When There Is Nothing Left But Love (Ashton And Scarlett)

It had taken the four of us days to get here across the rugged terrain, scaling numerous peaks. It was a tremendous distance. Why would these policemen have made the same, if not more, perilous journey? Besides, weren’t they worried about appearing conspicuous?

“What’s wrong?” Troy asked doubtfully, noting our troubled faces with concern.

Out of consideration for Troy, we chorused in tandem, a little too brightly, “Nothing! It’s fine!”

Nora was the most street smart among us. She was closely guarded, refusing to trust others unless they’ve proven themselves. She now paused, then remarked wisely, “No matter what, let’s be careful. If it’s really impossible, we can continue to the city. We’ll definitely meet fellow countrymen there. If we’re indeed that close to the border, there’ll definitely be an embassy we can seek refuge at.”

Upon hearing Nora’s tempered reasoning, we nodded in agreement. Besides, it didn’t seem like there were any other alternatives.

Having made up our minds, we regretfully bade farewell to Troy and Yvette and hurriedly set off.

Before we could even step out of the door, however, we heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming from outside, beyond it.

“What shall we do?” Laurel shrieked. She clung tightly to the hem of my shirt, petrified.

“Let’s wait and see,” I declared firmly, trying to keep my voice from quaking. Together, Nora and I watched the door in trepidation.

Troy’s house was rather cramped. There was absolutely nowhere to hide.

if we managed to, we’d be leaving Troy and Yvette to fend for themselves. If these were

As we peered out of the crack of the door, what greeted us was the sight of a few dark-skinned men attired in police uniforms.

policemen!” Nora muttered; her brow furrowed. She squared her

of astonishment flitted briefly across their faces. Troy, who’d followed us out, began rattling off a string of explanations. Unable to follow the conversations,

a brief exchange, the apparent leader of the policemen turned towards us and uttered a command. Naturally,

He turned towards a sallow-looking man

piercing eyes and asked, “Are you illegal Chanaean

sirs, can we discuss this civilly? We weren’t trespassing. We

interpreter frowned slightly, then reported back to his leader. The policeman looked at us for a moment, then

this way, we achieved a semblance of understanding. The Venrian policemen were here on border patrol, having heard

what information we’d managed to piece together, they didn’t sound like terrible people. In fact, we managed to glean the fact that some of our family members were searching for

eyes roved across each of our faces. At last, she said lightly, “Which of you has such influential

Dad’s job involves border surveillance. I don’t think he’s important enough a figure to get me out here, though, much less

look at me! My parents are ordinary people. They live along the coast. If I was ever kidnapped, all they would do would be to call

and was startled to see us gazing questioningly

back. It was evident that we couldn’t count on Tessa for answers now,