I woke up naked and wrapped in white sheets and Luke's body.

"Luke! It's six." I sat up and my head throbbed. "Oh."

"Mm..." he said, as he woke up, and he tried to find my waist with his hand.

"How much Italian wine did we have yesterday?"

"Can't remember. Why don't you lie down again? Not even the sun is up yet."

"I can't. I have to go over my presentation a couple of times and be there early to approach Kate and her collegues before Professor Abbey turns up. But you should stay in bed." I said, and I kissed his forehead, and his chin, and his lips.

I run to the shower in the hope that cold water would stop the pounding in my head. It didn't. Coffee was my next possible ally.

Luke was typing on his laptop on the desk when I entered the room again.

"I am writing to Kate. Let's see if she agrees to meet us in a couple of hours."

"I still can't believe they didn't show up yesterday." I said, shaking my head.

"They don't know what you have. They'll probably think it's just another stupid anti-wrinkle drug; something they are not too interested in."

"Didn't you say they suspected something?"

"I thought they did. But apparently they don't."

"Yeah, they would have even been on time if they had speculated something this big."

I made my way to the closet and threw the towel on the floor.

"No! Don't do that. I have to work. I can't concentrate if I see you naked in the mirror."

"Okay, sir." I said, and I sensually crouched down to pick up my towel again.

"No!"

"What did I do wrong now?"

"Do it again. Drop your towel. Please."

I slowly walked to him and sat on his lap with my legs open. I let my towel fall and his hands touched my whole body in a few seconds. I kissed him savagely, and the throbbing in my head stopped. I pressed my body closer to his. My movement jeopardized the balance of the chair. I didn't mind. I opened my legs some more and lifted my body up so that he could bite my cleavage.

"Oh... oh!"

The chair lost its balance completely this time, and we landed on the floor in less than a second.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, amused.

"Sh." he said, putting a finger on my lips.

I heard somebody knocking on the door.

"Tessa? Are you there? It's Tim."

"Oh... it's Professor Abbey. Damn it."

I stood up and walked closer to the door.

"Good morning, Professor. I can't open the door right now. I'll be downstairs in a minute."

"That's fine, Tessa. I didn't mean to rush you. I just wanted to make sure your alarm clock had worked. I'll go check if Luke's has, too."

I looked at him and he muttered:

"What the hell do we do now?"

"I... I think he already went to breakfast, Professor. He sent an email to me about an hour ago, so he must already be down somewhere." I said, in a not very convincing tone.

"Okay, thanks, Tessa. I'll see you downstairs."

"God, I love you." Luke said, after we heard some leaving steps.

He was still lying on the floor. I was making my way to him when his laptop beeped.

"Luke! It's Kate!"

He quickly stood up. I opened the email and read out loud: "Dear colleges, I am very pleased to remind you of the specially interesting itinerary we have before us today..."

"What the hell? This is today's program of the conference. And what does she mean by "specially" interesting? Was I right when I thought she suspects something?"

"I don't know. She must be crazy if she thinks I am going to spill it in the middle of the conference without having talked to her before. What we know for sure is that she checked her email but ignored our message."

"Definitely."

"I don't know if I am willing to share my discovery with them anymore. They're treating us like shit."

"Come on, Tess. Be realistic. Everyone is going to treat us like shit. We kind of are shit, if you look at it from their point of view. We don't have money, we don't have control, we don't have as much knowledge as they do. At least that's what they think."

"You know what? We do have control. I'm tired of looking for allies. This idea is mine. I have something they'll crave for, they'll compete for. We are powerful, Luke. More than them. We have the best product. What humanity dreams of. No millionaire is as powerful as I am right now. I don't know how I got so confused. Forget what I said about Kate being crazy if she thought I was going to throw myself to the beasts today. Because I am."

I put on my navy jacket, took my folder and walked to the door.

"Tess! Wait. Think twice before you do something you're going to regret."

"That's what I did. I wouldn't forgive myself if I gave in to someone else's way to work this out. I must find my own way. I don't know how I've been so blind."

I was getting out of the room when I made yet another irreversible decision. I walked back.

"Just in case my sight gets damaged again." I said, as I stopped by the bin.

I opened my folder, broke my speech into pieces, and threw them to the bin. Luke observed me like I had gone completely berserk. Maybe I had. I walked to the door again, and he shrugged and sighed.

"I guess I can't do anything to change your mind."

I looked back, and smiled at him. I felt great.

"You're right. You can't. That's the best part of it. No one can make me change my mind."

He smiled back a happily impotent smile.

"You're crazy, Tessa Blake."

"I know. It was time I was, don't you think?"

I walked downstairs. I was far too energetic to take the lift. I entered the dining room and found myself looking directly into Kate Rosewood's unholdable stare. I urged myself not to look down. She smirked at me as she walked over to the juice section of the buffet.

