But some time later, Daniel comes to himself and pushes Blanca softly off himself, trying to find the will to smile with a feeling of embarrassment.
“Oh, Blanca, Blanca,” Daniel pronounces hesitantly. “Quiet, quiet… Couldn’t you attack me so suddenly?”
“Perdone, mi gatito, perdone[1],” Blanca replies, inclining her head guiltily. “I just miss you very much and want to see you.”
“I understand, but I barely understood what happened.”
“Sorry…”
“Okay, it’s okay,” Daniel cracks a smile. “I’m glad you came.”
“By the way…” Blanca fixes Daniel’s hair carefully after making a mess on his head when hugging him so passionately and cravenly. “You to forget me at all, mi amor[2]. No call, no question about a date, no invitation to walk… I wait for your call so much, but you not to do it.”
“Erm…” Daniel stutters, shifting from one foot to another. “Sorry, I… I don’t feel good… Erm… And I always wanna sleep…”
“Because you not to call me. If you call me, everything to be okay. I care about you and do everything to help you feel better.”
“I wanted, but…”
“It’s okay, mi gatito[3]. I come here, and you to be in good hands.”
“Oh, sorry…” Daniel bites his lip slightly. “Sorry, I’m holding you on the doorstep… Come in, don’t be shy.”
While Daniel steps back from the door and invites her to come in, Blanca does it immediately, goes to the living room confidently, and looks around with a wide smile, exploring this place with great interest and delight and thinking about what to change. Her sister, Mia, has been standing on the doorstep shyly and a little scarily, as if she is afraid of something, and keeping her hands in front of her.
“Oh, hey, Mia,” Daniel smiles amicably. “Glad to see you.”
“Hey, Daniel,” Mia replies quietly and shyly, fixing her glasses. “I’m glad to see you, too.”
“Don’t stand here, come in.”
Mia smiles shyly and enters the house, crossing her arms over her chest and looking around hesitantly, while Daniel closes the door.
“Ah, this house to be fantastic!” Blanca exclaims with delight, walking into the living room happily. “I wait to move here.”
“Erm…” Daniel stutters, as he hesitantly comes to Blanca, feeling a strong pressure because of her wish to marry him and move here immediately. “Pardon, what?”
“I already imagine myself to be the owner of this house. I think about what I want to change…”
“I see you’re waiting for it so much…”
“Of course, I to be, querida[4]!” Blanca exclaims with a slight smile, comes to Daniel, puts her arms around his neck, and runs them through the man’s hair, looking into his eyes with delight. “I want to become your wife and give birth to your child. That to be as handsome as you to be. You to be a handsome man! The most handsome man I ever see.”
“Nice to hear it,” Daniel smiles slightly.
“And I really want you to gift me the most expensive and beautiful ring. To let me wear it proudly and call myself your beloved fiancée!”
“Ring?”
“Yes! When a man proposes to a girl to marry, he gives her a ring. The most beautiful and most expensive on… With a brilliant!”
“Erm…” Daniel stutters, getting a little confused and scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, sure, I will buy a ring for you… But I understand nothing about it…”
“Don’t worry, Daniel, I already know what ring I want,” Blanca replies with a sly smile, putting her finger on Daniel’s mouth. “It to be expensive but incredibly beautiful! Somehow, I to go to a store where they sell rings and see what I want to wear on my finger.”
“So, I wouldn’t have to choose?”
“No, querida[5]. I do everything for you. You should only go to a store and buy the ring. And then get down on your knee and ask me if I want to marry you.”
“Erm… Okay… I got it.”
“Oh, I really want to start to wear that expensive ring. You must buy all the best and most expensive things for your fiancée. Everyone to be jealous and say she to be happy and lucky. ¿Si, mi amor?[6]”
“Huh, yeah, sure…” Daniel replies hesitantly, showing a one-second smile with a slight nod. “I’ll buy… I promise…”
“Wonderful!”
And while Blanca kisses him on the cheek with her dry, rough lips, Daniel rolls his eyes and, getting a little pale from nervousness, thinks:
“Damn, I’m kinda afraid to imagine how much the ring that she wants costs… I hope I won’t have to sell the house or the car to buy it… This girl is too insolent. She doesn’t probably care where I’d get money to buy it… Oh, shit… What did I get into?”
“By the way, I already say that you to forget about me?” Blanca asks with sadness in her eyes, caressing Daniel’s head and looking at him tenderly, while he looks at the girl with dead eyes. “As if I not to exist…”
“But, Blanca, we met two days ago…” Daniel throws his hands up hesitantly. “Why do you say I forgot you if we recently met?”
“Yeah, but it not to be enough for me. I want to see you much more.”
“Maybe, it would happen if not for your job. But you’re working at the hospital.”
“Oh, don’t remind me of it…” Blanca throws gloomily. “I hate my job… I feel nauseous and disgusted… This job to make me feel humiliated…”
“I get it.”
“I swear, mi amor[7], if not for that, I to spend all my time with you. We to get ready for the wedding and plan our wedding trip. I to buy everything to be beautiful… Think about how to make your house better…”
“Yeah, sure…”
“Oh, mi amor… Yo quiero verte en veinticuatro horas y siete días a la semana[8].”
“Erm, excuse me?” Daniel frowns slightly. “I didn’t get it…”
“She said she wants to see you twenty-four hours per day and seven days per week,” Mia replies quietly, crossing her arms over her chest and standing near the sofa with her head slightly inclined.
“Erm, yes, I want to say it,” Blanca says with a slight smile. “I want to see you all the time… Never leave you…”
“But you should know it’s impossible,” Daniel replies hesitantly.
“Why not?” Blanca caresses Daniel’s cheeks with both hands. “If we to be tired, we spend time together. Turn off our phones and spend time with each other. I to be with you all the time and help you feel good.”
“Well…” Daniel pronounces hesitantly, not being happy with the perspective to see Blanca every day twenty-four hours per day, moaning silently and rolling his eyes. “Yup… Sure…”
“Ah, I not to wait when we to have a wedding and start to live together.” Blanca starts walking in the whole living room and looking around with admiration. “Every time I come to this house, I imagine myself to be the full owner.”
Blanca sits on the sofa with a wide smile and leans back. While Mia keeps standing not far, having her arms crossed over her chest, being surprised by her older sister’s behavior, shaking her head, and looking like she fears something and wants to say a word but not wishing to open her mouth for some reason.
“Oh, this sofa to be so gorgeous, soft, and comfortable,” Blanca pronounces with delight, closing her eyes. “I to love to sit here so much… M-m-m-m… I wanna sleep… I already imagine how I lie here covered with a blanket, watch TV, and eat something delicious…”
Daniel frowns slightly and looks at Blanca with suspicion for two seconds. But then he sits on the sofa against the girl, who gets straight sharply, looking at the man questioningly.
“Why you not to sit next to me?” Blanca wonders.
“I sat down,” Daniel throws his hands up.
“I want you to sit with me! I want you to embrace me, kiss me, say I to be beautiful and beloved… You not to sit there!”
“Blanca, it’s his house,” Mia says quietly. “He has a right to sit anywhere he wants. If he wants to sit here, it’s okay.”
“Nobody to ask you, Mia,” Blanca replies rudely, glancing at Mia sharply.
“Excuse me, but you have no right to give orders at someone’s home.”
“Close your mouth, stick in the mud! And open it when I ask you about it. When I want you to translate what I don’t know for Daniel. At other moments, you should be silent and stand aside. You get it, gray mouse?”
“Blanca, how are you talking to her?” Daniel wonders. “Mia is your younger sister. You shouldn’t talk to her so rudely.”
“But she to meddle in my business!” Blanca throws rudely. “She to be able to speak when I ask her.”
“As Mia is here, she is a part of our conservation and can say what she wants.”
“But I not to be interested in it!”
“But I am. And I want her to talk with us, too.”
“It to be disgusting!” Blanca resents. “This mouse not to have the right to pronounce at least one word without my permission. She not to have a right to look at you. I to kill her if she to do it.”
“Oh, my gosh, Blanca…” Daniel sits next to Blanca, being resented by Blanca’s behavior toward Mia, who quietly reacts to her tricks but looks very sad and terrified. “What got obsessed with you? Why do you treat your sister so badly? Your parents wouldn’t like it.”
“I always tell them I never want to have a sister or a brother,” Blanca confesses confidently. “But mi mama y mi papa[9]not to listen to me and to make me feel ashamed. They want me to take this stick in the mud with me… But my sister to be so ugly… Not what I to be… I to be attractive and sexual…”
“Don’t say it about your sister! You hurt her when you say it about her.”
“Oh, stop it, Daniel. Why you care about this mouse? I to bring her here to make her translate what you not to understand in Spanish into English. And I not to need her anymore! When I live in Spain, I try not to talk to her. I not to need a translator there… Yo hablo Español[10].”
“Please, Blanca, stop it,” Daniel says quietly. “Mia doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. You must respect your sister.”
“I to be embarrassed to be next to such an ugly sister. People to ignore me when I to be with Mia. She… She to make them scared…”
“Mia is not ugly at all. She’s a very sweet and sympathetic girl. And I’m not embarrassed about being with her. Your sister doesn’t scare me.”
“She not to be SWEET AND SYMPATHETIC!” Blanca explodes, clenching her hands into fists. “NOT TO BE! SHE TO BE UGLY!”
“Quiet, quiet, Blanca, don’t scream,” Daniel says quietly. “I can hear you. Calm down, please, and stop saying such terrible things.”
“It’s okay, Daniel,” Mia says quietly, embracing herself with both arms. “Don’t defend me. It’s Blanca’s opinion, and I can’t change it…”
“You see it, sweetie!” Blanca smiles innocently. “She not to be angry! You not to have a reason to defend her. Mia to have a weak character. She not to be mad and stand up for herself. When someone to insult her, she not to react.”
“Do you quietly watch someone insult and humiliate her?” Daniel opens his eyes widely. “Don’t you fear that someone might wish to beat your sister? Do you think it’s fine?”
“C’mon, querida[11], who to want to get rid of this mouse! Nobody to pay attention to her even for money.”
“That’s wrong!”
“And actually, I not to want you to care about her. Mia to be nobody to you, and you shouldn’t care.”
“But, Blanca…”
“You have only me, mi amor[12]…” Blanca caresses Daniel’s face with both hands and fixes his hair slightly. “You should care for and protect only me. Because you belong only to me. I want all your attention to be only on me.”
“I always think of you,” Daniel lies a little hesitantly. “I mean, I’m trying to remember you…”
“You to remember, I promise. And now remember that nobody but me must exist for you. You must have only me. I not to want you to speak to other people.”
“Don’t think I’d cheat on you.”
“You cheat on me?” Blanca opens her eyes widely. “You cheat on me?”
“Of course, not, silly girl! How could I cheat on someone if I know nobody but you?”
“But you look around like you try to find someone to replace me.”
“What stupid things, sweetie! Even if I watch around, it means nothing.”
“I want to believe you, mi amor[13].” Blanca takes Daniel’s hand and caresses her cheek with it, smiling wider and wider, while he does not think of showing attention to her at his wish. “And I want you to always think of me. I want your thoughts to be about me. I want to own your heart and give you very much pleasure.”
“I really want it. But it’s hard… It’s hard because I can’t remember you. I can’t remember what love is. I… I forgot about it!”
“I understand it, querida[14]. But I remind you what love is… What they call love for someone…”
After saying these words in a lower voice with a wish to look sexual, Blanca brings her face closer to Daniel’s and gives him a short kiss on his lips, to which he reacts indifferently. And when she steps back from him, the man looks at her with dead eyes as if nothing happened.
“You give me so much pleasure the last time,” Blanca adds with a wide smile, slowly walking her fingers over Daniel’s chest and caressing his cheek with a free hand. “You never make me as happy and loved as you to do it on that day. Maybe, we should start the second round and bring the case to an end?”
“Erm…” Daniel stutters, breathing a little heavily and looking at Blanca with widely open eyes full of fear. “You want…”
“I still want you, Daniel,” Blanca says in a low voice, trying to look attractive unsuccessfully. “If I not to leave because of the important call, we to spend time together.”
The thing Daniel wants much less is to lose his head again, stop knowing reality from fantasy, and find himself naked in bed. He does not want sex with Blanca. To be clear, the thought of it makes him panic and feel a slight nausea. The man wants to delay this moment as long as possible or actually avoid it in any way. But he understands that he might be weak someday and succumb to the foreigner because she is too stubborn, and he does not remember that he has never known her.
“Wait, wait, Branca, no…” Daniel says hesitantly, shaking his head. “No… I can’t…”
“Why?” Blanca smiles slightly. “I just want to have sex with you.”
“Not now… No…” Daniel swallows up nervously and starts touching some parts of his face, breathing heavily and getting sharply white from the excitement. “We… We… We haven’t gotten married yet, and… I don’t want it to happen now.”
“Don’t worry, mi amor[15]. Even if I get pregnant, you marry me. I give birth to a child from my husband. You not to leave me and to care about me and our baby.”
“No, Blanca… I don’t want… Not now…”
“Come on, Daniel!” Blanca pronounces in a tempting voice, puts her arm around Daniel’s neck, and begins to unbutton the buttons on his hoodie slowly and carefully, looking into his eyes confidently. “It’s okay, don’t be nervous.”
“Blanca…” Daniel starts to panic more and more. “Branca! What are you doing? Branca!”
“We to be almost married, mi mundo[16]. I not to see anything bad about the fact that I to be ready to give myself to you.”
“Stop it, please.”
“You can do anything you want with me. I to be all yours.”
“No, no, Blanca, don’t do it!” Daniel softly moves Blanca’s hand off his hoodie and shows the palm of his hand to Blanca. “Not now. I… I don’t think it’s a good idea…”
“The last time, you not to be so shy and scared. What happened to you now?”
“Erm… I’ve got a headache… Yeah… I don’t feel good…”
“And one day, I hear that sex can help get rid of a headache. If you feel bad, you just need to give yourself to your beloved person.”
“I think you’re too obsessed with this thought,” Daniel replies hesitantly.
“No, mi gatito[17], it not to be true.”
“I dunno…” Daniel exhales sharply, feeling how tense he is. “I think you can’t do these things by force…”
“Ah, I think I understand! You to probably be embarrassed because of my sister. You not to want to please me while she to be here.” Blanca moves her eyes to Mia standing aside and watching the girl and Daniel being white and shocked. “Hey, you, go somewhere! Let me stay with my fiancé. We want to have sex.”
“No, no, Maya doesn’t have to do with it,” Daniel jabs a little excitedly, shaking his head. “It’s just not time now… I’m not ready…”
“Why, Daniel?” Blanca asks with pity in her eyes. “You to be delighted when we almost end up in your bed! What to happen now?”
“I… I… Barely understood it… I didn’t know… What I was doing… You see…”
“Gosh, why you to be nervous as if I want to kill you,” Blanca laughs shyly and, keeping her hand on Daniel’s cheek, kisses another tenderly. “¿Querida, que le paso?[18]”
“Sorry…” Daniel pronounces in a slightly shaking voice. “I… I can’t… I don’t wanna do what I’m not sure about… I can’t…”
“You to be delighted, I promise. I do everything you love. Later, you to laugh that you to be so scared because it to be good.”
“Later, Blanca, later. First, I want… I want to remember everything to put things in the right places.”
“Don’t try so hard, Daniel.” Blanca caresses Daniel’s cheek with the back of her hand. “You remember everything and not to stay like this forever. Just live. And be with me. Think of our future wedding and our future babies.”
“But I wanna know the truth,” Daniel replies with sadness in his eyes. “I wanna know who I am and who I knew somehow. I don’t want everyone to look at me like a crazy man because I can’t remember everything that I forgot.”
“Don’t do it, mi amor[19],” Blanca kisses Daniel on the lips and the cheek. “Why you want to remember anything when I to be ready to be with you and take care of you, despite nothing.”
“I wanna remember you. I’m ashamed that I can’t say I love you. Because I know what kind of pain you feel.”
“I understand it, Daniel, and I to be ready to wait as long as you need. And then you and I play a rich and luxurious wedding and live happily after.”
“I want to remember not only you but those, who I befriend.”
“You have only me, querida[20].”
“Only you?”
“¡Si![21]And because I know you to be alone, I want to spend all my time with you. I completely understand that loneliness to be very bad. And I worry when you spend time alone.”
“Well… Actually, I don’t feel so bad alone…”
“By the way, what you do for two days when we not to meet?” Blanca asks with a slight smile, stroking Daniel’s hair and looking at him with an ogle gaze. “You think of me all the time?”
“Erm, yeah, I…” Daniel pronounces hesitantly, pulling his words. “I… I was really thinking of you… Thinking of our wedding…”
“Good!” Blanca smiles much wider.
“And yeah…” Daniel bites his lip slightly, deciding to talk to Blanca about the people, who say they are his friends, to find out what she knows about them. “I… Talked to someone…”
“Really?” Blanca frowns slightly.
“Erm… Yeah… Three men… Roughly the same age as mine… I can’t say it exactly…”
“And where you meet them?”
“I’ve… I’ve been speaking to them for a long time… Since I… Left the hospital…”
“My gosh…”
“The men are kinda good, but I don’t believe them…” Daniel confesses hesitantly. “It’s like they don’t say something. Moreover… I talked to them today at the café… And… Something happened and made me doubt their honesty much more.”
“But how they know about you?” Blanca frowns slightly, thinking about Daniel’s words too hard.
“I don’t know… Those guys say they’re my friends. One of them allegedly found me unconscious and called an ambulance…”
“And you think they lie?”
“Maybe… Today, they started to say they’re my friends too hard after I blamed them for lying and pretending.”
“Those people lie to you,” Blanca says much more confidently. “I to be sure about it.”
“Hey, don’t you know who called an ambulance and told them about me?”
“Sadly, no. I don’t know… But… You not to have friends… Not even one…”
“What?”
“It to be true, Daniel. If someone to say they to be your friends, it to be a lie. You not to have friends.”
“I don’t have friends?” Daniel gets suspicious. “Are you sure about it?”
“Claro, mi amor[22],” Blanca nods confidently. “Now you have only me. And if it to be so. I want to solve the problem and find the best man for you. I want to ask the boyfriend of the girl, who to be my maid of honor, to become one. I to be sure that you to get on well with him. Don’t worry, he to be good and decent. I talk to him many times.”
“Do you wanna say I’ve never had friends?”
“Erm… No… You have friends before… But you stop speaking to them…”
“But why? Did I fight with them?”
“Yes. You…” Blanca bites her lip slightly, looking at the left side. “You say you not to want to speak to those, who not to approve of your choice… Not to love me… So, you… Stop speaking to one man because of that.”
“One man?”
“Si, mi amor[23]. And the others to support him and stand by him. You not to take it and to stop speaking to them.”
“Didn’t that man like you?”
“Yes, he to say I to be bad and not to fit you. He to say you prefer me over another girl that he to like. That guy to resent that… You leave her for me…”
“Do you know the one, who I left for you?”
“No, I don’t. But your former friend to be delighted by her. Just like those, who support him. He to love her so much that he to be ready to treat me terribly.”
“He treated you terribly?” Daniel gets horrified.
“Terribly.” Blanca looks down for a moment and sniffs, trying to show pity to make Daniel believe her and finding the words that would sound true. “But I try to be good for him so hard. I do nothing bad, but he to treat me like that. That guy not to like and not to respect me.”
“Did I have a good relationship with my ex-girlfriend?”
“Not quite. You say she to irritate you and give you claims for nothing. And not to wish to please you. You not to take it and to want to break up with her. But luckily, you meet me, fall in love with me, and decide to leave that thankless lady, who to be defended by that guy so hard. He… Not to believe she to be so bad…”
“And is that why I hated him?”
“Yes, you not to take this behavior toward me and to piss him off. And you to do the same to those, who support him.”
“That’s how…”
“We…” Blanca falls into silence for two seconds, as if she is finding the words to say and trying to shed at least some tears. “We to even meet him one day… And… He to be very mean to me… He to say I not to be good for you… That I to never be perfect…”
“He really said that?” Daniel rounds his eyes.
“Really, mi amor[24]. And in the end, that guy to start to insult me…” Blanca sniffs quietly and fixes her hair slightly. “He to call me fat, ugly, and clumsy… He to say that nobody to like such an ugly girl like me…”
“I can’t believe it… I’m shocked…”
“But you not to take it and shut him up quickly. And then you to stop being a friend of that guy.”
“And how did that guy look?” Daniel frowns slightly.
“That guy…” Blanca pronounces thoughtfully. “He to be… Tall… A little higher than you… Erm… To have short hair…”
“That’s a brunet?”
“No, a blond. He to have a very beautiful hair color… Wheat… Not too white but a little warm… I want to confess that it to look beautiful.”
“Blond?” Daniel rounds his eyes.
“Si[25]. He to be so sweet and harmless at first sight, but that guy to be very rude and non-educated.”
“And… What’s his name?”
“Erm… Likely, Pedro… Or no… P-p-p… Ah, Peter! Yes, right! Peter! I not to know his last name, but that rude man’s name is surely Peter.”
“Peter…”
Daniel moves his eyes aside with the thought that everything written in the article about his conflict with Peter is the clean truth, and Blanca just confirmed it. He is sure that as the blond was mean to his fiancée and insulted her, that’s the reason why he hated him, insulted him, and humiliated him. It makes Perkins ask the Spaniard much more about what she knows about this situation.
“Blanca, tell me, please…” Daniel says hesitantly, putting his finger on his lip. “Huh… Did I play in a music band or something like this?”
“Erm, yes,” Blanca replies a little hesitantly. “You to be in one band… And that guy to play with you.”
“With me?”
“Yes, I think he to be… Erm… He to be a drummer… To beat on drums with sticks…”
“And two more people play in the band?”
“Yes, the siblings. One of them to be Terrence… He to be an actor and act in movies… And the second one to be Edward… A younger brother… To get famous thanks to his relative.”
“And you say they don’t approve of my relationship with you?”
“Si[26], they defend Peter and think I to be bad. But those two not to call me fat and ugly, unlike the blond guy.”
“And how do we play in the band?”
“You to want to leave their band for a long time. Because you not to want to speak to those people and to dislike their music. To say you want to spend time with me. And… The conflict between you and Peter to have to do with it… He… Erm… To conspire against you… To encourage everybody to kick you out of the band. And… Try to destroy you… Revenge…”
“Is that true he tried to kill himself?”
“True. He to be a weak one and not to take everything you say. He to feel shame for treating me like that. I mean… God to punish him… Punish for that…”
“So, am I the one to blame for what happened?”
“Everyone to blame you, but I know it not to be the truth,” Blanca replies with a slight smile, caressing Daniel’s cheek. “Peter to want it. To be a weak man… I not to understand those, who say he to do it because of you. Because you hurt him with your insults. It not to be true.”
“Who blames me? The media? People, who publish articles on the Internet?”
“Yup, they,” Blanca frowns slightly. “Wait, you know it?”
“Yes, I read that article,” Daniel replies confidently and raises his head up. “And I’m gonna say more: I talked to those guys.”
“What? All three? The ones?”
“Yup. Peter, Edward, and Terrence.”
“Wow… And what they say to you?”
“They tried to make me sure that they’re my friends, and I’m not the one to blame for Peter’s wish to kill himself. But a certain girl and a certain boy came to them and openly blamed me for that. Moreover… Everyone wishes me to die because of that…”
“I know… The fans of Peter to put you to this bullying. But I not to know why they go crazy for him and those brothers because they to be talentless. Their band not to exist for a long time. I hate what they sing. And I want them to break up. I never even love the actor, Terrence, even if many friends of mine to go crazy over him. Someone to like the talent they not to have, and someone adores their pretty faces and well-trained bodies.”
