Raquelle, Natalia, Helene, Peter, Daniel, Edward, Rebecca, and Jamie are shocked by the terrible way Anna looks and surprised where a sanguine girl, who was upset very rarely, is now. As well as Daniel, who looks at her with widely open eyes and just starts to ask himself where she has been all this time. While the girl herself looks at him once and moves her eyes aside, definitely not wishing to see him.
“Gosh, Anna…” Natalia pronounces in a shaking voice with wet eyes. “Is that you?”
“You…” Raquelle pronounces hesitantly. “You’ve changed… What happened to you?”
“Erm…” Anna stutters, looking down. “Just… I just didn’t get enough sleep at night… Yes, I sleep badly…”
“I don’t know what to say,” Helene shakes her head with wet eyes, closing her mouth with a hand.
Raquelle, Helene, and Natalia come to Anna sobbing quietly and hug her tightly. She accepts their hugs with pleasure and even finds the will to smile forcefully, finally realizing how much she missed her friends. While the girls are standing, hugging each other, and crying from happiness, Daniel, Edward, and Peter watch what’s happening, getting more horrified at how much the girl has changed for the worse.
“Oh, shit, what happened to her?” Edward opens his eyes widely, shaking his head. “Anna looks exhausted! Skin and bones, literally!”
“She looked much better on the day when I met her,” Peter replies thoughtfully with horror in his eyes. “Could she bring herself to this for a few days?”
“When you said she looked terrible, I didn’t think everything was so bad.”
“No… Everything’s too bad now…”
“Fuck… I dunno what to say…”
“Hey, guys, why did she look at me so weirdly?” Daniel asks hesitantly. “As if I’ve become her biggest enemy!”
“You’re asking us?” Edward wonders. “I thought you better know what happened between you.”
“I only understand that Anna left home. I’ve lived alone all this time. She’s never cared about me! I’m just starting to understand it!”
“Ah, Perkins, when this girl knows what you did, she’ll turn her back on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I believe you have something to tell us,” Peter smiles slyly with both arms crossed over his chest.
“Me?” Daniel rounds his eyes.
“Don’t you want to tell us something?” Edward asks gloomily. “Huh, hero with amnesia?”
“Erm… But what should I say? I don’t understand!”
“C’mon, Perkins, don’t act like an idiot,” Peter advises. “We do know about your adventure, for which you may pay a lot.”
“But, guys…”
“Save it for later,” Peter says quietly. “And then you won’t avoid explanations.”
While the discouraged and little excited Daniel stands in the same place and blinks with his rounded eyes, Edward and Peter come to Anna.
“Hey, Peter, hey, Edward…” Anna greets amicably. “Glad to see you.”
“Hey, Anna,” Edward and Peter greet.
Anna hugs amicably Peter and Edward, who answer her back with pleasure. And when the men embrace the girl, Rebecca and Jamie come to her hesitantly, looking at the girl with shocked eyes.
“Oh, God, Anna, girl…” Rebecca gets horrified in a quiet voice. “I can’t believe it…”
“You’ve changed a lot,” Jamie notices. “You looked better before…”
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. MacClife,” Anna waves a hand. “Glad to see you.”
“Darling, what you brought yourself to!” Rebecca exclaims, closing her mouth with a hand and looking at Anna with dumbfounded eyes. “You were such a sanguine and positive girl. But now you don’t look like the one.”
“Oh…” Anna tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, as she looks down. “Just… I have had lately problems with sleep… I think of bad things, you know…”
Although everybody sees that Anna lies openly, nobody dares to ask her about what happened to her. They fall into silence for some time and look at the girl with horror in their eyes, while she slouches strongly, puts her head on her shoulders, and locks her shaking fingers.
“Hey, Anna, what are you doing here?” Peter asks hesitantly.
“Yes, how did you know we were here?” Edward wonders. “Or you didn’t know it?”
“Oh, no, I knew it…” Anna shakes her head. “I just wanted to visit one of you because I missed you very much. And… I went to Raquelle and Terrence’s home. But I met the servants. They told me that Terrence ended up in the hospital and explained what happened. So, I came here to support all of you. Especially, Raquelle and Edward. I couldn’t stay indifferent…”
“So, do you know that the guys disappeared for a few hours?” Raquelle asks hesitantly.
“Yes, Blair, Christiana, and Violetta told me that the guys were fighting with Wainwright. I was shocked when I heard that he ran away from prison.”
“Didn’t you know it?” Natalia frowns slightly.
“Nope, I didn’t read magazines and articles on the Internet.”
“That’s how…”
“But I originally thought something happened to Helene ‘cause I saw Sammy. He was too excited and barked and whined constantly.”
“No, no, the case is not about me,” Helene shakes her head. “I just left Sammy at Raquelle’s home because dogs aren’t allowed to go to the hospital. At first, I wanted to go home and leave him with Grandma, but the servants agreed to watch him. So, I thought and agreed.”
“Hey, guys, what actually happened to Terrence? Did Wainwright really inject something into him?”
“Yes, Anna, it’s true,” Edward replies with sorrow. “Actually, Wainwright wanted to inject it into me, and I was ready for that. But Terrence pushed me at the last moment and gave his arm to him. My brother collapsed immediately: at first, he cleaned his stomach, and then he lost consciousness.”
“How awful!” Anna shakes her head with horror in her rounded eyes. “I’m so sorry… How’s he doing?”
“We don’t know yet, but doctors say his condition is hard,” Peter replies with sadness in his eyes. “We want to believe that Terrence can survive. We’re glad only half of what was in the syringe was injected into him because Edward reacted quickly. It gives us hope for the best.”
“But what was injected into him?”
“Either a drug or a sedative,” Raquelle says quietly and sniffs, embracing herself with both arms. “Wainwright had both of them.”
“Oh, God… I don’t know what to say…” Anna caresses Raquelle and Edward’s shoulders softly with sadness in her eyes. “It’s gonna be okay, guys, Terrence will survive.”
“I don’t know, Anna, I have a too bad presentiment…” Raquelle sighs heavily.
“I get it, darling. But you’ve gotta be strong and believe in the best.”
“It was similar to the nightmare I saw some time ago.”
“Nightmare? With Terrence?”
“He was killed in it. When he decided to sacrifice himself for me. This time, he sacrificed himself for Edward.”
“But, Raquelle, it doesn’t mean Terrence is gonna die. You can see anything in your dreams! It’s all just a coincidence. A terrible coincidence.”
“No, Anna, it’s not a coincidence, it’s a warning. A sign of the fact that Terrence is gonna die.”
“Stop, friend. I agree it’s terrible, but you must not take it all too seriously.”
“But we can’t deny everything was the same,” Edward notices with sadness in his eyes.
“Guys, please, stop thinking so,” Anna begs with pity in her eyes. “Even if someone dies in a dream, it doesn’t mean someone will die in real life.”
“But I was also scared when he told us about the nightmare. I was afraid it would come true. I didn’t want to lose my brother not for anything.”
“I know, Edward.” Anna caresses Edward’s shoulder softly. “It’s gonna be okay, you’ll see it.”
“I’m so sorry that Terrence ended up here because of me. I did not protect him…”
“Don’t blame yourself, buddy. You did everything you could. Moreover, we know that Terrence is ready for anything for his close people and wouldn’t be afraid to sacrifice himself. Since he gave his arm to Wainwright, his act was conscious. Nobody pushed him to that.”
“I wish Wainwright killed me… It would’ve been fair.”
“No, Edward, don’t say it. Nobody would’ve gotten better. Everybody would’ve been worried about you as well as they’re worried about Terrence now.”
“And he would’ve blamed himself for not being able to save you,” Natalia adds.
“It would’ve been much fairer,” Edward replies with sadness in his eyes. “As I started that game, I must’ve ended it.”
“You’ll see, Terrence will survive,” Anna says confidently. “He’s strong and healthy, and the doctors will do everything to save him. The fact that you got the needle out might play a major role in his recovery.”
“I’d like to believe it…” Edward exhales slowly. “Anyway, thanks for the support.”
“You all can count on me.” Anna smiles falsely. “I’ll stay with you until the doctors say what happened to Terrence. He’s my close friend, and I’m also worried about him.”
“Thanks a lot, Anna,” Raquelle thanks softly with a slight smile.
Anna takes Raquelle’s hand and then hugs her amicably with the hope of supporting her. Next, she does the same thing toward Edward. At some moment, everybody goes to different sides and starts to think about something, as they walk down the hall, sit on chairs, or stand near the window. Daniel, who has been standing aside all this time, finds the courage to talk to Anna, while she is looking at something through the window. The man comes slowly to her from behind and hesitates for two seconds before he pronounces quietly:
“Erm, hi…”
“Hi,” Anna says in a low, little rude voice, not even thinking of turning on Daniel and standing with her back turned to him with both arms crossed over her chest.
“How are you?”
“Fine. Thanks for asking.”
“I…” Daniel throws a short look down, rubbing his sweaty hands nervously. “Missed you… So much…”
“And what? Pity you? Hug? Kiss? Say you can count on me?”
“It would be great…”
“Sadly, I cannot help.”
“Anna…”
“Do not even hope. I will not comfort you…”
Daniel says nothing for two seconds and exhales slowly, while, the others watch what’s happening.
“And why did you leave my house?” Daniel asks hesitantly.
“I wanted and left,” Anna throws coldly.
“And where are you living now?”
“You shouldn’t care about this. It’s my business!”
“Wouldn’t you tell me?”
“No! You are nobody to me to decide where I should live and with whom.”
“But…” Daniel shakes his head. “But we’re dating! And you’re pretending that it’s not true.”
“Dating?” Anna snuffs with contempt and half turns on Daniel with both arms crossed over her chest. “You remember nothing!”
“No, no, I remember everything now,” Daniel shakes his head.
“Congratulations! You can forget everything again.”
“Listen, Anna, I know you felt pain when hearing my question about who you were, but…”
“I give a damn!” Anna turns her back on Daniel sharply. “I no longer care about what’s happening to you.”
“I’m not lying! No more amnesia. All will be as it was.”
“It will not!” Anna goes aside sharply. “If you thought I would hug you immediately, you are deeply wrong.”
“But why?” Daniel wonders with dumbfounded eyes. “Why are you so cold to me? What did I do to you?”
“You do know what you did, Daniel.”
“Damn, are you still mad because of what happened on that day? You left home and disappeared because of that!”
“Turn on your brains to understand it. I will say just one thing: after what you did, I no longer want to see and talk to you.”
“But…”
“Do not excuse yourself!” Anna throws loudly. “I do not need explanations of yours.”
“Anna, please…” Daniel pronounces with pity in his eyes and tries to touch Anna’s hand.
“Don’t touch me!” Anna goes aside sharply. “Don’t dare to touch me! Never! Do not talk to me! Do not look at me! And actually, get out of here! It’s disgusting to see you after what you did.”
“Why are you doing this to me? Anna… Tell me!”
Anna goes aside silently with a quick step and starts to look through the window, pouting and thinking of the kiss between Daniel and Blanca that ruined their relationship. And the discouraged Daniel stays in the same place as a column for a few seconds, looking at the girl with dumbfounded, widely open eyes and breathing a little heavily from excitement.
“Why is she so cold to me?” Daniel thinks. “Why? I did nothing to her! And she can’t know about Blanca! No, no, she couldn’t know about that liar and me. She could not! I can’t let our relationship end because of that bitch, who is the reason why I acted like a stupid idiot. Because of whom, I almost lost my friends!”
Daniel slowly moves his hesitant look to Edward, Raquelle, Peter, Natalia, Helene, Rebecca, and Jamie looking at him gloomily and contemptuously. It makes the man absolutely confused, and he starts very nervous, being afraid that one of his biggest fears will come true.
“Erm, excuse me, I need to walk…” Daniel says hesitantly in a shaking voice. “Maybe, go outside… I can’t breathe… I hope I’ll come back before we know something about Terrence.”
Daniel quickly goes down the hall and hides at the turn. However, nobody is going to stop the excited man. They think they have a good chance to ask Anna what happened between her and Daniel. Raquelle, Helene, and Natalia look at each other and come to the girl, and Edward, Peter, Jamie, and Rebecca join them a little later.
“Hey, Anna, sorry for meddling in your business, but why are you so cold to Daniel?” Natalia asks hesitantly.
“Yes, Anna, what’s wrong?” Peter asks. “Something had happened between you before he got amnesia?”
Anna turns on everybody slowly and looks down before she replies quietly and coldly:
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Listen, Anna, we understand you were shocked when you heard about Daniel’s amnesia,” Edward says quietly. “But excuse me, you did a bad thing when you left him at such a hard moment.”
“I did what he deserved,” Anna replies gloomily.
“He needed you so badly, darling,” Raquelle says with pity in her eyes. “If you had been next to him, Daniel would’ve remembered you sooner. He talked a lot about you, wanted to see you, and considered you special. But you gave him no chance to get to know you.”
“If Mr. Perkins naively hopes that I will hang on his neck with happy tears, he can say, ‘Goodbye’ to his dreams.”
“But why?” Helene wonders. “He does remember you and all of us! He got his memories back!”
“Ask him yourself. Let that man tell you about his adventures. About what I am not going to forgive.”
“Did this guy hurt you so much that you don’t want to see him?” Jamie asks.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Mr. MacClife,” Anna replies gloomily.
“Don’t be afraid, sweetie, tell us,” Rebecca says softly. “Maybe, we can help you solve this problem.”
“No, Mrs. MacClife, nobody will help me,” Anna shakes his head. “This problem has no solution. I only have to accept it and keep moving on.”
“If you don’t want to tell Daniel something, tell us,” Edward says softly. “If it’s so important, we won’t tell him.”
“I said I did not want to talk about it! If you need the truth, go to Mr. Perkins.”
“We will surely talk to him, but we’d like to listen to you,” Natalia says quietly. “What if we can really help you?”
“Whatever that man does, I shall never believe in his decency and shall despise him.”
“I think Daniel felt bad without you, even when he remembered nothing,” Raquelle assumes confidently.
“What does it matter?” Anna throws gloomily, crossing her arms over her chest. “Should I cry and pity him?”
“That’s true, friend,” Helene agrees. “You’ve always been special to him. His memory forgot you, but his heart remembered. I think you’re gonna get attracted to your beloved person, even if you don’t remember him or her. Your heart will tell you it’s yours.”
“I give a damn.”
“If you hadn’t shown the coldness, Daniel would’ve literally attacked you with hugs,” Peter cracks a smile. “I saw his shining eyes when you came here. He missed you so much.”
“Yeah, missed…” Anna blunts. “He cried his eyes out from how much he missed!”
“Gosh, Anna, what’s wrong? Why do you say it about Daniel? And left him when he needed you!”
“Because he is an asshole!”
“You did a stupid thing by rejecting him because of amnesia. We all love you so much, but we’ve gotta confess that your act doesn’t make you better.”
“Yeah?” Anna puts her hands on her hips sharply, looking at Peter gloomily. “Don’t you think cheating on your girlfriend with another girl is not stupid? I will never forgive that betrayer because he was kissing a certain lady! Never!”
Everybody rounds their eyes immediately and looks at each other, being shocked by what they heard.
“What?” Edward and Peter get surprised.
“What do you mean Daniel was kissing the other girl?” Natalia frowns slightly.
“It does!” Anna throws a little rudely. “Daniel is a cheater! Betrayer, who cheated on me before my eyes.”
“Gosh, Anna…” Helene shakes her head.
“Anna, honey, calm down, please,” Rebecca says quietly, caressing Anna’s shoulder softly. “Explain everything in order. Why do you think Daniel cheated on you? How did it happen?”
“What should I explain?” Anna wonders. “Somehow, I wanted to go to Daniel’s room when he was here with amnesia to talk to him.”
“So, did you come here when we didn’t?” Peter concludes.
“Yes, I decided to do it two days after the doctor told us what happened to him. And… When I came to the room, I saw a girl wearing the uniform of a cleaning woman.”
“Uniform of a cleaning woman?” Natalia wonders.
“That fat behemoth was sitting on the bed and seducing Perkins openly, but he opened his mouth and smiled. But later, they actually kissed. Before my eyes! And that stinker didn’t mind it! He kissed her!”
“So, do you want to say you knew about that girl?” Raquelle frowns slightly.
“So, you knew, too?” Anna concludes.
“We recently fought with Daniel because of that girl,” Helene confesses. “We tried to make Perkins sure that Blanca was deceiving him, but she washed his brains, and he believed her blindly.”
“So, do you understand why I left that stinker? How much he broke my heart!”
“Is that why you left Daniel’s home?” Edward frowns slightly.
“Yes, on the same day, I decided I’d no longer stay with that stinker in the same house, took my things, and left,” Anna nods without emotions.
“But you could go to the room and stop it!” Helene notices with pity in her eyes. “The words about you being his girlfriend would’ve scared that girl, and she would’ve no longer come to Daniel. But you said nothing and preferred to run!”
“Even if I had stopped them, the kiss would’ve already happened,” Anna replies confidently. “When I came to the room, they started to kiss.”
“And what?” Edward shrugs. “You could go to the room and kick that liar out! We would’ve done that if we’d caught her when visiting him. But alas, we never saw her…”
“Perkins had a choice and could stop. But that man decided to give a fuck about me.”
“Daniel couldn’t remember you, Anna,” Peter recalls. “He remembered nobody and believed everyone blindly. And the foreigner used it easily and washed his brains so that Perkins rejected us.”
“I wish he actually stayed alone!” Anna throws rudely. “And forgot everything again!”
“We all understand your feelings. But trust me, that man would never cheat on you if he knew you’re a girl that he loves.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he had an affair with that fat-ass closet and thought of leaving me for a long time.”
“No, that’s not true! He didn’t know that girl before losing his memory! But the way she found out about him is yet a guess for us.”
“Don’t defend him, Peter. And don’t believe his words like a little naive boy! He will say anything to excuse himself!”
“I do not defend him! He really did a bad thing to you. But don’t forget about the events that happened during the betrayal. Perkins remembered nothing and didn’t know who was who.”
“Listen, I understand that you’re his buddy, just like all of you. I know you don’t wanna believe that this man is a betrayal. But, guys… He cheated on me! You can’t deny it! I can’t forgive the betrayer!”
“We don’t deny that Daniel really did a bad thing,” Jamie says quietly. “But the guys are right, amnesia was guilty of it.”
“I do not care about it, Mr. MacClife. No matter if he had amnesia, Daniel is a cheater! I became the witness to his betrayal!”
“Yes, cheating is a terrible thing, after which you lose your trust in someone. But in this case, it can be excused somehow.”
“You all can excuse him as much as you want, but I will never do it. Perkins does not deserve it!”
“Are you leaving him?” Edward gets horrified.
“Yes, Edward, I am! Everything is over! I made up my mind on the day when I saw him with that idiot. Let your pal live his life and do what he wants.”
“Don’t you want even to talk to him?” Rebecca wonders.
“I don’t need his excuses.”
“Maybe, you left him, but Daniel still loves you,” Raquelle says with sadness in her eyes.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Anna replies coldly. “I broke up with Perkins and will never come back to him. Let this man live with that gal! Let her cook for him, clean, wash, please him… Let her do everything I did! Like a stupid idiot!”
“But you love him!” Natalia exclaims with pity in her eyes. “You were afraid to lose him!”
“Yes, I was. I was terribly afraid to lose Perkins. Because I madly loved that man. I was ready for anything. But now it’s over! After his disgusting thing, he means nothing to me.”
“No, honey, it’s not true,” Rebecca shakes her head. “You still love him.”
“No, Mrs. MacClife, it’s a lie,” Anna lies in a low voice.
“No, Anna. We’ve had so many cases when someone tried to make themselves and others sure that they didn’t love someone they couldn’t live without.”
“I’ve already made up my mind and am not going to change my decision, no matter what that cheater does.”
“What you decided means nothing yet. This type of decision must usually be discussed together. A decision can’t be mutual when only one person agrees with it.”
“I no longer want to see that man and have a deal with him,” Anna says confidently. “I’m done! Now he can live with his new girlfriend.”
“Anna, please, don’t rush to decide something that you will regret,” Natalia begs with pity in her eyes. “Mrs. MacClife is right… You still love Daniel. You wouldn’t react so excitedly if you gave a damn about him.”
“I react like this because I am resentful and disappointed that I wasted so much time on that stinker.”
“You won’t fall out of love with someone at your wish for one day. It takes a lot of time.”
“It’s okay, I will overcome it. But I will no longer have that betrayer in my life, I swear.”
“Anna, please…” Helene shakes her head with pity in her eyes.
Anna feels that tears are coming to her eyes and cannot keep them inside.
“I will be back now,” Anna says in a much lower voice. “I need to wash my face…”
Anna turns around sharply and goes away, leaving her friends alone, while they watch the girl with shocked eyes and look at sides or at each other. Silence settles in the air for two seconds, and then Peter breaks it, exhaling sharply and putting his hand on his forehead:
“Now it’s clear why she left his house… We shouldn’t have thought she did a bad thing…”
“Yes, actually, Daniel did a bad thing,” Helene adds. “Anna left because of Daniel’s betrayer! And she suffers because of that man thanks to him.”
“And he’s wondering why she is so cold to him!” Edward scoffs with both arms crossed over his chest.
“Exactly!” Raquelle exclaims. “He does know he made tons of mistakes, but he pretends to be innocent.”
“He didn’t know Anna saw him,” Jamie recalls. “So, his amaze is pretty clear.”
“It’s okay, he will now hear everything and put it all on a silver platter,” Natalia replies gloomily. “Maybe, we’ll also know something else about the ‘new couple’ of that liar and the betrayer of our friend.”
“I think we know about all his tricks,” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “We just need to make him confess everything.”
“Don’t be mad, my dears,” Rebecca says quietly. “That guy can be excused.”
“But you cannot deny that he did a terrible thing,” Peter replies confidently.
“Yes, I don’t deny that he had a choice. But let’s keep calm and not attack the guy.”
“Well, it depends on Perkins,” Natalia replies thoughtfully. “On how he’ll explain what he did.”
“We will hear everything now,” Edward says confidently, throwing a short look aside. “Our playboy is coming here.”
Daniel returns to everybody a few seconds later, looking much sadder because his relationship with Anna is over. The man looks around and looks at everybody before he asks hesitantly:
“Where’s Anna? She was here!”
“She went to cry,” Natalia throws coldly. “Because of you.”
“Erm… What? Because of me?”
“Maybe, you will tell us something interesting now?” Edward asks gloomily, crossing his arms over his chest. “Anna is not here, she won’t hear you. So, you can speak.”
“And we will listen with pleasure,” Peter adds with a sly smile.
“Erm…” Daniel stutters, while his eyes run from one side to another. “What should I tell you?”
“Don’t pretend to be an idiot,” Raquelle throws gloomily.
“Listen, why are you behaving like this? What did I do that you and Anna looked at me like an enemy?”
“Will you tell us everything by yourself?” Helene asks coldly. “Or should we remind you about how you betrayed your girlfriend?”
“Betrayed my girlfriend?”
