love part 2

"You ready to kick some ass?" Peter asked. He looked towards my face. "Hmm you look delighted. You need stamina to play. Okay."

I playfully punched him on the shoulder.

"We were just watching some movie and were talking with each other. Nothing else."

"You sure." 

"Of course. Now, I am ready to kick some ass. You done preparing?"

"Yes, I am done."

"Where is uncle? Is he coming or what?"

"I don't know? I'll call him. But now, let's go."

I gave him hand to stand up. He was becoming more agile. 

"Yeah, let's go."

We started picking up our kits and equipment. I changed to shorts and t shirt. I didn't wore the team jersey. I would wear it in the game. We hoped on our bikes and went to stadium. 

Stadium was not like massive four story exclusive field. It was a square field in the middle. On two opposite sides, it was sitting area. Hardly a thousand people would fit in that much, but we were okay with it. Opposite team was warming up, they were all 6 feet tall. They were like our defenders. 

Our coach was waiting for me and Peter. And we waved to him.

"Kit up, start warming up." Coach ordered.

We ran in our dressing room. Everybody was joking and some were sitting on the main table. I changed to team jersey. The mood of the people was pretty much good. Suddenly one ball came to my head. Ow. Our defender gestured an apology. It was a good environment. 

"Let's go boys." Captain yelled. We stood up. I was a substitute in the team. Of course. If the team would sink, I would be on the field. Usually I enter after half time. But today was different. Today was these players' important match. So I just waited for my turn.

After some running and sprinting. We started passing and shooting. Goalie was very good. I mean he was pretty agile. After 15 minutes of warming up, we were done. It was 9.50 now. We went back into the dressing room. I was sitting in the corner. Just alone. Then coach came.

"You people are good. This game is nothing. We will simply win. We have to. It's very important. Don't do anything new. Just play your game. Play for the glory." He shouted. Everybody was shouting. I was smiling.

"Thank you, John. For making us believe in ourselves." Coach's eyes were full of tears. I went near him. I picked a towel from the ropes. I wiped his eyes.

"Don't give me your credit coach, I am not the part of this. You came to the semifinal by yourselves. I just boosted your spirit for a little. Thank you, coach. For trusting me." I turned to all. "It's your day boys. You are playing for you. You are playing for your family, your friends, your coach. You are playing for this town. I am pretty sure you will win this whole championship."

Everyone was shouting now. After everyone was out, coach came near me.

"When do you want to enter in the field?" He asked.

"This is your game, coach. Whenever you say. According to your strategy."

He gave me a nod. And went out. I followed him.

The stadium was now full. It was a semifinal. People in this town love football. They came to cheer our school. People of the other town were also there. They were cheering for other team. I searched for my family. I mean Peter's family. I kind of feel like it was my family too. I searched for uncle, he was drinking coke with aunt. Emily was sitting to the side of aunt. She was telling something to aunt. She looked happy. Three of them were happy. Emily was also searching for me. Our eyes met each other. I waved to her. She gave me thumb up and a smile. She definitely had changed so much. She was sitting in a full confidence. I was proud of her.

__

Game was of 90 minutes. Players has to preserve stamina for those 90 minutes. If the players will start rushing from the first minute, they will lose their stamina, and they will tire up from the start. So you have to be patient to go for the rush. 

Both teams were playing good. 10 minutes passed. The ball was in the opposition D. Their team was not ready for losing possession. They were passing to each other. Sometimes they would go for an attempt, but our defense would hold them back. When you play on the field with 11 on both sides, the time will flow very fast. Because long distance passing takes so much time. 

I was watching their coach, he was just standing there. His hands were in his pant pockets. He was so chill and was enjoying the game. Our coach was also enjoying the game, but sometimes he would shout at the players. But that was the method of our coach. And every player knew it.

At 23rd minute opposition striker started to dribble with the ball, he passed through defenders. He was one on one with goalkeeper. Then she shot the ball, and it was clear goal. Ok. Now coach was shouting towards the players. He was saying to not to lose the ball at any cost. 

After some time, our captain passed the ball to left wing, then the left wing was empty. He was not covered by any defender. He got the ball, he started running through the left side of the field. Our captain was also on his right. He was open. Left winger went through the defenders, he went towards the corner flag. Then suddenly he passed the ball to captain who was waiting for his pass. He got the ball. He was on the left side of the field. Then he dribbled through the defenders. He was now in the D, on the left side of it. 

He had two open shots. On the right top corner and the other was dribble for dome more, pass the defender in front of him and then shoot the ball. He started making space for shooting. He dribbled to right. And then he stretched his right leg and shot the ball. He was in the middle part of the D. The ball drifted to go back of the net. It was pretty hard curve. Goalkeeper jumped towards the ball, it was just a centimeter's distance between ball and the glove of the goalkeeper. And it was Goal. We celebrated it nicely. Coach was jumping. We were all shouting. The crowd gone mad. They were yelling and clapping their hands. The score was 1-1. We had to win the game. After some time, referee blown the whistle and it was half time. 

We were cheering in the dressing room. Everyone had confidence that we would win the game. After rest the game started again.

Their coach was now shouting on their defense. Our coach was smiling but he was also shouting. First substitute of the game was made at 52nd minute. The midfielder was substituted. Then game went on. 

After some time their attackers started passing rapidly and started dribbling across the ground. They were doing small passes, the strategy was very nice. They were passing near our D. The right wing got the ball in his legs and he started running through our defenders. He was now in front of the one defender, the center back. And if he beats him, only goalie remains. And he dropped his shoulder to the right but ball was on the left. So he passed the defender, and shot at the back of the net. It was goal. 

After start, we lost possession in just 2 minutes, opposite team started doing their thing, the passing and dribbling. The same guy went through all the defenders and scored another goal. Our defenders were ashamed. They just sat on their knees watching opposition's celebration. 

Then after some time it was 60th minute and coach called me to get ready. I stood up and started doing stretching. I did some jumps and stretches and I was ready. I gave coach a thumb. 

I got substituted with the left attacking midfielder. My nature of playing the football is explosive. I don't play a patience game. So I started to rush through the defenders. I watched peter he was open. I passed him through the defenders, the ball was drifting towards the right corner of the D. Peter was running so fast, he collected the ball, dribbled through the last defender. And there it was, the goal. A simple goal. We didn't celebrated it too much. Now it was like 70 minutes passed. Our captain scored another goal from long distance. It was pretty good shot. 

85 minutes passed in the game. Both teams were looking tired now. But I was explosive. I got the pass from the captain. I went through the defenders. I just dropped shoulder for the first one. He was easy. But two defenders were left. The first one got deflected by my elastico. The last one was just near the D, he was not in the D. I kept running towards him, I dropped the shoulder to right side and went towards the left, but he tackled me. I fell on the ground. The crowd went 'ow'. I was on the ground, referee blew the whistle. And it was a free kick. Captain gave me hand to stand up. I stood up. 

I was thinking about taking the free kick, but it was not my game. It was theirs. So I gestured peter to take the free kick. But he denied. Then I shouted towards him to take it. He understood there is no other way. So he kicked the ball. The ball was drifting outward. The goalie jumped towards the ball. But the curve did his job. The ball went in the back of net. It was top right corner shot. I was impressed by that one.

"That was a hell of a shot!" I shouted towards Peter.

"Thanks." Peter yelled.

And at this moment we knew there is no way opposition will score. So we didn't try to score. We just passed to each other for 5 minutes. And we were in the finals. Crowd was cheering. My family was smiling towards me. Emily was clapping and cheering. I was happy. The final was after 10 days from now.

__

We were back home. I went straight to get some shower. Emily and my uncle-aunt were sitting on the sofa. 

I took the shower I was only on towel. I went in my bedroom. I screamed. It was freaking scary. She was sitting there. She was not holding my I-pad. Because I protected it with a password. She was just staring hard towards me. I only had a towel on me.

"What are you doing here?" I shouted. I tried to hold the towel with my left hand and covered my chest with my right hand.

"What happened?" Uncle was yelling. But he was laughing too. 

"Please Emily, get out of my room. I need to change." I was so frustrated. 

She stood up. Started coming near me. She was a centimeter near me. She stopped at this moment. I was confused why she was not going out? She was staring into my eyes. 

"Please." I begged. She went out of the room. Ooh. I started feeling easy. I locked the door from inside. I changed to three-fourth and a t shirt. I dried my hair. I went into the living room. I was so ashamed.

"Why you didn't tell her, I was showering?" I asked Peter. He gave me a look like I don't know. But he was smiling hard. 

Uncle was not there now. I thought he went to the bar. Emily was sitting on the sofa. I sat near her.

"Do you really like freaking me out?" I asked her.

"No. I was just sneaking."

"Ok. You want to stop for the dinner or what?" Of course she had to stop. She had no parents. 

"No."

"So…" 

"I am going outside. I will be glad if you come." Of course I will come. I looked towards Peter. This kid was going to burst at any moment. He was suppressing his laugh so much.

"Of course I will come." I stood up. "Should I change or what?" I asked her.

"You will just put your jeans on, what is change in that?" Was it sarcastic? I didn't know.

"So, please suggest something to me. My dear." She blushed when I said my dear. 

"Do you have a tuxedo?"

"Why? By the way, I don't have it. Who wears a tuxedo nowadays?"

"Oh. Okay. Change the pants. We are going to shopping." Wait, what? This is next level man. I didn't have any chance to argue upon that. I just came back with my jeans. 

"Let's go to my house. I have a car." Okay. She had to have the car. She was the CEO of the company, or whatever I didn't even know it. I also have a car. It was my dad's. She was Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. I love that car. It is at my house in Washington D.C. 

"Okay." I said. She stood up. She stretched her hand towards me, I gave her my hand. She held it and we walked out. I glanced back towards Peter, he was laughing now. 

We walked towards her home. She was walking with her head down on my shoulder. 

__

I was waiting in the living room. She went to her bedroom. After some time the two suit guys came from the front door. They gave a nod to me. I gave a nod to them.

One of them came near me. And gave me the car keys. It was pretty fancy key, Chevrolet symbol was inscribed on it. 

"What should I do with this?" I asked them. They were silent. I cleared my throat. One of them suddenly went in the kitchen and came back with the glass of water and gave it to me. I was impressed.

"Um, thank you." I said nervously. They both nodded at the same time. I thought they are not allowed to speak to anyone but Emily. So I just waited for her in silence. 

After 10 minutes Emily was in the living room. She was wearing usual combat boots, jeans, and pink top. She was looking beautiful.

"They gave me this." I showed her keys. 

"Okay, there is car outside. I don't know how to drive. So I thought you should drive."

"My pleasure." I said dramatically. I held her hand and kissed on the knuckles. She smiled. I went outside. The first word was 'wow'. 

The car was Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible two door soft top. My dear reader, if you google with you please search it and see. It's just beautiful. She was red. Ah, what a car! I slide my hand from the front lights to the door. She was so smoothly finished. I opened up the door and got in. the seats were so smooth. I came out of the car. I was waiting for her, I was leaning on the car.

Emily came out. There were no guards. She smiled at me. I walk beside her to open the door.

"Here madam. Please." I opened the door.

"Thank you. You are such a gentleman." She sat in. I walked from the front towards the driver side. I hopped in. 

"Would you like a roof or open, madam?" I asked her. She smiled.

"As you wish." She answered.

I pressed the button, the roof from the back slowly joined to the front. 

"Where, madam?" I asked her. 

"We have a party to attend. It's my office's organized party. I must have with someone. I didn't wanted to go first, but I thought it would be good with you. What do you think?" she asked me.

First of all. I don't love parties. Honestly, I don't know what to do at parties. So I usually avoid the parties. But here I was, once again, between the babyish eyes of Emily and my rules. Of course she won.

"Ok. So we shouldn't go there like this." I sighed.

"Yeah, I know. So I know a place where they do a complete change out. It is 3 miles north." To the north it was the urban area. We went there last time. This time I needed a complete change out. The life is hard man.

I started engine, it was very powerful. We were there in 10 minutes. It was a massive shop. It was more like a mall. We entered there. 

At the gate a man was waiting, after we entered in he came running towards us. 

"Hello, welcome. How can I help you?" He asked. He was thin. So thin. He had a measuring tape around his neck. 

"We would like to buy a formal party dress for both of us." Emily said.

"Okay, you two are couple?" I looked towards Emily. I thought we were couples. But I didn't know what she would say. I just kept my mouth shut.

"Yes, we are." She said quickly. I looked at her. I smiled. 

"Okay, so for females, you go on the first floor. And for you mister…" Emily was gone. So I was there alone. 

"Jonathan." I answered. 

"Okay, john. What do you like to wear?" What kind of question is that? 

"I love to wear jeans and t shirt." He smirked. I didn't know man. 

"No, it's like…. Okay. Come with me." I followed him. There were suits and tuxedos everywhere. Formals and various types of ties. Bows. I didn't know or I don't know how to tie a bow? Or is it to bind? I was pretty much clueless. I didn't even know the difference between suit and tuxedo. 

"I want to take some measurements." He held my both hands and kept in the air. Then he took his measuring tape and measured my chest, then waist, pretty much everything. Then he went to search for the best fit. I waited for him for 5 minutes sharp. He came back.

"I just want to confirm with your girlfriend, about the color." He said. I never thought about the girlfriend part. But I think I would. I thought of it and I gave him a nod.

After 10 minutes he came back with a tuxedo or suit, whatever it was. But it had a bow. Its color was… pink. Wait, what? I had to wear pink now. Come on man. But I studied it closely it was not pink it was very light pink. It was a mixture of pink and yellow. It was gorgeous.

"I don't know how to tie a bow." The first reaction from my mouth after watching that beautiful masterpiece was … this. I smiled shyly. He was also smiling.

"I will help you with that. Just go to the trial room and wear the rest of it."

I followed his order. I came back with the tuxedo, it was very perfect. It was perfect fit. I didn't have any difficulty in that one. I came out smiling. 

"Hmm, good?" He asked.

"I don't know about these. What you say?" he smiled.

"Yeah, it's perfect. Now the bow." He started around his neck with other bow. And I followed him with it. I forgot about the 2nd step already. But after all I was not going to take it out of my neck. It's hard to be James Bond. The neck was like choking. But I loosened it. I have to be careful with it.

After 30 minutes of everything, I was waiting for Emily. I was wearing the tuxedo. My old clothes were now on the back of the car. 

Emily came out. She was not wearing anything special. I gave her a puzzled look. She was staring at me. 

"You are looking, fantastic. And handsome. My dress, it's a surprise." She said. 

"Oookay."

I started engine.

"Now where?" I asked her.

"To my old house." It was not a house it was more like a palace. So I started driving. 

__

We were at the front gate of her house. Security came towards us, Emily waved him. He saluted her. He opened the gate. I drove in. It was curvy road, it was like 100 meters before the main building. Both sides of the road were full of green lawn, perfectly cut. Just lawn. After driving for 30 seconds, there was a fountain in the middle of the road. It has some lighting, I don't know, but the water was reflecting beautifully. I drove ahead of that, then we were under the gate, like an entrance. It was attached to main building. I drove in. Emily gave me a gesture to stop. I stopped. On our left, the entrance for the building was there. There were lights everywhere. It was 8 pm. I got out of the car and one man came towards us. He offered his hand for the keys, I gave him. He started driving the car to the back of the building. 

"Come." Emily said. She held my hand in hers, and started walking inside. I thought we were the first, but answer was, hell no!

There were so many people for the party, what were they doing? What they do in the party? The music was on. I thought about the speakers, but no it was live band. No not band, it was orchestra. It were a smooth, silent notes. I noticed violin in the music, a piano was noticeable. But there were so many mixtures of them. I couldn't concentrate on single. People were in themselves. But as we walked between them, their faces were slowly turning on us. I felt so nervous. They were looking at us. Emily was confident. I was now holding her whole arm near my chest. They were smiling and gossiping. We went towards the other end of the hall. 

"Wait here. I will be back." Emily said.

"No I can't this pressure." Which pressure, there was nothing like that. I thought about handling the pressure while serving for the president. I let go her hand. 

"You will be okay." She came near me and kissed on my right cheeks. It was full of affection. My cheeks were red. She looked me in the eyes. And then she went on the stairs to change. 

After few minutes, it seemed like an eternity. I went to the side bar, and asked waiter to give some juice. He looked at me like I was an alien. I understood why he looked like that, nobody was drinking juice. Some of them were drinking Martini, vodka and some of them were drinking wine. I just sat there drinking mango juice. 

After 2 minutes, one boy came towards me. He was like 5'11 or something. Ha, shorter than me. But well built. He sat near me.

"One orange juice please." He ordered the waiter. This time he didn't gave the boy that look. I just sat there near him.

"So are you Emily's friend mister…" He asked. His voice was cold. He was waiting for waiter. 

"Clifford. Jonathan Clifford. Call me john. Yes I am her friend." I answered. He was now excited, I thought.

"So, what you do for living John?" What was the meaning of that question?

"Pardon?" I asked. 

"Do you have any job?" Ooh, he sounded harsh and rude. But what should I say, I am trying to be in military. No. I work for the secret services. Absolutely no. 

"I work for the government." Such a cliché. I was smiling inside. He was becoming curious.

"What do you do in it?" Why this was happening? Come on man. Shut the fuck up. But I had to answer.

"I work in the White House." I sighed. I thought he got it. He didn't complain about the answer. I thought I should ask him same question. 

"And you are mister…." I asked gently. 

"I am Victor Emsworth. I work in my dad's company." He answered. I first heard it like, Hemsworth, the Chris Hemsworth. But then I realized it was Emsworth. He had a job. These people were so rich. But the happiness on their face was not realistic. They couldn't even laugh freely. 

"So you just came here for the Party or what?" How silly!

"No, not just for the party. Some business meetings and I was looking for Emily." As soon as he said that I felt happy. A month ago Emily was weird, now people were looking for her. That moment was prideful for me.

__

After some time, after having 3 glasses of mango shakes, the music stopped. Someone tapped on the glass of wine, it got all the people's attention. 

"I am glad to announce, the CEO of our company." One woman said gently. She was happy. But I knew who would be there on the stairs.

The focus of the light drifted towards her, she was standing above all. Her hand was placed on the side bar. She was looking gorgeous. She was wearing a light pink dress, a big so big dress. Her shoulders were naked.

My dear reader, I don't know anything about any dress. The dress she was wearing, was so big, light pink. I had seen it in movies. Very royal.

Everyone clapped. Everyone stood up. She was shy. She was looking towards me. I waved her. She waved at me. I gave her thumb. 