Daniel quickly connects all the facts and makes sure that the article is by far not false, and Edward, Peter, and Terrence are openly lying to him and using his condition. And now he knows the real, as he thinks, reason for his serious conflict with the blond, who dared to treat Blanca like that.
“Wow…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully, looking aside.
“Now you know everything, sweetie,” Blanca says quietly.
“I knew those guys were hiding something… They lied to me… They’ve been lying from the beginning… Pretending to be my friends and have been so sweet…”
“Yes, yes, they to be stinkers, who want to ruin your life.”
“Assholes! How did they dare to do it?”
“Please, Daniel, don’t speak to them,” Blanca begs with pity in her eyes. “I not to want them to tell you something terrible and turn you against me. You should know I to be the only one to tell you the truth. And the others to insolently lie.”
“I will kick them…” Daniel clenches his hands into fists, getting tense enough and literally biting the bullet to hold his anger down. “That blond-haired bastard will pay me… If he dares to deny everything, I shall smash him against the wall. Strangle him with my own hands!”
“No, no, querida, por favor[27], don’t do it.” Blanca takes Daniel’s hand softly. “Please, forget about those people. I ask you to leave Peter and his gang alone because I not to want you to suffer because of them. Do nothing bad to them, please.”
“But those people insulted you!” Daniel exclaims loudly. “And they insolently used my condition! They thought I’d believe them blindly!”
“Forget, Daniel, you to get nothing. The best thing you can do is to leave their band and forget those liars forever.”
“May they go to the fuck with their band!” Daniel throws rudely. “May they disband it to the fuck! I don’t wanna play in it! Their fans don’t want me to! Nobody wants! Okay! If it’s so, I will leave and live a quiet life. May they fuck themselves!”
“That’s right, mi amor[28],” Blanca smiles widely, being happy that she made Daniel sure that his friends were lying to him. “Forget them! Think only about our wedding. About how we to live together and educate our children.”
“You’re right! I’ve gotta end this show. And I’ll do it at the nearest time. I shall tell them everything I think of them and tell them to go to the fuck. And I’ll live my life. Get ready for my wedding with you.”
“¡Claro, claro![29]You must do it. And I promise I to talk to my friend, introduce her boyfriend to you, and ask him to support you. Maybe, he to introduce you to girls that you to wish to make your groomsmen. And I find some girls to make them my bridesmaids.”
“Okay…” Daniel replies thoughtfully, looking into the distance gloomily and keeping his head raised. “I’ll do it…”
Blanca, smiling widely, leaves a short kiss on Daniel’s lips after grabbing his face. However, it leaves him indifferent not only because of not having an attraction, but also because of the thoughts that all the people, who are helping him, lie to him insolently.
“I to always be with you, mi amor[30],” Blanca promises confidently. “No matter what people to say.”
“But that’s bad everyone decided to blame me for the fact that the guy tried to kill himself,” Daniel confesses. “He’s guilty of everything.”
“Nada de eso fue tu culpa, Daniel, te hicieron una víctima[31].
“Maybe… That gang spread that rumor to drive me crazy? What? I wouldn’t be surprised! Since they hate me so much, they’ve got a wonderful chance to deal with me and torture me a little.”
“Don’t think about it, Daniel. They to do nothing to you.”
“I know, but I’m irritated by this situation.”
“It’s okay, bebé[32], relax.” Blanca caresses Daniel’s cheeks with both hands. “Stop thinking of those people. I say you have only me. I’m to be the only one to tell you everything you want to know.”
“And that’s good.” Daniel cracks a smile. “That’s good there’s someone, who would never lie.”
“Of course, querida[33]. Relax and think about good things. About pleasure that I give you. About the fact that I to make you the happiest person in the world. Maybe, you forget how to love, but I do everything I can, and you to fall in love with me again. Even if you remember nothing, it’s okay. You love me again, we marry and live happily after.”
“I hope it will happen. Because you’re a very beautiful girl…” Daniel looks at Blanca from head to foot, making himself believe that he might feel something nice for her. “Really… And you’re not fat at all. A girl with a beautiful body.”
“Because I to be a Spaniard! We to be like this! We to love our bodies and have excellent curves. My mother to always say that being an anorexic girl to be bad. That men to love caressing a body, not bones.”
“As far as I understand, you love your body?”
“Yes, I really love it. I to be proud of my body and beauty that my parents and nature to give me.”
“I think hearing someone calling you fat hurts you.”
“Of course, it to be. But I always think of what my parents say. My mother also not to be a slim woman, but my father to love her and never look at skinny fishes.”
“That’s good you love yourself for what you are.”
“I do my best to do it.”
With these words, Blanca caresses Daniel’s cheek tenderly, deeply looking into his brown, piercing eyes, while he does not hide his slight smile but looks at her not the way a person in love does. And two seconds later, literally forgetting that Mia is still in the living room and looking at the pictures on the wall, gives him a continuous, tender kiss. He answers it back immediately, making himself believe that she tells him the truth, and that she is really his fiancée, but his real friendsare lying to him and doing what their manager says to hide what’s happening. The kiss, which only the Spaniard likes gets deeper quickly enough. She does not feel shy about getting her tongue into the man’s mouth, running much saliva into it, and making him wish to wash his mouth with something due to the bad taste. The Spaniard’s attempts to look passionate and seductive seem a little hilarious, but the man does not show it and succumbs to her for some time. However, later, he decides to take control of the situation, holding her by the shoulders, and try to show the girl how to kiss him, so he does not feel disgust.
Maybe, everything could happen that Blanca and Daniel would eventually end up half-naked again. But the man is saved – and the girl is disappointed – by the call on the Spaniard’s mobile phone that rings very loudly and scares both of them and Mia feeling terribly embarrassed at the sight of her sister kissing Perkins as if she is ready to undress him right here.
“Damn, I to break this phone someday,” Blanca moans irritably, stepping back from Daniel. “Not to hear the lectures of my chef, who to annoy me every day, even if I not to work.”
Blanca takes her mobile phone from the purse lying near her, presses the button “Answer the call” sharply, and puts it to her ear.
“Hello,” Blanca says a little irritably, putting her hand on her forehead.
Blanca listens to what she hears on the phone for a few seconds, trying to calm down not to strangle someone to ruin her plans of seducing Daniel and taking him to bed.
“Yes, señor, I hear you,” Blanca says quietly. “What do you want? Yes, yes? What? Wait! I hear you poorly! Second…”
Blanca stands up from the sofa quickly, leaves the living room, and goes outside through the hall door to talk there. And when she closes the door, Daniel exhales sharply with closed eyes, his head leaned back, and his hand put on his forehead, wipes his mouth from the girl’s saliva that she left, and tries to swallow everything up by force. But when the man wants to go to the kitchen and drink something, he glances aside and sees Mia standing at the other end of the living room with her back turned on him and looking at something with both arms crossed over her chest. And he feels sorry for this girl, who is treated by her sister so badly, and decides to talk to her a little, not being afraid that Blanca is going to have hysteria again.
“Hey, Mia!” Daniel pronounces amicably. “Why are you standing there so sad?”
“Huh…” Mia stutters, turns to Daniel slowly, and lowers her hands. “I… I… I was just looking at what was lying on the table. And the pictures…”
“I like them.”
“By the way, I saw the beautiful flowers there.” Mia glances at the kitchen. “I love lilies.”
“They are artificial,” Daniel notices with a slight smile.
“I got it. Do you like these flowers?”
“Lilies? Huh… I don’t know… They’ve… Always been there… And I don’t know how they ended up there…”
“I see…” Mia smiles shyly and looks down.
Silence settles in the air for two seconds, which Daniel breaks with a slight smile:
“You could sit down. Don’t stand aside.”
“Oh, I don’t even know…” Mia replies in a little shaking voice, looking around.
“Don’t be afraid. Sit down with me.”
“No, thanks, I’ll stand.”
“Stop, Mia, I won’t hurt you. Vice versa, I wanna talk to you. Because you’re very good and… I’m sorry for you…”
“Oh…” Mia sighs heavily and sits on the sofa next to Daniel, starting to look at her hands. “If you mean my sister, don’t pay attention. I’ve already gotten used to that.”
“Does Blanca always treat you like this?”
“Sadly. But it’s okay.”
“Sorry… I’m sorry that your sister is doing it.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry.” Mia moves her eyes to Daniel with a slight smile. “But thanks for defending me anyway. It’s nice that at least someone tries to help me.”
“Does nobody defend you?”
“My parents try to do it. But talking to Blanca is impossible. And I stopped hoping that we’d get on well.”
“Sometimes I think she doesn’t love you,” Daniel replies thoughtfully. “You’re her younger sister, but Blanca treats you so terribly.”
“Agree, it’s unpleasant. But I try not to think about it and not to worry. Thank God, I’ve got good friends, to whom I speak. Blanca thinks that everybody ignores me, but it’s not true. They’re the people, who love the same things as me.”
“I’m glad.” Daniel cracks a smile. “But remember that you can always count on my support. Although I know you badly, you seem very good.”
“Thanks a lot, Daniel,” Mia thanks shyly with a slight smile. “You’re very sweet.”
“Nice to hear it.” Daniel caresses Mia’s shoulder with a shy smile. “And it’s nice to talk to you.”
“Now you're truly smiling. You’re not pretending.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you aren’t too happy with Blanca,” Mia assumes quietly, fingering over and looking at her slightly bitten nails without a manicure. “Maybe, my sister loves you, but you hardly do.”
“I think I’ve said I don’t get attracted to her…” Daniel replies hesitantly. “I… Just let her be next to me…”
“And do you think it’s worth it?”
“I guess I just forgot how to love.”
“I don’t like to see that you’re literally torturing yourself, while she does everything she wants to you.”
“But what can I do?” Daniel throws his hands up. “Blanca is my fiancée. We’re gonna get married soon. And I must remember her as soon as possible.”
“I think you need to stop torturing yourself and tell her the truth. The truth about feeling bad with her.”
“I don’t wanna give her pain, Maya. I am ashamed that I’m not able to remember her and look at Blanca like a stranger. I don’t dare to say that…”
“But you don't look like a man in love. The one to be in love looks at someone they love especially. Their eyes are full of gloss. The smile is wide and true. But I don’t see it in you. You look at Blanca as if she’s nothing. As if she’s not here.”
“Maybe, I do… But I think it will be changed.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Mia sighs heavily, fingering over nervously. “Maybe… Maybe, you really forgot how to love… But… You’d feel something that would make you shake if you were in love. Your heart would speak for itself.”
“Have you been in love with someone?”
“A couple of times. I even dated a boy for some time. He was my first love. We broke up because we just got cold for each other. No scandals or reproaches. Moreover, we still communicate at times.”
“And you were attracted to that guy?”
“I couldn’t literally breathe without him.”
“Hm…” Daniel frowns slightly. “It will probably happen to me if I remember Blanca.”
“Maybe…” Mia pronounces hesitantly and swallows up nervously. “But if you feel bad about Blanca, say it to her.”
“I can’t do that to her. She opened my eyes and assured me that I was surrounded by liars. Those men, who were pretending to be my friends… I thought they wished me the best, but that’s not the truth.”
“Do you think it’s true?”
“Is it not? The blond named Peter insulted Blanca and turned those two brothers against your sister and me. I think there’s nothing bad about the fact that I couldn’t take it. Anyone would do it if someone insulted and humiliated their girlfriend.”
“You’re right.”
“Listen, Mia, do you know something about that story?” Daniel asks hesitantly. “Maybe, there is something Blanca hasn’t told me yet?”
“Huh…” Mia says nothing for two seconds, fingering over nervously and looking around, as if she wants to say something but is madly afraid. “No, Daniel… Sorry, but… I know nothing… I don’t know those guys… Only Blanca met them… And if my sister says they disliked her, that’s true…”
“Didn’t she tell you anything about them?”
“You’re kidding?” Mia chuckles quietly. “Blanca doesn’t even wanna invite me to her wedding. She refused to make me her bridesmaid. Ashamed. She says that I’ll mess up everything with my appearance.”
“I think your parents wouldn’t let her leave you without an invitation. And I’m inviting you personally. I like you and am glad you’re gonna be a part of my family.”
“My sister would make me leave in any way.”
“Oh, what a twist…” Daniel exhales sharply. “She treats you terribly… She calls you a stick in the mud, and she said she didn’t want you to be born.”
“I’m used to it. I don’t get hurt by her insults. Even if my sister sometimes calls me like this that our mother and father even slap her.”
“Have your parents ever tried to make you friends?”
“Of course. But Blanca quickly loses her patience. She can be sweet and fuzzy for some time, but later she gets hysterical for nothing.”
“You said she’s jealous of you and your parents…”
“It’s true… Mom and Dad love us in the same way, but she thinks I’m loved more. Though, she’s the one to blame. She does nothing that would make them admire her. At least, I’m studying and pronounced one of the best students. And I’ve got a job…”
“Okay…” Daniel runs his hands over his hair. “But your parents are very good. I liked talking to them.”
“They liked you, too. They say that. But they say your eyes are sad. And… They think you’re not in love with Blanca so much.”
“Honestly, I don’t want to smile because I'm not in the mood for it…” Daniel glances aside. “As for my love for Blanca… I think I just should remember everything.”
“I think you feel lonely. And I think when Blanca gets married to you, you’ll never be able to talk to someone. Because… She’s terribly possessive.”
“I think it’s partly true…” Daniel confesses thoughtfully. “I’m a little lonely… It’s sad to live alone in this house…”
“I’m sorry that Blanca doesn’t understand a human needs to talk to someone as much as possible.
“And you know… I’m sure someone was living with me… As if I spent evenings with someone else… And I didn’t obviously sleep alone…”
“Maybe, you should talk to someone and reveal everything you feel inside?” Mia assumes. “Try to meet someone and have a heart-to-heart talk. I think you’ll get better. Now you’re very sad. And… As if… You feel like you’re not yourself…”
“Ah, Mia, if I knew who I could talk to…” Daniel runs his hands over his face with sadness in his eyes. “I’ll no longer trust the people, who were pretending to be my friends, because they lied to me insolently. And I wanna tell them that I’m gonna reject their help as soon as possible.”
“But where is the proof? Is there any proof of the fact that those people really lied to you?”
“Blanca did just tell me everything! She confirmed what they wrote in the newspapers about me and the guy named Peter. They said we had a serious conflict that led to his suicide attempt. Many people have confirmed it. And your sister said that it happened because the blond insulted Blanca.”
“Anyway, don’t believe her so easily. Talk to those guys and find out more about this situation.”
“I’ve already done it. And I found out enough to believe that those three are lying insolently and using my condition. Everybody says they follow the orders of their managers, who want to hide the truth from me and their band’s fans. And I made sure that it was the truth.”
“You’re sure about it?”
“Absolutely! They conspired against me and decided to blame me for allegedly making that guy try to kill himself. Even though I’m guilty of nothing. I’m not the one to blame for him being so weak. He was sassy when insulting the unprotected girl but peed his pants when he saw me.”
“I don’t know the truth about this story, but you don’t look like the one, who would do it,” Mia replies confidently with sadness in her eyes. “I don’t think you can do such a terrible thing…”
“Of course, I am not guilty! I did say Peter was too weak and cowardly to have a deal with me. He decided to kill himself instead of dealing with me as a man.”
“Who knows… Anyway, don’t rush to make conclusions. Think about everything well and try to compare facts.”
“Oh, my head is tearing, and I got absolutely confused…” Daniel sighs tiredly. “Something fits together, but later I find out something else that doesn’t fit it and changes everything… I can understand nothing…”
“Maybe, everything is not what it seems in the story of that guy.”
“I don’t think. Those guys would say it’s all a lie ‘till the end. And Peter would probably deny that he insulted Blanca if I blamed him.”
“Who knows, Daniel… Who knows…”
“You know…” Daniel falls into silence for two seconds. “I couldn’t understand how it could happen that I saw that man lying in his blood with open veins if everybody said he did that because of me… How could I end up at his home if I hated him because of Blanca… But now… Now I’m sure that I could go to his home and rejoice when watching him die.”
“Did someone say you saw that man lying in his blood?” Mia asks with sadness in her eyes.
“No, I recalled that when I was at the home of that man.”
“You were at his home?”
“Yup, I found his home address and went.”
“And did you recall only the way he tried to die?”
“Only that. But I think it’s enough to understand that I know that guy. Moreover, Blanca confirmed that I spoke to Peter and his gang.”
“I guess you should remember everything to put things in the right place.”
“Why? I do know everything! And… Now, I’m not sure that… I wanna remember everything… Why? I have Blanca! We’re gonna get married soon… And she opened my eyes. She helped me understand that I believed the liars.”
“But you don’t love her!”
“I just can’t remember that. And if I don’t, I can always get love for her.”
“You’re just trying to make yourself sure about it,” Mia says quietly, shaking her head, as she looks at Daniel with pity and kind of wishing to tell the man something that would probably help him figure this situation out. “You wanna make yourself sure that Blanca is right. Yes, I understand you can’t remember your life. But please, don’t believe one person blindly. When fewer people say the same, it always means something.”
“What do you want to say?” Daniel frowns slightly.
“I just want you… You to wait before calling someone a liar and thinking someone is honest. If there’s something that makes you doubt, think several times and listen to what you’re told.”
“You know, Mia, sometimes I believe you know something,” Daniel notices confidently, looking at Mia closely. “It’s like you want to tell something, but you’re afraid…”
“Oh, no, no,” Mia replies in a shaking voice, fixing her glasses and looking around. “I… I w-want to s-say nothing…”
“Do you know something Blanca hasn’t told me?”
“No! No! I know nothing.”
“Listen, if you’re afraid of Blanca, don’t be.” Daniel softly caresses Mia’s hand, while she shakes slightly. “I will say nothing to her and defend you. Everything you say will be our secret. I promise.”
“It’s okay, Daniel, I don’t want to say anything…” Mia replies with a little scared look. “I… Have nothing to say… Blanca knows it better… Yeah… B-better…”
Seeing that Mia begins shaking from something that she is afraid of, Daniel sits closer to her confidently and embraces her amicably, pressing the girl close to himself and caressing her shoulder.
“Hey, hey, girl, why are you shaking?” Daniel asks softly and quietly. “It seems like a terrible beast is sitting next to you, and you’re afraid of it to death.”
“I’m not afraid of you…” Mia says almost in a whisper, literally crying and looking at Daniel scarily. “You’re very good and kind… I don’t believe you can be bad…”
“Don’t be afraid, Mia, I swear I’ll never hurt you.”
“I know, Daniel.”
“It’s okay, calm down, please.”
Daniel hugs the crying and shaking Mia tighter and caresses her back softly, understanding that it’s a pleasure for him to talk to her, hug her, and press her to himself because she spreads the warmth. However, he considers her just a friend. A friend, with whom it’s nice to talk quietly. The man even smiles truly and starts to feel a little better while talking to the younger sister of Blanca, who seems so unprotected and terrified. This sweet and shy girl spreads a positive energy that makes him relax and stop feeling as frozen as he does next to the eldest of the Moreno sisters. A little later, Mia accepts Daniel’s hug with pleasure and presses herself to him a little hesitantly, feeling relief and even protection that she lacks. The girl smiles much wider than ever for the first time and realizes that she is next to the man, who could definitely be her friend. Thanks to the man’s kindness, she lets herself get looser and freer. But Mia keeps saying nothing about something that Perkins should definitely know.
Some time later, Blanca returns to the house quietly and comes into the living room, thinking about something with a slight smile on her face. She sees Daniel pressing Mia to himself sweetly with a shy smile on his face and behaving much freer and more confidently. The Spaniard literally gets kind of green from jealousy, clenches her hands into fists, and starts to breathe heavily when she goes to them like an elephant, screaming hysterically:
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?”
Mia and Daniel sharply step away from each other and move their eyes to Blanca.
“I LEAVE FOR A FEW MINUTES, BUT YOU ALREADY CHEAT ON ME WITH MY SISTER!” Blanca screams, gesticulating actively.
“Blanca, Blanca, c’mon,” Daniel pronounces quietly. “Calm down. Don’t scream so loudly.”
“I TELL YOU MANY TIMES THAT YOU TO BE ONLY MINE AND NOBODY ELSE! NOBODY BUT ME TO HAVE A RIGHT TO TALK TO YOU!”
“Quiet, Blanca, my neighbors are gonna hear you.”
“THAT’S WHY I NOT TO WANT TO LEAVE YOU ALONE! YOU TO FIND ANY MOMENT TO CHEAT! YOU WANT TO LEAVE ME! LEAVE!”
“Blanca, what you’re talking about!” Mia wonders, getting up from the sofa. “Wake up! It’s just a simple talk.”
“CAD!” Blanca runs to Mia shortly, grabs her by the hair, and pulls it out strongly, making her squeak quietly and wince strongly. “IDIOT! How you dare to hug my fiancé and steal him from me? How many times I tell you to leave him alone and not actually to come to him? HOW MANY, YOU, STUPID CHICKEN?”
“Ah, let me go…” Mia squeaks quietly. “Let me go, Blanca! You’re gonna pull my hair out.”
“I DO IT! DO IT! BECAUSE YOU TO BE A CAD! A CAD THAT TO WANT TO STEAL MY MAN!”
“Blanca! Blanca! It hurts! Stop!”
“Stop, Blanca!” Daniel exclaims, stands up from the sofa shortly, comes to Blanca and Mia, and tries to set free the younger of the Moreno sisters. “Stop! You went crazy!”
“SCUMBAG!” Blanca screams hysterically. “I KILL YOU! KILL! ¡TE MATARÉ![34]”
“Hey, hey, calm down! Calm down now!” Daniel tries to take Blanca away from Mia, to whom she wants to give a strong slap. “She is your sister! Stop! Wake up!”
“Crazy!” Mia resents, fixing her braided hair slightly. “I almost lost my hair!”
“YOU NOT TO NEED IT!” Blanca screams. “NOBODY TO EVER LOOK AT YOU, UGLY! NEVER!”
“Hey, calm down now!” Daniel demands coldly, giving much more effort to pull the furious Blanca away from the overwhelmed Mia. “Calm down, I said!”
“SHE TO WANT TO STEAL YOU FROM ME!”
“Wake up, Blanca!” Daniel turns Blanca on himself and shakes her by the shoulders. “You’re getting hysteria for nothing again?”
“I NOT TO HAVE A RIGHT? YOU SIT HERE AND HUG HER! YOU ALSO PROBABLY KISS HER IF I NOT TO COME HERE!”
“I wasn’t gonna kiss her! I just embraced Mia amicably and said a couple of words, so she calmed down. But you started hysteria as if you saw us lying in the bed.”
“I not to be surprised!” Blanca pushes Daniel off herself slightly, looking at him with wet eyes full of pity. “Not to be surprised if you want to lie in bed with her.”
“Branca!”
“You to never hug and kiss me! But you do it to some stick in the mud! WHY SHE TO BE BETTER! I TO BE SEXUAL AND ATTRACTIVE, BUT SHE TO BE A LOG! A LOG THAT NOBODY TO LOOK AT!”
“Please, stop having hysteria. You made a problem out of nothing.”
“NOTHING? I TO MEAN NOTHING TO YOU? YOU NOT TO LOVE ME ANYMORE? NOT TO WANT TO MARRY ME?”
“Damn, what’s happening to you?” Daniel takes Blanca by the shoulders softly and looks into her eyes confidently. “Why do you get so angry when I talk to Mia? I just talk to her! There’s nothing bad about it!”
