113. Confronted

Andrei sat alone in a dark corner of the bar, in the middle of the ongoing crowd around him. The bottle of whiskey was almost empty in front of him, and a million thoughts were churning inside his head. For a moment he coolly reveled in the human world. Sabrina's presence so close and yet so far away made him feel hurt, and that uneasy feeling haunted him even more.

The bartender, who knew him well, sympathetically refilled Andrei's glass. Andrei raised his glass, watching the amber-colored liquid swirl in the glass, as if reflecting the turmoil in his heart.

"How can you go on without the woman you love?" he murmured softly, his voice almost lost in the noise of the bar.

He felt trapped in an insoluble dilemma. He loved Sabrina more than anything, but he also knew that her presence in the human world was a choice that was truly important to him.

He tried to understand Sabrina, to understand that her life as a human had its charms and pleasures that he might never experience with a we