“So, you lost your memory again?” Natalia wonders. “You forgot how you told us about Blanca with such great pleasure? About how you tried to prove that she was your fiancée?”
“But… What does it have to do with Daniel?”
“It does, Daniel, it does,” Peter replies confidently.
“Wait, wait, that’s…”
“Anna just told us how you cheated on her before her eyes,” Raquelle says in a low voice. “With the foreigner.”
“What?” Daniel rounds his eyes with the feeling that his heart has stopped for a moment. “Anna?”
“She knows everything,” Edward replies. “And that’s the reason why Anna left you.”
“Anna told us everything,” Jamie adds coldly. “How she came to your room and saw that girl kissing you.”
“But how?” Daniel shakes his head. “How did Anna know it?”
“She wanted to talk to you in the room,” Peter replies without emotions. “But someone started to seduce you. While you were purring like a cat from pleasure and kissed Blanca.”
“No, no, it can’t be the truth,” Daniel starts to breathe heavily. “It can't be! I refuse to believe it!”
“You believe!” Helene throws gloomily. “Believe that you couldn’t hide your betrayer from our friend and pretend that nothing happened.”
Daniel says nothing and closes his mouth with both hands, not believing that he could go so far and ruin what he was taking care of so badly.
“So, why are you silent?” Raquelle wonders coldly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why aren’t you trying to excuse yourself?”
“It happened accidentally, I swear!” Daniel shakes his head with pity in his eyes. “I didn’t even have time to realize how she started to kiss me. Blanca gave me no choice, and I didn’t wanna hurt her. I tolerated everything she was doing to me.”
“Yeah, Anna told us how you were snuggling with Blanca with pleasure,” Peter scoffs quietly.
“What? Pleasure? I did feel nauseous because of the way she kissed me! I wanted to wash my mouth with soap! Seriously! No girl I’ve ever known kissed as terribly as Blanca! I felt terribly disgusted. And it was funny how stupid he looked when pretending to be a sexual seducer.”
“Did you just realize it?” Helene wonders.
“No, I knew it from the beginning, but I was afraid to hurt the foreigner and didn’t tell her the truth. And… I understood that I wasn’t indifferent to Anna since the beginning… The girl with red hair…”
“Aha, but you believed Blanca and thought she was your fiancée,” Edward says gloomily.
“I was ready to believe anything. That liar told me all the stories so that they seemed true. I mean… Blanca was pretending to be instead of Anna. She… Told me everything… How we met… How we started to date… Her stories were the same as the stories of Anna and me! And it made me believe her. I felt that it all happened, but I couldn’t remember my real girlfriend until the end. Yes, there are things, about which she lied insolently. But not everything.”
“Of course, it’s all wonderful, but we can’t deny that you are a betrayer,” Natalia says gloomily. “My friend is suffering because of you. If you hadn’t been such a naive idiot, she would’ve been fine and wouldn’t have gone nobody the hell knows where.”
“Yes, we couldn’t find her, and Anna didn’t answer our calls,” Peter adds. “Of course, we guessed that she could live with her parents, but we didn’t know how to contact them and where they lived.”
“I don’t deny my fault,” Daniel confesses and puts his hand on his heart. “But please, believe me… I’m very sorry about what happened.”
“But it happened!” Edward exclaims.
“I swear I didn’t want to cheat on Anna. I don't have and didn't have another girl! I would’ve rejected that Blanca to hell if I had known that I had a beloved girlfriend.”
“Alas, Daniel, she’s no longer your girlfriend,” Natalia says with sorrow.
“Yes, she will not forgive you, even if you cheated on her when you had amnesia,” Raquelle says coldly. “Your relationship no longer exists. At least, for her.”
“No, it’s not true!” Daniel protests. “I’m not going to end our relationship!”
“You can love that girl as much as you want, but it won’t help you get her back,” Helene replies confidently. “A miracle should happen, so Anna forgives you for your betrayal. The betrayal that happened before her eyes. But I doubt that she’ll forgive you someday.”
“What?” Daniel opens his eyes widely. “But I don’t want to lose Anna! I love her! Breaking up with her will be a shock to me!”
“I’m afraid you’ve broken up,” Rebecca says with sadness in her eyes. “The poor girl wants to hear nothing about you. And she would’ve hardly come if she had known you’d be here.”
“No, we didn’t break up!” Daniel protests loudly. “I did not leave Anna! I did not! She is still my girlfriend!”
“Accept it, Daniel. Your betrayer put an end to your relationship. We understand everything, but you should’ve thought. Or at least listened to your heart.”
“And what do I do?” Daniel throws his hands up. “How do I get her back and prove my love?”
“Anyhow, I guess,” Helene throws gloomily. “Mrs. MacClife is right: accept it.”
“Never! I can’t lose my beloved girl because of my stupid mistake! And I can’t imagine my life without Anna!”
“Sorry, but cheating is clear,” Natalia replies confidently. “We could help you and hide your betrayer from Anna, even if you’d have to confess everything early or late. But now it’s too late to change something.”
“Please, help me,” Daniel begs with pity in his eyes. “Talk to Anna! Make her sure that I didn’t want it! I don’t need any other girl but her! I didn’t want to cheat on her! I did not!”
“Alas, we can do nothing,” Raquelle replies confidently. “Everything depends on Anna.”
“No, it can’t be the truth!” Daniel exclaims loudly in despair. “It cannot be! I couldn’t screw it up like this!”
“Shout or not, Daniel, but you’ll hardly do something,” Jamie replies quietly. “It’s much easier to forgive your friend, who framed you than someone that you caught snuggling with another.”
“There must be something that could help me! I will not reject Anna! I’m ready to fight for her and her love!”
“If you’d listened to your heart at least rarely and stopped being afraid to hurt the foreigner, everything would’ve been otherwise,” Raquelle says confidently. “Your heart screamed, but you never listened. Anna has never forgiven those, who betrayed her. She’s always broken up with them, no matter how close she is to someone.”
“I know, but I didn’t want it!” Daniel excuses himself with pity in his eyes. “I swear!”
“We could believe you, but she’s too mad at you,” Natalia replies. “So, stop hoping that Anna will forgive you. It won’t happen. Never. You lost her.”
Natalia, Raquelle, and Helene look at Daniel gloomily for two seconds, go aside sharply, come to Anna, who returns to everybody, and try to comfort her.
“Yeah, man, you’ve done too much,” Jamie shakes his head, looking at Daniel badly. “You fought with your friends and lost your girlfriend…”
“I’m an idiot…” Daniel pronounces gloomily. “And I confess it.”
“I believe you understand that cheating is a serious thing. Try to imagine yourself instead of Anna and think about what you would feel if you knew she cheated on you.”
“Did I really lose her?”
“Maybe, Anna’s heart will get rid of the ice someday,” Rebecca notices confidently. “But it will not happen soon. Or it will never happen. Even saving from a dangerous man won’t make her forgive you immediately. These things may only be appreciated by those, who are not blinded by anger. Remember this if you want to do a heroic thing.”
Jamie and Rebecca turn around and come to the girls, who are talking about something with sadness in their eyes. Peter and Edward look at Daniel and shake their heads with their arms crossed over their chests, looking gloomy enough.
“Yeah, hero, you’ve done so much for several years to come,” Peter says thoughtfully. “You almost left behind MacClife, Jr., our biggest lover of problems.”
“Listen, guys, I didn’t really want it to happen like that,” Daniel replies with sadness in his eyes. “I didn’t think everything would happen.”
“But it did,” Edward throws gloomily. “And you paid for that!”
“I did curse everything in the world because I let that liar get closer to me.”
“How could you do it with Anna? Dude, what were you thinking of? You’re an idiot! Because you lost a wonderful girl!”
“As if I had something to think of! I did lose my memory!”
“Well, if it was so disgusting for you to kiss her, why didn’t you the hell fuck her off? Was it so hard to tell that girl that you didn’t get attracted to her and felt nothing for her?”
“I didn’t wait to hurt her,” Daniel excuses himself with pity in his eyes. “And those plausible stories were similar to what really happened.”
“Yeah, but you must not have believed everything blindly!” Peter exclaims. “You should’ve filtered it all, not thrown everything in the same bunch!”
“How could I filter something if I remembered the fuck nothing? Information was coming from everywhere, and my head was tearing apart! Amnesia made me another man! I didn’t belong to myself!”
“No, Perkins, Blanca was the one to make you another man. The man that we wanted to kill. That girl got your brains out, washed them as she needed, and got them into you again. And you didn’t even ask her to prove her rightness. Not saying about that photo. Anyone could make this type of photo for a few minutes.”
“I know I shouldn’t believe photos. We all made sure about it after the case of Edward and Natalia… But I was too naive and trustful and believed that liar.”
“Natalia and I didn’t cheat on each other,” Edward replies confidently. “But I’m gonna be honest, I wanted to cheat. I wanted to find another girl and hook up with her. But I didn’t do it. And I’m madly happy I was smart enough not to do it.”
“Do you both think I wanted to cheat on Anna? I did not even think of it! If I hadn’t lost my memory, and that insolent gal Blanca hadn’t used it, I wouldn’t have let her get closer to me.”
“You know, even in this case, you could’ve prevented the betrayer. You should’ve listened to your feelings: if you felt bad, you shouldn’t have done that. If you had been more careful, Anna wouldn’t have left you when all of us needed her help.”
“Yes, I screwed it up!” Daniel exclaims. “I confess!”
“So, you almost lost Anna because of your stupidity! Because you the fuck kissed Blanca, and your girlfriend saw it!”
“I wouldn’t have thought Anna was there and saw everything!”
“But she did! Seymour saw you snugging that girl! Who, by the way, is far from being attractive! I’ve seen her in the hospital once! It’s just a sloppy, fat girl with acne on her face!”
“I agree that she’s ugly and non-attractive.”
“Listen, lover hero, how could you actually kiss her?” Peter crosses his arms over his chest. “Even if she was the last girl on the Earth, I’d never come to her. I’d prefer staying single.”
“She kissed me by force!” Daniel exclaims. “I tried to resist, but I couldn’t do anything because of her strong pressure. Blanca could always find something that pressed on me! She was dominating me!”
“And what? You should’ve made yourself torture?”
“Blanca is crazy! She can easily kill someone! She was ready to do it every time she had jealousy of me and her own sister or any other girl. When I just looked aside, that girl started hysterics.”
“As it turned out, she’s mentally ill…” Edward exhales sharply.
“Her attacks made me super insane! And when I started to say that it was unpleasant for me, she started to excuse herself and say it was her character. She said I must look only at her. Think of her. Admire Her Highness. I must be obsessed with her.”
“She would’ve made your life terrible if you hadn’t remembered everything before that girl wanted to get you married to her.”
“I agree with it. In this case, I would’ve preferred shooting myself down. Because I wouldn’t have tolerated her pressure.”
“Anyway, your situation is hard,” Peter replies gloomily. “No matter how much you excuse yourself for Anna, she won’t understand and forgive you.”
“But there must be a way! I can’t lose her!”
“We understand everything, but Anna won’t appreciate this focus. You excused yourself to us for your disgusting behavior, and we believed you. But I doubt that you’ll get your girlfriend back.”
“I’m ready for anything to prove my love,” Daniel replies confidently. “If she told me what she wanted, I’d do anything for her.”
“I’m afraid she’d say, ‘Go to hell, cheater!’” Edward assumes thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest. “Even if you save her from an evil man and do hundreds of heroic actions, it won’t break the ice in her heart.”
“But I can’t let her go! I need her! I love her!”
“We understand it, Daniel, but she doesn’t care about your wishes,” Peter replies confidently. “You hurt Anna a lot, and she won’t forgive it.”
“Anna is still mine! I didn’t break up with her and ain’t gonna do it!”
“For her, everything is over between you.”
“No, no, I don’t believe it…” Daniel shakes his head sharply. “I don’t want us to break up. I felt so bad all the time that I lived alone. I couldn’t understand what I needed for a long time, but now I know I missed Anna. Viewing her photos, I understood I wasn’t indifferent to her. I wanted her! In all senses. If I had amnesia, and she wanted to kiss me and take me to bed, I wouldn’t mind. Seriously, guys!”
“Oh, buddy, you can stop dreaming about it,” Edward replies confidently. “You’re gonna live your life alone or with Blanca.”
“No, no Blanca!” Daniel cuts off. “When she’s one meter away from me, I’ll piss her off! And if she keeps having hysterics, threatens me, and refuses to leave me alone, I shall go to the police.”
“It would be good if you just kissed,” Peter replies. “If you fucked her in a bed, you’re in trouble.”
“It almost happened once…” Daniel confesses hesitantly. “Blanca almost took me to bed…”
“What?” Edward and Peter get horrified.
“Seriously?” Edward wonders.
“I was outta my mind!” Daniel exclaims. “I was thinking of Anna and thought she was instead of Blanca. Though, I didn’t know it was her when I had amnesia. I thought of a girl with red hair and imagined everything she was doing to me. And I just realized it was Anna. My imagination wasn’t the one, it was what happened between us.”
“Oh!” Peter and Edward ooh quietly.
“Blanca and I were about to sleep, but her sister called her and ruined this plan. But I came to myself when I heard the call and got surprised when I saw the foreigner wearing only her bra and knickers, and I was half-naked. I… I was so obsessed with fantasies about Anna that I didn’t notice what Blanca was doing to me.”
Peter and Edward laugh quietly and applaud, shaking their heads in disapproval.
“Wow, so, you almost had sex with her!” Edward notices with a chuckle.
“Nice work, playboy!” Peter exclaims. “That gal undressed you until underwear and almost took you to the bed!”
“I’m shocked, too!” Daniel pronounces with horror in his eyes. “And I’m madly grateful to Blanca’s sister for stopping that insanity!”
“Oh, man, I’ve got nothing to say…” Peter laughs shyly. “Terrence was right when he said a person with amnesia would be worse than a person without brains.”
“What if she gave you such a gift as pregnancy?” Edward asks. “Gave birth to a child from you and made you educate the one! And you’d have to marry her as a decent man. Or pay alimony to that girl.”
“No, no, I don’t even wanna think about it,” Daniel jabs excitedly, raising his hands up. “If she’d gotten pregnant with me, I would prefer hanging myself.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of her goals,” Peter replies confidently. “Get pregnant with you and get married to you! So, you don’t get off her so easily. At least, until the legal age of your child.”
“No, guys, please, don’t remind me of that…” Daniel runs his hands over his face with a quiet moan. “I wanna die from shame…”
“Well done, Perkins, nice work!” Edward applauds quietly. “You outdid yourself!”
“Bravo, Dan Perkins,” Peter scoffs ironically. “My profound bow!”
“I’d look at you if you had the same situation!” Daniel throws gloomily. “How you would laugh!”
“C’mon, dude, don’t be mad! You’re gonna have a birthday soon. So, the guys and I will get money for a whole box of condoms for men and girls.” Peter scoffs quietly. “Just in case.”
“And buy a few pregnancy tests,” Edward laughs quietly. “Well, if we have to, we’ll also buy diapers!”
“Ar-r-r, stop mocking me, idiots!” Daniel cuts off sharply, rolling his eyes. “You can the fuck support!”
“Hey, bro, which smell do you like: raspberry or strawberry?”
“I think the smell of strawberry is much sexier,” Peter chuckles. “Perkins will definitely be hard!”
“Fuck, shut up, you, idiots!” Daniel throws irritably. “I do know that I screwed up and messed up everything.”
“Hey… If you get obsessed with passion and don’t have condoms near you, come to us. We could find a couple of ones for our brainless friend.”
“Hey, you, condom experts, you better work your brains and tell me what to do! I have no right to lose Anna! Have no!”
“Sorry, Daniel, but if Anna knows you almost had sex with Blanca, you can forget about her getting back to you.”
“Don’t dare to tell her that!”
“Are you gonna hide it?” Peter wonders.
“No, I will say… But I’d better tell her everything by myself than let her know it from someone else.”
“It won’t get better, trust us.”
“Anyway, don’t dare to tell her nothing.”
Edward and Peter exhale sharply and move their eyes to Anna, who is talking to Raquelle, Helene, Natalia, Rebecca, and Jamie. After watching her for two seconds and looking at each other, the guys move their eyes to Daniel with their arms crossed over their chests.
“Okay, we’ll tell her nothing,” Peter promises without emotions. “We won’t even tell the girls. But I repeat, it won’t help you. Vice versa, your confession is gonna make everything worse. Anna is gonna get furious if she knows you almost fucked Blanca.”
“You can run after her, beg her for mercy, and excuse your kiss with the foreigner as much as you want, but it will make her much more enraged,” Edward adds confidently. “Moreover, our band’s fans could notice you and publish some photos. We haven’t checked out the Internet yet, but we won’t be surprised if we find an article about your betrayal.”
“Fuck, I’m an idiot!” Daniel claps himself on the forehead, breathing heavily enough. “How could I let it happen? How?”
“Sorry, bro, but you’re guilty,” Peter throws his hands up. “At first, we blamed Anna for everything and thought she did a bad thing to you. But as it turned out, everything is vice versa.”
“Fucking Blanca! I curse her! If she comes back here, I shall tell her everything I think of her. May she find another moron that would tolerate her hysterics, please her, and tell her compliments.”
“Of course, you can fuck up the foreigner. But it will change nothing.”
“Anyway, she’ll pay me for daring to use my condition so insolently.”
“It will only be good for you. It won’t change your relationship with Anna.”
“I know… But I can’t lose my girlfriend. I can’t! I won’t forgive myself if Anna never comes back to me.”
“Sorry, buddy, but we can’t help you,” Edward shrugs. “And as we’ve said, you’d make everything worse and make your reconciliation impossible if you honestly told her about your adventures.”
“I’d rather let Anna know all the truth than believe the lie. It’s gonna be hard, but I’m ready. Even if I understand that it might lead to risks.”
“Maybe, she’ll appreciate your honesty someday,” Peter assumes thoughtfully. “I’d also prefer confessing everything, even if it’s something terrible. But we’ve told you everything, and you know you’re in trouble now.”
“Oh, okay…” Edward moans tiredly, rubbing his forehead with a hand. “Let’s talk about it later… Let’s first find out what happened to Terrence and Cassidy, and then think about other things.”
“That’s bad when a few problems overlap one another…” Peter replies quietly, running his hand over his hair.
“That’s right…” Daniel pronounces gloomily with both arms crossed over his chest.
While Daniel stays aside and thinks about something, Edward and Peter decide to come to Anna, who does not even look at the one, who cheated on her, and hopes she will not have to spend too much time and see the face that she, to be honestly, wants to hit so badly.
***
Meanwhile, Christopher Morgan and Kevin Spencer, Edward’s two friends, and Benjamin Parker, Terrence’s childhood friend, are spending time in one of the bars in New York. They met each other during the trial of Michael MacClife, found a common language quickly, and kept spending time together from time to time. Christopher has quite an attractive appearance. Many girls like his curly, light brown hair, and his askew green or hazel eyes also get attention from ladies. It’s impossible to call Kevin unattractive. Girls would also like a man with brown hair, not a very long, standing fringe, shaved temples, and round olive eyes. Benjamin is also a handsome man, who does not doubt his attraction and knows that girls like his hazel-green eyes and dark brown short hair.
“Listen, it’s been three hours, but there’s no news from the girls,” Kevin notices, holding a glass of whiskey and throwing a short look at the watch on his hand.
“I guess those guys got in trouble,” Christopher assumes thoughtfully, wrapping a finger around his glass of port wine. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if Edward started it all.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised, either,” Benjamin replies confidently, putting a glass of cognac aside. “That guy literally has an itchy ass.”
“And if they really met Wainwright, as the girls think, Edward, Terrence, and Peter will be dead.”
“I still can’t believe that this sick bastard ran away.”
“So, they watched him badly!” Kevin says categorically. “If they’d wanted, they wouldn’t have let that stinker go! Who made greater chaos in the courtroom than Michael MacClife himself.”
“Yeah, a miracle didn’t let him shoot everyone down in the courtroom,” Benjamin notices.
“But he almost raped the girls,” Christopher recalls and drinks some port wine. “He had a specially strong grudge against Natalia. The poor girl was madly afraid of that crazy man.”
“I think even Edward and Terrence’s uncle was much better than that man,” Kevin notices confidently. “He hated everyone silently, but Wainwright did it loudly.”
“That’s bad the policemen thought of not taking the handcuff off him too late,” Benjamin says.
“And the disgusting thing is that they announced his escape when that scumbag thought nobody would catch him. They must tell those things immediately, but the police delayed it until the end!”
“It’s okay, guys, that man will be back where he belongs early or late,” Christopher replies confidently. “Everyone will be happily ever after, and the MacClife bros will finally marry their cuties.”
“Oh, yeah…” Kevin pronounces with a slight smile and drinks some whiskey from his glass. “Listen, I did forget that Edward and Terrence are gonna leave a club of single men soon.”
“Yeah, we’re losing the men…” Christopher says funnily and drinks some port wine. “But it’s worth it. Ed picked up a wonderful girl.”
“Yeah, Edward has good taste,” Benjamin agrees. “And Terry found a fabulous cutie.”
“Hear, Parker, is that true you wanted to hook up with Rochester somehow?” Kevin asks.
“True. We found a common language kind of quickly and decided to keep communicating. But sadly, Natalia disappeared for a few months… She went to her grandmother… So, we eventually stopped speaking. I mean, I didn’t try to pick her up anymore.”
“Gave up on Edward?”
“I could say so. Still, Natalia and I keep speaking as good friends. And I think Terrence’s bro made a good choice.”
“I can’t deny it.”
“And actually, that’s so interesting…” Benjamin drinks some cognac from his glass. “Two girls, Raquelle and Natalia, were studying at school and were friends, but now they’re gonna be sisters-in-law.”
“I think they also never thought it would happen,” Christopher assumes. “But since the MacClife brothers stole their hearts, the school friends are gonna be relatives.”
“By the way, I haven’t seen the MacClifes for ages. Though. Terrence and I used to meet much more frequently.”
“And I haven’t seen Edward for ages…” Kevin confesses thoughtfully. “I was busy at work and dealt with the girl, who I eventually broke up with.”
“Broke up with the girl?” Benjamin wonders and claps Kevin on the shoulder. “Oh, sorry, dude!”
“It’s okay, Ben!” Kevin waves a hand. “We were close to a breakup for a long time. Since I was ready for breaking up for a long time, what happened didn’t give me too much pain.”
“But what happened?”
“We just got colder, so to say. We stopped caring about each other. We tried to save our relationship, but it didn’t make sense. So, we decided we’d better break up.”
“It happens.”
“But now you got a chance to spend time with any cutie,” Christopher notices cheerfully, clapping Kevin on the shoulder. “There are so many beautiful girls around to pick up. And if you’re lucky, you can take anyone to your bed.”
“You’re not very good at this yet, Chris,” Benjamin laughs shyly.
“They don’t just understand what treasure they’re losing,” Christopher says confidently with his head proudly raised. “But it’s okay! Someday, those cuties will see what they lost.”
“Yup, Edward is right when saying you need to slow down,” Kevin chuckles kindly.
