“I’m going to Joe’s for dinner tonight,” she told me.“Oh!”“He wants to show off his cooking skills with some traditional West Indian foo...,” she explained.I walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. “I think he just wants into your knickers,” I responded.She laughed. “Well I suppose I have to pay for my dinner in some way or other,”I told her that Amy would be away for the night. “I know,” she told me. “She came home to get a change of clothes.”The disappointment must have showed. “I’m. "Yeah," you force a smile back. "I'm gonna go below deck and take a 'break'."The captain laughs. "That's the second break today! To be a young man again! We'll we won't disturb ya, just clean up as usual."You force another smile and head down. You pull out your laptop, fire up a random porno clip, and take your 'break'. Shit, even masturbation is losing it's appeal. You clean up, and drop back down in your bunk. Overwhelmed by boredom, you fall asleep.You awake with a start as something slams. My mom smiled and walked away towards Avantika and Suresh.“Arun walk with me and Reddy follow us,” my wife looked around and whispered.I didn’t know what Kavita wanted. The next moment I saw my wife pulling my hand and dragging me through the crowd toward the kitchen. I turned back and saw Reddy following us.There must be around 20-25 people in the hall, most of them were Ayushi’s friends.“Stay here,” Kavita ordered me as we reached the kitchen door, and now she pulled Reddy in. Kavita hugged. "Physically, I don't see permanent damage, but she'll take a long time healing. I don't have to tell you that she'll need a boatload of therapy, and then some more." The man pinched his eyes shut for a moment, but Joey could see the tears. "Listen, I have to go. We'll move her to a monitoring room now. If you want you can sit with her."Maureen nodded. "Thank you, Doctor. I'd like that."Looking at the beat-up, comatose Deirdre, Joey felt at once helpless, desperate, but also increasingly.