I reached over and took her hand in mine, a move straight out of the demonstrating empathy section of Psych 101. ‘How would it be if I were to write...a piece about this, about you being forced to give up a promising career on the opera stage to marry a man you don’t love for purely political reasons?’ Carmen held my hand tightly in hers. ‘No you must not do that! If you do that Mother and I will never be able to feel safe again.’ ‘If I could move the both of you to a safe place before the story. We reached Patna in the morning. I got a call from my cousin Riya, “Hello! Vinay bhaiya,Have you reached Patna? Pandeyji was asking about your plan. Should we confirm that you have reached Patna?”I replied, “Hello! Riya, How are you. Tell Pinki and Pandeyji that I am ready to meet them.” I asked the the bus conductor to keep a seat for me in the return journey tonight as I had to return the same day. Priyanka also got down. I gave her my cell number but she did not give her.She said, “If we are. Briefly looking over her body, she noticed her nipples were still quite firm and the tuft of hair between her legs looked soft and curly. Picking the towel up with her foot she headed toward the bed. After tossing the towel near her bed she walked slowly to her closet. Now she needed to decide what to wear. She’d be staying in so she passed over some of her nicer evening wear to look for something a bit lacier, something more revealing. She first grabbed a black teddy, but then decided on the. I thought about how my death would affect the lot of them, and maybe especially Marian. I remembered our high school days, and how she’d fucked me over at the prom. It seemed childish now, but that bit of high school rejection on her part had literally led to everything that was going on now, and, at base, led to my time in prison. It really was true that a stone thrown into the ocean sent ripples around the world.I wondered if I had in the end gotten handed a death sentence, because of this.