After some seconds, one boy went near Emily, and offered her a hand. She denied. I was not even standing. I was smiling hard, I was just sitting on the chair. I drank last sip of the shake. Some other boys tried their luck, and now I was confirmed that she was asking me to do it. 

I stood up, closed the mid button of tuxedo. I started walking on the stairs. She was covered by boys. I waved everyone else. I stretched my hand towards her. She was smiling.

"You are looking beautiful, my love." I said. "You want to dance?" I was the one with the pink tuxedo. Other boys were wearing black, how cliché.

"Yes please. Let's go downwards. There is so much crowd here." She said. I smiled. I took her hand in mine, and started walking down the stairs. 

We were on the main hall. 

"Sit here. Wait." I said her. I walked towards the orchestra. There was no music going on. So I picked up the ukulele, tuned up. She was looking at me. She was smiling. I looked at her and gestured- this one is for you.

I started singing I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton. It was the most beautiful song I have ever heard. After 2 minutes at last,

AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, 

I literally shouted at last. But it was perfectly in the note. After I was done, crowd cheered and started clapping. 

"You want another?" I shouted towards Emily. Her eyes were teary, she shook her head. But I thought she gave me a nod. So I started setting up my ukulele again. I went towards piano, I gave him notes. He understood. I called guitarist and gave him clue, he also understood. And after 30 seconds of rest I started singing Amazed by Lonestar. The song was good. After 30 seconds of the first stanza, drummer started to get in the beats. 

At the last of the song, again I shouted,

EVERY LITTLE THING THAT YOU DO 

BABY, I AM AMAZED BY YOU….

Unfortunately it was not in the tune, but who cared. I looked up towards Emily. Everyone was clapping and cheering. Emily was crying. I gave a high five to other crew in the orchestra. I whispered notes for the next in the ears of man with the piano. He understood. I thanked him. And went near Emily.

"I told you I will say it afterwards." I whispered in her ears. She was crying hard. I picked a paper towel from one table and wiped her eyes. She gave me a hug. I started setting her hair back to normal. I held her chin in my right hand.

"Stop crying." I picked another paper towel and wiped her eyes. But she was not slowing down. 

"Hey, stop crying girl. You are the boss here and you are crying. It's not good."

She started to stop. She wiped her eyes. 

"So, it's a no from you then." I started kidding. She laughed. She punched me on the arm.

"Yes, it's a no for you and yes for the song."

"What?" She was now smiling.

"You are a big fool."

"I know that. Tell me something I don't know." She punched me on the shoulder.

"If you will punch me like this for eternity, my shoulder will dislocate." She was now laughing. We forgot about party. She stood up. The music started.

I slide my right arm behind her back, and held her right hand with my left. We were just following the beat. A slow formal dance. She placed her head on my shoulder. Other couples joined us. They were following our lead. After 10 minutes I changed my posture of dancing. I gave a nod to the orchestra they started beating fast. 

I transformed into a pro mambo dancer. I whispered into her ears, "Just go with the flow." She gave me a nod. The crowd stopped dancing. I gestured them to make some space. The space was created for us. I held her left hand into my right, and I swung her into a traditional formal revolution. I started from a slow swings and then started crossing my legs. You know mambo. If you don't, you should google it. It's the most important dance to perform in the ball room. 

I started feeling hot, so I slowed down. I gave orchestra a nod and they understood what to do next. They started a medium beat drums. And piano was going fast. I decided to go for a foxtrot but the beats were fast so I started doing quickstep. 

I held her with back. I am not going to describe what is quickstep. So please, reader go and watch it on YouTube. Ok. 

After 10 minutes of silent dancing we sat down. I was exhausted now. 

People were happy. They started coming near me. Some of them giving handshakes, some of them were praising. I didn't know these people but they seemed happy. Victor came to me with a grin. 

"That was mind blowing performance. Thank you." He gave a hug to me. That was nice. Emily was smiling at me.

I was feeling hot. I took my bow off and loosened the first three buttons of the inner shirt. Then I took off the coat. I realized they were all watching me. So I quickly put the coat on myself. 

"It's okay." Someone yelled. "Take off your shirt." 

Everyone was laughing. I glanced towards Emily, I asked her, what should I do? 

"Don't even think about that." She warned. I gave her a nod. I just took off the coat and sat down. I realized everybody was standing. There were round tables in the middle of the hall, like in the movies? Yes. I took Emily's hand and sat her down near me. After that, everybody sat down. The music started again, these were silent notes. Smooth and calm. My mind relaxed in the environment. I looked towards her face. 

"I want to spend the whole night in your eyes…" I sang this line from Amazed.

She was blushing.

"Yeah it's true." I said. I kept looking in her eyes. The music was going on. I was just looking into her eyes. For whole 5 minutes I didn't look anywhere else. I just looked….in….her…eyes.

__

After some jokes and everything, the tense mood of the rich party got changed into a happy people's party. I was no stranger to them. After a ceremony of looking in the eyes finished, some people started questioning about us and our relationship.

"How long you are in relationship?" One girl asked to me. She was probably of our age. 

"7 months." I quickly said her. I glanced towards Emily, she understood. She was waiting for me for whole 6 months between the vacations, and I was not in the relationship with anyone. Or I could say I was never in a relationship with anyone. Nobody was perfect for me. It was my thinking, ok. No offence.

"Oh, how it all started?" Asked another girl. What should I say? She was weird. So I helped her. Or she was going to suicide, I helped her. Nah, mean. So mean.

"Okay, you want to hear our story? I mean whole." I asked all the girls and some boys who were waiting in line to ask us questions. 

"Are you sure?" Emily asked me. I gave her a confident nod.

"Well?" I asked the audience. 

"Yes." They responded in unison.

I started from the part, where I started this book. Like the two months school. And told them all. Everything. 

"I was in love with her." I ended with the sentence. I realized every person in the room was silent. Music was stopped, because they were listening to our story. 

"No I was the first to confess." Emily argued. 

"Ok. I can't argue with you on anything. You have those eyes, when I look into them, it's just, I don't know. I just surrender to you."

She blushed. She punched me on shoulder. I realized everybody was fuzzy. At any point those people would start to cry. 

"Okay, I am so hungry." Everybody started smiling.

"Yes, let's eat now." Someone announced. I turned to see. I thought she was a secretary or something. 

"Who is she?" I whispered to Emily. 

"She is my mom's best friend and she is MD of our company. She is very sweet. She knows our story, she helped me to find house near your house."

Okay. I thought. I gave her a nod. Music started once again and I ate with some girls on my left side and Emily was on my right. She was jealous, because there was no boy on our table. I smiled towards her. And I started singing the line from an old song,

"I could list a million things, I love to like about you. But they all came down to one reason, I could never live without you…." 

Everybody looked at me. But I looked at Emily. She was looking downwards, toward her plate. But she was smiling. I was happy about this, about everything. 

__

But, my dear reader, I made a mistake. There was this security thing that I wanted to tell her. I just wanted to take the training of that job. And it was 6 months program.

I didn't have any plan to leave her right now. I had to. There should not anything like relation, if you are to join the job. It's just complicated. 

Should I tell her about this? Should I ruin her evening by sharing my secret? I kept quiet for some time. I thought maybe another time. Okay. Let's see.

__

After the dinner, it was now 11 pm. I started to leave for my home. I gave Emily a sign, let's leave. She gave me a nod. We started turning toward the entrance.

"Wait, where are you going?" Angelica yelled. Angelica Garfield was the name of MD. 

"Um we are going home." Emily said. 

"Why? Dear. Spend the night here. It's so late." It was so hard to tell no. Her voice was full of concern. She was 45 or 48. She was married, her finger had that ring. So she was married. 

I looked toward Emily. Her eyes were telling me stay. I gave her a nod. 

"Um, okay." I said. 

"Excellent." Angelica said. She turned to Emily. "Where would you like to stay? In your old room." She suggested. 

"Um, I will be okay with the separate room." I said nervously.

"No we will stay in same room." Emily said.

"Are you sure?" I asked her nervously.

"Yes." She answered. She was smiling. I am in big trouble.

"Give us your biggest room with the biggest bed." I said quickly. Angelica was trying not to laugh. I was fucking nervous. I never shared my room with a girl, for whole night. 

"Okay." Angelica said. She probably smirked. "Follow me." 

We followed her. We went upstairs. There were so many people staying for the night. Some girls waved to us. I mean to me. Some boys waved towards me. I gave them a nod. 

"You want to go for some fun?" Someone asked. I turned, he was Victor. "You people are staying, right?"

"Yes we are staying. I am too exhausted to have fun. I had a football match today so I am really tired. I am sorry." I said. But I realized that he was not asking me he was asking Emily. I looked down, it's so hard to suppress a smile after an awkward incidence. So I looked toward Emily. She was nervous. I gave her a nod.

But she shook her head. "I am sorry. I am really tired. I just want some sleep."

She looked at me and smiled. Victor understood quickly. 

"Have fun." He said and went to other room.

Angelica was also smiling. "What's so funny in this?" I asked her. I tried not to be rude. Just simple question. A straight playful question. She shook her head, and started walking to the room.

After 10 seconds, she stopped at the far left corner of the passage. It was the farthest of all. It was like isolated from other rooms. I gave her a quizzical look.

"This is the biggest room with biggest bed." She said. I gave her a nod. We went in.

