"Hey, sit here. I want you to be comfortable." He spoke.
"Sure." I said.
He took my hand in his and looked at me as if we were meeting for the last time. His grip began to tighten. I don't know what was going on in his mind.
"Is there some kind of…meeting or festival in the coming week?" He asked.
"Absolutely…there is." I replied.
"So, um…what's in that ceremony or whatever it is?" He spoke.
"We girls are going to perform Waltz ball room dance…. I don't know about the rest. The queen told us that all the village people are going to attend the meeting. Probably, this is kind of a test for all the girls... to win Maxon's heart." I said.
"What? You all are going to perform Waltz…ball room dance. Is that true?" he was surprised.
"Yeah, we are going to…." I spoke smiling at him. I could feel myself blush too. I thought if he was able to sense it or not.
"I'd love to watch you…." He spoke and smiled at me. He paused and studied my face.
"I mean, I'd love to watch you all dance. It's going to be fantastic." He added.
We were standing in a place from where the window of some room could be seen. I saw the lights turn on inside that room. So, I thought in my mind that probably I should leave.
"Hey…Daniel, I think…um…I should go to sleep. It was nice meeting you. We will meet again." I said.
"Okay…but promise me that we will….I mean, you seem kind of stressed and busy." He spoke staring hard into my eyes as if I was going on some life risking mission and he would probably never see me back. His eye contact was not letting me leave him and he was holding my hand also and I just couldn't ask him to let go of me.
"Yeah…of course, we will." I said.
I didn't realize that when I said this I had reached so close to him that I could feel him breathe and I could see a tint of nervousness flashing in his eyes. He abruptly left his tight grip on my hand and I felt cold winds clashing through the sweat accumulated by his grip on my hand.
I backed away immediately and started to leave.
"Hey…." He spoke from behind.
"Yes." I said turning my head towards him and I could see that his forehead was strained while I was leaving.
"This is our spot. Okay…." He said smiling.
"Oh...cool." I chuckled.
He was happy to see that I was delighted. I couldn't help it and when I was out of his sight, I kept smiling. I didn't notice where I was going and I kept moving. When I saw up on the stairs I saw Marlee sitting on a stair which was a bit height above me. I ran for her.
"Hey, aren't you sleeping?" I asked.
She looked at me feebly as if she hasn't slept for months. All she did was staring and she didn't utter a single word.
"Hey…America….your maids probably are waiting for you. You may go. After all, tomorrow is your special day." She said weakly.
She was frustrated. What could be the reason? Did Maxon eliminate her? No...This wasn't possible? And if it were so, she wouldn't be so sad about it because she loved….
"Hey…Marlee, you can tell me if there is something, okay." I sympathized with her.
She seemed frustrated but I knew that something terrible has happened that was tearing her apart. I have got to solve her problem. In a moment, her eyes got poured up with tears and she started weeping. I moved to grab her because she was sitting on the floor. It seemed like her legs couldn't bear anymore burden. She was weeping so hard that I thought probably someone may come outside and make it a kind of drama thing, which I didn't want. So, I quietly took her to my room. My maids were asleep and the lights were off too.
"Hey…Marlee..! Hey, you've got to tell me. Please…Marlee." I pleaded.
I lifted her face from the chin and she looked at me miserably. At that moment I wanted to dumb that person whoever did this to her. She was crying nonstop. She suddenly pulled me in a hug and I embraced her back.
"Hey...hey…It's okay." I whispered.
"I …I…um…." She stammered.
"Yes…Marlee…you what?" I asked.
"I broke up with Woodwork." She spoke.
"What? How and when? What did he say? Did he do something?" I asked.
She was crying so much that her voice was getting deep and vague with every sentence.
"I saw him…with…." She said.
"What Marlee? See…I know this is hard but you have to say. I know that you are strong and you can do this." I said.
"Kriss" she said.
"What…no…this is impossible. As far as I know, Kriss is pathetically in love with Maxon. She won't ever do anything like this which would bring down her image in front of Maxon. If it were Celeste or any other girl, I could consider it for a minute. But, her..." I explained to her.
"I saw it with my own eyes, America." She spoke a bit louder to make me believe.
"Okay…I get it." I spoke just in case….
"America, happy birthday." She said wiping her tears from the cheek.
"Oh my god…. I really forgot about it. You remembered it." I said astonishingly.
"Yeah…how could I forget this?" she giggled.
Unexpectedly, the lights came on. My maids stared at us. I saw the clock and it was 6 am. I didn't believe I had spent so much time talking to Daniel. With Marlee, it would've been hardly fifteen minutes.
"Happy birthday, miss. Look, what we got for you." They all said.
"And so, what is that?" I pointed to the shinning box kept on the table in front of them.
"Look by yourself." Lucy spoke.
"Okay." I said.
I opened the packet and I saw….