“Oh, c’mon! I don’t need to get married, unlike someone! I am a single, young man, who still looks for a perfect girl.”
“Okay, dude,” Benjamin laughs shyly and drinks a little from his glass. “When you find someone, let us know! So, we’re glad that you’ve finally grown up. And get a little sad that you’ll be another one to be ready to leave a club of single men.”
“No, Edward and Terrence are gonna be the next!” Kevin replies confidently. “And the next one is either Daniel or Peter.”
“Yeah, Daniel…” Christopher drinks some drink from his glass. “He lived with Anna in the same house pretty well and didn’t rush to think of marrying. But now, when he lost memory, his candidature is under question.”
“And he fought with everybody,” Benjamin adds.
“Oh… I wonder what could happen if he thought about ruining the friendship with all of them?”
“Who knows, Morgan… But I wouldn’t be surprised if he outdid our biggest lover of problems named Edward.”
“I hope he won’t break up with Anna. I’d be sorry if such a beautiful couple broke up. I really like the way they look together.”
“Don’t forget that the girls mentioned a foreigner,” Kevin recalls, wrapping a finger around his glass. “What if she told him some bullshit? And knowing that he lost memory, it would’ve been easy for her to tell him any bullshit, and he’d believe her.”
“And what could she tell him? How bad his friends are and how much they don’t love her!”
“Well… Pretty possible! I wouldn’t be surprised if she needed to get Perkins to fight with his friends! Maybe, she also wants to get him married to her and get pregnant.”
“And the question is, how did that gal come from?” Christopher wonders. “Did Daniel cheat on Anna before losing his memory?”
“If it’s so, I’m gonna be overwhelmed. He dated such a cool girl, but then he decided to leave her. And he decided to ruin his relationship with the others!”
“It’s okay, men, when that guy remembers everything, he’ll realize how much he screwed it all up!” Christopher replies confidently. “I don’t know when it happens, but trust me, he’s gonna be ashamed. And if the guys don’t forgive him for his tricks, it will be hard for him.”
“Nevertheless, I’m sorry for him,” Benjamin replies thoughtfully. “Let’s not forget that Daniel went too far just because of amnesia. He would hardly do that if he remembered everything. He’s a good man.”
“You’re right…” Christopher drinks some drink from his glass. “We can’t judge Perkins. He hasn’t fought with us yet. So, we shouldn’t meddle. Let him explain everything to Terrence, Edward, and Peter.”
“And I’m sorry that the people are literally ready to tear him apart. You saw what kind of dirty things the Internet is full of because of the false article about him and Peter.”
“I was shocked when I read it!” Kevin confesses. “We do know what actually happened, and Daniel doesn’t have to do with that.”
“And those don’t have as a terrible relationship as they try to say,” Christopher adds. “They’ve been friends for ages and always gotten on well. It’s okay they fought once.”
“Daniel made only one mistake: he openly laughed at Peter because the blond dated nobody,” Benjamin notices. “Yes, he didn’t know what made Rose refuse affairs with girls, but that was bad. It would’ve been okay if he joked kindly, but there were open mockeries.”
“So, it means the article has a bit of truth,” Kevin notices.
“But Perkins didn’t bring Rose to the suicide attempt.”
“I believe he’d be shocked if he saw it when suffering from amnesia.”
“He already did. I don’t doubt it.”
“Oh…” Benjamin exhales slowly, takes a sip of a drink, and puts the glass on the table. “I’d also be shocked if someone blamed me for bringing someone to a suicide attempt for nothing. And wished me to die because of something…”
“C’mon, guys, I think everyone is gonna burn out and calm down soon,” Christopher assumes confidently. “The manager of ‘Against The System’ already made a statement that the article was false, and the folks tracked Daniel, started to post some bullshit about him, and even trend bad hashtags for nothing.”
“Maybe, you’re right…” Kevin shrugs. “They start a human-made boom around something, involve folks, and enjoy high demand. But even the best thing won't have the same high demand some time later. Everything is the same in the article about Peter’s suicide attempt: someone made people pay attention to it and got what they wanted. Everyone’s now talking about it actively, truly believing that Daniel is so bad, hating him, and wishing him to die. But later this interest will get weak, and this story will be forgotten soon.”
“At least, I’m glad that a bigger part of people doesn’t believe in this bullshit now and protects these two,” Benjamin notices. “Everyone believed it before! You can check out Twitter: people are tweeting about it, publishing some photos, and trying to trend nice hashtags.”
“Yup, I saw a couple of tweets and photos,” Christopher nods confidently. “But I personally said I would not believe that false article. There is only one true fact: Daniel and Peter fought, and Perkins humiliated Rose because of his relationships with girls.”
“I didn’t believe that shit, either,” Kevin replies and drinks some drink from his glass. “Even if someone tried to prove it with fake screenshots and unchecked sources. That was clear that those screenshots were fake, and some folks made them in Photoshop for a few minutes.”
“I’m always surprised that people may be too naive and believe anything blindly. How could they believe that insolent lie? How? As if the band’s fans didn’t see that all the members had a perfect relationship and worked together well!”
“Haters of the band started all of that! I don’t doubt it! Fans have no meaning in spreading those rumors.”
“You know, sometimes even the most loyal fans may betray their idol if they don’t like something. So, anyone may be the one to blame for spreading that bullshit. And not only haters could do that.”
“Damn, who cares who’s the one to blame! The most important thing is that everything is over soon, and everyone stops bullying Daniel for nothing.”
“I hope it’s gonna be over soon.”
While Kevin and Christopher talk about the article, Benjamin feels the vibration in the pocket of his jacket. Holding his glass with a drink, the man takes the phone, unlocks it, and examines something the whole time while his friends are talking. But when they stop talking, he looks at the men with rounded eyes.
“Kev, Chris!” Benjamin jabs, clapping Kevin and Christopher on the shoulder. “Blair just sent me a message.”
“News about the lads?” Kevin gets excited.
“She says…” Benjamin moves his eyes to the phone screen and looks at Christopher and Kevin again. “She says Terrence has been brought to the hospital.”
“What?” Christopher rounds his eyes. “Terrence? Hospital?”
“But what happened to him?” Kevin wonders.
“Look, everything’s here,” Benjamin replies, being a little excited, while the shocked Christopher and Kevin look at the screen of his phone. “Blair says the guys were found nobody the fuck knows where. There was a fourth person with Terrence, Edward, and Peter. But they don’t know who yet.”
“Imagine if that was Daniel!” Christopher exclaims. “It’s gonna be a thing!”
“The guys really met Wainwright. To be clear, Edward saw him and decided to find out where he hid, and Terrence and Peter couldn’t leave him.”
“So, we were right: Terrence had to go with this stubborn idiot, who got problems again,” Kevin replies confidently.
“A little later, Edward called Victor Johnson, the friend of Mr. MacClife, who went to Terrence and Raquelle’s house along with Mrs. MacClife, and asked to send the police. But the police came when everything had happened. In short, an ambulance took Terrence to the hospital after Wainwright had injected something into him.”
“Injected something?” Christopher gets horrified.
“Yeah… And MacClife is in a hard condition now.”
“Fuck!” Kevin swears, shaking his head with his mouth closed with a hand. “So, it turns out that Terrence suffered because of Edward? Because of his wish to follow Wainwright?”
“Edward hardly wanted it,” Christopher assumes and puts his glass on the table. “Everybody knows how the MacClife brothers treat each other. They’d cut the throat of anyone to hurt one of them.”
“But what was injected into him?”
“It says nothing,” Benjamin shakes his head. “But it seems like it’s something dangerous. In a great dose.”
“Fuck…” Christopher runs his hands over his hair. “Poor man…”
“Damn, if only Terrence was okay… I don’t want him to die. He’s my friend, who I’ve known for ages. Who means a lot to me.”
“Yeah, it seems like Edward will never learn to live a quiet life,” Kevin says gloomily, exhaling sharply. “He’s an adult man, but he sometimes acts like an irresponsible boy.”
“It seems like they didn’t kick his ass enough in prison if he didn’t calm down after he was almost turned into a piece of meat. And the story of his crazy uncle Michael taught MacClife nothing.”
“If he’s gonna have children, I’m definitely gonna be worried about them,” Christopher replies confidently. “I wouldn’t trust my godchildren with him.”
“Huh, his children are one hundred percent gonna be wild and literally put their fingers in an outlet.”
“Listen, why didn’t the fuck Terrence and Peter stop him and go with him?” Christopher resents. “They did understand that this man would’ve killed them! And if Edward had gone alone, Wainwright would’ve dealt with him with great pleasure.”
“Sometimes Terrence may be too stubborn and does everything as he wants,” Benjamin replies confidently. “So, as there’s a bad example before his eyes, he’s getting more similar to his brother and turns his brains off sometimes.”
“I believe Edward is more stubborn and much crazier. Terrence seems more responsible and serious, but his younger bro has great problems with it.”
“Oh, yeah, but when MacClife, Jr., went after Wainwright, his older brother turned off his brains and followed him.”
“Maybe, he understood everything and just wanted to save the ass of his brother?” Kevin assumes.
“Who knows, Kevin… Anyway, it’s too late to talk about it.”
“It’s okay that those two did it, but why didn’t Peter change their mind?” Christopher wonders. “That one must have brains! Or is the MacClife, Jr., syndrome contagious and unable to be cured?”
“So, he didn’t do it. And he decided to go.”
“Anyway, I’m not surprised that everything started because of Edward,” Kevin replies confidently. “No, I understand that he wanted to take revenge on Wainwright for Natalia and protect her. But MacClife must’ve understood that he would’ve died in the worst case. Or much worse, all the men could’ve suffered.”
“At least Edward and Peter are fine, and that’s good,” Christopher sighs with sadness in his eyes. “And I’m really sorry for Terrence. He’s a good man and shouldn’t have become a victim of that sick bastard Wainwright.”
“I’m starting to worry, as well,” Benjamin confesses. “Terrence is my friend. We’ve been friends since childhood. Even if we rarely speak now, I don't stop being worried about him.”
“Listen, maybe, we’ll go to the hospital right now?” Kevin suggests. “If the men and the girls are there, we can ask them about what happened.”
“Yeah, but Blair didn’t say which hospital everybody went to.”
“Let’s call her?” Christopher suggests, drinking his drink. “Maybe, Blair would tell us something interesting.”
“Yeah, I think we should call her. But let’s go to a quiet place. It’s very noisy here.”
“Or we can drink our drinks first and then leave.”
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Kevin agrees.
Christopher, Benjamin, and Kevin drink their drinks quickly, wishing that Terrence is okay and hoping that Eugene’s injection will not send him to another world.
***
It’s been a little more than two hours since Raquelle, Edward, Natalia, Peter, Helene, Daniel, Rebecca, Jamie, and Anna came to the hospital. Everybody is shorting time differently. In super long suspense, Edward and Natalia are sitting on chairs: the man is fingering over nervously and looking at his fingers sometimes, and the girl is pressing herself to him as closely as possible, keeping her arms wrapped around his neck, bending her head to his shoulder, and running her hand through the man’s hair. Jamie and Rebecca are sitting on chairs in front of the soon-to-be spouses, embracing each other, and saying a couple of words sometimes. Anna stays close to Terrence’s younger brother and his fiancée and tries to comfort her friends. Helene and Peter are standing in a hug, leaning on the wall with their backs, and looking at each other and the others with sadness in their eyes. Well, Daniel stays next to the lovers and supports Raquelle, holding her in a tight hug and sometimes throwing a sad look at Anna, who does not even turn on the man. However, everybody prefers being silent for the most part of the time and thinking about something.
But at some moment, someone starts to walk down the half-empty hall of the hospital, as if they are looking for something or someone. And later, everybody can hear someone coming to them. Unfortunately, this is not a doctor. Here comes the woman with a little girl, whose hand she is holding. And when she comes closely enough to everybody, she says with a strong British accent:
“Excuse me, could you tell me where…”
Everybody turns on the woman and immediately recognizes her as Alicia Middleton, Raquelle’s aunt.
“Mrs. Middleton?” Rebecca wonders.
“Mrs. MacClife?” Alicia rounds her eyes and moves her eyes to Jamie. “Mr. MacClife? What a meeting!”
Alicia greets Rebecca and Jamie with a slight smile by hugging them and sharing an amicable kiss on the cheek.
“How long have you been here?” Jamie wonders. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I wanted to, but I was a little busy,” Alicia replies thoughtfully.
Two seconds later, Alicia slowly moves her eyes to Raquelle, who is thinking about something while Daniel is embracing her and saying something to Helene and Peter, and comes closer to them.
“Raquelle?” Alicia pronounces softly.
Raquelle moves her sad look to Alicia and rounds her eyes immediately.
“Aunt Alicia?” Raquelle asks in a little shaking voice. “Oh, my gosh!”
Raquelle comes to Alicia and hugs her tightly, sobbing quietly two times.
“My girl,” Alicia pronounces with a slight smile, kisses Raquelle on the cheek, and caresses her head. “How much I missed you!”
“Me too, Aunt,” Raquelle replies in a shaking voice. “God himself brought you to me!”
“Raquelle…”
“I need you… Need you like never ever… I feel bad…”
“Jesus Christ…” Alicia steps back from Raquelle and looks at her with widely open eyes full of horror. “Honey, why are you crying? What’s going on, my sweetheart? And yeah…”
Alicia, frowning slightly, glances at the others, who surrounded her and look at her with sadness in their eyes.
“What are you all doing here? You all have such sad faces. As if something bad happened.”
“Trouble, Auntie, happened…” Raquelle tries to say.
“What? What happened?”
“I won’t bear it…” Raquelle pronounces in a strongly shaking voice, not being able to stop crying. “If everything gets much worse, I will not be able to live.”
“Gosh, Raquelle, what’s going on?” Alicia gets horrified. “Why are you crying so bitterly? My girl, don’t be silent, say something!”
Edward takes a hesitant step forward and comes to Alicia and Raquelle slowly before he starts to speak hesitantly, looking at the woman with pity in his eyes:
“Trouble happened to Terrence, Alicia. We are all here because of him.”
“Terrence?” Alicia rounds her eyes. “But what happened to him?”
“Something horrible.”
“For God’s sake, Edward, at least you explain everything. What happened to your brother?”
“Do you know about Eugene Wainwright’s escape?”
“Eh-h, yes, I know…” Alicia frowns slightly. “But why?”
“It happened that…” Natalia says with sadness in her eyes, who just came. “Wainwright injected something into Terrence and… He is now in a hard condition… He’s fighting for his life…”
Seeing that a little girl is next to Alicia, who, however, is more interested in the toy in her hands, everybody tries to speak about what happened to Terrence not very loudly, and steps aside.
“My gosh…” Alicia pronounces in a shaking voice. “You… Aren’t you kidding?”
“No, Mrs. Middleton,” Rebecca shakes her head with sadness in her eyes and sniffs quietly. “Terrence has become a victim of that stinker, Wainwright.”
“But how? How did it happen? How did Terrence and Wainwright meet?”
“It started when Edward saw that bastard and decided to watch him,” Jamie replies. “Terrence and Peter were with him and tried to change his mind, but he didn’t listen. The guys couldn’t leave him and went after him. And they all disappeared for three hours.”
“My gosh…”
“We were fighting with Wainwright for a long time,” Edward confesses. “At some moment, he wanted to inject some shit into me… I was ready for that… And I had no strength to resist…”
“But at the last moment, Terrence pushed Edward and gave his arm to Wainwright,” Daniel says with sadness in his eyes. “He got the needle into him. Peter and I had time to do nothing because everything happened too fast.”
“But Edward got the needle out of his arm when half of what was in the syringe had been injected into Terrence,” Peter adds. “We are not sure, but we believe that it might impact Terrence’s condition. At least there is a chance to avoid a lethal overdose.”
“Gosh…” Alicia shakes her head with widely open eyes. “Poor Terrence… My gosh…”
“We’re waiting for news,” Helene confesses quietly, bending her arms at her elbows. “The only thing we know is that Terrence’s condition is hard, but the doctors advise us not to lose hope.”
“Gosh, guys…” Alicia looks at Edward, Daniel, and Peter with horror in her eyes. “Why did you do it? You did know that this man could’ve killed you!”
“It’s my fault, Alicia,” Edward confesses confidently. “I did not manage to protect Terrence…”
“Why, Edward? Why did you do it? Your brother suffered because of you! Your friends could’ve done it! And you!”
“I’m very sorry! I swear, I didn’t want any sacrifices and tried to protect the guys until the end. I was ready to sacrifice myself! Trust me, I didn’t want to get them involved in these problems.”
“Listen, I understand you hate Wainwright and want to take revenge on him. But the police must have gotten him caught! Why did you put yourself and the guys in danger?”
“I couldn’t miss a chance to betray him to the police when I got it,” Edward replies confidently. “The only goal of all of that was my wish to protect Natalia from that sick freak. I wanted to put an end to any sufferings that she could’ve experienced.”
“I know, Edward, but you did a disgusting thing! If Terrence, heaven forbids, dies, it will be your fault. His death will be your sin. He would’ve been fine if you hadn’t followed Wainwright.”
“Yes, Alicia, I understand it.”
“You knew that Terrence wouldn’t leave you and let you go to the hideaway of the beast alone. But you used it and put him in great danger.”
“Please, don’t say it like I wanted it. I swear, it’s not the truth! I was ready to sacrifice myself not to let the guys suffer. But I managed to do nothing. I did not save Terrence.”
“I believe you didn’t want it, but excuse me, you must have worked your brain and thought about what it could lead to.”
“I know…” Edward inclines his head. “I’m really very sorry…”
“Edward really tried not to let it happen,” Daniel confesses confidently. “Peter and I saw it well.”
“I think Edward understands what he did,” Alicia replies quietly. “So, there’s no meaning in saying the same thing multiple times.”
“Terrence did it at his wish,” Peter says. “Nobody made him.”
“I got it.” Alicia stops her eyes on Daniel. “Yeah, Daniel… What are you doing here? I heard you kind of had… Memory issues…”
“It’s over now.”
“You remember everything?”
“Yes. No more amnesia.”
“So… I’m really glad you’re fine.”
“I’m also glad I’ve become myself again.”
Silence settles in the air for two seconds, which Rebecca breaks a little hesitantly:
“Mrs. Middleton, how long ago did you arrive in New York? We’ve recently talked about you.”
“Actually, I came here due to some business with my adopted daughter,” Alicia confesses thoughtfully.
“Adopted daughter?” Jamie asks.
“Yes, that’s her,” Alicia comes to the little girl, who is looking at some poster with interest, says something quietly to her, takes her hand, and leads to everybody. “Erm… Not a very good moment for introducing, but… I’m happy to introduce my daughter, Amanda.”
“Hello,” Amanda waves her hand shyly.
“Hi,” everybody smiles by force.
“Sympathetic girl,” Rebecca notices confidently. “Congratulations on adopting the daughter.”
“Thanks a lot,” Alicia thanks gently. “I wanted to solve my business and then introduce Amanda to you all. But since it happened…”
“We are really very glad for you, Mrs. Middleton,” Jamie says correctly. “Please, don’t think we don’t care. We’re just worried about Terrence and don’t want to smile.”
“Do not even apologize, Mr. MacClife. For God’s sake! I do understand your feelings.”
“We will talk to you later, and you will tell us everything,” Rebecca promises.
“Sure, don’t worry.”
“I’m scared, aunt…” Raquelle shakes her head, sobbing quietly as she stands next to Alicia. “I don’t want to lose Terrence… If he is not by my side, I will go crazy. I need him so badly.”
“Quieter, quieter, my girl, don’t cry,” Alicia says softly, hugging Raquelle tightly and pressing her to herself. “Terrence’s gonna be okay, you’ll see it. He is a strong man.”
“I don’t want to stay alone, I don’t…”
“God sees everything and will help him. I shall go to the church and pray for him today. Moreover, he risked protecting Edward at his wish.”
“But it would’ve been fairer if I had been instead of him,” Edward says quietly, bending his arms at the elbows. “Terrence is guilty of nothing and shouldn’t have become a victim.”
“No, Edward, you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to your brother. You didn’t force him to do it. It was his choice.”
“I did everything I could.”
“I believe, Edward, I do.” Alicia caresses Edward’s shoulder softly. “Don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay.”
Edward says nothing and just sighs quietly, embracing himself with both arms, and Raquelle keeps crying quietly but bitterly, while Alicia hugs her tightly and caresses her head.
“I guess you should’ve gone somewhere,” Natalia says thoughtfully. “If it’s so, you can go. I think we’re gonna wait for a long time.”
“No, no, I don’t need to rush,” Alicia replies confidently. “I shall stay with you and wait for a doctor.”
“Will your girl not get tired?” Rebecca expresses anxiety, throwing a short look at Amanda, who goes aside and starts to play with her toy again. “Besides, we can’t tell her what happened.”
“If she is tired, I shall bring her home and come back to you.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Middleton,” Jamie thanks.
“How long have you been here?”
“Somewhere more than two hours…” Helene shrugs.
“God, please, I wish everything was okay,” Raquelle sobs a little louder. “I do want Terrence to be okay… I want to see him alive…”
“Soon, sweetie, soon,” Alicia replies softly and confidently, caressing Raquelle’s head.
“That’s unfair… Unfair!”
“Quiet, Raquelle, quiet. Your aunt, Alicia, is with you. She will comfort you. It’s okay.”
“Raquelle has not been able to calm down since we heard about Terrence,” Natalia confesses with sadness in her eyes. “I mean, she got nervous much earlier when she started to understand that something happened to him… We can do nothing… Sadly.”
“I understand.”
“Gosh, I wish a doctor came here as soon as possible and told us what happened…” Anna sighs quietly.
“Nothing good,” Raquelle pronounces in a low voice. “We will hear nothing good.”
“No, Raquelle, don’t say it,” Alicia shakes her head. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“It will not be… Not be!”
While Raquelle snuggles her nose into Alicia’s shoulder and hugs her tightly, the woman looks at the others with horror in her eyes and shakes her head.
“Jesus, Jesus Christ…” Alicia pronounces quietly.
“That’s good you’re here,” Rebecca says with sadness in his eyes. “I believe she’ll need your support. Maybe, the poor girl will feel better with a close person next to her.”
“Don’t worry, I shall stay here and support my niece.”
“But even if we are all together, we are terribly worried. And as a mother, I don’t feel better and do pray to God that my son is alright.”
“I completely understand your pain, Mrs. MacClife. But you must believe that it’s going to be okay. Terrence is a young, strong man and must get through it. Moreover, your son always says Raquelle is the meaning of his life.”
“And we live for our children,” Jamie replies confidently. “Although they are adult men that will get married soon, we are still worried about them.”
“I know, Mr. MacClife.”
Silence settles in the air for two seconds, which Alicia breaks after she moves her eyes to Raquelle crying bitterly.
“Sweetie, you better wash your face,” Alicia advises.
“No, Auntie, I won’t leave until I know what happened to Terrence and see him,” Raquelle says confidently.
