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.

managed to, we’d be leaving Troy and Yvette to fend for themselves. If these were indeed assailants coming for us, they might even torment Troy and Yvette for

greeted us was the sight of

furrowed. She squared her shoulders and walked out into the

faces. Troy, who’d followed us out, began rattling off a string of explanations. Unable to follow the conversations, we fixed our gazes on Troy in complete

turned towards us and uttered a

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

us with piercing

lips. “Good sirs, can we discuss this civilly? We weren’t trespassing. We were

interpreter frowned slightly, then reported back to his leader. The policeman looked at us for a

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

they didn’t sound like terrible people. In fact, we managed to glean the fact that some of

she said lightly, “Which of you has such

sure either, but my Dad’s job involves border surveillance. I don’t think he’s important enough a figure

My parents are ordinary people. They live along the coast. If I was ever kidnapped, all they would

simultaneously in Tessa’s direction. She had been standing aside calmly and was startled to see us gazing questioningly at her. “It must be fate!”

It was evident that we couldn’t count on Tessa for answers