𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑨 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟖 - 𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈.

* 𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀 𝑷𝑶𝑽 *

𝑰 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔, 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆. "𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐." 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒖𝒔." 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. 𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒋𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒉. "𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔. 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. "𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭."

𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅. 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅. "𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐!?" 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑, 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆.
"𝑰.. 𝑪𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑪'𝒎𝒐𝒏." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔.

𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓. "𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌??" 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔, 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎?" 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌.
"𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚, 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏?" 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒄. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐, 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆.

"𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕.. 𝑯𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕.. 𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒔. "𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕." 𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑰 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒂𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍. "𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒙. 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕."

𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘, 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕. "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔?"
"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑰 .. 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆."
"𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅." 𝑯𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔.