Mom and Sir were replaced from houses. I didn't know Oxygen had apartments in its building. They were for important Arians who sometimes had to sleep over for better facilities, some of the rooms were even given to these Arians so they could live there permanently, like Dr Gene. The change really made me think of the difference between staying at a hotel and getting an own apartment. Does it mean Mom enjoyed Los Angeles TOO MUCH? It was the first time I was actually going to talk to them after the city center and I didn't have the courage (or the brain) to do so. Things were getting worse each day I'd spend far from LittleMountain.

"Honey, please sit down to eat?" Mom forced a smile. She was nervous, I could read on her face. She was certainly blaming herself for having lost me, and she had no idea how I arrived at Oxygen alive.

"Your mother and I... we got so worried that day... I apologize, and your mother, baap re baap!"

I didn't know what that meant but probably it was "oh God" in Indian. "That's okay, Sr," I said sincerely.

They looked at each other. They were in love, 'baap re baap', and I was happy for them. They were a couple, after all. A couple pretty different from the one I couldn't stop thinking of. And my mind went back some hours earlier, from the moment Oliver closed the door out of the cages' last room.

•••

"STOP IT! WHO ARE THEM?!!" I kicked and pushed and don't know what else I did.

"You stop! Don't you trust me? Stop, Angel!" Oliver twisted me around as he suddenly hugged me. He hugged me. My legs were no longer covered by sensitive nerves anymore. It was like a drug.

"Feeling better now?" He asked, releasing a mass of cold air on my hair. I didn't answer because there was no answer I could give. I just stayed there... hearing the faint beat that was Oliver's heart. He had one, after all. I kept forgetting myself.

"Oliver?"

"Hm?"

"I..." His chest was so soft, or was it his shirt? I was beginning to feel the snow scent his skin emanated. "I trust you."

"I know."

"Who are these people?"

He enlaced me to have a better view of my face. "Don't you recognize them?"

I shook my head no.

"So it's better that way." Oliver started guiding me to the exit with his hands pressing my shoulders slightly. The conversation was over.

•••

I went to the Soup House.

Why? I don't know. The way the man cursed under his breath gave me chills. The way the woman stared at me gave me chills. The way they both talked gave me chills. They were so dirty and so far I couldn't recognize their faces even though Oliver supposed I knew them. Yet there was no way I could have known such people. They were perhaps 15 years older than me but still held youth and strangeness and amazingness at the same time!

After a while I just realized I was thinking about Sebastian Castle, and then it occurred that I was thinking about him since forever.

•••

"Darling!!" Mrs Agatha, the Soup House's mama, came kiss me on both cheeks. "So glad to see you! Hohoho"

"Me too! Mrs Agatha, hm, have you seen Sebastian?"

"He might be on the back, sweetie, dealing with our donations... "

I nodded, hugged Mrs Agatha and ran to the back stock. He was climbed on a stepladder (exactly the one painters use) separating packages of tomato sauce from other containers and putting everything in order.

"Hi" I said.

The package that was in his hand suddenly splashed onto the floor. The ladder almost rounded 360° with him on the top, Sebastian cursed while holding the rails with force, making his whole feature stagger. And then he looked at me. I didn't know what I was feeling or why I'd gone there at first place. "I... think we need to talk."

"Yes we do, but not here 'cause they might listen... look, I'm going to the market, why don't you come?"

We informed Mrs Agatha that we were getting some coins from the charity box to buy more spaghetti. As soon Sebastian started the car he turned around to me.

"What happened"

I sighed.

"Ok, start with the beginning."

I began telling him about Vince Snowfields. That he had been condemned years ago for attempting Gene's murder, and that somehow this week has escaped his cell, and that Oliver was informed about his brother's break out and is acting weird with Room 9 and Gene since then. I told I looked for Vince at the emergency stairs because he saved me from Damon Collins; and this was the day I have discovered the chain.

"Damn this chain." Sebastian squeezed the steering wheel. "What does it do?!"

"I don't know, that's the problem. I just know Damon wants it."

"I don't know if you noticed but Vince stole the chain from Damon on their fight, which explains why he has turned into a monster these days. It means both men want it. It's a matter of time til Vince finds out the chain is with you."

"Vince is going to come after ME?..."

"Yeah, so I think you should give the chain to someone we trust before you get killed."

"But who... you mean give it to Doctor Gene?"

"No, Dr Gene is the most unstable person I know. I was thinking of Snow. I know he says he's brothers with the psychopath but he commands Room 9 and is the smartest person I know. He can help us."

I stopped blinking. Boom.

No! Angelina! Don't trust him! Do not give him the chain!! Keep it with you!

DON'T GIVE THE DAMN CHAIN TO OLIVER SNOWFIELDS!

"Sebastian", I said, "Oliver can not have the chain."

He glimpsed at me before turning to the road again. "Why not?"

      Part of my brain said I could trust Oliver. He was my finder, my protector, the magical portal who brought me to this world. Of course I could haven given the chain to him long time ago and I would have, if it wasn't for my bipolarity crisis when he would get too close. But one day from now there was something else saying, shouting, screaming that he never ever could touch the blade. So I told Sebastian about the couple. I told him everything, about their appearance, how they acted, how they called my name, how they were desperate, how they were creepy and good at the same time. He spent some seconds reasoning. His eyes were on the street but his vision was far far away from there.

And then he did something I was not really expecting. Sebastian hit the brakes so hard I heard the noise of the wheels peeling out on the asphalt. He looked at me as if he'd never seen me before, as if it was the first time he saw someone else in his life. He abandoned the steering hill; his fingers find my chin and soon enough I feel his lips against mine.

I won't say that the world stopped. It was all there, spinning around like a roundabout. He dragged his hand to the back of my head and pulled me, my lips parted, the kiss went deeper, and I raised my hands to touch his hair. Gosh, I was really touching Sebastian's hair; his flaming hair, as smooth as cotton. I felt his piercing. It was a cold spot in the middle of the warmth, and I felt like warming it up too, like exploding at that sensation, like kissing him forever, because that was the best kiss anyone could ask for. That was what bound me to that world. And I would face another thousand Damons for him.

Ours hands left each other and we parted smoothly. Nothing felt forced, nothing felt wrong, and two big eyes appeared in my vision. We were so close I could see all lines of his iris. They were blue.

His piercing curved up into a smile. "Do you even realize how amazing you are to me?"

Bump bump bump bump made my heart. His smile went wider with my lack of words.

Sebastian started the car again and we drove in silence for the rest of the trip. In these minutes I could revive, imagine and daydream about his kiss, over and over again.

Ps from writer... I cried.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•