I felt flattered and did not know what to say. I just smiled. She held my palm much more strongly now. I too had started to enjoy the touch now. I acc...pted her offer of friendship. You tell me, who could refuse such a beautiful woman, and that too when she was your math teacher and also your class teacher -) Then she got up telling me that she was going to the kitchen to cook something for our breakfast as she was hungry. She walked to the kitchen leaving me behind in the room. I sat down. " Do you love her?" Mark that is too personal a question. I've only known her a short time and really that would be our business and definitely not yours." I know and I'm sorry. I guess I read too many novels." Mark was flustered now and I knew he had asked without thinking. "Would you forget I asked? I am sorry!" Forget it. Say, what happened to your mother? No one has ever mentioned her."A look of sadness came over Mark's face. "Mom is sick and Dad put her in an institution. She is pretty. I was afraid it was the beginning of the end as well. But I was handling it very differently than Jeff."Were you planning to come back to our place when school starts?" I asked."That's not actually a rhetorical question, is it? How could you not be certain of my answer?" There is no anger in his voice, just incredulity."Because I'm so unsure of myself and I'm so worried about our whole situation."I don't know if I'm who you think I am. I haven't acted like it lately. Look what you were willing. So, anything you want to say will strictly be between the two of us.”“Good, we haven’t had much of a chance to talk recently, I just wanted you to know that I used some of that money you left to upgrade my fleet. I hope you don’t mind?”I chuckled, “Stan, I should’ve told you that all that money is yours. Trust me, I’ve got a lot more where that came from.”“Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much money was on that pallet?”“Close to $1 billion? Give or take. I figured you might need.