𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑, 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒖𝒑.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝑶𝑹𝑵 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑫𝑰𝑶.
𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈.
"𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆... 𝑰𝒕𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒊𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒕?" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏.
"𝑵𝒐, 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑰𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑼𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈.
"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒚𝒂' 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔... 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒍' 𝒎𝒆..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏.
"𝑰𝒕'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. 𝑬𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏'. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐." 𝑯𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐'𝒔 '𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆'.
"𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕... 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒂' 𝒂𝒊𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚.
"𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓.
"𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕!?" 𝑨𝒏 𝒎𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓, 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚. "𝑽𝒂𝒍, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒆, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝑫𝒖𝒔𝒕..."
"𝑶𝒉!~ 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔.~ 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏.~" 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉-𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒌-𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐, 𝒂.𝒌.𝒂. 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍'𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒆𝒗𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚.
"𝑶𝒉, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍.~ 𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖?~ 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍, 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚?~ 𝑶𝒐𝒉.~ 𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒐.~" 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒆, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈.
"𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐, 𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔.~ 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔?~" 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍..." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌.
𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐'𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. "𝑶𝒉, 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆.~ 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒕?~ 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒏𝒐?~" 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂.
"𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍.~" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐'𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆. "𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅?~"
"𝒀-𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝑽𝒂𝒍..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈.
"𝑵𝒐𝒘, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈?~" 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒌-𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌.
"𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅-" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆. "𝑶𝒉, 𝒔𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒉𝒎𝒎?~" 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒆.
"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆? 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍-" 𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏?~" 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘. "𝒀𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕.
𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚.~ 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅?~ 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚.~ 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌.~ 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓.~ 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆.~"
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 '𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘', 𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍. "𝑵𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚.
𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. "𝑷𝒊𝒕𝒚.~" 𝑯𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐.~"
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒕. "𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒕, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒑!" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒚𝒔. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒕𝒐𝒚! 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝑰 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒑 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒆?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐'𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌, 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚.
"𝑰-𝑰... 𝑼-𝑼𝒎𝒎𝒎..." 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒈𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌. "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌...?" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒎 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅. "𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏', 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔." 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍.
𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆. "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏?"
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.
"𝑼𝒉𝒖𝒉, 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔?" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑.
"𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘-" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. "𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍." 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔. "𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?"
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝑰 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅."
"𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅." 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒕.
"𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅. "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌, 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔?" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅. "𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒆."
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓. "𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈?"
"𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏.
"𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 (𝑭/𝒅) (𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌), 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. "𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕." 𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅.
"𝑹𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒂' 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑫𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚." 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚.
"𝑯𝒆𝒚! 𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒂' 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅, 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌!? 𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏!" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑰𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆.
"𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍, 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒍. 𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚. 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. "𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔..."
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕-?" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒇𝒇. "𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈."
"𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚...?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖.
"𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏', 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍. 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈?" 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆.
"𝑶𝒉, 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.
"𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓!" 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆.
"𝑨𝒍! 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓! 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒘𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏.
𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒋𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆. "𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓! 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏? 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑽𝒔! 𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?"
𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑽𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆.
"𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑽𝒔-?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅. "𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓! 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏." 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒇𝒇, 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
"𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐-" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅, 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇-𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆.
"₱₳ⱤĐØ₦?" 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏. "𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕! 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆! 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒔𝒔! 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕! 𝑯𝒂𝒉𝒂! 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆!" 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐.
𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓. "𝑶𝒉, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏! 𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆! 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆! 𝑨𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒔𝒐..." 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍.
"𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 Đ₳ⱤɆĐ ₮Ø ₮ØɄ₵Ⱨ ɎØɄ, 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓!" 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚.
"𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?"
𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕...