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a brat, Claire,” Alex says.
    She grins at him and sticks out her tongue when her mother is not looking.
    I’m glad when dinner is over and we take our leave. I have the most humungous pit in my stomach, having barely eaten anything.
    Alex takes me aside, “Hey, chin up. I’m here every step of the way.”
    “I know.” I raise my eyes to him shyly. We are in an alcove a little distance away from the family dining room. “So . . . about what you said back there . . . am I really your girlfriend?”
    My heart cringes, expecting him to say “No, that was just to rile them up”. I tense my entire body, bracing for pain.
    He laughs softly. After his slumber, the dark circles around his eyes have disappeared and he looks well-rested and extremely handsome. “Are you kidding me? Need you even ask?”
    Relief washes through me, and gratitude, and love, and a dozen different emotions. Oh, I’m such a wreck when I’m with him. He moves in for a kiss, and I respond hungrily in kind. It’s a passionate one – open-mouthed and full of tongue. I savor him, trying to compensate for the deep-seated gnawing hunger in my belly.
    When we part for air, I whisper, “Oh Alex, they hate me. Everyone hates me here.”
    “No, they don’t. They just haven’t gotten to know you like I have.”
    I shake my head. “I’m not so sure.”
    “Hey,” he tips my jaw up with his fingers, “you’ve got me. We’ll weather through this together, OK?”
    “OK.”
    We kiss again, though I’m really not sure if weathering this is even a possibility. But oh, I love love love Alex so much. It would be kill me if I were to be told that I can never get to see him again. It would more than kill me. It would devastate me and send me to the deepest pits of despair.
    “Listen, I have to go see my father tonight and tomorrow morning, but Jasper will take you shopping, OK? My expense account is yours. Buy anything and everything. You need a new wardrobe.”
    I have never asked Alex for anything in my life. I mean, he paid the air tickets and accommodation and stuff because I didn’t have any money on me, but we lived frugally and simply for the past month. The possibility of buying clothes with his money now fills me with trepidation.
    “Oh Alex, I don’t know.”
    “Do it for me. You need a new wardrobe, and you’re my girlfriend, so you’re going to be in a bit of spotlight. We’ll avoid it as much as we can, but unless you plan on being a recluse here, there’s no way you can avoid it completely.” He teases my hair. “I wish I could have prepared you more for this and I was fully intending to ease you into my life . . . or at least, this part of my life. But there isn’t time.”
    “I know . . . your father . . . ”
    “I’m sorry, Liz.”
    “Don’t be. I wouldn’t dream of leaving you alone to deal with this.”
    “I know. I have to go. I might be back home late tonight, so go to sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.”
    He kisses me again – deep, urgent kisses.
    “Leave your door unlocked,” he whispers.
    And then he leaves.
    It’s as if my only anchor in this bewildering foreign world has been taken away. Deep down inside, I know that I’m going to be alone in dealing with this. No matter how much Alex supports me – in the end, it will be up to me and how strong I ultimately am.

6
     
    The next morning, I wake up with Alex. I don’t recall going to bed with him because he did mention that he was coming home late, but here he is – as beautiful as a god in repose in my bed.
    I extricate myself from him gently as I don’t want to wake him. Naked, he’s a glorious sight to behold under the sheets. His chest rises and falls slowly. I can watch him sleep forever. If only it were just the two of us in this wide open world. It would be a lot less complicated that way.
    But life never has a way of working out the way we planned. I never planned to fall in love with Alex, any more than he ever planned to be born a