"Stella!", someone whispers, jerking me slightly. I struggle to open my eyes, and when I manage to do so, I see Myles' face through a fog. "We have to go. Can you get up?"

I rub my burning eyes. Oh, why are they burning so much?

"Where are going?", I ask, yawning.

"Into our new life." I open my eyes that I closed after yawning, to see the ginger boy smiling at me.

Into our new life. This sentence clears my mind and I remember our conversation from the last night. How I was the one who asked him to leave Scott and Alexia. I was the one who suggested to him, no, asked him to start a new life where we are not being beaten, and insulted, but free to live the way we deserved. Happy.

Into our new life. We are going to live our new life. How beautiful and promising that sounds. But little did I know that our plan to escape was going to be discovered and that we had to go back to that circle we hate the most. The circle of misery. Miserable life, miserable days, miserable feeling, and of course, miserable fact of pretending. Each day we pretend that we can continue going back to that circle.

Run away, run away...
But we are running in circles...

Yes, Posty. We are indeed running in circles, and we fucking hate it. But we wanted so much to try to break it. It didn't hurt us to try. No, we liked to live in that kind of childish dream of ours. It helped us heal our wounds, both physical and mental ones.

Which reminds me of his hurt back.

"Are your back better? Do you want me to put cream on it before we go?" I sit, rubbing my eyes, watching him standing on his feet, and taking his leat... It's not his leather jacket, it's an olive one, and I confuse, I didn't know he owned anything that wasn't black.

"We do not have time. You can do it later. Now, you have to get up and dress." He comes closer to me and tilts his head. "Can you do that? Are you hurting?" I shake my head, studying his worried expression. It still amazes me how much he cares for me, how gentle he is with me. Not even Michael was this gentle.

He takes off the blanket of my body, and pushes it aside, revealing my bare feet. "Do you have any clothes?"

"Um, yeah, I do!", I squeak, and he puts his index finger on his lips to show me to be quiet.

"You have to be quiet, bab... Stella."

How I wish he didn't correct himself. I'm really beginning to like that nickname.

"Chloe's foster mother brought me something, I think. Let me check", I whisper, making sure to keep my voice down. I get up from the bed, and feel his hand on my shoulder, holding me. I look over at him, puzzled, parting my lips.

"Are you sure you can walk?" I just nod, and he lets go of me, slowly. I open the commode where the bag is, and unzip it, rummaging through it. The whole time I feel Myles presence next to me, and I turn to him frowning.

I only find denim jeans and a baby pink T-shirt. Seriously? This is such Chloe's style. I roll my eyes, sighing.

"I hate these clothes", I whisper, and he just smiles.

"You are going to look great in them. Are you sure you can walk?", he asks me for the hundredth time, and I sigh again.

"Yeah, Myles, I am sure I can walk", I repeat in the duh tone, rolling my eyes.

"Okay", he chuckles nervously, and walks to the door, peeking at the left and right to check if someone is going.

"No one is here. Go in the bathroom and I will wait for you on the side exist, okay?" He comes back to me, and I look up at him, glancing at something that I think might be our first problem in this new life.

"Um, Myles?"

"Yeah, Stella?" He searches for my eyes, his big palms coming to my cheeks, and he doesn't cup them, just caresses them barely.

"How do I take this out?" I point on IV in my hand, waving it through the air in front of his face.

"Um..." He frowns, thinking.

"I mean I can pull it out, but there will be blood everywhere...", I trail off, glad that I don't need to explain to him why blood is the last thing we need now. He takes my hand so gently that it sends goosebumps in my body.

Why his touch makes my body react this way? I don't like him, do I? Right? I still love Michael. And I don't want to use Myles to forget him. But, when I kissed his back last night, I just... I couldn't help it. I felt...

What? What did you feel, Stella? You are playing with his heart just like Michael was doing with yours. You don't want to break his kind heart, do you? You know how it feels when someone does that. It hurts. It hurts so fucking much. And you don't want this guy with freckles in front of you, who is studying your hand, still twirling it between his palm, gently, to be hurt. Right?

"Myles?"

"Everything is okay. I will just pull this out and we will leave the needle in your hand and figure out later how to let it out."

"Myles..."

"Trust me it is not going to hurt. Nor blood will appear."

"Myles.."

"Okay. One, two, three!" He pulls the IV from the cannula. "Did it hurt?" He studies my face quickly, searching for discomfort, and I don't even once glance at my hand wrapped with bandages, still keeping my eyes on his face with freckles.

"No. Myles?"

"Yes, Stella?"

"I... I'll tell you later."

"Okay, can you now go and change?" I nod. "Be careful. But first, are you sure you want to do this? You do not have to only because of m..."

"I am sure", I cut off his rambling.

"Sure sure?" He lowers his brows, his expression becoming worried.

"One hundred percent positive." I smile and pull my hand from his.

"Okay. Let's go then." I take the clothes with me and Myles takes the bag, not letting me say how I could carry it.

"Wait!", I suddenly yell and he turns to me, worry all over his face.

"W-what... What is wrong?" He quickly comes back to me, and I shake my head, trying to say that I'm okay.

"The necklace."

