and got on well with Uncle,” William adds thoughtfully. “And he treated us well. But he could not stand Edward. Uncle always dreamed of getting rid of him. For many reasons. A strong resemblance to Dad, a great curiosity of our brother, and his attempts to find out everything and restore justice.”       “In short, Eddy was like a bone in his throat to him.”       “After what he did, I will hate him ‘till the end of my life,” Edward says coldly. “That old bastard, who went crazy, did too much.”       “He is now in prison?”       “Yup, he got a life sentence. He got what he deserved, and he will no longer bother anyone from my family.”       “Yes, yes, we know,” Jeremy nods. “Will and I closely watched the trial of Uncle and his gang. We also saw Dad in those reports.”       “And we were shocked when we saw Edward among the defendants,” William confesses.       “It was a shock for us! We didn’t wanna believe that he killed Nickolas, the friend of Father, who was often at our home.”       “We rarely spoke to him, but we remember him well. And we considered him a good enough man.”       “But as it turned out, the killer was Uncle’s accomplice,” Edward says confidently. “And I was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time.”       “Anyway, we’re happy you were pronounced non-guilty, and Eric went to prison.”       “Yes!” Jeremy exclaims. “We didn’t know him personally, but judging by the photos, his face is kind of bandit.”       “I was lucky to have a lawyer and a witness, who told the judge the truth,” Edward replies quietly.       “We didn’t believe you were a killer and hoped you’d be pronounced non-guilty until the end.”       “Thanks, guys, it’s nice to hear,” Edward smiles slightly.       “Hey, haven’t you really spoken to Father after Isabella took you with her?” Terrence asks.       “Really,” William confirms confidently. “Jer and I have been trying to find him for a long time, but we haven’t done it yet. We had an idea of coming to the court, but we were afraid that we wouldn’t be allowed to let in.”       “The hearing was open for visiting. Only journalists weren’t allowed to let in. There were too many of them ‘cause the media were interested in that case.”       “Yeah, but the hearing was over a long time ago, and we don’t have a chance to meet Father.”       “Why not? After Uncle got arrested, he moved into the house of the mother of Edward and me!”       “They live together?” Jeremy wonders.       “They do,” Edward confirms. “Very well.”       “Wait, do you speak to him now?” William wonders.       “Yeah, you kind of hated Dad!” Jeremy exclaims.       “It’s in the past now,” Terrence smiles slightly.       “So, did you solve your conflict with him?”       “Yup, we speak to him very well,” Edward replies confidently. “Mother asked about it for a long time, and we finally made her dream come true.”       “Didn’t Uncle have to do with it?” William frowns slightly.       “He did,” Terrence confirms. “Uncle told me bad things about Father when I was a kid. I remembered that someone said it, but I didn’t know who. I recalled it only when Uncle confessed everything.”       “And he always reminded me that I was an unplanned child, who ruined the lives of my parents,” Edward adds. “Everything had been kind of fine before I was born. But when I came to this world, everything to much worse.”       “Yeah, Uncle is definitely allergic to you,” William notices funnily.       “Not only us, but also those, who surround Father and his relatives.”       “I don’t know what to say…” Jeremy shakes his head. “Of course, we knew that Uncle wasn’t holy, but we didn’t think he was so terrible…”       “Jealousy of Dad and his success was the reason,” William adds. “Uncle couldn’t accept the fact that Grandma and Grandpa let his brother be born and took care of him.”       “If he hadn’t been jealous, mean, shameless, and worthless, he would’ve probably had someone’s attention,” Edward throws gloomily.       “You know what kind of relief Father got when he finally got off that monster!” Terrence adds. “After so many mockeries that he tolerated his whole life!”       “We get it,” Jeremy nods.       “Listen, guys, could you tell Father that we’d like to see him and ask him to meet us?” William asks amicably. “Jer and I are missing him so much and dreaming of speaking to him again.”       “Yes, guys, please, help us contact him.”       “Is it okay that Isabella minds your meetings with Father?” Edward frowns slightly.       “Mother understands that we aren’t children and can decide what we want,” Jeremy replies. “She banned us from meeting Father ‘till we turned eighteen. And she minds our wish to find him. But… Mother decided to accept it and let us do what we think is right.”       “Anyway, she can do nothing ‘cause my brother and I haven’t lived with her for ages,” William adds confidently.       “You have your home?” Terrence specifies.       “We are renting an apartment not far from the university where we’re studying. We moved in there shortly after we were enrolled in the first year.”       “Does Isabella visit you? Or do you visit your mother?”       “It’s different,” Jeremy replies quietly. “Sometimes she visits us… Sometimes we visit her. But we never forget her. Even though we rarely meet: either she works too hard, or we disappear at small works and studies.”       “So, does Isabella still give her everything to work?” Edward asks with a slight smile.       “Yeah, Mother is an incorrigible workaholic. But we’re happy with everything. Yes, we have hard moments at times, but it’s okay. We get through it somehow.”       Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, during which Edward looks aside, and Terrence clears his throat.       “So, will you help us meet Father?” Jeremy asks amicably. “Give his contacts to us?”       “Yeah, sure, no problem,” Terrence shrugs. “Father would be very happy to see you.”       “Does he actually talk about us?” William asks with sadness in his eyes. “Remember?”       “Come on! He often says about his wish to meet you, but he has lost hope that you would show up.”       “Wow!” Jeremy smiles slightly. “Cool!”       “Go to his home at any time,” Edward suggests amicably. “He’d really be thrilled to see you. And our mother wouldn’t be aggressive toward you and would accept you with pleasure.”       “Hey, we saw her in the reportage about Uncle,” William confesses. “Your mother is so beautiful. Well-groomed, shy, and decent woman.”       “The truth is true,” Edward smiles shyly.       “Do you think Rebecca will accept us?” William asks hesitantly.       “Sure!” Terrence exclaims. “Our mother is very good, kind, and sweet. You’ll quickly get along with her. Of course, she may be harsh, but it rarely happens.”       “So, okay then,” Jeremy replies with a slight smile. “Someday we will surely go to the home of Father and Rebecca. But give us an address, so we can find their house.”       “You can leave your numbers, and I’ll send you a message with the address or call you,” Edward suggests. “Or I can write if you have a piece of paper and a pen.”       “Our numbers haven’t changed since that time,” William replies confidently.       “I lost them. And my number is now different.”       “Okay, I’ll find a pen and a piece of paper.”       William quickly takes the notebook and the pen from his small backpack and points them to Edward. He writes down the address for a few seconds and gives these things to the youngest of the MacClife brothers.       “I can leave you my number if you want,” Terrence suggests amicably. “I think we’re gonna meet often. I’d love to talk to you more.”       “It would be cool!” William replies amicably. “Leave your number!”       William gives the notebook and the pen to Terrence, who quickly writes down his mobile number. Then he gives everything to the young guy, who runs his eyes over what’s written along with Jeremy.       “Oh, wow, Terrence, you’ve got cool handwriting!” Jeremy notices. “So neat and perfect…”       “I try to fit what people say about me,” Terrence replies confidently with a mysterious smile.       “Ar-r-r, damn, don’t talk about your handsomeness again,” Edward moans quietly with rolled eyes up.       “What? I’ve said nothing yet!”       “Don’t do it! I’m done with the talks about your eternal awesomeness.”       “So, am I not handsome?”       “You’ve got nothing special.”       “Ha! But girls don’t think so!”       “I know only one girl, who thinks so.”       “Don’t make me cut your long tongue.”       “Don’t make me saw off your crown that is stuck to your gorgeous head.”       “Yay, Terrence, I see you don’t suffer from a lack of self-confidence,” William chuckles kindly.       “Kidding?” Edward pronounces surprisingly and scoffs loudly. “Huh! Terrence tells everyone how handsome and perfect he is! He has dinged into people’s ears about it! He annoyed everyone!”       “Don’t speak for everyone,” Terrence replies.       “I tell the opinion of everybody, who knows you.”       “You’re just teasing me. You actually have the same opinion about me as mine.”       “If I were a girl, I wouldn’t surely get a crush on you.”       “C’mon, Edward, stop annoying him!” Jeremy laughs amicably. “When a man is standing next to such a stunning, freaking sexual beauty like Raquelle Cameron, not fitting perfection would be a sin.”       “Yeah, think about how much effort Terrence has to apply not to let that cutie outstand him!” William exclaims.       “Do you know everything about my personal life if you talk about Raquelle?” Terrence chuckles kindly.       “Of course, we do!” Jeremy exclaims. “We closely watched your life, and we both adore Raquelle as a model! She’s an eternal beauty!”       “Besides, we know that you, brother, used to act in movies and now created your band,” William adds.       “Hey, why does everyone say I ‘used to act in movies?’” Terrence wonders. “Did I give an interview, in which I said I left the acting career?”       “But why don’t you film anymore? You’re a cool actor! We liked some movies featuring you!”       “Nobody offers him roles,” Edward says with a sly smile. “Nobody offers him roles that would be worth such a perfect and wonderful actor like Terrence MacClife. The problem is that everyone only knows him as Mason Houston from ‘American Love Affair.’ And even many years later, he’s still the little boy, who walked naked in front of cameras for a bigger part of the movie. So, my brother doesn’t get any proposals. He’s sitting on his ass with both hands folded and waiting for someone to see not only his beautiful face and gorgeous body but also his infinite talent.”       “Yeah, if you open your mouth, nobody can the fuck close it,” Terrence crosses his arms over his chest.       “Indeed, Edward, you’ve really become too garrulous,” Jeremy notices cheerfully.       “Oh, yeah, more garrulous than a parrot. Sometimes he speaks so much that I get a headache.”       “Yeah, what a miracle!” William chuckles kindly. “How much the guy has changed! Getting a word out of him was impossible before, but now we’ve got this…”       “Wait, guys, you don’t know Terrence,” Edward says confidently. “You’re gonna have a headache when he talks about his eternal awesomeness and pronounces himself God all the time.”       “Keep your sharp tongue in your mouth, Edward,” Terrence warns with an innocent smile. “Or I will cut it.”       “Oh, Edward really has a sharp tongue!” William exclaims funnily and cheerfully. “He’d been able to snap since childhood. He seems to be such a sweet and innocent boy at first sight, but he can find an answer for anything.”       “A cute face doesn’t mean that a little demon isn’t hidden underneath it,” Terrence chuckles kindly. “At first, Eddy seemed madly sweet, shy, and innocent. But as it turned out, my little bro can easily show his claws and teeth.”       “Oh, Terrence, don’t say it to us!” Jeremy waves his hand. “We’ve known Edward since childhood and made sure how ‘sweet and fluffy’ he is many times.”       “Me, Jeremy?” Edward points at himself. “Ha! I’m the sweetest and shyest of us four! If you talk to your elder brother a little, you’ll understand that I’m right. Because he is a walking catastrophe.”       “You’re only shy and sweet with our parents’ pretense and at the home of the one, who makes you forget everything,” Terrence snaps with a sly smile. “In other cases, you’re a little, unbearable hooligan, whose ass must be kicked.”       “Should I ask Mother to tell us how sweet you were?”       “And Father would be happy to tell us what a disaster you are!”       “You are a disaster!”       “Leave your pathetic attempts to act like a shy guy.”       “I wish I found someone to call you a good guy. Even your beloved girl cannot call you the one.”       “Shut up, kid!”       “Hey, about beloved!” William smiles mysteriously. “Edward, we heard you’re gonna get married…”       “To the blondie…” Jeremy pronounces with a mysterious smile. “Stunning blondie. The most gorgeous and attractive girl in the world.”       “Yes, it’s true, I’m getting married,” Edward confirms with a slight smile. “And yeah, to the blondie. Very beautiful and fucking sexy. But incredibly kind, caring, and careful.”       “We know. We saw her in the reportage about Uncle. And even after the end of the trial, we kept following your lives when you two started to sing in a band.”       “I’m gonna get married, too,” Terrence announces. “I’m gonna do this on the same day as Edward.”       “Really?” William wonders. “The same day?”       “Yup. Why not? We decided to unite our efforts and share this happiness together.”       “Wow, cool!” Jeremy exclaims. “We’re so happy for you.”       “Hey, don’t ya wanna come to our wedding?” Edward asks. “We’d be happy to see you among guests on such an important day!”       “Huh, we will not miss this chance!” William chuckles loudly. “A chance to become witnesses of the historical moment! To watch Edward MacClife say goodbye to his freedom and tie himself to a marriage. Never ever!”       “Okay. We shall send you invitations.”       “Yeah, I didn’t think it would happen someday…”       “Hear, what if you make us groomsmen?” Jeremy suggests with a sly smile. “I promise, Will and I will complete our mission and will not disappoint you!”       “Thanks, guys, but the places of groomsmen are taken,” Terrence says. “As well as the place of the best men.”       “Shit!” William swears. “How late we met you! Though, we could’ve personally given you to your beauties!”       “Be happy you’re actually invited to the wedding,” Edward smiles innocently.       “Ah, I hear this word from you and can’t believe it…” Jeremy shakes his head. “Wedding… I would’ve laughed loudly somewhere ten years ago if I had heard that you’d get married in the future.”       “Right!” William exclaims. “I was sure that you’d keep looking for trouble. You cared about it much more than dates with girls.”       “Father didn’t hope that you’d get married and introduce him to his grandchildren,” Jeremy adds with a kind chuckle. “Because you didn’t rush to have a serious relationship, being happy with quick flings. You jumped from one bed to another just because you needed sex.”       “But now, as you and William can see, our brother changed his mind after meeting the girl of his dreams,” Terrence replies confidently with a mysterious smile.       “Oh, I’d marry a girl like her!” William exclaims. “I’m even a little jealous of our Eddy.”       “Here’s everything he ordered: she’s an absolutely natural, super attractive, romantic, and sentimental girl.”       “Anyway, he’s always been able to choose good chicks.”       “Agree!” Jeremy agrees. “Edward has excellent taste for girls. He always chose only beautiful and intelligent girls.”       “And he didn’t change his mind,” Terrence says confidently. “He chose a gorgeous blonde with a gorgeous body. The girl is smart enough, talkative, and funny… Despite living with a provided family, she can serve herself and is ready to take care of someone. Yes, maybe, she’s sometimes a little capricious and stubborn, but my future sister-in-law is a wonderful girl that I adore.”       “He probably gives her beautiful compliments constantly,” William assumes. “Our Edward is too sentimental and romantic and has always known how to make a girl melt and feel like Miss Universe.”       “That’s right!” Terrence confirms. “Our brother is tender and sensitive.”       “Hey, doesn’t he write poems for his fiancée?” William chuckles kindly. “To show how deep his feelings are!”       “Maybe, he does. But I know nothing about them.”       “Let’s bet that he has a bunch of songs that he wrote for his beloved natural blonde.”       “One hundred percent!”       “Listen, Father was right when he said that Eddy would be very successful in a musical career,” Jeremy replies cheerfully. “Write songs, perform them…”       “Yeah, but we laughed at it at first,” William confesses. “We were like, what kind of musician could Edward be? He only wanted to look for trouble and pretend to be a hero!”       “But our opinion changed when Will and I found many lyrics that he wrote in childhood in his room. They were terribly snotty and romantic… Just like all the songs that he played on guitar secretly.”       “Aha, I remember how he somehow went home with a guitar in his hands, and Dad questioned him to find out where he got it. So, our bro tried to make him sure that his pal gave the instrument to him.”       “Actually, that’s the truth,” Edward confesses. “He gave the guitar to me ‘cause he no longer wanted to play. His father loved it and made his son do it. But that guy didn’t wanna play, had a passion for technique, and played terribly. So, to get rid of what he disliked, he easily gave the guitar to me. And I agreed. Because I knew I could not expect that gift from Father.”       “Anyway, Eddy played the guitar all day from that moment on,” Jeremy says confidently. “Secretly. He didn’t want anyone to hear him. And read his snotty lyrics, to which he tried to pick up a melody.”       “Yeah, let me ask you, who let you get through my stuff and steal it?” Edward resented. “I never checked your rooms and didn’t steal anything!”       “Oh, c’mon, man!” William exclaims. “Jer and I just passed by and decided to check it out, using the fact that you weren’t home, and the door of the room was open.”       “We found many interesting things,” Jeremy smiles mysteriously. “Snotty lyrics, some stuff, and old erotic magazines.”       “Erotic magazines?” Terrence laughs quietly.       “These weren’t mine!” Edward jabs. “I… Took them from my friend. To check them out. When I didn’t have a girl but wanted sex to death.”       “Ah, sorry, we forgot it,” William chuckles kindly. “You had puberty. You grew up, paid attention to girls, and thought of sex… Examined your body…”       “Aha, looking at nude hot girls in a magazine, he was training his imagination and pleasing his dick,” Jeremy laughs shyly. “Those cuties were the reason why you could feel hard one second later.”       “Oh, oh, as if you didn’t check porn sites secretly, deceiving the system and saying you were eighteen,” Edward protests confidently. “You pressed the button, ‘I’m already 18’ – that’s all! Masturbate until you lose your hand.”       “Yeah, we did…” William smiles mysteriously. “And my brother and I checked out those magazines a little.”       “You were too young to look at nude girls and men at that time.”       “But we discovered a little more about you,” Jeremy says confidently. “Not only us. Thanks to us, Father found out that you had a talent for music. He read all your lyrics and liked them.”       “Aha, Father thought you could be successful in music if you stopped being so timid and wanted it,” William adds.       “It’s in the past,” Terrence waves his hand. “If you knew the hesitant boy named Edward, forget him. He no longer exists.”       “At least, he’s become too garrulous.”       “Oh, you must see how Edward rocks on at our band’s rehearsals!”       “So, really?” Jeremy rounds his eyes.       “After he joined us as a guitarist and vocalist, our performances became fucking powerful. My friends and I call Edward our little motor ‘cause he’s able to get people immediately excited.”       “By the way, guys, your band’s single is cool!” William notices cheerfully. “Jer and I love it! We’ve literally listened to it a thousand times. Though, we haven’t watched your live performances and your music video ‘cause we don’t have time. And we heard the song on the radio and bought it on iTunes.”       “Thanks, we’re glad you love it.”       “You did a good job, lads, well done! Release an album soon! One song isn’t enough for me and my brother! We want more!”       “Don’t worry, guys, our album is gonna be released soon. Some time later, we’re gonna renew our performances on shows and interviews. And we’ll go on a worldwide tour after the album is out.”       “Oh, that’s so awesome!” Jeremy smiles widely. “We’ll surely buy the album out. We’ll be listening to it all day if we like it. And if we have a chance and money, we’ll come to your show.”       “We’ll try to make those, who’ll come to listen to us, happy,” Edward promises with a slight smile.       A young couple with a little child being carried by the mother saying something to a man, who is carrying some packs and listening to her closely, goes by the table, on which Edward, Jeremy, William, and Terrence are sitting.       “Hey, my study partner has a little sister, who has a crush on your drummer,” William confesses cheerfully. “Well, the blond…”       “Aha, she adores that guy,” Jeremy confirms. “And she literally dreams of getting married to him.”       “Unfortunately, our drummer is already taken,” Terrence disappoints with an innocent smile. “But I think he’d be flattered to hear what you said.”       “I said about getting married in a literal sense!” Jeremy waves his hand. “Though, almost all your fans dream of marrying you. And many of them get super upset when they find out that you’re taken.”       “But many of them really adore your girls and think they’re perfect partners for you,” William adds.       “And honestly, it’s a little funny,” Edward laughs shyly. “You walk quietly and bother nobody, and then a little girl comes to you, asks you to take a photo and give her an autograph, and says she wanna get married to you.”       “Don’t pretend that you got proposals to get married,” Terrence chuckles kindly.       “Of course, I did. And one day, I was at the bar with Kevin and Christopher and barely got off a girl, who tried to persuade me to have casual sex. She didn’t care that I was almost married. Almost nobody kind of cares about the ring on your finger.”       “Actually, I’ve gotten proposals to become someone’s husband. Since I became famous as an actor. I could’ve been married probably a million times. And how many times I’ve been tried to go to bed and become a father of a child! I can’t remember!”       “I hope any girl will not show up someday, say she has a child from you, and tell you to recognize them.”       “Don’t worry, bro. I’ve always been sure about the quality of my condoms.”       “I’ll laugh if you’re sitting in the office of a doctor and giving a sample for determination of paternity. And if it’s positive, you’re gonna give the child half of your money until they become legal. But knowing your income, they could make you pay great alimony.”       “Stop saying bullshit, kid!”       “Okay, I’ve warned you. And don’t complain that I didn’t say it.”       “You look sweeter than when your mouth is closed.”       “I actually wanna kiss you.”       “Anyway, you chose this life at your wish, guys,” Jeremy notices confidently. “So, you can’t complain. You knew what you were doing.”       “We don’t complain…” Edward shrugs. “Vice versa, we like it. And we’re happy when we make someone happy. All these autographs and photos with fans are a part of our job, and to them, it’s almost the whole world.”       “Anyway, Will and I are waiting for your new album with impatience.”       “Soon, Jeremy, soon.”       Edward glances aside and smiles slightly when he sees two children having fun, running after each other, and shouting something.       “Hey, what about your personal life?” Terrence asks. “Now it’s your time to tell us who got you in love.”       “Oh, I’ve been dating nobody for a long time,” Jeremy waves his hand.       “And I’ve recently broken up with a girl,” William confesses. “I was done with her and rejected her. And I ain’t upset. Because I care about nothing and enjoy a single life. Honestly, these dates get me a little exhausted. Especially when you’ve gotta study or work.”       “Yeah, you’ve always been too lazy for dates,” Edward laughs quietly.       “But it was cool to date her at first. My friend introduced that girl to me. And as it turned out, he, speaking softly, gave his ex to me after leaving her. And now I understand why. She wants too much. She’s too obsessed with her and doesn’t think of the feelings of other people.”       “A familiar case,” Terrence confesses. “I knew one girl, who also wanted too much. I even hooked up with her. But not for too long… We dated for a while and broke up.”       “That’s why I left my last ex in high school,” Jeremy confesses. “I wanna date a simple girl without demons, but we only meet egoists and consumers.”       “Oh, fuck these affairs!” William waves his hand. “I don’t want!”       “Exactly! That’s the responsibility! Girls should get a lot of attention, but when do we do it if my brother and I work and get ready for exams?”       “You know, Terrence and I also work a lot with the band and sometimes do our personal business,” Edward notices confidently. “But we have no problems with time for the girls. Besides, they understand it all and don’t make us stay with them all day.”       “Yeah, if you want it, you can always find time,” Terrence adds.       “Oh, we don’t wanna deal with it now,” William waves his hand. “I’m only twenty-two, and Jer is twenty-three. We’ll have time to date many other girls. There are many cuties, who we could hang out with, at the university. If we wanna get rid of pressure, we can always find the one to agree to suck us quickly.”       “But you’ll get married early or late. You’re gonna be tortured with this question more and more two or three years.”       “We know, but we have no plans of getting a serious relationship,” Jeremy confesses. “Mother always says that we must think of marrying and having children, but she doesn’t rush us, luckily. She understands that we should get an education, get a job, and be able to feed ourselves and our families.”       “Our mother is dreaming of becoming a grandmother, but Father takes the question about grandchildren quietly and says we can make children when we’re ready.”       “Are you ready for children?”       “I am. I love children and love playing with them. The aunt of my fiancée recently adopted a little girl and introduced her to us. So, I adore playing with her and have the pleasure of spending time with her when that woman brings her daughter to us.”       “Cool!”       “You know, I can imagine you as a father, but I can’t connect Edward and fatherhood,” William laughs shyly. “A baby is in his arms and he… No, guys!”       “I guess Father can’t also imagine you as husbands and fathers,” Edward says confidently. “But he will want it someday. As well as Isabella.”       “Maybe, closer to twenty years or later… But now we need to finish our studies and find a good job, not a temporary one. Well, hangouts and fun are out of the line. We can’t refuse a chance to spend time with our friends.”       “Yeah, it seems like nothing changes…” Edward chuckles kindly. “You still love hanging out enough… Preferably, in the company of beautiful girls, who you wouldn’t owe.”       “So, bro, are you jealous that you’re gonna lose this chance ‘cause the marriage webs will take you in their hugs?” Jeremy laughs.       “Not at all,” Edward shakes his head with a slight smile. “So much has happened in my life that I just wanna live quietly. Work with my band and get old next to my beloved woman and future children.”       “Oh, Edward, I’m afraid you will not live without adrenaline for a long time,” William assumes confidently. “You’re a great lover of looking for trouble and will hardly be quieter someday.”       “Yeah, but I’ll hardly do what I did when I was a stupid kid.”       “And that’s good if everything ends well. It’s much worse when you or someone else suffers.”       “I absolutely agree with you, William,” Terrence agrees cheerfully. “Edward wouldn’t be Edward if he didn’t get into a problem and get a hit on his head. It would probably be worthless to tie him up to a chair and lock him under a key, ‘cause this little hooligan would find a way to get out.”       “If Eddy gets a chance, nothing can stop him,” Jeremy says confidently. “No matter what you say! You can even lose your voice when trying to convince him that he shouldn’t do it. He would literally close his ears and eyes, turn off his brains, and go.”       “Right, right! He listens to nobody: Father, Mother, our friends, and me. His fiancée can impact him somehow, but she doesn’t always control this stubborn donkey enough.”       “Oh, dude, how well you understand us!” Jeremy clicks his fingers. “How you’re right!”       “Guys, I’ve been a witness to those cases a million times!”       “Yeah, Terry pretends to be a harsh daddy and tells me that I’m a baby that must be kept under a close view all the time,” Edward adds.       “What can I do if that’s true?” Terrence throws his hands up. “If you aren’t slowed and pulled down, you’ll keep moving on. Try to crush the wall with your head! And keep hitting it until you pass out!”       “You’re right, he must be pulled down at times,” Jeremy says confidently. “I remember how Father locked Edward in his room after he got into something with his pals. Of course, our bro resented, screamed, and broke the door, but Dad was determined. So, this nimble boy thought about nothing better than getting out through the window.”       “Oh, yeah!” William exclaims. “I remember that case! Father was super wild! Jer and I thought he would’ve killed Edward with his own hands! But that’s good Mother calmed him down and persuaded him just to lock him in the room, saying, ‘Stay here and think about your behavior!’”       “Aha, as if he’d do it,” Terrence laughs quietly.       “Yeah, you, boneheads, better explain why he locked me up,” Edward suggests with both arms crossed over his chest. “How you two framed my friends and me when you told Father about what we did. Because of you, he put me under a home arrest and took my phone.”       “We’re not guilty of the fact that you first do and then use your brains,” Jeremy smiles innocently. “We couldn’t lie when Dad asked where you the fuck where. At past midnight.”       “Aha, I’m surprised that you weren’t caught by the cops,” William adds. “Otherwise, it would’ve been bad for you!”       “That’s so good I never took you with me,” Edward says confidently. “You would’ve betrayed me and told him everything I did.”       “Aha, was it fine that you took revenge on us and framed us later?” William wonders.       “Hey, why could you mock me? Why could I not do it?”       “What did Daddy tell you? You are an adult man, who should have brains! And we are little children that should play the fool!”       “And you, idiots, used it! And you always made me guilty!”       “You always answered us back!” Jeremy exclaims. “Just like you did it then! You did a dirty trick with your pals’ help, got out quickly, and told the teachers and head teacher that we were guilty.”       “Someone finally scolded you and praised me,” Edward smiles slyly. “You know how much fun I had watching you try to excuse yourself to your father and mother. They gave you such a hot!”       “We know you madly liked watching us get into shit! You betrayed us every time you had a chance!”       “I just answered you back,” Edward throws his hands up. “I treated you the way you treated me.”       “Okay, our hurtful bro,” Jeremy raises his hands up. “We got it.”       “Listen, I’m so sorry that I didn’t live with you,” Terrence chuckles kindly. “We would’ve kicked Edward’s ass together and kept him on a short leash.”       “If you’d lived with us, I would’ve made your life much ‘sweeter’ than now,” Edward says confidently with his head proudly raised.       “Yeah, Terrence, you missed a lot,” William laughs shyly.       “We had a lot of fun mocking Edward,” Jeremy adds.       “Ah! Those times were cool!”       “Yeah, incredible…” Edward blunts under his nose.       “No, guys, not everything is lost,” Terrence smiles slyly. “I spent my childhood without my bro, but now I use any chance to kick his ass. It’s my favorite thing to do!”       “Oh, brother, you’re one of us!” Jeremy exclaims funnily, clapping Terrence on the forearm.       “We knew we wouldn’t be disappointed if we met you,” William adds confidently.”       “Listen, William, Jeremy, I’m starting to regret more and more not wishing to speak to you. I missed so many things!”       “Huh, knowing that you don’t mind kicking Eddy’s ass, we would’ve found you!” Jeremy replies funnily. “Anywhere! Would’ve gotten you outta the ground!”       “Okay, guys, we’re gonna meet as often as possible! I don’t know you enough yet, but I already love you.”       “Hey, do you want us to tell you about one cool case?” William suggests cheerfully. “You’re gonna be laughing loudly if you hear what we did to Edward!”       “Speak out,” Terrence pronounces, looking forward to something grandiose.       William and Jeremy working their hands actively start to tell Terrence something, while Edward listens to them with a gloomy look and his arms crossed over his chest, not even thinking about hiding his irritation. While the four men are talking about something, Peter and Daniel come to the café, being not less funny and cheerful and thrilling with a laugh on the way. The friends stop not far from it, look at everybody near it, and quickly notice Terrence and Edward, who literally forgot about them.       “Oh, our irresistible boys are there,” Peter says through a laugh, pointing at the table, on which the MacClife brothers are sitting.       “Yeah, it seems like we’re late,” Daniel notices.       “So, sind wir erledigt! MacClife, Sr., is gonna see us and kick our asses.”       “If you’d worked your tongue less and walked faster than a snail, we would’ve come sooner.”       “I wasn’t the one to start giving claps on the head generously.”       “Because someone was too curious and annoying.”       “Because someone is silent about what made their mood better.”       “Oh, Rose, here you go again…”       “It’s okay, Perkins, I shall know your secrets anyway. I will tell the MacClifes that you’re hiding something, and we will quickly get everything outta you.”       “I think they give a fuck about us. Look! The MacClifes are sitting and laughing loudly!”       Meanwhile, Terrence listens to what Jeremy and William tell him and starts thrilling with a loud laugh. After waiting for some time, Edward sitting next to him gives his brother a slap on the back of his head and multiple hits on his arms, saying something and threatening him with a finger with a sly smile.       “Wait, who are those two?” Peter frowns slightly.       “I don’t know,” Daniel shrugs. “So, did those two boneheads kick us outta the band and find someone to replace us?”       “Or Edward met some pals again or used his charm to meet more people for two minutes.”       “Maybe… If he’d been much more popular than his brother.”       “Hey, does it seem to me that those two have the same hair color as both of the MacClifes.”       “Yeah, both are black-haired…” Daniel frowns slightly.       “Damn, I can barely see from here… I can’t see their faces…”       “But I see. And I must confess that those two are kind of similar to the MacClifes.”       “Hey, tough guy…” Peter claps Daniel on the shoulder. “What if these are two more of the MacClife brothers?”       “Two more?” Daniel moves his surprised look to Peter. “The sons of their father from the second marriage? Do think that’s them?”       “I didn’t say that’s them. I just assumed it.”       “I dunno, buddy…” Daniel moves his eyes to Edward, Terrence, William, and Jeremy. “But those two are really similar to our incomparable MacClife brothers. And there’s something that makes them alike Mr. MacClife.”       “Anything’s possible…”       “Oh, no need to guess!” Daniel waves his hand. “Let’s come to them, and they’ll explain everything. And finally stop laughing at the entire café like two idiots…”       “We’ll have to do this anyway.”       Two seconds later, Daniel and Peter come confidently to the café, while Edward and Terrence are still thrilling with laughter as they talk to Jeremy and William.       “Oh, damn!” Terrence exclaims cheerfully with a laugh, leaning on the surface of the table with both hands. “You’re awesome, men!”       “It’s just one case,” Jeremy replies cheerfully. “You know how many cases happened! We got pleasure from mocking our bro so many times.”       “I wouldn’t come up with it… Who told you this idea?”       “No one,” William pronounces with a slight smile. “Jer and I planned everything. Absolutely spontaneous. Word by word, before we got a genius plan.”       “Cool! I don’t know what to say!”       “My brother and I think about that time with a special tenderness,” Jeremy confesses confidently. “It was the best one in our lives. Mocking Eddy was our favorite thing to do.”       “Oh, guys, let me remind you how you were mocking each other,” Edward says with a sly smile. “Why do we always talk about me? Think about others and yourself!”       “No, it wasn’t as interesting to mock Will as it was to mock you,” Jeremy smiles slyly. “Of course, I love doing a dirty trick on him. But mocking Edward was much better.”       “And I love mocking Jer,” William confesses. “Pranks are my element. However, it’s much funnier to laugh when Edward gets into the trap of my brother and me or finds problems himself.”       “And how do you get on?” Terrence asks.       “Excellent,” Jeremy smiles slightly. “Will and I are the best friends! Mother says that a little age difference – only one year – has to do with it.”       “It’s true,” William agrees. “We know many brothers and sisters with a great age difference, who don’t get along and have nothing in common. Well, as my brother and I are almost the same age, we have a lot of fun together.”       “I think it’s one of the fewer cases when I agree with you,” Edward confesses. “I didn’t wanna babysit you at all. And let’s be honest, I had nothing to talk to you two about. You were little, stupid, and annoying children.”       “Maybe, we had nothing to talk to you about, but planning mockery toward you was super cool,” Jeremy says confidently.       “Hey, will you tell me about all the mockeries toward him?” Terrence asks with a sly smile. “I wanna know everything.”       “Don’t hurt us, brother!” William exclaims. “We will tell you everything!”       “Ar-r-r, you three are starting to irritate me,” Edward throws gloomily with both arms crossed over his chest. “The three brothers met and agreed to mock the fourth one!”       “We’re just getting to know each other,” Terrence smiles innocently.       “Listen, do I have something on my forehead that tells you that you can mock me and be unpunished?”       “It’s okay, bro, I shall take revenge on you for all the mockeries toward me.”       “Ha, keep dreaming!” Edward scoffs loudly. “I will not let you mock me!”       “You aren’t the only one to allow us to snap and beat us,” William notices with an innocent smile. “We also wanna kick your ass and keep you on a short leash.”       “Yeah, I will kick your asses now! For your information, I’m older than you and have the right to punish you for not obeying me.”       “Close your mouth, kid,” Terrence smiles slyly, pushing Edward on a hip. “I’m the eldest here! I am the head! So, you’ll obey me.”       “Maybe, you will go to the fuck, Daddy?”       “One more word before I seal your mouth with superglue!”       “You will not hurt your beloved little bro,” Edward smiles slyly.       “If I have to, I will hang your balls.”       “Is it much more interesting than BDSM games with your beloved Raquelle?”       Maybe, Edward and Terrence would keep arguing or fighting with each other for fun. But Daniel and Peter come to them from behind and clap on the back of MacClife, Jr.’s head and the shoulder of MacClife, Sr., respectively.       “Hey, guys, what’s up?” Daniel asks cheerfully.       “Still finding out who’s the best of you?” Peter asks funnily.       While Peter runs to Edward and ruffles his hair a little, Daniel claps Terrence on the back of his head.       “Oh, look, the pretty boys have shown up!” Terrence exclaims. “It’s not even two hours!”       Terrence and Edward greet Peter and Daniel by giving them a homie handshake and clapping them on the shoulder when they hug them.       “It’s bad that you’re so late, lads,” Edward chuckles kindly. “My bro started to beat the ground with his hoof.”       “We aren’t late,” Peter protests, pointing at the watch on his right hand. “It’s almost one hour! When we’re supposed to be here.”       “Besides, we came even earlier than George,” Daniel adds with his head proudly raised. “So, nobody’s gonna say that we always have to wait for someone.”       “Well, I’ve been here for a long time,” Edward says quietly. “Sitting and listening to this idiot, who annoyed me to the fuck.”       “You annoy me even when you’re near me,” Terrence replies confidently. “And you make me wish to hit you on the head with just one appearance.”       “Oh, yeah, you love waving your hands.”       “And you love looking for trouble.”       “And you love annoying everyone by talking about your eternal awesomeness for hours.”       Edward and Terrence imitate each other’s mimic for two seconds before Peter and Daniel look at each other with slight smiles, and the blond says quietly:       “Okay, chocolate head, I think we better leave… Let’s have a meeting the next time.”       “Aha, don’t dare to move!” Terrence cuts off. “No step back!”       “C’mon, MacClife!” Daniel waves a hand. “You had such a hot discussion that Pete and I didn’t even wanna stop it.”       “Stop having a rest! You slept ‘till twenty past twelve! Be pleased to work a little!”       “If I didn’t wanna work, I wouldn’t have come here. I would’ve fucked you and these two off and kept sleeping and embracing my pillow.”       “When we solve all the questions, you can embrace your pillows as much as you want!”       “So, let’s wait for George to come,” Edward says cheerfully.       “We have to. If Smith hasn’t shown up yet.”       Meanwhile, Jeremy and William look closely at Daniel and Peter, whom they recognize immediately.       “Bloody hell…” Jeremy pronounces with widely open eyes. “Oh, shit…”       Jeremy and William get up from their chairs and come to Daniel and Peter.       “Hey, guys, are you from the band ‘Against The System?’” William cannot believe his eyes.       “A drummer and a bassist?” Jeremy specifies.       “Yes, we are,” Daniel confirms with a slight smile.       “Oh, shit!” William smiles widely and claps Jeremy on the shoulder. “Hey, Jer, you and I are fucking lucky today! We met our brothers and the men from their band.”       “Right, everybody at the university is gonna be jealous!” Jeremy replies funnily. “Especially girls!”       “Wait, did you say, ‘You met your brothers?’” Peter asks, frowning slightly. “So, are you the brothers of Terrence and Edward on the father?”       “Jeremy and William?” Daniel specifies.       “Yes, yes, we are,” William confirms. “I’m William, and he’s Jeremy.”       “Well, if you don’t know it, I’m Daniel, a bassist of 'Against The System.’”       “And I’m Peter, a drummer,” Peter introduces himself amicably.       “Nice to meet you, guys,” Jeremy replies with a slight smile.       William and Jeremy greet Daniel and Peter by shaking them tightly by the hand, while Terrence and Edward look at each other with a quiet chuckle and their arms crossed over their chests.       “Listen, your band is really cool!” William confesses cheerfully. “We’ve listened to your debut song thousands of times and kept the money for your new album.”       “Really?” Peter wonders truly. “Awesome! We’re happy that you love it.”       “But these two don’t wanna tell us the day of the album’s release,” Jeremy says, pointing at Terrence and Edward. “Maybe, you will reveal this secret?”       “We’d do it with pleasure, but we don’t know it yet,” Daniel shrugs. “But I think it’s gonna be out by the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.”       “Great!” William claps his hands. “Finally, someone told us this secret.”       “Listen, how long have you been talking here with Edward and Terrence?” Peter specifies.       “Not so much. My brother and I just saw a familiar guy and realized that was Edward. We came and met Terrence, our eldest brother.”       “Did you easily realize that they were your brothers?”       “Oh, how couldn’t we do it?” William chuckles kindly. “Edward hasn’t changed much since he was a teenager. He still looks like a hot young, hot boy with a pretty face, even though he has grown up into a man. Besides, we knew how he looked ‘cause our bro has lately been very famous.”       “And as for Terrence, we’ve always imagined the way he looked by recalling our father’s photos from his youth, ‘cause they’re like two drops of water,” Jeremy adds. “And of course, we knew it thanks to his acting career. And the case of our uncle let us see Edward and Terrence, their girls, our father, and Rebecca.”       “Yeah, it happened…” Daniel replies thoughtfully. “People talked about it for a long time.”       “We watched the processing closely. And I believe we even saw you two.”       “All the friends and relatives of the MacClifes came to the court to support them. We didn’t also stay aside and were with them at such a hard moment.”       “We got it.”       “Hey, do you already know Edward and Terrence are gonna get married soon?”       “Oh, yeah, we do!” William replies cheerfully with a wide smile. “Edward told us that he’s gonna say goodbye to his freedom and get married to his beautiful blondie.”       “Did you see how beautiful and fantastic she is?” Peter smiles mysteriously.       “I’ve never met such eternal beauties!”       “Yeah, Edward’s got excellent taste in this case,” Jeremy confesses. “His girls have always been incredibly beautiful and by far not stupid.”       “Still, I can’t believe that the one, who didn’t care about his family and hooked up with girls for good sex, is gonna be a family man soon.”       “I wonder how that beauty charmed this guy and made him sure to marry her?” Jeremy asks.       “He looked and saw – a hole, he lost his memory!” Daniel smiles innocently. “Something like this happened to our friend.”       “Trust us, guys, those two romantics have found each other,” Peter adds confidently. “Edward and Natalia are literally made for each other.”       “Oh, yeah, our brother is a fucking snotty romantic!” William chuckles kindly.       “It’s not a secret for us,” Daniel laughs quietly.       “Hey, dudes, do Edward and Terrence often fight with each other and find out who’s the best and sassiest?” Jeremy asks with a sly smile. “They argued with our pretense multiple times!”       “Oh, come on!” Peter exclaims cheerfully. “These two spending a day without these fights… Ha! It’s never happened yet!”       “Don’t pay attention to them,” Daniel waves his hand. “It’s fine for them. They just show their love for each other.”       “Terrence finds himself freaking irresistible and tells everyone about it. And Edward hasn’t lately suffered from a lack of self-confidence. So, they bring each other to the earth not to get lost.”       “We got it,” Jeremy laughs shyly. “But Edward really became different: more confident, more talkative, and much louder… He was a little boy and pretended to be sassy when sitting in his room, even though he was afraid of literally everything. But now he’s grown up into a man and is really so brave and proud.”       “Yeah, he stole my leather jacket and believes he’s irresistible,” Terrence throws gloomily.       “Actually, people change, Jeremy,” Edward says quietly, sitting at the table. “You and William were also arrogant, little boys, who didn’t let me live well. But now, as I see, you’ve changed. Grew up a little… You started to get some brains… Though, you haven’t stopped being arrogant idiots, who only wanna laugh. However, Terrence is the same. He pretends to be a smart, adult man, but when he’s got a reason, he becomes a brainless idiot.”       “But how much fun we had!” William exclaims cheerfully with a wide smile. “Watching your face when you got into our traps was super hilarious.”       “Yeah…” Edward rolls his eyes. “You found a scapegoat that you could mock hard. You didn’t even mock each other as much as you did it to me when we lived with Father and Isabella.”       “You know, if you’d lived with your older bro, everything would’ve been the same,” Peter notices confidently. “He would’ve mocked you and regretted the fact that your parents let him be born a million times.”       “What if it hadn't been?” Terrence assumes. “What if we would’ve been friendly?”       “Oh, yeah, friendly…” Daniel and Peter laugh quietly.       “We see how friendly you are,” Peter says confidently. “You’re making up for the lost time when you were separated in childhood so hard. You use every moment to kick each other’s ass.”       “Just like my sister…” Daniel chuckles quietly. “She has mocked me since we were kids.”       “Oh, do you have a sister?” Jeremy wonders.       “Yup, a younger one. We live together after our parents’ death.”       “Is your age difference big?”       “She’s nineteen, and I’m almost twenty-seven.”       “Haven’t you still killed each other?” William wonders.       “Nope. We didn’t actually care about each other when we were kids. We just recently started to get closer.”       “I wish I had a sis… It’s kind of boring to be surrounded by three brothers…”       “I’d seriously be worried about my sister if I had her,” Edward says confidently. “How she’d live if she had two brothers, who wouldn’t miss a chance to mock a girl. And the third agreed with these idiots and would do anything they wanted.”       “Hey, if I had a sister, I’d take care of her like a brilliant!” Terrence protests.       “And I’d be happy to play with her!” Jeremy adds.       “Go for a walk with her,” William says thoughtfully. “Swing on a swing…”       “Eat ice crème…”       “C’mon, guys, don’t pretend to be perfect daddies,” Edward smiles slightly.       “What?” Terrence resents. “I am the best older brother in the world! The leader that could guide everyone.”       “Yay, Daniel…” Peter laughs quietly. “I think you and I have no place in the party of the four MacClife brothers.”       “Right, we’d better get out of here not to ruin the crazy mix of the MacClifes,” Daniel agrees funnily.       “Hey, you won’t get out of here!” Terrence says confidently.       “But what do we do among so many MacClifes?”       “Damn, they’re gonna rule this world soon!” Peter exclaims funnily. “A-a-a-a! What do we do? What do we do?”       “C’mon, guys, don’t go anywhere,” William waves his hand with a slight smile. “It’s cool that Jer and I met all of you. I think we can get on well.”       “You all united for the same wish, William,” Edward replies confidently. “To mock me and hit me on the head.”       “You know, your eldest brother and your friends don’t mind it, and they listen to us with pleasure,” Jeremy smiles slyly. “And Will and I are also happy to talk to them and make them laugh by telling them stories about how you were a fool.”       “Ha, how could you amaze them?”       “We could tell them very much,” William smiles slyly. “We’ve told Terrence just one of those cases. And how many of them happened! M-m-m…”       “Would you share it with us?” Daniel asks. “What if we can take a note about something…”       “Hey, guys, tell these two what you told me,” Terrence says with a wide smile. “They are gonna love it.”       “Is it okay that we don’t have time for worthless talks?” Edward asks loudly.       “George hasn’t come yet!” Peter exclaims. “So, we could laugh a little with some good people.”       “You better focus on renewing our performances and getting ready for a worldwide tour.”       “C’mon, bro, why are you as shy as a girl?” Jeremy chuckles kindly.       “What you’re telling is not funny.”       “Oh, yeah, not funny! Terrence was thrilling with laughter because of what we told him!”       “Terrence always rolls on the floor when the case is about my failures.”       “Yeah, I almost forgot… We can’t be silent about the case, after which even your pals were laughing at you.”       “Oh, guys, guys!” William exclaims funnily with a wide smile. “You must know it!”       “Hey, don’t dare!” Edward throws loudly, gets up sharply from the table, and threatens William and Jeremy with a finger. “Don’t dare to open your mouth, idiots. Or you’re gonna regret it.”       “C’mon, Eddy, why are you so shy?” Jeremy laughs quietly. “It was cool! Everybody had fun!”       “I’m not kidding, morons. If you open your mouths and at least hit on that case, I shall grab my belt.”       “M-m-m, I feel it was something cool if Edward reacts so excitedly,” Daniel rubs his hands with a sly smile.       “Oh, guys, you missed so much,” Jeremy says with a laugh. “You must’ve seen what kind of hairstyle he got after we applied some effort.”       “It’s the best prank we’ve ever done,” William adds cheerfully.       “Yeah, best…” Edward blunts under his nose with both arms crossed over his chest. “I would’ve rather been swallowed by the ground! I still wanna die of shame because of what you did.”       “C’mon, dude, what’s wrong with the fact that your wonderful hair got dyed,” William chuckles kindly. “But how much that color fitted you! Ah! Jer and I were thrilled!”       “Oh, yeah, and how perfect the dye was!” Jeremy pronounces with enjoyment. “Perfect color! Bright, excellent, beautiful… And it fitted your pretty face so much.”       “But not a fucking pink one!” Edward throws irritably and loudly. “Not pink!”       Daniel, Peter, and Terrence look at each other and immediately thrill with a laugh, while Edward looks like he is ready to kill some of his friends or brothers.       “Pink?” Peter asks with a loud laugh.       “Come on, are you serious?” Terrence asks funnily, getting up from the table.       “We are!” Jeremy and William exclaim.       “Oh, fuck, you’re awesome, dudes!” Daniel chuckles kindly. “Wow… Edward with pink hair…”       “That was incredibly cool!” Jeremy confesses cheerfully. “It was much better than we expected!”       “But how did you do it?” Terrence asks.       “Easy! While Edward was sleeping like a child after getting in trouble at night along with his pals, Will and I went to the bathroom and added a pink dye to the bottle of shampoo that he usually used to wash his horse hair.”       “And when he got enough sleep and went to the bathroom to take a shower and wash his hair, the surprise was waiting for him,” William adds with a mysterious smile. “Jer and I were standing near the door and listening closely to what was happening.”       “At first, nothing happened, but then…”       “Ah! You must’ve heard how he shouted when he got our surprise! I still remember him getting out of the bathroom like crazy!”       “Absolutely naked!” Jeremy exclaims with a laugh, gesticulating actively. “With pink hair and dye getting down over his body.”       “And then he started to swear at the whole house. Father and Mother would’ve kicked his ass if they heard Edward scream out swear words!”       “Oh, guys, that was awesome! We laughed one hundred years ahead!”       Terrence, Peter, and Daniel start laughing much louder after listening to the story about Edward’s pink hair and barely hold themselves down not to laugh too loudly while being in public.       “Oh, fuck, I can’t take it, guys…” Terrence says with laughter, grabbing his stomach.       “Oh, men!” Peter exclaims cheerfully. “I can already imagine all of that!”       “And I hear Edward screaming in the whole house and running naked after you in the whole house with pink hair,” Daniel adds funnily.       “Oh, that color fitted him so well, m-m-m…” Jeremy smiles slyly. “Edward was fucking handsome! Even if he had the worst hairstyle in the world!”       “We got kind of proud of each other,” William adds confidently.       “I thought I would’ve killed you two while you were laughing so fucking hard!” Edward replies irritably. “I was in a shower cabin, washed my head, and bothered nobody. And I see that I had some pink shit on my hands. I looked in the mirror and saw that my whole head was dyed!”       “You could thank us for making such a masterpiece.”       “Thank? Are you serious? I barely washed that fucking pink color off my hair and body! I was worried that the dye would be on my skin forever! My hair came back to normal in a few weeks. All my friends were laughing at me and calling me a faggot because my hair was pink. Fucking pink! It would’ve been okay if I’d been a blond or a red-haired one! But fuck, pink! A fucking Barbie doll!”       “I wonder what Cass would do to me if I did the same surprise for her?” Daniel asks. “Knowing that she hates pink…”       “We’d hardly see you alive,” Peter laughs quietly.       “C’mon, Edward, don’t get excited,” William says with a slight smile. “It was cool!”       “Where were your brains, idiots?” Edward resents. “What were you thinking of when you decided to do that?”       “Maybe, it would’ve made you cut off your hair and gotten rid of that disgusting emo fridge, which closed half of your pretty face,” Jeremy says thoughtfully.       “Oh, I still hate that fridge!” William exclaims. “Though, I can’t even call it the one! It’s some kind of shit!”       “How could girls like you? That was super ugly! You should’ve also had makeup in a panda style and put a ring in your nose to look much worse.”       “Do you think they would’ve given me more attention if I’d had pink hair?” Edward wonders.       “What? That color fitted you so much!”       “Moreover, sometimes you need to change,” William adds. “Girls always change their hairstyles and hair color.”       “I got overwhelmed by those changes!” Edward throws coldly. “I was terribly afraid to go outside and show my hair to someone! And I always wore snapbacks and bandanas at home! And I will never forget what Father did when he saw that fucking hair.”       “Oh, relax, Edward!” William says funnily. “Why are you whining like an old lady?”       “We all laughed so hard at your pink hair!” William adds.       “You still remained a cutie even after such huge changes.”       “Ah!” William and Jeremy pronounce at the same time with a wide smile.       With these words, Jeremy and William give Edward a clap on the back of his head, but the guy sharply moves the men’s hands off himself and crosses his arms over his chest, while these two, Terrence, Daniel, and Peter keep thrilling with laughter.       “Oh, I’m not okay…” Terrence pronounces cheerfully with a laugh, leaning on the table with one hand and still holding his stomach with a second hand. “Guys…”       “Damn, why didn’t we think about it before?” Peter wonders with a wide smile. “We would’ve had played the fool of the kid!”       “Listen, I’d love to see Edward’s face. And laugh at his pink hair. I’m sure that he would look incredible.”       “You’re gonna be awesome with a bruise under your eye,” Edward throws gloomily. “I will see how you, unbearable birdie, react when I dye your hair green.”       “I shall dye my hair blue if you dye yours pink again!”       Jeremy, Peter, William, and Daniel start thrilling with a loud laugh, while Edward gives Terrence a couple of claps on the back of his head.       “Okay, I need Edward’s photo with pink hair!” Daniel jabs excitedly. “I must see that thing!”       “Oh, we have a photo,” Jeremy smiles slyly. “Do you want to look at this?”       “What?” Edward gets furious, rounding his eyes and getting a little red. “You haven’t deleted that photo?”       “We took it shortly after Eddy left the bathroom and started to scream like a hysterical girl,” William confesses. “I mean, we took multiple photos of our brother, but we don’t have them on our phone. We have them on our computers.”       “Really?” Daniel wonders. “Why did you say nothing earlier? Give it to me now!”       Daniel, Terrence, and Peter surround William and Jeremy, who takes his phone and quickly finds the photo that he shows the others. They can see Edward as a teenager looking into the camera with widely open eyes that might be sucked from their sockets, waving his hands, and saying something with a very gloomy face. The hair of the young guy is dyed bright pink, and wet paths of the dye slide down his naked chest, and his chin-length fridge closes half of his face. The three men literally start rolling on the ground with hysteria and grabbing their stomachs, while Edward watches them with a more hateful look.       “Oh, gosh, this is the best thing I’ve seen in my life!” Terrence says funnily with a loud laugh. “The best thing!”       “Indeed, look how gorgeous the color is,” Daniel laughs quietly. “How good the dye fitted him! How good our beloved friend looks.”       “Hey, my brother hasn’t changed at all: he’s still the same little snotty boy.”       “Listen, this Edward’s face reminds me of the face of an unhappy old lady sitting near a building or being in a store or bus,” Peter notices. “Or the face of the seller from the rent, who had insulted me before I came here.”       “Guys, this is a masterpiece!” Daniel exclaims funnily. “I’m delighted!”       “This photo is our favorite one,” Jeremy says confidently. “Will and I take care of it like a brilliant. And if we have to buy new phones, we will upload this masterpiece to them.”       “Don’t dare to delete it!” Terrence threatens with a finger. “Don’t dare! Hear me! Don’t dare!”       “Hey, c’mon! I’d better delete all the photos of Will and me or our friends than this photo with our beloved Eddy.”       “Imagine what would happen if we posted this photo on the Internet?” William chuckles kindly.       “It would be the most popular meme on the worldwide network!” Daniel exclaims.       “Everyone would talk about Edward’s gorgeous pink hair, not his pretty face,” Peter says confidently.       “Hey, let’s try it!” Jeremy suggests. “Everyone’s gonna love it – trust me!”       “Hey, give it to me, idiot!” Edward demands irritably and tries to take Jeremy’s phone.       “Hey, what are you doing?” Jeremy tuts quietly, twisting his hand with the phone behind his back.       “Give me the phone! Hear what I say, brainless moron? Delete this shit now!”       “No, brother, by deleting the photo, you’ll get nothing. Will and I copied it on everything and will never lose it. And we can always download a new copy on our phones.”       “Ar-r-r, I wish you lost all of your flash drives, hard disks, and everything, on which you copied this fucking photo!”       “By the way, we viewed it when we missed you,” William confesses funnily. “We thought of the fun that we had when we lived all together.”       “You know how bored and sad we got when you left home, and Mom kicked Dad out,” Jeremy adds. “It would be cool if you lived with us again.”       “Do you want me to live with you for twenty more years?” Edward wonders. “Oh, no! Not for anything in the world! I’d probably live with Terrence much better than you two.”       “Aha, better,” Daniel laughs quietly. “You wouldn’t live quietly for two days and would surely kill each other.”       “I’m afraid to imagine what would happen if you two ended up in the same room of a hotel or had to share a room in a rented house during a tour,” Peter confesses.       “You know these boneheads badly,” Edward replies confidently. “If you lived with them, you’d climb on the wall and dream of running away from them.”       “Listen, Jer, Will, send this photo to me,” Terrence says with a sly smile, clapping William and Jeremy on the shoulder. “On WhatsApp! I really need this gem, which I will take care of furiously! As Dan said, this is a masterpiece!”       “What?” Edward rounds his eyes.       “Us too!” Peter and Daniel pronounce funnily. “Us too!”       “Hey, idiots, did you agree?” Edward resents, putting his hands on his hips. “Terrence, what the fuck! I thought you were by my side!”       “I’m always by your side,” Terrence smiles innocently. “But I can’t stay indifferent to this masterpiece.”       “Ar-r-r, why did George make us come to this café? If I had known I’d meet these brainless idiots, I would’ve found any excuse not to come here. I wouldn't have cared about what you would’ve done: screaming, waving your hands, swearing, or threatening to kick my ass…”       “C’mon, bro, don’t be mad,” Terrence replies funnily and claps Edward on the shoulder, putting an arm around his neck. “You look bad when you’re mean. You just look at yourself! You’re such a cutie! I wouldn’t have thought a pink color fitted you so well.”       “Fuck yourself, idiot!” Edward pushes Terrence sharply off and crosses his arms over his chest, throwing a gloomy look at Daniel, William, Peter, and William, who are laughing quietly. “You too, idiots!”       “Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck,” Terrence clucks funnily with a sly smile. “Cluck more, bro! Cluck, cluck, cluck! Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck!”       William, Jeremy, Peter, and Daniel catch the wave quickly and start teasing Edward, clucking like chickens and thrilling with loud laughter along with Terrence.       “Ar-r-r, alright, I’m done with you,” Edward growls irritably. “I’m leaving the band! And I’m waiting for nobody at my wedding. Alright! ¡Adiós, estúpidos capullos!       Edward pretends that he wants to leave with his head proudly raised, but Terrence, Daniel, Peter, Jeremy, and William catch him quickly and close the way.       “Okay, okay, bro, don’t be mad,” Terrence says confidently, taking Edward under his arm.       “Okay, boy, relax,” Daniel jabs funnily, clapping Edward on the shoulder. “We won’t do this anymore.”       “But it was really cool!” Jeremy exclaims. “You just look how chic this shade is!”       “We chose it with love,” William adds confidently. “We wanted you to look good.”       “By the way, I heard that the pink color is trending now,” Peter adds cheerfully, putting a finger on his lip. “A season trend! Girls dye their hair to this color.”       “Nature is trending now!” Edward protests.       “Hey, let’s do an experiment and dye your hair again? Take a comparison photo! So, we see how you’ve turned from a little boy into an adult man.”       “Only if all of you dye your hair pink along with me. I wouldn’t at least be the only one, whom men and girls would mock. You’d be ashamed as well as me.”       “Not ashamed!” Terrence protests. “If Terrence MacClife does something, it’s immediately gonna get popular. Any clothes that I wear are sold for a few minutes. Men go to hair salons to get the same haircut as mine. And if I dye my hair pink or any other color, everyone’s gonna get the same color.”       “Everything’s clear about you. You’d feel incredible being naked and be happy to let people take photos of you from all sides. For the millionth time.”       “We’re gonna start trends!” Daniel says with his head proudly raised. “Fashion is very changeable and super weird at times. Sometimes even the stupidest things may be very popular.”       “Exactly!” Peter agrees. “So, don’t worry, Edward, your pink hair will always be trending! And nobody will laugh at you ‘cause you’re a fashionista.”       “I’m warning you, boneheads, if one of you touches my hair, I swear I shall cut your arms,” Edward threatens with a finger. “Don’t dare to dye and cut it!”       “Gosh, Edward, how much you love your hair…” William shakes his head with a shy smile. “You’ve always been so afraid to wake up with a bald head or a hedgehog cut that you literally got paranoid.”       “With such brainless idiots like you and Jeremy, anyone would become paranoid. Because you could do anything. I could’ve really woken up with a bald head or run around the house, wearing only underwear or being absolutely naked.”       “Oh, look how blushed he got,” Peter laughs quietly. “He is so red… Just like a tomato.”       “I’d watch you and laugh when you walk with pink hair and hear people calling you a faggot. I’m imagining what Marta would do to you if you showed yourself for her like that. She’d surely call you sick and make you literally gay.”       “Ms. Marty Patch somehow really thought that I was gay because I didn’t have a girlfriend. That little bitch really thought that I liked men.”       “And when she found out that Rose and I lived together at my house, that girl actually suggested that we date,” Daniel adds funnily. “Even if she never called me gay.”       “You know, I think you would be a beautiful couple,” Edward laughs shyly. “Your fans would be thrilled if Petel was a couple in love, not a bromance.”       “Very funny!” Peter throws gloomily.       “Alas, but the blond didn’t wanna take such a handsome guy like me,” Daniel says with a sly smile.       “Perkins!”       “Anyway, this photo is perfect,” Terrence notices cheerfully with a wide smile. “When I get it, I’ll set it as a wallpaper on my phone. If someone sees this masterpiece, I will confidently tell everyone that’s my beloved little brother.”       “Okay,” Edward pronounces quietly. “Then I’m gonna check out the Internet today and find dirt that I could show all your fans, who have a crush on you, with pleasure. And I’m sure that there are a couple of photos and videos on my phone that would make everyone doubt the perfection and awesomeness of Terrence James MacClife.”       “Well, the lads and I are gonna agree on everything and post this wonderful photo of you having pink hair on the Internet, saying that this is the cute and charming teenager, Edward Robert MacClife, whose they adore. Girls are gonna be staring at the screens of phones and computers! M-m-m-m… I already feel how many comments those photos would receive… How many articles journalists would write about your hair…”       “If we weren’t here, I swear I would hit you. You would ask for trouble, unbearable idiot!”       “You recently called Jeremy and William like this.”       “You all are the same!”       Meanwhile, Daniel, William, Peter, and Jeremy look at each other with a quiet chuckle and view the photo of Edward on the phone, because of which they cannot stop laughing.       “Oh, guys…” Daniel pronounces through a laugh. “Although we’ve known each other for a few minutes, I already adore you.”       “Indeed, guys, I like you!” Peter exclaims.       “And we know the cool guys from the amazing band,” Jeremy replies amicably. “I think we should definitely hang out often.”       “We’d love to!” Daniel exclaims.       “Listen, Edward has such a funny hairstyle,” Peter notices with a laugh, staring at the phone screen.       “Right! One guy from my school had a similar fridge, but it looked much better than this shit.”       “Damn, who made this hell on his head?”       “Who the fuck knows!” William shrugs. “But the most important thing was that he refused to cut it off.”       “And nobody told him a word?”       “People did, but he listened to nobody. And he visited a hair salon a couple of times when he was a kid.”       “Really?” Terrence laughs quietly.       “But against his wish. Father made him do it. He personally drove Edward there and said, ‘You must get rid of this mess.’ And then making him go to get his hair cut was impossible.”       “Was he afraid to cut at least a millimeter of his gorgeous hair,” Jeremy laughs quietly.       “Right! He cared about it like a chicken cares about eggs!”       “But as we see, our bro woke up, cut off that fringe, and got something more or less good,” Jeremy ruffles Edward’s hair slightly. “More stylish and adult.”       “There’s a fridge, but this one is much better,” William notices. “We’ll see it when Eddy decides to get his hair down on his forehead.”       “Ha, if he were the same as he is in this photo, I’d personally take scissors and cut off this shit,” Terrence says confidently. “Chopping off that fringe is one of the best decisions in his life.”       “Yeah, that’s so good that we don’t see that shit on the head of your bro,” Daniel laughs shyly. “But it seems that Edward still doesn’t know what a hairbrush is. His hair always looks disheveled.”       “He’s always been like this!” William chuckles quietly. “He woke up in the morning with a crow’s nest on his head and could go outside. He gave a fuck about it and was proudly walking with this shit. He could pay no attention to Dad’s lectures about children, who must look good at school.”       “Oh, fuck, why did I get this punishment?” Edward moans tiredly, running his hands over his face. “Why are my brothers so stupid? And why did I the fuck mess up with these two idiots, who agreed with them?”       “Okay, guys, let’s stop it,” Jeremy suggests quietly, putting his phone in the pocket of his coat. “Edward needs a little bit before killing all of us. I don’t really like his killing look.”       “Oh, I think I hear at least one good thought!”       “And yeah, dudes, I’ll surely send this photo to all of you. Not only this one but also much more.”       “Or do I have hallucinations?”       “I’ll send everything to Terrence. He’s given us his number.”       “Oh, we can leave it, too,” Peter replies cheerfully. “For this masterpiece.”       “Besides, we’re gonna keep speaking to you,” Daniel adds confidently.       “Erm, okay,” William says, takes his backpack, opens it, starts to look for something, and puts the notebook and the pen on the table. “Leave your numbers here.”       Daniel and Peter write down their numbers next to the one that Terrence wrote and put the pen on the table.       “I warn all of you, idiots, if I know that this photo is spreading on the Internet, you will pay me for this,” Edward threatens with a finger. “And don’t dare to show it to our girls. Especially, my fiancée. If I know she saw my pink hair, you’re dead. You all got it?”       “You better be a good boy, so we don’t share this masterpiece with the entire world and your wonderful fiancée,” Terrence smiles slyly. “But my future sister-in-law would laugh with us if she saw you like that with pleasure.”       “Make sure your sexy cutie doesn’t see you like this. I could organize it easily.”       “Don’t dare, or I shall cut your arms. Or cut all of your hair.”       Edward says nothing, just makes a grimace that is something like a smile, and shows the middle finger to Terrence. The man just chuckles along with Daniel, Peter, William, and Jeremy, who calmed down a little.       “Oh, fuck, Will!” Jeremy opens his mouth, moving his eyes to his watch. “We’re late! The teacher’s gonna cut our heads off if we don’t show up!”       “Damn, yes!” William exclaims. “I almost forgot!”       “Sorry, guys, but we have to go to the university.”       “We’d stay with pleasure, but we can’t. If we don’t come now, my brother and I will get in trouble.”       “We’re sorry to say goodbye, but we don’t dare to hold you,” Terrence shrugs.       “Let’s talk on the phone somehow,” Daniel adds. “And meet.”       “Undoubtedly!” William agrees confidently. “There’s so much we need to discuss!”       “Yes, yes, get out,” Edward says with a sly smile, keeping his arms crossed on his chest. “And never stand in my way again.”       “Did you say something, bro?” Jeremy smiles mysteriously.       “I say, have a good day. We’ll meet someday! When we have time, you’ll tell more about our lives.”       “All the best to you, too. We were happy to meet you.”       “And you, too, Terrence,” William adds.       “And you, too, Peter, Daniel…” Jeremy raises his thumb up. “You’re all cool dudes!”       “We’re happy to meet you!” Peter replies cheerfully.       Jeremy and William say goodbye to Terrence, Edward, Peter, and Daniel by shaking them by the hand and hugging them amicably. Then they take their backpacks placed on the chairs and leave quietly, waving their hands at everybody when they say:       “Bye, everybody!”       “Bye,” Terrence, Daniel, Edward, and Peter say goodbye.       When Jeremy and William leave for their business and start talking about something on the way, Peter, Terrence, and Daniel look at each other with a sly smile and laugh quietly, while Edward puts his hands on his hips and looks at them gloomily.       “You are idiots,” Edward throws in a low voice. “Brainless idiots. Who wanna only laugh.”       “Yeah, MacClife, you didn’t say you lived such funny moments,” Daniel chuckles kindly. “Why did you complain that William and Jeremy were annoying you?”       “Aha, dude, they’re cool guys!” Peter exclaims. “Funny, with a sense of humor and ability to joke…”       “I didn’t think I had such cool brothers on the father,” Terrence confesses cheerfully. “I’m sorry about ignoring them all this time.”       “Yeah, you’re having fun!” Edward exclaims. “You found a reason to mock me!”       “But really, guys, you’ve got cool brothers!” Daniel notices confidently. “I advise you to get on with them. You won’t regret it.”       “Okay, okay, I will watch you when you get into a trap of your friend or someone else,” Edward replies gloomily with both arms crossed over his chest. “I will laugh at you, Perkins, when Cassidy puts mustard in your shoes again or covers herself with fake blood from head to foot and starts chasing you in the whole house. I laugh at you, Terrence, if Jeremy or William start to treat you much worse than I. I will laugh at you, Rose, when these two dye your hair to all the colors of the rainbow, or when Sammy starts biting your ass after you barely think of a wish to take Helene to your bed.”       “Wow, you went wild…” Peter chuckles quietly.       “I promise I shall be the first one to start laughing loudly when you have to burn from shame.”       “Hey, Terrence, did your brother get PMS?” Daniel frowns slightly, pinching Terrence on the hip with his elbow. “Or is it lifelong? Didn’t we notice it ‘cause it didn’t always show up?”       “I don’t know, maybe…” Terrence shrugs with a slight smile. “He was a walking positive for the whole week, but now he got excited… Just like a girl with her period.”       “I guess we just didn’t let him spend time with Natalia,” Peter laughs quietly. “That’s why he’s wild.”       “Just like you are when Sammy doesn’t let you stay alone with Helene,” Edward smiles innocently. “You were so arrogant when the fluffy didn’t let you have your foreplay.”       “Sammy and I have peace now.”       “Oh, come on!”       “I decided to forgive him. The doggy asked me to give him a chance so hard that I felt kind of sorry for him.”       “You were deceived, Rose,” Terrence smiles innocently. “Sammy’s gonna do it again soon.”       “No, he’s gonna be a good boy now,” Peter replies confidently.       “For a while, Peter,” Daniel says with a sly smile. “For a while.”       “Now the long-eared pushes his owner to me and silently looks at us when Helene and I give each other attention.”       “Don’t worry, Sammy’s gonna bite your ass again… And you’re gonna kiss the fluff’s face, not Helene’s lips or neck.”       “He knows what’s waiting for him if it happens again.”       “Okay, you’re warned anyway.”       “Calm down, lads, everything’s under control,” Peter sits on the table with a proud look, while the others join him slowly and take free places. “Samuel started to realize that he wouldn’t get off me. And that I ain’t gonna feed and spend my time on him if he behaves badly.”       “Well, maybe, not everything…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully.       “So, then why don’t you do anything for your neighbor’s cats not to annoy you?” Edward asks. “Or did you get used to the cat's choir that wakes you up instead of an alarm? And puts you to sleep instead of a lullaby?”       “Aha, I did…” Peter blunts under his nose. “Those monsters woke me up at nobody the fuck knows when, and their crazy neighbor read me a great lecture about how I should’ve lived.”       “Ah, now it’s clear why you were so nervous,” Terrence replies confidently.       “Yup, my blame… By the way, I’m sorry about screaming at you on the phone. I didn’t get enough sleep and was excited and hungry.”       “It’s okay, dude, don’t think about it.”       “Oh…” Peter runs his hands sharply over his hair. “Today, I’ve actually had a bad hair day: the cats woke me up at six in the morning, Marta read me lectures, and they cut off the power… I couldn’t take a shower and eat… And I can also add the fact that I almost crushed a car of an important man while coming here.”       “I’m sorry, buddy…”       “And I saw him fighting with the seller from the tint, who pissed him off by screaming at the whole street in the end,” Daniel says.       “Because she must sell good food, not expired items that they've been selling for six months,” Peter replies gloomily. “And they shouldn’t complain that people get sick and end up in hospitals.”       “Why did you actually go to that tint, buy something expired, and fight with a seller?” Edward asks with a quiet chuckle. “Was it so hard to wait ‘till coming here and buying something good?”       “Yes, it was! I did want to eat! And I decided to buy something to eat. But I eventually wasted my money and ate nothing. My stomach is turning upside down from hunger.”       “But now you can buy anything and take something home,” Terrence notices.       “Aha, if they give me the power back. I could barely eat today ‘cause my cooker or microwave didn’t work.”       “You’re gonna eat now, calm down!” Daniel exclaims.       “And actually, I’ve surely decided that I’m starting to look for a new home today. Because I’m sick of all of this shit.”       “You say it every day!” Edward recalls.       “No, I will surely do it this time. I’m going to work on it much more seriously.”       “Oh, damn, Rose, have you finally woken up?” Terrence raises his hands. “A long time was gone before we heard these words!”       “So, if you have some interesting suggestions, I’m ready to hear them with pleasure.”       “And when you move, invite us to celebrate your housewarming,” Edward says confidently with a mysterious smile. “So, we have fun to the fullest!”       “Ha, I’ll think about whether I want to invite you to my new place,” Peter chuckles kindly.       “What?” Terrence, Daniel, and Edward resent.       “What if you destroy everything with excitement? Or do it when being drunk?”       “No, no, dude, when you move into another place, you’ll have to let us know it first,” Daniel replies funnily and cheerfully. “We’re your friends, who must rate your future home and decide if it could be one more place for rehearsals and hangouts.”       “Oh, I see you’re getting attracted to your teenage age and hangouts…” Peter smiles mysteriously. “Did you decide to call the memories of those times and hang out all day, all night long?”       “Why not? Besides, I wouldn’t mind having a party now. You know how much I wanna dance along with some cool music and drink a glass of something strong!”       Daniel sings something quietly, clicking his fingers and shaking his head, not stopping to smile widely. Edward, Terrence, and Peter chuckle quietly and look at each other, asking themselves what’s happening to their friend, who is in a too good mood.       “Hey, Perkins, you’re kind of too funny today,” Terrence notices with a sly smile. “You don’t stop smiling… You sing songs and look very cheerful…”       “I just have a good mood,” Daniel replies funnily with a slight smile. “I mean, it’s freaking good. And nobody can make it worse.”       “Daniel, are you healthy?” Edward chuckles quietly. “Did you hit your head and start to go crazy again?”       “Nope. I just got enough sleep. At last. You know how cool it is to wake up cheerful! How it’s cool not to wake up at night even once!”       “Well, the fact that you got enough sleep is not a secret for us,” Terrence replies thoughtfully. “You were snoring when I called you.”       “The case is not only about it, Terrence,” Peter says confidently. “I’m more than sure that this dude with a happy face doesn’t wanna tell us something.”       “I’ve got the same opinion,” Edward smiles mysteriously. “All of it is too suspicious… Some time ago, Perkins was super gloomy, but now he’s lighting up with happiness.”       “Oh, oh!” Daniel shakes his head. “You wanna know everything!”       “Hey, tough guy, speak out what happened,” Terrence replies cheerfully with a mysterious smile.       “Oh, here’s one more…”       “I’m warning you, we will not get off you ‘till you tell us everything.”       “I said I just got enough sleep!” Daniel smiles innocently.       “C’mon, Perkins, speak out everything!” Edward jabs funnily. “What made you so cheerful?”       “Nothing made me cheerful. Not saying about the photo of you having pink hair.”       “It’s worthless, guys,” Peter sighs disappointedly. “I was trying to get his secret on the way, but he was as silent as a partisan…”       “It’s okay, he’ll tell us everything now,” Terrence replies confidently. “We’ll press him closer to the wall, and he’ll stop finding excuses like a girl.”       “Listen, don’t ya think you’re too curious sometimes?” Daniel asks.       “We should know if we need to be glad if something interesting happens,” Edward notices with a slight smile. “Or feel sorry for you and help you if you get into trouble.”       “Getting in trouble is your thing. You love it more than all of us.”       “Hey, Perkins, don’t avoid the answer,” Peter replies confidently. “You will tell us what’s going on.”       “Nothing is going on.”       “Daniel!” Edward, Terrence and Peter exclaim.       “Hey, what do you want from me?” Daniel chuckles quietly. “Get off!”       “Fuck, Dan, stop finding excuses like a girl and tell us what made you a walking positive,” Terrence demands confidently, rolling his eyes for a second.       “Actually, we came together to discuss the band’s business. O, let’s focus on it, huh?”       “It’s said by the one, who slept through everything, walked somewhere, and was pleased to come here with the blond.”       “Oh, you and your brother had had something to do before we came here,” Peter waves his hand. “You finally met your brothers and found a common language with them.”       “Listen, guys, where were you all hanging the fuck around?” Terrence resents. “We need to do the business, but you three weren’t pleased to come at the right time! One was coming here as slowly as a snail and showing off in my leather jacket, and the two others didn’t rush at all. They walked, the fuck!”       “Fuck, Terrence, why are you starting to whine again?” Edward moans tiredly, running his hands over his hair. “Settle down, at last. We are all here and only waiting for George.”       “If you three don’t come together earlier, you’re surely gonna get ready for much longer than girls. You all have never come at the right time yet. What’s hard about brushing your hair, putting on your t-shirt, jeans, and shoes, starting a car, and coming here? Tell me!”       “Oh, it seems like not only does Edward have PMS…” Daniel says thoughtfully with a quiet chuckle. “Why are you all so nervous today, bros? Don’t they let you spend time with your beloved beauties? Or did you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”       “But you’re so funny and laughing non-stop,” Terrence throws gloomily.       “Because I’ve got a wonderful mood.”       “Don’t be so sure that we will not ask you about anything, chocolate head. We’ll now discuss the band’s work with George, and then you’ll tell us the reason for this behavior.”       “Huh, I’ll think whether I wanna tell you about it!” Daniel exclaims.       “Aha, something definitely happened!” Edward clicks his fingers with a mysterious smile. “Something very good! That made you start to look in the mirror and watch what you have on your face and head.”       “Yes, it’s like you really became a different man,” Terrence notices thoughtfully. “You really started to watch yourself: you brushed your hair, shaved your face, and put on quite good clothes…”       “I advise you to look into the mirror much more frequently, former pink-haired head,” Daniel says confidently. “What if you get not only pink hair but also a pink bristle.”       “I’d love to look at that thing,” Peter chuckles kindly. “I’m now wondering whether MacClife’s pretty face can make him pretty if his hair and bristles are pink?”       “Here you go again?” Edward resents.       “C’mon, Edward, relax,” Terrence chuckles, ruffling Edward’s hair a little. “You’re a handsome guy with that hair! I may not know something about fashion, but your pink hair will always be trending.”       “Well, if you like it so much, I’ll be happy to dye your head bright pink. I’ll personally find the brightest pink color that you can’t wash off for ages. Girls are gonna yell in delight! And Raquelle will love my masterpiece.”       “Don’t dare to do it, kid! Or I’m gonna cut off your sharp tongue and cut off your arms.”       “Oh, what if we dye you two?” Daniel suggests with a quiet grin. “One side is pink, another one is green, and the back is blue.”       “And if we put a ring into your noses, you’ll look incredible!” Peter adds cheerfully.       “Don’t even dare to touch my hair!” Edward threatens with his finger. “Don’t dare! Or I swear, you three are gonna regret it! You will pay even for half an inch.”       “Okay, okay! We’re swearing solemnly that we will not touch your wonderful hair,” Peter cannot hold down a loud chuckle. “Our little unicorn with pink hair.”       “Neigh-neigh,” Terrence thrills with a laugh.       “Hey, baby, come here, we wanna stroke your pink hair,” Daniel says in a squeaking voice through a laugh. “We really like it so much…”       Terrence, Daniel, and Peter thrill with a loud laugh for a few seconds, while Edward looks at everybody with a gloomy look and gives the three a slap on the forehead after they tease him somehow.       “You’re morons, guys,” Edward throws gloomily. “Really brainless morons.”       “Hey, hey, don’t look at us like this,” Terrence jabs excitedly with widely open eyes. “Don’t do it, hear me, bro. No!”       “Oh, I shouldn’t have stood in your way…” Edward exhales sharply.       “Okay, lads, shut up! Or this little hooligan will gonna kill us.”       “Okay, I’m silent,” Daniel replies funnily, raising his hands.       “Me too,” Peter jabs with both hands turned on Edward sitting in front of him. “Me too…”       Edward stopping to be so gloomy chuckles quietly and laughs shyly for two seconds along with Peter, Terrence, and Daniel. The men keep laughing until the serious adult man comes to their table and distracts them from their talk.       “Hello, everybody, guys,” the man greets amicably. “Sorry for being a little late.”       Edward, Peter, Terrence, and Daniel move their eyes to the man, who turns out to be their manager, George.       “Oh, hello, George,” Terrence greets with a slight smile.       “Hey, my rebels,” George pronounces and shakes Terrence, Edward, Peter, and Daniel by the hand with a slight smile. “I believe, were you talking about something very funny because you were laughing and smiling so contagiously?”       “Well, our mood is just good,” Peter replies amicably with a slight smile.       “I’m really happy for you.” George takes a chair near the closest table and sits down with the men, who move closer to each other to give space to their manager. “But now we have to save jokes for later.”       George moves his eyes to Daniel and cracks a slight smile.       “I’m madly happy to see you healthy, Daniel. With your friends.”       “Thanks, George,” Daniel thanks amicably.       “How are you feeling?”       “Good, luckily. By the doctor’s plea, I sometimes go to the hospital for the examination, but the worst things are gone.”       “Thank God! I’m very glad you’re fine.”       “I know I gave you many problems…” Daniel confesses with sadness in his eyes. “I’m really very sorry about what happened.”       “Right, you gave us many problems. We had to make many efforts to solve some things and do our best to minimize our losses.”       “Excuse me, George, were you controlling the situation when you weren’t in the city?” Peter asks. “Or did you have no time?”       “Of course! I watched everything your management team did and was on the line with them. And I know everything that was posted on the Internet and all the things about you discussed on TV.”       “I see…”       “Forgive me for breaking contact with you so suddenly. I left for my family business. I had problems with one family member of mine. Everything happened suddenly, and I had to leave everything and go on the way.”       “It’s alright, we solved it on our own,” Edward says amicably.       “To be clear, everything was solved by itself,” Terrence adds. “Luckily, the scandal about Peter, who was allegedly brought to the wish to die by Daniel, is over. Now people don’t remember that, and they apologize to Perkins for bullying him.”       “Oh, thank God!” George replies confidently. “I got my eyes out of my head when reading everything those people said about Daniel.”       “I must confess it was madly hurtful,” Daniel confesses hesitantly. “Yes, there’s a part of the truth about it, but it hurts that I was made such a horrible monster.”       “And yeah, you said that Blake spread these rumors. So, it wasn’t him, but the creators of one newspaper that spread rumors about all celebrities.”       “Ah, yeah, Connor…” Edward pronounces thoughtfully, scratching the back of his head.       “George, say, please, did you really tell Connor where I lived?” Daniel asks. “When that guy went to my home one week ago, he said you gave him my address.”       “Yes, I told him where to find every one of you,” George confirms with sadness in his eyes.       “We didn’t believe him because we were sure that you wouldn’t do that,” Terrence confesses.       “Please, guys, don’t be mad at me. I know I shouldn’t have done it. I had no right to tell him any private information.”       “So, did you talk to him?” Peter frowns.       “Yes. Some time before I left, Blake begged me to tell him how to find you. We were at the agency: I was working on your business, and that boy was walking and doing nothing.”       “And what did he tell you?” Edward specifies.       “At first, I didn’t want to listen to him. I was in a rush and wanted to go somewhere. But that boy was stubborn and caught me again two hours later after I came back to the agency again. He told me the story of his life and asked me to help him find you. He kind of wanted to apologize to you for his terrible behavior and make you sure not to dismiss him.”       “Was that story about his twin brother, who died from drugs?” Terrence frowns slightly.       “Yes, about him. Those boys grew up in an orphan house and never knew their real parents. They ran away from there at the age of fourteen and survived somehow. And later, Blake’s brother met bad people, tasted drugs, and died with sufferings.”       “We know,” Peter nods with sadness in his eyes. “He said he was very close to his brother and was next to him because that guy always defended him and was stronger. But drugs made their relationship worse, and they literally became enemies. Though, Connor said he wasn’t mad at his brother. He kind of knew what that guy was before and would remember him like that.”       “I’m going to say something, guys,” George says thoughtfully. “After listening to that guy and seeing the emotions on his face, I came to the conclusion that Blake wasn’t so bad. His aggression and arrogance are his defensive reaction. The mask, under which the real him was hidden. In reality, Blake is an insecure and unhappy boy, who feels lonely. After his brother’s death, he has no one. And he didn’t want to reveal his soul to everyone. So, he always attacked first.”       “Yeah, but he hurt us too much,” Edward says confidently. “We never turned Blake against us and were happy to befriend him. But he turned us upon him.”       “I know, guys. But I think you shouldn't dismiss him. It would be great to give the boy a chance to work and earn his money. And you better try to establish your relationship with him.”       “After talking to him, we agreed to give him one more chance,” Daniel confesses quietly. “If he wants it, he can work with us. But we warned him that if he did something bad, he would be immediately fired and replaced with someone we found.”       “No, no, Blake will do anything you want. This job is very important to him. He is earning enough money for it.”       “We know,” Peter pronounces quietly.       “That boy likes working with all of us. There are some guys from your team, with whom he gets on well. So, you should also give him a chance to try to befriend you. Blake told me he never had anything against you and just dreamed of the wonderful life that you lived. He wanted to have the same incredible friends as yours. It’s hurtful for him that many people love you, but he is loved by nobody.”       “We’re always open for those, who truly want to get a second chance,” Terrence replies confidently. “But Connor will have to do his best to make us trust him. Everything depends on him. And we will treat him the way he will treat us.”       “So, alright,” George says quietly. “I think your decision is very wise. If the boy wants to do everything he talked about, he can work hard. I also agree to let him prove that he is different. But I want to keep your position: if someone suffers because of him, he will be immediately fired.”       “We mean the same.”       Everybody falls into silence for two moments and looks at two teenagers, who go by and show something to each other on their phones.       “Alright, let’s change the subject,” George says confidently, folding his hands on his table. “We have too much we should talk about. For example, we should talk about renewing your performances and appearances on shows.”       “No problems, we’re ready to come back to the job at any time,” Peter replies with a slight smile. “Fortunately, we are all safe and sound. So, nothing stops us from starting to perform again and getting ready for the album release.”       “I know about everything you did when I was left. At least, about those, which newspapers, magazines, and the Internet discussed.”       “Yeah, we had a hard time…” Edward replies thoughtfully, leaning back in the chair.       “I understand. And I feel truly sorry for you.”       “Alright, what about scheduled appearances on shows?” Terrence specifies.       “Here’s what I want to talk about.” George clears his throat quickly. “I must confess that we suffered some losses of money due to the case of Daniel. Many organizations of shows refused to change the day of your appearances and actually canceled everything because of their wishes or bad rumors. By the way, they also suffered big losses and had to return the money for tickets to everyone.”       “But are there those, who were ready to change the day of the interview?” Daniel asks.       “There are, fortunately. They agreed to wait and interview you on any other day. And all the tickets bought on the original day would be valid for the new one.”       “We are ready to give an interview and perform even tomorrow,” Edward replies confidently.       “And do our best for nobody to be disappointed,” Peter adds.       “And we can now schedule performances for our first tour.”       “Well, we’ll talk about the tour later,” George laughs quietly. “Wait for the album’s release. But you are going to appear on shows and give interviews in the nearest time.”       “Great, when do we start?” Terrence asks.       “Your management team and I will discuss everything, contact the organizations, and agree on everything today. When everything is solved, I will tell you about it, and we’ll start getting ready. You will practice not to fail it, your stylists will choose clothes and hairstyles for you, and your managers will solve organization questions. So, men, get ready for hard and productive work.”       “We’re ready,” Peter nods.       “I don’t demand perfect performances, but I would like you not to get ashamed. Make no mistakes. Not to be attacked as well as people attacked Daniel because he had voice issues and sometimes forgot his lyrics and his guitar part.”       “It’s going to be alright, George,” Edward says confidently. “We will give our everything.”       “And yeah… Try not to get in trouble anymore. Your band was close to breaking up for the second time. And I can’t always defend and cover you and solve one or another situation.”       “Don’t worry, George, we will not betray you anymore,” Daniel promises with a slight smile. “The guys and I are rehearsing very much and getting ready to perform again. I work especially hard and am sure that I can perform well.”       “Then keep getting ready if you have a chance to. And as for public appearances, you may have no worries – I will care about everything and keep you aware.”       “Thank you so much, George,” Edward smiles slightly. “We’re grateful to you for everything you’re doing.”       George cracks a slight smile silently, looking at Daniel, Edward, Peter, and Terrence, and laughs shyly, locking his fingers tightly and saying thoughtfully:       “Oh, lads, you do love adventurers. Why can’t you live quietly? You have such beautiful girls, family, and many good friends… Do you really like to make them nervous?”       “You know, I wouldn’t personally like to stay in the same place and live a monotonous life,” Edward confesses. “It’s all gonna make me feel bored. And I think I go crazy when I do nothing.”       “I understand you, but you should know the limit. You are no longer stupid boys and must know just something.”       “But we will have something to remember after we get older,” Edward laughs quietly.       “Oh, Edward, you should think about other things now. You’re about to get married, but you still play a hero. You should think about where you’ll live with your future wife, how you’re gonna live, and when you want to make children.”       “George, you know my brother well,” Terrence says confidently. “Edward is a live wire, who doesn’t like to stay in the same place. He will not change after the wedding. And even when he’s old, he will be climbing trees and doing flips with pain in his back.”       “No, Terrence, don’t exaggerate!”       “It’s true, George!” Peter waves a hand. “Even if this guy was confined to a wheelchair, he would try to get up and run.”       “Sure!” Terrence exclaims. “Getting bad things out of the head of the twenty-six-year-old man doesn’t make sense.”       “Oh, Terrence, you’d better think about your family,” George notices thoughtfully. “You’re going to get married soon and should start to think about your own family.”       “Let things happen as they want…” Terrence shrugs. “So, Raquelle and I enjoy our family life, not suffer from it.”       “When you have a baby, you can always ask me for help. As well as you all, guys. I am experienced enough in educating children after my daughter was born and after the time that I’ve spent with my nephews. But she’s about to become a teenager, and I’m getting ready for this period. And I’m a little nervous. Because teenagers can be too unpredictable.”       “Thanks, George.”       “Terrence and Raquelle are very lucky to have so many helpers,” Daniel notices with a slight smile. “And if it’s our time to become fathers someday, we will have wonderful advisers.”       “You and Peter should also think of creating your families. You should have someone by your side when you’re more than fifty.”       “Erm…” Daniel bites his lip slightly. “Actually, my girlfriend and I are not having the best time…”       “Really?”       “Yeah… Honestly, we… We had problems a long time ago… But it just got clear.”       “Are you breaking up?” George asks with sadness in his eyes.       “It will probably happen.”       “If you have a chance to save your relationship, you should use it. I’d be sorry if you broke up. I liked your couple. And your girlfriend is very sweet. Shy, educated, and intelligent…”       “We’ll see, George… I wish it happened, but I don’t know… Maybe, we’ll reconcile… Maybe, we will not… I dunno.”       Peter, Edward, and Terrence frown slightly, while Daniel says it all, looking into the distance and cracking a smile at some moment. The three men look at each other and shrug, not finding the courage to ask him openly about Anna with the thought that it may hurt him too much.       “And you, Peter?” George asks Peter. “Haven’t you thought about the wedding or at least a joint life with your girlfriend?”       “Living together in my terrible apartment is impossible,” Peter smiles slightly. “At first, I want to move into another place, and then I will see it. Maybe, I will really think of marrying my girlfriend.”       “You should’ve moved a long time ago. You’re now earning a lot of money and can buy anything. So, why don’t you buy a spacious apartment in an elite area?”       “I started to think about it, and I am open to any interesting suggestions. Though, I’m interested in a house much more than an apartment. I want to have a little studio there and record songs for me.”       “Yeah, we really love this idea,” Terrence notices cheerfully. “So to speak… We may get a sudden inspiration and come up with an idea for a good song… If we don’t take notes in time, all the ideas will leave our heads quickly.”       “If you have an opportunity, why not,” George smiles shyly.       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Edward, Terrence, and Peter look at the smiling Daniel with suspicion again and make much more sure that everything is really not as bad as they thought. Because he looks too funny for the one, who lost his beloved girlfriend.       “Oh, yeah, guys,” George says thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “I forgot to tell you something about your public appearances.”       “Something serious?” Terrence rounds his eyes.       “No, no, just organizational matters. But they are very important. And we should discuss them right now.”       “Yes, sure, we’re listening to you,” Edward replies.       “But let’s first buy something to eat. I’m terribly hungry now and did not eat anything in the morning.”       “I have the same problem,” Peter confesses. “The power at my home was turned off, and I managed to cook nothing.”       “And I rushed to come here and drank only a cup of coffee,” Daniel says confidently. “And my stomach is now punishing me for it.”       “Alright, guys, let’s go to the café,” George suggests cheerfully. “To buy as much as possible and talk about our business.”       After getting up from the table, George, Terrence, Edward, Daniel, and Peter come to the entrance to the café, enter it, and stand in the line for the cash, closely examining the long menu on the big, bright screens that are literally installed on all the corners and paying attention to the items that are getting actively promoted now.       