“NOBODY TO HAVE A RIGHT TO TALK TO YOU!” Blanca says loudly. “NOBODY! AND YOU TO HAVE NO RIGHT TO LOOK AT SOMEONE!”
“What?” Daniel scoffs loudly. “Are you serious?”
“¡SI[35]! YOU MUST SPEND ALL YOUR TIME WITH ME! THINK OF ME! LOOK ONLY AT ME! KISS ME! HUG ME! TELL ME COMPLIMENTS! GIVE ME PLEASURE!”
“Gosh, Blanca, what are you talking about?” Daniel wonders with widely open eyes. “I mustn’t spend all my time with you! That’s wrong!”
“WRONG? WRONG, THE FUCK!”
“We can’t always spend time together. We should spend time apart from each other and spend time alone or with someone else. Men and girls…”
“Girls? GIRLS, YOU SAY?” Blanca rudely pushes Daniel off herself again, looking at him with bloodshot eyes, as she is breathing heavily. “So, you cheat on me with some chickens? YOU BRING WHORES TO YOUR HOME AND FUCK THEM! ON OUR BED!”
“Do you understand what you’re saying? What the fuck girls?”
“SO, WHILE I GO TO MY FUCKING JOB, YOU SPEND TIME WITH SOME MOPS AND HAVE FUN WITH THEM!”
“Who do I bring?” Daniel wonders loudly and knocks his finger on his temple. “I don’t know anyone! You went crazy from your jealousy!”
“MAYBE, YOU CHEAT ON ME WITH MY FRIENDS?”
“What?”
“WHO? I DEAL WITH THEM! WHO THEY TO BE? WHO TO BE IN THE BED, ON WHICH YOU AND I MAKE LOVE?”
“That’s so funny!” Daniel scoffs loudly, being shocked by the behavior of Blanca, who starts to annoy him with her groundless jealousy. “You think of nobody the hell knows what and believe it.”
“IF YOU LOOK AND TALK TO A GIRL, YOU CHEAT ON ME!”
“Stop saying stupid things!” Daniel sharply takes Blanca by the shoulders and shakes her to calm her down. “Calm down! Calm down, I said! You don’t understand what you’re saying!”
“I ban you from talking with someone except me!” Blanca says rudely, clenching her hands into fists and looking at Daniel with widely open eyes. “You not to have a right! The only person, with whom you can talk, to be me. ONLY ME!”
“What?” Daniel wonders loudly. “You are really crazy!”
“I surely control you much better! Do my best to move into this place here as soon as possible. You to have bad behavior if I not to see it. Speak to some men, go somewhere without me, and cheat on me with my sibling!”
“God, Blanca, your stupid jealousy has no limits,” Mia says confidently. “Daniel can’t give all his time to you!”
“Shut up, ugly!” Blanca throws rudely. “Nobody to ask you!”
“You also need to check out his computer and phone to see all messages, calls, and the browser story.”
“Oh, yes!” Blanca moves her eyes sharply to Daniel and reaches her hand out. “Give me your phone and computer! NOW! I CHECK OUT EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!”
“What?” Daniel rounds his eyes and opens his mouth widely, shaking his head. “You’re really insane!”
“I not to joke, Daniel! BRING YOUR COMPUTER AND YOUR PHONE NOW! I CLOSELY CHECK OUT EVERYTHING AND LEAVE WHAT TO BE ONLY FOR ME!”
“Blanca, stop acting like a capricious girl. There’s nothing bad about the fact that I talk to other people! Why don’t you wanna understand that I might be sick of being with you and wish to stay alone or spend time with someone else?”
“AH, YOU SICK? SO, YOU NOT TO WANT ME ANYMORE? YOU NOT TO NEED ME? WANT TO LEAVE ME? I TO BE RIGHT?”
“Why you say all the same! Nobody cheats on me! Nobody’s gonna leave you! Should I start hysteria and blame you for cheating? Check out your phone and find out who those men you’re speaking to are. And say you must speak only to me. That other people must not exist for you!”
“I never cheat on you!” Blanca opens her mouth widely. “And I have no familiar men except my chef and a boyfriend of my friends! I to be honest with you!”
“I don’t care how many men you know and ain’t gonna find it out!”
“So, you not to care about me? Not to care?”
“I do care! I’m just not going to control you the way you do it to me. And if it’s so, be nice not to cut off my oxygen and to let me talk to anyone I want.”
“NO, YOU MUST TALK ONLY TO ME! YOU BELONG ONLY TO ME! I to plan to get married to you, and we to live together until the end of our lives! You must always be loyal to me and look only at me!”
“It’s impossible!” Daniel exclaims loudly. “Get it! IM-PO-SSI-BLE!”
“IT TO BE POSSIBLE! YOU JUST NOT TO WANT! YOU TO WANT TO LOOK AT OTHER LADIES AND CHEAT ON ME! YOU WANT TO LOOK AT ANYONE! EVEN THIS STICK IN THE MID NAMED MIA!” Blanca glances at Mia, who does not stop being surprised by her sister’s behavior. “BUT I TO BE BEAUTIFUL!”
“Damn, talking to you when you’re in this condition is impossible,” Daniel moans quietly, running his hands over his face.
“It’s okay! When I to be your wife, I control you. I make you delete all the numbers and photos of any girls from the phone, all the messages with any people, and your accounts on social networks. I not to even let you examine magazines with beautiful models, and movies and shows, in which there to be at least one girl that to be more beautiful than me!”
“Ha, and what am I gonna do?” Daniel puts his hands on his hips. “What am I gonna do?”
“Spend time with me. Think of me. Wait for me to go back home. Do anything to make me happy.”
“What?” Daniel sets his widely open eyes on Blanca, feeling that everything inside him is burning with anger. “Do you really want to ban me from doing anything I want?”
“Yes!”
“Who do you think I am? Am I a robot? A robot that you want to turn off and turn on with remote control?”
“You must wish only one thing – to give me pleasure and do anything I want.”
“Don’t I have a right to be alone? Talk to someone I want? Should my world go around you?”
“Yes, I want it!”
“I’m not a doll, Branca! I am a human! A human that has the right to relax and have a rest alone or with someone.”
“You can have a rest. But with me. You not to have a right to get sick of me and kick me out.”
“It’s unpleasant for me that you wanna control me so badly. You’re strangling me. I feel terrible about being so limited. Super limited.”
“I always say that it to be my character.”
“So, you’ve gotta change! And learn to trust someone you’re gonna live with!”
“But I don’t want it! I want you to be mine and listen to what I say. Now you must give me all your attention. I want to have sex with you, and you must give it to me. And don’t forget that you must buy the ring that I want. The most expensive, fashionable, and luxury clothes.”
“What? You went insane!”
“¿Por que, mi amor[36]?I want nothing impossible!”
“Have ever thought about how much all of that costs? Do I have to sell my house to make your caprices real?”
“I to be your beloved woman! You must buy the best things for me. To make everyone jealous of me and wish to have the same wonderful man.”
“So, must I spend all my money on your caprices?” Daniel wonders with widely open eyes. “Do you only need my money? Are you waiting for it?”
“¡No, no, amor[37]!” Blanca jabs. “Come on! Why you to think so badly about me? I… I just want you to gift me expensive gifts every single day and purpose to me to marry officially. With an expensive ring.”
“And where do I get money? I ain’t a millionaire and not able to buy the whole world!”
“No, you to have money. You to have the money that you earn for the performances with that terrible band.”
“It’s not endless, Branca! It would be spent early or late if your wishes were enormous!”
“But you to have a job and earn money.”
“Which? Where would I work after leaving the band? You can’t buy expensive rings and good clothes for the money from working as a cleaner or a driver!”
“I find a job for you a long time ago. It to be a very good place. You get good money and buy gifts for me.”
“Yeah, and how would we live? Eat? Pay for the house? Gas, electricity, taxes? Don’t you think about it?”
“We… We think about it… I… I find a second job for you…”
“And you? Would you get fired and lie on the sofa all day?”
“No, of course! I wait for you at home. Make sure you come home at the right time and not to cheat with girls.”
“Ar-r-r, God!” Daniel growls irritably, rolling his eyes, and claps himself on the forehead. “You’re obsessed with cheating! You think only of three things: the thought that I’m cheating, the thought that I must spend all my money on you, and the wish to control me in everything.”
“Because you to be mine!”
“That’s not fine, Branca! Not fine!”
“I to be Blanca!”
“Who the fuck cares! You’re irritating me with your behavior. To be honest!”
“BUT I NOT TO LIKE THAT YOU WANT TO CHEAT WITH A PROSTITUTE!” Blanca shouts irritably, literally getting kind of green and tightly clenching her hands into hard fists. “YOU NOT TO THINK OF ME WHEN I AM NOT HEAR! YOU NOT TO WANT TO DO ANYTHING FOR ME!”
“Nobody cheats on you!” Daniel says loudly and irritably. “Change the fucking course!”
“I swear, if you cheat on me, I do something terrible to your lover! And find some people to watch you and tell me everything you do: who you look at, who you talk to, what you say, and make sure you go home in time…”
“You’re crazy! It’s some kind of disaster!”
“You always do bad things when I not to be with you and not to see it. I to be sure you take some whores to your home and cheat on me. While I work and SUFFER AT MY JOB!”
“Oh, fuck!” Daniel moans tiredly and closes his face with his hands, while every single muscle in him literally shakes from tension. “How I’m sick of your stupid suspicions! Sick! Sick of you pressing on me constantly and not letting me breathe! I feel terrible. It’s a stone on my neck! You make me and you nervous by suspecting me of something for nothing! Your groundless suspicions make me and you nervous! Though, I still feel bad and haven’t recovered since I left the hospital.”
“If you stay home, go nowhere, talk to nobody, and think of me, it to be different.”
“You are obsessed with it!” Daniel throws loudly. “You want me to lock myself up and go nowhere? Am I a fucking dog that you should walk out two times per day?”
“PEOPLE to see you!”
“Fuck, I don’t wanna stay home! I don’t want! I wanna walk! Talk to people! And finally remember everything and live a normal life! I’m sick of feeling like a sick man, who doesn’t know where he is.”
“Of course, you leave home. But you do it with me. I say you must spend time only with your fiancée.”
“But I don’t want it! I DO NOT WANT! I am still ashamed of one of our walks! When I just looked at a girl, and you were literally ready to kill her and started hysteria before the eyes of people! If only you knew how disgusting I felt! How embarrassed I was! How much I wanted to pretend that I didn’t know you! That was terrible! TERRIBLE!”
“I do it because you not to listen to me and to look around. You walk with me and must give me all your attention.”
“EVERYTHING I do makes you irritated!” Daniel throws irritably, gesticulating actively. “Even the most innocent one can make you lose your temple! When I look at the wrong side, say something wrong, hug you wrongly, just say a word to someone… Done! The hysteria that’s heard for a few miles away!”
“You to be guilty of it! YOU TO IRRITATE ME! YOU TO WANT TO GET ME EXHAUSTED!”
“YOU ANNOYED ME! AN-NO-YED! Why can’t you understand nothing bad will happen after talking to other girls or men? Didn’t anyone explain to you that any person needs freedom? At least for a while! FREE-DOM! You get it? If you don’t, let Mia translate it!”
“If you decide to marry me, be pleased to do your duty and be loyal to me,” Blanca replies coldly. “Forget about other girls! They not to exist for you!”
“I do not cheat on you! I DON’T! HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO I EXPLAIN IT?”
“Don’t scream at me…”
“YOU WILL BRING ME TO HYSTERIA! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” Daniel grabs his hair with quite a heavy breath. “I CANNOT!”
“It’s okay, I to move into your house very soon and start to control you better. You and I begin to get ready for the wedding. At first, we to go to buy a ring for me and many luxurious clothes. And you give me money for a hair salon. And nails.”
“You know, I’m gonna be honest…” Daniel says much quieter. “It’s really starting to scare me! The fact that you wanna marry me so hard, spend my money, and move into my house makes me suspect something. And I feel sick from just one thought that I’d be your dog.”
“¿Que[38]?”
“Yes, Blanca! It’s true. And I am sure that I didn’t also like someone, who controlled me so hard, before my memory loss. Who chokes me with jealousy and suspicions. It’s too questionable.”
“You not to say it before!” Blanca throws gloomily, putting her hands on her hips. “You to be happy with everything! My sister to make you say it?”
“Don’t get Mia involved in it! Moreover, there’s a thing that gets me confused. I can’t remember anything closer to my proposal to marry. As if it’s never happened.”
“It to be verbal.”
“I cannot even remember how I said it! Nothing similar! Everything seems familiar to me, but I can’t remember the proposal that I’m starting to regret. If it happened, of course.”
“You doubt that it to be true?”
“Yes, I doubt!” Daniel falls into silence for two seconds and looks at Blanca confidently. “And I’m not sure that we’re dating.”
“What?” Blanca opens her eyes widely. “But… But…”
“I don’t actually remember you! Even vaguely! As if you’ve never been in my life!”
“Daniel…” Blanca comes to Daniel slowly and shakes her head, looking at him with pity in her eyes. “What you say, mi amor[39]? ¿Por que?[40] That not to be the truth…”
“But I don’t believe it,” Daniel says loudly. “I don’t get attracted to you and don’t feel happy with you! You’re drowning me with your stupid jealousy that starts to get me wild.”
“No… Daniel…”
“I’ve never wanted to get closer to you, and I literally dream of you finally getting out and stopping to accost me. You always say you want sex. But I wouldn’t actually lie in bed with you at my wish. I feel bad for you. I feel stressed. But you don’t think of my feelings and want you to feel good.”
“Not true!” Blanca shakes her head with tears in her eyes. “I do everything to make you get pleasure!”
“But I don’t feel it!”
“Don’t talk to me like this, mi amor[41]… Por favor[42]… ¿Por que[43] don’t you believe me and think we don’t date because you not to remember me?” Blanca sniffs quietly. “You hurt me, querida[44]! I to suffer because you don’t recognize me. But now you give me strong pain. I can’t take it… No…”
“Okay, if it’s the truth, prove it,” Daniel says coldly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Right now. I want to see some proof of the fact that we’re dating and gonna get married.”
“Proof?” Blanca asks in a shaking voice with widely open eyes.
“You’ve never shown me anything related to you and me.”
“But…”
“Words don’t count. I want real proof. I want to see at least a gift. Mine or yours. A photo or something like that.”
“Erm…”
“I’m waiting, Blanca,” Daniel says coldly, keeping his head up. “And if I don’t see anything that confirms our relationship, I will immediately cancel our engagement.”
“¡NO, MY AMOR, NO, POR FAVOR[45]!” Blanca shouts, while her dumbfounded eyes run from one side to another. “DON’T DO IT!”
“Mia, please, tell your sister that I want to see proof of our relationship. It seems like she doesn’t understand me.”
“Okay,” Blanca pronounces in a shaking voice, sniffs quietly, and wipes tears under her eyes. “You see it. I show you our photo.”
Blanca quickly looks around the whole living room and glances at Mia standing aside as quietly as a mouse and thinking about something with fear in her eyes.
“MIA, GIVE ME MY BAG NOW!” Blanca demands loudly. “NOW! WHY YOU STAND LIKE A COLUMN?”
Blanca runs to Mia quickly, takes the purse placed on the sofa, opens it, and looks for something nervously, while the younger of the Moreno sisters shifts her weight from one foot to another, and her eyes run from one side to another.
“¿Dónde están el foto[46]?” Blanca asks irritably, being a little excited.
“Cálmate, Blanca, por favor[47],” Mia replies quietly and points at something in Blanca’s purse. “Esta es la foto[48].”
Two seconds later, Blanca takes the photo quickly, throws the purse to Mia, comes to the gloomy Daniel, and points what she is holding to him.
“Look!” Blanca exclaims.
Daniel takes the photo from Blanca and views it with suspicion. He is surprised when he sees himself and… Blanca?! They look very happy and smiling and press themselves to each other cutely. It’s possible to see that the man seems truly in love in the high-quality photo: he smiles widely, hugs the Spaniard tenderly, and rubs his nose against her cheek shyly, while she takes a photo with the camera on an iPhone. This photo was taken somewhere outside because everything around is green, there are different clouds in the bright blue sky, and the wind blows the hair of “the lovers”. Daniel views the picture for a few seconds and gets softer at the thought that Blanca does not lie to him. So, no matter how bad and dreary he feels next to this non-attractive girl, he has to admit that she is absolutely right, and he blamed her for the lie for nothing.
“Oh…” Daniel stutters. “Is that… You and me?”
“Si[49]…” Blanca pronounces quietly. “We take the photo before your amnesia, and I print it and take it with me.”
“So… I know you…”
“I say I not to lie to you, and we to really date. I never lie to you. Not about our relationship, not about your ex-friends, who insult me so hard.”
Daniel views the photo for two more seconds and understands that he has to admit that he is guilty of Blanca, even if he does not get any feelings or memories. The events, during which this photo was taken, seem very familiar to him. And this is another reason why the man decides to believe the foreigner again. While Mia is still standing aside and looking at him scarily, as if she is struggling with a wish to say something important.
“Damn, Blanca…” Daniel pronounces hesitantly. “Blanca, I’m sorry… I… I’m really very sorry… Sorry about doubting your words.”
“I understand, querida[50],” Blanca comes closer to Daniel and, folding her hands in front of her, looks into his eyes hesitantly. “You not to remember me and to doubt everything…”
“Forgive me, sweetie, please. I don’t know what bit me… What I was thinking about when I dared to charge you for that! Damn!” Daniel claps himself on the forehead. “I didn’t want to hurt you… Really…”
“It’s okay, amor[51],” Blanca says with a slight smile and moves strands of hair off Daniel’s eyes. “I understand everything, but you can believe me at one hundred percent. Because I know everything about our relationship.”
“I promise I will never doubt you,” Daniel smiles shyly. “And I will be happy to accept your help. Only yours. I’ll piss off those liars and only be with you. I promise, Blanca.”
“I wish you only the best. And I want you to remember me.”
“But I want you to promise that you will not have hysteria for nothing. And remember that I sometimes need to be far from you, stay home alone, or go somewhere.”
“You know that I to be very jealous and not to hold myself down when someone looks at you. Or when you look at someone.”
“I get it. But try to understand it. And remember that I’ll never leave you.”
“Okay, I try… Try to react quietly. Anything for you, mi amor[52].”
Daniel smiles shyly, and Blanca gives him a short kiss on the lips with a shy smile and hugs him tightly, putting her arms around his neck and starting to caress his back later. The man answers the hug, caressing the girl’s shoulder or head, but still staying gloomy and not feeling attraction to the one, who is pretending to be his fiancée. And he does not see that the Spaniard smiles slyly, being happy as if she has successfully finished a crime.
“Bien, todo va según el plan[53],” Blanca thinks. “Odias tus amigos y se convirtió en mi amor. Voy a ser la esposa de Daniel. ¡Si, si! Mi sueño se hará realidad! Voy a controlar mi marido… Ah… Daniel… Mi mundo, mi vida… Te quiero… Te quiero mucho…[54]”
Anyway, after he saw the photo of himself and the Spaniard, Daniel has hope that the situation might change if he remembered everything. The man believes he could get love for Blanca, finally feel like a person in love, and live happily ever after with her.
***
The next day, at two in the afternoon, Peter went to one of the supermarkets to buy something for himself, home, and Sammy, whom he has been taking care of lately due to the depression Helene got. He is not alone now: his school friend, Jessica Taylor, accompanies him. Thanks to her, Marshall met Rose a little more than three years ago. The man was studying at school with this short, dyed green-eyed blonde with non-dyed roots, but they began to speak and got along well in high school. Jessica is the only one, who was not a part of the bullying toward Rose. And she did not leave him when she, Helene, Daniel, and Terrence were trying to find out what was happening to the man for a long time and were together after he tried to die.
Jessica and Peter are quietly walking in the big supermarket by many people and high racks with different things, examining everything and putting something in their half-empty shopping baskets. Sometimes they hear some announcements about sales and upcoming stocks and enjoy the nice music of different genres and even in different languages.
“Oh, Helene…” Jessica sighs heavily with sadness in her eyes, looking at something on one of the racks. “She’s always been too emotional and impressive…”
“Your friend has withdrawn into herself,” Peter replies tiredly, holding a shopping basket in his hands and waiting for Jessica to choose what she needs. “She doesn’t let me come to her… I’m kinda guilty, too… She refuses to hear me and talk about something.”
“But what’s your fault with her?”
“I just promised Mrs. Marshall not to tell Helene about that secret.”
“That’s all? Did Marshall go crazy? Did she decide to take it out on you?”
“Oh, it would be okay if she did it just to me – I would bear it somehow. But the problem is that Helene is also mad at her grandmother. Your friend doesn’t wanna talk to us, at all.”
“Is she kind of mad at her for literally saving her from death and raising her after her mother rejected her?”
“Sort of.”
“Fuck! It seems like the girl overheated. Or she sniffed something. Working with chemicals wouldn’t lead to good things.”
“It’s amazing that she works as usual. Because she could easily piss it off.”
“Yeah… What a twist…”
“Yeah, but what can I do?” Peter shrugs and slightly fixes his glasses in a black frame, with which he looks at what is written far away from him. “I tried to make her sure not to be angry at her grandmother and to use me to let her emotions go out, but it led to nothing. Our last talk ended when Helene insulted me, humiliated me, beat me for nothing, and pushed me outta the room along with Sammy.”
“So, is Sammy powerless, too?”
“Alas, he can’t change her mind. And I understand I’m powerless and can do nothing.”
“Oh, listen, Pete… I don’t even know what to say or how to help you.” Jessica takes something from the rack and keeps moving in the supermarket. “But I must confess that Marshall is an idiot. Idiot that acts like a stupid little child.”
“I thought she’d be mad for one day or two and calm down. But it’s been happening for a few days. Nothing changes. And Mrs. Marshall is worried too much…”
“Poor woman… Does Helene behave so badly toward her?”
“She doesn’t notice her, mainly. And when that woman tries to talk, she answers rudely.”
“Thank God, she doesn’t raise a hand.”
“Damn, what do I do?” Peter wonders. “How do I reach your friend and make her wake up? A little bit before her grandmother ends up in the hospital. Before Helene actually wants to leave me.”
“You think she can?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. But I’m also about to piss her off. Seriously, Taylor! I can’t take her caprices anymore!”
“But you love her!”
“I do, but if it keeps happening, I’ll prefer leaving her and letting her live as she wants. I do everything for Helene, but she ‘thanks’ me in this way.”
“Oh, Peter…” Jessica sighs heavily. “I’d really wanna help you, but I can’t. I doubt Marshall will listen to me. And she doesn’t definitely wanna meet me.”
“You wanted?”
“Yup. I recently called her and invited her to meet somewhere, but she refused and found a stupid reason not to go.”
“Yeah…”
“Hey, how does she speak to the other girls? Or are they guilty, too?”
“She kinda speaks to them, but she doesn’t listen to them when they try to reach for her. The men wouldn’t also probably be able to wash her brains. So, the case is worthless.”
“Gosh, the girl got stuck!”
“Oh, yay!” Peter comes to one of the racks, takes something, puts it into his shopping basket, and keeps walking beside Jessica. “Helene is stubborn! Whatever people say, she listens to nobody and blames everybody for the fact that her parents rejected her.”
“I completely understand that she feels hurt and pain that her parents abandoned her, and her grandparents hid the truth,” Jessica replies quietly. “But she shouldn’t be angry at innocent people like you and her grandmother. May she be mad at her father and mother, ‘cause they ran away and left their child with their parents.”
“Everybody’s said it a hundred times, but she kinda closed her ears and only hears herself.”
