Beyond Those Irresistible Eyes (Fourth Book of "Fire and Ice" series)

Prologue

Dear All,

Here is the Prologue and we can see their two different points of view, have a hint on their different personalities and problems. 

Please note that the prologue takes place more or less at the time of CH.24 of "Fire and Ice", when many things were different than we know them now, especially regarding our Tolya. You will see how River felt about the matter at the time, what happened to Nicholas before meeting River ad such.

I was re-reading "Fire and Ice" to check timelines and such, and, as Jasper would say: OH BOY! The number of mistakes, typos, grammar BS and such is rather embarrassing, sorry you had to endure it while reading it and re-reading it (Btw, THANK YOU from my heart to all my re-readers, you guys are fantastic!) So, my decision? I am beginning to review the story and I will slowly start to re-post reviewed chapters, because you deserve higher quality of stories. It won't be professionally editing, mind this, but at least I will polish it and wipe all the embarrassing nonsense away. 

I have chosen the same song from the Author's Note because it fits the chapter, River and Nicholas didn't meet yet, but the words of the song are somehow foretelling their story. The banner was designed by myself and I am surprised by what came out.

I would like to dedicate this chapter to everyone and in particular to Shreya_sh2002 as a BIG THANK YOU for your poem: you have no idea how happy it made me! Thank you, my dear!

Now, I hope you will enjoy the chapter and I will be looking forward to reading your comments, messages and such. During this weekend I will reply to the other ones, thank you so much for your love and support!

Enjoy it!

RIVER POV – NEW YORK:

"In a world full of temporary things, you are a perpetual feeling," by Sanober Khan

I grabbed the book for the third lesson that I naively took with me at home in the very vain hope of helping my younger brother studying in the subject he seemed to struggle with, but it was a useless effort. I found myself staring at the book standing still for a few seconds, considering everything that happened in the recent past months, the change in behaviour and the strong feelings Tommy held against me. I tried to go through many possibilities, but I could not find an answer. I considered his friends and none of them could be the cause of it, and in school his grades weren't at the top, but my parents never really pressured him.

I had tried to talk to him, but to no avail. The reaction was always the same and I feared pressing for more, for he might have taken even more distance to all of us and I definitely did not wish to lose him, afraid he might encounter the wrong crowd. I reflected a moment upon that consideration and tried to remember whether I noticed or not a new person around him, but sadly, I was not entirely certain. Had he met somebody that caused him this change? No, there must have been more than, because his feelings ran deeply.

What had I done wrong to make him hate me so much? Logically speaking, I haven't done anything against him, for I thought over the matter almost every day, but there must have been something or else, how his behaviour could be explained? Perhaps my parents said something out of place that was misunderstood by Tommy, yet I asked them already.

I signed out and stared at the book another moment, for then shacking my head as if forcing myself to chase away such thoughts and weaknesses, since they would do no good and would only render me more exposed and irrational. I was not giving up on my brother and I would definitely find a way to solve this problem and understand what happened. It was just a matter of comprehending the real reason behind his change of attitude and work with that; I had to be patient, because I didn't want to admit defeat and lose my younger brother.