“Max …” Gabriella sighed with a very red face. Her slightly opened mouth had trouble uttering words. The air was scrambling in and out, competing to send oxygen that burned very quickly.
Again, the woman tried to call her husband. “Max …!”
However, the man had absolutely no intention of reducing the pressure. He was too eager to take his wife to the highest peak. The water that had reached their feet was completely ignored, nor was the blue spark that sparkled every time it jerked.
Unable to contain the turmoil in her body, Gabriella’s moans grew shrill. Gripping the bluish sand, she looked up to welcome the warm onslaught of Max’s troops. In a sudden, the stars in front of her eyes glowed and disappeared.
Holding her breath, the woman released the sand which was no longer as blue as before. The plankton seemed to know that the party was over.
“I hate you so much, Max,” Gabriella sighed as she didn’t move to gather strength. Even, her two drooping legs were already in the water, while his sweat-drenched back was occasionally tickled by the waves.
Hearing his wife’s chatter, Max suddenly laughed. Still leaning on the soft cushion, the man rebutted, “No, you love me very much, Gaby.”
A second later, the man lifted his head and kissed the warm cheek. “Are you overwhelmed?”
“You can see for yourself. I don’t have the energy to get up anymore.”
With a crooked smile, Max tickled his wife’s weak spot again. “Does it mean that you won’t fight back if I want to again?”
“You’re crazy,” the woman said as she was barely able to move her head.
The man’s laughter spontaneously warmed up the atmosphere. “I’m sorry for being so brutal, Gaby,” he said before stroking the face that was lit only by the night light.
“Are you happy?” Gabriella asked in a voice still filled with air.
“Yes,” Max replied, tilting his head.
“Then I forgive you.”
The curve of the man’s lips suddenly widened. “Are you getting used to that speed? If so, I can level up the game another time.”
Gabriella suddenly groaned with a faint shake. “No, Max. I’ve reached my limit,” she said in a thin, slightly hoarse voice.
As an apology, Max kissed his wife’s lips gently. “Take it easy. I won’t repeat it. Earlier, I just got carried away. Those planktons keep cheering me up to the point of forgetting the limit.”
“Should I scold the little living thing?” Gabriella said, raising her eyebrows.
“No, Gabby. They will be sad and can’t shine anymore if you do so.”
After a while, Max finally left his wife’s body. “Now, let’s go back to the hotel. The water is getting higher.”
Instead of getting up, Gabriella raised her hands like a child asking to be carried. “You have to take responsibility. I can’t move my legs.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Yes,” the spoiled woman replied.
With lips pursed in exasperation, Max lifted his wet wife. A second later, his shoulders had become a place to lean on the woman’s head.
“Are you cold?” the man asked as he detected tremors in Gabriella’s back.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re warm,” the woman said as she hugged her husband tighter.
On the way back to the hotel, Max and Gabriella continued to chat. The two of them kept commenting on the perfect night. They were happy because the moment that would never be forgotten, was stored in a sea of very beautiful stars.
Unbeknownst to the couple, someone was looking at the photo in their living room. The man’s gaze was flat, locked on Max’s happy face. After putting the picture frame back in its original place, he left with the baseball bat that’s never leaving his hand. Weapon to complete the mission was not yet usable.
***
“Are you feeling better?” Max asked when he had just sat on the edge of the bed. Wrinkled in worry, he put one palm on his wife’s forehead.
“Yes, Max. You don’t have to worry,” Gabriella said with her eyes only half open. Her lips were pale from holding back the dizziness for too long.
“If tomorrow you still haven’t recovered, we’ll go see a doctor. And you can’t refuse.”
With a slight curve of the lips, the woman nodded. “Come on, don’t worry too much about me. Get back to work. I’m just exhausted. Anemia is often acting up near monthly period.”
After exhaling faintly, Max squeezed the towel on the basin on the table. Then, carefully, he placed it on his wife’s forehead.
“I’ll order lunch,” he said before kissing Gabriella’s head. After that, he stepped out of the room with a guilty face.
Seeing her husband’s sadness, the woman sighed. With pursed lips and a slow blink, she muttered, “Why is my body so weak?”
A second later, the woman massaged her temples, hoping the dizziness would subside. Unfortunately, that way didn’t help at all.
“What should I do now? All day in bed is so boring,” Gabriella grumbled while looking for ideas.
After a while, the woman finally reached for the phone. Accidentally, she opened an application that had not been used for a long time.
“There are so many messages from Mia,” Gabriella muttered as she swiped the screen. As soon as the woman found the earliest message, she spontaneously furrowed the brows. “Should I read it?”
Blinking softly, the woman considered her decision to stop following Quebracha’s progress. After a few moments, she took a deep breath.
“I just need to keep this information from Max,” Gabriella muttered to herself. A second later, she opened the first message from the secretary.
“Mr. Herbert was rushed to the hospital. He was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis due to consuming too much alcohol. Now, he is still unconscious.”
The woman’s brows furrowed as she digested the information. After remembering the basement full of various drinks, she sighed in pity and continued reading the second message.
“Mr. Julian is starting to show changes. He feels he is the cause of Mr. Herbert’s illness.”
After a moment of nodding, Gabriella moved on to the next news.
“Mr. Herbert is starting to get better. However, he had to be very careful because his liver is already badly damaged. He can’t drink alcohol anymore. If the condition worsens, a liver transplant is a last resort.”
“Is the condition that bad?” Gabriella muttered with deepening brow furrows. After massaging her temples for a moment, she moved on to the next report.
“Looks like Mr. Herbert has lost his zest for life. Since coming home from the hospital, he never speaks and often daydreams. The maid also found him trying to drink alcohol again.”
The woman spontaneously lowered the phone from her eyes. While staring at the ceiling, she considered something. “Should I tell Max about his father’s condition? Whatever happened, they are still father and son.”
After closing her eyes for a while, Gabriella started nodding. “Max is happy now. He would no longer be bothered by the news of his father. Max has come to terms with reality.”
As soon as her eyelids lifted again, the pale woman removed the towel from her head. Slowly, she got up and out of the room. With eyes fixed on her small steps, the woman moved towards the living room.
Just as Gabriella looked up, a large man was swinging a baseball bat into the air. The eyes that were initially half-open, spontaneously widened. The heart that had previously been beating slowly, suddenly accelerated.
“No …!”
Along with the woman’s scream, the bat hit the back of Max’s head. A loud voice suddenly broke Gabriella’s heart. In just an instant, the man’s body drooped and fell from his high chair.