“Yeah, Marshall isn’t such a holy girl as she seems…”
“I’m even starting to lose hope that she’ll wake up at the nearest time. It’s so hurtful, though. I’m worried… Worried about Sammy. That dog is yearning for Helene and has been depressed, too. He eats almost nothing, doesn’t play, barely sleeps, whines constantly, and sits on the corner as quietly as a mouse all the time…”
“Oh, poor doggy…” Jessica sighs heavily, shaking her head. “If he didn’t have you and Mrs. Marshall, something would probably happen to him.”
“Mrs. Marshall and I are doing everything for him not to feel lonely, but it doesn’t help. Sammy still feels very bad…”
“Hey, who he stayed with?”
“With Mrs. Marshall. I asked her to watch him for two hours.”
“Do you take him home or go to the Marshalls’ home?”
“Sometimes I take Sammy with me for the whole day because it’s hard for that woman to be with him all the time.”
“I guess your neighbors are fuming that you bring Sammy home.”
“Oh, they are!” Peter exclaims. “But I don’t care! They can do what they want. And be happy that Sammy is very quiet and doesn’t bark at the whole building when he feels that the cats are somewhere near him.”
“Yeah…”
“Anyway, what’s happening gets me really upset. It hurts that you wanna do your best, but you get nobody the fuck knows what.”
“I completely get you, Rose.” Jessica claps Peter on the shoulder. “But I think you’re doing the right thing by not meddling in the case and thinking you should leave Marshall alone.”
“Yeah, but I also know I should be with Helene and support her, despite nothing.” Peter exhales sharply. “It hurts that she doesn’t listen to me… That she doesn’t understand that I wanted to make everything better.”
“You know, no matter how much I respect Mrs. Marshall, I must say that she is not right to some extent,” Jessica admits hesitantly. “That woman knew that she’d have to say it early or late, but she delayed it until the end. Until Helene discovered the secret of her birth not at the best moment. And she decided to tell you everything. Though, her granddaughter should’ve known it first.”
“That woman blames herself for not doing that earlier. She’s sorry that she and Mr. Marshall lied to Helene all her life about her parents’ death, when they could actually be alive and live their lives.”
“Well, she understands it… That’s good…”
“But on the contrary, would it have been better if Helene had known everything when she was a little baby or a teen? How would she have accepted it? I don’t think it would’ve been so easy! I’m sure your friend would’ve been hurt and mad for a long time. I say it because a similar situation happened to one person.”
“Really?”
“Yup, my friend. Who is, by the way, Terrence’s fiancée.”
“Terrence’s fiancée? Raquelle Cameron?”
“Yes, her. The girl, who Helene studied with, and who was bullied by her schoolmates.”
“My gosh… Was Raquelle also rejected by her parents?”
“No, the case is different. The death of her parents was tried to be hidden from her.”
“The death of her parents?”
“Her grandfather didn’t wanna hurt Raquelle. Because the truth about their death is very bad – they died in a car accident. At first, everybody thought they were guilty, but we recently found out that the accident was provoked.”
“Oh, my gosh…” Jessica gets horrified.
“Raquelle found it out when she was a kid and was angry at Mr. Cameron for a long time… But now my friend says she regrets that and shouldn’t have behaved like this.”
“Anyway, you can find excuses for that. Raquelle’s grandfather did a bad thing, and Mrs. Marshall wasn’t right. But I can understand why they did it.”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter now,” Peter sighs quietly, takes something from one of the racks, to which he comes, and puts it in his shopping basket. “The truth has come to light, and I think there’s no need to judge or praise someone. I just want Helene to calm down, stop treating Mrs. Marshall and me like that, and finally think of Sammy, who suffers without her.”
“I can’t wait… I wanna meet her, but she refuses…”
“Someday, it will be over.”
By this moment, Peter and Jessica come to another rack, take the same things, and put them in their shopping baskets, while a family goes by them: a man, a woman, and a little child that looks around with interest.
“Okay, why we talk only about Helene,” Jessica changes the subject. “Let’s better talk about you. How are you doing?”
“Easy to guess that I’m not fine,” Peter replies thoughtfully.
“Hey, what about your band? I haven’t seen your friends for ages… And I read that something bad happened to Daniel.”
“Oh, Jessica…” Peter pronounces tiredly. “Don’t better ask me about what’s happening to Daniel… That guy gave us tons of problems… And it seems like he got into some trouble, knowing how everything happened.”
“Don’t you wanna share it? Tell me at least two-three words!”
“Two-three words? No problem! Hospital, amnesia, and a charge for bringing me to a suicide attempt.”
“Oh, shit!” Jessica rounds her eyes.
“And the saddest thing is that we can do nothing.”
“Wait, do you wanna say Daniel doesn’t remember something?”
“He remembers nothing!”
“But how did he get amnesia? What happened to him?”
By this moment, Jessica and Peter come to the cash, in front of which there is by far not a short line. However, the young people do not get scared, come to the one, and take a place behind someone to be the last one, trying to talk quietly enough.
“Some time ago, he got hit by a car,” Peter explains. “And he was diagnosed with a brain concussion that led to partial amnesia.”
“Oh, gosh…” Jessica closes her mouth with a hand. “But how do you know it?”
“Helene and I found Daniel in terrible condition in an abandoned place. Sammy gave us his documents at first, but then he got very nervous and started to call us with him. So, we went and saw Perkins lying unconscious on the road and bleeding. And we think that it was an attempt.”
“But who wanted to attempt him?”
“I dunno, Jess… We don’t know how it happened ‘cause there are no witnesses, and the one to blame for it ran away.”
“Poor Daniel…”
“Although his condition is stable now, and he was released from the hospital, the memory hasn’t returned to him.”
“Doesn’t he really remember anything?”
“He forgot the men, the girls, and me, but he kept all the skills that he had. He has remembered only my suicide attempt and something about Terrence. I guess the way he went to the hospital with him on the day when I tried to kill myself.”
“That’s all?”
“It’s definitely the only memory that got him so shocked.”
“It means Daniel remembers you?”
“No, not quiet. He knows I wanted to die, but he can’t remember me. The guys and I are doing our best, but there are no results yet. He says everything is familiar to him, but he doesn’t know why. Moreover, Perkins confuses us sometimes and calls us by different names. For example, he often calls me Pedro and calls Helene Elena.”
“Wow…”
“And the most interesting thing is that Daniel says that someone threatened him.”
“Threatened?” Jessica rounds her eyes.
“Yup. He says it very confidently. And that’s probably true. Knowing where he was found and which condition he had.”
“Yeah, it seems like he got into something dangerous… Who knows, maybe, his amnesia is good for someone. Maybe, someone thought that nobody would help Daniel, and he’d die if they left him in that place.”
“But luckily, Helene and I called an ambulance just in time. I mean, we’ve gotta thank Sammy ‘cause he led us to him.”
“Thank God… I wouldn’t like anything to happen to him. Daniel is a good guy, even if everybody says he seems very rude and insolent.”
“Nobody wants to lose him…” Peter sighs tiredly. “But I’m afraid that the band might lose Perkins… Because he doesn’t remember that he’s a part of it and doesn’t recognize us. The existence of the band is under threat. Again.”
“Hey, Pete, is that true he was charged with making you try to kill yourself?” Jessica asks hesitantly.
“True, Jess,” Peter nods. “A certain stinker wrote an article about Daniel allegedly mocking me: insulting, humiliating, beating, and even threatening to kill me.”
“I barely saw everything they wrote about him, but I didn’t read it closely. And I was shocked after reading some comments about him. Someone even dares to wish him to die.”
“And this situation makes me mad. It’s an absolute lie! Daniel is guilty of nothing, and I didn’t want to die because of him. Yes, maybe, he loved laughing at me because I didn’t have a relationship, but that was my fault. If I’d told him the truth, it would’ve been otherwise.”
“And what are you gonna do? You’ve gotta stop that bullying! And prove that Perkins is guilty of nothing, and your managers and the MacClife brothers don’t cover you.”
“Yeah, but the problem is that nobody believes us. No matter how hard we try to prove that we’re right, everybody says our managers tell us to shut up and pretend that everything is okay. They say Dan allegedly terrified me and threatened to kill me if I told everyone about our ‘real’ relationship.”
“Yeah, they made him a monster…”
“It would be okay if our haters spread these rumors and bullied Daniel. But our own fans are doing that! And it makes us feel more offensive! Those, who recently praised us, treat the innocent man like this. Everybody but me suffers. The people are defending me, wishing Perkins to die, and blaming Terrence and Edward for hiding the truth.”
“May journalists write anything they want, but I won’t believe this shit,” Jessica says confidently. “Terrence, Helene, and I know the truth and can tell anyone about it.”
“At first, the lads, George, and I decided to be silent, but we lost our patience yesterday when we got insulted and humiliated by one little girl, who came to our table at the café where we were, and then our assistant Blake Connor came and showered us with another piece of mud. We decided we’d no longer be silent and start protecting the honest name of Daniel.”
“Oh, that little boy always meddles in everything…”
“He won’t do it now. The guys and I told him he was fired, and the job of our assistant is free. We’ll find someone to replace him. And that kid can find another job.”
“Maybe, he was the one to spread the rumors about Daniel?”
“We suspect him, but he denies everything and blames Terrence, Edward, and me. We kind of started the scandal to make Daniel ashamed and get rid of him.”
“Little cad!”
“Oh, we all do hate that pizza-face shorty. And the thought that the people started to bully Daniel so hard makes us much madder.”
“And how do we stop the bullying?”
“I don’t know, friend, I can’t imagine how to defend our friend and open everybody’s eyes…” Peter sighs tiredly. “The lads and I are really afraid to read all those terrible things about Daniel. The poor man is suffering for nothing! He’s not having the best time now and has to be bullied…”
“Does he know it?”
“He does. And he’s sure that we’re lying to him. Daniel used to believe us somehow, but yesterday, he openly blamed me, Edward, and Terrence for the lie. And he would’ve fought with us, if not for Connor and that girl.”
“My gosh… What if he really distances himself from you and wants to break a friendship with you?”
“We don’t exclude it… But it hurts that Daniel believes them, not us. I understand that he remembers nothing and is ready to believe anything, but we do know we tell him the truth. And it would be much more painful if he pissed us off.”
“Yeah… Anyway, he’ll understand he was wrong after remembering everything.”
“Oh, when he remembers everything, his brains will be so washed that the men, the girls, and I will become his enemies, who want to destroy him.”
“Oh, Pete, I’m so sorry for all of you…” Jessica sighs heavily. “I’m really very sorry it happened…”
“We have problems with Dan, and his girlfriend disappeared.”
“His girlfriend? But what happened to her?”
“We dunno. Anna disappeared two days after Daniel ended up in the hospital. We’ve known nothing about her since that time. She doesn’t react to our calls and messages and ignores us. As if we hurt her.”
“Maybe, she went to her friends?”
“No, she is not with friends… The girls would say she’s living with them. As well as the men. I wouldn’t also hide that she’s in my apartment.”
“Then you should find her at her parents’ home.”
“Maybe, she’s really living with her mother or father.” Peter thinks for two seconds and shrugs. “But we don’t have contact with them. And we don’t know where they’re living.”
“Aren’t her parents living together?”
“Nope, they’re divorced. And Anna only speaks to her father. She doesn’t get on well with her mother.”
“Could Daniel know where to find her?”
“He must know. He knows her father and gets on well with him. And that man accepted him well.”
“Yeah… What a twist… In this case, everything depends on Daniel. On when he remembers everything.”
“I’m afraid we’d have to count on it, ‘cause I personally see no other way.”
Jessica says nothing for two seconds, looks at Peter with pity, and claps him on the shoulder.
“Okay, Pete, don’t worry!” Jessica encourages with a slight smile. “Everything’s gonna be okay: Helene will stop being mad at you and her grandmother, Daniel will remember everything, the bullying will be stopped, and his girlfriend will be found.”
“The guys and I try to believe in the best,” Peter smiles shyly. “Maybe, people are right when saying we have to wait for some to solve some problems, and a solution for another one would be found soon. It all can’t last forever…”
“Nice mood, buddy. I know you all feel bad, but you’ve gotta hold on.”
“Thanks for the support.”
With these words, Peter slightly fixes his black glasses and sees that it’s almost time to pay for his purchases. While a cashier scans everything from his shopping basket, the blond puts them on the conveyor belt and continues to talk with Jessica.
“Oh, what about you?” Peter asks. “I hope everything is not as bad as it is for me?”
“Well, nothing changes…” Jessica replies thoughtfully. “I’m still working and hate everything about my job… But I have to pay for the rental apartment in time.”
“What about men? Are you still single? Or do you have someone?”
“C’mon!” Jessica laughs shyly. “Men are afraid of me and go around.”
“I do say you should change yourself,” Peter chuckles. “Men love tender girls, not rude tomboys like you.”
"What can I do if I don’t like to be as tender and impressive as my friend, Helene?” Jessica shrugs.
“I think you need to be more feminine and less harsh.”
“But I’m not so evil and rude!”
“You know, Taylor, if I didn’t know you, I’d be afraid to come to you. Because you look like you’re ready to hit the eye of anyone to come to you.”
“C’mon, Rose!” Jessica slightly hits Peter on his forearm with a fist. “You’ve known me for ages and haven’t gotten used to me being like this.”
“I just know you could be much better.”
“Listen, don’t make me love all these girly things. I hate them! All these stupid dresses, skirts, heels, bright makeup, thin voice… And a wish to act like a hopeless and helpless lady…”
“That’s why men don’t see a girl about you. They consider you one of them. A girl, with whom they could be friends or even fight.”
“Do you think I should change my style to get the love of a man and feel uncomfortable? I can’t be me if I wear something for girls!”
“Beauty is pain, my darling.”
“Oh, c’mon, stop!” Jessica waves a hand.
“Look, even Sammy is afraid of you! He always gets capricious when Helene and I say we want to leave him with you. Just because you can’t pet him tenderly. For your information, animals love a caress.”
“Oh, c’mon, tender creature!” Jessica pushes Peter’s forearms with a slight smile on her face. “Sometimes it’s actually impossible to get it from you! There are stoned men, who don’t know this word.”
“There are those. But there are those, who love tenderness.” Peter smiles shyly. “For example, me. I really like a caress and love.”
“Maybe, you do, but another man doesn’t,” Jessica replies confidently. “Somehow, I knew a boy that I liked. But it was impossible to get just a banal compliment from him. He didn’t actually love coddling and saying beautiful words and thought you could show love in a material way or by the fact that someone doesn’t drink and doesn’t beat you.”
“You know, friend, people are different and can’t love the same things.”
“I wish I met someone like you. The same handsome man that would be loyal and show his love.”
“If you learn to be tender and make your face less gloomy, you will probably be lucky.”
By this moment, the cashier has completed scanning all the purchases in Peter’s shopping basket, and she stops his talk with Jessica to call a total price:
“Fifty-five dollars.”
Peter takes the wallet from the pocket of his black denim jacket, takes a bill, and gives it to the cashier.
“Is there a smaller bill?” the cashier asks.
“No, I only have large ones,” Peter shrugs.
The cashier sighs in disappointment but opens the cash to find the change.
“Oh, Rose…” Jessica pronounces tiredly but amicably.
“I say what I think,” Peter replies quietly. “And I’m sure that this is your key to success in your personal life.”
The cashier puts the money in the cash and gives Peter a small change and a paycheck. When the blond takes the pack and goes aside, Jessica starts to put her purchases on the line.
“Oh, I see you’ve decided to become an expert on relationships if you know a formula for success in a personal life,” Jessica laughs shyly.
“Trust me, Jess, if you listen to my advice and become softer and more feminine, men will get attracted to you,” Peter replies confidently. “You’re a very sympathetic and cute girl. Wearing a beautiful dress and shoes with heels and making great hair and makeup would make you a doll.”
“If you like it, let Marshall dress like this. I’m gonna be simpler. So, men get used to what they'll have to deal with. Some ladies love dressing up for their first date and turn out to be ugly when they reveal their real faces. And then a man gets a heart attack!”
“You know…” Peter, frowning slightly, looks at what Jessica is wearing and chuckles quietly. “Your current look is not very good for getting men attracted. The hair is up, no makeup, and an oversize sweater, jeans, and stinkers…”
“Should I dress up to go to a store?” Jessica chuckles kindly. “I’m not the type of girl, who can get makeup just to go to the closest store and buy a loaf of bread.”
“Well, it’s your right. I just told you my opinion and advised you how to take the first steps to your personal happiness.”
“Okay, personal life expert, I shall remember your pieces of advice.”
Peter chuckles quietly and shakes his head, and the cashier scans all Jessica’s purchases and calls a total price:
“Twenty-five dollars.”
Jessica, frowning slightly, puts a hand in her pocket to take the money. And she jumps out of her skin when she finds out that there is no wallet with money.
“No, no, it can’t be true…” Jessica starts to panic, examining her pockets and what is inside her purse. “No…”
“Damn, don’t tell me you forgot your wallet at home,” Peter says with a quiet chuckle, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I think so…”
“Yeah, hard case… Go to a store and forget money…”
“Damn! Oh, shit!”
Jessica checks all her pockets again and gets horrified by the thought that there is no wallet. She gets a little white and starts to breathe a little heavily, while the people in line look at her not very kindly, and the cashier does not move her eyes off her, folding her hands in front of herself and looking a little gloomy.
“Hey, could you pay faster?” a man from the line asks. “I am rushing!”
“Damn, damn, damn!” Jessica swears, while her widely open eyes run from one side to another. “How could I screw it up? Idiot! Helene says exactly that I have a head full of holes!”
“Yeah, your head is really holey,” Peter laughs quietly.
“Ar-r-r, why are you laughing, idiot?” Jessica growls irritably. “You better shut up! Or I will cut off your blond head!”
“Calm down, old Jessy, calm down! I’m not the one to blame that you forgot your money at home.”
“How long do I have to wait for you?” an old woman, who is standing in the line after the one, who is standing after Jessica, resents. “I have so much to do, but you are talking there! Pay and go away!”
Peter exhales sharply with rolled eyes and, understanding that Jessica might have problems, decides to help his friend out.
“Alright, how much money should she pay?” Peter asks the cashier.
“Twenty-five dollars,” the cashier says coldly. “Pay faster, please. There are other people here.”
Peter takes his wallet again, finds a large bill, and gives it to the cashier. Jessica herself exhales with relief and smiles slightly, being grateful to her friend for saving her. After this, the two take their packets and leave the store, while the woman at the cash register keeps scanning the purchases of other people, not paying attention to her friends.
“Oh, damn, Pete, thank you so much!” Jessica thanks truly. “You really saved me!”
“Be happy you weren’t alone,” Peter replies confidently. “Or you would’ve ended up in the police station in the worst case.”
“I swear I will recover all the money. In the nearest time.”
“C’mon, Jess, don’t think about it,” Peter replies amicably, waving a hand with a slight smile. “Don’t rush. You’ll recover when you can.”
“Anyway, thank you so much. I don’t know what I would’ve done without ya.”
“Okay, okay, holey head, I got it!” Peter claps Jessica on the head. “How I could leave my dearest old lady in trouble.”
“Hey!” Jessica pushes Peter on his hip. “I ain’t an old lady!”
“What?” Peter wonders with widely open eyes. “I’m not the one to blame that you, Ms. Taylor, have had memory issues since school time!”
“Oh, oh, oh!” Jessica rolls her eyes up. “Sometimes I have a hole in my mind, so what?”
“Is it not too early to suffer from dementia?”
“I’m not ill! I’m just a little scattered and forgetful!”
“Everything starts with this. It will get worse later.”
“Oh, shut up, four-eyes,” Jessica chuckles kindly and ruffles Peter’s hair. “Maybe, I’m forgetful and not similar to an educated member of the Institute for Noble Maidens. But I’m a perfectionist and always do anything well!”
“If you don’t forget how to do it!”
“Rose!”
“Okay, okay, don’t kill me with your pack!” Peter says with a slight smile, raising his hands up.
“Watch out, otherwise, I’ll quickly kick your ass.”
“We’ll see if Sammy lets you do it.”
“He’d stand on his head for a delicious bone.”
“Hardly, for you.”
“We’ll see it.”
Peter says nothing and just laughs quietly, while Jessica goes by him and chuckles shyly. They take some distance at the large shopping center, where there are many different stores and people, who are working here, buying something, or just walking. And then the girl looks at the watch on her left hand and sees that it’s almost two thirty in the afternoon.
“Oh, listen, Peter…” Jessica pronounces thoughtfully. “I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta go… I’ve got so much to do…”
“Okay,” Peter replies amicably. “Thanks for keeping me company.”
“Thank you, too. That’s cool we met here. Otherwise, I would’ve really gotten kicked outta the store.”
“Yeah, you’re lucky.”
Peter and Jessica hug each other amicably, step away, and share a slight smile.
“Bye, Pete,” Jessica waves a hand. “Call me if you need it.”
“Bye, Jess,” Peter says goodbye. “Don’t disappear.”
Jessica turns to the other side with a slight smile and goes to do her business, while Peter watches her until she fades away in the crown. Then, the man frowns slightly and goes aside to let other people keep going.
“Oh, Jessica…” Peter thinks with a slight smile. “I believe she needs to have a notebook and write down what she needs to do. What if she really becomes an old woman and has to be under someone’s control. Not to get into something…”
Peter chuckles quietly and crosses his arms over his chest.
“That’s why she needs a man. But it’s gonna be hard for her to find someone, knowing that she acts like a boy and refuses to become a little feminine… But who knows… Maybe, someday Jess will meet someone to persuade her to give herself much more attention. Everybody knows that love does miracles… So, it might happen to Taylor. At least, I wanna believe it.”
Peter stands in the same place, thinks about Jessica for two seconds, and starts to go down slowly in the shopping center with a pack in his hands, thinking about whether he forgot to buy something. Many people of different ages go by him to do something, walk here for nothing, or just talk on the phone or in companies. At some moment, the blond hears the familiar sounds of the music that is playing in the shopping center loudly but a little obtusely due to the strong noises. The man quickly manages to know the song of his band “Against The System” called “The Story About Us” and smiles shyly, thinking of some performances. He finds a free bench, sits on it, and starts to listen to the song, taking off his glasses, and putting them on his head. He barely holds down not to start to sing along or shake to a rhythm.
Peter thinks about how this song was recorded and written in the studio with a slight smile. How he, Edward, Terrence, and Daniel were closely listening to every single part and searching for bad things to fix it. He warmly thinks of their first performance of this song ever, which happened on one of the entertainment shows. This song is very important to the men because it’s based on their personal experiences and memories. Rose starts to understand more and more that listening to his own music is an unforgettable experience. The man would have never thought he would hear his own song and his voice on the radio station. Some time ago, he thought it was an unreal dream… But he and his band are going to release their album, which is going to be available around the whole world. It all makes Peter smile and get proud of himself and his friends, to whom, he will always be grateful for everything they have done for him.
Unfortunately, the song ends at some moment. The man runs his hand over his hair with a quiet sigh, sits for some time, stands up from the bench, takes his pack, and keeps going somewhere in the big shopping center, looking around sometimes and seeing the shops’ names that might be in not only English but also Spanish, French, and Italian. And some time later, Peter glances aside and sees a very familiar girl with red hair brushed up. The blond squints strongly because he barely sees what is far away, puts on his glasses, and quickly manages to recognize her as Anna. The girl is sitting on the bench against a small shop where everything for model building is available, inclining her head with sadness in her eyes, looking at her hands, and sometimes pulling the sleeves of her turtleneck to hide her arms and fingers. And Peter immediately gets horrified by how much his friend has changed since he saw her the last time. It’s not the sanguine girl that she was. Anna has become a scared, depressive, and tired girl, who has not seen anything good for ages.
