The Cracks in the Labyrinth

Chapter 5 (Part 3)

Adam wondered how long it would take her to calm down. Seeing Lili this overwhelmed, he questioned whether confronting her like that had been the right thing to do.

I didn't think she'd react this way.

To avoid eye contact, he looked over his shoulder at his ravaged apartment; someone had stolen everything of any value. That place meant the world to him. Yet as the shock dissipated, Adam found curious that he felt more numb than sad.

Women lie when they laugh and lie when they sob, he said to himself. Why is seeing her cry making me feel hollow?

Lili had promised him to speak the truth, but she hadn't been able to utter a word. Why? Was she stalling to come up with a lie? Adam noticed that she was nervous as soon as he saw her standing under the door frame, but could he blame her?

Who could keep a steady hand when a wounded man is screaming in front of your home?

Adam produced his smartphone and tried to turn it on. The screen blinked and died.

"Sadness doesn't get my tears. That's too trite," Lili explained, forcing herself to smile. "Anger is what breaks me."

"Anger?"

"It upsets me when someone makes a fool out of me."

"I don't understand what you're saying."

"Then read my lips: It is my fault, Adam." Lili stopped herself from crying again. "I asked the super, and he didn't call any plumber. That guy was full of shit, and I ate it up like an idiot."

She doesn't strike me as the type that's easily fooled. Is she lying? What's in it for her?

"I'm calling the cops," Adam insisted, walking towards the elevator.

Lili grabbed him by the arm.

"Stay with me tonight."

"What?"

Adam stopped.

"Tonight. Stay with me. Tomorrow we'll find your stuff. Cross my heart and hope to die."

Adam thought about it but pushed the elevator button, anyway.

"Damn it! Don't make me beg," said Lili. "My guilt is heavy enough to cause scoliosis; I don't wanna drag my pride all over the floor too."

"You don't get it," Adam made her let go of his arm. While he waited for the elevator, his right hand touched the wristwatches under his sleeve. If he wanted Bianca and Dario to walk on Carlos Cruz Diez's multicolored walkway, the same way Dorothy followed the Yellow Brick Road to make her wishes come true, he needed his computer. "My PC—"

"Your PC will be back in your hands at dawn's first light. Sleep on my couch. Tomorrow will be a brand new day."

"I'm not sleeping on your couch."

"Well, you're not sleeping in my bed."

Whether he blushed or his face turned white, Lili clarified that she was joking.

"I better get back."

"You can't spend the night at your place, dude."

She was right. The plumber still had copies of all his keys. Besides, Adam didn't want to set foot in that place ever again. The thought of that man going through his belongings, groping his things, was more than he could stomach.

"A hotel it is, then."

"This late? So you don't want a straitjacket but a casket."

"Lili..."