Without hesitation, I ran to the pastor and tackled him to the ground. I tried to steal the book from him, but he held onto it very tightly. For an old man, he was quite strong. ''Give me the book right now!'' I screamed at him. He got up quickly, and slammed my body against the stone brick wall. ''What did I tell you about speaking up to me? I warned you, Eve.'' He gave me an evil smirk. My heart was pounding in sheer terror as I could see his fist coming towards my face. I blocked his blow and punched him in the chest. But I didn't punch him hard enough. He whacked the thick book on my face, causing my lip to bleed. I ignored the taste of my own blood in my mouth and smacked him in his gut. He screamed out in pain. ''Eve! You don't have to do this!'' I ignored his screams and continued to pound into his stomach until he powerfully shoved my head onto the wall. The pain on my forehead made my feel dizzy. But I couldn't give up yet. I had to safe my friends. So I didn't pay any attention to the blood that was dripping down my forehead. I violently grabbed the pastor's throat with both my hands and started to strangle him. He tried to fight me off, but stopped once he was in desperate need of air. ''Eve... Stop...'' He begged me, while trying to grasp for air. But I didn't listen to him. I wanted him to suffer more for wanting to hurt my friends. Rain was right, none of this was my fault. It was pastor Robertson's fault. I finally let go off him, causing him to fall to the ground. He finally dropped the book.
At first I felt relief, I did it, I saved my friends. I didn't feel bad for fighting an old man at all. He deserved it. But when I looked down at the pastor on the ground I started to get worried. I didn't actually kill him... Right? I didn't strangle him for too long, but he was an old man after all. I crouched down next to him. Thank Satan, he was still breathing. Or, well, thank God in his case. When I noticed the crucifix hanging around his neck, I couldn't help myself from grabbing it and putting it in my pocket. That crucifix would never be used to hurt any ghoul ever again.
I could feel my fat lip throbbing as I picked up the book and went on my way back to Rain. He was sitting in the spot where I left him, but he still looked ill. ''Rain! Are you alright?'' I asked, while I covered up the wound on my forehead with my hand. Rain sighed in relief. ''Eve, you're still alive! I heard your screams and I got so worried, but I couldn't get up to help you. I just feel so... Weak.''
His eyes glanced at my hand on my head. ''Oh my Satan, what happened to your forehead? I can see blood coming from underneath your hand.'' I just shrugged it off. ''It's nothing.'' ''No, no, no, come here.'' When I sat down on the ground next to him, he removed my bloodied hand from my forehead. ''You're bleeding so much! We have to stop it!'' ''I'm fine!'' I said. ''I still have a few more things to do before I'm going to the nurse!'' He thought for a second. ''Remember that time when you accidentally saw me without my mask on?'' ''Yes, what about it?'' ''Are you sure that you didn't feel sick, or uncomfortable like ghouls' faces can do to some humans?'' I shook my head. To my surprise, Rain took his mask off. I hadn't seen his face in such a long time that I forgot how handsome he actually was. Despite the fact that it was dark in the maze, I could still see his sharp jawline, dark hair, and beautiful brown eyes. ''The inside of our masks have some sort of soft, sponge-like padding to make the masks comfortable to wear all day long. It'll be perfect to use as some kind of bandage.'' He put his mask on my head. My wound hurt even more from touching the inside of his mask. But like he said, it was a very comfortable mask. ''Thank you.'' I said.
''What do you need to do now?'' Rain asked, while we got up from the ground. He looked like he was feeling a lot better already. ''First, I want to continue with what was happening before I went to fight pastor Robertson.'' ''What? The part where I was falling to the ground?'' ''No silly,'' I chuckled. ''The part where you said that you loved me.'' Rain was blushing heavily right now. I wondered if I ever made him blush before. He smiled nervously at me. ''You also told me that you loved me.''
He leaned in closer, taking a shallow breath before pressing his soft lips to mine. Fortunately, my lips had just stopped bleeding. I felt like the most lucky girl in the world, but I pulled back for a second. ''Sorry if my lips still taste like blood.'' He wrapped his hand around my waist to pull our bodies closer together. ''I don't care.'' I forgot all my pain when our lips touched each other again. My hand glided slowly up his back and I could feel the warmth of his breath on my skin. My fingers from my other hand went through his dark hair and I could feel his heart pounding faster inside his chest the longer we kissed. All this time I had been waiting for this moment, for his lips to touch mine, to feel his love so deeply. And I knew now, that it was even better than I had imagined it.
Suddenly felt the calluses on his fingertips touch my chin, causing us to stop kissing. ''Eve Galea,'' Rain said. ''Will you be my girlfriend?'' ''Yes!'' Our lips pressed against each other once again. I couldn't believe how happy I was, Rain was my boyfriend.
''So, what's the second thing on your to-do list?'' Rain said when I finally pulled back. ''To tell the people upstairs to stop fighting.''