“How long ago did you eat?” Alicia glances at Natalia, Helene, and Anna. “Girls, do you know?”
“I don’t want to eat. Nothing gets in my throat…”
“Okay, then just go to wash your face and brush your hair.”
“No, Aunt, I don’t want…”
“Honey, don’t torture yourself like this. Distract yourself for a while. Talk to the guys… And meet your cousin.”
Raquelle says nothing and just sighs heavily, shaking her head and quietly sniffing.
“Don’t worry, Alicia, the guys and I will try to talk to her and calm her down,” Edward replies confidently and hugs Raquelle around the shoulders softly. “Let’s go aside, darling.”
While Edward takes Raquelle aside, Alicia, Rebecca, and Jamie keep standing aside, watching them with sadness in their eyes.
“Will you tell me what happened?” Alicia asks.
“Yes, of course,” Rebecca nods.
“I know something from Mr. Cameron, but I believe there is much more.”
“Alright, tell us what you know, so Rebecca and I don’t repeat,” Jamie suggests.
While Alicia, Jamie, and Rebecca start a talk, the others are trying to talk to Raquelle again. And at some moment, Amanda pressing her favorite toy to herself and not understanding what’s happening looks at her mother and the unfamiliar people with rounded eyes. A little later, she pays attention to Edward, who is very similar to Terrence from afar, comes to him a little hesitantly, and looks at him for a few seconds. MacClife, Jr., feels that someone is standing behind him, turns around, and sees the little girl, who looks at him with widely open eyes.
“Excuse me, sir, but I think you are very similar to the one I know,” Amanda says hesitantly.
“Really?” Edward pronounces surprisingly.
“Yes, the man named Terrence.”
“You know him?”
“Sure!”
Edward smiles slightly, trying to pretend that everything is alright, takes Amanda aside, and squats down in front of her.
“Terrence is my brother,” Edward confesses.
“I got it!” Amanda exclaims.
“How long have you known him?”
“I met him some time ago when my mommy took me to the home of Mr. Cameron. Terrence was there, and we talked very well.”
“You say Terrence was at Mr. Cameron’s home.”
“Yes. That man is so good and kind. My mommy told me so much about Mr. Cameron.”
“Agree, he’s really very good.”
“Don’t you know where Terrence is living? I want to see him again and go to his home. He said he got a very big, beautiful house.”
“Erm…” Edward bites his lip slightly. “You see, girl… Sadly, it’s impossible now because Terrence… Got sick.”
“Sick?” Amanda opens her eyes widely.
“Yes. He’s now here, in the hospital, and doctors are doing everything to cure him.”
“Will he get well?”
“Of course, he will,” Edward smiles slightly. “Doctors are very experienced people and can cure someone of anything.”
“I know! They are like wizards: they need to wave hands and say a couple of words, so you feel good.”
“Sort of.” Edward throws a sad look aside for two moments.
“Why are you so upset?” Amanda asks with sadness in her eyes. “Are you so upset because of Terrence?”
“Of course, I’m worried about him. And I want Terrence to get well as soon as possible.”
“He said you are very close.”
“Yes, he’s my best friend,” Edward smiles slightly. “Of course, Terrence may be annoying and mean sometimes, but I love my brother anyway. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have him.”
“Many familiars of mine that have brothers and sisters love them, even if they sometimes annoy them.”
“Moreover, my brother is a very smart and wise man, who always knows what to say. I can always ask him for anything and know he won’t refuse.”
“Do you really have a connection?”
“We have. We can say nothing, but we know what we think about, what we feel, what we’re afraid of, and what we’re worried about… He knows when he needs to comfort, leave, shout, or wash brains.”
“If I didn’t know he’s your older brother, I’d believe you’re twins. You’re so similar to each other. I did briefly think you’re Terrence when you were standing with your back turned to me.”
“Yes, we’re strongly alike, but we can’t be twins because he is two years older than me.”
“I know!” Amanda exclaims. “And actually, Terrence has said much about you… He even said your name, but my toy and I forgot it.”
“Edward,” Edward introduces himself amicably. “My name is Edward. Edward MacClife.”
“Nice to meet you, Edward! And I’m Amanda!”
“Nice to meet you, Amanda.”
“And this is my bear, Tommy.” Amanda shows her bear to Edward and waves at him with a paw of the toy. “He’s also happy to meet you and thinks you’re as good as Terrence.”
“Nice to hear it,” Edward smiles shyly and caresses Amanda’s head sofly. “And I don’t doubt that you’re also very good. Your mother is lucky to have a daughter like you.”
“Ah, my mommy is so good and kind!” Amanda exclaims with a wide smile. “I was waiting for the day when I’d live with her for so long.”
“Yeah, adopting took a lot of time…”
“When I met her, I understood I wanted her to be my mother. I didn’t want another woman to take me out.”
“You’re gonna feel very good with Alicia,” Edward replies confidently. “She’s a wonderful woman. Kind, smart, wise, and very caring.”
“But I’m sorry that I don’t have a dad. Mommy told me she had a husband, who took care of her well. But sadly, he went to heaven a long time ago and is watching her from there.”
“I don’t know a lot about that man, but I heard he was very good.”
“Mr. Cameron said the same when I asked him about Mommy’s husband. By the way, I forgot to say that he did offer me a little piece of chocolate. I do actually love sweet food and often ask Mommy to cook or buy something. She cooks amazingly! I don’t actually eat too much, but I can’t resist Mommy’s food. Yummy, yummy!”
“It’s true, Alicia cooks incredibly. And Mr. Cameron is a very kind man, who would always help. No person would say a bad word about him.”
“By the way, I heard that he is the grandfather of Raquelle, my cousin.”
“Yes, he is her grandfather, whom Raquelle loves so much. She loves him as much as she loves her aunt Alicia and my sibling, Terrence.”
“Is that the one to cry?” Amanda points at the crying Raquelle. “That’s Raquelle?”
“Yes, that’s Raquelle.”
“Is she worried about Terrence so much?”
“Of course, she’s worried. Raquelle is strongly attracted to him. The two can’t live without each other.”
“Just like you and the one you love? Terrence said you also had a beloved girl.”
“I have,” Edward nods with a slight smile.
“Is she here?”
“Yes, she’s standing there, a blonde with long, wavy hair.” Edward points at Natalia. “See?”
“Wow, she is so beautiful!” Amanda exclaims with admiration. “She has amazing hair! So beautiful and long! The color is incredible!”
“She not only has beautiful hair, but she’s beautiful herself,” Edward replies with a slight smile.
“I’m delighted!”
Natalia literally feels that someone is watching her, says something to Raquelle quickly, caressing her shoulder, turns around, and catches a look of Edward smiling slightly, to whom she comes.
“Your hair is so gorgeous, Ms.,” Amanda notices with a slight smile.
“Oh,” Natalia gets shy and fixes her hair. “Thank you so much.”
“And you’re very beautiful.”
“Nice to hear it.”
“Are you really the girl that Edward loves?”
“Yes, me,” Natalia nods confidently and softly caresses the shoulder of Edward, who is still squatting. “He told you that?”
“Yes, as well as Terrence.”
“Terrence? You know him?”
“Sure! I met him some time ago when Mommy took me to the home of Mr. Cameron.”
“Mommy?” Natalia squats down in front of Amanda. “Wait, so, are you Alicia’s daughter?”
“Yes, her name is Amanda,” Edward confirms.
“Amanda Middleton,” Amanda introduces with pride.
“Amanda…” Edward moves his eyes to Natalia. “This is Natalia, my fiancée.”
“Natalia?” Amanda asks with delight. “Oh, what a beautiful name!”
“You like it?” Natalia wonders truly.
“I do! And I recalled the girl with dark hair, who lived in my orphan house. Her name was also Natalia. But nobody loved her because she spent a lot of time with textbooks and always showing her knowledge.”
“I think the name Amanda is beautiful, as well.”
“By the way, you look so good next to Edward. I want to smile when I look at you.”
Natalia and Edward can hide a slight smile that they share with each other, making Amanda get tender feelings unconsciously.
“Many people say we make them smile,” Edward notices shyly.
“Listen, could you make Raquelle smile?” Amanda asks with sadness in her eyes. “She is crying her eyes out because of Terrence! He is just sick! But my cousin is crying as if he’s gonna go to heaven to the husband of my mommy.”
“Ah, Amanda,” Natalia sighs quietly. “Raquelle is crying because she loves Terrence very much and can’t live without him. I would also cry bitterly if something happened to Edward. And he’d be worried about me. And Terrence would be worried about Raquelle.”
“But nobody has died! Doctors will help Terrence, and he will get well soon!”
“When you grow up and meet a boy, and love him, you will understand why Raquelle is worried now.”
“Actually, I liked one boy from an orphan… But he was terribly disgusting and often hurt me. And I stopped wishing to befriend him.”
“I guess he liked you, too, but he didn’t know how to get your attention,” Edward assumes thoughtfully. “Boys always act like this if they like a girl. I was the same. I annoyed a girl until she hit me on the head with a book.”
“But hurting girls is bad! Boys must respect girls!”
“You start to understand some things through the years,” Natalia says confidently.
“I want boys to realize it and stop hurting girls.”
“They will, sweetie, don’t worry,” Edward replies. “I don’t hurt girls. As well as Terrence.”
“I’d like to believe it…”
Natalia caresses Amanda’s head with a slight smile, while the little girl presses her toy to herself with sadness in her eyes. Meanwhile, Raquelle leaves the others with tears in her eyes and sits on a chair, sobbing so loudly that everybody can hear them. The little girl feels sympathy when watching her cousin and comes to her slowly, while Edward gets up, helps Natalia do the same, and hugs her tightly with both arms, caressing her head at some moment.
“Don’t cry,” Amanda pronounces with sadness in her eyes. “Terrence is gonna be fine. Kind people always survive and take a victory under evil in fairy tales.”
Raquelle moves her hands off her face with a sob and looks at Amanda with wet eyes before she says in a low voice:
“I’m just too worried about him… I can’t live without that man.”
“He will get well. Believe in the best.”
“I’m trying…” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “But I can’t…”
“Please, Raquelle, don’t cry,” Amanda begs with pity in her eyes. “You’re worried for nothing.”
Raquelle wipes the tears off her face before she asks surprisingly:
“Do you know my name?”
“Of course, I know!” Amanda exclaims. “My mommy has told me so much about you and promised to introduce me to you.”
“Wait… You must be Amanda? Right?”
“Yes, I’m Amanda. But sometimes friends call me Maddy.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“And this…” Amanda shows her bear to Raquelle. “This is my bear, Tommy. And he says Terrence will be fine.”
“Ah, Amanda…”
“Terrence is like the hero of a nice fairytale, in which everyone lives happily ever after. I don’t know any tale, in which a good character suffers or dies. So, your man is going to be fine.”
“I’m scared,” Raquelle says in a lower voice. “I’m madly afraid to lose Terrence…”
“But he is not dying and just got sick!”
“I know, but…”
“Don’t cry, Raquelle…” Amanda sits next to Raquelle on the chair and caresses her hand softly. “It’s gonna be fine.”
“Hey…” Raquelle, frowning slightly, looks at Amanda questioningly. “How do you know Terrence? My aunt told you?”
“Mommy has recently introduced me to Mr. Cameron, your grandfather, and him. Mr. Cameron offered me some sweet treats, and Terrence was playing with me.”
“Wow… Terrence told me nothing about it…”
“Mommy promised to take me to your home and show me your house. She says it’s large, beautiful, and spacious.”
“Sure, come. I shall show you everything.”
“And I hope I will see Terrence soon. He’s so good and kind. As well as Mr. Cameron. The two were so nice to me.”
“Yes, my Grandpa is very good, kind, and smart,” Raquelle smiles slightly. “And Terrence… I can’t find the words to describe how wonderful, caring, gentle, and attentive he is. I’m so lucky I have this man. If I lose that man, my life will have no meaning.”
“Please, Raquelle, don’t cry,” Amanda says quietly with sadness in her eyes, while Raquelle sniffs quietly. “I don’t like when someone cries.”
“I can’t… I’m scared…”
“Here!” Amanda gives her bear to Raquelle. “Hold Tommy! He always gives me luck and comforts me.”
Raquelle takes the bear and looks at it, while Amanda caresses her shoulder softly, looking at the girl with pity in her eyes.
“Adorable bear,” Raquelle notices.
“Don’t be upset, please…” Amanda begs quietly, gets up from the chair, and turns on Raquelle. “You must be strong.”
“Thanks for the support, Amanda.” Raquelle caresses Amanda’s shoulder and head softly. “I see you’re a very good girl. My aunt is so lucky she got such a wonderful daughter.”
“Mommy always says she finds you a second daughter. She cares about you as much as she cares about me.”
“It’s true. Auntie has also always been like my second mother, and my grandpa has always been my second father.”
“I heard you’ve got no mother and father.”
“Sadly. But I’m very glad I’ve got Grandpa and Aunt. They’re my closest people.”
“They want you to smile and be happy. So, I want to see you happy, as well.”
“I shall,” Raquelle cracks a smile. “I promise, Amanda, I shall.”
“It’s gonna be okay, you just believe it.”
Raquelle says nothing and gives Amanda the little toy. Then she gets up, squats down, and hugs the girl tenderly, who answers her with pleasure. By this time, Alicia has already found out everything that happened from Rebecca and Jamie, and the others went on different sides. But some time later, a dark-haired, middle-aged man wearing a doctor’s robe comes here.
“Excuse me, who are the relatives of Terrence MacClife?” the doctor asks quietly.
It takes less than two seconds for everybody to surround the doctor. And understanding that Amanda must not hear these things, Alicia sits her on a chair not far from her, asks her to stay here, and comes to the others.
“I’m his fiancée,” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice.
“I am his brother,” Edward says quietly, points at Rebecca and Jamie standing next to him, and hugs Natalia and Raquelle around the shoulders. “And they are his parents.”
“Please, doctor, tell us what happened to my son,” Rebecca begs excitedly with pity in her eyes.
Before saying something, the doctor clears his throat with a serious face.
“I will not play time and will explain the situation,” the doctor says quietly. “I want to start with the fact that Mr. MacClife has some bruises and abrasions on the body he supposedly got after the beating. And according to the result of the tests, he has a great dose of diphenhydramine, in his blood. It might work as a sedative in small doses.”
“Is the dose so huge?” Peter gets horrified.
“Enough. Did that man try to kill himself?”
“No, no, come on!” Edward protests. “My brother did not get that dose at his wish. Did the police not tell you that he was brought here after the accident with the criminal?”
“Unfortunately, no. I only know that he was brought here with suspicion of an overdose of some cure or a strong poison.”
“Excuse me, doctor, how great is the dose of the seductive?” Daniel asks hesitantly. “The case is that he was injected with something, but we do not know what. Though, we saw that only half of what was in the syringe was injected into him.”
“Judging the result of tests, the dose of diphenhydramine is forty or forty-five milligrams.”
“Forty or forty-five?”
“How many milliliters did the syringe have?”
“It’s hard to say, but the syringe was surely small and thin,” Edward replies thoughtfully.
“Hm, I guess that there were about ten milliliters…”
“But will my fiancé live?” Raquelle asks in a shaking voice and a plea in her wet eyes. “Please, doctor, tell me that he will live.”
“I’m very sorry, but the dose of sedative is huge and close to the number when a person might die. The lethal dose starts with forty milligrams or four milliliters. But your fiancé has a little larger dose in his blood.”
Raquelle makes two quiet sobs, getting strongly white from horror and realizing that she lacks the air from a great excitement or a flow of tears that she cannot stop after hearing about Terrence’s possible death. Rebecca has the same condition, and Jamie hugs tightly her and the dumbfounded Alicia, also being shocked by what he heard. The dumbfounded Edward tries to hold on somehow and hugs Raquelle and Natalia, who is also crying quietly with the mouth with a hand. While Anna and Helene are not trying to hold their tears down, Daniel, and Peter open their eyes widely and look at each other with horror.
“So, do you want to say my son will die?” Jamie asks in a low voice.
“We are doing our best to save him,” the doctor replies with sadness in his eyes. “But I’m informing you that the condition of your son is hard.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ…” Alicia shakes her head.
“Mr. MacClife has a fairly high fever that we are trying to lower. We have already performed gastric lavage, and the doctors are now closely watching him, so he does not get worse.”
“But is there some hope of saving Terrence?” Peter asks with horror in his eyes.
“I can promise nothing.”
“So, will he die?” Anna asks in a little shaking voice.
“The case is hard, I repeat, but we are fighting for his life.”
“Could the fact that everything from the syringe was not injected into him change the situation?” Edward asks.
“We hope that it will save him. Because he would have immediately died if he had gotten a larger dose.”
“Please, doctor, do your best to save that man,” Alicia begs with pity in her eyes and moves her eyes to Raquelle, who is tried to be comforted by Edward and Natalia. “Look at my niece! And what his parents feel! The pain of a father and a mother cannot be compared with anything!”
“I completely understand all your feelings and am truly sorry for you,” the doctor expresses sympathy. “But you see, not everything depends on doctors. A bigger part of everything depends on Mr. MacClife. On how his organism is strong. Especially, his heart.”
“But he is a young and tough man,” Natalia notices. “He’s got good health!”
“Anyway, we will not let everything happen as it wants.”
“And how could the fact that he threw up?” Edward asks hesitantly.
“That’s good. He had needed to clean his stomach before the paramedics came.”
“But the case is hard…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully.
“Please…” The doctor looks at the crying women and the shocked men with sad eyes. “Do not lose hope and make yourself think that Mr. MacClife is going to die. He was brought here quickly enough. And it’s been not so much time since he got an overdose. The doctors gave him first aid in time. We did a bigger part of our work and are now closely watching the way his organs work. Luckily, everything is under control.”
Before asking something, Raquelle makes two sobs and slowly moves her wet, red eyes full of pity on the doctor.
“Can we visit him?” Raquelle asks in a strongly shaking voice. “Please, doctor, let us at least just look at him. I want to see him!”
“Please, doctor, let at least the relatives go to Terrence’s room,” Helene begs with pity in her eyes. “His parents and brother have a right to see him. And his fiancée must see him. And his friends will wait behind the door.”
“Yes, doctor, let at least his family stay with him,” Peter agrees.
“Oh…” the doctor stutters and clears his throat quickly. “Although he is now unconscious and in a hard condition, I can let you go to him.”
“Really?” Raquelle opens her wet eyes widely.
“Mr. MacClife should be moved to a regular room. And when he is there, I will bring you to him.”
“Thank you so much, doctor,” Rebecca thanks in a shaking voice and sniffs quietly. “Thank you…”
“I guess his close people’s pretense will influence him in a good way.”
“Please, do your best to save his life,” Jamie says confidently. “If we need to sign some papers, no problems. Just save my son.”
“I repeat, we are doing our best. There is hope. The case is hard, but not hopeless.”
Nobody says a word, and everybody just looks at each other with sadness in their eyes, while the doctor sighs quietly.
“Excuse me, I have to leave you,” the doctor apologizes gently. “When Mr. MacClife is in a regular room, I will let you know.”
The doctor turns around and slowly goes somewhere. While Natalia, Anna, and Helene comfort Raquelle literally shouting with pain, Jamie keeping his emotions inside does not let the excited Rebecca go and sits on chairs with her later. Alicia literally tears herself between her niece and the spouses. Daniel and Peter are standing aside and accepting what they heard silently, and Edward is slowly walking down the hall and looking into the distance with dumbfounded eyes. At some moment, he slowly comes to the window with his weak legs, pinches the bridge of his nose for a few seconds, and leans on a windowsill with both hands, understanding that it’s hard enough for him to breathe, and every muscle of his body is tense strongly. Everything turns upside down inside the man when he throws a short look at the others and sees how they are walking dumbfounded from one side to another.
Because of the memories of what happened, Edward feels that he might scream at the top of his lungs and fall into a hysteria. Hoping to hold down his emotions somehow, he knocks at the windowsill with his fingers, looking into the distance with widely open eyes. The man falls into his thoughts so deeply that he falls out of reality and does not notice anything around him, being focused on his heavy breath. He shakes slightly when someone comes to him from behind and claps him on the shoulder, and turns around sharply.
“Blaming yourself again?” Daniel’s voice sounds.
“You see that it’s the truth now,” Edward replies without emotions. “If I hadn’t decided to do that crazy thing, nothing would’ve happened to him.”
“Everyone makes mistakes,” Peter notices confidently. “And as Mr. Johnson said, someone had to suffer. It’s the truth. The bitter truth.”
“My brother shouldn’t have done it. You shouldn’t have done it. Daniel shouldn’t have done it. I should’ve gotten all the kicks.”
“You got enough kicks, Edward. You barely crept after Wainwright beat you to half death.”
“He could kill. I would’ve sacrificed myself to save your lives.”
“Dude, you would’ve saved nobody. Wainwright would’ve killed us anyway if we’d given up.”
“But confess that it would’ve been fair if I’d suffered. Everything started with me, and I should’ve paid for that.”
“Edward, stop saying it!” Daniel protests. “Nobody would’ve felt better if you’d been instead of him. Everybody would’ve been worried about you, and your parents would’ve been pulling their hair out. And you need to look at Raquelle to imagine what would’ve happened to Natalia.”
“She’d be more sensitive and impressionable than her friend,” Peter adds. “Natalia would’ve had a strong hysteria, and someone would’ve hardly helped her.”
“I know,” Edward replies quietly, leaning on the windowsill with both hands. “Everything was just supposed to be fair: if you do something, pay for it. Innocent people shouldn’t suffer because of your actions, which, as you think, may make someone’s life better.”
“Oh, MacClife, you don’t know how unfair the world might be.”
“The world has created hundreds of rules and laws, but they can’t put an end to injustice and make everyone live in the same condition,” Daniel adds. “People keep going against them and never think that it might harm someone.”
“We know you love when a winner takes it all, a loser gets nothing, an innocent one gets everything he or she wants, and a guilty one gets what he or she deserves. But believe me, it will never happen, no matter how much you want. Even if you got what you fight for, something else would happen later, and you’d have to solve it.”
“I know…” Edward pronounces. “I just didn’t want my brother or one of you two to suffer…”
“Stop, buddy,” Daniel shakes his head. “Your brother decided to do it. You, Peter, and I didn’t make him do it. Even Wainwright didn’t wanna kill him. The goal of that stinker was you.”
“That’s why I must’ve died first.”
“You must be happy that Terrence literally saved your life,” Peter replies confidently. “And our lives, too. If we hadn’t gone with you, you would’ve died. It would’ve taken a few minutes for that scumbag to destroy you.”
“I understand why Terrence did it… And I’m truly grateful to him and you two for your help. But everything should’ve been otherwise. I must’ve gotten my punishment.”
“Stop, buddy…” Daniel pronounces.
“Why wasn’t it me? Why?” Edward quietly knocks his fists against the windowsill. “I must have been dying there… Me! Not Terrence!”
“Don’t say it, Edward,” Jamie’s voice pronounces.
Edward rounds his eyes and turns around sharply, seeing that Jamie is coming to him.