I crossed the room and filled my plate with cookies and toast. I sat down and caught her looking over to me as I ordered an omelet. Why did she look at me so coldly? Did she know something? Or was she just curious about me? She probably didn't even know I was the girl Luke had told her about. Nonetheless, she probably imagined it. Not many girls in their early twenties were attending the conference. However, I could bet she was part of the minority that had done it at my age.

I didn't understand why she hadn't approached me if she supposed I was the student that had information she would found interesting. Maybe she had just put up an interested act so that Luke wouldn't insist, but actually thought I had found yet another anti-aging chemical. I didn't like the way she had played with us. I didn't like her. I was very glad I hadn't shared anything with her. She looked over at me again, and this time I was the one to smirk at her. I didn't even know how to smirk. I hoped my try had turned out right.

"Tessa."

Professor Abbey surprised me from behind and made me break eye-contact with Kate.

"Nervous, huh?"

"Very much." I said, and I tried to appear as normal as I could.

"Don't be." he said, as he sat down on my table. "You've worked very hard, you deserve this chance to show the world what you've found."

"And to show it to you as well, Professor", I said to him in my brain. I felt sorry for him. He had trusted me fully, and I was going to treason him completely when I got on the stage.

When I got on the stage. Suddenly, I regretted having tossed my speech. Now, I would have to improvise. I didn't like improvising, specially when I didn't know precisely where my words were leading. I tried to calm myself down by repeating what had uplifted me in the room. I had something everyone wanted. I was the one that controlled it all.

I was the one that controlled me. I wouldn't say anything I didn't want to say.

"Come on, Tessa. Breathe slowly. You look scared."

"I am, Professor. It's just... all these people... they are so much more experienced than I am. I feel kind of lost."

"You will amaze everyone when you tell them about your discovery, Tessa. You impressed me. That's how everyone will react. Don't be afraid. I wrote this for you. And, if it still doesn't work, remember I will be up there with you, just in case you forget something or run out of words."

Crap. I hadn't thought about that. He would feel humiliated when I started to talk about something he wasn't informed of. I looked at the blue paper he had handed me. He had written tips for me to conquer my nerves. He was so sweet, and I had only deceived him. People would blame him for all my mistakes. I would embarrass him in front of his collegues.

"Oh, Professor, don't worry. You've dealt with enough hassle already. I think I can manage to get on the stage alone. You sit down and relax."

"Don't be silly! I am here to help you, Tessa. And Luke is too. Where is he, by the way?"

"I have no idea." I said, shaking my head, and I flushed when I realized I did nothing but lie to him every time I opened my mouth.

"Do you want to go over your speech while we wait for him?"

"Oh, no! That's not necessary, Professor." I answered abruptly, and I held my empty folder strongly.

He looked bewildered. I flushed some more.

"Really. It will only make me more nervous."

Luke appeared right at that moment, like a blessing from the sky, and saved me from having to tell more unbelievable lies.

"Professor, Tessa. I am sorry I'm late. Some collegues of yours kept me in the hall."

"I am sure it was old Richmond. There's no stopping him when he starts telling his ancient stories." Professor Abbey said, and he laughed a deep-throat laugh, amused.

"I bet it was him." Luke said, and he smiled a contained smile.

It astonished me how polite he could be when he was nervous, and lying. I ached for his opacity. I was too revealing.

I reckoned Professor Abbey would feel even more disappointed in him than he would in me. Nevertheless, the maximal betrayal was having been allies behind his back. Allies and lovers.

I tried to plan the first words of my speech as we flew into the conference salon in a slow, clumsy river made of frustrated scientists and powerful treasure holders. We looked more like a cloud of flies. No one directed the rest. We were just following the signs in the halls of the hotel as if they were honey, or shit.

Kate didn't stop looking at me even for a second. She was trying to break the remnants of my integrity into pieces. I wouldn't let her.

I would start my speech by talking about Nora. She was the reason I was there. She was the one that had saved the world from death with her own. She was like Jesus Christ.

I realized I was not making sense anymore, and tried to focus on organizing my speech again. Nora would be my introduction. I would then move on to explaining how I had conquered our everlasting enemy: time. I pictured the bewildered eyes everyone in the room would have. I pictured how Luke would stay calm, breathing slowly. I pictured how he would go on the stage and hold my hand when everyone turned crazy, just like in those gaudy TV shows. I also pictured Professor Abbey, fainting. That thought made me smile. Kate looked puzzled when she saw the happy expression on my face.

I took a sit in the front row. Even though I felt too exposed, that had always been the row I belonged in. if I were in a lecture back at Oxford, I would have Alex on my side. That was my seat. I looked at the program. Kate's crew would go on stage just before we did. But there was a long list of speakers ahead. I had time to plan my speech thoroughly.

Luke sat by my side, and he patted my knee softly. As he did so, his fingers slipped beneath my dress for a few millimeters, and spikes travelled through my nerves. I leant over to kiss him and then remembered some guy from Germany was speaking about how scientific articles should be written. I remembered that, and that Professor Abbey didn't know anything about our affair.

