That same evening, my ride back home on the bus wasn't long enough. I didn't want to come back home. I was a nervous wreck.

I, becoming a model?! Eros had looked as if he had been on cloud nine, but I had felt as if I was bungee jumping from that same cloud, falling below at full speed. I'd soon become a splatter of blood on the ground.

It didn't matter that Mrs Nevermore had looked eager to meet me on the next day for the photoshoot. It didn't matter that Eros' look of satisfaction had met with the hyperactive yet guilty butterflies in my stomach. It didn't matter that Kono was elated and replying to Mirela's glare with a naughty smirk. It didn't matter that I would become the one and only model who also was a traditional human.

That ad could get me in real trouble. First, what could I tell my father?

'Hello, dad. My first day at Oyster's been fantastic! I've been promoted from shop assistant to model in a day. I'm gonna be in the ad on the BioBank's façade next week, wearing only a swimsuit. It's a whim of my boss' son, Eros. Yes, the same young man who sent me a fruit basket a few days ago. The one you think I should not have got close contact with.'

Now, I couldn't tell him that!

But Oyster's ad would become the talk of the town if Mrs Nevermore won the bid – so I would not be able to hide the truth from him. My face would be on the BioBank's façade, and in many magazines, too.

What would Agape think? And Sigi? And the fellow rebels who hated my guts? That smelt like a disaster already! My stomach churned out of revulsion and fear.

I got home and answered any questions from my father as briefly as I could as if nothing was the matter. I could barely eat my dinner, and I could tell he found it suspicious. I went to bed early. Thankfully, so did my father. I told him I was exhausted, and he bought it.

The full moon danced up in the sky on a dancefloor made of diamonds. While I stared at its beauty, I wished morning would never come.

A few minutes after I started hearing my father's snoring, I changed into some jeans and a T-shirt under the pale moonlight.

The drawer where my socks were was still open when I saw that the Kolibri that Sigi had given me was silently pleading me to come with. I hated guns as much as I hated the idea of killing. I sighed, but took it and hid it in the right pocket of my jeans. It was so small that the bulge could've been mistaken for my keys.

Then, I sneaked out from home and rode Frankie towards Amanita. Agape wanted to talk to me, and later I would be practising meditation with Sigi – if I managed to survive Agape's fury, that is.

Because I assumed she was still mad at me. She believed I had had something to do with the inexplicable identity awakening of those androids during Apollo's press conference.

I drove up Dawn's promenade. The Neon Sea was deadly and beautiful, as usual.

"Hey! Look who's there!" Gabi's joyful voice greeted me from his bedroom's open window. He was sitting sideways on the window sill and had an electric guitar in his hands. He was, surprisingly to me, talking to K8, who was leaning on the window sill in front of him. K8 had a spoon and an empty bottle of anisette in her hands. "It's Daphne!"

"Hello, you two up there!" I replied in the same mood as I parked Frankie by the door. I took off my helmet and stared at both of them in a joyful kind of disbelief. Were they friends? "Gabi, are you playing a song for K8 maybe?"

"Oh, no. She's helping me practice a song... for a very special girl," he replied and winked at me.

"He plays the guitar, while I play this... this special Spanish instrument," K8 said then. "I can't still believe it's for real." Then, she made a brief demonstration by rubbing the spoon on the engraved glass bottle with a nice smile on her face. "This sound of metal on glass is charming, though."

Gabi giggled at K8's amazement.

"I'm glad to see you made a new friend, K8," I added with satisfaction.

"Thanks to you, Daphne," Gabi told me then. "I would've never found out she's so cool if you hadn't had that brilliant idea of staging Amanita's demise the other night."

"We teamed up, and now look at us. Practising a song for his fling," K8 added.

"There we go again. Agape's not interested," I said then in a reprimanding yet soft tone. "In fact, I'm due to meet her now – and I bet she's still pissed at me."

"That's where you're wrong." When Gabi saw me raise an eyebrow, he chuckled. "One: she's no longer mad at you. And two: the song's not for Agape."

"Oh. Now, that's a surprise. Well, two actually."

"I met a girl," he began to explain. Then, he sighed deeply. "She's a masseuse who works right next to the cheese shop I work in now – and she's amazing!"

"I thought Agape was the only one. So, who's this charmer who's managed to seduce you?"

"Her name is Diya, Diya Mangal. She's Indian, and a true beauty. Her voice is music to my ears, and her sense of humour is the sunshine of my life. I'm making small changes to a popular Spanish song for her because she's so special, you know. The original song is about a Cuban woman, so I'm changing some elements to make the song fit her."

He was so adamant in making me a fan of hers too that I found it cute. Besides, Agape would never fit in Gabi's life – unless she managed to overcome her traumas. I didn't think it would be possible in the near future. Maybe it was something good that Gabi was infatuated with some other woman.

"Shall we play what we've got so far for Daphne, K8?" Gabi asked her with a broad smile. She straightened her pose, and put the spoon on the top edge of the bottle, ready to start. "Let's do it, Melody!" he exclaimed, looking at his guitar.

Wait! Had he named his guitar just like I had named my bike? That made me chuckle.