"Um, it is here", he pats his jeans pocket, "I took it. Do not worry. Do you want to put it on?"

I nod, and he sighs, coming even closer, and I breathe in, blinking rapidly, well I feel his breath on my face.

"Turn around", he instructs, with a low voice, and I swear I got goosebumps. Calm down, Stella, this is wrong.

I turn around and feel his fingers brushing my hair and putting it aside, and when my fingers fly to move it, he says:

"I got it. You do not have to move it."

I let my hands fall on my thighs, as I hear the click sound of the necklace, revealing that he put it on. I haven't even felt his finger on my neck, and I can't help but wonder did he try purposely not to touch me, not to tempt me and remind me of his brother.

"All set", his sweet voice now louder, interrupts my heavy and probably loud breathing. "Let's go now, I am scared that if we do no..."

"Right, let's go." I start walking to the door, following him, and he stops before we enter the hall. His hand finds its way to mine, as he checks one more time if no one is going.

"Okay, I will be outside." He cups my face, and I nod, reluctantly letting go of him, and heading to the bathroom.

While I'm changing I curse Chloe's style. Her high-waisted jeans make my butt look bigger, and rounder, and her baby pink T-shirt, well... It's baby pink, the color I used to love, but as soon as my life wasn't pink anymore it stopped being my favorite. I put her white sneakers on, wondering when was the last time I wore sneakers. I always wear boots, sometimes with heels, sometimes not, even in the summer. I never wear sneakers, and now it feels so strange walking around in them. I feel less weight on my feet and I realize that just now. Whatever, I have to go before any nurse finds me.

Before I get out of the bathroom I glance to the right, and to the left to see if anyone is coming. When I make sure there no one can ruin our mission, I quickly, quietly as possible run to the side exist.

There the light blinds my vision, and my heavy breathing as well as my aggressive smacking the door startles Myles. I inhale and exhale trying to calm my breathing. I was just running for five seconds, not more. Then, why it made me tired as if I was running for two kilometers?

I approach him and get lost in his eyes which are shining under the light. I have to tell him.

"Are you okay?" He closes the gap between us, by coming closer, and takes my cold hands in his warm ones. I focus on my breathing and the heart that is beating rapidly, as I nod.

"You... You look..."

"How? How do I look?" I lift my head to him. "Awful, I know this..."

"Stunning", he cuts me off, and I gasp. As he can sense that he said something wrong, he shakes his head quickly. "Um, I wanted to say different. Like... Like real you. The one who you tried to hide." My heart skips a beat at his words, still beating fastly, but I don't think that it is from running anymore.

"I remember", he brushes his thumb on my palm, "you were dressed just like that when you first came. Pink shirt, blue jeans."

"Y-you remember?"

"Of course, I do." He lifts my chin, and forces me to look at him, tugging the strands that have fallen on my face at my ear.

I shake my head, trying to bow it, but his palm on my cheek doesn't let me, holding my head high. "I look so much different now."

He is the one who is shaking his head, now. "No, Stella. You may have dyed your hair, and put some make-up on, and changed your style, but that doesn't mean you look any different."

"I was so scared back then. So", I whisper.

"I know, baby, I know." This time he doesn't correct himself, and I smile lazily, closing my eyes, happy that I got to be called by the cute nickname that I've grown to like. Is cute even a word?

I find myself nuzzling in his palm, and the part of me scolds myself for doing that, but I can't help it, because it's so warm, and I'm feeling so cold right now. Soon, he pulls it away and lets me gasp.

"Take this, you're shaking." When I open my eyes I see him taking off the olive jacket I've never seen him wearing before. He puts it over my shoulder before I can object.

"But, but..."

"Shh, put it on", he orders softly, and I shake my head, scoffing slightly, while pulling my arms through the sleeves, as he holds the jacket for me.

"Look, now", he points at the sky with his finger, "the sun is rising."

I move my gaze from his face with freckles, to the sky that holds the shades of pink, orange, and even a little bit of purple. Heaven. The dawn breaking is heaven. No sight is better than this one. No sight is more breathtaking than this one.

The sun is trying to find its way into the sky, slowly rising out of the clouds, leaving them behind, lonely and beaten. The sun won and now it's its time to shine. No matter if it is going to rain, or if it was raining, if there is snow or some grey clouds, the sun always finds its way to shine.

No one beats the sun. Clouds are its biggest enemies, but it always wins no matter how hard they try to fight against them. It doesn't need weapons, it has its rays which are stronger than any actual weapon no sword can cut those shiny rays that blind those enemies of its. I want to shine bright as the sun. I want to rise every day as the sun at the dawn. I want to show the clouds that they can't hide from this cruel world, and this life, trying to make me god's sake forgotten. The sun and I are stronger. Stronger than any clouds of ours.

"It's amazing", I whisper.

"It is."

"The sun is trying to encourage us to start our new life. To shine like it is shining. As brightest as we can." I search for his brown orbs and when I find them I recognize that hope in them, the same one I had in that moment of my life.

In that important moment of my life when I thought that I was able to escape my past and leave the people who were in it. But, I was very wrong. No one can escape the past. Not even the sun. Clouds are always going to remind it of its past. And there's always moon to replace it, once the sun is taken down. But even the moon is fighting against the clouds. They are everyone's enemies. Everyone has their clouds. And Myles and I have our clouds, too.