The room was really big. It was big enough to put the living room and kitchen of my house altogether. My real house. Yeah. Washington D.C. The bed was like the biggest I have ever seen. It was on the right side of the room. There was window near the bed. And a chair near window. On the wall behind the bed, there were pictures of nature, horses. I turned left, the left of the room was divided into two sections. First one was TV section, and second one was music section. TV was so big. In front of it was a big sofa, it had only space for two. The music section had a piano, guitar, violin and flute. No ukulele. 

I was searching for ukulele, I was lost there. Someone patted on my back.

"Want this?" Angelica was with the ukulele.

"Thanks." I took it from her hands tuned it perfectly. I tried some notes on it. Ah, what an instrument it is. I will always love ukulele. Its strings, the sound they produce, it's just amazing. 

Angelica was watching me playing the notes. She was smiling.

I put the ukulele back, on the bench. I started exploring the room. I went into bathroom, which was just there near our bed. The bathroom was really big. Of course it has to big. There were two sections of the bathroom. They were separated by the glass. I thought I would check it afterwards, so I let it go. I turned towards Emily. 

"Um, our clothes. Do we have to wear them the whole night?" I asked her nervously. What was I doing? I was the brilliant student of our batch. I was the most famous for making strategies in our war games. But here I was. 

"No. The night dress is there in the cupboard. It will be a perfect fit for you." Answered Angelica. I turned towards her. 

"So, tomorrow's after bath dress?" I asked her quickly. She gave me smile.

"We will provide you clothes honey."

"In the back of Emily's car, my shirt and my jeans is there." I said nervously.

"They will be taken care of. You just relax okay. Change to the night dress. Have fun." She walked out of the door. Everybody was telling me to have fun. Something is not right. I turned towards Emily. 

"Can you please open the zip on my back?" She took her hair and slide them in front. I didn't know what to do? My hands were shaking. I touched the zip of her dress. I tried not to touch her back. And mission accomplished. She started sliding her dress with her hand. I held her hand. 

"Um, I will wait outside until you change your clothes." My hands were getting sweaty. The AC was perfectly mild. But the situation was so hot.

She turned towards me. Her hand were holding the dress. She came closer. My heartbeat was getting faster and faster. She came close and I shut my eyes. Out of fear? Yes. Yes. But she whispered into my ears, "Okay." Just okay. This much drama for just one word. I walked out of the door, I was frustrated. 

I was waiting outside.

"Hey what happened?" One girl asked. She was in her nightdress. 

"Nothing, just waiting. Emily is changing inside." She laughed.

"So what are you doing here? You must be inside." She was laughing.

"Okay come in." Emily shouted from inside. 

"Yeah I should be inside. Nice meeting you." I offered her my hand for handshake. She hugged me. Why girls do that?

"You are in a good shape!" She smirked. And walked away. 

I went inside. "Now please." I gestured her to go out. But she didn't even move. After some seconds she stood up, came near me. Walked toward the TV sofa. And sat there. 

"It's okay. I will not turn." She said. She sounded serious. 

So I took off the coat. Then my undercoat, my white shirt, my innerwear. I tossed them towards the bucket. It was labeled as- Put clothes here. So I tossed my shirt inside the bucket. The cold air of AC, went through me. The chill ran down my back. Ooh. I quickly took off the pant and shoes and tossed them in the bucket. In the cupboard, there were shorts and pajamas, literally everything. I took towel from there and went for shower. 

__

After shower I went to the cupboard to wear night dress. I wore it. And ta da. I was ready for a good sleep. It was 11.20 pm. 

I searched for Emily. She was watching news. Impressive. News and we youngsters. I sat near her. She turned toward me.

"Oh you are done." She asked. 

"Yes. Take the shower. You are stinking." 

"Okay. Is it really bad?"

"No. it's not. But you should take shower. It will help you to relax."

"You already took it?" 

"Yes, there is bathtub in there. It's so big."

"I know. I will be back in 10 minutes." She walked towards the bathroom. 

__

After watching some football, I turned the channel to movies. The movie was Space Between Us. I watched for some time. I think 5 minutes or so.

"John." Emily was shouting from the bath room.

"Yes." I yelled back.

"Give me towel." She yelled back. 

"Ok. Here." I gave her towel. I sat on the bed, waiting for Emily to come out. After few seconds she came out. She looked at me. She was smiling. 

I stood up. I went near to cupboard. I picked night dress out of the closet. I turned towards Emily. I looked in her eyes. 

She spread her hands, as if to surrender to me. I was looking in her eyes. I held the towel's knot, and loosened it. The towel was on the floor. She was naked. Full naked. I didn't look anywhere. She was also looking into my eyes. I opened the night dress. Gave a little shake to it. And then I spread my arms around her, I helped her wearing the night dress. I tightened the knot around her waist. And held her left hand and sat her down on the bed. 

I was searching for hair dryer, and found it. I started it. I went near Emily. She was just waiting and smiling. I started to ruffle through her hairs. And the dryer was pretty powerful. It took less than 5 minutes to dry her hair. Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Emily said. I was just doing my job of drying her hairs. 

"Um, sorry. I should not be here." Angelica said quickly. She started turning away.

"Wait, I am just drying her hairs. You two can speak." I have her a nod. She turned. She smiled. But that's okay.

"Are you just going to watch me how I dries her hair? Please sit somewhere." I snapped. She smirked and sat on the chair.

"It's nothing important. I just wanted to say that you can order ice cream. Or any other desert, or anything." She stood up and went near the piano. I think it was intercom. "From this. Just dial 99 and you can order. Or I am next door, if you need something. Don't worry about bothering me." I finished up the drying job and kept the dryer from where I picked up. Emily was now setting her hair perfectly. I came back to seat next to her.

"I don't eat anything after dinner. As for the desert I stopped eating sweet. You know. For the better physique." Angelica gave me a nod.

"Send two dark chocolate in our room." Emily said. I looked toward her. "One time ice cream will not make you fat." She snapped. But, she was right. 

"But…"

"No buts. She came all the way here for just informing us about the service." She snapped. She was right. Angelica came to us just to say we will give ice cream if you want. She should've sent any of the workers, but she came. I turned towards Angelica.     

"I am sorry. Yes, I will eat it." She smiled.

"It's okay. I just came here to see you people. Okay. Ice cream was an excuse."

"Hey, you don't need to make any excuse to come and see us. You are welcome anytime, even in my uncle's house. You should come there for dinner."

"How nice of you! Thanks for inviting me. I will look forward on it." She stood up. Went towards the door. And walked out. Emily looked at me. She was smiling. 

After 2 minutes sharp. There was knock on the door. 

"Come in." Emily shouted. We were sitting on the bed, near each other. 

One waiter came inside with two bowls covered, he opened them in front of us. The cold gas came out. There were two bowls of them. They were identical. Both were dark chocolate. He gave us the bowls in our hands. And he walked out. I was nervous to even taste it. 

Emily took the spoon in her hand and picked up ice cream. I was looking at her. She offered me the bite. First I said no, but eventually she pushed the spoon inside my mouth. Yum. It was so delightful. I had not ate ice cream for like a year or two. I didn't even remember the last time I ate it. 

"Eat it fast." She commanded me. I started eating it. 

After 5 minutes. We were finished eating ice cream. The waiter came and took the plates from us. Now we were ready to sleep. 

"Let's get out in a fresh air." She, um, commanded? I thought. 

"It's midnight Emily. I am so tired." I begged. She was also looking tired. But then why wanted to go out? I understood.

"Hey, we will come here next Sunday. Okay." I said gently. She seemed relaxed. 

"Okay." She was thinking something. I thought about letting her think.

I searched for the blankets and pillows. They were in cupboard. I took out the blanket and threw on the bed. I went near the TV, switched to music channel. It was instrumental, just piano and somewhat flute. 

I went near her, I touched her shoulder. She looked up. I bent down, and picked her up in my arms. I placed her on one side of the bed. 

"You are looking tired, girl. You should sleep now." I walked to the other side of the bed. And I fell on the bed. I switched off the lights. The moonlight was coming in from the window. Emily was looking beautiful in the moonlight. I stretched my left arm to touch her head. I ruffled her hairs. She was looking to the ceiling.

After some time, like 10 minutes. Nobody slept. So I grabbed her left arm and pulled her near me. 

"What?" She asked. I was now sleeping on my left side. She was on my left side. I slide the hairs which came on her face.

"Nothing. You are so beautiful." I said. She smiled. "Will you do me a favour?" I asked her.

"What?" she asked. 

"Never ever stop smiling. Always keep smiling." 

She smirked. "Yes, I promise." And then she came closer and she kissed me on the lips. Her lips were so cold. Her tongue was so sweet. She was my first kiss. This was my first kiss. I lost in the environment. After 9 or 10 seconds, she pushed herself back.

"Wow, that was good kiss." I said. 

"This was my first kiss. I never kissed any boy." She said.

"I know. I mean, I understand. And it was my first too."

"Are you kidding? You mean I am your first kiss." 

"Yes. So what?"

"I thought you like to flirt."

"Yes I like to flirt but it doesn't mean I like to kiss girls."

"Okay, Okay." I turned on my back to see the ceiling.

After some time, she threw her arm over my chest. I slowly leaned towards her and kissed her forehead. She was now sleeping. My eyes got shut without my permission. I switched off the music.  