Note after note he played, and then he started singing in Spanish – all that while the spoon on the bottle of anisette created a sweet background. It was Latin rock in style. He had more talent than I would've ever imagined.

Then, K8 stopped him gently to make a correction.

"Wait. 'Por un beso de la flaca daría lo que fuera'. That last syllable. A bit higher." She then sang that same verse of the song using the correct pitch.

"See? Her automatic autotune is amazing," he told me with satisfaction. "She's helping me a lot to improve."

"I'll leave you to it. I should get going," I replied.

"I'll tell wonder boy you're here when he comes out of the shower, Mini Agape." He was obviously amused by those nicknames.

"Don't call me that ever again for as long as you live." My threatening answer was only half-hearted.

"Very well, Glühbirne," he replied then, mocking me with a naughty wink of an eye. I just shook my head in disbelief. "Wonder boy's got a big mouth, but also a big heart. If you can't see that, you're blinder than my Indian goddess."

"What?"

"Diya is blind from birth. The clones wanted to murder her as a baby, but her parents convinced them she could learn the family trade. She's the best masseuse – I can confirm that. The way she moved those skilled hands over my aching back the other day...! OH!" By the end, he sounded as if he was having an orgasm.

"Oh, really? Wow." I was trying hard to hide my uneasiness.

"And what I meant about Sigi,... he's... he's taking things slow for your sake. Also not to piss off Agape," he said nonchalantly, as usual. "You know, her rules, her bad temper, her... everything. But if I were you, Daphne, I'd stop wasting my time and score with him already. He's an angel disguised as a demon... sometimes." His last word had a naughty undertone.

I suddenly felt hotter than a volcano.

"You're not having second thoughts about him, are you? Or a second guy hiding beneath your bed?" He laughed loudly at his own comment, the bloody idiot.

He was joking, but he made me feel horribly exposed because I was reminded of Eros – and how undeniably cute and attentive he had been towards me so far. I blushed as if my cheeks were two burning cooktops on a glass ceramic. I felt so ashamed that I wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide until the end of time.

"Gabi, please. I love your sense of humour, but I've had a rough day. I'm not in the mood for jokes." My current embarrassment and exhaustion were taking a toll on me. He noticed it and sighed.

"OK, fine," he replied warmly. His kindness was refreshing like the chilly, night sea breeze. "I see you're not in the mood. Relax, Daphne. I didn't mean any harm, you know that."

I smiled briefly back at him. "Good, now practise that song some more. I suppose you won't tell Agape about Diya, will you?"

"I don't know. Maybe she needs to know she's about to lose... all this," he replied while he gestured his whole self from top to bottom with a glam attitude as if he was a coveted treasure.

He made me chuckle with amusement, and then I shook my head in a sudden acknowledgement that he would never change – and I loved that.

A minute later, I was entering Amanita, where I found Agape fixing the tiles on the main dancefloor. Were there some loose tiles? If so why fix them in the middle of the night?

She was sitting on a low stool and smoking a cigarette. Her full concentration was devoted to the task at hand, which was examining something odd beneath a particular hexagonal tile in her hands.

She looked mesmerising while she worked. I realised that she might scare the shit out of me, or praise me for anything worthwhile I might have done to help the rebels' cause, but no other feeling could match, exceed, or poison how much I admired her due to her tech-related skills.

I couldn't help but wonder why she would fix the tiles under those dim artificial lights of the coloured spotlights on the ceiling and the disco ball. But then I saw it: those weren't regular tiles at all. Some black cables were connecting the tile on Agape's hands to the floor.

With a screwdriver, some other tools and a remote control, she was testing the system. Those hexagonal tiles were part of a new dancefloor, which would come alight when the dancers' feet would pressure them while dancing. I saw that when Agape pushed a button on the remote, and then she pressed the central part of the tile she was testing with her fingers. Then, the tile shone in fluorescent red light, showering her face from beneath – and she smiled widely. It was working perfectly.

"Hey, Daphne!" she exclaimed joyfully then when she saw me approaching her. "What do you think? You like 'em?"

"I do. They look amazing!" I couldn't take my eyes off the tile in her hand.

In a split second, my feet and my legs were surrounded by a reddish and orangey light from beneath while I was walking to her.

"Wow," I whispered. "It looks like I'm on fire."

"How's your father?" She asked bluntly, but gently. Then, she put down her tools and the tile she had on her hands on the floor right beside her.

"He's fine, I guess. He hasn't mentioned a thing, and I haven't had the guts to push him."

"You should. His behaviour was rash and intentionally secretive." She sounded serious as cancer. "When my guts tell me there's more to something, I believe them. After all, I've managed to survive in this cruel world ruled by clones by running with it."

She was right.

"If he opens up to someone, that's gonna be you, Daphne. I intervened and spared his ass for you when I messed with the GSNS, girl. I deserve to know what's wrong with him."

Damn, she was right.

"OK, fine." I sighed. I was curious anyway. "I'm gonna make him tell me the truth."

"Besides that, Daphne," she went on in a softer tone of voice. "You might be wondering about why I got mad at you."

"I'm not. It's only normal. You're boss here. I would've been pissed off too if I were in your shoes. But I didn't do it."

"And I believe you." She sighed. "Look, the last time I got a nice, amazing surprise –or a nicer outcome that benefitted me out of nowhere–," she said with pain transpiring through every word, "that was when I was younger when I started to work in the GSNS – and that's when I got raped and treated like an animal. If I get a whiff of defiance, or anything doesn't go as planned, I go literally into overdrive. A disgusting, evil kind of overdrive. I need to control everything. But I believe you, Daphne. I no longer think you had anything to do with it."

"I understand your reasons." I didn't dare to question her when it came to her rape, and she could tell.

"K8's right. I'm an overachiever." Her voice went downwards in a spiral of self-loathing and regret. "Sigi and K8 have been talking after my fit. I'm actually glad he opened up to her. She had never trusted any of the rebels – nor did they want to engage with her. All thanks to you. I'm happy for K8 to see someone trusting her. I have to thank you, Daphne, for doing something I've spent years trying to achieve, but couldn't no matter what.

"Anyway, both K8 and Sigi came to me with an idea they've conceived together: I need some rest. I've been depriving myself of sleep for too long... and obsessing over the smallest thing. I can't go on pretending that I can take it. I shall take their concerns into account: I'll rest, and sleep more than I do now. The way I reacted toward you yesterday was out of the line because I'm too stressed out.

"Cian, my second in command, shall step in for me during my hours of rest. To be honest, I'm worried that Cian might not be ready to assume such responsibilities for me, though. All of you shall follow his commands, no questions asked. Will you respect my decision?"

"Of course, I will! And I'm actually proud of you. Admitting flaws is never easy." I welcomed her pro-reconciliation mood and her wish to get some rest.

She chuckled, but the smile on her lips seemed to be a sad ghost drifting away from me.

"About the virus, I'm out of suspects. Any ideas?" she asked in a defeated attitude.

"Sorry, none. The only people I know capable of such technical expertise are K8 and you."

"Oh, man. If I'm supposed to get some rest, I need to find some closure first." She sighed with frustration and discomfort then.

A beep sound suddenly interrupted our conversation. It was her mobile phone. She fished it out of the pocket of her jeans and checked the notification on the screen.

"Oh, fuck me." Her lack of filter and the grim expression on her face told me something was off.

"What is it?" I asked with worry.

"It's my decoding machine. It's been unsuccessful to unlock Valentina's tablet. Again."

She put her phone down on the floor, right beside the dancefloor's remote and her tools, and then she put her hands on her face and rubbed it a couple of times. Another failure. She made me worry.

"I'll think of something. Don't worry. Just like I did with the money problems here, in Amanita."

"Money problems?"

"When Amanita had been open, we had got a nice influx of money. But with our giant, red mushroom closed, there's no income and a lot of expenses to cover. With their new jobs, the rebels don't earn as much as they used to when they worked here, sadly. We need money to finance our operations. We would've soon run out.

"So, I came up with a solution. An idea that's not selling Amanita to clones, of course – I'm not getting any more offers by the way, and thank God for that!" She chuckled after that. "I devised a tricky malware for mobile banking apps which preys upon banking data to steal money from clones. Usually using fake recipient names like well-established clone companies abroad or shell companies, and a code denoting a credit card payment for a fake transaction which can never get traced back to me. I only need a stupid clone to go and buy stuff so that my malware can infect more and more clone companies... and get me more money."

I put two and two together.

"Oh my God! It was you?! This evening, at Oyster?!" I exclaimed with astonishment.

"Yep. That was me. Mrs Nevermore is lucky I could only steal today's revenue from the shop. I would've loved to drain her dry. I've been hearing a lot of rumours of her hoarding money to win a bid lately."

"Don't steal her money, Agape. Please," I begged.

"Why not? She's a clone, Daphne."

"She's a good person. She's done nothing wrong. Besides, she's excited about winning that bid!"

"I already promised you I'd spare her life, Daphne. Now you want me to spare her purse?"

"She's happy for once in her life, Agape," I explained gently. "Let her ad win the bid. It means nothing to you. Let her have it."

"You're getting too attached to these people, Daphne. I've already asked you once whether I should be worried. Do I need to ask again?"

She was making me feel as if I was dancing on loose tiles. One careless move and I'd slip.

"I know this is a mission for me. I'm not losing focus, if that's what you're hinting at," I answered with determination.

"Good. Because for a moment I thought you wanted to leave me, us I mean, and side with them. You're just pretending to be a collaborator." And then, she added threateningly: "I hope you don't really become one."

"I know where I stand." And it's right in the middle of the crossfire.

"I wanted to talk to you about Eros," she went on after a heartfelt sigh. "That's the main reason I wanted to see you tonight, actually."

"Oh really?" I was wondering what the matter was regarding him.

She lowered her mirror glasses over the bridge of her nose, and said in a bewitching tone of voice:

"I want him to fall head over heels in love with you, Daphne."

Hello, my dear sugar cubes!

What's on Agape's mind regarding Eros? 

NOTE: The song Gabi and K8 are playing is 'La Flaca', a Latin rock song I love by Jarabe De Palo.

Stay tuned to know more!

XOXO

MS