𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝, 𝚅𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚂𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝.
𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚. 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓, 𝒂.𝒌.𝒂. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘? 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆.
𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅.
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. "𝑼𝒉𝒉... 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆...? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆...?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎.
"𝑶-𝑶𝒉, 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐... 𝑰 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒊...?" 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚.
𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. "𝑫𝒂𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 (𝒀/𝒏). (𝒀/𝒏), 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒅." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚.
𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅. "𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓! 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑! 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖!" 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚. "𝑵-𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔-" 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖.
"𝑵𝒐, 𝒏𝒐, 𝒏𝒐! 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓! 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆!" 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒇𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒑 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓.
"(𝒀/𝒏), 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆. 𝑨𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆." 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚, 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒙𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒊𝒕.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. "𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕."
"𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕." 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚.
"𝑺𝒐, 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅, 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒚𝒆𝒔.
"𝑼𝒉𝒎, 𝒏𝒐, 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚." 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆.
"𝑶𝒉... 𝑫-𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆...? 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓...?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆.
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝑵𝒐! 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕! 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕." 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚.
"𝑶𝒉, 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕-" 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒆, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂." 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚.
"𝑶...𝒌𝒂𝒚...?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍.
"𝑺𝒐, 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 (𝒀/𝒏), 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐! 𝑺𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒂!" 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚.
"𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒅. 𝑯𝒆'𝒔 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖.
"𝑬𝒆𝒌-! 𝑺𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆..." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚.
꧁❦༻༒♡༒༺❦꧂
𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓. 𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐.
𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒇𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. "𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕! 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓! 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏! 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆! 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔!" 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓.
𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒅. "𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌! 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒎 𝑰 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆!? 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔! 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈! 𝑩𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓!"
"𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒓. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅..." 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔...."
꧁❦༻༒♡༒༺❦꧂
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝑫𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒘. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅.
"𝑯𝒆𝒚, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍? 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒆, (𝒀/𝒏). 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒕... 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒊𝒏, 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌... 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍. "𝑯𝒖𝒉, 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?"
"𝒀𝒆𝒑, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉, 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒌.
"𝑶𝒉... 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓.
"𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚. 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏? 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚.
"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆! 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚!" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅, 𝒎𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. "𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚. 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒚.
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂 𝒎𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 "𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏".
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒃 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚.
"𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍! 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚!?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅.
"𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆... 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖..." 𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.
"𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆! 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈! 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅-" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑.
"𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏.
"𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅. "𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒊𝒆.." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅.
𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏.
"𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆.
"𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐'𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒃..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 "𝑶𝒉" 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅.
"𝑺𝒐 𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒓 '𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐', 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈.
𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒘, 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄.
"𝑯𝒆𝒚..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌.
"𝑯𝒆𝒚, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍... 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕... 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒙 𝒕𝒐𝒚... 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍..." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒅𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 '𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇' 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒖𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏.
𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍.
𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔, 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐. 𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔! 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒊𝒎𝒑!
"𝑯𝒆𝒚, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉?"
"𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒕." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔.
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒚!?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌.
"𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔. 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌.
"𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔. 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐'𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒂'! 𝒀𝒂' 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆! 𝑶𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆! 𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔.
"𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕. 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔.
"𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆... 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔...?" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉! 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔.
"𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔..." 𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍?"
"𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈."
"𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒊𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔!" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏.
"𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒆.
"𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚. "𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆..." 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒖𝒛𝒛𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕.
𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜. 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚘 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜.