《Bloody Romance》 First Blood——On Kellys proposed breakup "How about a little time apart." After a week of hesitation, during dinner on Thursday, Kelly managed to say it, and once the words were out of her mouth, she looked at Cooper and waited for the man''s reaction. Prior to that, she had already made plans to break up whether Cooper said yes or no, the difference was only in making a good or bad scene. Why must break up, in fact, she herself do not understand, according to reason they grew up together, and talked about so many years of love, although the middle has had twists and turns, but it is also counted so many years to go to the present day without incident. But it wasn''t exactly untraceable, and I''m afraid that the root of it was a comment made by an old friend when they went to Henke for the campus reunion event last month. What exactly they said at the time is all but forgotten, probably something like a group of people chatting to each other at a table about something from the past. I don''t know who started it, but she and Cooper were told to kiss. It was nothing to be ashamed of, per se, and he touched lips with Cooper to the uproar of the crowd, and Zach, a high school friend, casually remarked, "Kelly and Cooper have been together for fifteen years surprisingly, so I guess it''s going to be for the rest of their lives." She got home at night and thought about that comment before she went to bed. Oh, so a relationship of that length would be seen by others as the notion that they would be together for the rest of their lives. So she resolved to break up with Cooper. Now. Kelly looked at the man in front of her, who was still eating his plate of food as if he hadn''t heard her. So she frowned and said it again. Cooper then looked up with a slightly surprised expression, "Did I do something wrong?" "No, you didn''t do anything wrong." "Then what was it because of?" Cooper had a confused look on his face, "Or is it something you want?" "I''m not here to make a deal with you," Kelly said with hesitant words, "You should know very well that I''m not like that, I''ve been thinking about this for a long time and I don''t think there''s any possibility of us taking our relationship any further, so- " "What''s ''further possibilities''?" Cooper looked her in the eye, "You still care about Caroline? You promised me all that was behind us." "It is indeed all in the past, I wasn''t referring to that." "Are you in love with someone else?" Cooper asked suddenly. "No, not yet." Kelly denied it immediately, looking at Cooper with suspicion. "Then because of what?" Kylie licked her lips, something she did whenever she didn''t know how to speak, "Those are actually small things, I''ve been thinking about it for a long time, we''ve been together for many years, our relationship isn''t too bad but it''s not really too good either, we''re missing something vital so we never get to the partner part, we should probably try to develop with someone else --"This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "What vital thing?" Cooper asked, interrupting him. Kelly felt a little annoyed that the dialogue was becoming blunt would hurt, but Cooper looked like he needed the blunt nudge, so she said, "I don''t know, I just don''t think I need you that much." Silence, long silence. Saying the breakup at dinner was a mistake, Kelly stepped away from the dining room chair, "I''m sorry." She made up her mind that if Cooper didn''t agree she''d just leave, leaving him with all her friends from her student days and keeping in touch with them on the phone herself, in fact as an adult she had new friends, new acquaintances. But at bedtime Cooper promised her. Kelly couldn''t say what she felt, it didn''t seem like she was very happy either, even a little confused, and a little despondent. Like a child who had finally given up her walker, a little upset. But then again, she was pretty sure she didn''t want to be retained. Complicated. She quickly found a new flat to move out of, in fact, the one they had been living in was close enough to work, but to prevent awkwardness later, she deliberately picked a place to move to in the main residential building away from her old flat, and the day she left Cooper called to ask when he was going to pick up his things, and she said it would be fine to have a courier bring them over. After a long period of silence, Cooper''s voice came over the phone and said, "Actually, you didn''t have to be so desperate, after all, we''ve been together for so long." Again, she hung up without knowing what to say and pushed the phone under her pillow. This was the third week of insomnia after leaving, and she thought she probably didn''t want this. Just a little while longer. Kelly consoled herself, just a little while longer and see. She tried to bring some change into her life, even going against the grain and signing up for swimming lessons, learning how to swim four ways, and trying a new game on the recommendation of the internet, playing online with strangers. Life was gradually filling up. "So how did you and Dad get back together back there?" Char asked. He was lying in his cot, picture books set aside, he''d finished those so tonight''s bedtime story turned out to be a parental love story. "Because I perceived his importance," Kelly said, "There are some people, who come into your life, who may not be so noticeable at first, but who are willing to give you the utmost support when you''re desperate." "What support did Dad give you?" Kelly was about to speak when she suddenly heard the sound of a door opening behind her, and then she heard familiar footsteps. "What a great story to be telling?" Cooper''s gentle voice came. "Mum was telling me about how you guys got together." "Oh, that''s a long story, that goes back to when we were still only eleven-" "It''s not that." Char said, "It''s why you finally decided to spend your lives together." "Oh, you said that." Cooper paused, "So do I have the honour of knowing where the story goes?" "To before the fire." Kelly added. "The fire?" Char asked. "Yes, the fire, a very unfortunate accident," Cooper kissed the child''s forehead, "The flat block was on fire and Kylie was trapped in her room, at the critical moment I rushed in and rescued her." "Wow." Char covered her mouth, "Daddy''s amazing." "Thanks." Cooper reached out and dimmed the somewhat too harsh overhead lights for him. That''s when Char suddenly asked, "So how did the fire happen?" "I don''t really know, but that''s not important." Cooper looked at the halo of the lamp and seemed a little reluctant to bring it up, just smiling, "It''s best to concentrate on the plot when listening to a story, the specifics don''t need to be thought about too deeply. That''s the true meaning of happiness. Well, go to sleep." Char nodded and retreated under the covers, he rubbed his eyes, already starting to feel sleepy, "Good night." "Good night." Cooper kissed his cheek. Kylie reached out and fumbled with the covers, Char grabbed his hand and placed it on his face, Kylie smiled a little before leaning in for a kiss. "Goodnight." She said. The light from the desk lamp shone on the arch of her brow, those cobalt blue eyes now tightly shut, a little burn mark on the edge of her temple, not so visible after multiple surgeries, just the fragile and sensitive eyeballs under her eyelids, not so lucky. She had been rescued in time from that fire, but her vision had been almost completely lost due to the heat and smoke. She didn''t know what to do with herself in those months, and after the painful loss of her sight she tried to end her life several times, and if it hadn''t been for the constant encouragement and companionship of Cooper, who was her ex-boyfriend at the