No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

Fanny shot me a text that nearly had my heart jumping out of my chest: "Seriously, had you taken an hour longer to reply, I would've called the cops. You know what went through my head? I was half-convinced Conrad had you tied up in a basement somewhere." The wildness of her imagination had me both laughing and crying; I sent back a thumbs-up emoji to show my amusement.

Fanny wasn't having any of it: "It's not funny. You hear about this kind of drama happening back home all the time. So, when are you coming back? Did you wrap up your trip today? Did Jefferson win his match?"

Staring at her barrage of questions and pondering over my own situation, I replied with: "Not sure."

Fanny was puzzled.

I said, "Might never come back to this place. Might stay a bit longer."

I didn't want Fanny to worry, so a lie was the only option.

Fanny: "Alright, have fun then. Let me know when you're back; I'll throw you a welcome home party."

Reading her messages filled me with a bittersweet feeling, and suddenly, I was scared I might never make it back.

Where did this sudden fear come from?

So, I ended up sending her a voice message: "Hey, so, if anything weird happens to me, my bank PIN is the date our parents passed away. If I'm gone, you're in charge of my assets. Keep half of it as your dowry from me, and donate the rest... to any charity, to kids with serious illnesses, whatever feels right."

Right after I sent it, Fanny's video call came through.

her call, I knew she was

going on? Where are you?" Fanny bombarded

to show Dustin's luxurious mansion, "Look, I'm in a mansion,

of me," Fanny, clad

you know, with all the accidents happening and planes going down lately. Just in

cut me off and then

my face, and she wasn't going to

I cheekily made a 'peace'

staring at me for a

you

Fanny finally relaxed, "et

like

swear I'll kill you."

teased, pressing my face against

out. Whose mansion are you staying at? Conrad's?" Fanny's curiosity peaked.

an "Oh," then probed further, "How come you're

spill the beans on that, so I kept fibbing, "It's

that makes sense. Just

Conrad take advantage or