“My gosh, is that Anna?” Peter thinks with horror in his eyes and closes his mouth with a hand. “Wow! How much she has changed! What happened to her? No, no, it can’t be the truth! Anna wasn’t like this! That girl has become so different. I don’t recognize her…”
Not thinking for too long, Peter decides to talk to Anna and find out what happened to her, why she ignores her friends and left Daniel. The man confidently goes to the bench where the exhausted girl is sitting and, touching her shoulder slightly, calls her:
“Anna?”
Anna shakes slightly after hearing her name, turns on the sound, and moves her widely open, puffy eyes to Peter.
“Peter?” Anna wonders quietly, stands up slowly from the bench, and tries to smile at Peter, who puts his pack on the bench. “Hi, glad to see you.”
“Hey, friend,” Peter greets with a slight smile.
Anna does not refuse to hug Peter amicably when he wants to greet her and reacts quietly to his amicable kiss on her cheek. While the man gets much more horrified by the girl’s changes after looking at her closely. No makeup except much concealer that hides her bruises on her white, exhausted face. A gray turtleneck also covers her whole body: from neck to wrists… Her old, shabby jeans, her lifeless hair that is gathered in a tail, and her black shoes do not make her stand out against the crown. She looks like an exhausted housewife, who is tortured by family life and forgot about herself a long time ago… Her unhappy and scared gaze and red puffy eyes say about it…
“Oh, damn…” Peter thinks with horror in widely open eyes, holding Anna in his friendly hugs. “Everything’s much worse than I thought, standing from afar! Anna has become nobody knows what! I’m so worried about her… What happened to that sanguine girl? I don’t understand!”
Peter and Anna step away from each other and try to smile slightly, even if every one of them does it against their wishes for different reasons. Anyway, the man does not let this silence last for too long and quickly starts a talk, even if he barely manages to overcome the shock that he got after what he saw:
“Where did you disappear so suddenly? The guys and I have been trying to contact you for a long time! But you don’t answer our calls and messages! Neither the men nor the girls!”
“Erm, I needed to be alone…” Anna replies hesitantly, looking around, as if she is afraid of something and locking her fingers tightly. “Y-yes, I did…”
“My gosh, what happened to you?” Peter gets horrified. “Anna, what have you done to you? Why do you look so terrible?”
“I know…” Anna tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m not happy with my reflection in the mirror…”
“Are you worried about Daniel so much that you brought yourself to such a terrible condition?”
“Erm…” Anna bites her lip slightly and crosses her arms over her chest. “Yeah… Yeah… I worry about him…”
“I get it, friend, I get it.” Peter caresses Anna’s shoulders softly. “I know what you’re feeling. We’re also worried about him.”
“Something has changed for this time?”
“Almost nothing. Daniel only knows that I wanted to die. And nothing more.”
“Oh, I see…”
“Maybe, we can help him remember everything sooner if you help us.”
“Me?”
“We counted on you, Anna. But you left Daniel at such a hard time. You suddenly broke contact with us and wanted to talk to nobody.”
“I know, but…”
“Do you understand that you did a bad thing by leaving him? You took all your stuff and left home! You said nothing to anyone! How do you explain it? We can’t get it!”
“I can’t… I can’t be with him.”
“Why? You swore you wouldn’t leave Dan and would be with him, despite nothing! Were your promises a lie?”
“Yeah, I swore, but…”
“He needs you so badly,” Peter notices with sadness in his eyes. “Perkins has asked us about you multiple times and wanted to know why you don’t speak to him.”
“He remembers me?”
“Vaguely, but he does. He forgot you a little because you don’t visit him, but the girls, the men, and I reminded him of you.”
“Okay… What about all of you?”
“He hasn’t remembered anything special. But we don’t give up and keep helping him.”
“He’ll remember everything early or late,” Anna replies in a low voice without emotions. “It won’t last forever.”
“We need your help. You can help us make this process faster.”
“Oh, what can I do? There’s no point in trying to tell him something!”
“The case isn’t stuck! Daniel remembered my suicide attempt quickly enough, but yesterday, he found out something about Terrence. About the way to the hospital.”
“That’s all?” Anna pretends to be surprised. “Only that?”
“All in good time. The doctor did say the memory would come back little by little. He wouldn’t remember everything immediately. We just need to be with him, so he doesn’t forget us.”
“It all doesn’t make sense.” Anna glances aside.
“Listen, Anna, I completely understand you,” Peter says quietly. “It’s also very hurtful for us to hear him asking who we are. And the men and I feel much worse ‘cause Daniel blamed us for the lie yesterday. Because of what is getting published in newspapers and on the Internet about my relationship with him. But it’s not a reason to leave him! You must be by his side! Now you have a chance to prove your love for him, but you got scared and left. So that nobody could find you! And if it’s so, we’ve got a reason to think you didn’t love that guy so much.”
“It’s all just worthless…” Anna replies quietly without emotions, moving her eyes aside.
“Daniel isn’t guilty of the memory loss and the fact that he looks at us like strangers, who wanna use him. The men, the girls, and I understand it and are ready to wait as long as we need. Everything will be back to its place when that man remembers everything.”
“No, Peter, it won’t.”
“Please, Anna, I’m begging you, don’t leave him,” Peter begs with pity in his eyes. “I know you feel hurt, but you should do it. My friend needs you. I’m sure that your care will help him recover his memory sooner. We need to do it as soon as possible because we might lose him. Because he might ruin his friendship with us and blame us for the lie. If we don’t do something soon, Daniel will probably never remember anything.”
“I can’t…” Anna refuses at all, not forgetting about Daniel’s betrayal and the threats of Julian, who beats her for every single innocent act. “I can’t…”
“Why? Why are you running from him? Why are you running from us? What did we do? Nobody fought with you! Nobody hurt you! Why do you refuse to help us?”
“Because it’s worthless…” Anna replies in a strongly shaking voice.
“Trust me, the situation isn’t hopeless. If you were with us, we’d do our best to comfort you, and you’d be next to your boyfriend and help him.”
“No, Pete, don’t make me do it.”
“Damn, Anna, I don’t understand you!” Peter exclaims. “Why are you running from us and refusing to help Daniel? He needs you! We need him! As well as the band, which is about to break up again. Because of his amnesia, this time. At first, I almost broke the band up, but now Perkins might do it.”
“The band is gonna be fine. Daniel will remember everything, and you’ll start to perform again and get ready for the album release.”
“Not everything is as easy as you think. Moreover, he feels bad because of the bullying, under which he was put on social networks. Just because he allegedly brought me to a wish to die and threatened to kill me.”
“Who said it?”
“It’s written in an article. Which everybody believed. And that’s why our fans got mad at Daniel, felt sorry for me, and blamed Edward and Terrence for hiding the truth. But they don’t get bullied as hard as Dan. He’s wanted to die. Burned in hell.”
“My gosh…” Anna pronounces quietly, feeling that she is a little sorry about Daniel. “I didn’t know it…”
“Don’t you read news on the Internet?”
“I don’t have time.”
“Read it! You’re gonna be shocked by what they say about the poor guy. The guys and I are still overwhelmed and even afraid to check out Twitter or Instagram, ‘cause the hell is happening there. And it happened at such a bad time… Sadly, Daniel believed in it and blames Edward, Terrence, and me for the lie. We allegedly wanna use his condition. And if Connor hadn’t come to us, he would’ve charged us with conspiring. And said that I decided to use a chance to kick him outta the band and take revenge on him for my suffering. But it might happen later.”
Anna says nothing and just swallows up nervously, looking at Peter with widely open eyes.
“Would you find the courage to leave him now?” Peter wonders. “Can you quietly watch everybody insulting him and humiliating him for nothing! You do know all the truth about this story and know that Daniel didn’t bring me to the wish to die.”
“I know, but…” Anna pronounces hesitantly.
“Help us, please. Think of your boyfriend. About what he’ll feel when he understands that you left him. You’ll betray him if you don’t agree to help. He’ll feel madly hurt. And he’ll hardly accept it quietly, knowing how much that man loves you.”
“No, Pete…” Anna shakes her head, thinking of Daniel’s betrayal and forgetting about any pity and wish to give a damn about her offense and Julian’s threats. “No… I can’t do it… Nothing can help him… None of you can help him. especially, me.”
“Anna, please…” Peter begs with despair, taking Anna by the shoulders softly. “Don’t leave Daniel. Do something for him to remember everything and become himself. The guy we know.”
“I can’t help you…” Anna says hesitantly in a little shaking voice. “Sorry…”
“We believe Daniel’s gonna remember us in the order, in which he met us. He has remembered just something about me – so, the next person, to whom at least one memory is related, is supposed to be you. Then Terrence, Edward, Raquelle, Natalia, and Helene.”
“I said everything.”
“You can do this, we all believe in you. Daniel and you aren’t strangers, and you can help him remember everything. So, he’s back to us and tells us what happened to him. And maybe, tell us about his problems, which are the reason why he got attacked.”
“Even if it’s true, I know nothing.”
“Daniel needs your care. Please, be next to him and help him. Somehow. I know you feel pain, but you should do it. You should brace yourself and prove that you’re ready to be with that man, for better or for worse. Maybe, a little later, that man will remember something about you. Besides, something tells me that his heart does remember you and tells him that he lacks love. Your love. My friend feels really lonely and yearning now.”
“It’s not true,” Anna throws a little coldly. “He’s not lonely. He’s got people, who take care of him. So, let them watch him.”
“My gosh, why are you behaving so?” Peter wonders, looks at Anna with pity in his eyes, and shakes his head. “What happened to you? You loved each other so much! I mean, everybody thought you were really in love! But you make everybody think your feelings were a lie. You needed Daniel only for some wishes. And if it’s so, we’re all disappointed in you.”
“Listen, Peter…”
“If you’re mad at him for something, explain it. Maybe, it’s a strong memory that would help him remember you?”
“I…”
“Don’t be afraid, Anna! Tell me.” Peter says nothing for two seconds and shakes his head. “I don’t wanna believe you’re so bad. I have always thought you’re a good girl and have been truly happy that Dan dates you.”
“Erm…” Anna stutters, while her scared, widely open eyes run from one side to another, wishing to tell Peter what made her leave Daniel’s house but being obsessed with doubts, fears, and the thought that Julian might beat her even for something like this. “I…”
“Don’t you wanna say?”
But Peter does not get any answer from Anna, who embraces herself tightly with both arms and sets her eyes on the floor, understanding that she gets better from the talk with the man, even if she is not quite honest with him.
“I completely understand your feelings, sweetie,” Peter says with sadness in his eyes. “You’re worried as if Daniel died, and you’ll never see him. But he’s alive! He just has amnesia that would be gone early or late. Someday, he will recall everything and live like before. To make this moment happen sooner, you should be next to him. Tell yourself you must be with him and go to his home.”
“Erm…” Anna stutters again.
“Or are you afraid? Afraid that your beloved man wouldn’t recognize you and wouldn’t wish to hug you, kiss you, and take care of you? What if he does? What if he asks you to kiss him? Daniel asked the guys and me about what we feel for a beloved person. I think he’s trying to understand what he feels for you. Even despite the memory loss, those feelings are still alive in his heart.”
“You say it to calm me down.”
“I’m telling you the truth. And let’s be honest: any one of us could be instead of Daniel. But if something like that happened, I wouldn’t leave Helene. Terrence and Edward wouldn’t leave Raquelle and Natalia. And the girls wouldn’t leave us, the men. But you left Daniel. And I don’t understand why! I mean, I understand you’re shocked. But you should find the courage to brace yourself and do what you should. Forget about your fears and prove your love for Daniel. Loyalty is a great gift that is only owned by people with a capital letter, not those, who hope to buy it for big money.”
“Peter…”
“It’s your great chance to prove that you’re ready for anything for him. That you’ll bear any pain and take care of him. No matter who he is… And what he is.”
Anna understands that Peter is absolutely right and says the right words. But the offense to either her ex-boyfriend or her present one and the fear of Julian, who might do something with her parents, make the girl say nothing and accept her unhappy fate that she cannot change.
“We’re all with you, Anna,” Peter says softly and confidently, caressing Anna’s shoulders. “You can count on us in any case. If you need help, ask us about it, and we’ll be happy to help. But please, don’t run away from us and your boyfriend.”
“Listen, Peter, I agree with your words,” Anna says hesitantly, touching her face constantly with a heavy breath. “Yes, you’re right… But you know…”
Anna does not speak her mind because the gloomy Julian comes to her and Peter, holding a pack with the logo of the shop that he just left.
“What’s going on?” Julian asks coldly in a low voice, squeezing his pack tightly. “Anna?”
Julian presses the scared Anna to himself very tightly and throws a short look at her to let her know that she will be dead soon. And Peter quickly understands that he does not like this man, who looks closely at him with disgust.
“Who are you talking to?” Julian asks coldly.
“Huh…” Peter stutters, deciding to pretend that he sees nothing and stay quietly and closely watching Julian’s behavior, which makes Anna get white and shake. “I… I came here and met my friend… And… I decided to talk to her.”
“That’s how? So, are you Anna’s friend?”
“Yes, we… We’ve been friends for ages.”
“So, I see.” Julian presses Anna to himself much more tightly, while she can hardly breathe because he squeezes her sternum too strongly. “We came here to buy something for a model building. We do really love doing that.”
“Model building?” Peter frowns slightly.
“Yes, a creation of models of automobiles, airplanes, vehicles, and something like that.”
“Oh, I got it…” Peter nods. “I did not know Anna… Loves it, too…”
“She started to do it recently. She asked me a lot about what I did. And she got love for this thing.”
“That’s how…”
Peter starts to ask himself when Anna started to be interested in these things because he knows that she has never loved anything about vehicles, aiplanes, etc. And the girl’s weird behavior makes him suspicious. The man sees how scared and tense the girl became after Julian came. However, the blond keeps pretending that he notices nothing and tries to find out everything carefully to know who this man is, and how Anna is connected with him.
“So, as I understand, are you a friend of Anna?” Peter asks quietly.
“No, we are not friends,” Julian says confidently with a false smile. “We are dating!”
“Dating? Wow…” Peter bites his lip slightly. “But she had nobody.”
“Right, but now she has me.”
“That’s how… I did not know…”
“We began to date recently.” Julian kisses Anna on the cheek to prove that they are dating and very happy with each other. “Literally some time ago.”
Anna does not resist Julian’s actions and tries not to show that she does not like to feel how the man’s lips kiss her so that she feels disgust, looking into the distance with dead eyes, hardly standing on her feet from fear, nearly crying, and breathing heavily because of the man’s too tight hug. This kiss makes her feel the coldness in her whole body, and his thick beard makes this disgusting effect stronger.
“And we are very happy together,” Julian adds coldly. “Yes, Anna?”
Julian presses Anna much tighter to himself and even hits her in the back with a fist. That’s why she cannot hold down her squeak and wrinkles slightly, not looking at Peter when she says in a very quiet, shaking voice:
“Y-yes, w-w-we… Are very h-happ-py… Very…”
“So…” Peter pronounces thoughtfully, getting horrified by the thought that Anna preferred Julian to Daniel, and starts to massage his neck. “If you are dating, I am happy for you.”
“Thanks,” Julian replies coldly, looking at Peter with contempt and a weird grin, as if he is searching for something to laugh at.
Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which Peter watches Anna and Julian closely and gets more surprised by what the girl found about this man, who can make anyone’s body get deeply cold with just one look.
“Oh, excuse me, sir, but we have to go,” Julian says coldly and confidently. “Anna and I have so much to do, and we have a little time.”
“Erm, yes, sure,” Peter pronounces a little hesitantly, fixing his glasses slightly. “Stay happy.”
“All the best.”
“Bye, Peter,” Anna says goodbye quietly, moving her eyes to the discouraged Peter hesitantly and raising her hand slightly to wave it. “See you soon.”
“Sure,” Peter tries to put on a smile. “All the best, Anna.”
“Go, Anna,” Julian whispers coldly, squeezing Anna’s shoulder with his fingers tightly. “We should go.”
Julian quickly turns Anna to another side, not stopping to squeeze her in his hug very tightly, and takes her with him, while she follows him obediently, inclining her head, looking down, and embracing herself with both arms. Peter watches the two with dumbfounded eyes until they turn to the side and hide in the corner. His eyes start to run from one side to another, and he cannot come to himself after the shock that he just got.
“I can’t believe it…” Peter thinks with widely open eyes, putting his hand on his forehead. “Anna left Daniel! She preferred that man over him! She left my friend and cheated on him. Fuck… I don’t believe it… It can’t be the truth! I can’t be!”
Two seconds later, Peter jumps on the bench powerlessly and shakes his head, trying to accept what he has seen and heard.
“Is the amnesia the reason for that?” Peter asks himself with horror in his eyes. “Did she leave him because he forgot her? Damn… Fuck… She betrayed my friend! She did a disgusting thing to him! No matter how well I treat Anna, I must confess that her act is terrible. She left the man and quickly found another.”
Peter closes his mouth with a hand, looking into the distance with dumbfounded eyes.
“That’s why she refuses to help Daniel… Anna just left him! She fell outta love! But I don’t understand why? Perkins was always a good partner for her, and she always said she was happy with him? Was it just an act? Or were the MacClife brothers right when they assumed that they could fight before he got attacked? I wonder, did Daniel know it? Maybe, that's the reason they could fight? What if Perkins found out about her affair with that man and got furious?”
Peter looks into the distance and calls the memories of Julian, who took Anna away a few seconds ago.
“Damn, Anna really went crazy if she exchanged Daniel with that man. What did the girl find about him? I was literally shaking when he was next to me! And his eyes, which could kill anyone! He stared at me with such contempt! How pale she got after he came to us! She was literally crying when he was hugging and kissing her! But it seems like he was choking her, not hugging… It was kind of hard for her to breathe… She was shaking from fear and didn’t look into the eyes when speaking and looked just terrible… Does she like it?”
Peter runs his hands over his face.
“Oh, damn, Anna… I don’t understand you! Why? Why did you do it? Did Daniel deserve it? You lived quietly, needed nothing, and were loved… Maybe, Perkins has tons of weaknesses, but he always treated you with tenderness and tolerated any of your caprices. What you needed?”
Peter shakes his head again and closes his mouth with a hand.
“No, no, something's surely not right. Something serious happened. Anna isn’t so terrible to leave a person, who has a problem, for nothing! It can’t be true! Seymour and Perkins had a conflict before he forgot everything! Maybe, not just one. Something terrible was supposed to happen if that girl dared to leave her man at a hard moment. And the bad thing is that we can find out nothing. Nobody knows how to find her! Anna didn’t say where she went. Shit, shit! How do we tell Daniel that Anna started to date another man? How? He wouldn’t bear it! Fuck…”
Peter sits on the bench for a few more seconds, getting horrified by the situation, and then he gets up quietly, takes his pack, and goes where he needs to go, feeling sorry for Daniel, who was betrayed by that girl. Some time later, the man goes down to the first floor of the shopping center on the escalator, on which many people get down alongside him. He takes some distance, goes downstairs with an escalator, and finally finds himself in the big, well-lighted, wide, and long underground parking. Many other autos are parked here, and there are some people, who are somewhere, talking on the phone with someone, who is with them, finding something in their cars, or getting into them and leaving the parking lot. There are also some guards, who, honestly, do not closely watch everything and are busy talking with each other. The blond looks at everybody without emotions, as he is going to his car. And when Peter comes to the place where his car is placed, he unlocks it with a key, opens the boot of the car, puts the pack in it, and wants to close it.
But when the man barely closes the boot of the car, he gives attention to a couple going by his auto closely enough in a quick, sharp step. Peter quickly manages to know the girl as Anna and the man as Julian, with whom he recently talked. The blond notices that the furious Potter is taking the girl against her wish and squeezing her hand so tightly that she winces strongly from pain and sniffs quietly. When the couple goes by his car, Peter hides behind the opened door of the boot and decides to watch them carefully. A little later, he closes the boot of the auto, hides behind one of the columns, and starts to watch Julian and Anna, who come to the car that is placed a few steps back from his auto. And when Potter literally drags the girl to his automobile, he sharply pushes her off himself and grabs her by the elbows very painfully, starting to shake her strongly and looking at her with a wide, scared look without a wish to hold himself down.
“Did I say something unclearly, you, stupid chicken?” Julian asks rudely. “WHAT DID I THE FUCK TELL YOU, IDIOT? DID YOUR BRAINS GET DRY FROM DOING NOTHING?”
“I…” Anna pronounces in a shaking voice, looking at Julian with tears in widely open eyes. “I…”
“I think I have said that you are BANNED FROM TALKING TO MEN OR SOME FRIENDS!”
“J-julian…”
“I DID, BITCH, TELL YOU TO SIT ON THE BENCH IN FRONT OF THE SHOP AND WAIT FOR ME! WAIT, THE FUCK! BUT YOU, ASSHOLE, TALKED TO SOME FOUR-EYES!”
“P-p-please, don’t scream…”
“WHO IS HE? WHO IS THAT DEADBEAT? ANSWER, BITCH! ANSWER!”
“He’s my friend,” Anna pronounces quietly. “That guy came to me, and we talked a little.”
“YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TALKED TO HIM! WHY DID YOU THE FUCK NOT LISTEN TO ME, BRAINLESS SCUMBAG?”
“Don’t I have a right to speak to him and find out how he is doing? Should I pretend that I don’t know him and run away when he calls me?”
“You only have a right to listen to me!” Julian says rudely. “SAY NOTHING AND DO WHAT I WANT IMMEDIATELY! YOU ARE A WOMAN! AN DISENFRANCHISED CREATURE THAT MUST ONLY LISTEN TO A MAN AND DO WHAT HE SAYS!”
“Don’t scream, Julian… We might be heard.”
“MAY EVERYONE HEAR! MAY EVERYONE KNOW THAT YOU ARE A BRAINLESS, UGLY IDIOT, WHO I AM ASHAMED TO GO IN PUBLIC WITH.”
“Julian… Julian, please…”
“Better close your fucking month, you, little whore.” Julian sharply grabs Anna by the throat and chocks her strongly. “You do know well what is going to happen to your parents if you run away from me, as it happened when that deadbeat came into your worthless life.”
“I’m not g-g-going to r-run away from you, Julian,” Anna replies in a shaking voice, looking at Julian scarily with a feeling of a fast heartbeat. “Erm… I was sitting and waiting for y-you…”
“Stupid chicken! You could not do such an easy thing! Next time, I shall not leave you alone and will tell someone to stay and beat you on your face every time you do a bad thing.”
“Don’t do it, Julian… Don’t do such cruel things to me… I’m begging you… We… We are n-nobody to each other! I’m not your wife or even girlfriend… But you’re acting like it’s the truth.”
“ARE YOU GOING TO DEFY ME, BITCH?”
Julian slaps Anna in the face very strongly, and she grabs her cheek sharply and doubles over with a squeak full of pity. Peter watching what’s happening with dumbfounded eyes closes his mouth with both hands.
“Oh, my gosh…” Peter whispers with dumbfounded eyes. “He hit her!”
“Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?” Julian asks rudely, grabs Anna by the collar sharply, and shakes her strongly. “HOW MANY TIMES I SHOULD TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO! THE ONLY PEOPLE YOU CAN CONTROL ARE YOUR CHILDREN. YOU CAN SCREAM, COMMAND, AND BEAT THEM! MAKE BOYS MEN AND MAKE GIRLS WOMAN!”
“You’re unfair to me,” Anna says with pity in her wet eyes. “Unfair. Why are you doing this to me?”
