«Neither April without flowers nor youth without love».

A popular Spanish saying.

Samantha had never felt as free as she did now, soaring above the sands of Point Dume State Beach. She was accompanied by Glutton and Impatient, moving her arms in sync with the wings of the two seagulls.

 Every so often, they would swoop down at breakneck speed and dive into the sea. In this way, they would surprise the mullets and catch them. Sam took great care not to break her incisors, as she lacked a beak. She was filled with happiness, as she was fascinated by the aroma of algae and fish, although it was mixed with a hint of antiseptic.

 "You know, Squirrel, I think your friend cares more about you than you think," a very sensual male voice came from the sky. "I'm telling you, because I'm older than you and I've seen the world. My business sense tells me you are a property that Mr. Lanky would love to acquire. The guy is pining for your bones!"

 "Is this God speaking to me?" she wondered, perplexed. No wonder, she had found a world where humans flew and where Adrian loved her... A parallel world where she intended to stay forever.

She would no longer grieve for being like Jane Eyre, the protagonist of the book by Charlotte Brontë—her favorite—an orphan who bothered everyone and who had yet to find her place. It was as if it were the third volume of a saga and the previous two were missing. Now, her soul felt complete at the beach, surrounded by the ocean and sand. Perhaps her soulmate had realized that sincere emotions were the shortest path to happiness together.

More seagulls joined them. So many that she realized she would need an infinite amount of imagination to name each one, as her routine was to pick a name that reflected a particular characteristic of the bird, whether it was its personality or physical appearance.

People glanced at them and mistakenly thought they were all the same. But like onions, they had countless layers and resembled people. There was no black or white, birds and people were grey. Only death turned them into ashes of a uniform color, even if they were mixed with bits of metal and leather.

From a distance, she observed her colleague. He was shirtless and wearing shorts. He focused his binoculars on her and watched her fly, just like an ornithologist studying a bird species on the verge of extinction.

She swooped down and landed beside him. First, she indulged in the cinnamon-toned sparkles of his skin. Then she analyzed the magical sensation of the warm sand grains, warmed by the morning sun. She made a small hole with her right foot, and it immediately filled with seawater. And she sighed with pure pleasure.

Adrian smiled at her, and Sam, without saying a word, jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. In this new refuge, she acted at will, and didn't need to hold back.

So she ran her tongue over his warm neck. Slowly, just like in the song by Luis Fonsi that they both had hummed and sang off-key until they were exhausted.

She playfully bit him, and when Adrian protested, she slipped her tongue in. She used the same overwhelming passion that he had taught her. And that Sam had later tried to replicate with a pillow to learn and avoid another rejection.

Furthermore, she wrote love songs about his perfect lips. She even brought to life the erotic manuscript she kept in the second drawer of her desk that she didn't dare send to a publisher.

She inhaled his aftershave lotion as she nibbled on his earlobe. She rested her face on his chest for a moment, just to see if Adrian's heart was racing. And indeed, it was.

"Do you think I'm doing better?" She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it. "Are you not complaining about my kisses anymore?"

She stared at him to see if he was telling the truth. If he wrinkled his nose, it meant he was lying.

"You've learned," her friend sighed.

"Then caress my breasts again like last time and don't stop," she ordered and touched his face.

Adrian kissed her breasts through her blouse, still holding her in his arms like when they did some elaborate parkour  figures. He created poetry on her chest, so much that Samantha stretched her neck upwards and backwards to give him more room. As she did so, she focused her gaze on the sky and watched the seagulls. They flew low and encouraged her to continue with their squawks.

"Make love to him." They made the sounds of the English letters and then clashed their beaks, which gave them the power and aggression of the German language.

"I would if I knew how, friends!" She stretched her arms towards the sky.

"Don't worry." Adrian placed her on the sand. "Today I'll pleasure you right here. I'll leave you exhausted and breathless!"

"Good afternoon, I'm Darien Ferrars," the sexy voice originated again from the center of the sky.

She wanted to tell him that he had the name wrong. It wasn't Darien, but Edward Ferrars. Anyone who had read "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen would remember that.

Annoyed, she listened to Karen's sharp intonation, which slipped into the new world to corrupt it:

"I warned you that one day you would break your skulls if you kept jumping around like monkeys!"

"Just like a witch," she whispered in a weak voice. "I hate you, evil one!"

There was no point in continuing with the caresses and kisses. The unbearable woman had ruined the relationship before and now she was sabotaging the magic of the moment. Another try, another place... and the same negative result.

She heard a murmur and made a superhuman effort to lift her eyelids. It seemed incredible, they weighed like colossal rocks.

She was surprised that the objects around her—except for her workout clothes and her backpack—were neutral in color. The curtains, the table, the sheets, the furniture were all pure white. There were also black pens, gray wheeled nightstands, and jet-black armchairs that looked comfortable. She regretted that there were no seagulls and that she couldn't smell the aroma of the sea. Instead, the room was filled with the stench of alcohol and disinfectant, which made her nose itch and scrambled her brain.

"Where am I?" She sounded as weak as a newborn squirrel.

"You're at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital," her friend spoke softly, and he was visibly moved.

Sam tried to reach out to touch his lips—as she had done earlier when they were in the other dimension—but his body didn't respond to her advances.