***

      Meanwhile, Natalia and Raquelle are walking in stores and buying something for them and the upcoming wedding, for which the girls started to get ready. Although Helene and Anna are not with them, the friends have a wonderful time and have the pleasure of walking around counters with cosmetics, assessors, perfumes, and racks of clothes. Wishing to make themselves happy with something new, the girls have bought many interesting things, and they have been walking at a big shopping center for a long time with packets filled to the up. Now, they pay for another purchase and take something else, not forgetting to thank the cashier and wish him a nice day. Then Natalia and Raquelle leave the store, ending up in a large room with many stores where they sell anything, and keep carrying their packets with their heads proudly raised and examining what they see in the shopping windows.       “Oh, God, how long I didn’t walk in stores,” Raquelle says with a slight smile. “Thanks for inviting me to go with you. I wanted to go somewhere a long time ago, but doing it alone was boring.”       “Yeah, we finally got some free time!” Natalia notices with delight. “But I’m sorry that I didn’t buy that cute black dress ‘cause they only had those, which were too big for me.”       “Yeah, I’m sorry that it didn’t fit me, either… But we bought so much that is much better than the dress.”       “Those sellers looked at us so badly when we put a bunch of clothes in front of them,” Natalia chuckles kindly. “They probably thought, ‘Gosh, did they go crazy?”       “Yeah, I felt kind of embarrassed. I wanted to leave half of my clothes in the store. But my wish to refresh my closet was stronger than any sense of confusion.”       “By the way, I found a couple of things that we might use on the wedding day.”       “Hey, I think there is an amazing shoe store somewhere. We can go there and try on a few pairs of shoes.”       “And there’s a place with magnificent dresses somewhere. We must check it out.”       “Oh, and I need to go to a cosmetic store and buy new eye shadows and mascara. What I have is so old, and I can barely put it on my face.”       “Gosh, we also need to choose makeup for the wedding! We need to come together with the girls and do some experiments.”       “We can come together at my home and check out all the cosmetics that I have. The girls and you could also take everything you have.”       “Oh, how much we should do to make such an important day perfect,” Natalia sighs with a slight smile. “I already feel dizzy! I’m afraid that I may forget something.”       “Relax, Natalia, it’s gonna be fine,” Raquelle laughs shyly. “The girls and I will do this. And we’ll do our best to admire the guests on the wedding day.”       “I wouldn’t like to view my wedding photos ten years later and regret something. A wrong dress, bad hair, or bad makeup… I wanna think I’m a beauty, even many years later.”       “I’m afraid of it, too. But at least, we’re getting through it together.”       “It makes me happy. It would be harder to do it all alone.”       “Don’t worry, sweetie, we’ll do our best for our men to lose their minds when seeing you and me.”       “That’s what I want! We should do our best for them to whine while waiting for the first marriage night, on which I’m going to have a lot of fun.”       “Oh, Terrence is gonna remember that night for a long time!” Raquelle smiles slyly. “I’m gonna do my best to make it much better than our first sex.”       “Edward doesn’t also know what’s waiting for him. He doesn’t know what I’m gonna do to him.”       “Yeah, our poor boys.”       Natalia and Raquelle smile shyly and go by the shopping window where they see a female mannequin. It’s wearing a gorgeous short black dress with long guipure sleeves, to which the blonde pays attention immediately.       “Oh, Raquelle, look, what a beauty!” Natalia admires with a wide smile. “Is this really stunning?”       “Yeah, magnificent,” Raquelle smiles shyly. “It reminds me of one of those that I wore on a photoshoot for a magazine.”       “Yes, I remember that photoshoot! That dress was really similar to this one. It fitted you very well.”       “It would be perfect for a date with your beloved man at a restaurant in the evening.”       “M-m-m, especially when slow, beautiful music is playing, and you could dance slowly with your beloved man…”       “It’s okay, sweetie, you’re gonna dance with your beloved man when it’s time to perform a wedding dance.”       “Hey, do you know that Edward dances very well?”       While Natalia says it, she and Raquelle continue their way straight, going by glassy windows with some things and tables that announce some sales and people, who buy something and walk in stores with big packs.       “Really?” Raquelle wonders. “Edward can also dance?”       “He can!” Natalia smiles shyly. “I remember us going by the street musicians that were playing slow music. There were many people, some of whom danced in a couple with pleasure. So, MacClife and I decided to try it, too. And you know, he did it brilliantly. He moves well and feels the rhythm. I saw it easily as the one, who went to a class dance for many years.”       “I think Edward is actually a many-sided man with a lot of talents. He doesn’t limit himself to a love for music.”       “It’s true. I discover more and more about him every day. Seriously, I wouldn’t have thought Edward could dance so well.”       “You know, Terrence also dances very well. Did you see the way he dances at the band’s performances?”       “I saw,” Natalia smiles shyly. “Our self-pronounced Apollo moves his butts well.”       “We’re lucky to have our men,” Raquelle notices funnily. “They can do anything.”       “But we shouldn’t tell them about it too often. Otherwise, their self-rating is gonna be too high, and they’re gonna keep their noses up. These two believe that they’re just irresistible and see no weaknesses in them.”       “Of course, that’s cool Terrence is so confident, but I think there must be limits to everything.”       “I guess Terrence has never suffered from a lack of self-confidence. As long as we've known him, he has never doubted himself. Though, he confesses that he’s got by far not an angelic character.”       “Now Edward is gonna catch his brother and will not doubt that he is perfect.”       “Edward says he’s never doubted his appearance. And girls always paid enough attention to him.”       “Anyway, their fight for the title of the best man is never gonna end.”       “Yeah, they’re acting like little children that fight over a toy,” Natalia chuckles kindly.       “Right.”       Natalia and Raquelle laugh quietly and go by a couple of stores, the windows of which get their attention thanks to the colorful tables announcing sales and some sparkly things.       “Oh, about toys…” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “Yesterday, I sorted out some things and found my Barbie doll that I played with in childhood.”       “Barbie doll?” Natalia asks with delight. “The one you, for which made lots of dresses? Do you still have it?”       “Sure. But I didn’t find dresses for it, even if I clearly remember that I didn’t throw off anything.”       “Oh, gosh, I remember it…” Natalia smiles widely. “That’s so beautiful. By the way, I should ask my mother if we have the toys that I played with. She put them somewhere when I grew up, but I don’t know where.”       “When I told Amanda about my doll, she started to beg me to let her play with it. And I couldn’t refuse.”       “Amanda? Was she at your home?”       “Yeah, Aunt Alicia and she went to the home of Terrence and me yesterday. We were together until the late evening. But MacClife couldn’t stay and went somewhere for his business and came back after Aunt had left.”       “Didn’t your grandfather want to come?”       “Aunt said he went to the hospital yesterday for a planned examination. As usual, a complete examination one or two times per year. And when something hurts, he runs to a doctor, too.”       “That’s good he cares about his health.”       “Yeah… Actually, he always taught me to go to the doctor at least once per year and get an examination. But I’ve been so busy that I can’t find time to visit a doctor.”       “It’s very bad, friend! I visit all the doctors every year and monitor my health. My parents also wanna find time and go to the hospital.”       “Don’t worry, my darling, I’ll surely visit a doctor at the nearest time. I’m gonna have a photoshoot and shoot for a commercial soon. When I finish it, I will immediately go to the hospital.”       “Remember, Cameron, if you don’t do it, some of us will tell Terrence about it. He will make you run to the doctor. Or he will plan your examination, seat you in a car, and drive you to the hospital.”       “Oh, my gosh, Natalia…” Raquelle moans quietly with a slight smile.       Natalia and Raquelle laugh shyly and go some distance before they come to the place where there are many tables and chairs. And a small bistro where they sell drinks and food is placed not far away. Looking at it and feeling the nice smell that spreads from there, the girls understand that they would not mind sitting down, drinking, and eating.       “Hey, what about a short break?” Raquelle suggests.       “I’m for it,” Natalia agrees. “Honestly, I’m gonna lose my arms because of these packs.”       “I think I’ll buy me a glass of coffee. You want something?”       “I’ll drink coffee, too. It seems like they have super delicious coffee here. I saw the commercial on TV.”       Natalia and Raquelle come confidently to the bistro and stand in the line that only consists of three people. While waiting, the girls talk about their men and something funny that makes them laugh and smile a lot. And when it’s their time, the girls order two glasses of coffee, pay for the purchase, and take their orders that were completed quickly enough. After looking around, Raquelle and Natalia choose a table placed far from many people, sit on it, and put their glasses on the table and their packets on the chairs next to them.       “Oh, it’s so good,” Raquelle exhales with relief and looks at her hands. “I have tracks of handles from the packets on my hands.”       “Me too,” Natalia pronounces, looking at her hands. “Anyway, you need a relax during shopping, no matter how good it is.”       “Hey, why do we do this? Let’s sit a little here, then put our packs in the car, come back here, and check a couple of more stores.”       “I like the way you think, friend.”       After installing themselves comfortably and leaning back, Natalia and Raquelle take the caps off their plastic glasses and drink a couple of sips of coffee that is strong but madly delicious.       “M-m-m, it’s really delicious,” Natalia notices with a slight smile.       “They promoted this café for a reason,” Raquelle replies confidently. “At least, the taste of this coffee is amazing.”       The girls take two more sips and look around, noticing many different people and listening to the music, which is playing at this shopping center, but which is not well heard due to the strong noises. Sometimes music stops playing for an announcement about a sale, a celebrity’s visit, who would be answering their fans’ questions and giving autographs, or master classes by real professionals.       “Hey, have I told you that my grandmother finally met Edward yesterday?” Natalia asks.       “Really?” Raquelle smiles slightly. “And how was it?”       “Very good,” Natalia confesses with a shy smile. “My grandma liked Edward, and he liked her. And now she also approves of my choice and agrees to see him as my future husband.”       “I think it couldn’t be otherwise. There’s nothing that someone would dislike about Edward. He’s very good and kind. A wonderful man, who would always be near at the right time to help someone.”       “By the way, his parents met her, too.”       “The MacClifes? They met Mrs. Lascano, too?”       “Yup, but their meeting wasn’t planned.” Natalia takes a sip of coffee from her glass. “They just met my parents and grandmother and went to their home at their invitation. And when I came back home, I saw them together. I talked to them… I drank tea, ate candies…”       “So, you don’t have to organize dinner to introduce them to each other.”       “My parents, grandmother, and I talked to the MacClifes ‘till the late evening. They went home closer to eleven in the evening.”       “You talked about your wedding with Edward?”       “Not only. But our talk was manfully about Edward and me.” Natalia cracks a shy smile. “Grandma couldn’t stop admiring him and highly appreciated his Spanish.”       “Really?”       “Well, as it’s said by the one, who lived in the country where everyone spoke Spanish for many years, it’s worth a lot.”       “I think Edward won’t be confused if he goes where people speak Spanish someday. If the lads were lucky to go to, for example, Mexico, and play a couple of shows, they wouldn’t even need a translator ‘cause your beloved man would replace it.”       “Maybe, Edward will teach the lads to speak at least some words by the time they go to countries where people speak Spanish to perform there. Though, they’ll definitely talk about it later. They’re supposed to meet George and talk about renewing their performances again.”       “Yeah, I know,” Raquelle nods. “George called Terrence in the early morning and asked him about a meeting. Then he started to call all the lads and was angry that they didn’t answer him shortly.”       “I’m not kind of surprised.”       “He managed to reach Daniel only after twelve o'clock. One hour before the meeting.”       “Oh, did that guy decide to sleep enough?”       “I dunno, maybe…”       ‘Honestly, looking at him had me terrified.” Natalia confesses and takes a sip of coffee. “He was super nervous because of the situation with Anna.”       “Yeah, I know…” Raquelle says thoughtfully and also drinks some coffee. “But I think he calmed down a little and decided to come back to a normal life slowly.”       “That’s good if it’s true. The poor guy gave a damn about himself and was funny only with us. I mean, Perkins was hardly so happy.”       “I think the lads helped him come to himself somehow. Without them, Daniel would keep being sad and worried.”       “He has to be strong, Raquelle. He has a sister, whom he mustn’t leave on her own. She needs him. And the band will be gone without him… And Daniel understands it very well.”       “I know…” Raquelle takes a sip of coffee and throws a sad look aside. “Do you think Anna can forgive him? Or is this the end?”       “I think everything is not lost,” Natalia replies thoughtfully. “She can’t do without him. Anna never loved someone as much as she loved him. Besides, Seymour probably understands that Daniel is the only one, who can help her become the same. Alas, we can’t do a miracle that he can do.”       “It’s been almost one week since they met the last time. I think she has come to herself a little and decided something. She’ll have to do this, early or late. The future of their relationship is not chosen.”       “Yeah, but I wouldn’t like to hurt her and start this talk. Helene, you, and I try not to talk about Daniel with Anna’s pretense. And the lads don’t wanna make him sad and think about her and try not to mention our friend.”       “And agree that it’s none of our business. Anna should decide what she wants and what can help her feel happy. We are doing what we can to make her pain weaker, but she has to make a decision.”       “I wanna believe that she decided something for one week.”       “Yeah…” Raquelle sighs heavily. “I want her to make the right decision… I wanna see happiness in the eyes of our little girl, who had to get through that real horror.”       “Ah, friend, I also want it so badly…” Natalia looks at the plastic glass of coffee that she puts on the table. “Anna’s forgiveness would be the best gift for Daniel on his birthday. It’s gonna happen in a week. I mean, six days.”       “Wait, Daniel’s gonna have a birthday?” Raquelle wonders, rounding her eyes and staring at Natalia.       “Yeah… Did you forget?”       “Oh, gosh…” Raquelle puts her glass of coffee on the table and closes her mouth with both hands. “Don’t tell me we also missed…”       “Well, yeah,” Natalia pronounces shyly. “The birthdays of me and Anna are gone…”       “Oh, no, Natalia…” Raquelle shakes her head. “Gosh, girls… We forgot about you… Forgot about your birthdays…”       “It’s okay, don’t worry,” Natalia smiles slightly. “I couldn’t talk about my birthday at such a hard time.”       “Did nobody congratulate you?”       “Only my parents and grandma. We didn’t have anything grandiose and just had a modest dinner and drank some champagne.”       “Gosh, but why didn’t Edward remind us about it? I say nothing about celebrating ‘cause we had too many problems. But we would’ve just wished you a happy birthday!”       “Actually, Edward called the memories about it in one of the late evenings and called me.”       “And he gifted you nothing?”       “Nope. But I asked nothing. I completely understand everything and am not mad ‘cause you were busy with other thoughts. It would’ve been egoistic to tell you to wish me a happy birthday and give me tons of gifts.”       “Gosh, we forgot about Anna, too…” Raquelle puts her hand on her forehead. “We didn’t even congratulate her with words… God, what a shame… And we call ourselves your friends…”       “C’mon, Raquelle, relax,” Natalia smiles slightly. “I don’t think Anna had such a wish to celebrate her birthday. She probably forgot about it.”       “I know, but it was super embarrassing. We would’ve probably forgotten about Daniel if you hadn’t reminded me of that.”       “But as for Daniel, we can celebrate his birthday. We only need to come together with the guys and think about what we can do.”       “I think he doesn’t have a mood to celebrate his birthday.” Raquelle drinks some coffee from her glass. “Without Anna.”       “Well, I think Anna will let Daniel know about her decision within one week. She’ll have to meet him someday. She can’t hide from him forever.”       “Anyway, we should come together without Daniel. At least, to decide what to gift him.”       “We can come together tomorrow if nobody’s busy.”       “You know, it would be great to congratulate you and Anna alongside Daniel. Yes, I know it’s too late, but better late than never.”       “Oh, forget about me!” Natalia waves her hand. “We’ll celebrate my birthday next year. I will come up with something amazing.”       “No, Rochester, don’t even hope that we’ll forget about you,” Raquelle replies confidently. “If I just drop a hint to the others, they will wish to raise their glasses.”       “Oh, gosh…” Natalia gets a blush, closing half of her face with a shy smile.       “Now we have no reason to worry and can enjoy our lives. I think everybody has come to themselves more or less after what happened. Or maybe, someone will think about everybody’s birthday and start to talk about it.”       “I don’t make anyone organize a party for me. Anna doesn’t do it, either. We could only think about Daniel’s birthday. And Helene’s gonna be a birthday girl soon.”       “Anyway, we will do something,” Raquelle promises confidently, clapping Natalia on the hand. “Don’t worry, Natalia, I will care about everything. Trust me.”       “Oh, Raquelle, you’re a gem,” Natalia smiles much wider. “You never forget about your friends and close people. You always aim to make them feel as good as possible.”       “It’s me,” Raquelle throws her hands up with an innocent smile.       Natalia and Raquelle laugh quietly, take their glasses, and keep drinking coffee. And a little later, the girls take some purchases from their packets, look at them, and discuss them, talking about the places to go after they leave everything they have bought in the car and come back to the shopping center where there are so many stores, which they have not checked out yet.       

***

      Time is getting closer to the evening. Helene drove her grandmother, Scarlett, to the hospital for a planned examination. After talking to the doctor, the woman heard that everything was fine with her health and exhaled with great relief. That’s why she left the office with a light heart and expressed a wish to go home as soon as possible.       “So, we’ve finally done one important thing,” Scarlett says confidently with a slight smile, while Helene is holding her under her arms and slowly going down the hall of the hospital by doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors. “I wanted to go to the hospital a long time ago, but I didn’t want to go anywhere because of this heat.”       “I get it,” Helene replies shyly. “But I heard that it would be a little colder now.”       “Thank God. I don’t like hot weather… And short changes in the weather are the reason why I can’t get up from my bed. Only young people feel good in hot weather: walking, swimming in the sea, lying on the sand, and playing something…”       “Don’t worry, Grandma, the weather is going to be good now. And the fall is gonna come in a couple of mouths.”       “Fall is my favorite time of the year. Neither cold nor hot – that’s what I need! I really love it.”       “Yeah, but I feel sad. Nature, so to say, dies. It doesn’t sound good, but it’s true.”       “Ah, babe, I know that you love the sun,” Scarlett smiles shyly.       “I can’t deny it. Lying under the sun in hot weather is much nicer to me than sitting at home and having depression when looking through the window and watching endless rain.”       “Ah…” Scarlett sighs quietly. “Somehow, I also loved lying under the sun. Your grandfather, Roger, and I often went to the beach together when we were young. But at some moment, health issues became the reason why we stopped doing it.”       “Would you like to just sit in front of the sea?”       “No, Helene, now I don’t care about it. I prefer sitting at home with a good book in my hands or watching old movies.”       “Aw, Grandma…” Helene hugs Scarlett around the shoulders on the way with a shy smile, going down to the first floor in the elevator where they were with a few more people.       “But I make an exclusion for my health,” Scarlett says confidently. “It’s a holy thing to me.”       “I know,” Helene smiles shyly.       “Never forget about your health, sweetie. Your grandfather and I didn’t treat it carefully and started to suffer somehow: one part gets sick, another part does, or something hurts. Yes, something was impossible to avoid due to old age. But if Roger and I had cared about us more, we would’ve avoided many things.”       “Yes, Grandma, you’re right,” Helene nods. “The case of Grandpa, who didn’t care about himself as much as he should’ve done, showed what might happen.”       “That’s what I mean, my baby. If, heaven forbid, you don’t do this now, you will have problems at an early age. You feel good now: you’re young, beautiful, and cheerful, and you often go somewhere. But it can’t happen forever.”       “I completely understand this.”       “Take an example of me and Raquelle’s grandfather, who watches his health very carefully. Mr. Cameron is so old, but he’s still cheerful and has a lot of energy. Just because that man takes care of himself.”       “Mr. Cameron runs to a doctor even when his problem isn’t serious.”       “That’s right! Everybody must do it!”       “I agree. Knowing what happens to you is better than trying to get rid of nobody knows what.”       “Your thoughts are absolutely right, honey. I used self-medication and was literally afraid of doctors when I was young. But now I understand that I was a silly girl. You must not let things happen as they want because it will not go well. I’ve always taught you to do it after your grandfather Roger and I got some lessons.”       “Don’t worry, Grandma, I will never forget about it,” Helene replies confidently. “And I take care of Sammy very closely.”       “That’s very good!”       “Oh! By the way, I need to take him to the vet and find out if he’s fine. Maybe, I need to buy some vitamins or something else…”       “Of course, sweetie! Thanks to regular examinations, Sammy has grown into an absolutely healthy and smart dog.”       “I know.”       By this moment, Helene and Scarlett come to the exit of the hospital and leave it. Later, they end up in the hospital parking lot, where there are places for the staff and many free places for visitors. After looking around quickly, the two come to the girl’s car, which is placed not far from the hall door.       “By the way, I see you’ve canceled the punishment for Sammy,” Scarlett notices with a slight smile.       “Yeah, my doggy learned all the lessons,” Helene replies confidently. “And I hope he will not behave as disgustingly as he did the last time.”       “That boy was so sad for the whole week.”       “It’s okay, Grandma, you have to be harsh at times. Next time, he will not break anyone’s stuff and jump on beds with dirty paws.”       “Helene…”       “I hope Sammy understood everything well and wouldn’t do anything like that again. He’s a smart doggy. So, I think one time is enough for him to realize everything he must know.”       “But for God’s sake, don’t use force. I’m against any violence toward people and pets! Heaven forbid!”       “Come on, Grandma!” Helene opens her eyes widely. “I will never do such a terrible thing. I will not beat Sammy, no matter what he is doing.”       “My heart would tear apart if you or Peter dared to raise a hand on him or kick him with a leg.”       “No, Grandma, don’t worry. Peter and I will not do anything like this because it’s terribly bad toward the pet that feels the same as a human.”       “Amen, my baby.”       Helene says nothing and just smiles shyly. And a few moments later, she and Scarlett come to her car, which the girl unlocks with a key after she takes it from her purse.       “By the way, you and I haven’t checked out your grandfather’s grave for a long time,” Scarlett says thoughtfully. “We need to go there someday.”       “Not today,” Helene shakes her head. “I am too tired. Today, was quite a hard day, to be honest.”       “No, not today. I’m also exhausted and wanna go home. And it’s getting dark. We’ll be able to see nothing.”       “I promise we’ll surely go to the cemetery someday.” Helene opens the door of her car and gets into the driver’s seat, while Scarlett sits next to her in the passenger’s seat.       “Okay, sweetie, let’s go home,” Scarlett says tiredly, leaning back in the seat and putting on the seat belt.       “To be honest, I’m a little hungry.”       “Me too. But it’s okay, we’ll be back home, and I’ll cook something quickly.”       Helene glances at Scarlett silently and smiles widely. And two seconds later, the girl puts on the seat belt, starts the motor, leaves the hospital parking lot, and goes carefully on the road, on which everyone drives fast enough. The woman and her granddaughter spend a few seconds in silence: the first one looks around with interest, and the other is watching what’s happening closely, driving the car carefully, and changing the speed with the gearbox at times.       “Hey, you said you met Jessica in the early morning when you were walking with Sammy,” Scarlett says thoughtfully.       “Yeah, we met by chance when crossing the road,” Helene replies quietly, not stopping to look at the road. “She called me when Sammy and I were near the traffic light.”       “I believe she hasn’t visited us for a long time. Why don’t you invite her to visit us? So, we can sit, talk, and drink tea…”       “I invited her today, but she found a job, on which she spends literally all her time.”       “Did she go to work so early?”       “Nope, the hospital. She was made to do some tests.”       “Ah, that’s how! And what kind of job?”       “I don’t know, Grandma… I didn’t ask her. We were talking about what was happening to Peter and me and trying to make Sammy sure to stop being afraid of Jessica.”       “He’s still afraid of her?” Scarlett laughs shyly.       “Today, we persuaded him to change his mind with his favorite treat. But we’ll see how long it lasts. When Sammy is gonna hide behind my legs again.”       “By the way, doesn’t she still have a boyfriend yet?”       “What kind of boyfriend, Grandma!” Helene chuckles quietly and changes the speed with the gearbox. “Jessica can scare all men with her terrible behavior and a lack of tenderness.”       “That’s very bad. The girl is already twenty-six, but she hasn’t met a man. She might remain an old maid and die without giving birth to children.”       “She doesn’t care about it. That girl doesn’t wanna get married, and I say nothing about children. Jessica is happy with everything and doesn’t want to change herself and her life.”       “Does she like the perspective of living her whole life alone? She is gonna cry her eyes out from loneliness and be jealous of everyone, who has boyfriends and husbands! She will regret not getting married in time and giving birth to at least one baby.”       “I don’t know, Grandma… Maybe, something will hit her on the head someday, and she’ll realize that she wanna change everything and listen to what people say.”       “Listen, what if Peter has single friends? He can introduce them to Jessica! Who knows, maybe, she’ll be lucky.”       “Peter has friends, but nothing might happen. He explained his position as a man and let her know that men loved soft and tender girls. But even Rose’s words didn’t change Taylor’s mind, and she thought that someone would love her with such a rude character.”       “Jessica is a very sympathetic girl. She needs to make herself more beautiful, so men pay attention to her. It’s very interesting to talk to her, and she is by far not stupid. But as people say, don’t judge by appearance. You get attention thanks to your youth and beauty and have your brains and intellect rated.”       “It’s hard to explain it to her.” Helene changes the speed with the gearbox. “She wanna hear nothing and insists upon her opinion.”       “Don’t worry, Helene,” Scarlett pronounces confidently. “When the time comes, Jessica will realize everything. She will start dressing up, change her character, and become tender. She needs time and a strong motivation. But now your friend has nobody to change for.”       “I hope it will happen. I also don’t want Jessica to remain an old maid with dogs and cats. Just like Peter’s neighbor. The life of that woman can’t be called good. She’s alone, without a husband and children, but she has three cats.”       “I wish you not to have the same fate as Peter’s neighbor,” Scarlett expresses hope. “I don’t want you to stay alone and get a couple more dogs.”       “Grandma…” Helene smiles shyly.       “You must have a husband and children, Helene. I can’t live forever and will not always be with you. If you lose me, you’ll have no one. Nobody will take care of you.”       “I will not stay alone, don’t worry.”       “I always repeat it for your best. Because I want you to get your family as soon as possible. I want to see you wearing a wedding dress and walking down to the altar to your future husband. I may not live until the birth of great-grandchildren, but I’d at least like to watch your wedding.”       “You say it like I don’t dream of my own family.”       “I just wanna defend you from loneliness, which might drive you crazy soon and make you hate the whole world. Because everybody is loved, but nobody needs you.”       “But I have the people, who adore me: many wonderful friends and an amazing man, without whom I can’t imagine my life.”       “It makes me very happy. My heart is quiet, at least because you’re surrounded by good people, and your boyfriend adores you.”       “Then, why are you worried?” Helene changes the speed with the gearbox. “My life is good. I can’t complain about anything, and I feel very happy and beloved.”       “I want you to carry on our name and your future husband’s one, and not to stay alone when you’re old.”       “It will happen, Grandma: I’ll get married and give birth to children… You know well that I don’t hide my wish to become a wife and mother.”       “And I want you to love your children and make them as decent as you are. Your grandfather and I gave you the best features that you should give to your children.”       “Obviously, I will never leave my children and will always love them,” Helene replies confidently. “They will not know what it’s like to be abandoned by their parents. I will do anything for them and their happiness.”       “If you give them the best features that a person may have, you’ll have these, who will give you a glass of water when you’re old.”       “Oh, God, Grandma, why did you start this talk now?” Helene wonders with a slight smile. “My children will not be born soon! At first, I wanna get married, and then I want to be a mother. Making babies as a married woman is very important to me.”       “I just want you not to forget that. And I support your wish to have babies only when you’re married. Other people can live as they want, but you must live like this. I must confess that the phrase ‘a child from a husband’ always gives me warmth.” Scarlett smiles mysteriously. “And it would be wonderful if Peter was your husband. And became a father to your children.”       “Grandma, you make me blush…” Helene pronounces with a shy smile.       “Yeah, I will give you a blessing for the marriage only if you get married to Peter. He’s just a gem, and I love him like my own son. That guy is gonna be a perfect husband and father. He would never act like a non-loyal, irresponsible stinker.”       “I said I didn’t wanna rush and make Peter marry me as soon as possible. He should be ready for that because marriage is a great responsibility. I don’t wanna press him. This type of marriage ends early or late.”       “Agree. But I’ll always say how much I dream about the wedding of you and Peter. You’re always so happy next to him. No other man has made such miracles as this man has. When you started to date him, you got much better. My beauty fell in love and began to give much more attention to her and her appearance.”       “I don’t hide that I feel so beloved and desired when he’s next to me,” Helene smiles shyly. “Peter is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t doubt that I madly love him. Nobody can replace my beloved blond. Who is kind of similar to Grandpa Roger in the youth…”       “Ah, babe, say these words more frequently,” Scarlett smiles widely. “They calm down my heart and warm up my soul.”       “Oh, Grandma…” Helene laughs shyly. “Sometimes it seems to me that you love Peter much more than me. As far as I remember, you loved him when I couldn’t even think he’d be my boyfriend.”       “If you’d paid your attention to him much earlier, you would now think about your wedding and your children.”       “Interesting, if Grandpa was alive, would he have talked about Peter with such great love?”       “Your grandfather would’ve agreed with me about Peter. We both realized that you needed a man like him and wanted you to pay him attention as a man. I’m sorry that you realized what kind of treasure he was after Roger’s death. He would’ve been happy for you.”       “One beautiful day, I will become the wife of that man,” Helene pronounces dreamily with a wide smile. “It’s gonna be the happiest day of my life.”       “Mine too.”       Scarlett and Helene laugh quietly and smile shyly until they come to a certain place and stop after a car.       “Oh, no, it seems like we’re in a traffic jam,” Helene sighs disappointedly.       “But why did it happen?” Scarlett wonders. “The road was absolutely free!”       “I don’t know… Maybe an accident is ahead…” Helene looks out of the window and looks into the distance to find out how long the traffic jam is.       “Maybe, there is a turn where we could go around this traffic jam?” Scarlett asks, looking through the window.       “There is, but we will not come to that one soon,” Helene shakes her head. “All the cars are standing ahead.”       “Are we stuck here for a long time?”       “I’m afraid, yes…” Helene checks out something in the navigator and sighs with disappointment. “There’s a long traffic jam in our way. But I wanna go to the turn on the different road. The navigator says there are free roads.”       “Oh, okay…” Scarlett sighs heavily. “We have no choice. We have to wait.”       Scarlett throws a little sad look at Helene and watches what’s happening on the road, where drivers of cars, buses, trucks, and other transport are driving very closely to one another. Someone tries to move to another side in any way and provokes greater chaos on the road. People regularly honk the horn at those, who act shamelessly and frame the others. Helene goes quietly on her track, sometimes knocking at the steering wheel with her fingers, watching what’s happening, and getting information from the navigator. Later, Scarlett turns on the radio and starts pressing the buttons to find a song or news. And the woman quickly finds a good song, along with which she and her granddaughter keep getting stuck in the many-kilometer traffic jam.       

***

      Anna came back home after spending a night at Daniel’s house. The girl happily tells her parents, Lilian and Maximilian, about deciding to give the man another chance. That’s what made the former Seymour spouses madly happy. They were dreaming of hearing something like this and believed that this day would come.       “My gosh, daughter, come on?” Lillian asks with a wide smile, sitting in the living room next to Maximilian.       “Did you reconcile with Daniel?” Maximilian gets delighted with the same wide smile.       “Yes, we’re together again,” Anna announces with a slight smile, sitting in front of her parents.       “But when?” Lilian wonders. “When did you do it?”       “Yesterday. But I didn’t plan to do it. It was a spontaneous decision. I just thought that time came. So, I went to his home… Daniel wasn’t there, but his neighbor told me where he went. We talked about everything, and I said I really wanted to come back to him. So, he was terribly glad and accepted me with pleasure, apologizing to me and swearing to get much better.”       “Did you spend a night with him?”       “Yup. I warned my Dad about it, so he wasn’t worried.”       “Oh, God, my daughter!” Lillian exclaims happily, sits down next to Anna, and hugs her touchingly. “Did you really agree to give him one more chance? Please, sweetie, tell me that it’s true!”       “It’s true, Mom,” Anna replies confidently, taking Lillian’s hands. “It’s not a dream. I did what my heart told me to do. And I believe I did the right thing.”       “Honey, I hope, you didn’t do it not for pity for him?” Maximilian asks anxiously. “A wish not to let him do stupid things?”       “No, Dad. I did it for my love. I love Daniel and have never stopped loving him, even when he did a bad thing to me. Yes, I was mad and hated him. I wanted to hear nothing about him. And I was sure that I’d never forgive him. But he proved what was more important to him and showed the best side of him. And I would’ve done the disgusting thing if I hadn’t reacted to what that man did for me. To the way he risked himself…”       “Anna, daughter…” Maximilian gets up from the sofa, hugs Anna touchingly, and steps back from her two seconds later. “Gosh, you made me and your mother so happy. You can’t even imagine how happy we are.”       “We’re so happy you agreed to give Daniel a chance,” Lillian says with a slight smile. “He deserved forgiveness for what he didn’t want to do. And you would’ve done a bad thing if you, speaking rudely, turned your back on him after everything he did.”       “I know…” Anna moves her eyes down for a second with a shy smile.       “Good, sunshine, good,” Lilian fixes Anna’s hair slightly. “This time, you may not doubt that it will be much better for you.”       “You know…” Anna falls into silence for a second and looks at Lillian and Maximilian with sadness in her eyes. “He was so sad when I came to him… Looking at him, my heart was hurt and bleeding. I saw how much he got exhausted even after everything had ended. It was madly hurtful for me to see him like that… Daniel always smiled and pretended that it was okay, but he wasn’t happy.”       “He was worried about you, darling,” Maximilian replies softly, fixing Anna’s hair. “And he was afraid he’d never be with you. Your mother and I saw everything in his sad eyes. That man was silent and tolerated all the hits, but everything was written on his face.”       “And I saw it clearly. Even if I was silent. I saw that he wasn’t as happy as he seemed to be. Daniel’s laugh and smile didn’t mean anything good. That man was actually unhappy deep inside.”       “We were sure that you noticed everything,” Lillian confesses with a slight smile. “At first, you were terribly mad, but you revealed your soul little by little and talked about your real feelings.”       “I just started to forget about my offense slowly. I hadn’t wanted to hear his voice before I was beaten, but then everything changed. And the common goal made us stay together and united us to some extent. But… Even despite the offense, I never wanted Daniel to die. Yes, I wanted him to suffer and lose everything he had. But if he had died, I wouldn’t have accepted it.”       “And you wanted to hear nobody,” Maximilian notices cheerfully with a wide smile. “Nobody doubted that your love would get a victory, and you’d give a chance to that guy.”       “I’d do anything for him, Dad,” Anna replies confidently with a slight smile. “I madly love him and think he’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. When I saw him, I realized that it was… Mine… What I needed. And now I completely understand that I can’t do without him… There’s no me without him… I don’t wanna be with anyone else except Daniel. That man made me happy and has never let me forget that I’m beautiful and beloved.”       “Aw, daughter, your words warm up my heart,” Lillian smiles shyly, caressing Anna’s cheek softly. “It’s so nice to hear you say such nice things about that guy.”       “And it’s nice to hear that you two have nothing against him.”       “He’s just a gem, sweetie! Real treasure! You will hardly find another man like him. Daniel can’t be compared with any other guy that you’ve ever dated.”       “I don’t need another man. I want to be with the only one, whom I trust with my life and me.”       “Your mother and I approve of your decision and are very happy with your choice,” Maximilian replies confidently. “Nothing threatens you with Daniel by your side. That man will feel like you’re behind a brick wall.”       “I know.”       “Don’t lose such a wonderful treasure, daughter. It costs too much. No treasure in the world can replace that wonderful man.”       “It’s gonna be otherwise now, Daddy,” Anna smiles shyly. “I promise… I’ll be doing my best for Daniel to be happy with me. For him not to be as unhappy as he was some time ago. And I will surely not try to change him. I will love him for what he is. The real him. With all his shortcomings.”       “He will change if he really wants to fix something about him,” Lillian assures with a slight smile. “But he doesn’t need to change because Daniel is a very good man, whom your father and I trust with no fear or doubt.”       “Actually, there were many things that I tried to change. Even if I wanted to do it for his best… I took care of him and his health… But if I have to, I’m ready to accept anything and not to try to make him different. If he wants, he’ll change. If he wants it, everything will be the same. I shall not make him perfect.”       “If you mean his habit of smoking, he said he weaned himself away from it a long time ago,” Maximilian replies confidently. “Daniel understood that it was bad, but he couldn’t get rid of the wish to smoke since he was a teenager with the thought that smoking helped him get rid of tension.”       “Everyone relaxes differently,” Lillian notices. “Someone smokes, someone drinks alcohol, and someone eats a lot. And as you understand, it might not always be good.”       “But Daniel managed to brace himself. He recognized the problem and started to fight with it.”       “I know,” Anna smiles shyly. “But I will no longer start such grandiose scandals, because of which this terrible story began. Even if Daniel smokes again, I will be softer to him.”       “No, my sweetheart, he will not even take a cigarette,” Lillian says confidently. “Because he wants to do a nice thing to you. For you, that man would even sacrifice his band, even if it’s very important to him. But if you say, he can easily do it.”       “No, no, I don’t want him to sacrifice his band and betray it,” Anna shakes her head sharply. “I don’t want him to sacrifice for me. I don’t need sacrifices that would make him suffer morally and psychically.”       “He wants to know that his girlfriend supports what he has a love for. But I see no problem in this case because you both love music. It would be strange to hear that one doesn’t like the hobby of another.”       “I have always supported him in everything and have been probably the biggest fan of his band. And I’ll support Daniel in everything. Whatever he is doing.”       “That’s right, sweetie,” Maximilian nods confidently with a shy smile. “You’re doing everything right. With this care, your man should surely feel happy.”       “Now I especially need his love and care. I wanna forget this terrible story and feel what I had been before all of that happened.”       “He’ll help you, sunshine.” Maximilian caresses Anna’s cheek softly and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re already lighting up, smiling, and having a good mood.”       “You know, I really feel better,” Anna confesses with a slight smile. “I feel much happier and don’t wanna cry and be sad all day long. I mean, I already got better when I began to spend time with the girls. But now, when Daniel is with me, I feel much better. The realization of the fact that the bad things are over, and my beloved man is with me calms down my heart and gives me warmth.”       “Don’t think about the bad things, darling,” Lillian advises softly, taking Anna’s hands. “Nobody will hurt you and say a bad word. You only have such loving people like your father, Daniel, your friends, and me. And Daniel’s sister treats you very well, and she wanted to see you with her brother. How much she begged you to come back to him!”       “I guess Cassidy and I are the same to some extent. When being in the hospital, we talked a lot about what happened to us and understood each other. She’s a very sweet and good girl. Who, however, lacks love.”       “It’s okay, sweetie, you’ll be with Daniel, who’ll make you happy, and Cassidy will get rid of a drug dependence and always be surrounded with love and attention,” Maximilian says confidently. “And someday she will also meet a decent guy and fall in love with him. Daniel will make sure that his sister is with a good man.”       “I wish she met a man, who would praise her the way Daniel praises me,” Anna expresses hope with a slight smile. “I wish she never got through what she had to experience… And didn’t run into what I got through.”       “Anna, sweetie, don’t think about that nightmare.” Maximilian hugs Anna around the shoulders and kisses her on the temple, while Lillian takes her hands and looks at her with a slight smile. “Nobody will dare to do what you had to experience. And if someone dares to do it, they will have to deal with us. We will do our best to make your offenders pay for your pain. For you, we’d cut anyone’s throat.”       “To end this story, we had to put in a lot of effort,” Anna notices thoughtfully. “We could’ve gotten victims if the situation had not happened as it did.”       “But thank God, nobody suffered, and those sick stinkers got what they deserved,” Lillian notices confidently. “And we can’t impact what is going to happen. But we did everything we should’ve done.”       “I know…”       “Daughter, please, stop thinking about it,” Maximilian says with sadness in his eyes. “Think of your future with Daniel, make him happy, and get pleasure from your life. You’re a young and beautiful girl and should live, so that you have something to remember in twenty or thirty years. You should come back to regular life and learn to enjoy every moment.”       “With such good friends and an amazing man, I’m sure that I’ll quickly come to myself and forget what almost killed me.”       “Anna, stop,” Lillian says softly, caressing Anna’s cheek softly and fixing her hair. “Get these things out of your head.”       “You know…” Anna pronounces thoughtfully. “It’s so amazing that people can unite for the same goal. It’s amazing that anyone can become the one: enemies, who don’t want to see one another, or those, who don’t care about anyone from this team. But it’s more amazing that it sometimes may unite you, so that people forget all their offenses and get closer to one another.”       “Trouble unites people, sweetie,” Maximilian replies with a slight smile. “Especially, when the case is about your close person. Your mother and I united to save you and asked Daniel for help, who didn’t refuse and asked his friends to join us.”       “So many efforts for me…” Anna moves her eyes to her hands folded in front of her. “I feel kind of embarrassed, honestly…”       “Of course, for you, daughter,” Lillian pronounces softly. “How could we leave you and let our girl die?”       “Anyway, it all was worth it,” Anna smiles shyly. “I was rescued when I was one step away from my death. Without all of you, I wouldn’t be sitting with my mom and dad… I wouldn’t have made them happy with the news about reconciling with Daniel, whom I owe forever.”       “You know…” Lillian hugs Anna and presses her softly to herself, looking at Maximilian and smiling shyly, while the man answers her back. “I must confess that your father and I have gotten very close to each other. I’d say that we’ve really become close people.”       “It’s true, daughter,” Maximilian smiles shyly. “Your mother and I kind of looked at each other in another way. Our relationship has gotten much… Closer… It changed a lot.”       “I think you wouldn’t communicate and have a common business if not for me,” Anna confesses a little hesitantly. “I don’t want you to be forced to tolerate each other for me.”       “Nobody is forced, honey,” Lillian says softly with a slight smile. “Your father and I are connected forever because we have you, our only daughter.”       “If you don’t like speaking to each other, don’t do this. Don’t force yourself. Don’t speak just for me. I’m an adult, and I quietly accept the fact that you’re now divorced. Because I understood that you felt… Not quite bad… But something like that…”       “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t happy to have to see each other at work and solve questions about you.”       “We’ll never be strangers to each other,” Maximilian adds confidently. “Your mother and I have a wonderful relationship and truly respect each other. We could just be partners in work, but now everything is different…”       “What do you mean?” Anna rounds her eyes.       “You see, daughter… We’ve lately had the pleasure of spending time together. We feel something special for each other… What we didn’t feel before… It’s a kind of little spark…”       “Really?” Anna gets happy with a slight smile and a gloss in her eyes. “Did you get love for each other?”       “Maybe,” Maximilian smiles shyly. “But now I really look at your mother in a little different way. Lilian is a wonderful woman. Kind, caring, tender… I really like spending time with her. Even more than with the girls that I dated in my youth.”       “And I feel very good with your father,” Lillian smiles much wider. “But I believe I just had nobody to love. Truly much. Yes, I had some crushes, but no more. Maximilian became my first man. I got married early and didn’t hang out enough, as people say. Though, I don’t need it now.”       “This story got us very close and helped us get what we didn’t have. Before your mother and I divorced, we hadn’t had such a warm relationship. Yes, we respected each other and were gentle. But our lives were similar to the lives of the neighbors. We just lived together.”       “But when we divorced and moved to different places, we got closer to each other. Not just for you, Anna. We just like to spend time together.”       “We lived together for many years and got used to each other. And now, living apart, we feel kind of weird. Quite weird… You can’t strike out more than twenty years of your life so easily.”       “What if you really looked at each other differently?” Anna asks with a mysterious smile. “I’ve also noticed that your relationship is more tender. And the others told me about your tender actions. I think I can say that you have some feelings.”       “Maybe, these feelings aren’t the same that you feel for Daniel,” Maximilian replies thoughtfully. “Do you remember you somehow asked me if I loved your mother, and if she loved me? So, now we can surely say that we feel very good together.”       “Wasn’t there a hint of some feelings before?”       “No, daughter,” Lillian barely shakes her head. “But we would’ve probably gotten closer to each other much earlier. I guess we should’ve spent much more time together. Despite being married for a long time, we knew almost nothing about each other. We got married at the wish of our parents, who didn’t let us get closer. No, of course, we knew each other, but we barely communicated.”       “Do you know everything now?”       “Well, maybe, not everything, but a bigger part.”       “Does it mean… You realized that you had feelings, which you didn’t have before?”       “I think so,” Maximilian replies thoughtfully. “Now, while we’re sitting all together, I feel like I’m living with my full family. Your mother and I are not wife and husband in documents, and we’re living in different places. But it seems like nothing changed. It’s like we’re still together and very happy.”       “I agree,” Lillian agrees with a slight smile. “Now we really look like a loving family. Besides, I haven’t gotten my maiden name Dickman back after getting divorced. I kept the last name Seymour. And I think I will not change it. First, I’m used to it and feel strange when I’m called Lilian Dickman. And second, I should get tons of documents to change my last name. I don’t have time to do it. So, let everything remain as it is. I’m happy with everything.”       Maximilian and Lillian share a shy smile, while Anna watches them with a bright gloss in her eyes, finally seeing what she has never seen and felt before.       “A marriage is just a formality that proves to the statement that you’re married,” Anna notices confidently. “It shouldn't become a cult that you should aim in any way. When you love someone, you shouldn't care if you have a wedding ring on ‘that’ finger.”       “You’re kind of right,” Lillian replies thoughtfully. “But you need these formalities when you and your partner have children and common property. If you’re married, it’s easier to agree on what each of you gets. The state prefers those, who concluded an official marriage over those, who are just living together.”       “I know, but who cares if you have a marriage certificate when you love someone? If you and Father love each other, you don’t need to get married again. You can leave everything the same and keep living your life. You have nothing and nobody to share. Everything was shared after your divorce.”       “No, daughter,” Maximilian gets shy. “Only young people celebrate weddings, and we already experienced it many years ago. We only have to work and have hobbies that fit our age.”       “Gosh, Dad, what are you talking about?” Anna laughs quietly. “You can get married at any age! You only need to have a wish and a chance.”       “Your father is right, daughter,” Lillian replies softly. “You people better have weddings. An adult bride in a white dress would look a little weird. Adult men and women should better educate children and get ready for their grandchildren’s birth.”       “Yes!” Maximilian agrees. “It’s your time to get married.”       “No, it will not happen soon,” Anna smiles shyly. “Daniel and I reconciled yesterday, but you’re already talking about the wedding.”       “Nobody makes you get married to him, darling. You should just be ready that you will become a bride and go to the altar someday.”       “Getting married is not the most important goal in my life,” Anna confesses quietly. “I’d be happy if I just lived with Daniel in the same house. It’s fine when lovers live together without getting married.”       “Of course, it’s your business, but your father and I don’t like that lovers live together without getting married,” Lilian says confidently. “A husband and a wife must live together.”       “I know, but when Daniel and I lived together, we already considered ourselves a family. And we were happy with everything. It’s not hard for me to cook, clean, wash, and do everything I need. That man has never demanded perfect cleanliness, restaurant dishes, perfectly ironed shirts, pants, and t-shirts, and brilliantly clean shoes. He just thanks me for everything I do.”       “Well, if you’re happy with it…” Maximilian shrugs.       “I’ve never asked Daniel to marry me and even hinted at that. And I don’t count the days ‘till our engagement and don’t dream of a brilliant ring, even if he’s hinted at the wish to have a wedding many times. He hinted that he saw me as his wife in the future.”       “It’s okay, Anna, you’ll get married later. You better work on your relationship now. Anyway, you need time to start trusting each other again.”       “Yes, even if you forgave him, it doesn’t mean that the problem is solved,” Lilian says confidently. “I mean, it’s solved, but briefly. You should work on what’s hidden in it. You should let the offenses go and find compromises in what you might have conflicts for.”       “I know we’re gonna take the hard way,” Anna replies quietly. “But I want to overcome all of that with him. The man I can’t live without. We’ll survive the ups and downs together, no matter if we just live together or are married.”       “That’s good you understand it.”       “Listen, daughter, wouldn’t you like to move into Daniel’s house again?” Maximilian asks with a mysterious smile. “Your mother and I would visit you often. The doors of our homes would always be open for him and you.”       “It would be great,” Anna smiles shyly. “I realized how much I missed the amazing feeling when you sleep, and someone embraces you. Falling asleep and waking up while your beloved person’s hands caress you is heavenly.”       “I guess Daniel would not also mind accepting you at his home again,” Lillian assumes with a slight smile.       “If he asks me to come back to his home, I’ll be happy to move into the place that has become so close to me.”       “I’d feel sad if you left this place,” Maximilian confesses, caressing Anna’s head. “But I’d be madly happy if I knew you lived with the one, who would give you happiness and love, which my little girl deserves like nobody else.”       “Someday we’ll have to say goodbye and give you to your future husband,” Lillian notices with sadness in her eyes. “Early or late, a birdie leaves a nest and starts an adult life. An adult cat lets its kittens go, a dog lets its puppies go, and parents let their children go… You can’t live with your father and me forever, and we won’t always provide for you.”       “I know, Mom. Anyway, I will never forget you and will always help you if I can.”       “Your mother and father will always be by your side to protect you or advise you on something,” Lillian adds softly. “We aren’t your enemies, and you can always ask us for help.”       “Thanks a lot,” Anna smiles widely. “I love you… Very much.”       “Aw, Anna, our daughter…”       Lillian takes Anna in a touching hug with a slight smile on her face and feels a nice warmth when her daughter kisses her shyly on the cheek and presses herself close to her. Maximilian hugs both of them immediately, and they accept him in their amicable family hug with pleasure. The man caresses his daughter’s head and kisses her on the top of her head, and she kisses him cutely on the cheek. Their cute family hugs last until someone suddenly rings the doorbell and makes all of them step out and look at each other surprisingly.       “Who is that?” Anna frowns slightly.       “I’m waiting for nobody,” Maximilian throws his hands up.       “At the evening time…”       Maximilian exhales sharply, gets up from the sofa, and goes to the hall door to find out who came to visit him. After opening it quickly, the man is surprised when he sees Ryan, who is a little hesitant, pale, and tense.       “Ryan?” Maximilian wonders.       “Hello, Mr. Seymour,” Ryan greets gently. “Didn’t I bother you?”       “Oh, no, no. Everything is alright… Hello. Come on.”       When Ryan crosses the doorstep, Maximilian shakes him by the hand.       “Are you alright?” Maximilian shows anxiety, looking at Ryan closely. “You’re too scared and pale.”       “Yes, I’m fine,” Ryan replies hesitantly, fingering over nervously. “Just… I would like to talk to you and Anna. Can you give me at least two minutes?”       “Erm, yeah… Yes, sure, we’ll listen to you. I’m now talking to Anna and Lillian. Go to the living room, and I will close the door.”       Maximilian closes the hall door, while the guy looks at the whole hall, as if he is afraid to take a step. Only when Mr. Seymour invites the young guy to the living room with a gesture and brings him there, hugging him around the shoulders, he follows him with his head inclined. Lillian and Anna were talking with each other and holding each other’s hands. But when Maximilian and Ryan come to them, the women stop talking, move their eyes to them, and round their eyes when they see such an expected visitor.       “Ryan?” Anna pronounces surprisingly.       “Wow, Ryan, we weren’t waiting for you,” Lillian adds amicably.       “Hello, Mrs. Seymour,” Ryan greets shyly. “Hi, Anna.”       Anna and Lillian greet Ryan back, get up from the sofa, hug him amicably, and share an amicable kiss on the cheek.       “What are you doing here at such a late time?” Anna wonders. “What brought you here?”       “I just wanted to talk to you,” Ryan replies hesitantly, moving a little scared look aside.       “Yes, sure,” Lilian smiles slightly. “We will listen to you.”       “Sit down, Ryan, don’t be shy,” Maximilian suggests, pointing at the sofa.       “I came for literally two minutes…” Ryan replies hesitantly. “I promise I will not take too much time from you.”       “Alright, we will listen to you. Let’s sit down.”       Maximilian brings Ryan to the sofa, on which both of them sit, while Lillian and Anna do the same.       “Listen, why do you look so scared?” Lillian asks softly. “As if you did something that would make people mad at you. Do you have some problems?”       “No, no, it’s fine, don’t worry…” Ryan replies quietly, running his hand over his hair. “I just… Just…”       “Don’t be afraid, Ryan, speak,” Anna smiles slightly.       “I…” Ryan glances aside for a moment and exhales slowly, locking the fingers of his shaking hands. “I just still feel guilty of you…”       “Guilty? But for what?”       “For the story that happened to us. And I came to you to try to explain everything and apologize.”       “Ryan, please, don’t do it,” Anna says with pity in her eyes. “It’s all over. Don’t think about it.”       “Yeah, Anna, I know… But I’m guilty of you and your parents anyway.”       “No, Ryan, you’re not guilty of us,” Maximilian replies confidently, softly. “You don’t have a fault for what happened.”       “I’m very sorry that it happened. I could’ve ended this story much earlier, but I was afraid of the anger of my father and brother, who could eat me. Erase me from this world.”       “You didn’t have to do with your father and brother’s tricks, dear,” Lillian says softly. “Please, don’t think that all of it happened because of you.”       “But it’s partly true, Mrs. Seymour. All that time, I had a wonderful chance to save your daughter from what Father and Julian did to her. But I didn’t do it until the end… Until I met you, Mr. Seymour, Daniel, and Anna’s friends. Until I saw what Julian brought your daughter to. You made me sure to piss off my cowardice and start doing something.”       “The fact that you were afraid to go against your father and brother doesn’t make you cowardly,” Anna replies softly. “We were all afraid to do something because we thought we were unprotected, and there was no way out. Though, there was always the one.”       “I’m really very sorry, Anna,” Ryan says with pity in his eyes. “You didn’t deserve what those sick stinkers did to you. I should’ve done just something to help you for my respect for you and your parents. But alas, I was a coward, who decided to save everybody at the last moment.”       “Ryan, please, stop blaming yourself,” Maximilian says quietly, clapping Ryan on the shoulder. “You don’t have to do with your father and brother’s tricks and shouldn’t pay for what they were doing all their lives.”       “I’ve always been ashamed of them…” Ryan nervously swallows up. “Ashamed to tell people that my father is Norman Potter, a greedy and materialistic man, who doesn’t forget offenses, and my older brother is Julian Potter, who doesn’t know what it’s like to respect a woman and humiliates her in all possible ways. I… I was afraid that people would start to ignore me if they knew who I am… And believe that I’m the same shameless bastard as my father and brother.”       “Dear, don’t prove it to us,” Lilian says softly. “We have known you since you were a child. Every one of us saw how much you differed from your relatives. I swear, we’ve never thought that you’re as terrible as Julian and Norman.”       “But I’ve always been afraid… That you’d ignore me because of my father and brother…”       “Stop, Ryan.”       “I’ve always felt a stranger next to them and dreamed of running away from them one beautiful day. But there were reasons why I didn’t run as a teenager… For example, I didn’t know where and how I would live and earn money… And I was spying on Father and Julian when I suspected that they were planning something against your family.”       “I’ve never ignored you and always considered you a close person,” Anna replies amicably with a slight smile. “Unlike your father and brother, you’ve never made me feel disgusted, and I had the pleasure of talking to you and spending time with you.”       “Nobody has felt disgust for you!” Lillian exclaims. “But you’re sitting here and afraid that we may literally wish to put you in prison.”       “And you’re right to some extent, Mrs. Seymour,” Ryan replies quietly, looking at Lilian a little hesitantly. “I’m really afraid that I’ll have to pay for my father and brother’s sins and tolerate insults and humiliations… Get horrified at the thought that people would point at me and say, ‘Oh, look, that’s the younger sonny of that bastard Norman, whose older son Julian beat the girl to half-death! He is probably the same cad as his relatives!’”       “It will not happen, Ryan,” Maximilian replies quietly. “Lillian and I have always treated you like a son and loved you very much, and you’re like a brother to Anna. And we did not hear bad words about you from Daniel and his friends.”       “But I really feel madly ashamed, understand… No matter how much I try to disown my brother and father, I can’t fix what's been done. I’m gonna have a stamp of the brother of the one, who beat the innocent girl to half-death, and a son of the father, who almost killed your family just because his biggest fear of becoming a beggar could’ve come true. It’s like a sin: no matter how much you visit a crunch to pray for forgiveness, swim in holy water, and get rid of devils, nothing will be changed.”       “The sins of your family are the sins of your family, Ryan,” Anna replies quietly. “You don’t have to do with them. You don’t have to pay for what the other people did. You didn’t wish to take revenge on my parents, mock me, insult me, and beat me black and blue.”       “I’m a man with a better shame, Anna. It’s easy for Julian and Father to do a bad thing and feel no shame, but I can’t do it.”       “In case you really did something, it’s fine. But please, don’t blame yourself for what the others did. It’s their problem, not yours.”       “I know, but…”       “Ryan, please, stop thinking about it,” Maximilian says softly with sadness in his eyes. “Try to forget that story and start to live your life. The story of your brother and father is over forever. Now the police will deal with them, and they will get their sentences. And trust me, Julian and Norman will have to stay in prison for a long time.”       “Maximilian is right, Ryan,” Lillian agrees. “I completely understand that it’s very hard for you, but you need to brace yourself and keep living. It’s hard for all of us yet. But we should come to ourselves and come back to our business.”       “Aren’t you really mad at me for what happened?” Ryan asks hesitantly, looking at the Seymours with widely open eyes. “Don’t you have anything bad against me?”       “No, Ryan, we’ve never thought of being mad at you,” Maximilian replies amicably.       “Relax, my darling, and stop thinking about it,” Lillian says softly, putting her hand on Ryan’s hand. “You’ve always been like a part of our family and will always be the one. We love you with all our hearts, treat you well, and believe we owe you. You can always ask us for help if you need something.”       “It’s nice to hear it,” Ryan smiles a little tensely. “And to know I have the people, who really love me and would not dare to hurt me.”       “Living in a family that doesn’t love you is terrible,” Anna notices with sympathy. “I’m very sorry you were nothing for them.”       “Somehow, I tried to be good for them with the hope of deserving their love and respect and getting their attention. But since I’ve never been similar to Julian and Norman, nothing good happened.”       “You shouldn’t have wasted your time,” Maximilian adds. “They’re shameless cads, who will never change and love you.”       “They’re nothing to me now, too,” Ryan confesses much more confidently. “And I’m even happy that I can live without those, who have hated me all their lives and would be happy if an accident happened to me.”       “Forget them. They never thought of you – so, why you should think of them.”       “If I remember them, I will only swear on them. Especially the man named Norman. Who deprived me of my mother by killing her shamelessly. A-r-r…” Ryan growls quietly. “I’ll never forgive him for that disgusting act… If not for him, my mother would be alive.”       “It’s okay, Ryan, he will surely pay for it,” Anna replies confidently. “You did a good job and found proof of his fault for that woman’s death.”       “And yeah,” Ryan looks confidently at Maximilian, Lillian, and Anna. “From now on, I will never call Norman my father and call Julian my brother. So, I want to ask you not to remind me that they’re my family. I don’t want to think about my connection with those people, and I reject them forever. Now they’re strangers to me.”       “But do you understand that you can’t break family ties anyway?” Anna asks hesitantly.       “I know. But it’s possible to forget and pretend that you don’t have a father and a brother. And I will do it. From now on, I’m not connected with the Potters anymore. I’m a man, who only had his late mother, Genevieve Clayton.”       “Alright, Ryan if you want it, we will not remind you about the ties with the Potters,” Lillian promises with a slight smile.       “And to get rid of any mentions of the Potters, I will change my last name in all documents at the nearest time.”       “So, is this your final decision?” Maximilian asks.       “I decided to do it after I found out that Norman was the killer of my mother. And my words about changing my last name weren’t emotions. So… You will know me with the new last name soon.”       “So, it’s your right,” Lillian shrugs.       “Maybe, it will be hard for me at first, but later I will get used to and will be doing my business. At least, I’m ready morally.”       “You can always ask us for help, and we will help you with pleasure,” Maximilian says confidently. “With anything – you can just speak up.”       “Thanks a lot, Mr. Seymour,” Ryan thanks gently with a shy smile. “You’ve always been very nice to me.”       “And don’t worry about the upcoming trial,” Lillian smiles slightly. “Our lawyers guaranteed that everything would be alright. They will do their best for the Potters to get a severe sentence.”       “If you need my help, feel free to tell me.”       “Of course, we will,” Maximilian promises confidently.       Ryan says nothing and exhales slowly with a slight smile, feeling how a heavy burden falls off his shoulders.       “Thank you so much, Mr. Seymour, Mrs. Seymour, Anna…” Ryan thanks amicably. “Thanks for listening to me… You made me feel better and calm down. I was worried about it and couldn’t calm down for a week. Even the decision to go to your home wasn’t easy for me.”       “Exhale with relief and relax, Ryan,” Maximilian says confidently with a slight smile, clapping Ryan on the shoulder. “You have a more important business than the story of the Potters. Focus on it. Think about your studies, job, and plans for the future…”       “Now I can surely focus on everything about my life.”       “Worry about nothing, dear,” Lilian smiles slightly. “The bad things are over.”       “Good…” Ryan clears his throat quickly. “By the way, how are you doing? Did you come to yourself after that horror?”       “More or less. Life is getting better. Everything is coming back to its place. It’s getting easier.”       “This story got all of us nervous… I think it’s going to be hard to come to ourselves after the shock for a short time.”       “We all got much better, don’t worry,” Anna smiles shyly.       “And you?”       “Yes, I feel much better.”       “And what about your bruises?”       “They’re going away slowly.”       “Thank God! And how are the guys doing?”       “Yup, they’re fine, too.”       “I’m glad they can also come back to their work or some business.”       Meanwhile, Maximilian glances at the watch hanging on the wall and looks at Lillian, saying a little thoughtfully:       “Oh, about the work… Lillian, we need to make a couple of calls for work.”       “Yes, I forgot about it!” Lillian gets horrified with widely open eyes, closing her mouth with a hand. “Thanks for reminding me, Max. It got out of my head.”       Lillian looks around and takes her expensive smartphone from the coffee table, starting to check out something.       “We’re sorry, guys, but Lillian and I need to make a couple of calls,” Maximilian apologizes with sadness in his eyes, unlocking his smartphone.       “You can stay here and talk, while Maximilian and I will go to another room,” Lillian suggests amicably.       “Yeah, I’d like to talk to Anna,” Ryan replies thoughtfully.       “So, let’s go to my room, so my parents can stay here?” Anna suggests.       “No, your mother and I will go to yours,” Maximilian shakes his head. “The cellular is kind of better there. And we will not bother each other with our talks.”       “Well, alright. We will stay here then.”       “We’ll come back soon, daughter, just a couple of calls,” Lillian promises with a slight smile.       Lillian kisses Anna cutely on the cheek and hugs Ryan. Then she gets up and goes to the other room, setting her eyes on her smartphone. Maximilian also leaves the living room after hugging his daughter and clapping the young guy on the shoulder. Thus, a few seconds later, Anna and Ryan stay alone and watch the former Seymour spouses with slight smiles.       “Yeah, they’re working even in the late evening,” Anna says with a slight smile.       “They’ve always loved working a lot,” Ryan notices amicably. “As long as I remember, they’ve never let themselves relax.”       “Thank God, their efforts are worth it.”       “Yeah, their restaurant is getting popular.”       Anna says nothing for two seconds and just smiles shyly at Ryan, who answers her back.       “Erm, accept my apologies for not helping you again,” Ryan says with sadness in his eyes. “I’m madly sorry that you became a victim of those stinkers.”       “Gosh, Ryan, we’ve discussed everything…” Anna sighs quietly.       “I know, I just… I just think about what I saw on the day you ended up in the hospital. Looking at you like that got me horrified. And I refused to believe that Julian could go so far. I knew he was a cad, but I didn’t think he was so nasty.”       “Julian treated me like that not only because of his nasty character, but also because I refused to be with him. He confessed that he was dreaming of revenging on me for that. He couldn’t miss a chance when Mr. Potter decided to take revenge on my parents.”       “You know, I hardly believe that a man like Julian could love someone. He has never loved his father. Who has never loved him, too. They are united by their common goals and points of view. But they don’t feel love for each other. Even if they cried that they loved and respected each other.”       “It also played its role. And since nobody taught Julian to respect girls, but his father hated them, why they should’ve loved them.”       “I don’t know, maybe, he really loved. But in his own way. The way he could. Julian always thought if a girl received tons of gifts, she would love him. So, he thought he could bribe you.”       “I don’t need gifts, Ryan. A man can gift me nothing and buy no big bouquets of flowers. I want him to surround me with care and love. Do something for me. Not talk to the wind and buy my love.”       “He’ll never understand it. The man is already thirty-five, his time is almost gone. Nobody will look at him. Nobody needs him. Especially with such a terrible character.”       “It doesn’t make sense now. I don’t care whether Julian loved me. I’ve never been in love with him. That man has always made me feel goosebumps on my skin. I was afraid of him, even when he seemed sweet in the beginning. And when I thought I’d live with him, I was shaking. Ugh… Save me, God!”       “I felt the same when standing next to him and Norman.”       “I’m not what that man wanted to make me. Julian needed a servant. A machine that would silently cook, clean, wash, give birth to children, educate them, and please him.”       “Norman wanted the same. He thought my mother would be an obedient woman and be as silent as a mouse. But she knew how to shut him up. Though, he really hated it. The fact that the woman controlled him was a hit between his legs.”       “Everything’s clear about Julian, but why is Mr. Potter so evil, vengeful, and heartless?”       “Oh, I’ve never understood why Norman got so much hate and evil. All my life, I’ve been trying to guess it. It seems like there’s supposed to be a reason… Someone or something that made him such a disgusting man, who taught Julian to be the same. But I can’t do this. I mean, I’m sure that his hate for women is hidden in living with Mother. But I don’t know what made him so cruel.”       “You know, Ryan…” Anna says nothing for two seconds. “I’m truly surprised that you didn’t succumb to his influence and become the same. You lived in the surroundings that could make you terrible for so many years. But you didn’t become disgusting and heartless. You kept your conscience and humanity.”       “I think I just always loved my mother more and was much more attracted to her. I listened to her… She always taught me to be kind and fair. She taught me to never step on others and to get everything by working hard and using my brain. I could say my mother gave me a love for studying and self-improvement. She taught me to use my brain. Not to cheat, lie, or betray…”       “You were lucky you had her,” Anna says with a slight smile. “Your mother was an amazing woman, who always spread a nice warmth. She was kind of tender and delicate outside, but she was strong-willed and tough inside.”       “I’m madly grateful to Mother for everything she gave me. Without her, I wouldn’t be what I am now. I would’ve become the same bastard as Julian and his father. She gave me all the best and tried to give me double motherly love. It was like… She replaced my father, who could just look at me evilly and curse the day when I was born in the best case. He always said the same thing on March, 25th: ‘I wish this day was cursed!’”       “Sadly, not all the parents love their children. Mr. Potter always looked for a benefit from anyone. Even his own children. Julian was very good for him, and you were not.”       “I’m not also lucky to have a brother like mine,” Ryan sighs quietly. “I’ve always been kindly jealous of those, who have loving brothers and sisters. You know how much I wanted to have a brother, who would’ve been my best friend, wonderful protector, wise adviser, and loyal helper. But I didn’t eventually get what I dreamed about.”       “Many brothers and sisters are enemies.”       “I have felt like a stranger since I was a newborn. And now I feel much more lonely because I have nobody.”       “No, Ryan, you have us.” Anna takes Ryan’s hands softly, looking at him with a slight smile on her face. “My parents and I have always loved you as our close person. Even after this story, we will keep speaking and supporting you.”       “Ah, Anna, I hope God will not let you know what loneliness is,” Ryan shakes his head with sadness in his eyes. “I’m glad that everything’s over and ready to keep moving on. But it doesn’t mean I don’t care that I stayed alone. Maybe, I’m even afraid to some extent. I don’t know if I can overcome such big changes. I… Need time… To accept everything.”       “You’re not alone, I repeat. My parents and I aren’t strangers to you. If Mom and Dad had educated you as their son, I would’ve been happy to call you my brother.”       “And I’ve always loved you as my sister.” Ryan caresses Anna’s shoulders with a slight smile. “You’ve always been my shot of sun in the dark times.”       “It’s always been interesting with you. You’re smart, educated, kind, and have a sense of humor… Talking to you has never been torture for me.”       “You know… Even if our families had gotten us married, I believe we would’ve lived well. We would’ve easily kept the illusion of a perfect couple. We would’ve lived the way your parents did – without scandals and reproaches. And we would’ve always treated each other with respect. We would’ve had no love, passion, and something like that, but it would’ve been easy for us to live.”       “And you’d never do what Julian did to me,” Anna notices.       “Never! I’ve never beaten and will not beat a girl.”       “You know… Maybe… I wouldn’t have resisted our wedding if our parents had decided to get us married when we were eighteen or nineteen. I don’t exclude that I would’ve found the courage to accept my fate somehow. And be a good, obedient girl for Mom and Dad.”       “I doubt you would’ve accepted it. You wanna feel everything books write about. And you knew what it was. You would’ve accepted your fate in just one case: if you hadn’t known all those tales with a happy end, in which everyone lived happily after.”       “Maybe. But I know for sure that if I’d been forced to become your wife, our marriage would’ve been quiet.”       “If I had been forced to marry you, I would’ve taken care of you and wouldn’t have treated you as a doormat. I would’ve respected you and let nobody hurt you. I don’t plan to get married now. But if I had to, I would accept this responsibility. I’m used to paying for what I do.”       “I know…”       “Anyway, I’m happy it didn’t happen. There’s so much I wanna do before getting married. For example, focus on my studies and get a diploma in my second high education. And find a good job.”       “I think Mr. Potter didn’t like that you were always so obsessed with studies and spent your time on them. He probably had grandiose plans for you, but they went wrong when he realized that he couldn’t do his dirty things with your help.”       “And it was one of a thousand reasons why Norman and Julian hated me, However, I don’t care about their opinion on my wish to study and develop. I love studying and discovering something new.”       “And agree that they wouldn’t have gotten benefits if you’d been too smart.”       “Right. I was smart enough to find a way to reveal not to get caught earlier and find what would’ve helped me put them in prison.”       “Your efforts were worth it. Who knows, maybe, we wouldn’t have brought the Potters without your proof. But now I am sure that they’ll get what they deserve. And the lawyers say the same.”       “Julian would’ve gone to prison anyway, Anna. He almost killed you. There was great proof from your friends, your words, and the words of fewer people, who confirmed it all. And Norman… Norman was guilty of being too stupid and not getting rid of all the clues.”       “All of that is on their conscience. Anyway, you did everything you could to help us.”       “I just wanted to give those two a lesson and make them pay for everything.”       “And you got it, fighter,” Anna laughs quietly.       “I’m glad I was needed,” Ryan smiles shyly.       Ryan and Anna fall into silence for two seconds and just smile at each other.       “Anyway, I’m happy we didn’t get married at our parents’ wish,” Ryan confesses. “I didn’t wanna get married to the one, who I always considered a friend or a sister.”       “I didn’t want it, either,” Anna smiles shyly. “You’re very good and sweet, but I could give you nothing but friendship. People get married for love, not for a pregnancy, a benefit, or a wish of elder people…”       “I don’t understand those, who get married without love. It’s super hard to live with someone you feel nothing for or actually hate. You can accept it for a while. Early or late, these couples spit up, and people feel unhappy because they don’t know the real love. Not everyone is lucky to find someone they could truly love.”       “And my parents are a wonderful example of that.”       “If I get married someday, I shall do it only for love.”       “Sometimes it does magical things and makes us do a lot…” Anna smiles shyly. “One meeting changed my whole life and made me realize that I wanted to decide how to live. I met the man and fell in love so much that I couldn’t imagine my life without him.”       “Listen, Anna, I don’t wanna insist on anything and make you do something against your wish…” Ryan says quietly with sadness in his eyes. “But please, think better before you make the decision for your relationship with Daniel.”       “Ah, you mean it…” Anna smiles slightly.       “Don’t leave Daniel, sis.” Ryan takes Anna’s hand and caresses it softly. “That guy loves you very much and regrets what he did. I talked to him on the day you got beaten, and he was so broken that I felt very sorry for him. And after what Daniel did for you, it would be bad not to forgive him and to keep blaming him for cheating.”       “Yeah, but…”       “Think, Anna, please. Don’t rush to decide something. Though, I think you’d feel better next to him. Daniel is a good man. He is your perfect partner. The one you’ve always dreamed of.”       “Everything’s decided,” Anna smiles shyly. “I’m not gonna leave Daniel. I said I forgave him and apologized for my behavior that wasn’t always fair.”       “Really?” Ryan gets truly happy with a wide smile. “Are you with him again?”       “Yup, Daniel and I are together again.”       “Wow! That’s awesome!” Ryan gives Anna an amicable hug. “Congratulations, darling! I’m so happy for you!”       “Thanks a lot, Ryan,” Anna thanks with a wide smile.       “You made the right choice that you wouldn’t be disappointed in,” Ryan replies confidently, stepping back from Anna and taking her hands. “I see clearly that Daniel is totally in love with you. He’s a wonderful man, with whom you’ll be happy and beloved.”       “Daniel can’t be compared with Julian. They’re absolutely different. And they have different views about life, values, and everything in the world.”       “You could easily trust your life with that man.”       “Now, I don’t doubt that he loves me. Just like I don’t doubt that I madly love him and can’t live without that man.”       “I’m glad to hear it,” Ryan smiles widely. “If you’re happy, I’m happy, too.”       “Thanks a lot.”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Ryan and Anna just smile shyly at each other.       “You know, you talk about love as if you know everything about it,” Anna notices. “Why, Ryan? You’ve never loved too much.”       “Well, first, some things can be seen with the naked eye without any education and experience,” Ryan smiles mysteriously. “And second, you know me badly, girl. I know what love is. And I felt it.”       “Really?” Anna arches her eyebrows. “Did you date someone?”       “Yup, I dated one girl. Our relationship lasted for two or three years.”       “Wow! You’ve never told me about it! I’ve known you for ages, but never heard of your affairs.”       “It happened when I was a teenager,” Ryan confesses shyly. “That girl was my first love that I will never forget. She was very sweet, kind, and beautiful… I felt good with her by my side. At some moment, everything happened… And we realized that we loved each other and started to date…”       “She was from school? Or did someone introduce you to her?”       “Yes, from school. A girl from a younger class. She was a newbie when she met me one day and asked me to help her find a class. So, I helped her with pleasure, and then we started to meet and talk more and more.”       “That’s how…” Anna smiles mysteriously.       “And it’s easy to guess that Norman and Julian were against it. They were waiting for me to break up with her. But none of them meddled in my relationship openly. Only my mother was happy and liked that girl immediately.”       “She knew her?”       “Yup, I brought her to our home one day, and Mother talked to her a little. That girl liked her, too. But when she saw Julian and Norman, that girl got nervous and expressed a wish to leave. Though, I wasn’t mad and understood it well.”       “But what happened between you? Why did you break up?”       “No scandals and reproaches… We just got through it, so to say. We got cold. The passion was gone as well as love. But that’s good both of us realized it in time. We kept our good relationship and remained good friends. We often spoke and helped each other. We never ignored each other when we met at school. And although we’ve never met since we graduated from school, I’m still grateful to her for everything she did for me. All the memories of her make me feel only tenderness and nice feelings. No anger, no hurt…”       “Didn’t you meet anyone after her?”       “No, after breaking up, I focused on my studies. Not for a wish to get lost. I was just about to pass my exams.”       “You’re talking about it too quietly. As if you didn’t feel hurt.”       “Of course, it was hurtful. But our breakup wasn’t painful. Besides, I used to think we had a deep love. But now I understand that the real love is something different. What happened then were the children’s attempts to seem adult to others.”       “When I was a teenager, I also thought I was mortally in love with those I dated. But I realized that I was too wrong after I met Daniel.”       “Anyone can look at you and say you’re in love with each other,” Ryan notices with a slight smile.       “Dying for him would be an honor to me. Daniel is the man that I have been dreaming about all my life.”       “It’s nice to see people happy and in love.”       “I’m sure that you’ll meet the one, who will love you with all her heart and make you very happy,” Anna expresses hope with a slight smile. “There will be the one to appreciate your great knowledge and take care of you, so that you never feel lonely.”       “Someday that girl will come into my life. But now I wanna focus on my studies at the university, graduate from it, find a good job, and move into my own place.”       “Won’t you stay at the Potters’ house? Now you’re on your own in that house and can live as you want.”       “No, Anna, I won’t stay in their house. I wanna leave it at the nearest time.”       “But, Ryan, where will you go?” Anna rounds her eyes. “How are you gonna live? You don’t have money to buy an apartment or a house! And you need to buy something for the home, pay for your place, feed yourself, and dress yourself.”       “I’ll solve it. I have some money that I keep after finishing some one-time work. I will rent a modest apartment for some time. But later, I’ll move into my own place.”       “God will help you. But if you need something, you can ask my parents or me for help. And my friends would be happy to help you.”       “Do you think…” Ryan glances at his hands for a second. “I could befriend those men?”       “I think the lads would be glad to befriend you. They’re open to meeting new people and easily find a common language with people.”       “Sometimes I need some good men, with whom I can have some fun. There are moments when I’m sick of talking to those, who surround me all the time. Honestly, they… Don’t have a sense of humor. Though, I sometimes wanna laugh with someone…”       “Don’t worry, the men have a good sense of humor,” Anna laughs shyly. “And if you wanna keep speaking to them, the guys will be happy to accept you. And don’t forget about the girls. Spending time with them is also interesting. They’re as funny as the men.”       “I get on well with the guys from my group at the university. But I’m not close to them. We’re only united by our studies. A goal of writing off notes or solving a problem from what we might get on exams. We don’t have anything in common, except this fact.”       “You can do this, Ryan,” Anna smiles shyly, caressing Ryan’s shoulder. “The lads will accept you.”       “I hope they will not judge me for the sins that the Potters have committed.”       “Nobody will judge you, buddy. Maybe, they had suspicions about you at first. But now nobody doubts that you’re a very good and fair man.”       “Ah…” Ryan sighs quietly. “I can’t wait to change my last name and become a totally different man for those, who don’t know me yet. Who don’t know me well yet…”       “Hey, what last name do you wanna take?”       “Clayton. It’s my mother’s maiden name. I want to take it.”       “Nice last name. I love it.”       “Ryan Preston Clayton. After changing my last name, my full name will sound like this. But Ryan Preston Potter will die.”       “What would you say if someone asked you about your family?”       “I’d only tell them about Mother. And say I’ve never had a father. I can’t remember him. I don’t know him.”       “Okay, I got it.”       At some moment, Ryan glances aside and sees Lillian and Maximilian talking about something in the hall, sharing a shy smile and looking at each other with some tenderness in their eyes.       “Yeah, I believe your parents aren’t definitely talking about work,” Ryan assumes with a slight smile.       “Why do you think so?” Anna frowns slightly.       “They’re standing in the hall and talking to each other too sweetly. As if they’re flirting.”       Anna looks at the side of the hall and sees her parents talking to each other very nicely. It makes the girl smile shyly at the thought that something is getting born between her parents.       “You know, Ryan, I’ve lately thought that Mother and Father got very close to each other,” Anna confesses shyly and moves her eyes to Ryan. “I feel something special between them. It never happened to them! They always talked to each other very coldly. But now these people kind of saw the other sides of each other.”       “Yeah, I noticed it, too…” Ryan nods with a slight smile. “I think they could really look at each other in another way.”       “I started to watch my parents closer after Daniel’s sister told me about how Father and Mother took care of each other touchingly.”       “But even if they have some feelings, they will surely not get married again.”       “I agree, but it would be better if everything remained the same. May my parents speak like before.”       Ryan smiles shyly at Anna, looks at the watch on his left hand and frowns slightly.       “Oh, listen, I think I’ll go…” Ryan says hesitantly, getting up slowly from the sofa. “I’ll go home while the roads are free, and buses aren’t filled.”       “Don’t you wanna stay with my parents and me for dinner?” Anna suggests amicably, also getting up from the sofa.       “Thanks for the invitation, Anna, but I’d better go home. I have too much to do.”       “So, as you wish…” Anna shrugs with sadness in her eyes. “Visit us when you have time.”       “Thank you so much, Anna. You’re very sweet and generous.”       Anna smiles widely and accepts Ryan’s touching hug with great pleasure, smiling widely with a feeling of absolute relief. But a little later, they step away from each other and just look at each other without words.       “Thank you for everything,” Ryan says amicably. “And I’m very sorry about not helping you in time.”       “It’s okay, Ryan, don’t think about it,” Anna replies amicably. “And I'm sorry about what happened to your mother.”       “I’ve gotta accept it somehow. I’ve got no choice. Sadly, I can’t get my mom back.”       “I’m sure that she is proud of you.”       “I wish she did,” Ryan smiles slightly. “And your parents should also be proud of such a wonderful daughter like you.”       “After this story, we got much closer,” Anna smiles shyly. “My parents and I didn’t just understand each other. Our wishes seemed absolutely different and unclear. But now Father and Mother support me, despite nothing.”       “I'm happy for you. I’m happy for you and Daniel. Make him as happy as he deserves it and be happy with him. You both deserved all the best.”       “Thank you so much, Ryan. I wish you to forget your past, bad life and start a new, good one.”       “I wish it happened.”       “Okay, let me walk you out.”       Ryan takes something from the coffee table and goes to the exit of the apartment with Anna. Then the two hug each other again, share an amicable kiss on the cheek to say goodbye, and step away with slight smiles on their faces. After this, the girl opens the door and pronounces amicably:       “Bye, Ryan.”       “Bye, Anna,” Ryan says goodbye with a shy smile.       A few moments later, Ryan crosses the doorstep of the apartment with a feeling of great relief and goes somewhere down the long, light hall. Anna watches him for some time, closes the door, looks around the whole hall, and smiles much wider, truly wishing her friend to make all his dreams come true and forget about his life with the people, who have never loved him.