When There Is Nothing Left But Love

It had taken the four of us days to get here across the rugged terrain, scaling numerous peaks. It was a tremendous distance. Why would these policemen have made the same, if not more, perilous journey? Besides, weren’t they worried about appearing conspicuous?

“What’s wrong?” Troy asked doubtfully, noting our troubled faces with concern.

Out of consideration for Troy, we chorused in tandem, a little too brightly, “Nothing! It’s fine!”

Nora was the most street smart among us. She was closely guarded, refusing to trust others unless they’ve proven themselves. She now paused, then remarked wisely, “No matter what, let’s be careful. If it’s really impossible, we can continue to the city. We’ll definitely meet fellow countrymen there. If we’re indeed that close to the border, there’ll definitely be an embassy we can seek refuge at.”

Upon hearing Nora’s tempered reasoning, we nodded in agreement. Besides, it didn’t seem like there were any other alternatives.

Having made up our minds, we regretfully bade farewell to Troy and Yvette and hurriedly set off.

Before we could even step out of the door, however, we heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming from outside, beyond it.

“What shall we do?” Laurel shrieked. She clung tightly to the hem of my shirt, petrified.

“Let’s wait and see,” I declared firmly, trying to keep my voice from quaking. Together, Nora and I watched the door in trepidation.

Troy’s house was rather cramped. There was absolutely nowhere to hide.

to, we’d be leaving Troy and Yvette to fend for themselves. If these

to confront them head-on. As we peered out of the crack of the door, what greeted us was the sight of a few dark-skinned men attired in police uniforms. They stood haughtily in

brow furrowed. She squared her shoulders and

astonishment flitted briefly across their faces. Troy, who’d followed us out, began rattling off a string of explanations. Unable

brief exchange, the apparent leader of the policemen turned towards us and uttered a command. Naturally, we made no

taken a blow. He turned towards a sallow-looking man standing just behind him and gave another

at us with piercing eyes

“Good sirs, can we discuss this civilly? We weren’t

his leader. The policeman looked at us for a moment, then directed his reply

semblance of understanding. The Venrian policemen were here on border patrol, having heard

what information we’d managed to piece together, they didn’t sound like terrible people. In fact, we managed

of our faces. At last, she said lightly, “Which of you has such influential family members? How did they manage to mobilize even the

involves

ever kidnapped, all they would do would be to call the police. It isn’t likely that Chanaean policemen would

all looked simultaneously in Tessa’s direction. She had been standing aside calmly and was startled to

we turned back. It was evident that we couldn’t