And it was fortunate, because Karen squealed:

"Didn't I tell you that you would end up getting hurt? And you insisted on clinging to my boyfriend and climbing on him like a monkey." The volume was unbearable, a kind of high-pitched screech that tortured her mind. "There you have it, just as I warned you! If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be in the hospital!"

"Shut up, you're confusing her!" Adrian glared at her, then said sweetly, "Squirrel, you've been in a car accident. Do you remember how it happened?"

"A car accident?!" Karen's viper-like expression showed how frustrated she was that she hadn't been injured while practicing parkour.

Adrian glared at her again and yelled:

"Shut up!"

It never worked before, and that's why she didn't understand why it would now... Until the head of a handsome stranger floated above her, whose face she somewhat recognized.

"I'm glad to see you awake, Samantha. My only regret is that it's under these circumstances," he paused for a moment, then added sadly, "Unfortunately, I'm responsible for your accident. My car went off the road because of a van and hit your sign. What luck that it didn't hit you directly!"

Adrian pushed him away and then confronted him:

"Go away once and for all and leave us alone!"

"I can't, my conscience won't let me," he replied as if that were explanation enough. "I have to make sure Samantha recovers."

"That's what we and her family are here for," the other man snapped, without mincing words. "Get out of here!"

His friend's words snapped Sam out of her stupor, and she immediately asked:

"Has Aunt Kitty been told about my accident?" She prayed that no one had informed her.

She felt bad enough without that woman driving her crazy with overbearing care and inappropriate comments. She needed a lot of peace to recover.

"No, I'll call her right now," Adrian started looking for the number on speed dial.

"Don't you dare!" She sat up with all the energy she had left, and when she finished speaking, she fell back.

"You're not going to tell her what happened to you?" her colleague was surprised.

"No way!" Sam closed her eyes. "It's enough trouble that she nags me daily and predicts accidents. Can you imagine if she finds out I've had one, and on top of that, that it involves a couple of vehicles? She'd try to lock me up with hundreds of keys!"

"You're right, Squirrel," Adrian scratched his chin, undecided. "Then you'll sleep at my place, it wouldn't be the first time you've spent the night." The stranger smiled wryly, and Karen put her hand to her throat.

Before the plastic woman could list her arguments against this option, Sam contradicted him:

"Impossible! If she knew I was there, she'd come over to visit under the pretext of sharing teatime with your mother."

"So what do we do?" After asking the question, he realized that the girl was not in a condition to think too much.

But Darien took the opportunity and intervened:

"I think I can help you solve this dilemma, Samantha." He approached the bed. "You can stay at my house. It's good for both of us because I can make sure you recover. After all, I'm responsible for your current state."

"What are you talking about, idiot?!" Adrian became angry, and from the way he moved his hands, it seemed he was trying to keep himself from punching him. "Squirrel would never think of staying at the house of a stranger we know nothing about!"

"Well, you should know me if you watch the news. I'm the majority shareholder of Advanced Programs & Networks Corporation  and the creator of the social network Ties, number one at the moment." He always took the opportunity to promote himself. "Also, I've given you my business card. It has all my phone numbers, and my company and personal addresses."

"And what the hell can a business card tell me about you?!" he asked, infuriated. "The fact that you're rich is of no concern to me. It only tells me that you have money to pay for your vices. You could even be a psychopath!"

Sam noticed the stranger was looking at Adrian as if he wanted to hit him, but he held himself back. And she understood because she felt the same way about him bringing Karen to the hospital.

"Let's see, my love," the girlfriend spoke affectionately, but devoured the millionaire with her eyes, just like a praying mantis devouring the head of the male while mating. "Everyone knows the social network Ties  and its founder. He has never caused any scandal. And I always hear about his philanthropic works. In my opinion, Darien's references are more than enough. Samantha can stay at his house. And, if he doesn't mind, we'll visit her every day to make sure she's okay."

"Yeah, I'm sure you care about my well-being!" Sam thought, sarcastically. And she felt a murderous rage because she noticed that the witch's arguments were making an impression on her colleague and convincing him.

She reflected that, perhaps, life was crying out for a change. Meanwhile, she watched how the hateful Karen embedded herself in Adrian and pressed her ample hips against his legs.

She took a deep breath and looked at the stranger. He was very handsome, much more so than her colleague. And, above all, he cared about her feelings.

"What do you say, Samantha?" Darien focused on her with his incredible eyes, which at times seemed the color of orange blossom honey and at other times the shade of hazelnuts.

Her life was crying out for something different, though she didn't know what. And breaking the monotony of her routine would be the first positive step. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," her brain reminded her of the wise words of Lao-Tzu. If she made this decision, moreover, she would be spared from witnessing Adrian and Karen shamelessly groping each other right under her nose.

"Thank you, Darien, that seems perfect to me, but only if you forbid these two from entering your house," and then, in the direction of the couple, she added: "Because I don't want you to visit me. I need peace and today you two have given me a headache. Also, Karen, I'll be honest and tell you what I've held back for years. I can't stand you, you've always acted like a witch towards me! Get out of my sight, both of you! I was close to dying and from today on, I'm going to clean up my life."

"Your wish is my command!" Darien, amused, burst out laughing.

And at the same time, he made a bow typical of previous centuries, which caused Adrian to snort like a bull in heat whose female was taken away.

This is what Darien would do to Lanky if he could...