“Nothing would’ve been changed if you’d been instead of Terrence,” Jamie adds quietly.
“That’s unfair the one, who shouldn’t have been a victim, suffered,” Edward replies quietly with sadness in his eyes.
“Anyway, your brother and friends would’ve gone with you even if you’d begged them to leave.”
“Damn, I’m starting to regret not listening to Terrence more and more. He didn’t just ask… He demanded that I don't do stupid things. But I did not listen to him…” Edward leans on the windowsill with both hands and inclines his head slightly. “For the wish to protect my beloved girl… For… A wish… To play a hero again… And prove that… I could defeat a dangerous man alone. I was sure I’d deal with him. But… I was deeply wrong…”
“We all understand you did it for Natalia. To protect her from that sick bastard.”
“At least, I would’ve died as a hero for her…” Edward replies in a shaking voice. “The hero, who gave his everything to save her… I would rather die himself than know that my close person would be one step away from death.”
“First, as Daniel noticed, nobody would’ve felt better if you’d been instead of Terrence. And second, as Mr. Johnson said, this fight couldn’t end without victims. Someone would’ve suffered.”
“It shouldn’t have happened…”
“I don’t deny that Terrence did a thoughtless thing. But he did what someone to love someone would do. And he proved that he was ready for anything for his close people.”
“He listened to his feelings. Terrence wouldn’t do something for someone he doesn’t love. Or when he understands he won’t get an answer: no thankfulness, no reaction – nothing.”
“Your brother did it because he loves you and knows you’ll be grateful to him.”
“I’d like to do something to thank him back. But alas… I can do nothing now.”
“I think you’ll have a chance to do it. If the doctor says there’s hope, there is really the one.”
“Are you still mad at me?” Edward asks hesitantly, moving his look full of sadness to Jamie.
“We all don’t like that you did a thoughtless thing. But we can’t ignore your bravery and determination. Not everyone would have the courage to fight with a beast. But you did it. And actually, you are a courageous guy! Someone considers you cowardly, even though that’s not the truth. Nobody knows how strong and brave you are.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“And I’m glad you realize the responsibility for your actions. The fact that you realize you did a bad thing is very good.”
“I’m really very sorry it happened…” Edward confesses, shaking his head and looking at Jamie guiltily. “I didn’t want it… You know how I treat my brother, and how much he means to me. I always say I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have Terrence.”
“I believe you, sonny,” Jamie cracks a smile. “And I’m glad my sons get on so well.”
“Sorry, Dad… Forgive me for making you and Mother worried. And making you worry now… I knew you’d be angry or love to kill me. But I swear I was doing my best to protect the guys and myself.”
“I believe you tried.” Jamie takes Edward by the shoulders and claps them. “But the most important thing is that you’re okay. If you ended up in the hospital, too, I wouldn’t bear it. As well as your mother.”
“I know… Forgive me, please…”
“Oh, come here, my stubborn tiger…”
Jamie hugs Edward tightly, claps him on the back with one hand, and caresses his head with another, exhaling with a sense of relief, while the young guy cracks a smile. And when they step away, and the oldest member of the MacClife family claps his son on the shoulders and cheeks with both hands. A few seconds later, Amanda comes to them, Daniel, and Peter, tightly pressing her toy to herself and looking at them with widely open eyes, and touches the blond’s hand when she says:
“What did the doctor say? Is Terrence seriously sick?”
While everybody stutters and tries to find the words to tell the little girl, Peter does it much quicker.
“Sadly, yes,” Peter nods with sadness in his eyes. “Terrence is sick… But please, don’t worry. He will get well very soon and be able to meet you.”
“But when can I see him?” Amanda asks. “I want to visit Terrence in his room, but Mommy says we aren’t allowed to go because a doctor is working on him.”
“We’re really not allowed to see him,” Daniel confirms with sadness in his eyes.
“But when are we?”
“When the doctor cures him.”
“And when will he cure him?”
“Soon, girl. Terrence has very good doctors, who will cure him quickly.” Daniel cracks a smile. “It’s gonna be okay, don’t worry.”
“But if everything is not so bad, why are all the women crying?”
“He is just a very close person to all of us,” Jamie explains softly. “For me, he is the oldest son. For Edward, he is a sibling. For Raquelle, he is a fiancé. And he has also got a mother…”
“And the others?”
“The others are his best friends.”
“Wow! Is it possible to have such an amazing friendship?”
“Of course, it is,” Edward replies amicably. “While your familiars would listen to you and ignore you in the best case, your real friend would leave their business and come to you even at 3 AM.”
“As well as you all?”
“Sure. Say, do you have a friend, who is very important to you?”
“I spoke to some girls from the orphan house, but we weren’t so close. They weren’t my friends, but we got on well.”
“It’s okay, sweetie, you’ll have loyal friends,” Peter assures. “It’s hard to find these people, but you will be able to count on them.”
“But how long have you befriended Terrence?”
“For one and a half years…”
“But the girls have befriended him for a little longer than Peter and me,” Daniel adds.
“Really?” Amanda opens her widely.
“Hey, have I told you that Raquelle has befriended those girls since school?” Edward asks.
“Since school? Are you serious?”
“Yes! And I’m gonna say more: when I’m married to Natalia, she’s gonna be a family member of Raquelle.”
“Family member?”
“Yes. Raquelle’s gonna get married to my brother. You imagine! The girls, who’ve been friends since school, are gonna be a family!”
“Wow!” Amanda exclaims happily. “Cool!”
“By the way, Natalia, Terrence, Raquelle, and I would be very happy if you came to our wedding.”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” Amanda claps her hands. “With pleasure! I shall go with pleasure! I’m sure Mommy will agree to take me with her!”
“Of course, she will. Tell her you want to go, and she’ll buy a beautiful dress for you.”
“Okay!”
“Wonderful then!” Edward cracks a smile.
“Hey, tell me something else about them or yourself and Terrence. Although Mommy has told me so much about you, I want to know something else.”
“Listen, come to visit us,” Jamie suggests amicably. “Ask your mother to take you with her. We’d be happy to accept you.”
“Where are you living?”
“In a large, gorgeous house.”
“Really? Do you have a large house?”
“Of course, Rebecca, Terrence’s mother, and I are living there. Edward is living with us for a while, but when he gets married, he will move into the other place.”
“Is he gonna have a large house?”
“Nope, my house is more modest,” Edward replies shyly. “But there’s enough space for Natalia and me. We’ll live there for some time and then choose something bigger.”
“I also wanna look at that! I can?”
“I shall show you the house after I finish the repair.”
“Do you do everything?”
“Yup. I can do much. A little. I’ve taught much for the years of my life.”
“Good… Does Terrence really have such a big and beautiful house?”
“Really. Terrence is living in a large, beautiful, and light house with Raquelle. I’m sure that they’ll be happy to accept you and show you everything.”
“I can’t promise that we’ll find a beautiful toy for you, but we can obviously regale you with something,” Jamie says amicably. “Moreover, my wife cooks very tastily.”
“She cooks something sweet?”
“Sure! Cakes, pies, éclairs… As they say, for any taste and color.”
“A-a-a, I do love sweet treats!” Amanda exclaims happily. “When Mommy and I were at Mr. Cameron’s home, he gave me something yummy.”
“I love sweet food, too,” Edward confesses. “I can’t resist a delicious cake. Especially if it’s cooked by my mom.”
“It’s true!” Jamie confirms. “And Terrence does just love eating well and much. But when their mother cooks something delicious, a war starts between him and Edward for every single piece.”
“It’s true,” Edward laughs shyly. “I say if he’s gonna eat too much, he will get big cheeks and hips, and girls won’t love him. But Terrence says he ain’t gonna stay hungry because of his younger brother. So, that’s how we live!”
“Ha-ha, funny,” Amanda chuckles kindly.
Even in such a hard time, Amanda makes everybody smile and forget about the bad things, at least for a while. The girl is so sweet, good, and light. It’s like she does not know what it means to be evil, jealous, and terrible. She spreads the light and tenderness that some people need so much because they have forgotten those beautiful feelings.
“Oh, I know it’s not the time to smile, but this girl can’t make me stay indifferent,” Peter confesses in a whisper. “She makes me smile even if I don’t want to.”
“I agree,” Daniel agrees in a whisper. “Although my situation is much worse, I wanna smile, looking at this girl. She’s too sweet.”
“That’s good Mrs. Middleton ended up here with her. It would be easier to take all of this and not to go crazy.”
“Sometimes children can be better than any cure because they haven’t gotten infected with jealousy, evil, and egoism and lose the feelings that many adults don’t have.”
Peter says nothing and just nods, cracking a slight smile. And a few seconds later, Alicia, Natalia, Helene, Anna, and Rebecca, who were talking to each other, come to the men after they look around.
“Listen, men, does someone see Raquelle?” Alicia asks.
“I don’t know, Alicia,” Edward shrugs. “I haven’t seen her since the doctor left.”
“She was with you, girls,” Jamie recalls. “You were standing aside and calming her down.”
“We tried to calm Raquelle down for a long time, but later, we distracted and lost her,” Anna replies. “She went somewhere, but we don’t know where.”
“She must not stay alone,” Edward shakes his head. “She might do stupid things in this condition.”
“Agree, the poor girl is literally pulling her hair out because of what happened to Terrence,” Natalia adds with sadness in her eyes.
“Maybe, she decided to wash her face and drink or eat something in the cafeteria?” Daniel assumes.
“I don’t think so,” Rebecca shakes her head with sadness in her eyes. “The poor girl refuses to eat and drink until she sees Terrence.”
“But when did she leave?” Peter throws his hands up.
“Maybe, let’s walk into the hospital?” Helene suggests. “Raquelle won’t surely leave until she’s allowed to visit Terrence. It means we’ll find her.”
“Yes, Mommy, let’s look for Raquelle?” Amanda asks, shaking Alicia’s hand and looking at her with widely open eyes. “You and I need to calm her down and let her know that nothing serious happened to Terrence. She must not be worried as if he’s dying!”
“No, my sunshine, for Christ,” Alicia replies softly, pressing Amanda to herself. “The doctor will do everything, and Terrence will get well.”
“Still, we need to walk into the hospital and find Raquelle,” Jamie says confidently. “Ask someone… Maybe, someone saw her…”
“Yes… Amanda and I will try to find her. You stay here. When we find my niece, we will come back with her. Let’s go, Amanda…”
Alicia takes Amanda’s hand and goes down the hall quickly, while the little girl follows her obediently and starts to ask her about something.
“Oh, I will also ask the doctors or visitors,” Edward says thoughtfully, putting his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket. “What if someone really saw her.”
“Want me to go with you?” Natalia suggests.
“No, sweetie, you better stay. Stay with my parents and calm them down.” Edward glances at Daniel, Peter, Anna, and Helene. “You, too, guys.”
“Okay, we’ll be waiting for you. But if you don’t come here for a long time, we’ll look for you.”
“Alright. Call me on my mobile phone if you need something.”
Edward throws a sad look at everybody, caresses Rebecca and Natalia on the cheek, claps Jamie on the shoulder, turns around, and goes down the hall.
“You know, I will walk, too…” Daniel murmurs hesitantly. “I… Need to ask a doctor about something. But if I find Raquelle, I will bring her here.”
Not waiting for the answer, Daniel turns around slowly and hides quickly at the turn of the hall. Actually, the man does it not only because he wants to try to find Raquelle but also because he wants to go far from Anna, who is ignoring him on purpose. Putting his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, the man walks down the hall confidently and goes down to the second floor, on which he meets many people: from doctors to patients and visitors of any age. However, he does not care about what is happening around him and is more obsessed with his dark thoughts. While Perkins is thinking about something with sadness in his eyes, he suddenly hears the voice of the doctor, who was working on him when he was here with brain damage and amnesia:
“Mr. Perkins!”
Daniel stops, turns around, and sees the doctor, who comes to him confidently.
“Oh, hello,” Daniel greets.
“I was going to come to you. My colleague, who is working on your friend, told me you were on the third floor.”
“We talked about my friend’s condition.”
“Yes, yes, I know what happened to him, I’m very sorry.”
“We try to believe in the best,” Daniel replies confidently, massaging his neck. “But we are scared… We were told the dose of a sedative was a little larger than the one that may be lethal.”
“Luckily, he was brought here in time. In these cases, every minute is important.”
“Yeah… Lucky…”
“Conscientious doctors fight for their patients’ lives until the end. Be sure, we will do our best to help him. Moreover, our hospital is one of the best ones in New York. Only highly qualified professionals with many years of work are working here.”
“I know,” Daniel nods.
Silence settles in the air for two seconds, during which the doctor glances at the folder in his hands.
“Ah, yeah, I want to talk to you about one thing…” the doctor says thoughtfully. “The case is that I have something to tell you about your sister, Cassidy Perkins.”
“Tell me the truth, doctor,” Daniel says quietly, getting a little nervous, getting a little tense because of the doctor’s anxious look. “I must know everything that’s happening to my sister.”
“So, what I can say…” the doctor fixes his glasses slightly, exhaling slowly. “Ms. Perkins’ condition is satisfactory, but it's too early to say about the final recovery. That girl is strongly exhausted, and there is a large dose of heroin in her blood.”
“I was sure that she got worse from drugs.”
“A person dies after taking a roughly sixty-milligrams dose. So, there are almost sixty milligrams in your sister’s blood.”
“So, will she die?” Daniel rounds his eyes.
“Luckily, we keep the situation under control, but her immune system is very weak. She has many track marks on her arms, and her skin is in a very bad state: pale, dry, and covered with blisters.”
“The doctors from the ambulance said her condition made them too worried.”
“Judging all of it, your sister was taking drugs for more than one year.”
“Sadly, it’s true,” Daniel confirms with sadness in his eyes. “Cassidy was a child when she took marijuana for the first time. And she got used to much stronger drugs. Cocaine, heroin, and something like that…”
“Drugs are very dangerous, young man. That girl was madly lucky that she ended up in the hospital in time. If she had come here later, you would have lost your sister. And you will if Ms. Perkins takes any quantity of drug again. If her dependence is strong, one dose might not be enough for her. This is how drug addicts die: they take a lethal dose and suffer from terrible tortures.”
“I know… And it scares me.”
“I’m sorry that Ms. Perkins ruined her life like this. She’s so young, and her life is just starting. At her age, she should study, talk to her friends, fall in love, enjoy life…”
“She is only nineteen…”
“Especially! Such a wonderful age, but the girl destroyed herself.”
“She could not accept our parents’ death. Many years ago, Cassidy and I lost our father and then our mother. My sister was a kid when it happened. Nothing was supposed to happen. But when Father got worse, everything turned upside down.”
“I understand you and feel sorry for you, but you must know that it’s very hard to wean yourself away from drugs. Even therapy does not give any results sometimes. A drug addict might be healed, and then start everything again.”
“Yes, doctor, I know. But Cassidy has a wish to start a new life and wean herself away from this dependence.”
“Of course, that’s very good. Any therapy gives you good results only when you want it and help yourself and the doctors. But it’s not so easy. It might take years to start a new life. Though, your sister has become a permanent client of a clinic. She will have to get therapy and control herself all her life.”
“There’s my fault for what happened to her. I gave a damn about her, even despite the promise to take care of my sister. I was too young and did not want to be responsible for the girl… Wanted to walk with friends and fall in love… But now I realize my mistake and am sorry that I did not do what my parents asked me about.”
“And now you have no right to make the same mistake. If you miss a chance, you will lose your sister.”
“No, I will no longer make those mistakes. I shall do my best for her not to take that shit again and get caught by the horrible man, who was doing so many things that I do not even want to talk about.”
“By the way, I forgot to say that the girl also had signs of violence. Besides… She also has some traumas of her genitals.”
“She’s been raped many times. Cassidy said she felt a strong pain and was bleeding after every sexual intercourse.”
“Oh, God… Of course, we will work on her traumas. But she will also need psychological help. As well as the help of narcologists.”
“Is there actually a chance that Cassidy can overcome all of that and start a new life?”
“Everything is possible, Mr. Perkins. You can do anything if you wish. Moreover, you said she has a wish to get healthy. So, she’s done half of the business. The girl recognized her problem and is ready to work on it.”
“I’m ready for anything to help Cassidy,” Daniel says confidently. “I will pay any money for therapy and a physiologist’s help. So, my sister gets help…”
“Sadly, psychology and drug addiction are not my work. I can heal your sister from exhaustion, work on her traumas, and clean her organism. But you need to ask another expert for help in therapy for drug addiction and psychological help.”
“Could you recommend me a good clinic? I’ve never run into this and don’t know who to ask for help! Or maybe, you know someone to be able to help me?”
“Let me think…” the doctor, frowning slightly and stroking his chin, thinks for two seconds. “Actually, I could recommend one place… A very good clinic. They can help people wean themselves away from drugs and get the help of psychologists.”
“Is that clinic so good?”
“The son of my mutual person had therapy that was completed successfully. And I recommended that clinic to one of my patients suffering from drug dependence a long time ago.”
“Great! I want to contact that clinic.”
“Yeah, but all services are very expensive. Though, therapy is very effective. That clinic has great reviews and a perfect reputation. They work very well and do care about any client.”
“It’s not a problem for me,” Daniel replies confidently. “I’m ready to pay any money. Could you give me the contact information for that clinic? I will call them or go there!”
“Yes, sure, I will give you the address and the number of that clinic. But I need to look for that… It’s written in my notebook…”
“When you find it, let me know.”
“Alright.”
“Erm…” Daniel glances aside for a second. “Excuse me, doctor, can I visit Cassidy?”
“I’m sorry, young man, but now you are not allowed to visit her,” the doctor replies with sadness in his eyes. “Ms. Perkins is now under the doctor’s close surveillance. She has the blood pressure and cardio activity issues. So, we are watching the work of her organism. Moreover, she must not be excited. She needs to get a little better.”
“Alright…” Daniel shrugs. “I get it… But when could I visit her, at least for two minutes?”
“Let’s wait until tomorrow, and then we will see it. If she gets better, I will let you visit her. If she does not, we will wait for positive changes.”
“Alright, doctor, I got you.”
“And now you better go home and have some rest. You look too exhausted.”
“The doctor of my friend said he’d allow us to visit him soon. I’m not sure that my friends could visit him, but we’d at least look at him through the window.”
“So, as you wish. You have my number, just in case. I will call you if your sister gets worse or better. Or if you have to make an important decision.”
“Alright, thanks.” Daniel shakes the doctor by the hand strongly.
“Alright, now, excuse me, I have to go,” the doctor says confidently. “I told you everything I wanted. I have nothing to add.”
“Goodbye, doctor.”
“Goodbye.”
The doctor turns around and quietly goes to do his business, examining some paper that he takes from his folder on the way. Daniel watches him with sad eyes until the man hides and slowly looks around the whole hall, where he is standing all alone.
“I’m glad at least Cassidy is alive. So, I can still take care of my sister. She’s gonna be fine… I promise, Mom… Dad… Even if I have to give all my money for her therapy, Cass will survive. I will no longer be such an irresponsible idiot…”
Daniel glances at a person going by and steps aside because he stands in the middle of the hall.
“I hope Terrence will survive, too,” Daniel thinks with sadness in his eyes. “It would be unfair if he died. Yes, his act is thoughtless and dangerous, but MacClife wants to save his brother. If there’s justice in the world, that man must live. For Raquelle. For his parents. And Edward needs him… The poor guy can’t stop blaming himself for what happened…”
Daniel starts to click his fingers quietly, as he leans on the wall with his back.
“The friends need him, too… The band needs him… He’s our wise adviser and one of the smartest people I know… The daddy that watches the order and keeps everybody on a leash… We all need him… Hold on, bro, please… Fuck, you’re a strong man! Get well!”
Daniel throws a sad look aside for two seconds.
“Oh, okay, I’d better walk here and try to find Raquelle. I don’t wanna come back to the others… I will feel embarrassed because of Anna, who pretends that she doesn’t see me. Fuck! How could I screw it up? Why did I actually let everything happen?” Daniel slaps himself on the forehead. “What a brainless idiot I am! I ruined everything! Everything that I was afraid to lose! I excused myself for my friends, who look at me badly because of the case of Blanca, it’s gonna be very hard to get my girlfriend’s forgiveness. After my betrayal, which I didn’t actually want. I could hardly prove that I only loved Anna and didn’t wanna betray her.”
Daniel exhales slowly with closed eyes.
“Oh…” Daniel moans silently. “If I’d known Anna during amnesia, I would’ve sent that liar Blanca to Spain. I ruined everything because of her! Everything I was trying to keep so hard. I’m a bastard! Stupid, naive bonehead! Fuck, I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I don’t get her back. I don’t wanna lose her! She’s the light of my life!”
After he decides nothing, Daniel shakes his head sharply and decides to walk into the hospital and find Raquelle. Not to come back to the others and to get nervous because of the pretense of Anna and her ignoring that gives him unbearable pain.
***
Meanwhile, Edward is walking into the hospital and looking for Raquelle, trying to hold his emotions down so hard. Walking with a slow step with both arms over his chest, he needs some time to examine almost half of the hospital. And some time later, being on the last floor of the hospital, MacClife, Jr., walks some distance down the empty hall before he sees two people of average age. After thinking a little, Edward exhales sharply and comes to them confidently, pronouncing gently:
“Excuse me…”
The woman and the man stop talking and move their eyes to Edward.
“Didn’t you see a tall girl with dark hair wearing jeans and a black leather jacket?”
“Erm…” the man stutters. “A similar girl was walking here.”
“Yes, she was crying her eyes out,” the woman adds with sadness in her eyes. “As if one of her close people died.”
“Do you know where she went?” Edward asks thoughtfully.
“Seems like there.” The man points to the left side of the hall. “Yes, right! There!”
“And then she turned to the right,” the woman adds.
“I got you,” Edward replies quietly. “Thank you so much.”
Edward turns around quickly and goes to where the man and the woman told him, while they watch him with a little sad look and then keep talking about something as if he did not come to them. MacClife, Jr., goes down the long, wide hall of the hospital confidently and looks around closely. White walls and the smell of cures in the air make him feel discomfort and a wish to leave this place as possible. It’s getting dark outside, while the hospital is lighted up with very bright ceiling lamps. It seems like it’s still daylight, but the time on watches that hand in many places of the hospital, rooms, and offices on every floor let people know that it’s not the truth.
After walking down the empty hall, Edward does not find Raquelle. At some moment, the man stops and looks around, thinking about where to go and starting to give up slowly. However, he does not have to think for a long time because he hears the quiet sounds that are alike a girl’s hard cry from afar. MacClife, Jr., follows them confidently, while they get louder and cleaner as long as he comes. And later, Edward finds Raquelle sitting on the cold, dirty wall, crying her eyes out, pressing her legs bent at the knees to herself, and closing her face with both hands in the most unpopularplace in the hospital. The man watches her with shocked eyes full of pity for two seconds and comes to the girl determinedly.
“Raquelle, what are you doing here?” Edward asks softly, squats down, and caresses Raquelle’s hand. “We are all looking for you!”
But Raquelle says nothing and keeps crying her heart out.