__                                                          

Sunlight was peeking through the window. My eyes slowly opened. Emily was still sleeping. My night dress was on. Her night dress was on. But she was sleeping on my chest. In the position like she was hugging me. I glanced through the window, the sun was already high in the sky. I looked towards my mobile, and it was 10 am in the morning. I shook my body and sighed.

"Hey wake up, we are late for class. It's Monday." I picked her head from my chest and rested on the pillow near me. She was still snoring. I shook her shoulder a little. Then she suddenly got up.

"What happened?" She asked. I stood up and walked towards the bathroom. 

"Nothing, it's 10 in the morning, we have one hour to go for the class. I don't want to miss today's lectures." And I went in the bathroom. I took shower.

I came back and she was looking through the window. I went near her. I rested my right hand on her right shoulder and watched out of the window. The green lawn with some sparrows were playing there. The scene was very beautiful.

"Hey, take the shower." I said her gently. She stood up and went into the bathroom. I was only in towel. 

Someone knocked on the door. 

"Come in." I shouted. One girl came in, she was wearing the night dress.

"Hmm, you look nice." She said gently. She gave me that kind of smile. 

"Yeah, can I help you?" I asked her. She was holding a paper bag.

"My mom said me to give this to you." She threw the bag to me. They were my clothes. They were ironed and very clean.

"And your mom is…?" I asked.

"Angelica."

"Oh, you are her daughter." I went near her and offered her a handshake. She did the same.

"Thank you. Miss…." I asked. "Evelyn."

"Nice name, I am Jonathan." 

"Pleasure meeting you, Jonathan." 

"Pleasure is mine, young lady." She smiled.

"See you, bye." And she walked out. 

I quickly changed to my regular clothes. Now I was waiting for Emily. After some time she came out. I was sitting on the sofa, I was watching TV. I didn't looked at her.

"Hey, finish up quickly we don't have so much time." I said gently while watching the TV. "Do you need any help in drying your hair?" I asked her.

"No, not today." I didn't know the expression on her face. 

__

"You are leaving already?" Victor was shouting towards us.

We were just walking out of the building. Emily was wearing her jeans and combat boots. She was wearing a t shirt. Yeah, pink. Light pink. I turned to see him.

"Yeah, we have a class to attend." Emily said.

"Okay," He offered handshake to her. She did. "Nice to meet you Emily." He said gently.

"Nice to meet you too, Victor." She said. He turned towards me. "Can I have her phone number, just for the sake of friendship?" He asked me. I laughed.

"Ask her man, I don't have any problem. Why should I bother?" Emily smiled.

"And yours also." He said to me. I gave him mine. He offered me a handshake. I waved his hand aside and gave him a hug.

"Friends, right?" I asked him. "Yeah." 

"See you again, maybe next month or so." He turned and walked towards his room. I placed my hand on Emily's shoulder, and turned. 

"We just have 20 minutes to catch our lecture." I said gently. She gave me a nod, and started walking towards the door. Our car, I mean Emily's car was outside waiting for us. 

__

I was driving back to school. I forgot about the texts that I received. I opened Peter's.

Where are you?

I gave Emily my phone. 

"Type, come with my I-pad to class." I said her. She did. Peter replied instantly.

Okay.

So we directly headed towards the class.

__

I parked the car outside the school. 

"You go ahead. I will be with you." I said to Emily. She went on.

I went in the Peter's class. Class was going on. 

"Excuse me, mam." I knocked on the door. "Can I have a word with peter?" I asked.

"Yes, of course. Peter." Mam announced.

I gave peter sign to come with my I-pad. He took it from his bag and he gave it to me. I gestured him to sit down again. He went to his seat.

"Thank you, mam. Sorry for the disturbance." I said to the teacher. 

"It's okay." She turned towards the class. And started the lecture again. I ran to my class. I entered in and sat near Robert. He gave me smile, and started looking towards the board.

__

In the lunch break, I went to my locker with Robert. I opened it, and suddenly I freaked out. Hundreds of letters came out suddenly.

"What the..?" I asked Robert.

"You forgot the today's date, didn't you?" He asked. He was laughing.

"What's special today?" I asked him nervously. 

"Today is valentine's day, my dear stupid friend. And these letters are from all girls. And some boys, you know." I punched on his shoulder.

"Oh, um, so what do I do with all of these?" I asked him. 

"Read them. And then reply them." He was laughing hard.

"All of them, they are like hundred. Some are from same person. See." I showed three identical letters. What the fuck is happening? 

I didn't know what to do. So I picked up my paper bag, Evelyn gave me at morning. I picked up all the letters and threw them into my bag. I went in the cafeteria, where people were eating their lunch. 

I searched for Emily. She was eating her lunch with some girls and one boy. I and Robert went to her. We sat on her table. 

"Hey, what's in the bag?" She asked. 

"Letters. From girls." Robert said quickly. I glared at him. 

"Yeah, so what's your answer?" One girl asked. 

"You wrote one?" I asked her. She gave me a nod. I looked to Emily. She was smiling.

"I have bunch of them. But not this much." Emily said smiling. I sighed. Yes. Because she got some of them. 

"Well…?" One boy asked Emily. She smiled.

"Well, what?" She was playing it innocent. 

"Answer?" He replied. Emily looked towards me. She was smiling hard. 

"Well, you are late." She answered. 

"Who asked you first?" He asked. He was becoming curios. Emily turned towards me. She gave me a nod.

"John asked you?" One girl shouted. She was shocked. Did I? Yes I asked her yesterday at the party. Emily gave her a nod.

"Where? How?" She asked. 

"We were at the party and he sang a song for me." She told them everything. Only about the party. I rested my elbow on the table. I supported my chin with my palm. I just looked towards her. After 5 minutes of whole description about the party, she stopped. But I just looked towards her. She shook my shoulder and I came in the real world. I started singing some lines of TWO PEOPLE FELL IN LOVE by BRAD PAISLY.

"You know, to me its all clear, every one of us is here, all because two people fell in LOVE." I smiled. I looked in her eyes. She was smiling. She gave me hug. She started crying slowly. I took my handkerchief out of my pocket, and wiped her eyes. I forgot we were sitting in cafeteria.

After some time, girls came near me and started collecting their letters. 

"Hey, I would love have collection of those." I argued to them. They started laughing. "Keep them back. Those are mine." They kept them in the bag again. We all knew that, I was not going to read them all. But letters have some respect. If they are sent to the receiver you have no right to snatch them back. Ha, words of wisdom. 

__

After the class, I went to car. Emily was waiting for me. I wanted to play basketball, but I dropped the idea. So I went towards the car. 

"Is it your car?" Robert shouted. Other boys were also waiting for answer.

"No, Emily's." I answered them back. Their face was funny. I smirked and turned towards Emily. I opened the lock of the door, and threw my I-pad on the backside of the car. She sat in the car. We headed home. 

__

"Where were you last night?" Uncle asked. He sounded very angry. After dropping Emily and her car, I went home. I went to play football with my friends. And after I took shower and changed. 

We were at dinner table. I was expecting the question. So I told them all. Everyone was listening. I told everything, except the kiss and all. You know. 

"You were together in one room?" Peter asked curiously.

"Yeah, I asked them to give separate room to me, but Emily insisted to be in common room." I answered. 

"What did you do?" Peter asked. Uncle punched on his shoulder. I knew the meaning of the question. 

"We were very tired. So we fell asleep. She wanted to go outside for the stargazing. I promised her to go there on next Sunday. Can I?" I asked uncle.

"Don't ask me. Ask your aunt." He said nervously.

"Oh, shut up." She waved him aside. "You can go wherever you want. Just be careful about the protection." Now I was nervous.

"What protection?" I asked. I had a doubt about it. 

"Oh, you know it." She said casually.

"Hey, I will not do anything like that. Uncle why is she like this?" I shouted. 

"I know you will not, but you people are young. You can lose control. So just be cautious about it." my face reddened. I was blushing. I never blushed like this. 

"I, I don't know what to say."

__

After a messed up dinner, I went to my bedroom. After some time there was a knock on the door. 

"Come in." I said. Peter was there. He came in and sat near me.

"Tell me the truth. Your experience will help me." He asked me.

"What truth?" I asked him. 

"You know what I mean." 

"Hey man, I didn't do anything okay. We just slept with each other. And nothing else. Now get the fuck out of my room." I was frustrated. He walked out smiling. 

__

I just kept thinking about how I would going to tell her about my training program? I just cannot afford to lose anyone, who I care a lot. I sometimes thought she will wait for me. She should wait for me. But sometimes I thought should it be good to leave her in this situation? Because she has changed and it was just a month. She had so many responsibilities on her. She had a company to run. She had her MD to do everything, but she had to do some work.   

I was her pillar, her base, upon which she was standing confidently. So the thought of leaving her was biting my head every time. I just waited to pass some more days.

__

The final game of football, yeah, we lost it. Last minute goal and they won by 1-0. At that night Peter didn't came out of his room for dinner. Uncle was worried about him.

"Can you talk to him about this all?" He said me. I was writing my diary on I-Pad. 

"Yes." I didn't know what to say. I just gave him a nod. And then he went to his room. My phone buzzed. I looked into it, it was Emily's text. 

Do you have a minute? It's important. 

I thought about it. I just replied her yes.

Well, then open the door. 

Wait, what? She was there again. 

"Come in. Door is open." I shouted. She entered into the room. She came near me and sat on the bed. She was wearing her usual outfit. You know what I mean. 

"What happened?" I asked her. 