Kate went on stage followed by a whole set of personality lacking bodyguards that walked with their heads down and robotic steps. She made her way to the microphone and smiled a proud smile. I looked at Luke, and he shrugged.

"Ladies, gentlemen... Dear Collegues." her sweet high-pitched voice made me want to throw up. "Fine discoveries have taken place in our laboratories for the last few weeks."

"Fine discoveries... who's talking anti-aging creams now?" Luke whispered in my ear.

I giggled.

"I'd like to apologize to the next speakers beforehand, because I am afraid that we will be taking some of their time."

"What the hell? Why does she think she can do whatever she wants?" I said. "I can't bear this anymore."

I got up and made my way to the stage. Even though I didn't seem as powerful as Kate by wearing flat shoes instead of high-heels, I was glad I had made that choice, because I surely wouldn't be able to make my way up the stairs in her Pigalle Louboutins.

I was shaking like jelly, but Kate's integrity also started to crumble when she saw me getting on stage. Having made her nervous made me very proud and slowed my heartbeat down.

"Could I say a few words, please?" I said, pointing at the microphone, when I arrived at her side.

I could see Luke hiding his face behind his beautiful hands. Seeing him, the definition of a poker face, so tense, put the muscles in my jaw into tetany.

"I... I..." I stuttered.

I didn't even know what I was going to say. I always needed a plan to survive through whatever I did, and now I didn't have one. The salon looked huge from the stage. It looked infinite and overbearing at the same time. I pleaded my frightened neurons to keep on sending action potentials.

"I just wanted to make clear that we don't have any spare minutes to share with our collegues. Our presentation is of great importance. I am sorry."

I rushed out of the stage and back to my seat. Professor Abbey was flushed as ever, and didn't even look at me. Luke took my hand when I sat down. That stroke made my system turn on again.

Kate recovered her voice and started to talk again.

"As we don't have much time, we'll present our findings in a slightly different way. We printed some leaflets so you can judge the revolutionary power of this new approach to defeat aging."

Her encompassed subjects filled the room with shiny leaflets in a few seconds. I didn't even bother to look at mine. I was too stressed thinking there were only a few minutes left before I made the most important announcement to humanity. I was very sorry Nora wasn't by my side. She would've joked about Kate's slutty dress or about her aching for Italian ice cream; anything silly to take my mind of my paralyzing fears.

"Tess... Gosh." Luke said, and he took my leaflet from me.

He was afraid. It was the first time that I could see his feelings through his eyes. And they weren't nice to look at. They weren't nice at all.

"What? Give me that." I said, and I took it from him.

"I think I am going to be sick." he said, and he run out of the salon.

"Luke!"

I looked around the room. It was about to explode due to the pressure of the absolute silence that had filled it. The only sound I could hear was Kate's voice, whispering. I looked at my leaflet but I couldn't read. All that I saw was my investigation, my findings. I was too nervous. It was almost time I got on stage. I looked at Professor Abbey's leaflet, but when I started reading my mind filled with words from my report again. I started to feel dizzy, and confused.

"I think I am having hallucinations, Professor." I said. "Is that a normal reaction to stress?"

Professor Abbey lifted his eyes from the leaflet and looked directly into my eyes, for the first time since the conference had started.

"It is a normal reaction to... this, Tessa. I don't know if I am going to be sick or jump high myself!"

People around me started to wake from their trance as I fell deep into mine. I wasn't hallucinating. I run out of the salon, desperate, desperate to find Luke. Desperate to find myself. I accomplished the first thing, but totally failed at the second one.

"Luke, Luke." I managed to say, hyperventilating.

He was leaning on the wall, pale and unrecognizable.

"This. Kate's leaflet. It is a summary of my report. This is ours. This, is mine. What the hell is happening? Because I am afraid I might be going completely and irreversibly crazy."

"I can't do this right now, Tessa. I am sorry."

He started to walk to the entrance of the hotel. I wanted to follow him, but I couldn't move anymore. I fell on my knees and tears burst out of my eyes.

He merged with the sun beams that bathed the hall in a gold sheath, and he disappeared into the city. He didn't look back at me. I couldn't tell who he was. I couldn't tell anything.

"Luke, we have to solve this. We have no time."

I realized he couldn't hear me, because he was long gone, and I was barely making any sound. I felt trapped in a parallel dimension, tangled up in invisible threads that were about to strangle me. Tangled up, and alone. Like an abandoned and forgotten... shit. Trapped in a parenthesis in time.

"Tessa, are you alright?"

I turned my head but I couldn't focus my eyes. I could only make out patches of colours. Yellow and red. They were too strong, too vibrating for my constricted pupils, too shiny for my swollen eyes. But she started talking again and her high-pitched voice helped me make out her sexed-up silhouette and Pigalle Louboutins.

"You do have time, remember?"

The patches of colours moved upside down and flew in circles around me, and then my head must have hit the ground because colours disappeared and blackness ate me up.

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