"And we will, Stella. We are going to shine as brightest as we can. Maybe even brighter than the sun."

"Brighter?" I turn to face him, confused.

"Yes. Brighter." I smile, feeling good that I'm starting over. That I'm finally going to take my life into my hands. That I won't let anyone else try to control it and ruin it.

If my life is going to be ruined, it's going to be ruined by me, not by anyone else. But, at that moment I believed that my hands were able to fix it, not to break it even more. But, honestly, I don't think that they ruined it. They fixed it, but someone's else hands ruined it, breaking it again.

I felt like I could breathe freely then. I didn't have trouble to feel fresh air coursing in my lungs. I felt something new and fresh while I was inhaling the air. It was hope. I felt good inhaling hope.

Hope. It is such a great thing. Emotion, actually. It can make you happy, strong even brave. If you have hope, you have everything. If you have hope, then you are rich, even if you are poor when it comes to having a family, and money. If you have hope, then not even love matters, because with hope filling your veins you can find it easily.

All you need in the world is hope and nothing else. Just a little bit of this emotion, and everything will be fine. And I had it. After so many years, after such a long time, I had it. Even though I wasn't blonde anymore, and I lost in while I was still a blonde little girl, I, being a girl with black hair and pink highlights had hope. At that moment I was rich and I felt like I could even fly. That I could spread my arms and that my wings would appear, taking me to the highest points of the sky, which is such an infinite space.

And I'm sure Myles felt the same. I could see in his eyes that were shining that he could finally breathe freely, now. That his back was straight without carrying any load. We were reborn. We were reborn even though we had too many things to fix, and this of first. We were reborn and we didn't even start living this new life of ours. But start always feels the best, right? I mean, despite being hard, it feels good, doesn't it?

You are just so determined to start doing something. You have all these ideas, and purposes, and how when you finish the thing you made up in your mind is going to look like, how happy you will be after it. You are decisive and ready to do it, swearing that this time you'll be persistent and won't give up no matter what. But you know perfectly well that it is a lie. But, you like lying to yourself, enjoying the decision you made, and your foolish self you dare to call persistent. You can dream, and you dream more of that start, than you actually do anything, than you prepare for it.

So, do me and Myles. We feel good starting our new life even though we already can sense being caught by our demons from our old life. And that may is not a possibility, it's more risk and a certain thing. But we're pushing that aside, and breathing this new air, filled with hope, feeling happy, smiling at each other.

But, then reality hits me. Where are we going to go now? We didn't even plan anything. How could we be so reckless and undetermined? No, everything is not going to fall apart before it even started. No, please, no.

"Myles! What are we going to do now? Where are we gonna go? What..."

"Shhh, calm down", he comforts me, cupping my cheeks again, and I relax at these actions, but my head still keeps making bad scenarios. "They will be here any second."

"They?"

"Our ride." He smiles, chuckling, and caressing my cheek.

"You thought of everything, didn't you?", I grin, cocking my brow, and finally relaxing completely.

"No, not everything", he giggles, pulling his hands from my cheeks, and I sulk at the lack of warmth. "Just for temporary. We go step by step."

"Okay." I pull away from him and inhale this new air which taste I like. "There's something I have to tell you before we step into this new chapter of our lives."

"Okay, tell me. I'm listening." He slightly frowns, focusing his brown eyes on me that are always so soft, whenever they are laid on me. I avert my gaze, and cross my arms against my chest, trying to warm a little, nuzzling in Myles' jacket that doesn't smell like him. Weird.

Yeah, you surely know how he smells.

Well, I slept two nights on his chest, so yeah, dumbass  I know.

"I..."

But then a honk cuts me off, and we turn in the direction from where it is coming from. The red car is approaching us, the older one, it kinda reminds me of the one Michael has. Before I can see who's behind the wheel, Jimmy opens the door, and jumps out of it, running to me, and hugging my legs.

"Stella!" He puts his little head on my belly. "I missed you so much!"

I glance at Myles quickly, as if I'm asking so, they are our ride. He just shrugs, confirming my thoughts.

"I missed you, too." I caress his short black hair, quickly. He pulls away and adjusts the glasses on his nose.

"Are you okay now?", he asks, worried, stretching his neck to look at me, his aslope eyes blinking rapidly.

"Yeah, I am. Don't worry." I kiss his forehead, and he wraps his arms around my legs, again.

I don't like kids at all, but Jimmy isn't a kid. He is more than that, and he is way mature than any of today's kids, of kids his age, and maybe even older ones. He had to go through a lot. He is still going through a lot, hiding with his dad, not having any insurance, working in a gang, while being 13, that is so insane, doing the dirty work that consists of technology, and anything that has to do with computers, and phones, cameras, security shit, and all since his dad never lets his deal. He also fought with Scott a couple of times, who insisted that Jimmy had to deal and be treated equally as other members, like other kids, but Klaus never let that happen. I'm pretty sure he never will, scared that Jimmy could get caught and end up in jail.

"Oh, you're wearing daddy's jacket!", Jimmy squeaks, snapping me from my thoughts.

