Blame It All on Me. Alternative Ending

Chapter 20. Tell Me I'm Not Going Crazy

Maxim did turn up after all – despite Arina's effort to avoid this meeting. The young man was a depiction of remorse itself. Arina, on the other hand, held firmly to her position again and refused to make peace in any way.

"Do you even understand that you derailed both of our lives simply because we broke up? And you really think that after this I will just fly into your arms? What else am I to expect from you?" Arina was perplexed. "Are you feeling alright at all? You should be grateful that I supported this 'lost control of the car' of yours!"

"I really am grateful! Honestly! Believe me, it was a temporary clouding of reason!" Maxim assured her. "I just wanted to shake you up..."

"'Shake up'?! No, you really must be crazy! Shake up? Under a five-ton truck?!"

"I have no idea where it came from..." Maxim muttered.

"Perhaps if you'd been paying attention to the road, you would know... 'Shake up'..." Arina laughed nervously, "wow, that's quite a 'shake-up' indeed."

"I realized a lot after that... Really... Just think about it! Fate has given us another chance! Come on, baby..." He tried to take her hand.

"I'm not your 'baby'!" Arina pulled her hand out of his palm, but Maxim grabbed her wrist instead.

"Now, Risha... be reasonable..." he cooed.

"You're the one to talk about reason?! Let go of me!" Arina exclaimed desperately, but Maxim, though loosening his grip a little, did not let her go.

"Silly, what are you doing?" he spoke soothingly, even affectionately, but the girl shuddered. "We are adults, come on... Well, sure, what I did was wrong, but you can't cross out everything because of this? We were so good together, just remember!"

"We have already discussed this! I can, and that's exactly what I am doing! Let go already, you're hurting me!" Arina began pounding him with her free hand, and Maxim tried to grab hold of it too, but in the next moment they both froze: someone's hand squeezed Maxim's wrist with an iron grip.

"You were asked to let go..." Kirill said in a quiet reproachful voice, looking at Maxim intently.

Maxim silently glared at the newcomer for a moment, then suddenly let out a strangled growl, released Arina's hand and began massaging his wrist with a hiss – Kirill also let go of his hand that same moment.

Arina exhaled loudly, also rubbing her wrist.

"Maxim, just leave, please. I'm asking you for the last time, just go and stay away from me," she said.

Kirill retreated to the door and opened it invitingly.

"You know him?" Maxim asked, nodding over his shoulder.

"Yes, this is Kirill, he..." Arina didn't manage to finish as Maxim interrupted her.

"Ha, so, not so innocent yourself, huh?" The young man narrowed his eyes. "Although, I really thought you had a better taste," he added dismissively. "That a keepsake from the inmates?" He addressed this question to Kirill.

Kirill continued projecting equanimity as he held the door open.

"Watch your mouth!" Arina snapped. "For your information, unlike you, Kirill not only didn't leave me behind – he pulled me out then. And thanks to him I'm here at all!"

Maxim's facial expression changed: he remembered how someone helped him surface, literally pulled him up by the scruff of the neck, and then asked him, disoriented, spitting and inhaling convulsively, whether the other person was still under water. However, the stranger almost immediately dove in again, without waiting for an answer... And later Maxim did not have the courage to approach when he saw that the girl was lifeless, and they were taken to the hospital in different cars. So it was him...