“Please, darling, don’t torture yourself like this,” Edward begs with sadness in his eyes. “It hurts for all of us to see you so broken.”
“He will die, Edward…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice, moves her hands off her face, and moves her eyes full of tears to Edward. “I’ll lose Terrence…”
“No, no, don’t say that,” Edward shakes his head. “Terrence won’t die. He’ll live for you.”
“No hope for the best…”
“My brother is a strong man and must get through it.”
“The doctor did say the dose of a sedative in his blood was lethal.”
“But he let us know that not everything is lost.”
“Nope… Everything’s lost…”
“No, Raquelle, please, don’t…”
But because Raquelle keeps crying even much more bitterly, Edward hugs her tightly with both arms, presses her to himself, and tenderly caresses her head, while she buries her nose in his shoulder.
“It’s okay, darling, it’s okay,” Edward says quietly and throws a quick look aside. “So, you know… Let’s get up. Don’t sit on the cold and dirty floor. Otherwise, you’re gonna get ill…”
At first, Edward gets up, and then he lifts Raquelle, who just lets him do it. He brings the girl to the chair, seats her on it, and sits down next to her, hugging her tightly around the shoulders and pressing her to himself.
“Listen, Raquelle, I’m also terribly worried about Terrence and afraid that he might die,” Edward confesses with sadness in his eyes. “I’ve never hidden how much my brother means to me. My mother and father are also restless. The guys don’t feel better.”
“I knew that the nightmare was a sign,” Raquelle replies in a shaking voice. “Everything happened like it was in my dream…”
“Maybe, that’s true, but don’t get stuck on it.”
“If it died in my nightmare, he will die now. I shall lose him, Edward… Lose…”
“No, no, Raquelle, don’t say it, please.”
“I can’t live without him…” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “I can’t.”
“Dreams mean nothing. Even if you see someone’s death, it doesn’t mean they will die.”
“It means! I’ve never been wrong in my presentiments! If I say someone is gonna get in trouble, it will happen.”
“Yeah, I also believed in that nightmare when Terrence told me about it. And I was trying to change everything somehow. And if I had reacted in time, I wouldn’t have let Terrence sacrifice himself.”
“No, Edward, you’re guilty of nothing,” Raquelle shakes her head with tears in her eyes. “I’m the one to blame for everything. I should’ve felt it and saved Terrence.”
“Gosh, how could you know it would happen?” Edward takes Raquelle’s hands softly. “None of us has a magical power to see the future and change events…”
“I foresaw some trouble and could’ve prevented it.”
“Please, sweetie, don’t blame yourself for what you’re not guilty.”
“I’m guilty of many things for Terrence! Many!”
“Gosh, did you decide to recall all your past fights?” Edward exhales sharply.
“I didn’t become such a wonderful sweetheart that Terrence deserved. I’ve never been the one… From the beginning of our relationship… I was madly lucky that we decided to give each other another chance. Even though I did not deserve it.”
“Raquelle…”
“He’ll leave me. Get sick of tolerating me and being with me… He’s gonna find another girl and be happy with her… And I’m gonna suffer… Bite my elbows because I did not appreciate what I had.”
“Listen, Raquelle, you don’t understand what you’re saying,” Edward shakes his head, hugs Raquelle tightly with both arms, and presses her to himself. “I understand it’s hard for you, but you must hold on and be strong. For Terrence.”
“I know what I say,” Raquelle replies in a shaking voice. “I know I’m gonna stay alone. No matter if Terrence dies, he will leave.”
“No, sweetie, you won’t lose him,” Edward protests confidently. “Terrence loves you too much to leave you. You are the reason why he is living. My brother would’ve gone insane if you hadn’t found the courage to save your relationship.”
“You don’t understand…”
“I know my brother well and see that he needs nobody but you. He doesn’t deny that you’re the only one to breathe into him and keep the fire inside him. Someone would hardly give him the emotions that you give him.”
“He will not let me get closer to him if he knows what I’ve been trying to tell him for a long time,” Raquelle confesses in a low voice, looking into the distance with dead eyes. “Terrence would kick me out of my home with my stuff or go to live in another place…”
“Raquelle, stop saying stupid things!” Edward says confidently, softly caressing Raquelle on the head. “It’s okay… It’s okay…”
“Your brother will not forgive me… He will consider me a betrayer…”
“Please stop torturing yourself. Knowing that you’re going crazy and falling into depression would be too much for us. And what Terrence would feel if he knew what you’re doing to you! I’m sure he wouldn’t like to see you like this.”
“Oh, I’ve been in a depression for a long time…” Raquelle steps back from Edward and, quietly sniffing, moves her tear-stained eyes to her hands. “I’m tearing into little pieces that would hardly be pasted together again… And if Terrence leaves me, I shall lose the reason to live…”
“Why do you think he must leave you?” Edward wonders.
“Because of what I’m hiding from him… If he knows everything, he will not forgive me…”
“Listen, you’re really scaring me,” Edward says anxiously. “You’re saying weird things.”
“It’s true, Edward… I’m guilty of Terrence…”
“Darling…” Edward embraces Raquelle around the shoulders, while she presses herself to him with pleasure, putting her arms around his arm, and putting her head on his shoulder. “Listen… I also pull my hair out because of shame for Terrence and the lads. But I’m trying to hold on. It’s madly hard. But I’m holding on. Because I know many people I should calm down need me.”
“You understand nothing, Edward…” Raquelle sobs quietly. “You haven’t had to experience what Terrence is gonna run into when I confess everything to him.”
“But what should you confess to him?” Edward wonders. “What kind of secret are you hiding from him if he must get mad and leave you immediately?”
“Terrible…” Raquelle shakes her head, literally choking with tears.
“And why do you think Terrence would leave you? I’m sure he’ll understand everything! No matter what it is!”
“He will not…” Raquelle steps back from Edward sharply and makes two sobs. “Terrence will leave me when he finds out that I lost his baby!”
“What baby?” Edward rounds his eyes.
“I was pregnant…” Raquelle confesses in a shaking voice. “But I experienced a miscarriage… And if your brother knows it, it will be the end of our relationship.”
Edward gets sharply pale and rounds his eyes full of horror, looking at Raquelle questioningly and literally stopping to breathe. He becomes speechless for a few seconds, but then he finds the strength to pronounce just something in a quiet, shaking voice:
“W-what? What did you say?”
“I lost a baby,” Raquelle confesses with tears in her eyes. “It’s not a secret for us how much Terrence wants a baby… And I understand that I am ready to become a mother. I want a baby from your brother. But when I got pregnant, I lost our child.”
“Oh…” Edward pronounces quietly, slowly puts his hand to his mouth, closes it, and shakes his head slowly. “I can’t believe it…”
“It’s true, Edward. I couldn’t give birth to the one.”
“Wait, wait, but how? How did it happen? How did it happen that you lost that baby? When?”
“It’s a long story…”
“Oh, damn, I can’t breathe…” Edward slightly pulls his t-shirt, looking around with dumbfounded eyes. “My gosh…”
“I don’t lie, Edward, I swear,” Raquelle replies with despair. “I really had a miscarriage!”
“But why? What did you do? Are you ill? Are you not able to give birth?”
“No…” Raquelle makes another quiet sob and moves her eyes to her hands. “I found out about my pregnancy during the trial of your uncle Michael. Somewhere two weeks after the start of the trial, I began to feel weakness, dizziness, nausea, and a wish to faint. But I thought it was just stress…”
“During the trial of Michael?” Edward wonders.
“Yup…” Raquelle looks at her hands and moves her red, wet eyes to Edward. “But I didn’t get better… I always wanted to sleep, but sometimes I felt nausea from the view of specific food… It made me suspicious and… On one of the free days, I decided to go to a doctor and told nobody about it.”
“And Terrence?”
“Yes, Terrence didn’t know anything. I wasn’t too scared when making tests and having an examination. But when the doctor told me I was pregnant, my world turned upside down. I mean… I was happy… But it also got me shocked and scared. The trial was very nervous and made us lose much strength. And I didn’t know how to tell Terrence about it. And not to make him suspicious, I had to hide any weakness and blame stress caused by the trial when he showed anxiety.”
“So, didn’t Terrence know you were expecting a child?”
“No, he didn’t…” Raquelle makes a quiet sob and wipes a tear rolling down her cheek. “Two or three weeks later, we had a free day again, and Terrence was spending it with you, Peter, and Daniel in the studio. The girls were busy with something, and I was at home all alone. The servants went home… We let them go for a weekend… I was doing my business and thought of nothing bad… But at some moment, I suddenly felt bad. I felt a very strong pain in my lower abdomen… I was literally doubling over from pain… And when I barely came to the bathroom, I… Saw I was bleeding. Blood was flowing on my legs… I screamed from fear. Fear of losing my baby. It was the first thought that I got when I saw blood.”
“My gosh…”
“At first, I didn’t know what to do,” Raquelle says in a low voice and moves her eyes aside, locking her shaking hands tightly. “I screamed from pain, cried, and prayed to God that my child was safe. And I eventually decided to go to the hospital and warn nobody.”
“But why didn’t you call an ambulance at home? Why did you go to the hospital by yourself? Alone!”
“I was scared… I was scared that I was all alone… I was so desperate that I got into my car and went… I felt a terrible pain, but I was tolerating it… I… Was able to drive a car… Thank God, I arrived quickly and immediately got first aid. And some time later, the doctor killed me with the news that I had lost a baby. Lost, Edward! I lost the little baby that I could be holding in my arms now.”
“But how it happened that nobody knew anything? The doctors from the hospital must’ve called one of your close people!”
“I left the hospital on the same day.” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “A few hours later… The doctors insisted that I stayed. They said I must’ve stayed under their view, at least for a few days. But I did not stay there… And I left. I had to sign a document about taking responsibility for everything, and the hospital wouldn’t be. So, I went home. And then I slept a lot and lied. Some time later, I got better. Psychically. I felt terrible morally.”
“How awful…” Edward shakes his head with horror in his eyes.
“I still can’t come to myself after the shock that I felt on the day when I lost my baby. If I had cared about myself, the baby would’ve been born. But I didn’t do it, and I paid for that… I’ve been suffering for a few months. I kept everything inside. Nobody knows what happened then yet. I was silent. Until today. You’re the first one to know this secret.”
At first, Edward thought Raquelle was not herself, but now he does not think so. The girl is shaking too strongly. She is crying too bitterly after confessing everything. The shocked MacClife, Jr., becomes speechless and cannot say anything for a few seconds, closely looking at the fiancée of his brother with widely open eyes. Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, which may be broken only by Raquelle’s sobs, but later, Edward starts to speak after exhaling slowly and running his hand over his face:
“How awful… I can’t believe it…”
“Now do you understand why Terrence’s gonna be angry at me?” Raquelle asks in a low voice and sniffs quietly. “He’s gonna leave me if he finds out that I hid my miscarriage from him. That I did not save our child.”
“Unbelievable…” Edward puts his hand on his forehead. “I dunno what to say!”
“My lie will ruin our relationship. It will…”
“But why?” Edward wonders. “Why didn’t you say it before? Was the fear of Terrence’s reaction the reason for that?”
“He’ll break up with me, Edward!” Raquelle sobs loudly. “You do know his irascible character! Terrence will immediately get angry, blame me for everything, and kick me out of the home with my stuff. And he’ll think I’m not able to give birth to a baby.”
“Did you think silence would be better for him? Better for your relationship?”
“I’m really sorry… I swear, I wanted to tell him about my pregnancy, but did not do it. I got a miscarriage.”
“And were you gonna tell him everything for two weeks?”
“I didn’t know how!”
“Listen, Raquelle…” Edward says nothing for two seconds and exhales slowly, putting his hands together and bringing them to his mouth. “I’m really very sorry about what happened. But you did a bad thing to my brother. Terrence was the father of that baby. He must’ve known about your pregnancy and miscarriage. You could say nothing to his parents, your aunt, your grandfather, or me. And you could especially say nothing to our friends. But my brother is your fiancé. Mr. Cameron used to be responsible for you, but you’re gonna get a husband, who took on this responsibility.”
“I know. No excuses for my silence…”
“I agree that Terrence’s character is not perfect, but that doesn’t mean you should hide everything from him. A lie doesn’t save your relationship, it destroys it.”
“I didn’t want Terrence to know everything from other people. I wanted to confess everything. Though, I still haven't found the courage to do it.”
“But he’ll find it out early or late.”
“I know, I know…” Raquelle closes her face with both hands and doubles over. “I knew everybody would judge me! Fear of being judged also made me silent.”
“Wait, is that what you said nothing about?” Edward asks thoughtfully, putting a finger on his lip. “What we tried to find out so hard?”
“Yup… You all wanted to know my secret – here it is! I’ve told you all the truth.”
“We suspected that something wasn’t right with you. And we suspected that your secret had to do with Terrence.”
“I was so scared,” Raquelle confesses in a shaking voice. “I understood I was doing a terrible thing and acting like a coward. But I couldn’t get through my fears. It was killing me… And while nobody saw it, I was crying and pulling my hair out… Sometimes I even saw nightmares. I often cried at night, and Terrence caught me several times and sacrificed his sleep to calm me down. He was giving his everything for me, but my heart was squeezing at the thought that I was doing that to him.”
“Oh, Raquelle, poor girl…” Edward embraces Raquelle and presses her to himself, caressing her head, while she answers his hug cravenly, cries bitterly, and buries her nose in his shoulder. “I’m really very sorry. I’m sorry that your baby wasn’t born.”
“I’m ashamed… Ashamed of lying to him and everybody. I said everything was fine, looking into the people’s eyes. Even if they saw something wasn’t right with me.”
“Terrence was also worried about you and didn’t know the reason for your tears. We felt sorry for him. Because he was suffering.”
“I’m so sick, Edward…” Raquelle replies in a shaking voice and sniffs quietly. “Sick of worrying! I always think I’m gonna go crazy… Fall down from the cliff to the endless space… But I am holding the edge so hard for my close people. Because I know they need me… At first, I was broken because of the miscarriage and the fear of confessing everything. But now I’m scared because I might lose Terrence again.”
“Quiet, quiet, darling,” Edward says softly, embracing Raquelle tighter. “You won’t lose him.”
“He will leave me even if he survived. He’s gonna get sick of the way I’ve treated him from the beginning.”
“Terrence’s gonna be fine. Since the doctors ask us not to lose hope, they believe that he can get through it. He must get through it. My brother is a healthy, strong, and enduring man. And Terrence knows he must live. For his close people.”
“I’ll have no meaning in life if I lose him… I’ll have no reason to live without the one I love to death.”
“You won’t lose him, Raquelle.” Edward takes Raquelle’s hand with a free hand. “We won’t lose Terrence.”
“He’s gonna kill me…” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “If he knows about the child… I made everything much worse by deciding that silence would be better.”
“Yes, maybe, Terrence will be angry at you for lying to him and hiding your miscarriage. But I’m sure he’ll understand everything later. Though, the case is not about the lie. The case is that his baby died. No matter how rude it sounds, you deprived him of this hope.”
“I know… I could not save our child.”
“You didn’t go to get an abortion. Everything just happened at a bad time. Many women experience miscarriage. Somehow, my mother told me about her friend, who could not save her child, even if she was absolutely healthy at first sight.”
“But I am healthy! I don’t have problems with giving birth! My grandfather weaned me to having an examination and giving samples regularly, even if I felt good.”
“I just want to let you know you’re not the only one to have a miscarriage. Women of any age lose their babies. It happens for different reasons.”
“Sometimes I think Michael MacClife cursed us. Terrence and me.”
“Maybe…” Edward exhales slowly with closed eyes. “A-r-r… Fucking Uncle Michael… I wish you died in prison, scumbag… Because of you, the child wasn’t born.”
“I feel so bad, Edward,” Raquelle makes a quiet sob, shaking strongly from tension. “I feel I’m giving in more and more and literally want to die.”
“No, no, Raquelle, don’t dare to say it! You hear me?”
“I can’t… I’m on edge! I already wanna die!”
“No, Raquelle, no!” Edward sharply steps back from Raquelle, grabs her face with both hands, and raises it, making her look into his eyes with a heavy breath. “Don’t even dare to think about these things! Did you think about what would happen to us if we lost you? What would happen to Terrence? Your grandfather? Aunt?”
“It’s inevitable!” Raquelle exclaims with despair. “If I don’t lose Terrence now, and he survives, I’ll lose him later, when I confess why I was torturing him and myself for so long.”
“If my brother is too attracted to you, he won’t leave you, even despite your bad act.”
“Terrence deserves all the best…” Raquelle sniffs quietly, moving her eyes down. “I can’t make him as happy as he should be. I… I can’t build a relationship. I can’t…”
“Raquelle, stop saying stupid things! My brother loves you and nobody else! I’ve told you that he almost went insane when you decided to break up. He almost tried to kill himself! A man would never grieve because of a girl, who means nothing to him. Even if you didn’t appreciate him at first, you conquered him somehow.”
“I’ve never been a perfect girlfriend to him,” Raquelle replies in a strongly shaking voice. “I swear I tried to learn it, but I didn’t do it.”
“A human can fall in love with someone for any reason. You don’t have to be a tiger in a bed, cook the best dishes, and listen to them for hours. Sometimes they like a small thing that you probably don’t notice or don’t like. If Terrence didn’t love you, he wouldn’t be with you. I wouldn’t be with Natalia if I was indifferent to her. And Peter wouldn’t be with Helene if he felt nothing for her…”
“Gosh, why am I such an idiot? Why? Is being someone’s girlfriend or wife not for me?”
“No, honey, you’ll be a wonderful wife for my brother.”
“What do I do? How do I save the situation?”
“The best thing you can do is tell him everything. When Terrence leaves the hospital, you must tell him about the baby.”
“I’m afraid, Edward!” Raquelle exclaims with horror in her eyes. “I’m terribly afraid to talk about it. Afraid to hear that your brother is blaming me for all my sins. And leaving me.”
“Okay, let me do it? I’ll talk to Terrence and try to make him softer if he gets angry at you!”
“No!” Raquelle sharply takes Edward’s hands and looks into his eyes with pity. “Please, don’t tell anyone about it!”
“What?” Edward rounds his eyes.
“Please, Edward, don’t tell anyone about what I told you. I must confess everything by myself! It would be fair!”
“But, Raquelle, you can say nothing about it forever,” Edward replies hesitantly. “I can’t hide it for too long. Terrence will understand that I know something and start to question me. No matter what, I will have to tell my brother what I know.”
“I’m begging you, don’t tell Terrence and the others about my miscarriage.” Raquelle takes Edward’s hands tighter. “I know your brother may be mad at you if he finds out that you know everything. But I’d rather say it by myself. You shouldn’t meddle and suffer because of my mistakes.”
“Terrence should know about the baby. Our friends could hear it later, but he must learn it as soon as possible.”
“I swear, I will explain everything. But please, don’t say that you know it. I will do anything you want for you to be silent… Please, Edward, for God’s sake…”
Edward thinks about something for a few seconds before he, caressing Raquelle’s shoulder softly and holding her hand tightly, says quietly:
“Okay, Raquelle. I will tell nobody about it. If you decide to tell Terrence, it will be very good. If you wanna share it with your friends, grandfather, aunt, or my father and father, we all will support you. But remember that Terrence must know about the miscarriage after he leaves the hospital.”
“I will tell him everything, I promise.” Raquelle makes a quiet sob. “But not now. While Terrence is in a hospital, I don’t want to do it.”
“Anyway, remember that I’ll support you anyway.” Edward takes Raquelle’s hands. “And I’ll try to make Terrence softer if he gets angry. Of course, I ain’t sure that I can do it, but I’ll do everything I can.”
“Thank you so much, Edward,” Raquelle thanks in a shaking voice with tears. “You’re a wonderful man.”
Edward cracks a smile and hugs Raquelle tightly but tenderly, caressing her head or back softly, while the girl is crying her heart out on his shoulder.
“Okay, honey, calm down,” Edward says quietly. “A little bit before you make me shed a tear. And I feel lousy now.”
“I can do nothing…” Raquelle sniffs.
“I completely understand you. Because I’m also terribly worried about my brother.”
“If you hadn’t been next to him, I would’ve lost him. And if it really saves his life, I’ll be madly grateful to you if your reactions saved my fiancé.”
Edward steps slowly away from Raquelle and caresses her shoulders and forearms softly, comforting her in all ways, even if he feels too bad now. Some time later, they hear a woman’s heels on the tiled floor from afar, and then the excited Natalia comes here.
“Oh, there you are!” Natalia exhales with relief. “We’ve walked in almost the whole hospital!”
“I thought I’d find her quickly, but the search took longer,” Edward replies with sadness in his eyes.
“Are the others still here?” Raquelle sniffs quietly.
“They are,” Natalia nods. “But Alicia just called Mrs. MacClife and said she’d take Amanda away from here. And Daniel went somewhere. To find out something about his sister, I guess.”
“How’s she doing?” Edward asks with anxiety. “Nothing is known?”
“No yet, Daniel hasn’t come to us. And he’s probably gonna delay this moment because of Anna.”
“I see…” Edward exhales slowly and stands up from the chair slowly. “Okay, I think we better go back to the others.”
“Yeah, let’s go before everybody goes on different sides.”
Meanwhile, Raquelle makes a quiet sob, then gets up, and runs her hands over her face.
“God, if only Terrence survived,” Raquelle begs. “I’d give anything for him to be alive.”
“It’s gonna be okay, darling,” Natalia replies softly, comes to Raquelle, and embraces her. “Terrence will get well. The doctors did their work. Now it’s up to MacClife. But I’m sure he can overcome it.”
“Nothing can help him… He will die.”
“He will not. The doctors say not everything was lost! If the situation was hopeless, we’d be told that. Moreover, if not for Edward, we would’ve lost him.”
“But it doesn’t make sure that my man will survive.”
“We were told the overdose was not very high. So, Terrence has a chance to survive. And he will surely survive. You’re the whole world to him. He needs you as much as you need him. You must be glad he was lucky to get only half of the sedative from that syringe because Edward got the needle out in time. Otherwise, everything would’ve been over where the lads were and fighting with that crazy stinker.”
“Now I appreciate him as much as never ever.” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “And I can’t imagine my life without this man.”
“Your beloved man will always be with you, and you’re gonna have precious babies.”
“I’m not sure…”
“Please, Raquelle, don’t say it as if your life is over, and you wanna literally die.”
“I will wish this after I lose Terrence. Without him, there will be no meaning in living!”
“No, Raquelle, I’m begging you, don’t say such terrible things!” Natalia hugs Raquelle tightly with tears in her eyes and caresses her head, while the brunette cries on her shoulder. “You’re hurting me… I don’t want to lose you… You’re my closest friend.”
“I’m sick, Natalia… I have no strength to take it all.”
“Friend…”
“Why do I have to tolerate these tortures? Why?”
“It’s okay, we can overcome it all.”
“I didn’t complete my mission of being a perfect girl to him.”
“If you were a bad girl for Terrence, he would leave you and find another girl. But he did propose to you and loves you even with all your caprices.”