"What do you want first? A good news, or a bad news." She asked. I thought about it. I was not sure what to say.

"Um, good news." I said nervously. She raised her hand towards me and pulled me closer to her with the collar of my shirt. Her lips were a centimeter apart from mine. 

"You have to kiss me, if you want to hear a good news." She whispered. I just looked into her eyes. She didn't wait for my answer, she started kissing me. Yeah, the French one. Her lips tested like mints. I thought she was eating something. Oh, they were mint bites. Mouth fresheners. Hmm, she was prepared. I spread my hands around her, and I fell down on the bed. She was on me full engrossed in kissing. After 2 minutes or I think 3 minutes sharp, she stopped. She just rested her head on my chest. I ruffled her hair with my right hand. We were just lying, I mean I was lying on the bed, and she was on me. Well, now I had to add one more point in my diary. 

After some time, I shook her shoulder and woke her up. She sleeps so fast. She woke up, and went to sit on my study table. 

"So what is the news?" I asked her. I was just lying there. I was watching towards the ceiling. 

"The college said yes for the application." 

"Wait, what? Which application?"

"Peter's application. They said yes." I suddenly felt happy. I laughed so heavily. My joy was something uncountable. 

"How….?" I asked her. So confused. 

"Angelica is an old friend of the college director. She said she could handle the situation. And she did it." Nice. Very nice. 

"Okay. Thank you." I stood up and grabbed her hand. I pulled her and we both walked out of my room. We went to Peter's room. I knocked on the door. No reply. I knocked very hard. 

"Come in." His voice was cold. We walked in. He was lying in his shorts, he had no shirt on.

"Put the shirt on." I shouted at him. I closed Emily's eyes with my hand. Peter suddenly jumped from his bed and searched for the shirt. He wore it. 

"What happened? What you people are doing here?" He asked. His voice was so low. 

"We have a good news. Your application for University of Manchester is accepted." He was shocked. 

"What the hell?" he shouted. Then Emily told him everything. He was very happy. 

I turned towards Emily. "You said something about bad news." I asked her.

"Yeah and the bad news is, Peter have to give the trials for the MU team. If he fails to impress the manager, they will throw him out." she sounded serious. 

"Whoa, their manager, you mean Ole Gunner Solskjaer?" I asked her. She gave me a nod. This guy Ole is so tough. I think he is permanent now. I was shocked but I was happy. 

"So, it means you are directly in the team and also in the college." Emily said. Peter's chest grew bigger. I know this kid has capability. 

"Yeah, it's an invitation to the team directly. It's very difficult to even get for the trials." I turned towards Peter. "You have last opportunity to prove yourself, and I am pretty sure you will not let me down." He started crying. 

"Hey, it's okay." I said gently. He stood up and gave hug to Emily. I just watched them. She was also tears in her eyes. "Thank you. Can I call you sister?" He asked. She gave him a nod. 

"Thank you, you made my day." I said her. Peter walked out of his room to tell the news to uncle and after all, they were all happy because of Emily. 

That night everybody congratulated Peter. Everybody thanked Emily. We ate dinner together. After dinner uncle said me to walk with Emily to her house. Um, it was a command, so I followed. 

__

I knocked on the door. I was at Emily's. The door opened. One of the suit guy was there. 

"Is she here?" I asked him. He shushed me. "Is she sleeping?" I asked him in low voice. He gave me a nod. He backed up, opened the full door and gestured me to come in. I went in. He gave me sign to go up in her room. I did. 

I went into her room, she was sleeping on her back. She was just wearing night gown. Yeah, pink. This girl is obsessed with pink. I didn't want to disturb her, but the time had come. The time to confess the real problem. Yeah, I was nervous. I just wanted to tell her everything. I just wanted to share my weight with her. So I shook her shoulder and woke her up. 

"Hey, what happened?" She asked. It was a powernap. Because she immediately woke up, and she was enthusiastic.

"I want to tell you something." I said nervously.

"What?" She asked. She stood up and she set her hairs with a bow. 

"Can we go somewhere, I need fresh air?" I asked. She gave me a nod. She started taking off her gown. I jumped from the bed and turned. She threw her gown on my head. I took out and threw on the bed. After some time she came near me.

"I am done. Where shall we go?" she asked. She was wearing her usual outfit. Jeans, t shirt and boots. I didn't know the answer of her question. 

"I don't know. Suggest something, where we can talk alone." 

"Let's go to the palace. It's Saturday and you promised me last time." Yeah last time was, wild. And I had promised her, so I had to go. There was something more in the palace. It was Monday so we were in hurry. Now today its Saturday, we would have got so many things to see. It was 7 pm. And palace was just 3 miles from here. 

"It is 7 now. We will be there in 15 minutes. What should we do there? I bet you don't have a party today." 

"No we don't have a massive party, like last time. But Angelica invited some people. Just the sons and daughters of those people. It's like a young party." 

"Hmm, I have to wear that weird dress with the choking bow." She punched me in the arm.

"That was not weird, okay. You were looking so beautiful that day."

"Wait I have an idea. I am not wearing that tuxedo again. Just arrange a black suit of my size." She looked confused, but she immediately texted on her phone to someone. 

"It will come in 10 minutes. What should we do for 10 minutes?" She asked in that way. Yeah, I am lucky. But I had something to do. She came closer to me. 

"Wait, not now. I will come back in 5 minutes." I immediately walked out of the door. I started to walk towards my house. 

I opened my closet, I searched for black t shirt. I changed my shirt. I changed my jeans into black jeans with white shade on it. I changed my shoes into formal wear. And went back to Emily's. 

I walked into her bedroom. 

"Ta da. How is this? I will wear the suit on this and its done." She was smiling. 

"Okay." She said.

"Don't open the suit now. I will wear it afterwards. For now we will go to drink some milk shakes." 

"Okay. So I will also wear my dress afterwards. I will wear-" 

"You look beautiful in everything." I grabbed her hand. And walked down the stairs. "Just wear black." She smiled. We went to the front door. The suit guys were standing there. I let her hand go. But then she grabbed my hand. Why I was afraid of these guys? 

"Keys?" She asked one of them. He placed car keys on her palm. It was not Chevrolet today, it was something else. I didn't recognized the symbol, because she quickly walked out of the door. Both of them gave me a nod. Their eyes were full of concern. After all they were her bodyguards. 

"I will be with her." I said them gently. They both gave me nod at the same time. 

I went out and I was amazed by what I saw. Ah, what a car! She was Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6. Yeah, two seater. She was green. She was shining in the dark. The door opened and I went in. The interior was royal. I started the car. The engine was so powerful. My veins got a small shock. Ah, lovely. 

"Where do you get these cars?" I asked Emily. 

"Hello, my name is Diana. I came from Crewe, Cheshire, England. Welcome to Bentley." Car answered. The car answered. But the engine was off. 

"Hello Diana, I am Emily. This is Jonathan."

"Hello Emily Norton. Oh hello, John. How are you?" Her voice was so lovely. I looked towards Emily, she gave me nod. 

"I am fine. How are you?" I said nervously.

"No you are not. You heartbeat is increasing. Emily is relaxed. But John, you do cardio?" What?

"Yes, I do workout." 

"Good, then it's normal. I am not fine. I was asleep for, I think 8 days. Nobody used me for anything."

"We are sorry." Emily said gently.

"It's okay girl. Now what do you want?" She asked, like she was talking to me. 

"I can drive. We don't need autopilot mode. We just want to go to coffee shop." I tried not to sound rude.

"Yeah everybody says that to me. Coffee shop is 1 mile from here. Happy journey." And she was gone. But the engine was off.

"Um, Diana." I called her nervously.

"Now what?" She roared. 

"Please start the engine, you have locked the start button." Engine started, the voice was so powerful. 

"Sorry, happy journey." And again she was gone. 

"She is cool." I said to Emily. "Thanks." Diana said immediately.

"Diana, change to manual settings and stay low." Emily ordered. The settings changed and the gears popped up. I sighed.

Ooh, I started driving slowly towards the café. We were at café after 5 minutes. The café was on the other side, so we had to cross the road. I got out of the car. But Emily was still in. I peeked through the window.  

"Diana, I will call from my phone, then come there. Ok." Emily said.

"Ok." Diana replied. Hmm, nice system.

We went in, I ordered a beat juice. She ordered a chocolate milkshake. 

"So what was that you wanted to talk about?" She asked me while taking the sip of her shake. 

"Later, alone. Not here." I said. I sounded serious. 

"I know what you are talking about." She knew. I was not sure. I gave her a quizzical look. 

"What?" I asked gently. 

"About your job. Secret service." She whispered. Hmm, I didn't know how she knew. But I was getting suspicious. 

"How do you know about that?" 

"I am sorry. I read it on your I-pad." 

"Hmm." She started saying something, but I placed one finger on her lips. 

"We will talk about it later, not now." I said gently. She understood. We sat there in silence. 

"Let's go now." She stood up. We were just talking and drinking about 20 minutes. I stood up and walked beside her. We went out. I looked towards our car, I parked her on the other side of the road. 

Emily said something in her phone, and the car started automatically. She, I mean Diana, took the U turn. And stopped in front of us. Nice. The door automatically opened for Emily. She went in. I revolved around the car to get in from driver's side.

"So, now where?" Diana asked. I glanced towards Emily. 

"Are you going to drive?" she asked me. I shook my head. 

"Diana we would love to let you drive. Drive us to your home." Emily ordered her. 