“Remember once and forever, you, brainless chicken: YOU ARE FUCKING MINE AND WILL ALWAYS BE. Because your daddy approves of our relationship and will not believe the tears that you cry to try to prove to him that I am bad! No matter how much you do not want it, you will marry me very soon and become a part of the Potters. As your beloved mommy and daddy and their parents wanted!”
“I will never marry you! I’d better die than live with someone like you, and especially give birth to children from you.”
“YOU WILL!” Julian beats Anna strongly in the face, making her make a quiet squeak and shake slightly. “YOU WILL DO IT IMMEDIATELY! IF YOUR MOMMY AND DADDY SAY! THEY WILL OBVIOUSLY DO IT!”
“Yeah…” Peter pronounces with horror in his eyes. “I was too wrong when I thought she dated him… I’m sorry, Anna…”
“What did my parents do to you?” Anna asks in a shaking voice with tears. “Why do you hate them? Why do you want to harm me?”
“Because this is the only way to make you do what I want. You will fear that your mommy and daddy are killed and will wish to do anything to save them. So, I’m using the chance to make you mine.”
“Why? You don’t love me, and I will never love you!”
“You are asking too many questions, nasty gal. Your parents gave you too much freedom and did not make you obedient and docile. So, I have to fix the consequences of their disgusting education.”
“I’m not going to change!” Anna says as confidently as possible. “Never!”
“Do not make me furious, you, brainless chicken,” Julian tightly clenches his hands into fists. “Or did you like getting slaps so much? Huh, Seymour? If it’s so, I shall keep beating you! Maybe, you will understand just something!”
“Maybe, you will kill me? Come on, Potter, kill me right here! I have nothing to lose! Nothing holds me back in this world! I have suffered enough.”
“Get used!” Julian throws rudely. “Get used to the fact that I will be educating you for your bad behavior. You will be getting kicks until you stop rebelling and start to behave like a GOOD, OBEDIENT WOMAN!”
“You’re sick, Julian! Just sick! YOU MUST GET THERAPY!”
Being furious and obsessed with anger, Julian sharply throws Anna on the hood of his car, so that she hits her head and chocks her by the throat with both hands. Peter getting sharply white and literally frozen from horror, closes his mouth with both hands, and rounds his eyes. The man really wants to come to the girl and defend her from the one, who dares to do such terrible things to her. But some fears stop him and make him stand aside and just watch his friend suffer. That’s why the blond slaps himself in the face in his mind and hates himself for cowardice and indifference.
“Fuck, you’re an asshole, Rose…” Peter says under his nose, watching what’s happening with horror in his eyes. “Stinker! How do you dare to watch that son of a bitch beating the girl, stand here, and not to try to defend her? You must put your fears aside and deal with that bastard! She’s your friend! The girlfriend of your best friend! Who wouldn’t like the fact that you’re doing nothing!”
“DO NOT DARE TO SCREAM AT ME, BITCH!” Julian screams at the top of his lungs and gives Anna a strong slap in the face. “CLOSE YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! CLOSE, I SAID!”
“No, Julian, don’t do it, please…” Anna begs in a shaking voice with pity in her eyes. “Don’t beat me…”
“SHUT UP!” Julian closes Anna’s mouth with a hand and literally kills her with his wild, icy look that makes her heart stop. “SHUT UP! OR I WILL KILL YOU! KILL!”
“Oh, shit…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice, running his hands through his hair with a heavy breath, and watching people, who go by Anna and Julian and do not pay attention to them. “Why don’t people care? They go so close to him and give a fuck about the fact that he might kill that girl! Everybody gives a fuck!”
“Stop thinking someone will come to help you,” Julian says rudely. “NOBODY WILL COME! Whatever you, scumbag, say, you will never prove anything. Especially your brainless daddy, who has always been a stupid, naive sheep.”
When Anna starts to moan something with widely open eyes full of fear, Julian squeezes her throat with a free hand.
“Not surprised he got the same stupid daughter. WHO DOES NOT LISTEN TO WHAT A MAN TELLS HER! SHE THINKS SHE CAN DO ANYTHING!”
“You have no right to do this to me!” Anna says coldly after she moves Julian’s hand off her mouth. “YOU ARE NOBODY TO ME! NOBODY, HEAR ME!”
Julian strongly hits the back of Anna’s head against the hood of the car with an irritated growl and gives her a few strong slaps, while she cries hard from pain and fear. The dumbfounded Peter keeps standing in the same place. And at some moment, his hand reaches the pocket of his denim jacket and takes his mobile phone. Then he starts recording a video, filming Julian and Anna carefully, zooming the camera up as closely as the phone can in the hope that the whole talk will be heard well.
“LISTEN, YOU, UGLY!” Julian hisses with anger in his bloodshot eyes, squeezing Anna’s throat strongly, depriving her of the ability to breathe, and still looking into her scared, red, wet, and puffy eyes with his wild eyes. “HOW DO YOU DARE TO SCREAM AT ME? A STUPID GAL SCREAMS AT A MAN! YOU THE FUCK WENT INSANE!”
Julian slaps Anna in the face again very strongly, and she cannot hold down a scream from a burning pain.
“AS I UNDERSTAND, YOU LIKE TO MAKE ME ANGRY!” Julian screams at the top of his lungs. “YOU LIKE MAKING ME NERVOUS! LIKE IT, HUH?”
“No, Julian, don’t do it, please!” Anna begs with despair and screams at another slap from Julian in the face. “NO!”
“If you do not want to be treated well, I will treat you badly. I will behave as if you are a street dog. I shall throw a bone or pieces of food. You, asshole, will suffer your whole life. Every single wrong act and non-obedience will give you strong slaps. Scream and cry as much as you want, but it will not help you.”
“Stop, enough! For God’s sake!”
“You will know what it’s like to mess up with Julian Potter. The one, who cannot take women, who think they can do anything. I WILL TEACH YOU TO RESPECT A MAN AND OBEY HIM SILENTLY! RESPECT HIS OPINION AND NOT TO TRY TO ARGUE WITH HIM! YOU, BITCH, WILL REMEMBER THAT THERE IS NO OTHER OPINION BUT THE OPINION OF A REAL MAN. THAT AN OPINION OF A WOMAN WILL NEVER BE IMPORTANT. NE-VER!”
“A real man will never treat a woman like this,” Anna starts shouting. “Never! And I am very sorry that your father did not teach you that.”
“He taught me THE RIGHT THINGS! But your mother and father taught you NOTHING! But if you lived with my father, you would quickly learn to be sweet and silent.”
“I shall make my father open his eyes and understand that you are a beast. He can’t and doesn’t want to bite through such a shameless cad like you, but I will do it. Early or late, I will do it. And Dad will understand that he’ll make a great mistake if he lets me get in touch with you and your family.”
“BITCH!” Julian strongly hits Anna’s stomach with a leg and throws her off the hood of his car onto the asphalt, against which she hits her head. “YOU DARE TO PROVOKE ME! YOU ARE MAKING ME WILD! YOU WERE BORN A WOMAN, STUPID, TALENTLESS, AND UGLY SHORTY!”
“It hurts…” Anna moans with pity, not hiding her bitter tears. “Stop it…”
“When you will learn to obey, I SHALL STOP IT!”
Julian gives Anna a strong slap in the face again and starts to beat her on everything he sees, not feeling sorry for the poor girl, who does not even try to fight with the strong enough man and just cries quietly from pain in the body that is beaten black and blue. By this moment, there is nobody around, who could help her. They do not suspect that Peter is recording this scene with the hope that this proof will help him and his friends, still swearing at himself for not being able to overcome his cowardice and protect her.
“Damn, forgive me, Anna…” Peter thinks with pity in his eyes, closing his mouth with a free hand and looking at the phone screen with dumbfounded eyes. “I’m so ashamed… Ashamed of being so cowardly and afraid to protect you… Sorry… Sorry… I didn’t want it…”
Peter shakes his head and understands that his heart squeezes every time he sees Julian slapping Anna strongly on her whole body, and she moans with pity and tears in her eyes.
“Oh, that man is definitely tough… I could hardly deal with him alone… Even if I’m by far not weak… I might not count only on myself… And that deadbeat would bring me to a hospital or another world.”
Although Julian does not beat Anna for too long, the girl gets pain in the whole body after strong hits with fists, hands, and legs. The blood appears on her arms and some parts of her face after it has been hit against the asphalt several times, her knees are scraped, and she does not have the strength to get up, resist, run, and do something. The poor girl can only cry, suffer, and let her offender mock her physically and morally.
“So what, ugly, you got it?” Julian asks rudely, breathing a little heavily and looking at Anna, who is crying and shaking from fear. “Did you understand that you would not better make me angry? That you are guilty of getting these hits?”
Julian takes Anna under her arms painfully, places her on her feet, squeezes her jaw tightly with one hand, and grabs her by the hair with another hand, pulling it out strongly and making the girl look into his bloodshot eyes full of wild hate.
“And be happy that the blond four-eyed one was madly lucky,” Julian adds coldly in a low voice. “If we were not at the store, he would be dead. Though, I would destroy that bastard right now if he showed up from somewhere and started to pretend to be a hero, trying to protect you from me. I WOULD THROW HIM AGAINST THE WALL! He would be a corpse that I would bury where nobody would find him.”
“Don’t dare to hurt him…” Anna hisses through her teeth, biting the bullet in pain. “Don’t dare! Don’t dare to hurt any of those I know.”
“If at least one of your pals meddles in our business, I shall kill them. No matter who it will be: a man or a woman. I will be sorry for nobody! THEY WILL DIE LIKE COCKROACHES!”
“If you hurt at least one of my friends, you will regret it.”
“Stop threatening me, brainless idiot,” Julian snaps and pulls Anna’s hair back sharply, making her squeak. “Nobody will believe you. We are a perfect couple for everybody! The people, who love each other and want to get married! And I will be playing the role of a perfect man, who wants to be with you.”
“You will get bitten through! I doubt that my friend trusted your words about you and me allegedly dating.”
“It’s alright, he will do it. I will just tell him what I say to that brainless sheep, Maximilian. If the four-eyed guy does not meddle, I will make him believe in my good plans. Believe that I came into your life to help you come to yourself after the breakup with that half-naked beggar.”
“It will not work with him. He’s a very smart man. Not as naive as my father is. I am sure that he guessed everything, but he was silently gently.”
“I give a fuck! I just let you know that if that bastard tries to meddle, he will be dead. As well as that deadbeat, who does not need you. If he comes to you with a plea to come back to him and a wish to save you from me. And if your mother and father suddenly wake up, I will say that they must be silent and do what Father and I want. And they will not dare to try to report us to the police or ask someone for help. I swear, you will die. Die like a rat!”
“Don’t dare!”
“And while your tongue is too long and dirty, I will keep beating you and educating you. I have already said that only physical and moral pressure can get stupid things out of someone’s mind and make them NORMAL.”
Anna says nothing and just makes a quiet sob, feeling a strong pain in her whole body and weakness in her legs, and looking at Julian with her wet, scared, and widely open eyes.
“This is the last time I drive you somewhere to walk,” Julian says rudely. “It will no longer happen! You will stay home and think about your behavior! And your dad will tell me about everything you do! I will not make him do it. He will tell me everything at his wish when I go to your home. And I will regularly check your phone and computer. And if I do not like something, and you do not get rid of it immediately, you will feel very bad. Much worse than now.”
“But…” Anna pronounces with a strongly shaking voice.
“CLOSE YOUR FUCKING MONTH WHILE THE MAN SPEAKS! You must ask for permission for ANYTHING. AND DO ONLY WHAT I TELL YOU! YOU GOT IT, STUPID? OR DID YOU NOT THE FUCK GET IT BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO BRAINS?”
Anna nods, shaking strongly from fear, crying bitterly, and starting to be afraid to do or say something because Julian beats and insults her for any reason.
“And do not dare to say something against my word again,” Julian says rudely and coldly. “I will rip out your throat! Strangle you with my own hands!”
As Anna does not stop crying and shaking like a bunny under a tree, Julian being obsessed with anger slaps her in the face again, making her whine quietly, double over, and grab the burning cheek tightly.
“AND STOP THE FUCK CRYING!” Julian screams at the top of his lungs. “I AM SICK OF YOUR CONSTANT WHINING! I cannot stand women’s whining and tears! I DO WANT TO STRANGLE ANY CHICKEN THAT THINKS SHE WOULD MAKE SOMEONE FEEL PITY BY CRYING AND BEGGING.”
Julian sharply runs his hands over his face, pushes Anna to the car rudely, opens the back door, and seats her in it against her wish, saying:
“ALRIGHT, WE WILL TALK LATER! GET IN THE CAR NOW! I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO, BUT YOU WASTE MY TIME! GO HOME AND WILL SIT IN YOUR ROOM, THINKING OF YOUR BEHAVIOR!”
After pushing Anna in the car, Julian takes the pack with purchases from the hood, throws it on the backseat, closes the door sharply, sits in the driver's seat, starts the motor, and leaves the parking lot so fast that the wheels make a disgusting shriek. A little earlier, Peter stops recording the video on the phone and barely manages to hide behind the column, while the auto drives fast one foot away from him. When he makes sure that Potter left, the blond steps slowly away from the column and looks around the parking lot with dumbfounded, widely open eyes, still trying to come to himself after what he saw with a heavy breath, while he is standing in the middle of half-empty parking, looking into the distance, and holding his mobile phone.
“Daniel is gonna kill me when he finds out that I didn’t stand for Anna and protect her from that bastard,” Peter says quietly. “He won’t forgive me… And the guys won’t caress my head… They will start to judge me… But on the contrary, I can’t be silent and will have to tell them all the truth. Even if my excuses sound stupid.”
Peter claps himself on his forehead, takes his glasses off, and moans quietly, feeling that every single muscle of his body is tense enough.
“Oh, yeah, Peter Jackson Rose, you’re a coward!” Peter whispers. “The coward, who found an excuse and didn’t protect the girlfriend of his friend. And if Perkins remembers everything, finds it out, and wants to hit you in the face, it will be fair.”
Peter exhales sharply with closed eyes and looks around the half-empty parking lot.
“But it seems like I understand why Anna behaved so weirdly when talking to me. She fears that man! Who threatens her parents, as I understand… And as far as I understand, he does know about Daniel… But how? How does he know it? Did Anna say it to him?”
Peter frowns slightly and bites his lip.
“Hey, does that man have to do with the one, who Anna had been supposed to marry, before she started to date Perkins? I think I heard, ‘You will become a part of the Potters, as your mommy, daddy, and their parents wanted.’ So, that man is the one, who Anna refused to marry, or he has to do with her potential husband. And as that man has known her family for ages, Anna could suspect who that man is. Now I see why she wanted to run away and tried to avoid this marriage.”
Peter shakes his head and exhales sharply.
“Yeah, but what about her father and mother? Do they let her talk to that son of a bitch and even get married to him? Do they have no shame or heart if they’re ready to give their daughter to that deadbeat? Or does that man pretend to be so good for them? Do they believe he’s an angel? Just like he did it to me when trying to be good but looking at me like some shit. Fuck… If it’s all the truth, Anna is in danger. Something is not right about that story… And she must be saved! If we do nothing now, we might lose her.”
Peter’s eyes start running from one side to another, while he is breathing too heavily and trying to decide what to do. A little later, he looks at the phone in his hand, sits in the driver’s seat of his car, closes the door, puts his glasses on his head, and quickly finds the video that he recorded some time ago. The man closely looks at what he got, feeling that his heart is squeezing and bleeding when Julian starts to beat Anna, who does not resist and just cries from despair.
“How awful…” Peter pronounces, shaking his head with horror in widely open eyes and closing his mouth with a hand. “Anna, what did you do? Why did you decide to get into this hell? It wouldn’t have happened if you’d stayed with Daniel! We all would’ve taken care of you! Why did you run away? What were you thinking of when you decided to mess up with that bastard? He’s dangerous! Someday, that man won’t be sorry for you and will grab a gun and kill you!”
Some time later, the video on the phone ends, and silence settles in the car. Peter decides not to remove it because he finds it excellent proof of Julian’s fault for mocking Anna in case he has to prove his fault.
“We must do something,” Peter says quietly and confidently, leaning on the door of the car with his elbow and running his fingers through his blond hair. “Anna must be saved as soon as possible. And her father and mother must know that their daughter would destroy herself if she agreed to be with that man and even got married to him. And I think this video is excellent proof of that. But we don’t need it now ‘cause we don’t know where to find those people… No one has contact with them! Daniel could know at least the address of her mother, but asking him about it doesn’t make sense now. Anyway, everything depends on him now. The solution to all the problems is leading to him, and he can’t the fuck help. Oh, shit…”
Peter slightly hits the steering wheel with both hands clenched into fists and runs his hands through his hair, running them over from the top of his head to his neck.
“Oh, Perkins, why did you get into nobody the fuck knows what?” Peter moans quietly. “You went nobody the fuck knows where and provoked so many problems: your amnesia, Anna’s escape from home, and her connection with that man… You never walked at places where Helene and I found you, but then you did it…”
Peter leans back in the seat with a slow sigh and knocks at the steering wheel for a few seconds, thinking about the situation.
“Okay, first, I must tell the guys about what happened,” Peter says confidently. “They must know that danger threatens Anna, and her parents literally closed their eyes and ears. I wouldn’t like to bother anyone, but I have no choice. This case can’t wait…”
Peter unlocks the phone that he is still holding and tries to call Terrence because his number is on the list of recent calls. But a few seconds later, nobody answers him, and he turns off the call. Then the blond decides not to waste time and just to warn everybody at the same time by opening the group chat in WhatsApp, in which he and his friends talk to each other, and recording a voice message:
“Guys, sorry for bothering you, but I need to talk to you. It’s very important! The case is about Anna! I want us to come all together and talk about one situation. And the sooner we do it, the better.”
Peter does not hope to get an answer immediately and decides to go home to leave his purchases. The man puts his phone in a special place next to himself, puts on his glasses, starts the motor, leaves the parking lot quietly, and goes on the almost empty road. As a window in Peter’s car is half-opened, his hair and face are barely blowing with the wind, but he does not care about it because he focuses on what is happening on the road. Rose spends some time driving quietly on a free highway at middle speed in a desert place. Sometimes too impatient drivers leave him behind and stand on another side of the road, but the blond is driving quietly, without a wish to catch someone. And a little later, he hears that a loud melody is playing in the salon. The man does not want to answer at first, but after glancing at the phone screen and seeing a familiar number, he decides to do it.
“Hello, speak,” Peter pronounces, still watching the road, holding the wheel with one hand.
“Hey, Peter, it’s Natalia,” Natalia greets amicably.
“Hey, Natalia.”
“I just heard your voice message on WhatsApp. What do ya wanna say? Why is your voice so shaking?”
“It seems like we have one more problem, and it’s about Anna.”
“Anna? What do ya mean?”
“Your friend has serious trouble. And if we don’t help her, it might end badly for her.”
“But which one? Why do you think so? How do you know it?”
“I met Seymour in the shopping center, where I went to buy something.”
“What?” Natalia wonders loudly. “You met her?”
“Yup, we talked a little. But it doesn’t matter now. The case is that I should tell you something I had to see. You and the others should know it as soon as possible.”
“But what happened to her?”
“Something terrible. I still can’t come to myself after what I saw. I’m shaking strongly.”
“Please, Peter, tell me what happened to Anna!” Natalia begs with pity in her eyes. “And why are you so excited and speaking in a shaking voice?”
“It’s not a phone call, Natalia. I wanna meet the guys face to face and tell you everything I saw.”
“Is that so horrible that you wanna meet immediately?”
“Yes, we must do something because the current situation might be bad for Anna.”
“Oh, my God…”
“Listen, Natalia, I’m now driving and can’t send messages on WhatsApp to explain everything. But I’ll go home soon and tell you much more.”
“Oh… Raquelle just saw your message.”
“Raquelle?”
“Yup, I’m now on a computer, but my phone is near me. And I see everything…”
“Friend, I have a plea for you: could you contact everybody and tell them that I wanna meet you?”
“Okay, I will text them in the chat about it… Erm… Oh! Raquelle just sent a message, asking what’s going on. And Terrence just heard your voice message.”
“Great! Tell them that I will join the chat when I go home.”
“Deal! But when and where do we meet? What do I text?”
“Say nothing yet. We’ll decide where to meet later. But it would be better if we came together in a quiet place. A café is bad for it.”
“Oh, Helene heard the voice message, too.”
“I hope she will agree to come.”
“Even if she doesn’t come, we’ll talk to her and tell her what happened.”
“Sure. Your friend must know everything.”
“Edward joined the chat and heard the message.”
“Great! Talk to everybody, but I’ll join you later. Anyway, I’m ready to meet everybody in one or two hours.”
“Okay, Pete, I got it… I’m gonna text the guys in the chat…”
“Thanks, Natalia.”
“Then see you soon.”
“Sure.”
Peter turns off the call, not looking at the screen and continuing to drive the car, and puts the phone where it was before. Some time later, he can see the notifications on the home screen out of the corner of his eye, which let him know that there are new messages from Raquelle, Terrence, Edward, and Helene starting to ask what happened. But a little later, he gets a notification about Natalia’s message, in which she explains that the blond wants to meet them and tell them something important about Anna.
***
Meanwhile, Daniel is literally dying from boredom, lying on the bed in his room, looking at the ceiling with his hand put under his head, and running his hand through his slightly matted hair. The man has lately felt that meetings with Blanca suck any happiness and energy out of him. Besides, he is not happy with her jealousy of innocent things and her hard control. Perkins starts to think that he has never loved someone, who limits his freedom and keeps him under hard control. He wants to do what he wants and be independent of Blanca or anyone else.
“Oh, honestly, I’m so happy Blanca is working and would hardly come to me…” Daniel thinks, looking at the white ceiling in his room. “I’m starting to understand that I feel terribly uncomfortable after meeting her. What was I thinking of when proposing to her? I’m not actually happy that she’s gonna control me and make me tell her about anything I do. I don’t make her tell me where she goes, who she talks to, and what she does… And… I don’t kinda care! Yes, I really give a fuck about it. Even if she’s my fiancée… It seems like if I saw Blanca with another guy, I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t get enraged as well as Blanca does…”
Daniel frowns slightly.
“Hm, fiancée… For whom I must buy a ring… An expensive ring… As if that girl only needs my money. As if I’m a cow for her… Oh… It would be bad if she also started to control my money and start a scandal in case I didn’t buy something right. I’ll go crazy if everything I have is under her control. I’m really sick of this thought… The more Blanca talks about controlling me, the more I wanna break all her rules. Maybe, we had some problems before I forgot everything. I don’t exclude that because of her jealousy. Which drives me crazy and makes me moan loudly…”
Daniel shakes his head and glances aside.
“What if Mia is right, and I should think better before I marry her? Do I need it? Will I be happy if I have no reason to be now? Or is this just some bullshit, and I just should remember everything to be as happy as I am in the photo that Blanca gave me? If there is a photo, it means I know her… Moreover… I vaguely remember the events, during which that photo was taken.”
Daniel runs his hand over his face, exhaling slowly.
“Ah, Mia, Mia… I’m so sorry for that girl… She’s so sweet and nice… But Blanca treats her so badly and hates her. And when I talk to her sister, she actually turns into a devil. Mia is too scared and shy, but my fiancée makes everything worse. And my attempts to defend her lead to nothing good… Anyway, Mia is much better than her sister… She doesn’t make me feel the disgust that I feel for Blanca…”
Daniel shakes his head with sadness in his eyes.
“What if I break up with Blanca? I don’t feel good next to Blanca. It doesn’t look like love. Not what I had heard before. I don’t wanna kiss her at my wish. And the thought that she could persuade him to have sex with her gets me horrified.”