“He found another girl once…” Raquelle recalls in a shaking voice. “I got him furious and made him look for an affair. I realized how much he was important to me too late.”
“He did say his affair with that girl was a fake,” Edward recalls. “Terrence pretended to be in love with her for a job at the band of her father and a wish to kick you.”
“It would’ve been fair if he’d been with her. I’ve never been a good girl to him. And such a wonderful man like Terrence deserves all the best.”
“My gosh, Raquelle, get these things out of your head,” Natalia begs with pity in her eyes and takes Raquelle’s hands. “You need to calm down. I completely understand all your pain. But you should believe in the best and be strong, at least for your fiancé.”
“I can’t… I can’t!”
“Natalia is absolutely right, darling,” Edward says softly, caressing Raquelle’s shoulder. “You should be strong for Terrence. He wouldn’t be happy if he saw you being like this. Soon, you’re gonna let my brother know that he’s gotta find the light at the end of a tunnel that will bring him to you.”
“I feel so bad…” Raquelle pronounces loudly, with despair. “Very, very bad… I have no strength… I won’t bear it all…”
“Darling…” Natalia pronounces with tears in her eyes.
“It’s madness…”
Natalia sighs heavily and hugs Raquelle tightly, throwing a dumbfounded look at Edward at some moment, while he just shakes his head silently with a feeling that his heart squeezes every time the girl makes loud sobs full of despair.
“Raquelle, please, don’t torture yourself like this,” Edward begs with pity in his eyes, softly caressing Raquelle’s head. “Looking at you gets us horrified.”
“I feel bad…” Raquelle makes a loud sob. “Very bad… I can’t take this anymore…”
“You must be strong. For Terrence. He needs you. If you brace yourself and help my brother, he will come to himself sooner. Now you’re our hope. If you’re next to him, it will help him. He will not find a way home without you.”
“No…” Natalia exhales sharply with sadness in her eyes. “It’s worthless… We can’t calm her down.”
“I think so…” Edward sighs tiredly, putting a hand to his forehead. “She won’t calm down until Terrence wakes up.”
“And what do we do?”
“I dunno, Natalia, I dunno… I’m confused!”
Then they hear someone’s steps somewhere far away, and they get a little louder two seconds later.
“Oh, someone’s coming here,” Natalia assumes thoughtfully. “Your parents, I guess.”
“I’m sorry that they can also do nothing,” Edward replies with sadness in his eyes. “They need to be calmed down. Especially, my mother.”
“Maybe, I go to buy a couple of bottles of water? The girls and I wanted to buy them, but we forgot about it because of the talk with Daniel.”
“Yup, I would drink water now… My mouth is dry…”
“Okay, I’ll be back now.”
Natalia steps back from Raquelle, caresses her shoulders, and goes down the hall slowly. And when the blonde hides in the corner, the excited Rebecca and Jamie show up there two moments later and come to Edward, while he is hugging the crying Raquelle tightly with both arms.
“Edward, finally!” Rebecca exhales with relief. “We’ve been looking for you.”
“Hey, where did Natalia go?” Jamie asks. “She went by us and said she’d be back soon.”
“She went to buy water,” Edward explains.
“Okay…” Jamie glances at Raquelle, comes to her, and hugs her softly. “Raquelle, darling… Don’t torture yourself like this.”
“Yes, sweetheart, you’re gonna get crazy,” Rebecca adds with sadness in her eyes. “And get, heaven forbids, ill.”
“If Terrence is not by my side, I will not care,” Raquelle replies without emotions.
“We all understand your pain, sweetie,” Jamie says softly. “How bad Rebecca and I feel as parents! But we do believe that our son will survive. Our Terrence is a strong man! He’s gotten through many things in his life.”
“You’ve always thought I’m a perfect partner for Terrence, but that’s not the truth. I’ve never been the one.”
“God, girl, what are you talking about?” Rebecca gets horrified.
“It’s true…” Raquelle says nothing for two seconds, looking into the distance with dead eyes. “You can’t even imagine what I’m hiding from your son… If Terrence finds it out, he’ll break up with me.”
“No, Raquelle, don’t say that.”
“Terrence will not forgive me, Mrs. MacClife,” Raquelle replies with tears and despair. “Because I've been lying to him and hiding a terrible secret from him.”
“But, Raquelle…” Jamie shakes his head. “What are you hiding from Terrence that you’re so afraid to tell him?”
“If you have some problems, tell us,” Rebecca suggests. “We’ll try to help you.”
“It’s too late to change something,” Raquelle replies without emotions. “Because everything has happened.”
“But what’s your problem?”
Raquelle hesitantly looks at Rebecca and Jamie by one before she says in a shaking voice:
“The problem is that I lost a baby.”
Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, and Rebecca and Jamie open their eyes widely, look at each other questioningly, move their surprised glances to Raquelle, and throw it to Edward, who shakes his head with sadness in his eyes.
“W-what?” Jamie pronounces in a shaking voice.
“What do you mean, ‘you lost a baby?’” Rebecca gets horrified.
“It’s true,” Edward nods. “Raquelle just told me about it.”
“But how?” Jamie wonders. “How did it happen? When?”
“During the trial of your brother,” Raquelle replies without emotions. “You know, that time was hard and nervous. But I found out that I was expecting a child… Real chaos was happening in the courtroom… And two weeks later, it led to the miscarriage… Nobody knew about my pregnancy and miscarriage. Nobody knew it until now.”
Jamie looks around the whole hall with shocked eyes and puts his hand on his forehead, while Rebecca shakes her head with wet eyes.
“Oh, God…” Rebecca barely moves her lips.
“The trial of my brother?” Jamie specifies. “Were you expecting a baby at that time?”
“Yes…” Raquelle nods, looking at Rebecca and Jamie guiltily. “But I swear I didn’t know it would happen. It happened accidentally!”
“Oh, damn…”
“Wait, is that why you have been so weird all this time?” Rebecca asks thoughtfully. “Is that what you were hiding?”
“Yes…” Raquelle confirms.
“So, that’s the truth! We started to notice your weird behavior since the time of the trial of Michael.”
“Right… I got pregnant at that time.”
“But why did you say nothing? Gosh, it’s been so long since the trial of Michael and his gang was over! But you just told us about it!”
“I was terribly afraid to tell Terrence about it,” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “I was shaking at the thought that he’d leave me in a rage… Think I couldn’t give birth to the baby that he wanted so badly. And I didn’t tell the others because someone could tell him. Though, I wanted to confess everything by myself. However, I haven’t done it… And I lied that I was fine. Looking into your eyes.”
“But do you understand that Terrence will know it anyway?” Jamie says quietly.
“I do. But I’m afraid…”
“Afraid or not, you did a bad thing. You must not have hidden that you were pregnant and lost your baby from my son.”
“I understand it, Mr. MacClife! I’m very sorry about what happened.”
“Did you want to be silent when you had a big belly?” Rebecca wonders.
“I wanted, but I experienced a miscarriage!”
“Yeah, girl, you surprised us,” Jamie exhales sharply, crossing his arms over his chest. “I didn’t expect it from you… You’re a girl with brains, but you’re doing some bullshit.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. MacClife… The fear of losing my beloved man didn’t let me do that. That’s why I didn’t sleep at night and was crying secretly from everybody.”
“I’m afraid you’ll make him much angrier if you tell him everything now,” Rebecca assumes confidently. “You’ve been lying to him for so many months. My son was pulling his hair out when trying to understand why you were so weird, and how he could help you. And sometimes he thought the problem was with him.”
“It’s true,” Edward nods. “Terrence was afraid you fell out of love with him. And you didn’t get a love for him.”
“No, it’s not true!” Raquelle protests with tears in her eyes. “I love Terrence and am ready for anything for him!”
“If you loved him, you wouldn’t have made him suffer all this time,” Rebecca replies confidently.
“Don’t you believe I love your son?”
“Maybe, you love. But you don’t prove it.”
“Moreover, we don’t even approve of the fact that you said it to Rebecca, Edward, and me first,” Jamie confesses quietly. “Yes, the baby was the grandchild of Rebecca and me and Edward’s nephew or niece. But the father was Terrence! As well as a mother, he must know everything about his child.”
“Forgive me!” Raquelle apologizes with tears and despair. “Please… I’m ashamed of doing that…”
“You must apologize to Terrence, not me,” Rebecca says quietly. “For preferring to lie to him.”
“I didn’t want it…”
“You’ve always known about his wish to become a father, and Jamie and I don’t hide that we want grandchildren. But you deprived him of hope.”
“I’m not ill, I swear! I can give birth to many children! My miscarriage happened because I was too worried.”
“Terrence is going to be furious when he knows it. I’m afraid to imagine what’s gonna happen, knowing about his harsh character.”
“I know…”
“We are truly sorry for you and Terrence. But we have to admit that your act is irresponsible. And you did a bad thing by deciding to tell us everything now. His close people, not your fiancé.”
“I wanted to confess everything! I swear!”
“Raquelle, you know very well that we all love you very much and have accepted you with open arms,” Jamie says confidently. “But I repeat, we do not approve of your act towards Terrence.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“So, as you haven’t said it to Terrence, we will have to do it,” Rebecca says.
“No!” Raquelle makes a quiet sob, looking at Rebecca and Jamie with pity in her eyes. “Mrs. MacClife, Mr. MacClife, for Christ… Don’t tell Terrence anything! And don’t say it to our friends.”
“Since you haven’t confessed it, you’ll never find the courage and will lie to my son until the end,” Jamie replies quietly.
“Please, Mr. MacClife!”
“We understand that confessing your life is harder than telling the truth. But your fiancé must know the truth.”
“And don’t try to excuse yourself with the trial,” Rebecca says gloomily. “It’s not a reason to keep silent about your pregnancy and hide it from your fiancé.”
“I know I did a terrible thing,” Raquelle replies in a much higher voice. “But please, don’t tell Terrence anything. I swear, if he survives and leaves the hospital soon, I will tell him the truth. If he wants to leave me, I shall call it my punishment. But if he understands and forgives me, I will do my best not to let it happen again.”
“How do we know that you will really do it?” Jamie asks quietly.
“Please, let me do it by myself. It would be much better if Terrence heard everything from me, not you. I’m begging you… Don’t betray me…”
Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, during which Raquelle looks at Rebecca and Jamie with red and fluffy eyes, and they look at each other and think about something with gloomy faces.
“Please, Mom, Dad…” Edward pronounces softly. “It would be better if Terrence knew about the baby from Raquelle. Yes, maybe, he’s gonna get mad at her. And get angry at us for not telling him the truth. But please, give Raquelle a chance… She’ll tell him everything, I am sure.”
The fact that Terrence should learn about the baby from Raquelle makes Jamie and Rebecca agree to do what the girl wants. They let her know about it a few seconds later after they look at each other and sigh tiredly.
“Alright, Raquelle, we give you a chance to confess everything,” Jamie says quietly. “But remember, if you don’t find the courage to do it, we will have to tell him everything. We won’t let our son suffer and torture himself with guesses.”
“You promised us to explain everything if Terrence left the hospital,” Rebecca adds. “I hope you got it?”
“Yes, yes, I got it,” Raquelle nods confidently, wiping tears off her face. “I promise I will tell him everything… Terrence will know the truth soon…”
“Good. Let’s hope that he’ll keep his emotions under control.”
“And I ask you not to tell Natalia, my aunt, and grandfather, and all our friends about it. I shall confess everything when I’m ready.”
“Don’t worry, Raquelle,” Edward says softly, putting his hand on Raquelle’s shoulder. “Nobody will know this secret until you talk about it. But try to tell him everything as soon as possible. So, you feel easier.”
“I know, Edward. I shall say everything. I promise.”
Rebecca looks at Raquelle with sympathy and hugs her two seconds later, while the girl shakes slightly from tension and sobs from time to time.
“I’m very sorry that you had to experience the death of the baby,” Rebecca expresses regret. “Pain of losing a baby is unbearable… But thank God, you still have a chance to make Terrence’s dream come true and make him a father.”
“I want it so much, too,” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “And I really want Terrence to survive and leave the hospital, being healthy.”
“You will not lose him, honey. We will not lose that man. My son will overcome it.”
Rebecca steps back from Raquelle slowly, caresses her shoulders softly, and fixes her hair slightly. And then Jamie hugs the crying girl.
“I’m also very sorry for the baby,” Jamie says with sadness in his eyes. “The child wasn’t guilty of the fact that everything happened at a bad time.”
“Yeah, during the trial…” Raquelle sniffs quietly.
“Oh…” Jamie exhales sharply and glances aside. “Michael… Burn in hell, scumbag! I shall hate that man until the end of my life. The absolutely innocent baby of Terrence wasn’t born because of that cad.”
“He’s kind of into black magic and cursed Terrence,” Edward says thoughtfully with sadness in his eyes.
“Maybe…” Jamie steps back from Raquelle and just hugs her around the shoulders. “He would hate Terrence’s child as much as he hated your brother, you, and me.”
“Oh, Michael loved nobody but those, who served him, and made his wishes come true immediately,” Rebecca says confidently. “It’s not amazing that he hasn’t met a woman and become a father.”
“I wouldn’t like to have as mean and jealous nephews and nieces as my brother.”
Edward unwittingly recalls Eugene saying that Michael had a crush on Rebecca, and the fact that she chose Jamie made him much angrier and hate this man and his beloved woman much more. MacClife, Jr., does not know if those words are true, but he decides to say nothing to his parents, at least now.
“Raquelle, let me ask you,” Rebecca says thoughtfully. “What was your pregnancy term?”
“Somewhere two months…” Raquelle replies hesitantly. “But now I would’ve given birth to the baby…”
“Wow…” Jamie pronounces. “Some time before the day when we got the date of the first day of the trial.”
“That’s correct… Everything was getting better: Michael and his accomplices got arrested, Edward reconciled with Natalia, and Peter woke up after he tried to die and explained why he did it.”
“And I joined the band,” Edward adds thoughtfully. “Right?”
“Yup, right… I was expecting a child…” Raquelle sighs heavily. “And I didn’t know it.”
“You aren’t guilty of getting pregnant when we were all terribly nervous,” Rebecca says with sadness in her eyes. “I’m sure that you would’ve carried and given birth to the baby if you had known about it at the right time.”
Raquelle says nothing and just looks at Rebecca and Jamie with sadness in her eyes. And two seconds later, Edward hears someone’s steps and quickly realizes that Natalia is coming here.
“Natalia is getting closer,” Edward warns.
While everybody falls into silence, Natalia comes to them, holding a couple of bottles of clean water, one of which she points to Edward.
“Thanks,” Edward pronounces quietly, takes the bottle, opens it, and drinks some water.
“Someone wants some water?” Natalia asks, giving the second bottle to Rebecca, Jamie, and Raquelle.
“No, thanks, I don’t want to eat and drink,” Raquelle refuses without emotions.
“Neither I, thanks,” Jamie says quietly.
Rebecca just shakes her head silently, saying that she does not also want to drink. Natalia shrugs, puts the bottle in her purse, and looks at everybody with sadness in her eyes.
“Maybe, we should come back to the others?” Natalia suggests. “When I left, there were only Peter and Helene. I guess they’re waiting for us in the same place.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Edward agrees. “Or the doctor won’t find us.”
Rebecca and Jamie nod silently, and Raquelle does not react and keeps looking down with dead eyes, embracing herself tightly with both arms. When Edward hugs Natalia and the fiancée of his brother at the same time, and the MacClife spouses press themselves close to each other, they leave this place with quite a slow step. They go down the halls for some time, come to the stairs and go down to the third floor they need. Nobody says a word, and everybody thinks about something, looking at each other at times. But some time later, Edward, Natalia, Raquelle, Rebecca, and Jamie go down the hall on the third floor and almost come to the place where at least Peter and Helene are supposed to be. But they run into the doctor, who informed them about Terrence’s health.
“Oh, that’s good you are here,” the doctor says, fixing the glasses on his nose. “I wanted to look for you.”
“We left for some time…” Edward replies a little hesitantly and moves his eyes to Raquelle. “We were looking for this girl. She left after you told us about my brother’s condition.”
“Yes, yes, your friends told me.”
“They are together?” Natalia asks.
“Nope, I talked with the two. The man with blond hair and a black-haired girl.”
“We got you.”
“And yeah, I need this girl now. The fiancée of Mr. MacClife.”
“Me?” Raquelle asks hesitantly.
“Yes,” the doctor nods, looking at Raquelle with sadness in his eyes. “Your friends said your name is Raquelle Cameron.”
“Yes, yes, it’s correct.”
“Ms. Cameron, I’m truly sympathizing with you and understand your feelings. But I beg you, do not bury Mr. MacClife earlier. The overdose rate is not very high, and overdosing does not guarantee death in all cases. Every person is individual: one dose of a sedative or something else might kill one, but not do it to another.”
“But you did say the dose that my fiancé got was out of the limit,” Raquelle says in a shaking voice.
“I repeat, the overdose is not very high, but overdosing does not always lead to death. Trust me, we had cases when some people took many packs of sedatives, poison, or chemicals, but they survived magically. We believe that we can help Mr. MacClife. But he should also help us and himself.”
“You think he can?”
“He’s tough enough at first sight. Young, just saying. But young people take any illness easier.”
“Are you sure?”
“Sure. And also, I want to notice that the dose of diphenhydramine in the organism of your fiancé was not mixed with alcohol, other cures, and, especially, drugs. It would’ve surely led to death. And be glad that not the entire dose got into his organism. Now we have a chance to save Mr. MacClife, and we will not give up. We never give up and do fight for the life of every single patient.”
“Please, doctor, save Terrence!” Raquelle begs with despair and tears in her eyes. “I want him to live! I can’t live without him! Please, do something… Anything! For him to be alive!”
“Do not doubt, Ms. Cameron.” The doctor softly takes Raquelle by the shoulders and caresses them. “We have done what we needed and are now just watching him and supporting his life.”
“We are all also madly worried about Terrence and want to see him alive,” Natalia confesses with sadness in her eyes. “He’s our close person that we love so much.”
“I understand you, Ms. I also have a wife and children, who I worry about when something is not right with them. But even in these hard situations, I believe I can help them.”
“We’re also trying to believe in the best,” Edward says quietly with sadness in his eyes. “But we can do nothing to Raquelle’s condition.”
“I see that Ms. Cameron is worried. And I must confess that she looks very bad… I would recommend you drive her home and make her have some rest and clean herself up.”
“Do not worry, doctor, we will drive her home and have some rest,” Rebecca promises. “But first, we want to go to Terrence’s room at least for two minutes or just to look at him from afar.”
“Yes, please, doctor, let us see my son,” Jamie says with sadness in his eyes. “We are his family and have a right to be with Terrence for some time.”
“I beg you, let me go to him,” Raquelle begs with despair. “Please. I must see him…”
“Please, doctor…” Edward pronounces with sadness in his eyes. “I want to see my brother…”
“Please, ladies and gentlemen, calm down,” the doctor replies softly. “I was looking for you to say that we just moved Mr. MacClife to a regular room, and you can visit him.”
“Oh, thank you so much, doctor,” Natalia thanks gently.
“He is unconscious now, but I believe your pretense will help him.”
“Thanks,” Edward nods.
The doctor moves his eyes to Raquelle and, frowning slightly, looks at Edward, to whom he comes a little closer.
“Erm, excuse me, Mister…” the doctor pronounces hesitantly.
“MacClife,” Edward pronounces.
“Yes, Mr. MacClife! Could you stay closer to Ms. Cameron? I do not like the way she looks. She is about to faint. I’ve seen many people like her for years of work and know what it would lead to.”
“Do not worry, doctor. I will watch her.”
“Good. Follow me then.”
The doctor turns around and goes somewhere with quite a quiet step. Edward, Raquelle, Natalia, Jamie, and Rebecca follow him, saying nothing and trying to get ready for what they are going to see in Terrence’s room. While the doctor leads everybody down the long and wide halls by some people, going downstairs to the second floor, Edward and Natalia stay as close to Raquelle as possible, being afraid that she might really faint. Jamie and Rebecca also watch her, following everybody hand-in-hand and sharing a sad glance at times.
Some time later, the doctor comes to the right place, stops, turns to everybody slowly, and looks at them with sadness in his eyes.
“We have come, this is his room,” the doctor says quietly. “One of you may enter, and others may watch him through the glass.”
“Only one?” Jamie specifies.
“Yes. I will find your friends and bring them here.”
The doctor leaves quite quickly and lets everybody stay in front of the spacious room. There are a few chairs and a couple of small bedside tables. It’s well-lighted with ceiling lamps and big windows. But even despite the great conditions, it’s terrible to be in this place. And the view of the unconscious and pale Terrence lying on the bed makes them feel like goosebumps run over their skin. Everybody can feel a lump in the throat, and the women make a couple of quiet sobs. Everybody watches the man with pity in their eyes for a few seconds, and then Rebecca moves her eyes to Raquelle and nods when she says:
“Go to him, Raquelle. We’ll stay here for a while.”
“Go, Raquelle,” Jamie says quietly.
While Edward tightly hugs Natalia barely holding down the tears, and Rebecca stays close to Jamie with a wish to be comforted, Raquelle looks at everybody with wet eyes, comes to the glass door with a turtle step, pulls it on a side slightly, and enters inside very hesitantly, not moving her widely open eyes full of pity off Terrence, whom she can look at much better. His pale from nature skin with bruises, scars, and wounds treated by doctors looks much whiter now. His arms are pressed against his body, his eyes are tightly closed, some machines are set on his chest… A cannula is set up in his nose and lets him breathe, a needle is gotten under one of his veins, and the man’s black hair stands out against his skin. Some apparatus make regular sounds from time to time, saying that this man is alive yet. And judging the sounds and the information on the screen of one of the apparatuses, his pulse is quite weak.
Raquelle immediately starts shaking because of this horrible scene that makes her freeze and feels goosebumps on her skin. She no longer has the strength to hold the tears down and literally lacks air. Coming to the bed slowly, the girl sniffs quietly and closes her mouth with a hand not to scream at the top of her lungs in horror. Her knees get strongly weak, but she bravely gets through it and comes to the bed, on which her beloved man is lying motionlessly. Raquelle closes her mouth with both hands and watches Terrence with horror in her wet, red eyes for a few seconds, shaking her head slowly and not stopping to sob quietly. Later, she finds the courage to come closer and sit on the bed next to her fiancé, who, as she thinks, is literally dead. At some moment, Raquelle points her shaking hand to Terrence’s hair, over which she runs it slowly. And then the girl takes his hand with tears in her eyes, squeezes it tightly, and shakes her head, not holding down her wish to cry and not caring about looking exhausted and tear-stained.
“Oh, gosh, Terrence…” Raquelle pronounces in a shaking voice. “Gosh… What happened to you? My God…”
Raquelle makes a sob and caresses Terrence’s cheek tenderly, still holding his hand.
“Please, sweetie, don’t leave me. Please… I don’t want to lose you… Lose the man that I madly love… I will have no meaning of living if you leave me… You’re my everything… I could’ve lost you once and don’t wanna do it again. I won’t bear it…”
Literally choking from excitement, Raquelle carefully moves some strands of Terrence’s hair off his eyes and puts her hand on his forehead.