"Dad's?", I repeat, confused, looking over at Myles.

"C'mon, jump in the car!", Klaus yells, patting the doors of the car. "Before they catch us!" Jimmy takes my hand before Myles can do that, and he pulls me to the car, and I try to keep up with his running, my breathing again becoming heavier.

Jimmy sits in the passenger seat, while Myles opens the door for me to get in the back seat. I smile at him, weakly before getting in. Once, he gets in, too, and Klaus starts the car, his son turns to me, smiling excitedly.

"Stella, I can't wait for you to see our house!"

"Your house?" I bewilder, glances over at Myles. He shrugs again, averting my gaze.

"I see Myles didn't fill you in, huh?", Klaus asks, chuckling, looking at me through the rearview mirror. I shake my head. "We are going to spend a couple of days together." Jimmy claps at that, squeaking and I weakly smile at him, struggling to curl my lips into something else than in a straight line.

"So, make yourself comfortable. Our house is far away."

After I nod, I rest my head on the seat, closing my eyes, trying not to think of any bad scenarios. What if they catch us? What will happen when they find out we escaped?

Myles takes my hand I realize that it was shaking. His eyes fix on mine, trying to tell me to calm down. He nods, and his eyelids close for a brief moment before opening again, revealing beautiful chocolate orbs.

"They will not find us. Do not worry. No one knows where they live. Not even Scott and Alexia", he says as if he's able to read my mind and all bad scenarios that it already managed to make.

"How are you so sure?", I whisper, trying not to say something wrong in front of Jimmy. He must be clueless, I guess. I bet that neither Myles nor Klaus told him the real reason for our visit, about which he is so excited.

"Well, I like to think that we can shine as brightest as we can." He smiles and I roll my eyes at the sentence he used earlier while we were gasping at the beauty of its majesty- sky, and its soldiers- sun, clouds, and moon.

He squeezes my thigh, and quickly removes his hand from it, glancing at the window. I close my eyes again and try to surrender to the dizziness my head is pumping with due to the lack of sleep, and medicines I've been taking.

"Are you feeling better today?", Klaus asks me, trying to keep his voice down when he sees Stella's closed eyes. I glance at her, too, before answering.

"Yeah, I am feeling better, thank you for asking." I smile at him.

"I see you gave Stella my jacket."

"I am so sorry, I..."

"No, son", he chuckles, cutting off my apologies. "Don't be sorry, I'm not mad. I was just scared that you can be cold, too. You know because of the f..."

"Shh!", I scold him, pressing my finger on my lips, not wanting him to say anything about my fever in case Stella has not fallen asleep yet. As she wants to prove me that she fell asleep, her head falls on my shoulder, and I gasp, confusing.

I look down at her face with closed eyes, as she mumbles something, adjusting on my shoulder, nuzzling her face on my chest. I gasp one more time, glancing at Klaus, who quickly averts his gaze from the rearview mirror. I am not kinda sure what to do, so I just wrap one arm around her body to keep her steady, because this car keeps moving through to the rocky road that we've been driving through for some time. Her hand with IV falls on my lap, and I get reminded.

"Is there any case you know how to take off this?" I point at the IV in her little hand, but Klaus shakes his head.

"I can't see, what?" I take Stella's hand in mine, and as if she was awake, she entwines her fingers with mine and squeezes my hand, which surprises me.

"This. The IV in her hand. I left the cannula because I did not know how to take it out without blood spraying on us."

Stella mumbles something in my chest and nuzzles her face further in my chest, and I wrap my arm tighter around her, pulling her closer, while still holding her hand, that she does not want to let go of, even if she is asleep. The thought of her holding onto me, even in her sleep, warms my heart that is beating for her and only her.

"Oh, yeah, I do", Jimmy's father responds, taking me back from my thoughts.

"Without blood and hurting her?"

"What is the thing with blood?" I watch as he frowns.

"I mean, she could be scared of it", I whisper, hoping she will not hear me and think that I am saying Klaus her biggest fear on purpose. I am doing that just because I do not want her to get a panic attack again, because that will exhaust her, and she is already exhausted so much.

"Um, yeah no blood. I can do that."

"Really? We do not need to go to another hospital or..."

"Son, my wife was a nurse", he cuts me off, a little sternly, so I glance at Stella to see if she is still sleeping. She is, peacefully, not mumbling anything now, though still holding my hand. "So, yeah I know how to remove the simple cannula. I had to put a lot in her hand before..." He glances at Jimmy, and I wonder if he is asleep, too.

"Oh, Myles, I forgot!", he exclaims, and I flinch, because of how high he raised his voice, scared that Stella will wake up. She slept peacefully last night unlike me who did not sleep at all, because of the bruises on my back that were burning the whole night. But, I did not might, I liked it actually, being able to listen to her steady breathing and sweet snorts.

"Yeah?", I whisper, hoping he will take that as a sign to be quiet. Stella again murmurs something in my chest, and I stroke her hair, hoping that will soothe her. I just hope she is not having another nightmare. It hurt me so much yesterday when she said how she had four of them. Four nightmares in one day. That is too much.

Why God, why do you torture her like that?

"Do you have your phone?"

"I do."

