LAMIAE

CHAPTER FIFTY NINE: POWERFUL COUPLE

She came down alone, without his help. The moss was so soft and tempting that she would have liked to sit on it if she hadn't been so nervous.

"We'll be back in the clearing in a moment, if you want," he said courteously. He didn't look around; unlike her, he wasn't interested in where he had brought her. He sat down on the bench and patted the seat next to him so that she wouldn't be embarrassed to take it.

"Why here?" she whispered. She hesitated before deciding whether to sit next to him or on the moss a few meters away.

"It's quieter here," he began, then curled his lips, as if he wanted to add something, but something prevented him from doing so.

"What?" she muttered. She knew it must have looked childish, but she crossed her arms, waiting patiently.

He didn't make her ask again and answered.

"It's quieter and you don't have access to alcohol."

She blushed.

"I don't know why I came here," she said and shook her head as if she was really wondering why she did it. She took a few steps back.

He stood up, alarmed by her indecision.

"Just kidding, sit down," he walked up to her.

She stepped back again. She heard the order in his voice; an order that made her distrust him. He wanted her to stay with him too much.

"Please, sit down," he sounded polite this time.

She looked at him. She didn't see the maniacal murderous intent in his eyes. He looked as if he had come here for the same reason she had - a desire to get to know her.

"See? It's not hard", she murmured, somewhat glad that he asked her to stay with him. She took a seat next to him.

"Yes, politeness is not difficult," he repeated, then smiled as if he had discovered how to reach her.

"Where are you from?" she asked him. She wanted to ask him as much as possible so that she could later report everything to her grandmother, Casper and Arleta. She wanted to ask about everything except his name. The name may have been necessary for her, but she doubted he would have given the real one.

"From Warsaw," he replied without stuttering. Now it was he who looked at her and, not hiding his attraction to her, carefully studied her face.

"How old are you?"

"The same as you," came the reply. She didn't comment on it, letting it go in passing.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm a student."

"And beyond that?"

"I belong to the Assembly, but you already know that."

Yes, she knew that. They wouldn't have been in the clearing if he hadn't been a member of the it.

"What part of Warsaw do you live in?" she thought she had cornered him. She thought she had uncovered his hypocrisy and that it would immediately turn out that what he had said was just a lie.

"I live in Powiśle, but let me keep the street to myself," he couldn't have made up this term. There were few people who didn't live in Warsaw and knew this term. It wasn't even a term for a district, but a housing estate with that name.

"I lived in Saska Kępa," she was supposed not to tell him any unnecessary information, but his answer caused her to start confiding in him. Or maybe it was the alcohol that caused it; maybe a little bit of everything, "with parents. Now, our apartment is rented. Students live there. We gave some things away, some we threw away, the rest are packed in boxes in the basement. It was such a nice, big apartment, the apple of my mother's eye. Apparently she arranged everything the way she wanted before I was born, my father didn't have time for it. I prefer not to think what condition this apartment is in now. Most people don't care about things that don't belong to them," and then her mind went back to the forest. It was only in Kielce that she met her destined boyfriend, even though she had lived ten minutes away by car from him all her life. "Do you have parents?" she didn't know why she asked that.