“Oh, God, how hot the forehead is…” Raquelle gets horrified with widely open eyes, shakes her head, bends to Terrence slightly, softly kisses him on the forehead, and puts her hand on the top of the man’s head. “Please… Please, Terrence, don’t give up… You can’t leave me alone. I need you. And I will always need.”
Raquelle caresses Terrence’s hand with one hand and runs another over his hair and check.
“Fight for your life for me, for your close people,” Raquelle begs in a shaking voice. “I’m here, with you… And I will be until they allow me to. You need me, I know it. Even if you can’t answer me.” Raquelle takes Terrence’s hand with both hands, puts it on her cheek, and rubs it against his palm for a few seconds. “I know you thought I didn’t like something about you. But that’s not the truth, honey, I swear! The case is not about you, it’s just about me. I made one great mistake. I… I was terribly ashamed of confessing it, but I knew you should’ve known what happened to me a long time ago.”
Raquelle softly runs the back of her hand over Terrence’s cheek and just keeps her hand on it.
“Our child died because of me…” Raquelle says in a shaking voice. “I killed the one by worrying about the trial of your uncle. If it hadn’t happened, you’d be holding your baby. You’ve been dreaming about it. Everything happened so suddenly… At the wrong time… And sadly, we didn’t feel this happiness. But I would’ve been taking care of this baby. If we’d had a boy, he’d be as brave, loyal, and kind as his daddy. Maybe, you love praising yourself and saying there is nobody else in the world to be better than you, but it doesn’t make you worse. You’re wonderful. Smart, kind, brave…”
Raquelle glances at Terrence’s hand, tenderly runs her hand over his wrist, and caresses his head with the other hand.
“I know how you sacrificed yourself to save Edward. He doesn’t stop blaming himself for the fact that you’re here. Though, nobody blames him for anything. I’m personally not angry at him and don’t think he betrayed you and the lads. Edward gave you a chance to leave and was protecting you the way he could. And you know what? I am proud of you, sweetie! You acted like a hero again and accepted the hit, proving how much your close people meant to you. I know you love your brother with all your heart and don’t want to lose him. No matter what the reasons for that were, you are a real hero to me anyway. And I’m madly lucky to be with a man like you.”
At some moment, Raquelle bends to Terrence, puts her hands on his cheeks, kisses his cheek tenderly, and touches his little blue lips with her lips.
“Heroes never die. They must live and get up every time they fall. You also must live, Terrence! Please, hold on! Don’t dare to let that stinker, Wainwright, win. Don’t give up and do your best to open your eyes. Please, Terrence, come back to us! We all need you. Your parents are crying bitterly, ‘cause you may die. All your friends wish you to get well. And your brother is pulling his hair out and wishing to be instead of you. Please, my love… Don’t give up… Don’t leave me, Terrence! You’re the reason why I’m living in this world.”
Raquelle takes Terrence’s hand again, runs her fingers through his black strands, and caresses his cheek tenderly.
“But, sweetheart, I swear I will surely tell you about our baby,” Raquelle promises in a shaking voice with tears. “Even if I have to sacrifice our relationship. I will understand everything and try to accept it. I must pay a high cost for my insolent lie. You can scream at me, hit me, and leave me… But please, live. Don’t die! I’m too attracted to you… And you’ve always been the one to inspire me to keep doing what I do…”
Meanwhile, Edward, Jamie, Rebecca, and Natalia are watching what’s happening in the room with pity and horror in their eyes. They feel how their hearts are bleeding and squeezing, and the women are crying quietly. Edward barely holding himself down hugs presses Natalia tightly to himself, while she sometimes buries her nose in his shoulder. Also, he caresses the shoulder of Rebecca, while she is comforted by Jamie, who cannot believe that it’s all really happening. At some moment, the doctor comes to them, and Daniel, Peter, Helene, and Anna follow him hesitantly. The four look at the others, move their eyes to the room, and open their eyes widely, being horrified by what they see.
Anna comes to Edward and Natalia first and caresses their shoulders. Then they look at her with sadness in their eyes and answer her friendly hugs. Then the girl steps back, and Peter and Daniel come to them, putting a hand on the shoulder of the man and the girl by one. While Anna and Helene come to Rebecca and Jamie and show their support for them.
“Has Mrs. Middleton gone?” Anna asks thoughtfully.
“Yes, she called us and said she'd drive Amanda home,” Rebecca confesses.
“That girl shouldn’t see Terrence like this,” Jamie says with sadness in his eyes.
“Will she come again?” Anna asks.
“Yes, she said she’d come without that girl.”
“And she promised to talk to Mr. Cameron,” Rebecca adds. “He must know what happened.”
“Alright…” Anna nods, hugging herself with both arms.
“I’m sorry for her…” the doctor confesses with sadness in his eyes, feeling that his heart squeezes because of what’s happening in the room of Terrence. “It’s clear she loves that man very much…”
“It’s true,” Edward replies quietly, hugging Natalia tightly with both arms and caressing her head. “Terrence also loves her very much and is ready for anything for her. My brother often calls her the reason that makes him feel alive.”
“Do you think Terrence will really get well?” Peter asks hesitantly. “Or do you just can us down, so we don’t worry?”
“No, no, come on!” the doctor exclaims. “I hide nothing and tell you the truth! The situation is hard, I do not deny it. But there is a chance. Mr. MacClife is young and tough and will get well fast when he wakes up.”
“If there is something that you do not want to say with Raquelle’s pretense, tell us,” Helene suggests.
“Even if there was something, I would have to tell you everything. But luckily, the situation is under control, and this man does not need CPR.”
“You give us hope,” Anna cracks a smile.
“To be honest, I’m more worried about Ms. Cameron herself. She’d better go home and have some rest. Put herself in order, eat, and sleep… She might easily end up in a hospital.”
“I do not think she will wish to leave,” Natalia assumes thoughtfully. “Raquelle will be next to Terrence until you allow her, and until he wakes up.”
“Alright… While Mr. MacClife is in a regular room, I am allowing you to visit him. May his fiancée stay here as long as she wants. Who knows, maybe, Mr. MacClife will wake up sooner if someone he loves is next to him.”
“Still, I understand her. Because I wouldn’t also leave my beloved man if he, heaven forbid, ended up in the hospital.”
“Anyway, nobody will kick her out if critical situations do not happen.”
“Excuse me, doctor, when will Terrence wake up?” Rebecca asks hesitantly.
“I believe he will not be unconscious for a long time. Maximum for one or two days, no more. Moreover, we have already gotten almost the full part of sedative out of his organism.”
“Could we lose him if the doctors had not given him first aid at the right time?” Daniel asks.
“Yes, a strong poisoning of his organism would have begun and led to his death. And a larger dose would have killed him immediately. He was madly lucky not to get a larger dose, end up in the hospital in time, and get professional doctors.”
“It gives us hope for the best…” Jamie replies thoughtfully.
“Hope dies last, as people say. Sometimes faith and time are the best solutions for many problems.”
“That’s right,” Peter nods.
Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, during which everybody watches Raquelle with sadness in their eyes.
“I think you all need to go home,” the doctor breaks the silence. “You all are exhausted, and it’s more than seven in the evening. Clean yourself up, get enough sleep, eat well, and visit Mr. MacClife again tomorrow.”
“Yes, I believe we can go home now…” Helene replies thoughtfully.
“I have all the contacts with Mr. MacClife’s relatives. If something changes, I shall call you immediately.”
“Thank you so much, doctor,” Edward thanks.
“Alright… Goodbye. I wish luck to all of you.”
Everybody says goodbye to the doctor by shaking their hands. And then he turns around and leaves somewhere with a slow step. While the company watches what’s happening in Terrence’s room with sadness in their eyes for a few seconds. To be clear, Raquelle sitting on the man’s bed with tears in her eyes, holding his hand, caressing his cheek or head, and saying something to him.
“Erm, maybe…” Edward pronounces hesitantly. “Go to the room for two minutes?”
“We’ve gotta go anyway,” Natalia notices. “Raquelle should go home.”
“Oh, I almost forgot that I needed to go to her home and take Sammy…” Helene confesses thoughtfully.
“And we need to do something to Terrence’s car,” Peter adds.
“If Raquelle doesn’t mind, I will drive his car to his home,” Edward says without emotions. “And give her the keys.”
“I doubt that she’s able to think of something except Terrence,” Daniel exhales sharply.
“I’ll try to ask.”
Edward pushes the door aside, enters Terrence’s room slowly, comes to the bed hesitantly, and watches his brother tensely with horror in his eyes for two or three seconds. Raquelle quickly understands that someone is standing behind her, turns around slowly, and looks at the man without emotions.
“We’re going home, Raquelle,” Edward says quietly. “We all need to have some rest…”
“I know…” Raquelle replies without emotions. “I think I have no choice…”
“Helene needs to take Sammy out, and I’m thinking of leaving Terrence’s car at your home.”
“Yes, do it, please.”
“When we come, I’ll give you the keys.”
“Deal.”
“Okay.” Edward puts his hand on Raquelle’s shoulder softly. “Let’s go home. And we’ll come back tomorrow…”
“The guys haven’t come yet?”
“Nope, they’re standing there!”
Raquelle moves her eyes to the big window and sees the friends and parents of Terrence standing behind the door and watching what’s happening.
“Let’s go, darling, go,” Edward says, while Raquelle glances at Terrence. “I don’t wanna leave, either, but we should put ourselves in order.”
“Edward…” Raquelle pronounces quietly and moves her eyes full of pity to Edward. “Do you think Terrence will understand me if I tell him about our unborn baby?”
“Of course, he will,” Edward replies softly. “He’ll think a little and calm down.”
“I’m so scared… His reaction might be unpredictable…”
“Don’t worry, Raquelle, my parents and I will help you anyway. Maybe, we’ll influence Terrence and make him sure to be softer to you. Or maybe, we’ll have to do nothing. Who knows!”
“Anyway, I’ll have to do it,” Raquelle sighs with despair. “I must end it.”
“It’s gonna be okay,” Edward replies quietly, caressing Raquelle’s shoulder. “I’m sure he will understand you.”
“I’d like to believe it…”
“You can always count on my support and help. And even if the others judge you, nobody will turn their backs on you.”
“The fact that I have close people makes me hold on. If I were all alone, I wouldn’t take all of this.”
“I know, sweetie. My family and friends are the reason why I’m living. This is the most important thing I have.”
“Now I understand it’s much more important. Success in your career may not be permanent, but your close people will stay with you forever. This is the real treasure that costs much more than any senior position and a good salary.” Raquelle slowly glances at Terrence, touches his cheek with the back of her hand, and moves one of his black strands off. “He knew the risk, but it didn’t scare him. Maybe, his act was kind of thoughtless, but Terrence behaved very worthily. He was ready to sacrifice himself for his close people.”
“I also admire his bravery and determination,” Edward agrees. “I’ve never hidden it. If I had to say what I like about Terrence, I would undoubtedly mention his confidence, bravery, loyalty, and ability to love his close people.”
When Natalia enters the room hesitantly and comes to him slowly, Edward, looking at Terrence with sadness in his eyes, says:
“Although Terrence shouldn’t have suffered, I’m grateful to him for the help and protection. I’m also madly grateful to Peter and Daniel. I would be dead if not for those guys. As Terrence said, we must be together as one team. But as Mr. Johnson said, someone had to suffer in this fight.”
“Maybe, not everything ends well, but sometimes a miracle happens,” Natalia says confidently. “I’ve always believed it and known that we run into something magical. Terrence will live because he did a noble act. Any of us would do the same.”
“We all think so,” Edward replies quietly. “And the doctor gives us hope for the better… It means everything is not lost.”
While Edward says it, Daniel, Peter, Jamie, Rebecca, Anna, and Helene decide to enter the room.
“We were sure your quick reaction would change the situation somehow,” Daniel recalls. “And we were right.”
“If you hadn’t gotten the needle out in time, we would’ve lost Terrence,” Peter adds confidently. “You saved him, Edward.”
“The guys are right,” Natalia smiles slightly and puts her hand on Edward’s shoulder. “You prevented the worst things.”
“I don’t know…” Edward shrugs. “Maybe…”
“So, buddy, stop blaming yourself for what happened,” Helene advises confidently. “Because it happened that you also saved Terrence.”
“You saved each other!” Anna exclaims. “He saved you, and you saved him.”
“It was the only thing I could do,” Edward replies thoughtfully. “The first thing I thought about…”
“And it gave us hope for the best,” Raquelle sniffs quietly. “A chance everything would be okay.”
“And if Terrence gets well, we will not dare to say you’re guilty,” Jamie says confidently. “Your brother is still alive thanks to you.”
“Your wish to defend your beloved girl, bravery, and confidence cannot stay unnoticed by us,” Rebecca adds. “It was a great risk, but you weren’t scared. And you didn’t get confused when your brother decided to take a risk.”
Edward smiles slightly and looks at everybody, who surrounds him. And Natalia presses herself closely to him, putting her arms around the small of his back, and he answers this gesture with pleasure and a sense of relief.
“It gives me hope and confidence, you know,” Edward says quietly and moves his eyes to Terrence slowly. “As I’ve said, getting the needle out was the first mind I got… At heart, I hoped it would change something. And I was right.”
“It also gives me little hope that I didn’t lose Terrence,” Raquelle replies quietly. “That we didn’t lose him…”
“Anyway, we’re all proud of you, Edward,” Natalia says confidently with a slight smile. “I’m sure Terrence will also be grateful to you.”
“At least, there’s no threat of meeting Wainwright,” Edward notices thoughtfully. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen to him after falling down from a high height, but now we’ve got no reason to worry.”
“I hope they will watch that sick bastard better,” Raquelle expresses hope.
“Anyway, we can walk on the streets quietly now. Especially, you, girls. It’s all over now.”
“Again, thanks to your wish to deal with him and restore justice,” Peter notices.
Everybody cracks a smile, while Edward just looks at them, feeling more confident but still doubting that it will help Terrence. Silence settles in the air for a few seconds, during which everybody in the room looks at each other, and then Jamie exhales slowly and says quietly:
“Okay, men, girls… I think we better go home. We all need to clean ourselves up. Especially, you, men.”
“Erm, I can drive someone home,” Natalia replies thoughtfully. “Does someone want to accompany me?”
“Erm, I will go home by myself,” Anna refuses hesitantly.
“You don’t want?”
“No… I… Don’t have to be on the way long.”
“By the way, where are you living now?” Peter asks hesitantly. “We could visit you at your home.”
“No, no, don’t need…” Anna bites her lip slightly, looking at everybody scarily. “I… I will call you later or go to your home.”
“But don’t forget us, please,” Raquelle says with pity in her eyes. “Don’t disappear.”
“I will not. I promise,” Anna smiles a little falsely. “I was happy to see you all. See you tomorrow.”
Anna says goodbye to the girls and the men, hugging them amicably, and says something to Rebecca and Jamie. The girl determinedly ignores Daniel, who looks at her with pity in his eyes and still waits for her to pay attention to him. But alas, she does not even look at him…
“Get well, Terrence,” Anna says, caressing Terrence’s shoulder softly. “We all need you. We need one of the smartest and wisest men I’ve ever known.”
Anna turns around and leaves the room of Terrence, while the others watch her with a little anxious glance.
“I didn’t want to say with her pretense, but I got shocked when I saw her,” Rebecca confesses, putting her hand on her heart. “That girl has changed so much. For the worse.”
“I also froze when I saw her…” Natalia replies confidently, embracing herself with both arms. “Anna was kind of replaced! I can’t recognize the happy and sanguine girl that she used to be.”
“We all were shocked,” Peter agrees.
Silence settles in the air for two or three seconds, during which someone looks at Daniel, who gets much sadder after Anna leaves and turns aside, thinking about something.
“Oh, okay…” Edward pronounces thoughtfully. “I will drive Raquelle and Helene. And then I will go home on my feet…”
“I can drive you,” Natalia suggests. “I’ll follow you and drive you home then. Mr. and Mrs. MacClife have their own car. And if Daniel, Peter, and Helene wanna join, I don’t mind it.”
“Thanks, Natalia, but I would like to walk with Sammy down the street,” Helene confesses thoughtfully. “He needs to walk a little.”
“I will go with you, then,” Peter says quietly.
“If you want, you can visit Grandma and me at home.”
“With pleasure.”
“Erm, so…” Natalia bites her lip slightly. “Then I’ll drive only Edward and… Daniel…”
“Deal,” Edward nods.
“Agree, Daniel?” Natalia moves her eyes to Daniel.
Daniel reacts to it a few seconds later, shaking slightly and then looking at everybody hesitantly:
“Huh, what? You said something?”
“Do I drive you home?” Natalia asks. “I can drive you.”
“Oh, no… Thanks, Natalia. I… I wanna walk on my feet and stay alone. Too much has happened today… I literally feel dizzy…”
“Okay, as you want. Do what you want… And… Watch around often. So… Just in case.”
“I’ll try,” Daniel pronounces hesitantly, scratching the back of his head, and looks at everybody. “So… Goodbye, everybody… See you tomorrow…”
Daniel, wishing to leave the hospital as soon as possible, quickly says goodbye to everybody by hugging them or shaking them by the hand, comes to Terrence, and claps him on the shoulder when he says:
“Hold on, buddy, we’re with you. You’re a tough man and must overcome it.”
Daniel leaves the room quickly, while the others watch him with sad eyes.
“The guy is worried,” Jamie assumes quietly. “Daniel was too nervous while Anna was here, but he didn’t show it.”
“I’m afraid that the situation will not get better,” Helene assumes quietly. “Sadly, Anna is too mad at him.”
“I don’t think it’s the end,” Peter tells his opinion. “I don’t know… I think some time must pass before she forgives him. No matter what Anna says, she is not indifferent to Daniel.”
“Definitely,” Natalia agrees.
“And if Daniel helps Anna and her parents to get saved from the one, who mocks her, she’ll notice it. Maybe, she’ll say nothing, but it will be a reason for her to reflect.”
“By the way, why did nobody talk about what happened to her with his pretense?” Rebecca frowns slightly. “Daniel should know it! This man is the only salvation for Anna!”
“We…” Edward pronounces hesitantly. “Didn’t think about it… We thought about Terrence more.”
“And I’m not surprised that she didn’t say where she moved,” Jamie confesses. “It’s clear that the girl is afraid that you’d meet her violator.”
“But the more amazing thing is that Anna actually came here,” Helene notices confidently. “A violator scares their victim so much that they’re afraid to breathe without permission.”
“Maybe, Anna still has some will to resist him somehow?” Natalia assumes and shrugs. “Well… She was resisting her parents, even if they kept hard control over her. And she is trying to resist now… She wanna get out of hell, but she can’t do it yet.”
“I wonder whether it will be too late if we talk to Daniel when Terrence gets better?” Edward asks thoughtfully. “Now Perkins can help us, and we can get the address of Anna’s father or mother.”
“No, you better talk to him at your next meeting,” Jamie notices confidently. “I know he is worried about his sister and the breakup with Anna. But all of you need his help.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll tell him everything anyway,” Peter promises. “And I think Anna’s father may also wish to talk to him. He’s definitely wondering why Daniel did it to his daughter.”
“Now, when he remembers everything, there’s a high chance of it,” Natalia says confidently. “That man knows where Daniel is living. And if Anna tells her father that he remembered everything, Mr. Seymour is gonna do it.”
“Okay, let’s try to talk to him tomorrow,” Edward suggests thoughtfully.
“And we should talk to Anna,” Helene says quietly. “I know she will tell us nothing about that man, but may she know that we’ll always help her. That she is not alone.”
“Oh, let’s think about it tomorrow,” Peter suggests tiredly. “Honestly, I literally feel dizzy and can barely think.”
“Yup, let’s go,” Raquelle nods without emotions, kisses Terrence on the cheek cutely, and caresses another softly. “Bye, Terrence. Know that we need you and want you to come back to us. And don’t forget that I madly love you.”
After watching Terrence for two seconds and caressing his head, Raquelle gets up from the bed slowly, turns around, and says quietly:
“I’m waiting for you near Terrence’s car.”
When Raquelle leaves, wiping off tears under her eyes, Helene and Peter come to Terrence and caress or clap him on the shoulder.
“Hold on, Terrence,” Helene says with sadness in her eyes. “Don’t make us worried. We wanna see you alive.”
“Don’t become Wainwright’s victim,” Peter adds determinedly. “He mustn’t get a victory under you. Hold on, Terrence, we need you!”
After taking each other hands, Helene and Peter leave the room slowly, while Natalia comes to the unconscious Terrence and caresses his shoulder softly with sadness in her eyes.
“I didn’t want you to suffer,” Natalia says quietly. “But thank you for protecting Edward and not letting him die. I’ll never forget it. For all of us, you’re a hero, Terrence. A brave hero, who’s ready for anything for his close people.”
Natalia turns around slowly and leaves the room, thinking about something, while Edward, Rebecca, and Jamie look at each other and come to Terrence together.
“We are all with you, honey,” Rebecca says in a little shaking voice, caressing Terrence’s cheek and hand. “I believe you can get through it. I shall pray for you. We love you, Terrence. And we will love, despite nothing.”
“You did what your brother and I would do,” Jamie adds, clapping Terrence on the shoulder and cheek softly. “Even if you did a thoughtless thing, we are proud of you anyway. And we will be praying that you survive together.”
Rebecca and Jamie look at each other with sadness in their eyes, look at Terrence the last time, and leave the room, holding each other hand-in-hand. Edward watches them with sad eyes and looks at his brother, whose painful appearance makes him horrified and makes his heart squeeze badly.
“Forgive me, Terrence,” Edward apologizes with sadness in his eyes. “I didn’t want it to happen… And I don’t wanna be guilty of your death. I won’t bear it… And the others won’t forgive me.”
Edward moves his eyes down for a second.
“I’m sorry for not listening to you and getting you involved in this shit… And… I’m sorry for agreeing to hide what Raquelle told me. I know I’m doing a terrible thing… But I promised… And I believe Raquelle should confess everything by herself. I hope you’ll understand me and forgive me.”
After hearing louder sounds of apparatus, Edward glances at them, even if he does not understand what they mean. And then he looks at Terrence again, puts his hand on his brother’s shoulder, and squeezes it.
“Please, come back. Don’t leave us… We all need you… I need the support of such a wise and smart man… Raquelle needs her beloved fiancé… Your parents need their son… The band needs a vocalist… And your friends need their loyal friend…”
Edward swallows up nervously and exhales slowly, throwing a short look aside.
“Bye, Terry,” Edward pronounces and cracks a smile. “I’m gonna miss our fights. The way you annoy me. Though, I swear I will get you out of the ground if you dare to leave me. You won’t get off me so easily.”
Edward laughs shyly.
“I love you, brother. Very much… I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you.”
Edward claps Terrence on the cheek with a wider smile and leaves the room, wishing to come back home and have some rest after this hard day that everybody is going to see in their nightmares for a very long time.
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