"Throw it", he orders.

"Hm? Why?"

"Because it probably have trackers. Mine and Jimmy's had too, but he removed it." His head point at his son. "He smart." He smiles proudly.

"Okay, but how will I contact you, then?", I ask, trying to pull the phone from the pocket of the jacket that Stella is wearing now.

"Mhmm, noo", she mumbles, nuzzling her head further in my chest.

"Shhh, you are okay", I comfort her, whispering in her ear, while pulling the phone from the pocket slowly, gazing at her the whole time to see her lashes fluttering. Finally.

"Out." Klaus points at the window, that he just rolled. I throw the phone, away and focus my eyes back on Stella.

"Don't go", she coos, frowning and squeezing my shirt.

"I will not go, sleep now, baby, sleep." I kiss her hair, forgetting that Klaus is here, and when I catch his gaze, I blush, ashamed, averting my eyes.

"Just forget that I'm here. And try to rest. You should rest a little. We still have to drive a little more", he suggests and I nod and yawn, the fatigue coming back at me, and my eyes that are starting to close.

                 
                               ☆☆☆

"Wake up, wake up",  someone's high-pitched voice wakes me up. I open my eyes with a lot of effort, groaning slightly. When I finally do, I see Jimmy's face in front of me, smiling at adjusting his John Lennon glasses.

I feel something hard under my head. When I lift it and turn it, I see Myles' shoulder. I quickly, get up, straighten myself, and widen my eyes, realizing that in my nap I must have fallen on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry!" I start apologizing, while Klaus and Jimmy get out of the car, leaving us alone.

"It is okay, Stella", Myles says softly, rubbing his eyes, and yawning. He then brushes the hair off my face. "What are you even apologizing for?", he chuckles, smiling, his smile so lazy revealing that he has been sleeping, too. "Come on, we arrived."

He gets out, too and before I can do it, as well, I rub my eyes and see that he opened the door for me. He stretches his hand for mine to take it, and when I do, he helps me get out, pulling me gently. When I slap the door of the car and turn to him, I sway a little as soon as I start walking, but Myles is quick to catch me by my waist, wrapping his strong arms around mine. If I haven't seen him naked yesterday, I would never guess he had muscles, and a strong upper body, with biceps and all. Though I do remember that one day when I knocked at the door of his bedroom, and he was shirtless, but I couldn't see anything because I was too scared for Michael, though I could catch the bicep threatening to rip his shirt when he leaned it on the door.

Why did I forget everything that we shared, every moment, every glance I shot him, every time our eyes locked and kept only the moments when I did all of this with Michael? I neglected Myles so much, so fucking much that I hate myself for doing that.

I now look at him, parting my lips, but I quickly remember that this is wrong. I mean, to me it feels as if it is wrong. I can't do anything now, I can't be with anyone now, not when I still love him. And I have to tell Myles this as soon as possible, but I don't want to break his kind heart, and put him aside again, even after everything he has done, and still is doing for me.

"Sorry, sorry", he rushes to say, as if he can sense my discomfort. "I just wanted to help you." He averts his gaze, bowing his head, and slowly letting go of my waist. Then I notice that he is carrying my, or should I say Chloe's black bag.

"No, no, I'm okay," I say before I focus my gaze on the house where I'm going to live in for a couple of days. Or whatever Myles has planned for us. He doesn't seem to keep me posted. And I'll have to talk with him about that.

"爸爸，斯特拉和邁爾斯彼此相愛嗎？", Jimmy says something on Chinese, and I frown looking at Myles, who just shrugs for the hundredth time today. (Dad, do Stella and Myles love each other?)

"是的，我想是這樣." (Yes, I think so.)

"那麼，為什麼他們總是互相說對不起呢？" (Then, why are they always saying sorry to each other?)

"C'mon, son, let's show our guests our home. It's rude to speak a language they don't understand." Klaus pulls Jimmy's little hand, but he takes it out and runs to us.

"Let's!" He stands between us and takes our hands. He pulls us and we can't do anything else, but follow this cute little Chinese boy who looks as if he was five and acts like he's three, when he's with us, when indeed he's smart as if he was twenty.

Jimmy's smile is as bright as if we were looking at the most beautiful house in the world. Instead, we aren't. We are looking at the old and probably abandoned black factory in which chimneys are cutting the grey sky with clouds of the same color. I can't decipher if that is actually the smoke or did the weather get worse while I was sleeping in the car. There's no nature around and the air is kinda heavy and dusty which makes me cough, squeezing my sensitive lungs.

"You live in a factory?" I turn to Klaus, but my eyes fall on his little son, whom I feel is moving, as he shakes his head, still holding me and Myles by our hands.

"No, silly we live behind it!" He pulls us and we follow his hurried steps. Once we are in front of the place that two Chinese men call home, I see an old cabin, that looks abandoned as well, and its grey color holds sadness, while the water that is seeping down its poor facade, resembles tears.

"It's beautifuler... beaitifule....beautifuler inside." Jimmy struggles to pronounce the non-existent word, frowning while thinking. I chuckle at the scowl over his cute face, as well as at his incorrect use of English.