"Oh, okay." She started engine and raced one time. My heartbeat raised. 

"Diana, slowly." Emily gave her command. Diana slowed down and started a medium 30 km/hour speed.

Ooh.

"I just love this car." I said Emily. She gave me smile. 

"We will hang out sometime." Diana said. 

"Yeah, sure." I said to her. I smiled. 

__

We were in the main hall of the palace. There were 40 kids present. Not a single adult. I took out my suit out of the bag, the suit special bag. And wore it. The music was very loud. I think electrical trance. 

The bar was full, people were drinking bears and whatnot. Emily went upstairs. I went to sit on the bench near the bar table. On the other end some people were kissing really wild. Yuck. I waved to waiter. He was same waiter. He gave a smile. 

"An apple juice, but don't peel off the skin of the apples." I ordered. He gave me a nod. Not that look, last time he gave me. But something strange was happening. I was somewhere else. I was, I was with my….. Mom? 

"You make the best apple shake in the world." I was praising the shake after drinking it. I was sitting on the dinner table. I was exhausted by playing football. It was 4 in afternoon. This was my house. A simple two story house. A simple, ordinary kitchen. 

"You should not play in the afternoon, the heat is so much." My mom said. Her eyes were full of concern for me. I remember my mom so little, it was just 4 years earlier, but the memory was in pieces. 

I just remember her eyes, those blue eyes, where my all difficulties could drown. All my pain and misery could be kept in those eyes. When I look at them, I just feel so confident, so powerful, so….determined. And disciplined.

After drinking the apple shake in one sip I looked towards mom, I felt energetic.

"Nah, nothing will happen to your son. If something happens, I will look at you and all pain will be vanished." I said enthusiastically. But her face darkened. 

"Yes, my son. I will be there for you. I will always be with you. But you have to promise me something." she asked me.

"I promise." I said quickly. I looked down to my shoes. I was like 10 or something. She smiled.

"Patience, Jonathan. You have to promise me not to remember me." What? Wait. What? 

"I, I didn't understand." I said nervously. This was like a tape or something. I wanted to ask something else, but little me was asking something else. It was like I am watching a first person documentary. 

"You will, after you will grow up. Just promise."

"Ok. I, I promise that." I was now frightened of what I was promising. I didn't know anything. My hands were shaking. She came closer to me and touched my hand. As she touched I was drifted back in the loud music. 

Emily was touching my hand. I was completely lost in the thoughts. Why she made me do that? Why my mother wanted me to forget her? I need some answers. I need all the answers and I will fucking find them. At whatever cost, I will fucking find them. 

__

"You were lost. Mom?" Emily asked me. She was sitting near me. The music was very loud. She was shouting at me. I gave her a nod. She touched my hand and squeezed it. I felt relaxed. She rested her hand on my shoulder. She gave me a nod. The hall was now full. The DJ was doing his job very perfectly. I looked at her, she was wearing a black backless dress. One piece, I think. 

"You are looking beautiful." I shouted in her ears. She smiled. 

"Lower the volume, just a bit." I shouted towards DJ. He understood. The loudness relaxed a little. The people were dancing like crazy, I wanted to cheer up the mood. I drank one more glass of apple juice.

Suddenly the music stopped. I was just sitting on the chair. I was taking a sip of apple juice. Emily was drinking pineapple juice. I thought she drinks bear but no. Suddenly everyone started yelling towards DJ. 

"Calm down, calm down. We have a special guest tonight. The couple who always drinks juice in the party." Everyone laughed. He was Victor. "Sometimes the girl doesn't like to drink juice, she goes for shakes or something. But the boy, he drinks juice even in café." Everyone was laughing. I knew about the boy. "Anybody knows about Beat juice?" he asked the crowd.

"No." They shouted in unison.

"That boy right there," he pointed at me. The focus of the light saturated on me. I lifted my arm in the air to give cheers of my juice glass. "Drinks that juice. Some of you may know this boy, because of last Sunday's party. Those of you don't know," He walked towards me. "This man right here is Jonathan Clifford. He works for the government." I laughed. He told everyone about the last party. 

"We want performance! We want performance!" they were cheering now. I looked towards Emily. She gave me a nod. I snatched the mic from Victor. I stood up. 

"I only know country song, and I love playing it on ukulele. It will ruin the theme of party. It's very silent." I announced.

"Here." Someone shouted from behind. Evelyn was there. She came closer to me and handed over the ukulele. I sighed. There was no chance for escape. 

"The party will continue after your song." Evelyn announced. "Any doubt?" she shouted towards the crowd. They responded 'no' in unison. They were cheering. 

I sighed. I went to the mic stand. Placed it perfectly. Everyone was silent. I turned to DJ, and whispered the notes to him. I wanted to make it different. I tuned up the ukulele for my convenience. The beat started. I started tapping my shoe on the floor. I started singing FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN by Randy Travis. 

I'M GONNA LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER

FOREVER AND EVER, FOREVER AND EVER

FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN.

Song ended. I stopped singing. The beats stopped. I looked towards the crowd. Their eyes were shut. I looked towards Emily, her eyes were closed, and tears were started coming out of her eyes. I looked towards DJ, he gave me a smile and thumb. 

"One more. One more." Someone shouted. After a second everybody started shouting. 

"Hey guys, you are making my girl cry." I announced. Everyone looked towards Emily. She was wiping her eyes. She gave me a nod. 

"Are you sure?" I asked her. She smiled. I got the answer. "This time don't cry. Okay." She nodded. Everybody cheered. I turned to DJ and gave some other notes. He understood, he started dropping the beats. 

"Emily," I shouted. "This is what I wanted to tell you…" 

I started singing MAKING MEMORIES OF US by Keith Urban.

I skipped two lines from the 3rd stanza, they were about her mother and father. So, you know. 

At last, I finished the song. I looked up, I think some of them were crying and some of them were crying. Beats stopped. I was standing there in a dead silence. 

"I did warn you earlier about the situation. It will be very silent." I said in soft voice. Nobody answered. 

"What is happening?" Angelica came in from the door. "I thought you people are in party. And…" She looked towards me with my ukulele. She understood. Everybody was silent.  

"Oh, John. How are you?" She asked me. 

"I am fine. I already warned them about the aftermath. But they wanted to hear the song. Now see everybody is just so silent." She glanced through the hall. Some people were crying, some people were just standing up like empty minded. Evelyn was crying. Yeah, I have magic to do that. Nah, it's not my magic. It's about the beats and a right song after right moment and everybody will stay silent. 

"Hmm, I see. It's okay start the party again okay." She turned towards the DJ, he was also silent. "Drop some good beats." She ordered him, and she started walking out of the hall. 

"I think we should eat now." Evelyn announced. Everybody nodded. Evelyn wiped her eyes. 

"Sorry for ruining the party guys. I didn't know, this much would happen." I said. I placed down the ukulele. And started walking towards Emily. She was crying. I went closer towards her, I took out my handkerchief out of my pocket and wiped her eyes. She gave me hug. It was too tight. 

"Can't breathe." I said playfully. She relaxed. I sat on one chair. I took my coat off. I was just on t shirt. 

"Okay, everyone please follow me. We will eat in the garden." Angelica announced. We stood up and followed her. Nobody was saying a word. Now I was started feeling awkward. 

__

The garden on the front side was not the garden, it was just lawn with perfect grass. On backside of the palace, only one massive round table was placed. And about 50 chairs were arranged perfectly. Every chair was, I think, half foot apart from each other. The table was covered with white cloth. It was shining. Plates were perfectly placed in front of every chair. I sat on one of the chairs to the left of Emily. To my right was Evelyn. Okay, I was in the middle of the two beautiful girls. The boy to girl ratio in the party was 1-1. I mean 25 girls and 25 boys.

The surrounding was too quiet. Table was very much in the light. The scent from flowers was strong and delightful. I was relaxed in the environment. The dinner came and the waiters served us.

"So how did you people started dating each other?" Someone from across the table asked me. I looked towards Emily. 

"We never dated each other." She answered for me. I smiled.

__

We were staying in the same room. It was 9.30 pm. someone knocked on the door. I was sitting on sofa. Emily was lying on the bed. 

"Come in." Emily shouted. Victor walked in.

"The pool party has started. We will pack up after an hour. Are you guys coming?" He asked.

I looked towards Emily. I thought she would say yes. But I didn't know for sure. I studied her face. She was feeling awkward.

"If you don't want to go, then you shouldn't go." I suggested her. 

"I think we should go." Emily said finally. 

"You know how to swim, right?" He asked her. 

"Of course I know. I was just, anyway. We are coming." She said firmly. 

"Okay." He stood up and walked out. 

I looked to Emily. "So what are you going to wear?" I asked her nervously. 

"Let's see. Just bikini, or swimsuit. They will definitely not going to swim. It's just being in the pool or lying on one of chairs near the pool." 

"So…" I asked her. She stood up took off the dress she was wearing. I turned. 

"For how much time you are not going to look these?" She asked that way. I didn't turned. I just sat quietly. Suddenly her right hand was on my shoulder. She turned me towards her. My face reddened. I just kept looking in her eyes. I didn't had the courage of looking downwards. She was not naked. But, you know. 

She started unhooking her bra. I turned. I was not ready to see what's there. And she also understood that. After 2 minutes she turned me again. She was wearing black bra. I didn't looked down. 