Daniel closes his eyes for a few seconds and exhales slowly.
“Oh, I can’t wait to remember everything…” Daniel thinks tiredly. “Though, I can’t even imagine how to do it…”
Daniel spends some time lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling, stroking his hair, and thinking about what’s happening. But later, he sits up slowly and looks around the whole room with a dead look. Then he moves his eyes to his acoustic dust guitar, which nobody has played for so long. Looking at it, the man recalls the talks about him playing and singing in a band, hesitates for some time, gets up, comes to the guitar, takes it, and sits on the bed. Perkins places the guitar on his knees hesitantly and runs his hand over it slowly, looking at every single thing of it and feeling a nice and positive energy that makes him smile.
“It’s weird that I never paid attention to this thing for all this time… I do like this so much…”
Daniel continues to run his hand over the instrument before he slightly touches one of the strings that makes a high, quiet sound. The man does like it, touches this string again hesitantly, and does it a few more times, smiling shyly at some moment. And a few moments later, he suddenly realizes that he… Knows how to play this instrument.
“Wow, I think I know how to play guitar,” Daniel thinks with a slight smile. “I know it… My hands… They kinda remember it… I wonder… What if…”
Daniel presses the guitar to himself and plucks a few strings hesitantly, placing his fingers on the frets so that they make a chord. Then he changes the position and plucks other strings randomly, getting nicely impressed by what he is doing. The man hesitantly strikes chords and plucks strings several times, playing faster and faster every second and smiling wider and wider. Perkins understands that he does like to pluck strings. He forgets about Blanca and any discomfort, getting pleasure from playing a slow, nice-to-hear melody. Daniel does not know how he is doing it or how he learned this song. But his fingers pluck the right strings and strike the right chords, and he shakes his head and smiles shyly at the thought that he found a new hobby that would not let him die from boredom.
Some time later, Daniel starts to perform a melody on guitar confidently, without fear, shaking his body with a rhythm, not stopping to smile, and feeling that it’s his element. But a little later, the man stops playing and thinks about something for two seconds before he remembers that he recently watched the music video of the band “Against The System” for the song “The Story About Us”, the lyrics and music of which he has already learned. Or has he always known it?! Daniel hesitates for two seconds and starts playing a melody a little hesitantly, barely understanding what to start with. Again, his fingers are placed on the right areas of the frets and slightly pull, pluck, and touch some strings. The man only has to enjoy the process, smile shyly, and get surprised by how well he can do it. After the first attempt!
After playing a short intro, Perkins starts singing the lyrics that Terrence is supposed to sing. He does it easily enough, but his voice is a little hoarse and very quiet due to the lack of practice.
“Hey, I know this song!” Daniel thinks with a slight smile after he falls into silence, continuing to pluck the strings of the guitar. “I know and remember the lyrics and the melody! I… I just sing and play! Erm… I don’t actually understand what I’m doing… But I can’t get rid of the feeling that I’ve always known this song.”
A little later, Daniel successfully sings the lines of Edward and Terrence and his solo from the second verse. He gets more confident every second and gets great pleasure from playing guitar and singing. He forgets about all his problems and sadness and gets much more positive thoughts. The amazingly energetic chorus makes him feel much better and cheers him up. Soon, Daniel reaches Peter’s solo part and his own lines. That always deprive him of the ability to take high notes. After he sings the blond’s solo, Perkins sharply stops singing and playing. He is obsessed with fears and doubts that do not let him continue to play for a few seconds. But later, he exhales sharply and continues to play. It’s amazing, but Daniel sings his solo brilliantly. Although his voice is not warmed up, he easily takes high notes. When he sings the last lines, he strikes the last chords and plucks some strings. He gets a little sad at the thought that the song has ended. But he smiles shyly when he glances at the instrument in his hands.
“That was incredible!” Daniel gets truly thrilled. “I did really like to sing. It’s so good to play some music and sing. Maybe, my voice is kind of weird, but I’m delighted. I'm ready to play guitar all day. Seriously… I’m thrilled!”
A few seconds, Daniel puts his guitar aside, grabs the small bottle from the bedside table, opens it, and drinks some clean water, feeling very nice after his dry whistle gets wet. And at some moment, the man starts to think of Edward, Peter, and Terrence. On the one hand, the fact that Rose tried to die, and Perkins knows it. And the fact that he is charged for that… But on the other hand, Blanca, who says that Peter was against her relationship with Daniel, and Terrence and Edward did not approve of their affair, either. The two facts that kind of contradict each other, but are kind of interlinked. The facts that make Daniel absolutely confused and do not let him understand who tells him the truth. Here’s the Spaniard, who does not seem familiar to him, proving that she was dating the man. And here are Peter, Edward, and Terrence, who seem familiar to him but might lie to him somehow. Daniel does not know what to do or how to find out the truth. But he is absolutely sure someone is surely lying. And the men are not the winners…
“Damn, my head is literally tearing!” Daniel thinks, grabbing his head. “Too many contradictions and things that don’t fit together with reality and can’t be excused… I don’t know what to do… I mean, I know… I know I should immediately stop speaking to those men, who are lying to me. Whatever they plan, it won’t come true.”
A few seconds later, Daniel slowly reaches for his phone, unlocks it, and starts to look for something. The first thing that he looks at are some photos and videos. He gets a little surprised that he cannot find pictures of Blanca but sees tons of photos and videos with Terrence, Peter, Edward, Raquelle, Helene, Natalia, and Anna. It’s possible to see many selfies with one another or common photos and videos. And while his photos with Raquelle, Natalia, and Helene say that they are just friends, pictures of him and Anna are absolutely different. They are more tender, cuter, and romantic. The man is surprised that he sees many photos of himself and the girl taken in different places. However, Daniel is not too interested in it and just checks out the media library on the phone. And it cannot make him doubt that the men and the girls lie to him.
A little later, Daniel decides to check out Instagram, the icon of which is placed on the first screen of the phone menu. He scrolls through the feed and sees many photos of the accounts that he follows and decides to check them out. The first account Daniel sees is @EdwardMacClife. He can see the photos from performances, selfies, and videos with his friends, photos of him, and many shots with Natalia, which may be romantic, cute, touching, and funny.
Also, Daniel checks out not a very active account, @Helene_Miranda0910, which has just a few photos of Helene, Peter, Natalia, Raquelle, Anna, Edward, Daniel, and Terrence, and her golden retriever named Sammy. The next account on the list is @Nata_Emily_Rochester. Photos of Natalia and her soon-to-be husband, Edward, spread positivity and can make anyone smile widely.
The account @PeterJRose is also full of photos and videos of him and his friends. The account of the big lover of social networks, @RaquelleCameronOfficial, is full of Raquelle’s photos from commercial shootings, behind-the-scenes shots, and shots from some appearances where she may be alone or with some people and Terrence. Also, the girl often posts pictures of her friends and her fiancée at home or during their walks. The account, @TerrenceMacClife, also has many photos of Terrence’s close people. The man does not hide how much he is admired by his fiancée and is not afraid to post her best shoots from photoshoots and those that he personally takes at times. A little later, Daniel checks out his account, @Dan_Chris_Perkins, and views his photo, in which he sees everybody, whose accounts he just checked out. He gives attention to one of his recent photos with Anna, looks at it closely, and goes to her account, @AnnaCharlotte_. The man sees various photos of the red-haired girl, her friends, and her boyfriend. Perkins silently notices that she is stunning. His heart starts to beat much faster, and his pupils dilate. The man does not hide his smile and delight when looking at the cute baby face of the short beauty with a gorgeous body. And he feels something special that makes him wish to hug and kiss this red-haired beauty with green eyes.
“Damn, as it turned out, she’s so beautiful,” Daniel thinks with a slight smile. “Her face is so cute… Her smile is incredibly beautiful… Her eyes are gorgeous… Her hair is magnificent… Damn, she’s really attractive! She gets me fucking attracted… I can’t get rid of the wish to kiss her… Touch her red hair and face, and press her to me as close as possible…”
Daniel views Anna’s photo with a slight smile and imagines himself kissing her lips with pleasure, grabbing her face, and tenderly caressing it. Kissing her cheeks and slowly sliding to her thin, long neck, in the curve of which he would bury his face, and covering it with kisses, and not forgetting to caress all parts of her body. And he also asks himself what would happen if everything happened otherwise. If the girl kissed him on the lips, grabbing his face, slowly slid to his neck, and covered it with kisses, biting it sometimes and not forgetting to caress what he would let to caress… What would happen to his body if her hands caressed it? Just one thought about it makes Daniel shake slightly! The man would let that beauty do anything to him. He would undoubtedly give himself to her with the confidence that she would get him nicely excited…
“Anna…” Daniel thinks with a slight smile. “What a beauty you are… Why do I feel like this when I look at you? When I think of you? What would I feel if you kissed me? Why do I shake when I think of your lips caressing my body? Why do I barely breathe, and my heart starts beating faster? What if everything I feel is called real love? What if I love that girl? She… She’s special. Unlike other girls. Not what Blanca is. Anna doesn’t make me feel disgusting. Vice versa – she gets me attracted! I’d be happy if she did what Blanca wanted do to me. I’d definitely agree. Because I… Want her?!”
Daniel thinks for two seconds with sadness in his eyes.
“But I don’t understand why she refuses to speak to me?” Daniel wonders with sadness in his eyes. “Why doesn’t Anna care about me? I want to talk to her so badly! Ask her for permission to hug and kiss her… Yes, I really want it… And I can do nothing. I don’t have the same attraction to other girls. Yes, they’re cute and beautiful, but she… She’s special. Even… Branca isn’t as beautiful as Anna is… I wanna run away from that girl, but it’s otherwise in the case of the red-haired beauty…”
Daniel frowns slightly and glances aside.
“Hm, did I really think about it? Well… No need to deny it! That girl drives me insane! In a good sense. But… It’s weird… I’m gonna marry one girl, but I think of another… And as Blanca said, those men liked another girl and didn’t wanna accept my fiancée. Maybe, that is her? What if everything is not over yet? Oh… I don’t get it…”
Daniel views Anna’s photo closely, still trying to understand what’s happening to him. The heart tells him that this girl is the one he really loves. But the man does not listen to the signs that it sends to him because he uses his mind, which does not have any memories of her. Well… Maybe, only the way he was kissing and caressing her… And he thinks his fantasies are familiar to him… But at some moment, Daniel accidentally presses the “Home” button on the phone and sees the home screen. The man wants to view Anna’s photo again, but he pays attention to the icon of the app WhatsApp, above which there is a red dot with a number. Being curious, he opens this app and waits for it to be loaded. He sees the list of chats with different people. There are two-person chats with the men and the girls, who help him remember everything, and some people he does not know yet, and a couple of group chats. And there are a few new messages in one of them that were sent some time ago. The number near the text of one of them lets him know it. Being curious, Daniel opens this chat and scrolls up, to the voice message from Peter Rose.
“Peter: Guys, sorry for bothering you, but I need to talk to you. It’s very important! The case is about Anna! I want us to come all together and talk about one situation. And the sooner we do it, the better.”
“Raquelle: Hey, Peter! What do you mean? Why does it have to do with Anna?”
“Terrence: Hey, dude! What’s going on? What happened to Anna?”
“Helene: What’s going on? Someone said something about Anna?”
“Edward: Guys, what’s up? I received a voice message from Pete and entered the chat! What happened to Anna?”
“Terrence: We don’t get it. Raquelle and I just listened to Rose’s voice message.”
“Raquelle: I don’t like it all…”
“Natalia: Hey, guys! I just talked to Pete. He said he’d join the chat later.”
“Helene: He called you? What does he need?”
“Natalia: The blond wants us to come together somewhere. He says he’s got something to tell about Anna.”
“Edward: Did he meet her? How does he know about Anna?”
“Terrence: Is that somethin’ serious?”
“Natalia: He said we've got a new problem that has to do with Anna. And it seems like the case is really serious. Did ya hear how his voice was shaking on the voice message?”
“Raquelle: It has to do with Daniel? Or does it have to do only with Anna?”
“Natalia: Peter said it’s not a phone talk and promised to tell us everything at the meeting. But he’s got a suspicion that if we don’t do something, Anna will suffer a lot.”
“Helene: Oh, God… What could happen to her? And how does Rose know it all?”
“Edward: You know, I also believe it’s not for the good. Anna couldn’t disappear for nothing. There must be a reason why she disappeared and refused to talk to us and help Daniel.”
“Raquelle: Damn, when will Peter be online? Was it so hard to call us?”
“Natalia: Calm down, Cameron! Rose said he was driving and going home. And when he does it, he will text us. He asked me to talk to you.”
“Edward: Okay, then, we’ll be waiting…”
“Peter: Hi again, guys! Sorry, I couldn’t text you… I was driving and have just come home.”
“Terrence: Rose, finally! What’s wrong? Natalia said you wanted to meet us.”
“Peter: Yes, I need to meet all of you. There is something you should know as soon as possible. The case is about Anna, and we’ve gotta do something now.”
“Helene: Can’t you tell us everything here?”
“Peter: It’s not a phone talk or a chat talk. I wanna tell you everything face-to-face.”
“Edward: Is that so serious?”
“Peter: Yup, very!”
“Natalia: Okay, where will we meet?”
“Peter: Better in a quiet place…”
“Helene Marshall: Let’s meet at the place where Sammy could run and play.”
“Raquelle: What about the place where you brought Sammy? When we met him!”
“Natalia: It’s good. But I forgot how to go there…”
“Peter: There is a shopping center called ‘Cherry’, which you can reach. And somewhere in that place, you can see a waving river with a bridge.”
“Helene: I think that’s a good idea. Meet there?”
“Terrence: Hey, Pete, maybe, we go to your home?”
“Peter: Nope. My neighbors are in a bad mood today. I fought with Marta this morning. And if you all come to me, she’ll go to my apartment with a torch in her hand.”
“Edward: Okay, blond, let’s meet where we met Sammy.”
“Peter: Great! I’ll quickly sort out my purchases and go there.”
“Edward: On my way.”
“Raquelle: As well as Terrence and me.”
“Natalia: And I will just wait for Edward. He just texted me in a personal chat and said he’d take me out.”
“Helene: I’ll also be there soon. I’ll just go home and take Sammy with me.”
“Peter: See you in one hour or one and a half.”
After reading the messages, Daniel moves his eyes off the screen and glances at the window.
“They’re gonna meet and talk about Anna. It’s something important… Maybe, this is everything that would let me find out why that girl doesn’t speak to me? What if those people wanted to talk about it? Or Pedro decided to conspire against me again… Revenge on me for treating such a tender creature like that…”
Daniel looks at his phone for a second and frowns slightly.
“What if I go there, too? Besides, it’s an excellent chance to tell those liars everything I think of them. I’ve gotta find out everything before they want to agree with each other or their manager and tell me a lie that I’m sick of. It’s time to let them know that Blanca told me everything. I wonder how they’d excuse themselves. What the blond would say if I told him everything…”
Daniel reads the messages again to find out where his friends are going to meet.
“Hm, shopping center ‘Cherry’…” Daniel frowns slightly. “Something familiar… I think I was going by that one day… I think I can find it…”
Daniel nods and raises his head, being absolutely sure about his decision.
“Now I shall find out everything you’re hiding from me. And you’ll finally stop lying to me. I will reveal your lie and piss every one of you off. To live my life and make you stop meddling in it and pretending to be my friends.”
Daniel sits on the bed for two seconds and glances at the window. And then he stands up from his bed confidently and decides to change his clothes to go outside because what he is wearing now is not the best look for a walk in public places. And he understands that it would be great to just brush his matted hair. The man tries not to be slow because he does not know how much time he has to go to that place, find everybody, and blame them for what they have never done.
***
One and a half hours later, Peter, Raquelle, Terrence, Edward, Natalia, Helene, and Sammy came together to talk about what he saw in the shopping center. Rose is still too nervous and can barely speak, being a little afraid to tell his friends that he did not find the courage to protect Anna, who got beaten right before his eyes. He sometimes walks from one side to another, as he explains what he had to see. Sammy listens closely to what they say. The girls are sitting on stones with their hands folded in front of them. Terrence is standing behind his fiancée, embracing her and pressing her to himself, and Edward is standing next to his brother with both arms crossed over his chest.
“Calm down, Peter, don’t be so nervous,” Raquelle says quietly. “You speak too fast, and we don’t understand you.”
“Sorry, guys,” Peter exhales sharply, being excited enough. “I’m really nervous. I can’t forget what I had to see.”
“I still don’t understand what happened to Anna, and who she was with.”
“Sorry…” Peter puts his hands on his hips and glances aside. “I can’t brace myself… Because what I saw got me deeply shocked…”
“Who was the man that she was with?” Edward wonders. “Do we know him?”
“I saw him for the first time. But I didn’t like him immediately when I saw him. Very bad, cold, and arrogant man.”
“You say you talked to Anna?” Terrence frowns slightly. “Did you find out something? Where was she? What happened to her?”
“Nope, I found out almost nothing. Anna was answering my questions very vaguely, as if she was hiding something. Moreover… She did get scared when I came to her. I quietly called her and touched her shoulder. But she shook like she was gonna be killed. And I actually thought Anna was too terrified. Any loud sound could make her shake… And when that man came, she got sharply white and became much more hesitant.”
“Did Anna explain why she doesn’t wanna speak to us?” Raquelle asks.
“I asked Anna why she refused to help Daniel and stopped speaking to us. But alas, I couldn’t get any answer…”
“Did she get mad at us?” Helene asks quietly with sadness in her eyes. “What did we do to Anna if she doesn’t wanna speak to us?”
“I guess, the problem is with Daniel, not us. She refused to help him, saying that it would be worthless…”
“But what’s her problem?” Natalia throws her hands up. “Had something happened between her and Daniel before he got amnesia?”
“I don’t know, Natalia,” Peter shakes his head. “I managed to find out nothing and didn’t make her sure we needed her help. That Daniel needs her and has asked us about Anna many times.”
“It’s all so weird,” Edward frowns slightly.
“So, the two had had a big fight before Daniel got attacked,” Terrence assumes. “And Anna used the moment and left him, giving a damn about his amnesia. Vice versa, it was good for her.”
“But that was mean!” Raquelle exclaims. “Anna did know that Daniel needed help and left him at such a hard moment.”
“I have to admit it,” Helene nods. “We all love Anna and think she’s a good girl, but her act is bad.”
“Yeah, but what connects her with the man that Pete said about?” Edward wonders. “Who is he? A friend? A familiar?”
“Who knows, but Anna knows him well,” Peter replies confidently. “And she’s terribly afraid of that man.”
“You wanna say he terrifies her?”
“Maybe. When he came to her, she began shaking strongly and shortly fell into silence. That man spoke for her. And while I was talking to her, Anna never looked into my eyes. At anything but me.”
“And that man?” Raquelle frowns slightly.
“She didn’t look at him, either. And she barely held down the tears when he was kissing and hugging her to prove to me that they dated.”
“Dated?” Terrence rounds his eyes.
“Yup. He said they loved each other and were very happy. He asked Anna about it, and she confirmed it with tears in her eyes. Not looking at me…”
“Oh, my gosh…” Natalia gets horrified, grabbing her throat.
“And I was surprised that I met Anna near the shop where everything for the model building was available. And that man said they both love it. Both! Maybe, he likes it, but he says it like Seymour and that man like making some airplanes and tanks.”
“But Anna has never been interested in anything like that!” Natalia throws her hands up. “Airplanes! Tanks! That’s funny! Seymour has always loved different things!”
“It made me confused! We do know that she likes music, singing, and reading. A girl like Anna can’t be interested in what a car, a tank, or an airplane is made of…”
“Listen, here’s what we’ve got…” Raquelle pronounces thoughtfully, putting her finger on her lip. “Anna exchanged Daniel with that man? She chose him?”
“At first, I thought so, even if I wondered how she could dare to leave such a good man and exchange him with the one, who made her shake as if he was a monster. I was disappointed in her and couldn’t believe that she betrayed Daniel, who loved her so much.”
“Yeah, Seymour…” Natalia sighs heavily. “I didn’t expect that from her…”
“But as it turned out, it’s not quite true.”
“No?”
“When I came to my car in the parking lot, that man and Anna showed up there. He was literally dragging her behind him and was mad because of something. And when he brought her to his car, he began to scream at her. He got mad that she dared to talk to me.”
“Was he jealous of her and you?” Raquelle wonders.
“I don’t know,” Peter shrugs. “But he didn’t really like it. That man said I was lucky that we were at a shopping center where there were many people. Otherwise, he would’ve killed me…”
“Just because you talked to Anna?” Terrence wonders.
“He said Anna had no right to talk to her friends, and especially men. And he said many times that she must’ve obeyed him in everything. Seymour tried to explain that I was just her friend, but he didn’t listen and read a terrible lecture.”
“My gosh…” Helene wonders.
“He was actually blown away when Anna raised her voice at him. He beat her in the face for that. Being shy about nobody. He didn’t care that someone could meddle.”
“Beat her in the face?” Natalia asks with horror in her eyes.
“He did. And he always repeated that a woman was a disenfranchised thing that must listen to a man and do what he says. He said she had no right to her opinion. She can only serve her husband, educate her children, and lie in bed when he wants.”
“Oh, fucking price with blue blood!” Edward chuckles quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Doesn’t he require a bow? Or a kiss on the hand?”
“Who knows… But one thing is clear – that man does hate women and consider them dust. And he proves it by insulting and humiliating Anna, raising a hand on her, and saying what she must do.”
“Who is he to tell her what to do?” Raquelle resents. “Anna is not his girlfriend or even his wife! Who does that man think he is?”
“He said her father approved of her relationship with him. Even there was a mention of the fact that Mr. Seymour would marry his daughter off to him easily.”
“No, Anna is not crazy to get in touch with the one to act like a real tyrant all his life and make her his servant or a machine for children,” Natalia replies confidently, shaking her head.
“If her parents want it, she’ll have to do it. Moreover, her father doesn’t kind of mind their marriage.”
“Did they decide to marry her off to the one, who would give them a benefit?” Terrence wonders. “There was one man at first, and now the Seymours decided to doom Anna to suffering?”
“I suspect that the man has to do with the family of the person, who Anna was supposed to marry,” Peter says thoughtfully. “First, he knows it, and second, he knows she ran away from home for Daniel.”
“So, does he know about Daniel?” Helene wonders.
“He called him a beggar deadbeat, who messed up everything. He promised to destroy Daniel if he meddles and ruins his plans for a wedding with Anna again.”
“Wow…” Raquelle shakes her head.
“I don’t exclude that there was no second man. That he was supposed to become Anna’s husband.”
“So, do you wanna say Anna could’ve gotten married to the asshole, who dared to raise a hand on her and makes her nothing?” Natalia rounds her eyes.
“Sorta.”
“And don’t her parents mind that?” Helene gets horrified.
“I guess they don’t know who Anna got in touch with,” Peter assumes. “That man said Anna’s father thinks he’s holy, whatever she tells him. And if it’s so, I doubt that Mr. Seymour is aware of what that man is doing to his daughter.”
“But even if the Seymours have known that man and his family for ages, does none of them guess what that deadbeat is?” Edward wonders.
“Who knows… But Anna obviously knows it. And, maybe, she even knew it when she planned to run away from her home and live with Daniel.”
“Yeah, but Anna never said that her potential husband could do that,” Raquelle notices.
“Exactly, Anna said that man was very good, and she treated him like a brother,” Natalia adds.
“I don’t say that’s him,” Peter replies quietly. “That man might be related to the one, who should’ve become Anna’s husband.”