"More beautiful", Myles corrects him, and the boy just shrugs, not caring. I chuckle again, shaking my head that is bowed, adjusted to watch Jimmy's super tiny frame. I always wondered why is he so tiny, when Klaus isn't, I mean, he isn't that tall, either, but at least he isn't small as his son. Maybe Jimmy took after his mother.

Once we are in front of the doorstep, trampling the short and grass without any shine, which probably was taken by evil gas of the factory, Klaus opens the door with its key. I find myself surprised that this house can even be locked. Jeez, Stella, shut up, you can't afford luxury now, so you have to stop this judging.

"Welcome."

I nod at him, and Myles thanks him politely. We try to let go of Jimmy's little hands, but he doesn't want to let us go, squeezing our hands with his little ones, which are almost slipping from ours.

"Jimmy we cannot enter if you do not let us go", Myles says, trying not to make him sad. So, the little boy lets go of his hand but stays squeezing mine. I bite my lip, not to chuckle at how cute he is, but what he says next, makes me chuckle even louder. A wide smile appears on my face. This boy surely knows how to enlighten me.

"Stella has to come in first. Ladies first."

"Thank you, gentleman", I joke, and he bows, though doesn't let go of my hand, which makes me giggle again.

I catch Myles who's smiling, bowing his head, but when he catches my stare I see that his eyes are glowing. This is our new life. And it doesn't matter if we are going to live in a dusty industrial zone, as long as we are not going to be beaten and insulted all the time. So, even if this grey area with heavy air and no sun, means freedom, we are willing to embrace it, and try to pain it with some color. At the end of the day, I was once a painter, maybe I could be one again. Our eyes are still glowing because even if the sun can't be seen here, we can certainly see it, behind the black clouds made of smoke. We can see the better life further from this factory, through this air filled with gas that is starting to feel our lungs, but to us, it still feels the same, like the one we were inhaling during the dawn breaking- fresh and new.

We don't feel anything bad in here, we don't see grey, we see the most beautiful colors, the ones we saw beforehand when the sun was rising. No, we feel good. Reborn, as I already said. So, I return the smile to this ginger boy whose eyes are shining at mine, who provided me with this freedom. He's happy. He doesn't feel pain anymore. At least I'm hoping he doesn't.

I step into the house, giving a smile to everyone, as they return it, still feeling the small hand wrapped around mine, a bigger one.

Inside, I'm welcomed with some odd, but nice smell. It's a scent of the home. The one I haven't felt in years. And the one I didn't think I'd feel ever again, after her death. But little did I know, that finally, I was going to call some place home. And that place happened to be exactly this old wooden house.

The furniture is not that old, and the autumn colors are embracing this small, but still cozy space. Yellow and brown are the most dominant ones. I inhale the scent which isn't the smell of dust and old things, yet to me is the smell of home that I want to feel every day for the rest of my life.

As I wander around I see two rooms without the door, separating them from one another, and one wood door that I assume is hiding the bathroom behind them. The old cooker with only two burners is in the same room in which I'm currently standing, close to the yellow coach that is a little bit torn on the sides, and the holes are making the yellow sponge from it be seen, but I don't mind. The two cushions in olive color are cute and a nice distraction from the stains and torn parts on them. When I start walking again, because I stopped to observe all the details, and unfortunately, there aren't too many, I feel something soft under Chloe's converse that I'm forced to wear. I lay my eyes on it and see a brown carpet that has some dots and stains in every color of the rainbow, but again, I don't mind. Before I can check another room, Jimmy's high-pitched voice snaps me from my examination.

"Stella! Do you likes our house?"

I approach him, since I let go of him while wandering through his house, and squat down to meet his big brown eyes, that are eager to know do I like this place, blinking rapidly, excited. His excitement kinda reminds me of Chloe's.

"Jimmy", I cup his soft cheek, "of course I like it."

"Yay!", he squeaks happily and I chuckle. "Myles?" He turns to him, while I stay in the squat position, only lifting my eyes to the ginger guy. "Do you likes it?"

"I do like it." He nods, trying his best not to correct him this time, not to ruin his temporary happiness.

"Really?"

"Yes, really!" I somehow know, even with only looking at Jimmy's back, that he is blinking quickly again, with his big aslope eyes.

"Dad, they like it!" He turns and runs to his dad, hugging his legs. 

"Of course, they do, Jim. We cleaned the place well."

"Oh, you really did not have to do that", Myles tells him, and I get up, catching his eyes that are studying me to see can I stand. I only nod, letting him know that I am okay. It really warms my heart how much he cares for me. He always cared, it was just me being a bitch to neglect that, and focus on the other man who didn't love me as I loved him. Love him. 

"Of course we hav... had to. We don't want our guests to feel uncomfortable and bed here. Wait, till you two see your room!", Klaus exclaims, and I widen my eyes in excitement and surprise.

"Is it that one?" I point to behind my back, and the small room, that I canno... can't I mean, fully see, even though there is no door hiding it.

"Yes. Go check it together!"

Myles glances at me as if he is asking for permission and I slightly nod, smiling weakly. He starts following me until we step into a room different from the one we have been in, which I assume is the living room. This one has a bed with bright clear sheets on it, tugged neatly at the corners. It even has white picture frames on the beige wall, unlike the other room which walls are dark brown like the ground.

