"Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are  only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty  and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love"~ Rainer Maria Rikle, Letters to a young poet

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"God! Finally a vegetarian restaurant!", Agnes and Jason said in unison. Norway was an extremely cold country and cultivation of vegetables was something very difficult here. Hence, there were hardly any vegetarian restaurants and if there were any they cost a fortune.

The four of them sat down and ordered their food.

"Oh, by the way," Takumi smirked. "I saw something yesterday"

"What?," Agnes asked.

Takumi looked and Akane and grinned.

"Yesterday.. when you both thought  we both were asleep, well you know"

Jason looked at them through his frameless glasses which he had put on to look at the menu. Agnes blushed deep red. Takumi and Akane burst out laughing. Jason joined them.

"Why on earth are you laughing?," Agnes asked, embarrassed.

The food arrived and it's rich aroma filled their nostrils. They started eating the food. Agnes looked at Jason. He was sitting straight with his hair drooping over his forehead. His eyes were on his food as he took the fork and put it into his mouth. She kept staring at him. Agnes stop staring. You need to stop drooling over him all the time.

Just then her eyes caught something.

No credit cards allowed.

The statement was stencilled plainly on a wall in the restaurant. She opened her wallet almost immediately to check for some cash. Hundreds of credit cards smiled at her from her wallet.

"Jason, do you have any cash?," she asked him. He looked at his wallet. Only credit cards. A lot of them. Akane and Takumi checked theirs. No cash. Credit cards. Now that's the thing when you're filthy rich.

"Oh fish," Akane remarked. They looked at the food they has ordered. It sure was expensive.

Just then something struck Agnes. She whispered something to Akane and Takumi. Jason looked at her quizzically.

"One... two....three..," she whispered to them.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH," the three of them screamed their lungs out. They pointed at something below the table. Jason looked at their but found nothing. They kept shouting and Jason was spellbound.

The entire restaurant screamed along with the three of them. Jason looked around at the utter pandemonium they had caused.

"RUN ! RUN! RUN!," Agnes screamed as she held Jason's hand and ran around the place. The waiters, the manager, the owner, everyone came out to see what had caused this confusion and noise. Without knowing what had actually happened the entire restaurant fled out.

Once they were at a safe distance, Akane, Takumi and Agnes burst out laughing and fell on the road.

"What just happened there?," Jason exclaimed, spellbound.

"Nothing happened, Mr.Lecturer. We just screamed so that people think there's something in the restaurant and then we ran. Since we didn't have cash, we wouldn't be able to pay our bill. I did this to prevent ourselves from washing utensils," Agnes laughed.

"But that's wrong! What about their money?"

Agnes looked up at him with admiration and said in low tone, "Don't worry, Mr Lecturer. I'll send them twice the amount they owe us"

The, she shuffled his hair lightly and walked forward

~'~

"Skiing!," Takumi grinned.

The four had set off to Beirengerford for skiing in Norway. They sat down in the bus with mufflers, booths, caps, gloves, coats, socks covering their bodies from head to toe.

"I love skiing," Agnes smiled, looking at the white mountains towards which they were proceeding.

"Cherry?"

"Yes Mr lecturer?"

"I read your novel, the ninth one"

"And?"

"And I loved it"

Agnes smiled. Leave it to him to make my day.

~'~

The four of them gawked at the mystifying beauty of the mountains. Standing on the crest with their skiing rods tugged to their hands, they admired the mountains which were enveloped with a blanket of white magnificient snow.  It was beautiful- so beautiful that you could spend your entire day looking at it. So beautiful that the entire universe would stand still to watch it. Such was the beauty of Norway's mountains.

The nodded at one another and bent a little, lowering their gaze. Then, they pushed their rods backwards and skied on the snow. Akane and Takumi fled forward. They were like professionals in skiing.

"I like your writings, Agnes. I don't know why, but I like them a lot," Jason smiled.

"Thank you, Jason"

He was beginning to see Agnes in a new light with each and every book he read. She was so deep, unparalleled. Almost like the universe, no matter how much you know about it, there'll still be something more to discover.

"So you don't have anyone left in your family, Jason?," Agnes asked.

"Oh, yes I do. I have my elder sister. She lives in England"

"That's great! England's our next stop"

"I know"

"You could meet her"

"We all will meet her"

She nodded.  Both of them reached the lower side of the mountain. They looked around for Akane and Takumi but couldn't find them.

"Where did they go?," Agnes asked.

"I don't know," he replied, looking .

"SNOW FIGHT!,"  Akane and Takumi screamed from behind, throwing snowballs at them. Agnes and Jason were taken aback by the sudden attack but then they smiled. They picked up the soft powdery snow and moulded it into a ball.

"YIKEEEE," Agnes shouted as Takumi slid a ball of snow behind her back. Jason laughed at her reaction. She ran behind Takumi for revenge.

They spent the evening fighting with balls of snow. They were like crazy teenagers enjoying their lives to the fullest.

"Okay.. okay," Agnes said, tired. She sat down on the snow right there. They laughed and sat down beside her.

"Oh, we got to go," Akane said, getting up with her brother.

"Why?"

"Because we want you both to be alone," Takumi smiled.

Agnes rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly. Come on"

"SEYONARA!," they bid goodbye in Japanese and ran.

Jason sighed and shook his head. She looked up at the setting sun. It looked so beautiful setting behind the mountains.

"Have you ever fallen in love, Jason?"

"Nope. You?"

"Nope"

"It's hard to believe after reading your books"

She laughed. "I have a bit of an imagination. Though I don't really know whether love exists"

"I don't either"

"All I know is, I want to feel it someday"

Jason smiled. He nodded. He thought of love as just something unreal. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't want to either. He liked his life the way it was. Though he was exceedingly beginning to like Agnes' presence in it.

Well, he needn't have worried. Now that Agnes was here, she would change it soon. Change the way Jason thought about love. And change Jason's life by making him fall in love.

~'~

Hope it was good enough! Next chapter in England :D London!

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