time, there''s no way she would have made it through ------ A hand took his, and Kylie instinctively tightened her grip, her breathing then steadying. "Let''s go back to the bedroom." Cooper kissed her forehead. "Okay." Second blood——The Devils King To dear Mrs Claude: I hope all is well with you. recently.I read in the newspapers that you and Claude were blessed with a son.motherhood is an extraordinary thing, and I''m sure you''ll be a great mother because you''re so loyal and dependable, both to your friends and to your family. But I''m sorry you didn''t invite me to the baby''s christening, I think that must be because the exhaustion of pregnancy and the torture of gestation has made you a bit mentally weak and so you forgot about me as an old friend, or more probable, you simply didn''t want to have too much to do with me as an ex-boyfriend who had given you betrayal. In either case, I understand your feelings and am still here to send you my best wishes and gifts. I know that the arrival of this letter must have confused you as to why I am using the almost modern and obsolete method of communication of postal mail when I am living not far from your home. Please press on with your misgivings for the time being and read on, and I assure you that all these questions will be answered later. Celine, please allow me to address you as such. Throughout the years, as a mutual friend of you and your wife, we have always maintained a relationship that is neither close nor distant, and as you have always avoided being in the same room with me out of concern for my reputation, I have always addressed you as Mrs Claude. When was the last time you were called by your maiden name? Brussels? Henk? Dronne? Or maybe it was even earlier, long before you met Claude, when we were young, almost fifteen or sixteen, and I remember the first time I met you, when I rode past you on my bike while joking about you, and then I fell and my knee bled profusely, and without saying a word you ran over to me and stopped the bleeding, and, Celine, I can still remember what you looked like at that moment. Why didn''t you leave me alone? I''ve bullied you a lot. If you''re so kind, why didn''t you keep it up, you know? It was your forgiveness that gave me the illusion that even if I made a mistake I would have a chance to make it right, but that wasn''t the case at all with you back there, you didn''t hesitate to leave me after you found out that I cheated on you with someone else and never gave me another chance to salvage the relationship, I hated your stubbornness, I despaired of your determination, and I even thought about planting nails on your way home to make your bike fall off the mountain, and then to rescue you as a Saviour to save you, or put a neurotoxin in your drinking water to make you delirious day by day, and then take advantage of the neighbourhood''s righteousness to take care of you ------ Please don''t feel afraid, Celine, these are all things of the past, it is not a crime to imagine, and everyone has a desire to commit a crime, I''m just more honest than the norm, or maybe, I just don''t want to continue to hide it any longer. I''m sorry, I can''t help mentioning more about the past, you''re probably so bored that you''re going to throw the letter away, so I promise not to ramble on about what''s coming up, let''s get right to the point. It all started that afternoon, a global flu, to prevent infection, I went into the pharmacy and bought a mask to put on first, when I was about to pay, I realised that I had forgotten to take my wallet out, so I had to awkwardly ask the clerk if I could have credit, I didn''t really have any hope, after all, the clerk seemed a bit difficult to deal with, but he agreed, and I should have noticed something was wrong, but didn''t really. I should have noticed that something was wrong, but I didn''t. When I got to the door, I ran into Valerie again, she and I had a little conflict over a small matter, this time we didn''t talk for more than a couple of sentences, I casually said a request, and this time Valerie actually did it, which was impossible in the past, and I began to realise something at this time, I tried to say a few words to her again, and she did as I wanted without any contradiction just like the shopkeeper. If you''re smart, you should be able to pick up on that a little bit too. Me too, I couldn''t help but pull off the mask, when Valerie suddenly blushed and was back to normal in no time, and that''s when I realised the truth of this superpower - as long as I wore the mask, everything I said would be unconditionally obeyed.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I don''t know if this is an ability I was born with or a potential that was stimulated later in life, I tried asking my parents about it, and as far as they can remember, it seems that I wore that thing a few times when I was a kid, but I don''t remember anything special happening back then. Celine, I wonder what you would do if it was you who suddenly had such a skill? Use it to help further your career? Or to help yourself fulfil a wish you couldn''t achieve? I closed my eyes and thought for a moment, and I remembered you once telling me that "once a desire starts, it never stops", and I thought the most likely thing would be that you would never wear a mask again from now on, you''re such a restrained person. And I''m not. I wasn''t loyal enough, I wasn''t moral enough, I wasn''t restrained enough, I knew how important focus was to a relationship but still betrayed you, overshadowed your first relationship and still tried to hurt you after that, and if there really is a God in this world, and why would he give superpowers to people like me and not to you - A really good girl in the secular sense, I can''t understand. After all, in every sense of the word, you are more deserving of a genuine, unblemished relationship that gets everyone''s blessing. Rather than kneeling at my feet on the eve of your wedding, lax pupils, sucking my fingers on command. I know you must be consoling yourself right now, thinking that this might be one of my pranks to sabotage your marriage, after all, you had no hope for my character ten years ago, but, Celine, let''s put it this way, do you remember the day of your wedding, when the lingerie buttons of your gown snapped off the straps? You''d obviously hung it nicely on the rack the night before, but when you tried to wear it that morning, didn''t you realise it was broken? Yes, Celine, I went to see you the night before your wedding, when we hadn''t seen each other for many years, and you were still very wary of me, which made me very sad. And your marriage to Claude made me very sad too, in all fairness I don''t dislike Claude, he is indeed a gentleman and a very nice person, and if his wife hadn''t been you, we might have become even better friends. I didn''t want to hurt innocent people, I didn''t want to ruin your marriage, and I didn''t want to make you weep with sadness at the loss of your happiness, and yet I did find it hard to bear the thought of being without you, and so I had to do something to extricate us from this painful situation. So that day I begged and pleaded and said all the nice things I could to get you to open the door, then I put on the mask, and what followed is a sweet memory, I''m glad that you and Claude kept to your beliefs and traditions and didn''t step out of line during our relationship, and by the way, you looked so charming in your wedding dress. I know you must be distraught at this point, anxious to find out exactly what I did to you when I gained this ability. You should now understand why I use letters as a vehicle for communication, if I were in front of you right now, you would be grabbing me by the collar of my coat and gritting your teeth and questioning me, and I''m not sure that I would be able to finish things with a single thought to you like that, instead of kissing you on the cheek without being able to help myself. But I was not in front of you, and all you could do, even if you were annoyed, was to read the letter on. Have you spoken to Claude about our past? It seemed as if he should have known something about it, and when I came to the door with brandy as a gift to give my newlywed blessings, he acquiesced in your burrowing into the kitchen to minimise the chances of a positive exchange with me, but he didn''t need to. At the dinner table, I''ve heard him talk about your pregnancy, and whether in your happiness you were tinged with some unspecified confusion as to why, despite all the measures you''d taken every time, you''d still slipped up. I''ve seen the supplies you keep in your bedside table drawers to keep you safe, those I never use. Remember the gift I said I wanted to give you at the beginning of this letter? That there was the whole truth about your life. So you can probably see how I feel now, I''m looking forward to this baby just as much as you are, and watching you happily rubbing your belly and talking about when it''s due and whether it''s going to look more like you or Claude gives me an unspeakable thrill, what kind of look would you get if you knew it was mine? I thought about it all the time. But I finally decided to leave the surprise to come today, because I was starting to become insatiable, I was starting to not be able to stand having someone else come between us, I was starting to not be able to stand the cold frosty face that you gave me every time you came to your senses, like you told me a long time ago, "Desire, once it starts, doesn''t stop". The more you have, the more you become a prisoner of your desires. In the same way, dear Celine, if you don''t want to lose everything, your marriage, your relationship with Claude, your dignity in front of everyone. Then now, Celine, put on that silk nightgown in the bottom left corner of your wardrobe and go downstairs and open the door and greet the real father of your children as you greeted Claude. This time, I will not be wearing a mask. Wish the smile rest forever on your face. Love you. Alex Finch. Third blood——TC1 Kevin''s acquaintance with TC1 began nine months ago, when Kevin''s idol was deep in a scandalous fiasco, and Kevin, being a huge fan of hers, had gone out of his way to spend an entire afternoon in the forums trying to fight off all kinds of taunts for his idol. "Kevin?" Mum Anna knocked the door again, "Are you sure you don''t want to go fishing with us?" "Not going," Kevin said without lifting his head, he was glued to each and every reply, catching any suspicious loopholes to fight back, he was fully concentrated, mobilising every brain cell, not even his final exams had ever made him so focused and wracked his brain. However the onslaught of gossip came too hard, and there was a steady stream of information being put out there, and as more and more people paid attention, Kevin''s voice was soon drowned out in the sea of people, and he argued in vain underneath the posts like a salmon swimming against the river. "Lucianna is a bitch." A netizen named "TC1" said, "She likes to have her feet in two boats." Seeing this comment, Kevin''s hard-suppressed anger was ignited, and he crackled his keyboard and cursed ten profanities under TC1''s comment before he was quickly banned. He closed the computer up and flung himself onto the bed, the mirror beside the bed reflected his depressed expression, so he buried his face in the quilt, after a while he turned on his mobile phone, and since he couldn''t speak right now, he could only bite his lip and pretend to be strong as he opened up the forums, and reluctantly skimmed round the forums to check out the public opinion, and his mood got more and more depressed, when he was reminded in the alerts on the top-right side of the mobile phone that he''d received a message. "Hi, old brother." It was from TC1. Kevin was immediately ready to pull the plug as soon as he saw the username. "Don''t pull the plug on me yet." TC1 typed quickly, almost as soon as he put his finger on it, a new chat popped up. Kevin gazed at the dialogue box with an expressionless face, trying to see what this guy was up to. "Is that a picture of yourself in your space?" Kevin opened his space and scanned it, he didn''t usually post much, there were only two photos in there, one of a bird''s nest he had made in his woodworking class and one of him swimming in a river. "Copied them off the internet." He lied, "What?" "That''s impossible," TC1 appeared on the screen almost the next second, "There aren''t any pictures of those two on the entire internet." "How do you know," Kevin sent slyly, "I copied them from a private forum." "Haha, don''t try to fool me." TC1 said, "That''s you." "Well, let''s say you''re right," Continuing to lie was a bit boring, so Kevin confessed, "So?" "You don''t need to be wary of me." TC1 said, "Nothing really, I mainly wanted to apologise, I did just go too far, I shouldn''t have said anything bad about Lucianna in front of you, and it''s understandable that you''re angry." "You didn''t get it." Kevin said, "It doesn''t matter if I''m angry or not, what matters is that Lucianna didn''t do any of this." "She was wrongly accused by those media outlets." Kevin sent in bolded letters. "Fine." TC1 said, "Let''s not talk about it, and as compensation, how about I show you the latest pictures of Lucianna?" "You mean the latest magazine picture? That one I''ve saved ------" Before that sentence could be sent TC1 had already sent a picture. Kevin''s eyes widened in surprise as he saw Lucianna lying on a cushion in a dress, sunbathing, while outside was an endless stretch of sandy beach, with a TV set next to her, which seemed to be playing something, bar by bar as it were. "I think she''s still on holiday if I remember correctly? How did you get a picture of her?" The photo was taken at a tricky angle, like a person hanging in a corner position, "You''re not a paparazzo, are you." "I wouldn''t do something that unskilled." TC1 said, "I hacked into the security system at her resort hotel, and I took this picture from the surveillance." "Gosh ------ although I''m not a law student, I''m pretty sure there exists a law in our country that prohibits this kind of behaviour ------" If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Yeah, so I''m not going to let them catch me (happily)." TC1 posted a smiley face at the end, "Would you like to see more pictures?" Kevin struggled internally for a moment, "Better not, Lucianna needs privacy." "Wow, what a humble man Kevin." "How do you know my name is Kevin?" "In February this year you made a post about the football team that was exactly the same as the blog post you made in your Facebook, I found your Facebook account through that and now I can be sure." "------ Are you Zuckerberg?" "I''m much funnier than he is." "Okay Mr Hacker, anything else please?" "Kevin, are we sort of turning enemies into friends now?" "As long as you stop hacking Lucianna, we''re considered friends." Kevin thought for a moment and then posted, "There are two meanings of ''black'' here." "No more saying things against her, no more invading her privacy," TC1 said, "Got it, deal." Kevin hugged his computer every day for two months of the summer, and from the moment he got up and opened his eyes every morning until he went to bed and closed them at night, he spent almost every moment with his hacker friend, and they played Fortnite, and TC1 would land him right in the middle of a place that had a golden weapon. "Is this hanging?" Kevin asked. "Do you think I need to hang?" Even in the game, TC1 insisted on typing, but it didn''t affect the speed at which he fired bullets; Kevin suspected that there were two people on the opposite side of the room, one for typing and one for playing the game, but the idea was so far-fetched that he couldn''t find a reason why TC1 would do that. Soon enough, a whole summer holiday passed quickly, and as he moved into his senior year, the concentration of Kevin''s school work could no longer support the twelve hours a day he spent using the computer. "It''s so annoying, I feel like I''m going to fail my German test today," Kevin said, "I''ve been playing games for days on end, I can''t keep doing this, I have to take my SATs in June." TC1: "Don''t stress, I can hack into the system you change your SAT score." "No kidding, that''s the SAT." "So what?" TC1 said, "Even if it''s classified in the White House, I can find out about it without any trouble, like when they knew that Russia was going to attack Ukraine soon." "That''s complete and utter bollocks," Kevin said, "There''s no way Russia could attack Ukraine, just like you can''t hack into the SAT''s system." After posting that he turned his computer off. A week later, Kevin was almost on the verge of forgetting about the conversation when the results of the quiz came in, and to Kevin''s surprise he achieved a near perfect score, his whole body was completely confused, but he clearly remembered that he hadn''t even finished the paper. Mr Michelle, the teacher who taught German, complimented him on how much he had improved and Kevin pressed on, his face completely red from cheating, but the teacher and his classmates just assumed that he was shy, his mind was scrambled and he hadn''t listened to much of the class all day, and when he got home, the latest news broadcast on the TV showed Russia announcing an attack on the Ukraine. "What the hell are you?" Kevin asked. Almost as if he was in front of his computer, the next second TC1 replied with an address and then sent a message. "Come here." Kevin looked around a little nervously, it was now the middle of the night, he''d taken a bus from his house to Atlanta University on the outskirts of the city and this was the address TC1 had sent him, to be exact, the address he''d given was the electronic lending room in the school''s library. "I''m already here, then?" Kevin asked. "Get in." Kevin looked at the barred door in front of him. "It''s locked." "There''s an entrance on your right, go in and turn the corner, there''s an electronic door there." "You''re not going to hack that open as well ------" "That''s clever." Kevin followed his words and went in from the right, and it was just as he said, the electronic door was open, and inside it housed rows and rows of black data terminals standing like bookcases, and as soon as Kevin was inside he felt a chill. "Cold?" TC1 asked. "It is a little," Kevin said, "Why is the temperature so low in here?" "This is the data room, in order to dissipate the heat and keep the instruments running properly, the temperature here is sixteen degrees all year round, wait a moment." After a while after posting this, Kevin felt the temperature rise a bit. "You wouldn''t have hacked into the air conditioning as well (depressed)." "Of course. (Laughter)" "I knew it. So where are you now?" He had just looked around and couldn''t find anyone. "I''m right in front of you." "Liar, where''s the second person here besides me." "I''m not lying Kevin, do you see these black things in front of you?" Kevin looked up, rows of tall data terminals stood silently in the room, with an extra touch of eeriness emphasised by TC1''s emphasis. "What''s wrong?" "These things are me." "What are you talking about play-" But before he could send the message over, TC1''s next new message prompted the in- "Are you typing ''what the fuck are you talking about'' on your phone right now?" Kevin froze, remembering Lucianna''s screenshot from the CCTV, TC1''s simply impossible typing hand speed, the parachute jumps in the game that always landed accurately, and TC1''s terrifying hacking skills. The messages that were still appearing in a steady stream on the mobile phone, at this moment, there were like locusts entering the country, and after tearing through the last of the insect-proof cloth, they began to pour in frantically. "Come on Kevin, don''t you want to know who I am?" "This is me, haven''t you been complaining about why I never talk or show my face?" "This is me in my truest form, don''t you like it?" Kevin winced, "This is so ------ surprising, I need to slow down." He subconsciously turned towards the door. It''s ridiculous ------ Liar, isn''t it ------ How is it possible ------ He pushed the door, however, and the electronic door, which had still been open before, was now in a locked position, and on the small LED screen where the code was entered, there was a round-faced emoji made of pixelated dots, with the corners of its mouth downturned in what seemed to be displeasure. Kevin pushed it twice but couldn''t get it open, and when he opened his phone again, TC1 had sent several more messages. "That''s not the answer I wanted, Kevin." "I thought we could take our relationship further after we were honest with each other, but instead you just want to leave, why is that?" "I can''t understand (upset) (upset)." Kevin immediately typed a quick reply, "Well, I''m sorry TC, I shouldn''t have done that, I apologise." "I forgive you." "But you have to understand that this whole thing has been completely out of hand for me, and I need some time to think about it to calm down for a while." "That''s understandable." TC1 replied, "What about feelings for me?" "What feelings?" "Haven''t I made it so obvious that you feel it?" TC1 said, "I''ve read all about animals, and in the animal world, mammals need to show their great abilities before courting to win their mate''s heart. I''m courting you, Kevin." "------ That''s impossible." Kevin muttered before sending from his phone, "Open the door now!" "You haven''t responded to me." "I said open the door now!" "No Kevin, you''ll never get out of here unless you say yes ------" Kevin looked around, all the chassis around him were fixed to the floor, only the fire apparatus in the corner wasn''t fixed. He took off his jacket and holstered his fists, breaking the glass and taking down the fire extinguisher, then grabbed it in his hand and started smashing the door. The mobile phone in his pocket kept ringing, he didn''t dare to touch it at all, although there was no one here, but in the darkness, it was as if there were countless pairs of eyes staring at him. Finally, his violent breaking of the door paid off, and with a violent popping sound of glass shattering all over the door, he rushed out and went straight home without looking back once. After that, Kevin never touched an electronic device again until he went to college, and his family, friends, and fellow teachers at school all suspected that he had a phobia of electronic devices. The above is the story about my friend Kevin, no one in high school except me believed what happened to him, even his mum and dad thought he was sick, I don''t know if he was ever harassed by that "TC1" data again, I hope not. The last I heard about him was that he was now living in isolation in the mountains of Belgium. But I think his serenity may be shattered in the near future. For I read this news item this morning. "On the first of next month, Belgium will launch a satellite into space." Fourth blood——The Prophecy Terminator John Kenneth Galbraith argued that there are two types of prophets in the world: those who know nothing about the future, and those who don''t know that they don''t know. But in my opinion, there are only two kinds of prophecy, one called coincidence and the other called fraud. After graduating from the University of Manchester, I was at home with nothing to do when the social networking craze hit, so I decided to start a youtube account with Maldini, a childhood friend of mine from Belgium, focusing on some of the world''s best-known "mediums", who are also known as "psychics". The way we do it is this. The way we sought money was like this, I would go in first and find out what was going on, Maldini would observe from the periphery and come back to analyse how the opposite party was faking, then Maldini would go in with glasses or a watch with a hidden camera, and then break up the other party''s tricks on the spot, so we could take the opportunity to blackmail them for money, and if the other party would agree to pay to make things go away, then we''d pretend that nothing happened, and if the other party was tough, we''d pretend that nothing happened. If the other party agrees to pay money to settle the matter, we will pretend that nothing has happened. If the other party is tough, we will put the video of the dismantling on the Internet, which can not only harvest a wave of traffic, but also make the other party''s reputation bad. Relying on this method, Maldini and I made nearly seven million dollars in just two years, you may think this is a bit unbelievable, but those "psychic" customers are not lacking in some of the country''s political dignitaries or the top tycoons, which is also the reason why they were blackmailed by us do not dare to raise their voices, looking at those who are high and mighty and pretend to be something they are not. Watching those high and mighty monks and witches who were playing with the mystical and the mysterious, swallowing their grievances and paying the money obediently, was really something, and this was also the motivation for me to keep on enjoying myself. Maldini and I used the money to buy a house and a yacht, which we financed together. One day we were out on the high seas on the yacht when one of our friends at the party mentioned the Sandal Witch. I was soaking in the ocean and flirting with my girlfriend Katherine when I heard it and immediately climbed up on deck from the swim bay, "Wait, wait, wait, Eden, did I hear you right, are you guys kidding?" "No joke, it''s true, Thorgen''s girlfriend saw it with her own eyes, I was there at the time, and her friend literally didn''t last two days before-" "Prophecy of death," I couldn''t help but make an amused noise, "It''s the easiest trick in the book, just buy off the administrators who have access to the hospital''s electronic records, and make the proper distinctions between users, and it works perfectly, we really should have taken you with us when we went to look at that Indian crystal ball back then, you wouldn''t have been able to --" "Carl," Eden said, "you don''t understand, her friend wasn''t even sick, it was a sudden car accident that took her." "Then checking her mental state and concentration could do the same," I explained to the person next to me, "People with obsessive-compulsive habits are even less fit to drive, that''s for sure, and if you also have the habit of overtaking once to the left and then having to overtake once more to the right, the rate of accidents will also be high ." "And how do you explain," Eden looked at me, "that the licence plate number, the model number, she was able to pinpoint that as well?" I couldn''t answer at this point, but in order not to lose face in front of everyone, I forced myself to explain in a relaxed manner, "You know what else it could be? That would be murder." Eden couldn''t help but shake her head, "Carl, you''re already talking complete bollocks, who''s going to - over a prophecy?" "That''s not a prophecy," I interrupted Eden, "That''s their sign to solicit business, just wait, the fox can''t hide from the good hunter, I''ll show her what I''m made of." That was the reason why I approached Sandal and took my clothes off and sat in the tray like a chicken as she requested. And Sandal, after making a gothic show of it, told me with an outward roll of the eyes (wow, that''s a trick I''d kinda like to learn) that- "On the fourth Wednesday of July this year, you will die of rape." ------ Huh? I was beginning to wonder if Sandar had got wind of something and was deliberately trying to tease me, but being the "advance team" of the Prophecy Terminator, I just rubbed my nose in it, paid the bill, and swore in my heart. After I expose you as a liar, I will definitely blackmail you severely. Coming out of Sandar''s, I find Maldini. "How did it go?" Maldini asked. "Fine," I couldn''t really say what the old woman had commented to me, so I told Maldini, "She said I''ll die in a robbery, on the fourth Wednesday of next month." Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.¡¡¡¡Robbery and rape don''t sound too far apart. "So what should we do?" Maldini asked worriedly, "Is she going to send someone to rob you? How about you cancel your wedding to Katherine and we all hide out on the high seas for the day." I immediately dismissed Maldini''s suggestion, "No, that would be more of a show of strength, it doesn''t matter, I''ve already hired a group of security companies to surround me, so if I survive the day, her prophecy will be broken." That being said, my heart began to grow nervous as the day drew closer and closer, Katherine hadn''t been paying attention when she was trying on wedding dresses and almost made her mad. "Honey, it''s all as you say," I had to dutifully offer my fanny pack, "You can pick which one you want, I''m going to take a call, I''ll be right back." The call was from Maldini, "The day is two weeks away, are you sure you don''t want to cancel the wedding?" "No cancellation." I said through gritted teeth, "It''s not even a few days away anyway." I''ve thought about it, after we tie the knot, Katherine and I can use our honeymoon as an excuse to go to a small island abroad, and spend a month there in peace and quiet, and by that time, not to mention rape, it''s probably unlikely that we''ll even find a male gorilla, and there''ll only be two of us on the whole island, unless she''s suddenly genetically mutated to have a fifteen centimetre alien clitoris, and to be able to get away from being raped by Hot Coco and Gucci, and then to have a good time. Unless she suddenly developed a fifteen centimetre long alien clitoris and developed some bizarre sexual fetish out of her hot cocoa and Gucci mind. Maldini was silent for a long time, "If you need anything, feel free to contact me." As the days drew closer, my mind became more and more stressed in ways it hadn''t been before, and I became paranoid, which is perhaps a kind of psychic suggestion, a talent widely used in the "psychic" world. I began to feel that everyone was watching me, that they were the men in black sent by Sandar to terrorise me. I had nightmares for several nights in a row, and even on my wedding night, I woke up from my room in a cold sweat, gasping for breath in the moonlight, and I looked at Katherine, who was sleeping soundly in her bed, and the moonlight shone on her face, and at that moment, I suddenly noticed a kind of quiet majesty and cruelty in her face, which I had seen a million times. quiet majesty and cruelty, I suddenly realised that I knew nothing about the woman in front of me. What subject did she study at university? Why didn''t her aunt show up at the wedding? Who had she contacted on that phone call half a year ago? A sudden shiver travelled down my spine. What was Katherine''s mother''s original surname? It seemed to start with an S. Was it "Sandal"? Could Katherine be part of the Sandals'' plan? The seeds of doubt, once planted, quickly grew into trees, and I escaped from the island overnight, arriving in the Manchester I knew so well, and as I emerged from the airport with a black eye, I contacted the only person I trusted on a public phone, someone I''d known long before Katherine and I met - Maldini Courtois. Maldini Courtois. "Hello?" The breath I had been carrying for days finally came out as Maldini''s voice came through the microphone, "Maldini, it''s me." "Carl!" Maldini sounded surprised, "Why are you calling all of a sudden? Aren''t you on your honeymoon?" "Katherine can''t be trusted, you''re right." I spent the next ten minutes speaking to Maldini about the frequent warnings my sixth sense had been sending me for days, and my suspicions about what was going on between Katherine and Sandal. "You have a point." Maldini mused for a moment before saying, "So it looks like conspiracy for Sandar to be learned by you as well." I thought of Eden and my heart sank hard, "Is too much of a coincidence." "Hold off on contacting the others for now to prevent messages from being passed between them and Katherine." "That''s what I thought." True to form, Maldini was thinking exactly what I was thinking, "I''m coming to get you." "Where are you, I''ll drive to pick you up." "Don''t do that, to prevent spooking, I''ll come to you, where are you? At home?" "Yes," said Maldini, "just about to have some wine, I''ve just opened a bottle of good vintage noble rot." "Okay, I''ll come to you." Maldini also told me on the phone that he had a full entertainment setup in his basement, and that we were going to have a blast tonight. I couldn''t help but smile, I remembered that Maldini had told me that he had upgraded the security, I was sure that no one would be able to do me any harm once I was in that bunker, I would sleep well there, wait until the first rays of the sun hit the windows tomorrow, and then post Sandal''s prophecy on the website, telling the world that she was a complete and utter liar. And then I''ll go ahead and write the actual end, after this line. Fifth blood——R-evolution Ethan was a little high on ros¨¦ wine tonight, he played in the garden with his two children, then did some "preparation work" with Michelle for the next child, then watched his wife drift off to sleep, and as the alcohol evaporated with his sweat, he got up and put on his pyjamas so as not to disturb his wife and the children''s sleep. He put on his pyjamas and, in order not to disturb the sleep of his wife and children, he went into the study and took a bath in the bathroom there. The warm water ran through his blonde hair before trickling over his soft skin. That''s when Ethan heard some loud noises coming from outside. He thought it was Michelle at first, but when he came out, a tall black figure appeared in front of the window sill. Adrenaline spiked for a split second, and realising the danger he was in he instinctively flung himself onto the desk in a roll and opened the drawer. However it was empty. "Are you looking for this?" The black figure asked, speaking and raising a Browning 1911-380 he held in his hand, unable to see his face because of the curtains, yet Ethan remembered the voice. "Noah," he said through clenched teeth. The black figure seemed to smile, "I didn''t realise you remembered me, I thought you were about to forget me." "What are you trying to do here now?" "Do what?" Noah let out a soft sigh, "Ethan, that''s what I wanted to ask you." "What do you mean?" "How long are we going to be in this war, exactly?" Ethan snorted, "Spoken as if we''re the ones who started this war." "Isn''t it?" Noah''s tall figure said from behind the curtains, "You''ve been continuously waging your fifteenth siege against us." "That''s because you keep killing our citizens!" "That was not our intention, it was the diseases that sought us out before weakened individuals lost their minds and walked into your midst, it was not our intention to spread the diseases, not to mention the fact that we would have been able to live with each other if you hadn''t rushed into our gathering places, brutalised our children and evicted our aged people." "The gathering place? That is our city! It is because you smuggled yourselves into our city first! We can''t control the fear of our citizens!" "We just want to live." "Then go back to your residency!" Noah let out a soft laugh as the evening breeze blew in through the bay window, "Residency? It''s a reservation, isn''t it." "It''s good for our respective races." "Did the Indians think so then?" "Do you expect Indians to invent electricity, cars, planes, or rockets?" Ethan closed his eyes, "Compared to the convenience and change our technology has brought you, all you''re supposedly paying for is the shrinking of your territory." "Oh, occupying Indian homes in order to serve all of humanity, so noble." "There is nothing to condemn in the survival of the fittest." "Yes there is nothing to condemn, just as the Europeans down on the Mayflower expelled the native Indians, you expelled us, categorised us as a different race from you because of our different appearance and skin, and imposed a system of apartheid on us." Noah says, "Forgetting that once upon a time this land was inhabited by our ancestors, who, along with you, clung to each other by the fire in the darkness of the night in ancient times, defending themselves against the ravages of the beasts of prey. You were just a little bit lucky to have the dawn of the technological age at your fingertips, Ethan, and if we were in a different situation now, you''d know what cruelty is."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "No, it wasn''t luck," Ethan said, "When the light of technology was born, we placed no limits on it, the trumpet of revolution sounded on every inch of the land, and the light of progress was in every test tube. It is the same old ways that have made you deaf, and it is the same old pride that has made you blind. You revel in your past achievements and grandiose ceremonies, you divided your countrymen, you counter-attack and collude, you take all achievements for granted rather than for their practicality, you call yourselves the most industrious and the most intelligent race on the planet without thinking about which splendid race has ever lacked these two virtues. You disdained and closed your ears to nascent ideas, trying to find a way to cope with the future from old volumes that had gathered dust, and your long history became a burden to your advancement instead, as you exhausted your people''s resources to build a huge and ornate mausoleum for your rulers, and at the same time literally constructed tombs of your own." "And now?" Noah''s eyes glowing in the darkness gazed at him, "It is time for the sins that belonged to us to be paid for after a war of near extinction." "I know what you''re thinking, the latest battle maps are inside the third drawer, you can take them and you can kill me, but it won''t change anything, no war ever stops because of the death of a single commanding officer, not before, not now. But you can save yourself, you leave now and I''ll pretend nothing happened." "Do that for what?" Noah said, "Save yourself? Or is it because ------ you want to save me, like you did back three years ago." "When did ------ you know that?" "Losing your sidearm must have been very distressing for you," Noah said, "When we fell down the snowy slope, that gun over there just happened to fall beside me, but I couldn''t move my legs, so I pretended to fake my own death, when in fact at that moment you only had to show the slightest hint of wanting to kill me, and I''d have immediately pulled out that gun to kill