"Look, stars!" I point at the picture and smile. I glance at Myles to see him smiling weakly, bowing his head, and scratching his neck. I frown, wondering why he's nervous since he does this movement whenever he is stressed. 

"What's wrong?", I ask, frowning.

"Nothing, I am just glad you liked it. I.... I chose it."

"What?", I gape, widening my eyes in surprise. I glance at the picture which background is dark, almost black and the tiny shiny dots are white and bright, smiling at me. "But...But, you have been here?" I confuse. "H-how, I..you were..."

"I have not been here", he cuts off my stammering, smiling. 

"Then, how did you choose it?" I frown, still not understanding how he managed to plan everything, while I was sleeping. "You were with the whole time. Um, w-were you?" The idea of him leaving me sends shivers in my body, and I hug it, trying to warm myself, still dressed in obviously Klaus' jacket.

"No, um, no I did not leave you. Well, I did not choose it myself, but it was still my idea to put it in here, so I asked Klaus to find some pictures with stars. I never left your side last night, only to call him, do not worry." He squeezes my shoulder, and I offer him a smile, as he quickly pulls his warm palm away from my bicep. "Um, when he told me where they live, I figured that in this area it does not have many stars, well, not any, so I thought you could watch them on the picture instead." He averts his gaze, nervously, as if he hadn't done the most precious thing now, thinking about my hobby to watch the stars.

"Thank you. Seriously."

"No problem. Anytime." He smiles and gets out of the room, leaving me alone to absorb the little picture that from now on is going to be my whole world-it is a small part of the sky which is so big and of which no one knows the ending, not even the beginning.

But I have a part of it. I touch the image while putting my knee on the bed, and a smile dances on my lips. Myles did this for me. He said anytime. That's such a simple word. Yet to me it has a big meaning and it's the sweetest gesture anyone has ever done for me. I have a person on whom I can rely anytime. Anytime, how good that sounds. How peaceful.

"We gotta go to job now." Klaus' voice snaps me from my thoughts now not dark as usual. "We'll be back tonight. But tomorrow we'll go to our apartment."

"Wait, you have an apartment?", I ask, coming back to the main room in this small, but cozy house. Maybe from my poor description, this house doesn't sound cozy but trust me it is, at least to me.

It certainly feels cozier than Scott's house could ever feel. No matter how big, and filled with expensive furniture and lavish ornaments it is. Because here it smells like a real home. It's warm and comfortable. There no. There is cold, dead silent, and that house is always empty anyway with its darkness to chase you, hiding from every corner, waiting to scare you. Yet even this small and abandoned cabin feels cozier than the house of our foster parents. Though, it doesn't feel cozier than my one and only home. The one I shared with my mammá. No house can replace that one. Or so I thought.

"Yeah, we do!", Jimmy squeaks, jumping on his little feet, bringing me from the reverie of my old house, back to reality. Who would say that these Chinese men who illegally came here, and are illegally living here in America, in Madison have not one, but two places to spend their free time from working, well again, illegal job.

"We were living there, but once I find this place, when ran... run, no ran the errand close around, I felt that here is more silence and calmer. In the city, there's too much noise. Besides, Scott and the gang know that we love there, not here. So, no one knows about this place. You are safe here, kids. "

I glance at Myles, feeling enormous relief. The stone I didn't know I was carrying fell from my tired back that is already carrying a too heavy load.

"Klaus..." Both Myles and I say at the same time. He smiles and gestures for me to say what's on my mind, and I smile weakly before turning back to the older Chinese man. "How can we ever pay you back for this? For the risk you are..."

"Shh", he shushes me and approaches me. "We will do anything for you. Would do, I think", he corrects himself, frowning while thinking which tense is better to be used. I chuckle, again, not because I want to laugh at their lack of knowledge, but because they are so funny trying constantly to improve their English.

"Now, that reminded me, the IV." He points at my hand, and I confuse, parting my lips, but when I look down at my hand, I realize what is he talking about.

"What about it?"

"We gotta remove it", he explains, and I shiver.

"No, no, I don't mind it, I..."

He takes a step forward, and I suck in a breath, starting to shiver stronger until I feel Myles' hand on my lower back. I turn to him, fear all over across my face, and watch as he only nods, assuring me that everything is alright. I open my mouth to say something, but he shakes his head slightly, and I tilt mine, realizing that I don't have a choice.

"Is it going to h-hurt?", I ask Klaus, who has taken my hand in his, studying it. He inhales and looks at me, parting his lips.

Then he chuckles, saying: "No, Stella, it won't hurting, trust me. My wife was a nurse, I already said that to Myles when you was sleeping."

I don't focus on any of his mistakes, only on the fact that Myles asked him to remove the cannula, and how much he cares about me even when I'm sleeping, unable to take care of myself and think of anything. He really keeps solving every problem we have so far, and I hope I won't be this useless from now on in this new life of ours.

"N-no b-blood?", I ask, scared that they will be some blood, and that I won't be able to handle it, and lose myself in front of him and Jimmy, and that is the last thing I want, and need. Plus they don't need it either.

"There won't be blood, don't worry, we are just taking the needle out, and since it's been stuck for some time, there aren't any blood."

