Friday brought Brandon to an early morning coffee session with Equilibrium magazine where they discussed technology and its advancement since the start of civilization. He was walking out of the two-hoursl long meeting— where there was no actual coffee!— when he got a call from a certain ambitious minister, telling him that his family was around and was headed to his office. After listening, for three long, torturous hours to the man's pitch on why he should be an investor, he declined as gently as he could, his Asian wife's continuous 'subtle' talk on how marriage to their daughter would be 'prestigious and proper' definitely a contribution to his refusal. As they exited his office, the Asian's glare doing nothing to affect him, exhaling in stiff irritation was all he could do not to scowl at the 'shy' smile of their 'docile' daughter. Not with that look in her eyes, she wasn't. Going to listen to his creative department talk to him about their new idea and its modus operandi for

There they sat, talking, reliving memories and laughing, overcome with genuine joy and a very heavy but lightweight air of wholesomeness. "Sing something," Brandon urged. Her eyes met his. His gaze held hers, waiting. She loved him so much, her heart quivered with the extent of it. She snuck a hand under his untucked shirt and placed her palm on his chest, wanting to feel him. "Copping a feel?" He arched a brow. "I'm sorry." She began to pull her hand away, but his quick grip stopped her. "No, no. I like being molested by you." She made a face. The laugh that escaped him came from deep within, throwing his head back. Giggling along with him, Beth began to sing a Mama Cass song. "Stars shining bright above you..." He pulled up in front of her apartment building. They turned to look at each other at the same time and chuckled. "I had fun tonight." "You're welcome," she responded, a sharp smugness underlining her words. "I still found no friend in the club," he reminded.

Caught in the middle. How convenient. Beth's head swiveled between the approaching figures on either side of the alleyway. Expelling a swift breath, slightly panicked and awfully irate at her ill luck, she lifted both hands up and called out, "I don't have much on me." Relishing the calm and strength in her voice, she slowly began to lower her hands. "I'm just going to take off my bag and hand it over." The figure to her right cackled something obnoxious. Beth pulled in a deep, lungs stretching breath. Her toes squirmed in her shoes. The atmosphere was all degrees of tense. The unusual quietness of the night grated at her nerves. Why hadn't she heard it before? On the other street, there was no sound of cars wheezing by. Radio silence. Had she miscalculated the time? Lost her way? Edging her eyes to the corner, she perused the slim, tall figure. Deja vu greeted her again. Subtly turning her head to the left, she scanned the silhouette of the other. The soft light of the moon

Over the next few days, Elizabeth had strictly refused a therapist, choosing to talk to her friends about it instead. She had also made up with Sherlie and had openly admitted to having a new fear of alleyways. How wonderful. Hehe. She was discharged the very next day and whilst she still looked about as coloured as a rainbow, she literally danced out of the place. Hospital beds just weren't it. At all. As soon as they arrived at Brandon's, she forced her sore body out of the car, trudged to her room, threw herself on the bed and clenched her teeth in pain."Elizabeth!""I'm okay," she wheezed. Two days passed and it had began to snow so heavily, the grounds were completely submerged. Companies shut down earlier than expected as the snow took them all by surprise, but it was all in good stride. Christmas was fast approaching, anyway. For once, New york rested. Well, as resting as New York could. Beth breathed with relief that she had gone present shopping weeks earlier. They were o

After dropping the sleeping Mia off at her dad's at the close of day, Beth took a cab to Brandon's on the other side of town. Hauling the numerous shopping bags out of the cab, she waved at the driver and began up his driveway, pausing at the green porche parked there. Did he have company? Trudging the rest of the way to the door, she knocked and waited. When no response came, she knocked again. When there was still no response, she tried the handle. The door gave. Huh. Stepping in, she closed and locked it behind her, looking left and right at the pristine state of the house. Her eyes glanced over and did a double take at the dark blue designer purse sitting on the couch. Dropping the bags she held and taking off her crossbody bag, she went and peeked in the hallway, her body tight for some reason. Glancing back at the bag, she stared at it for a few seconds before stepping into the hallway, and that was when she caught a whiff of a smell that wasn't Brandon's. A smell that was all