you." "------ So that''s how it was, no wonder you weren''t seriously injured, but you stayed unconscious." "Ethan, in that cave, I felt for the first time that the original human body temperature was so warm," Noah said, "You would feed me hot soup, you would tear your clothes into strips and bandage me, I knew that you weren''t as cold and heartless as you appeared to be ------ " "------ You weren''t appeared either,until leading the Resistance to kill my fellow soldiers." Ethan said after a long silence. "Like I said, Ethan, that was not our intention, and we are not without hope for peace if you are willing to lay down your arms ------ " At those words, the blonde man standing behind the desk looked up with sudden alarm. "So you''re here to be a lobbyist, then I''m afraid I''m going to have to disappoint you, we won''t stop defending our city-state just because of bloodshed and sacrifice," Ethan said coldly, "If you''re trying to prove something with the fact that I saved your life then I can tell you that it was only out of a sense of humanitarianism in the first place, if I were on the battlefield instead, I would have shot without mercy." "That''s ruthless ------" Noah let out a chuckle after a few seconds of silence, "But that''s not a smart thing to say at this point, you do realise that even death is divided into a peaceful death and a tortured death, right?" "I''m prepared to face either." Ethan lifted his chin slightly, looking a little arrogant, "Come on Noah, take what you''re going to take." Noah raised his arm and aimed his Browning at Ethan before slowly pulling the trigger. The young blonde commander slowly closed his eyes. For a long moment, nothing appeared in the room except the rattle of clocks swinging, so the blue eyes opened in some confusion. Noah lowered the gun in his hand, "I''ve changed my mind, you''re right, you won''t stop the war because of bloodshed and sacrifice, death will only inspire you to fight and then continue to drive us to extinction." Ethan''s heart dropped a little, whilst he didn''t fear death, the thought of never seeing his wife and children was hard to resist. He was about to say something, however a dart suddenly lodged itself in his neck, and after a moment of intense dizziness he fell head over heels onto the red carpet of the study. Noah wiped the tranquiliser gun before putting it in his pocket, "So I thought of a better way to get you to change your minds." Ethan''s eyes were open as he tried to mobilise his limbs, yet as if his muscles had lost their liaisons, they completely disobeyed his brain''s signs, and he felt himself being lifted from the carpet and placed on a firm back. Noah didn''t take him much further than that, but went straight back to the bathroom where he''d just had a shower, then lowered him into the still-wet tub. He turned on the tap and watched the water rise until it gradually disappeared over the blonde man''s knees as well as the small of his back before turning it off. "If you won''t stop for bloodshed and sacrifice, then I''d like to try and see if blood and new life can make you change your mind." In the reflection of the water''s surface, Noah wriggled his left and right opening and closing mouthparts and finished, cocking his head so that the blonde man''s gaze, full of fear and despair, was reflected in the countless small hexagonal eyes in those huge black compound eyes, as he raised those scythe-like forearms, separating the man''s silky pyjamas with ease before bending the abdominal knuckles used for mating downwards and sinking into the water. Sixth blood——The Revenge I gathered information from various sources and confirmed that the one responsible for my father''s death was the general manager of the contracting company. Seizing the opportunity when he was on vacation, I infiltrated his vacation villa by the seaside. I killed the couple who were vacationing there. Just as I was preparing to leave through the back door, I stumbled upon their son coming down the stairs. I wore a mask and gloves at the time, but I couldn''t avoid getting bloodstains on my body. Moreover, the strong smell of blood couldn''t be concealed. I think that the child instantly understood what I had done. We stood in the hallway, locking eyes with each other. I hesitated whether to kill him, and he must have been trying to figure out how to escape from my grasp. Then, the sky outside brightened as a lightning bolt streaked across it. I instinctively closed my eyes and tried to cover my ears. Seizing the opportunity, he immediately ran into a room. I could have shot him or chased after him to cut his throat, but I didn''t do either. Perhaps his dark eyes looked genuinely innocent, or maybe the fulfillment of my revenge left me undecided. I left the house, took a night bus to a small town near the border, and used a prepared fake identity to enter another country, starting a new life. Ten years have passed, and although I''ve earned some money during these years, I still feel incredibly lonely in this foreign land. Perhaps it''s due to my dark past that I can''t establish stable relationships with others. The longest and most meaningful relationship I had was with Carolyn, whom I even considered proposing to. However, we eventually parted ways. Before she left, Carolyn told me she regretted wasting her time with me because I never truly loved her. She always felt there was an invisible barrier separating us. This experience with Carolyn left me deeply frustrated, and I even prepared myself for a lifetime of loneliness. However, that''s when I met Charles. How can I describe Charles to you? Well, his arrival felt like a missing piece being placed under a wobbling table. He never questioned my past, but that didn''t leave us with a shortage of conversation. We discussed Sunday games, the players Miami spent a fortune on, and the Yankees'' baseball match on Wednesday. With him, I saw that same grayish feeling Carolyn described. He often stared out the window late at night, making international calls. As a response, I kept my secrets hidden as well. To satisfy each other, I tried submitting myself for the first time in my life. I''m sure I''m not gay, and I don''t find pleasure in such affairs. Even if he were to cheat on me, I doubt it would bother me. Can you understand that when someone is too lonely, they can lower their boundaries limitlessly? But in the end, I discovered his secret. One evening, as usual, we finished in the bathtub. I took another bath inside while he lay on the bed, naked, with his eyes closed, apparently resting. When he heard a sound, he opened his eyes and glanced at me.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. That glance felt somewhat familiar, as if I had seen it before but couldn''t remember where. Even as I went to bed, I still thought about it. Then, fragments of memories flooded my mind at that moment. I suddenly recalled the eyes of that child from many years ago. It felt like an electric shock coursing through my nerves. I froze in place, but I tried to comfort myself with the possibility that I might be overthinking things. I hardly slept that night; every time I closed my eyes, various images of corpses flashed before me. My father hanging from the ceiling, my mother tortured to the bone, and the couple shot dead with their eyes wide open. The next day, almost immediately after waking up, I started collecting information. I couldn''t go back, so I contacted friends who were still in the country and asked them to investigate that boy''s background. The days waiting for their reply felt like an eternity. Finally, the email arrived, and one glance confirmed my suspicions; it was Charles. The person I had been together with day and night turned out to be the son of my sworn enemy, and for Charles, I was the killer of his entire family. I''m not sure if Charles knows about this. If it was a mere coincidence, it would be too much of a coincidence. So, I began to calm down and carefully recollected every event that occurred since I met Charles. However, everything he did seemed normal. When I was stuck in this dilemma, I suddenly remembered a small incident. Once, while we were making love and it was raining outside, a lightning bolt streaked across the sky. Instinctively, I closed my eyes and was about to cover my ears, but I noticed that Charles had already done so. He gazed at me with a gentle smile and said, ''Is it better for you like this?'' At that moment, my hair stood on end. I initially thought his actions were just considerate, but looking back now, he probably knew about my identity long ago... No, perhaps his appearance by my side was also planned. Since Charles knows my identity, his intentions are clear; he seeks revenge. For him, merely shooting me would be too easy. I imagine he wants to wait until I completely fall in love with him, then reveal his true purpose, watching me suffer before killing me. This kind of revenge would inflict more pain on me than ordinary retaliation and aligns better with his personality. After understanding everything, I strangely found myself calm. Ten years ago, I might have chosen to escape or kill him before he acted. But now, after a decade, I''m tired. I''m too tired. I used to make revenge the sole purpose of my life, but achieving it didn''t bring me satisfaction; instead, it left me feeling empty. My enemy is dead, but my loved ones won''t come back, and my life hasn''t improved. Hatred feels like throwing punches in the air; there''s no real target. Perhaps this is not a bad ending. Let Charles take my life and put an end to this long cycle of revenge. With these thoughts in mind, I buried this matter deep in my heart and wholeheartedly enjoyed what I consider to be my last moments. Haha, who would have thought that the first call I received would be so complicated, just like a novel. Regardless of its truth, we''ll provide comfort to you. But it seems you''ve already sorted things out yourself and don''t need our advice. Actually, the trouble I wanted to talk about isn''t related to this. Oh, I''m sorry for interrupting you earlier. Please continue. No, it''s just that I was hesitating about how to share it properly... The thing is, I actually discovered his true identity three years ago. During this time, I''ve been waiting for him to take my life, but he hasn''t done it yet. So, I assumed he hadn''t found the right moment until today... Has he acted now? No, it''s not about that. Oh? Then what is it that troubles you so much? Here''s what happened: after we finished, as usual, I was going to the bathroom to clean up. When I pushed him away to get up, he suddenly grabbed me from behind and pinned me down. I was taken aback, thinking he was finally going to make his move. I didn''t resist and let him hold me... And then? Did he do something? Seventh blood——Garcias Funeral Mr. Garcia''s funeral was held on July 21st, which happened to be the same day he married his wife, Karina Garcia. On that sunny day, Karina Garcia and their only son, Caden Garcia, were talking to guests at the funeral when an uninvited guest disrupted the solemn atmosphere. This unexpected guest approached Karina, her eyes reddened, but her chin held high with determination. "I am Garcia''s lover," she said. Caden''s face turned red, but Karina looked into her eyes and asked, "What''s your name?" The girl revealed her name, which starts with a vowel or consonant. The name itself is not crucial to this story. After hearing the name, Karina nodded gently and replied, "Thank you for coming." The girl blushed and continued, "He was happier with me than with you." "Yes," calmly responded Mrs. Garcia, sitting in a wheelchair due to injuries from a car accident many years ago, rendering her unable to perform marital duties. Furious, the girl pounded her fist on a nearby object, looking at Garcia''s lawful partner with hatred and envy. "Do you know why he was with you? Out of moral obligation," she said. Karina Garcia remained unfazed, but her son, Caden, couldn''t bear it any longer. "Get out," he shouted, his angry expression mirroring his father''s. Staring at the center of the hall where Mr. Garcia''s photo stood, portraying him in a black suit with a polite smile, the girl suddenly said, "You never loved him."Stolen novel; please report. A chilling gust of wind blew into the room from the window, passing through the entire hall. Mrs. Garcia''s black veil fluttered for a moment, then returned to serenity. Mr. Garcia''s belongings were originally stored in the attic. Taking this opportunity, Caden decided to sort through some of them. He began with a pile of anatomical models, which had left a deep impression on his young mind. He could not face the attic alone and hired two housekeeping services to handle the clutter. "These things are too messy," one of the workers complained. "I thought they were intact skeletal frames, but they''re all disassembled limbs, organ models, and there are many notes on them. Do you want them to be put in the car or..." "Just get rid of them," Caden said. "By the way, how much do I owe you?" "$120." "Here you go." After confirming that everything had been handled, Caden walked into the study. Due to his mother''s condition, most of the communal areas were arranged on the ground floor. Karina was basking in the sun at the floor-to-ceiling window in the study when he entered. Caden realized that she had just woken up. "Did I wake you up?" he asked. "No," Karina shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her hand. "I woke up on my own." Caden became nervous. "Are you okay?" "I''m fine, just woke up from a nap." "I don''t think so," Caden said, "You''ve been feeling tired suddenly, and then your heart..." Due to the accident, Karina Garcia underwent heart surgery. However, the transplant did not fully solve her problems. A few months later, she passed out at home. While being rescued, a patient in the hospital died, and the person''s indicators matched Karina''s, who had also volunteered for organ donation. The hospital transplanted the new heart to her. "That was ten years ago," Karina smiled, "And these many years, there have been no issues, right?" "But the transplant could still cause rejection; it can''t compare to the previous one. If he hadn''t abandoned you like that, you wouldn''t have...¡± Caden stopped himself. In their third year of marriage, Karina could no longer bear Mr. Garcia''s nature. During a heated argument in the car, he kicked her out to walk home. Although he quickly changed his mind and returned to pick her up, the tragedy had already happened. The car accident not only paralyzed Karina from the waist down but also caused internal damage. For several months, she was almost entirely confined to the intensive care unit. But fortunately, a matching donor organ came along less than two years later. "You must be blessed by angels," a nurse told her, "It''s a miracle." Caden, still a child at the time, didn''t fully understand this memory, but he learned bits and pieces from people around him. Karina Garcia might have been blessed by angels or God, but she certainly wasn''t blessed by her husband, Tyrone Garcia. His infidelity reached its peak during that time. He didn''t spend much time in the ICU, but some people saw him driving around the suburbs with a beautiful stranger while Karina suffered and waited for an organ donation. Every time Caden thought about this, he couldn''t fathom why his mother, Karina, hadn''t mentioned divorce for so many years.