"Sure?"

"Sure, Stella. Why would this old man lie?" He chuckles, and I join him, and when I feel the bandage being pulled off, I let out a scream.

"Easy, easy, nothing is going on", Myles assures me, and I lean my back on his body, breathing heavily, while his breath is caressing my ear. "You could have warned her", he scolds Klaus, and I turn to see the man shaking his head.

"If I warned her she will... would be scared, and we would get nowhere. Am I right, Stella?" I just nod, my eyes falling on Jimmy's who is rocking back and forth on his feet, bored. When he feels my gaze on him, he smiles widely, and I return it.

"What now?" I turn my gaze back to Klaus and let it fall on my hand where I see the big needle in it. I avert it immediately, turning over my shoulder to look at Myles. He smiles at me, and whispers:

"It is okay. There will not be blood." I only nod, waiting for Klaus's next move that is probably going to be out of the blue, too. But, instead, I don't feel anything, and when I turn my head back to him, I see him pulling the needle out, so I wince and move my eyes back to Myles.

"Focus on me, okay?" I nod once again, studying his features, and even letting myself look at his lips, while I narrow my eyes, and bite my lip not to wince again.

"Just don't move, it's done almost."

"Okay", I whisper, basically in Myles' face, since we are so close to each other, only inches away. I blink rapidly, and again gaze at his lips, to see a little beard around it starting to form. It makes him look so mature and older. When I feel the needle getting out of my veins, I wince, squeezing my eyes in a slight, not too much, but still present discomfort.

"Shh, it is okay. You are fine. It is over in a..."

"Done!", Klaus exclaims, and I almost bounce from the sudden change in his voice, since we've been talking lower.

I look at my hand to see that it's yellow and brown, covered in bruises, but no sign of blood.

"No blood", I whisper.

"Yeah, no blood. I told you." Klaus cups my cheek, and I smile weakly, as he turns to throw the needle and all the shit he removed from my fist.

"See?" Myles takes my hand that has been treated now, and when he squeezes it I wince. "What... Klaus!", he yells and I again bounce from the loud voice. As if he can sense it, he looks at me, apologizing with only his eyes, before focusing his back on Klaus, who happened to be a better nurse than any of those in the hospital.

"What, son?"

"Why is it bruised? Is something wrong?" He slowly twists my hand in front of Klaus's face, showing what he meant.

"No, nothing is wrong. That is normal. For how many days you was wearing it?" He turns to me, demanding an answer.

"Two, um or three", I respond, unsure.

"That's normal", he repeats, now looking at Myles, who is frowning slightly, not sure whether to believe him or not. "Relax, son."

"When is it going to heal?"

"Tomorrow, or the day after. They probably rushed to put it in, didn't matter for which veins they were aiming for, in rush to help her. I see she has sensitive veins."

I look at Myles, who is sighing, kinda assured now, calmer. I nod at him, trying to tell him that I am alright and that he doesn't have to worry.
"Okay", he finally says.

"Thank you."

"No problem, Stella. Remember if you need any help with this kinda of things I know many medical shit."

"Got it", I chuckle, joining him, and glance at Myles who is still observing my bruised hand, holding me by my wrist, a sad expression on his face.

"Hey", I whisper, trying to gain his attention, "I'm okay. Don't worry. It doesn't hurt."

"My dad is a hero!", Jimmy squeaks, and both of us turn to him, while he is running to us, and jumping on his feet.

"Really, we do not know how to thank you. Both of you."

"And you don't have to, okay?" He takes my hand, the other one that isn't bruised, and Myles in his other one. "That is what family stand for. And we are just that, aren't we? We are your family."

"Family!", Jimmy squeaks as a child, but then I realize that he really is one. A big child who will never grow up, even though he's surrounded with a lot of shit and illegal things, no matter if he is meant to grow up, and mature. But he finds happiness in the tiniest things and his kind little heart cares for everyone.

"You can always ask anything from us. We'll be always happy to help you. You can count on us." Klaus wraps his big arms around me, and Myles, letting go of our hands. He pulls us in a hug, each head on both of his shoulders.

"Family hug!" Jimmy tries to wrap his tiny arms around our legs, and we all laugh at his childish move.

When he realizes he can't hug us all, he decides to wrap his arms just around my knees. I chuckle, and put my hand on his little head and caress his short hair.

"I love ya all", he whispers, while his eyes are being closed. My eyes begin to water and I realize that I've never thought I'd have people whom I consider as a family again.

"I love you, too", I whisper, maybe I have said this in my mind, I don't really know.

I just close my eyes, getting lost in the moment and forgetting about the problems I have or I had to go through. I forget about my mom's suicide, the death of that man who first tried to rape me, Myles twin brother and our non-relationship, him raping me, Michael and him breaking my heart, and finally the fact that maybe I did want to die, or at least that I was so eager to see my mom, that I forgot about water, and possibility to drown. Now I don't have a reason to die. I have these people who care for me and I have to do my best to make them happy and don't let them down.

N/A

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrate it and I didn't want to upload this earlier so you have time with your loved ones and not read my sad stories although this chapter is happier. So, take time read it whenever you can.