“But if the plan for the wedding didn’t come true, does that man have a chance now?” Terrence frowns.
“No, God won’t let Anna get married to that deadbeat,” Helene says with anxiety. “Her life will turn to hell. She’ll obviously obey him and start to be afraid of everything. That man will terrify her and make her forget about the careless life that she lived.”
“Her life has already become hell…” Peter replies thoughtfully and glances aside for a second. “That stinker did what still makes me shake… She says a word, he slaps her in the face. She insults him, he starts to beat her. Cruelly. Being shy of nobody…”
“Beat?” Natalia, Helene, and Raquelle get surprised at the same time with horror in their eyes.
“Yup…” Peter shakes his head with pity in his eyes. “That was terrible… I’ve never seen a man mock a girl like he’s dealing with a man… I still can’t come to myself…”
“My gosh, poor girl…” Edward pronounces with pity in his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “And that man is a bastard! The same one as the one, who dares to rape girls…”
“He was beating her on everything… Hit her head against the asphalt several times and slapped her in the face… Hit her stomach and back with his legs… Her head, face, and arms… As a result, the poor girl was strongly beaten: many bruises and much blood… She could even barely stand… And she didn’t resist at all…”
“Oh, my gosh…” Raquelle whispers with horror in her half-wet eyes and closes her mouth with a hand.
“And when that stinker stopped beating her, he began threatening Anna, terrifying her, and calling very bad words. He said she’d die if she told her parents or someone else about him being so mean and horrible. He banned her from thinking of reporting him to the police. And he said he was gonna take her life under his control: checking out her stuff, phone, and computer and making her father tell him where she goes and who she talks to. He wants Anna to become a robot – do something at its owner’s command. He pronounced himself her husband and thinks he has a right to do it to the girl. He considers her dust… A reject… He makes her regret being born as a woman, not a man…”
What they hear makes Natalia, Raquelle, Helene, Edward, and Terrence shocked, and they cannot say anything for a few seconds. Even Sammy being next to Peter whines quietly, as if he understands what it all means.
“How awful…” Raquelle pronounces with shocked eyes, shaking her head and closing her mouth with a hand.
“Did Anna get in touch with the stinker, who beats her and dares to insult and humiliate her?” Natalia gets horrified and sniffs quietly, looking at everybody. “Our little, unprotected girl…”
“I can’t believe it…” Helene shakes her head with horror in the same wet eyes. “My gosh… That’s unfair. Unfair that she has to suffer like this!”
“Hey, second, guys…” Terrence pronounces thoughtfully, putting his finger on his lip and moving his eyes to Peter. “Peter, how do you know it all?”
“I saw it,” Peter admits quietly. “It happened before my eyes…”
“So… Did you see all of that and do nothing to save Anna?”
“Fuck, Rose…” Edward pronounces with horror in widely open eyes. “You… You were standing aside and… Watching that sick bastard mocking the poor girl?”
Peter says nothing for two seconds, guiltily looking at everybody, who looks at him with dumbfounded eyes. And then he, breathing heavily enough, exhales sharply and decides to honestly confess what he did:
“Yes, I was really hiding,” Peter moves his eyes down. “And I did nothing to help Anna…”
“What?” Helene, Edward, Raquelle, Terrence, and Natalia pronounce slowly.
“Damn, Peter…” Natalia pronounces with dumbfounded eyes, shaking her head. “How could you? How could you let him mock Anna?”
“Rose, you went crazy!” Helene resents loudly, getting up from the stone sharply and turning on Peter. “How did you dare to do it? Stand aside and watch the poor girl being beaten cruelly!”
“And you said it so quietly?” Raquelle wonders. “As if it should’ve happened! Our friend is suffering, but you were standing and watching! It’s like when a crown beats a weak person, but some people stand, watch, and laugh.”
“I’m really very sorry, girls,” Peter pronounces with pity in his eyes. “I didn’t want it to happen.”
“But it did happen!” Helene throws loudly, putting her hands on her hips. “And if you had helped Anna, everything would’ve been otherwise! But you are a coward! You did nothing to help her! Nothing, the hell!”
“He threatened to kill me if I meddled. That man said it to Anna after beating her.”
“And what?” Raquelle makes a quiet sob and gets up sharply from the stone. “Are you going to excuse it with your cowardice? Shock and confusion!”
“I know that’s not an excuse. But I’m confessing that I was really cowardly. I got scared that the man would love to bury me alive.”
“Yeah, blond…” Terrence shakes his head, putting his hands on his hips. “You surprised us… You did a very bad thing…”
“I’m really ashamed,” Peter says with pity in his eyes. “I’m ashamed to confess it, but… I should’ve done it.”
“Do you understand that Daniel is gonna kill you if he remembers everything and finds out that you didn’t help Anna?” Edward asks coldly. “And then everything people post on the Internet will be the truth. He will start to insult, humiliate, and beat you. Because you did that to his girlfriend!”
“I know I must’ve protected her and saved her from that stinker! But please, understand me… I didn’t do it on purpose!”
“Edward is right: you’ll ask for trouble if Perkins knows everything,” Terrence replies coldly. “And then you’ll fight again! Dan won’t forgive you, and our band will be disbanded. Because of your cowardice. Because you didn’t protect Anna.”
“And if the band’s fans knew it, they would start to bully you,” Helene adds coldly, crossing her arms over her chest. “You wouldn’t be their beloved guy and innocent angel.”
“Please, men, girls…” Peter pronounces with pity in his eyes. “I completely understand it and don’t deny my fault… I knew you’d judge me… I know Daniel will really kill me and won’t forgive me for that… The only thing I can do is confess everything. Maybe, I look like I’m excusing myself… But… I’d better let you know that I acted like a mean coward than try to tell you a lie to explain what I know about Anna. I wasn’t gonna lie to anyone, and I told myself I’d tell you the truth. Despite the cost that I’d have to pay.”
“How disgusting it is to listen to this…” Helene says under her nose and goes aside. “He did another terrible thing and is now trying to excuse… Stinker…”
Peter falls into silence for two seconds and looks at Helene with sadness in his eyes, while Sammy whines quietly, looking at the blond, and the others look at each other.
“Please, guys, understand me…” Peter says hesitantly. “At least, try… I didn’t hide the truth and told you everything. And I honestly confessed that I got scared of big fists and strong hits from that stinker. I… I wasn’t sure about my strength… I was afraid I wouldn’t deal with him. And if I hadn’t dealt with him, you would’ve hardly known what happened. I swear, I didn’t want it… At all…”
Peter looks at all his gloomy friends with pity in his eyes, turns around, and goes aside. Meanwhile, Edward, Terrence, Natalia, and Raquelle look at each other, and Helene thinks about something with both arms crossed over her chest, not going to show mercy for her boyfriend. Sammy is the first one to show Peter his support, running to the sad blond inclining his head and embracing himself with both arms, and starting to bury his nose in his legs with a quiet whine full of pity. The man glances at him, gets down on his knees, and pets the dog with the hope that it will calm him down a little.
“I didn’t really want it, buddy…” Peter says almost in a whisper, scratching Sammy’s hair with both hands. “I’m so sorry…”
Sammy whines again and snuggles his nose against Peter’s face, letting him know that he loves him anyway. His friends look at each other silently for a few seconds, and then Edward comes to Peter slowly and claps him on the shoulder, throwing an understanding look full of sympathy at him.
“It’s okay, Pete, don’t be upset,” Edward says quietly. “We believe you didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I’m really ashamed…” Peter replies with sadness in his eyes, stroking Sammy’s head. “It would be fair if I were hated…”
“I personally understand you. If that man was really so horrible and could easily bring you to dead, an attempt to protect Anna would be something like a game of Russian roulette. Win or lose…”
“But the fact is a fact: I did a bad thing.” Peter gets up slowly and goes two steps aside. “And I was a coward…”
“I don’t deny it. But we can get it.”
“People should call me a coward, not you, Edward. You’ve got much more bravery. You aren’t afraid to fight with such a sick and horrible bastard like Eugene Wainwright. He could also easily kill you…”
Meanwhile, Terrence, Natalia, and Raquelle come to Peter and Edward hesitantly, while Helene keeps standing aside and looking at the blond gloomily and does not see that Sammy glances at her.
“Don’t blame yourself, Peter,” Raquelle says with sadness in her eyes, caressing Peter’s shoulder softly. “Even if you’d stood for Anna, it wouldn’t have saved her. He mightn’t have let you take her with you.”
“I know, but I should’ve at least tried…” Peter replies without emotions.
“At least, we appreciate that you told us the truth and didn’t find excuses,” Terrence says with a slight smile and claps Peter on the shoulder. “It would be much meaner if you decided to be silent and find stupid excuses.”
“I guess this is the best thing I could do…”
“Okay, buddy, it’s okay, stop blaming yourself,” Natalia says quietly as she caresses Peter’s shoulder. “It’s too late to regret it, ‘cause we can’t change the past. An attempt to protect her wouldn’t have saved Anna. It would’ve just delayed something horrible for later.”
“That’s why we need to think about how to help Anna,” Edward adds confidently.
“I believe it’s not gonna be easy…” Peter replies thoughtfully and starts to walk slowly in circles. “I didn’t find out where Anna was and how to find her.”
“But we know that she got into something bad,” Terrence notices.
“And if that’s all the truth, we’re dealing with a violator,” Helene says quietly, coming to her friends and still keeping her arms crossed over her chest.
“Something like domestic violence?” Natalia frowns slightly.
“Sort of. The violation is clear! That man pretends to be good to Anna’s parents and other people, and they do believe it. I’m sure that they’re trying to assure her that she dreamed everything up. And when nobody sees, he insults, humiliates, and beats her. And he probably assures her that she’s guilty of everything. A violator never recognizes their fault. They blame anyone but themselves.”
“Right,” Edward nods.
“Anna acts like a real victim of a violator. She scares easily, answers questions vaguely, and doesn’t look into people’s eyes… Seymour stopped speaking to us ‘cause that man bans her from talking to anyone. That girl is afraid to do something ‘cause her violator might attack her for nothing. It’s something like toxic jealousy.”
“I believe the connection with Anna and her family might give him a benefit,” Raquelle assumes thoughtfully. “Or maybe, he is revenging on her for something. Maybe, that girl hurt him somehow, but he hasn’t forgiven her yet.”
“Or that’s his character. A violator would hardly become truly good someday. If, for example, a father beats a mother and insults her constantly, their child will hardly become decent. If they’re told that it’s absolutely fine, that person will behave in the same way toward all girls. At first, he surrounds you with care and makes you feel like a queen. But when he understands that a victim is at his mercy, he will start playing it the way he wants.”
“Right, people aren’t born like this,” Peter says confidently. “When a child looks in a mirror, they see the reflection of their parents. The reflection of the result of their education and everything other people have given them.”
“All the problems are from your childhood,” Edward adds. “Either he got hurt by a girl and hates all women, or there was an example of a toxic relationship before his eyes.”
“But if we assume that Anna got in touch with him after Daniel ended up in the hospital, that man had already gotten her exhausted,” Peter says thoughtfully. “She looked terrible and too unhappy. Her eyes were puffy, red, and wet, as if she was crying constantly.”
“Didn’t you see if she got bruises before that man beat her?” Terrence asks.
“If she’d had them, I wouldn’t have seen them. She was wearing clothes that closed her body.”
“And her face?”
“No, I think. But who knows… Maybe, she covered some bruises and scars with cosmetics…”
“I’m more than sure that that man hasn’t done it for the first time,” Helene replies confidently. “She has probably been at his mercy since she left Perkins’ house.”
“And it explains the reason why she suddenly broke contact with us,” Raquelle concludes, putting her finger on her lip.
“By the way, I must confess that I’m surprised Anna actually talked to Peter if she knew it would’ve been bad for her,” Natalia notices, putting her hands on her hips. “She could say something to go away, but she didn’t…”
“Well, what if she’s just missing us and forgot everything when she saw Peter?” Terrence shrugs. “What if she just wanted to talk? Just a little!”
“Maybe, that’s true,” Peter replies thoughtfully. “But it was clear she was terribly afraid of the anger of that man. She constantly looked around as if she was trying to find out if he was near her.”
“But what’s the point in that if you say that man beat her almost for everything?” Raquelle throws her hands up.
“Trust me, even if that man leaves her life, Anna will be shaking and afraid he’ll show up and beat her to death for a very long time,” Helene replies confidently.
“Nevertheless, I don’t think Anna left Daniel’s house because of that man,” Edward assumes, crossing his arms over his chest. “He hardly knew where she lived or what happened to Daniel. Something pushed her to do that.”
“So, we can exactly say one thing: Anna’s problems are hardly connected with Daniel’s problems,” Terrence says confidently. “I mean, she didn’t suffer because of his tricks.”
“No, no, their problems aren’t related,” Natalia shakes her head.
“So, we have only the version of their scandal before Daniel’s memory loss,” Helene concludes. “And their scandal was supposed to be very strong. I don’t exclude that they could even be close to breaking up.”
“But they behaved as if nothing happened,” Edward throws his hands up.
“They could hide it. I don’t personally believe everything was as perfect as Seymour and Perkins said. It doesn’t happen. Conflicts and misunderstandings always happen.”
“Okay. Even if they had a scandal before amnesia, it definitely happened the next day after we came together. Or on the evening of that day when we went home.”
“But what could make them fight so that Anna left Daniel easily and ran away when trouble happened to him?” Peter wonders.
“Who knows,” Raquelle shrugs. “Anyway, the case is very serious.”
“Okay, I think I got it,” Terrence says quietly. “You better tell me, what does her father think of? And her mother? Why do they do the fuck nothing?”
“And I’m sure that Anna said about that man at least to her father,” Edward adds confidently.
“So, doesn’t he really believe her? Has nothing changed? Do her parents still wanna marry her off to the one they want? And don’t they wanna hear her when she says he beats, insults, and humiliates her?”
“Even if she asked him for help, it’d hardly help her,” Helene says thoughtfully. “Anna could ask him to do something, I don’t deny it. But there are two ways: either that man says that she slandered him, or her father doesn’t believe her and keeps thinking that her violator is an angel. Or two ways.”
“So, do Anna’s parents still hope to marry their daughter off someone, who would give them a benefit?” Natalia asks hesitantly. “But what about her father’s words about approving her relationship with Daniel? That man approved it himself and swore that he wouldn’t meddle in it!”
“Maybe, he and her mother hoped that Anna would change her mind someday?” Edward assumes. “Erm… Well, they let her live and make mistakes… So, she understands that she’d rather be with them and listen to them. Maybe, they hoped she would love to leave Daniel and confess that her parents were right.”
“Anyway, we should tell the Seymours that they’re wrong and explain what that stinker is doing to their daughter,” Terrence says confidently. “Make them open their eyes and listen to their daughter, who asks them for help, but whom they don’t hear.
“Yeah, and how are you gonna find them?” Peter throws his hands up. “We don’t have contact with them!”
“Exactly!” Natalia exclaims, crossing her arms over her chest. “We know only the fact that she might live with her father or mother.”
“I prefer believing that she lives with her father,” Helene assumes. “Because Anna doesn’t get on with her mother.”
“Listen, guys, do you know we’re idiots?” Edward opens his mouth slightly. “Why were we the hell guessing where Anna went if it was so easy! Why didn’t we think about it before?”
“Right!” Natalia clicks her fingers. “If she went to one of us, we wouldn’t hide it. And she doesn’t have the money to rent an apartment and live on her own. Maybe, she’s got some money after acting in the music video, but it would be gone early or late. She’d be able to live for two or three months and then have to find a job.”
“Yeah, many people said it to us, but we didn’t listen,” Helene says confidently.
Sammy barks in approval, sitting next to Peter and listening to the friends’ talk.
“But what would it give us?” Peter throws his hands up. “We don’t know where Anna’s parents are living! Daniel is the only one to know at least someone’s address. But asking him doesn’t make sense.”
“And what do we do?” Raquelle asks excitedly. “We mustn’t let things go and let Anna be killed! If we don’t do anything, we might lose our friend!”
“What if we talk to Mr. Johnson?” Terrence suggests.
“And what can he suggest?” Edward wonders. “He’d need proof, but we’d hardly prove to him and the police that Anna is suffering because of that man with words.”
“Besides, we don’t know the name of that man or where he is working,” Natalia adds.
“I think I heard Anna calling his name,” Peter confesses thoughtfully, being so excited because of what happened to Anna that he forgets about the video, which he recorded. “I think… Julian… Right! His name is Julian…”
“Very important information!” Helene says under her nose. “Millions of Julians live in America, but checking all of them is impossible.”
“True, however…” Raquelle exhales sharply.
“We’re at a standstill, guys!” Natalia throws her hands up. “Anna is in danger, we don’t know her parents’ addresses and numbers, none of us knows them personally, and Daniel has amnesia and can’t say at least someone’s address… And we don’t have real proof of that man’s fault…”
“Yeah, hard case…” Terrence rubs his forehead.
“Nevertheless, we need to do something to tell Anna’s parents that they’re destroying their daughter,” Raquelle says confidently. “They’ll destroy her at all and doom her to suffering if they agree to marry Anna off to that man.”
“Now, everything depends on Daniel,” Peter says thoughtfully. “On when he remembers everything. Without his help, we can do nothing.”
“We can wait for nobody the fuck knows how long!” Edward exclaims. “And if Perkins really believes that we’re lying to him and pisses us off, we’ll lose hope for salvation. We’ll only have to wait for him to get his memories and brains back.”
“God, I don’t get it…” Raquelle shakes her head. “I don’t understand, how can’t they see that something is happening to their child? Why don’t the Seymours see it? Why are they ready to give Anna to that stinker? Who can get her so exhausted that she doesn’t wish to live.”
“I guess Anna’s father comforts himself with the thought that his daughter is too worried about her breakup with Daniel,” Peter assumes. “But I also don’t understand how a person can be so blind and not notice that Anna feels too bad.”
“Maybe, he notices it, but he probably blames Daniel for anything,” Helene assumes.
“Hey, Helene, you say it all as if you know everything about violence,” Terrence notices thoughtfully.
“I know something. I had a deal with a victim of violence. I worked with her for two years. Her violator was also beating her cruelly, insulting her, and humiliating her… He kept her under hard control, made her silent about everything he was doing, and pretended to be the perfect man for everyone. Because of him, that girl left the job and stopped talking to her friends, saying that her man was too jealous. She was actually excusing and whitewashing him. But only a blind person wouldn't have seen that the girl was lying.”
“So, may Anna also find excuses for that man, find any reasons not to meet her friends, to hide her bruises, and to lie that she’s the one to blame?” Edward asks.
“It all will happen, Edward, I’m sure about it. Moreover, we don’t know everything yet. Though, the situation might be much harder and worse.”
“Excuse me for my curiosity, Helene, but how did you find out about that girl and her violator?” Natalia frowns slightly.
“I met her two or three weeks ago. We went to a café, drank coffee, and talked a little. So, she told me the truth about what happened to her, and why she had to get fired.”
“Did she run away from her violator?” Raquelle asks.
“Yup. At some moment, she ran away from him and started a new life. Her close people and a few visits to a psychologist helped her. Of course, she sometimes thinks of that horrible time, but she blames her violator, not herself. That she got in touch with a sick man with tons of mental issues, which he tried to compensate with aggression toward weak and innocent people.”
“So, is Anna gonna blame herself for the fact that the man beat and humiliated her?” Natalia rounds her eyes.
“She will. We’ll need some time to assure her that she’s guilty of nothing. But if we’re by her side, it’s gonna be okay.”
“But I’m already worried about her,” Peter sighs with sadness in his eyes. “She looked horrible… And that man wasn’t shy of saying she was ugly, worthless, and stupid.”
“Oh, my God, how complicated is…” Natalia moans tiredly, running her hands over her face.
“We’ve only gotta hope for Daniel, who can tell us the addresses of Anna’s parents,” Terrence says quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s been in the Seymours’ apartment many times when her parents weren’t there. So, he could help us find at least one of her parents.”
“We’ve said it might take a lot of time,” Edward replies. “And that man might do what we’re afraid to think about.”
“Okay, but what do we do now?” Raquelle throws her hands up. “Do nothing?”
“Maybe, we really talk to Mr. Johnson?” Helene suggests. “That man is very smart and could advise something.”
“Well, we’ll surely talk to him…” Terrence replies, scratching the back of his head. “But it’s gonna be worthless. Peter is right: all the roads lead to Daniel. We should wait for him to remember everything.”
“Still, we should talk to him…” Edward nods. “Besides, I wanna ask him about Wainwright’s search. Maybe, he’s got some news…”
Everybody says nothing for a few seconds and looks at each other tiredly, being in despair that they do not have proof of Julian mocking Anna. Sammy has been standing next to the friends and listening closely to what they talk about, whining with pity at times and pressing himself against one or another to try to comfort them. But at some moment, the dog pays attention to something and starts barking loudly, as he watches aside.
“Sammy, what’s wrong?” Terrence asks quietly.
“Why are you nervous, baby?” Raquelle wonders, scratching Sammy’s neck.
Sammy continues to bark loudly and runs a few steps back, being a little excited.
“Sammy, stop!” Peter exclaims loudly. “Come back! Come here! Sammy! Who do I say? Samuel!”
When Peter wants to follow Sammy, the dog returns to the others, still barking loudly. A few seconds later, Daniel shows up in front of them, looking at everybody with a gloomy look full of contempt and not giving attention to the dog wrapping around him. The surprised Terrence, Peter, Edward, Raquelle, Natalia, and Helene look at each other and move their eyes to Perkins, pronouncing at a different time:
“Daniel?”
Daniel comes to everybody closely enough, looking at everybody with his head proudly raised. That’s why they all feel embarrassed and get confused for a while, breathing a little heavily. And seeing that Perkins looks like he came here to do something terrible to them, they start to be afraid of the worst things.
[1] esp. Sorry, my kitten, sorry
[2] esp. My love
[3] esp. My kitten
[4] esp. Sweetheart
[5] esp. Sweetheart
[6] esp. Yes, my love?
[7] esp. My love
[8] esp. Oh, my love… I want to spend twenty hours and seven days per week with you
[9] esp. But my mother and father
[10] esp. I speak Spanish
[11] esp. Sweetheart
[12] esp. My love
[13] esp. My love
[14] esp. Sweetheart
[15] esp. My love
[16] esp. My world
[17] esp. My kitten
[18] esp. Sweetheart, what’s wrong?
[19] esp. My love
[20] esp. Sweetheart
[21] esp. Yes
[22] esp. My love
[23] esp. My love
[24] esp. My love
[25] esp. Yes
[26] esp. Yes
[27] esp. No, no, sweetheart, please
[28] esp. My love
[29] esp. Of course, of course
[30] esp. My love
[31] esp. You’re guilty of nothing, Daniel, you just became a victim
[32] esp. My baby
[33] esp. Sweetheart
[34] esp. I will kill you!
[35] esp. Yes
[36] esp. Why, my love?
[37] esp. No, no, my love!
[38] esp. What?
[39] esp. My love
[40] esp. Why
[41] esp. My love
[42] esp. Please
[43] esp. Why
[44] esp. Sweetheart
[45] esp. NO, LOVE, NO, PLEASE!
[46] esp. Where’s the photo?
[47] esp. Calm down, Blanca, please
[48] esp. Here’s the photo
[49] esp. Yes
[50] esp. Sweetheart
[51] esp. My love
[52] esp. My love
[53] esp. Great, everything is doing well.
[54] esp. You hate your friends and became my sweetheart. I will become the wife of Daniel. Yes, yes! My dream will come true! I will control my husband… Ah… Daniel… My earth, my life… I love you… I love you so much…