Laugh, dear reader, laugh. If you will caught in the situation, you would understand. It was very awkward. Anyway. 

"So…" she asked about me. I took off my shirt. And then my jeans. She was staring hard. I was only in the underwear. I went towards closet. Fortunately there was swimming pants on the last shelf. I wore them instantly. Swimming pants are so full of elastic. So they can fit to anyone. 

I took two night dresses from closet and I wore one. I threw other towards Emily. 

"Put this on, we will take it off near the pool." I said her. She did. 

__

"Take off your clothes." Someone yelled at us. We were at the pool. It was, of course massive. I mean, it was like Olympic size. On one side, the jumping thing, I don't know what they call it, from where we can jump into water. It has two levels. I was not going to try them, so I just turned to see any other special things. It was surrounded by those beach chairs, for lying on them. It was on both sides, I think hardly 20 of them. Some of them were occupied. Some of them were joined together, for kissing, of course. A couple was kidding on the joint chair. We walked towards the other end of the pool. I sat on one of the leaning chairs, you can call them that. Victor was yelling towards us. 

"Hey man, take off your clothes. And join us in the pool." And he jumped in. Emily started loosening the knot. She took it off and threw it near my chair. She slowly entered in the pool.

Yes, this time I saw whole body. Should I describe it to you or leave it? Hmm, okay, okay. She was very perfect in figure. She was having abs on her belly. The curves were perfect at every turn. Happy? Imagine that. 

She called me in the water. I took my shirt off. Entered into the pool slowly. And to my surprise the water was hot. It felt relaxed. I went near her. She was standing near the middle part of the pool, I mean she was leaning against the pool wall. The crowd was everywhere. I took a quick lap from start to finish and then went back to Emily. I ordered, of course, juice but this time it was blueberry. I drank some of it, it felt nice. It was so delicious. 

After some time the people were cheering for something at the starting of the pool. We both went there. Some people were doing crunches and pushups. I thought about it. Why? I mean why now? Just enjoy the hot swim. After about 30 seconds they stood up and showed their abs. Oh, I get it, I thought. 

I jumped out of the pool. "Tell me the rules." I shouted towards the one who was holding watch in his hand. "I want to play this game." 

"Rules are simple, do everything that you can in 40 seconds and show us your abs and chest." He said. He turned towards the crowd. "The next is we have Jonathan here, who want to him a challenge?" Everybody cheered. I looked towards Emily. 

"The rules are changed. The challenger can pick anyone from the crowd." I announced. Everybody cheered. 

"So who do you choose?" He asked me. I pointed towards Emily. Everybody turned towards her. I knew she had a good physique. She was working out. She came out of the pool.

"Challenge accepted." She announced. Everybody cheered. One more boy came out from the crowd. 

"I also want to participate." He announced. The referee gave him a nod. 

"So do whatever you want for 40 seconds. Pose your body. Time starts now." he said. Emily started doing pushups. The other boy started doing crunches. I wanted to do something different, something entertaining. So I did hand stand. After 2 seconds and after controlling my body, I started doing handstand pushups. I did 10 of them. I rested my legs on the ground. Then I started doing superman pushups. Ha, very entertaining. I did 5 of them.

"Stop. Now pose." Referee ordered us. "Emily." he shouted. She got in a stance of bodybuilding championship pose, where we could see her traps, calves, thighs, biceps and abs. She had popped out 4 abs in just 40 seconds. Impressive. Hell of an athlete. "Nice." Referee admired. Everybody cheered. 

"Jonathan." He shouted. "Pose." I was started doing my bicep pose. Hmm, they were in a good shape. I didn't popped up my abs, deliberatively. I posed for my chest, I popped up like it was air bag. I stopped posing. "Show us your abs." Evelyn shouted from behind. She had seen my abs last Monday. So I posed for the abs, at first they didn't showed up, but after a second, they were 6 packs. The crowd gone mad. 

"Did you carve them on your belly? They are very perfect." Referee said me. The third boy just showed his chest and abs. 

"So, the winner is… Emily." referee shouted. "She posed for thighs and calves. So practically she is the winner." Everybody cheered Emily's name. I also cheered her name. 

__

It was 10.20 pm. We went back in our room. We took shower. Of course separately. Don't even think about it. I started drying her hairs. They were dry in just 5 minutes. We were wearing night dress. 

"Let's go out in the moonlight." I suggested. We were lying on the bed. She stood up.

"Okay. I know the place where we can sit and talk together, alone." She answered. I took her hand in mine and we both walked out of the palace. Near the front gate, the green lawn was there. On that lawn, there were so many marble slabs were placed perfectly, I think for sitting on it and discussing because it were placed in a circle. We went near it. It were like 7 feet or something. it's width was like a small bed. We sat on one of it. There was a lake near the lawn. It was shining. The reflection of moon and some stars were in the water. The scenery was perfect. We sat near each other. She took my arm and gave it a hug, she didn't let go of it, and then she rested her head on my shoulder.

"So, you know what I wanted to talk about?" I asked her. She gave me a nod. I didn't write the whole cause in the diary, of course. But, what was the whole cause? Why I wanted to join secret service? I didn't understand. 

"I have to go away from you for at least 8 months." I said gently. Her face was shining in the moonlight. But she looked calm. No expressions. 

"Hmm, where do you live?" What? She didn't know that. Oh, come on. I actually laughed. 

"I live in Washington D.C. near White House. It was our house." 

"Oh, so, if you get the job you have to live there." She asked nervously. 

"It's not about job, babe. I, I don't want to hurt you but, but, I really don't know. My memory of everything is in small pieces. I don't even know why they rejected me first time. I want some answers. I want whole answers." She was thinking something. 

"Okay, so how much time do you need to find the answers?" 

"Hmm, I don't know. But if I will get into secret service, I might find some of them. I am pretty sure, there is some connection between them. I need some time." Her face darkened. 

"Should I talk to Angelica to move me to Washington D.C.?" she asked me after some pause. 

"No, I mean you don't have to leave your home for me." 

"But, I don't know. What's the purpose of living here without you?" She hugged me. I ruffled her hairs with my hand. I didn't know what to say. I fell on my back. She rested her head on my chest. I kissed on her forehead. And I just went on looking in the sky. I rested my hand on her neck.  

"Just wait for me for 6 months." I said gently. 

"Okay." She was crying. I lifted her chin up, and looked in her eyes. I wiped her tears with my hand. 

"Please don't do anything silly, while I am gone. I will come back and we will decide about living here or there. Okay. You with me? You mustn't do anything silly." She gave me a nod. You what is meant by silly? It means suicide attempts. But I have faith on her guards, they were capable. I have seen concern in their eyes. I wanted to tell her some more but she was asleep already. My eyes were also shutting. We both fell asleep in the lawn. 

__

"Hey, wake up." Victor yelled in my ears. My eyes flew open. We were on the marble. Sun was already up. It was like 9 or 10. Ha, how do I know? I was military aspirant. And besides my mom taught me these things. Ha, ha.

We were surrounded by bunch of boys and girls. She was still sleeping. She didn't let go the hug she had given me last night. Everybody was taking pictures in their mobiles. I shook Emily, she was not at all ready to wake up. I shook her again, this time, "Please 5 minutes more." She said and she went back to her sleep. 

I stood up, it was hard to escape from her hug. I turned her on her back. And picked up in my arms. I started walking towards the main building. 

"What is happening?" Angelica came outside. "I heard some noise." Then she saw me with Emily. "Is she all right." She asked.

"She is just sleeping, they were sleeping whole night on the marbles." Evelyn shouted from behind. Everybody laughed. Evelyn came towards us. "See, how cute!" She shown the photo. Angelica smiled. I looked to the photo, Emily was like hugging me while asleep. Like I was her pillow. I laughed. 

"Don't post it." I turned towards everyone. "Don't post the photo, please." I announced. I started feeling heavy, Emily was in my arms. So I turned towards the main building. 

__

"How long was I out?" she asked rubbing her eyes. It was 10.30 am. She was lying on the bed. I was drinking orange juice. I was sitting on the chair near window. The scene was quiet good. It was better than night time. 

"Just an hour. Are you good now?" I asked. She stood up. And tied her hair with the bow. 

"Yeah, I am good." Her voice was cold. I looked in her eyes. I stood up and went towards her. I held her both hands and spread them across my body, like a hug. She did. I put her head on my shoulder. We waited like that for some time. She looked up. Her eyes were full of pain and misery. I wanted to soak all that misery out of her. I wanted to take all that pain on my shoulders.

"I will come back, okay." I kissed her. Her lips were so sweet. Her tongue was cold. We were kissing for like 5 minutes. I fell on the bed. She was holding my neck. She was pressing so hard. After like an eternity I stopped.

"I want to explore some things here. I want to behind that mountain." The mountain was visible from the window. I never went beyond it. 

I love to explore nature. Always full of surprises. We can't sure what will be on other side of anything in nature. 

She let go of my neck and lay on her back. She was thinking something. 

"Okay, so take the shower and we will go trekking." She stood up and started to search for the towel. "You want to join?" She asked smiling. I shook my head. 

"Oh come on." She came near me and picked my collar of night dress. She dragged it along. I didn't resist. I just went in with her. She took off her night dress, and unhooked my knot on my waist. She slide my dress from my shoulder and I was wearing only an underwear. She was wearing innerwear. She took my hand and dragged me in the bathroom. And, we took shower. Wildly. I will not describe that. No.