Do You Hear What I Hear

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I Know Her

Lucas burst into laughter. Martin, opening his eyes sightly, raised his head. Then he gazed at the newcomer who was rooted to the spot.

I bit my lip, 'You!?'

Billy smiled, 'Hi, come in.'

Mino, carrying a backpack in her hand, took a step inside; her sad look shifted from face to face quickly, and then slowly she walked toward Martin.

All of us were surprised, I wondered, 'What's on her mind?'

Mino stopped near Martin, set the backpack on the table, and stared at him. I was completely confused; Martin raised his eyebrows in surprise; the others whispered to each other, 'What is in her bag?'

Martin waited for Mino's explanations. Having taken her eyes off him, she stared at the floor for one second or two; then while tears were running down on her cheeks, she murmured, 'I know Her.'

Martin sighed deeply, and glanced at the clock, as if he hadn't enjoyed hearing Mino's words; well, maybe he was right, at that moments he was anxious about Renate coming. But my heart was racing faster, 'Oh, Mino wants to make a confession, isn't she?'

Closing her eyes, she continued, 'Someone who sold you for some dollars, that person who took those high quality photos of you and that little sweet girl, Sabine, I know her.'

Now Martin's lips formed like a straight line, he was curious to know.

Lucas asked, 'Really?'

Sara shouted, 'Tell me who she is, I want to kill her.'

I pressed my lips together to avoid saying something in anger, I knew that person.

While her voice was shaking, Mino continued, 'It's me.'

Sara winced, 'Come again!'

Lucas grinned, 'You must be kidding, Mino!'

Martin let out a bitter sigh, 'Well, I never!'

Billy's eyes grew big, 'Gee, I can't believe; why, Mino?'

Mino wiped a teardrop from her cheek while playing with her fingers, 'Just for gain; Martin was in the spotlight, and I had the pictures of him; well, I preferred marketing the snapshots to being a poor girl; I admitted making a great mistake, but I didn't mean to hurt him--, '

She kept crying louder, 'the next thing I knew those ramblings were printed in the press-- now I'm ashamed of what I did, and I hope you ignore my mistake.'

Sara screamed, 'How bold! Martin was a friend of yours, Mino. How could you disgrace him, how--.'

Mino interrupted her, shouting firmly, 'Didn't you hear what I said? I didn't mean to harm him; I plan to hold a news conference soon, and explain everything.'

Sara smirked, 'Gee, News Conference?That Won't be Necessary, Do you Understand? Now Get Off, and Never Get Back; we don't want to see you again.'

Martin put the hands to his head, and shouted, 'Enough, Enough! I want to hear nothing of that happening again! I hope you understand me!--- it finished, we can't look back, we must look ahead; and at present our difficulty is Renate, isn't it?'  

I felt Martin saved Mino blushes.

Mino Stopped crying. A slow smile emerged on her face, 'Thanks, Martin! you are really a nice boy. Can I ask you a favor?' than while pointing at the backpack, she added, 'The whole money is here; please, accept it.'

Lucas's eyes shone; Martin brought a bitter smile on his face, 'Thank you, but I don't need more money, I have enough. Now take your money, and don't cry! Take it easy! See, you sold your own works, so the bills belong to you, not me.'

He made her cry again. Mino insisted on him, 'Please, accept! That was my fault. I'm so sad that I can't sleep a wink at nights; in dream, many huge photos are running after me. I try to escape, but they get me in the end, I scream, and open my eyes with fright---

Billy, 'How Terrible!'

Mino, 'Yes, they are very terrible; I must get rid of the money somehow; save me, please! by using the money you can cast your net wider.'

Martin looked Mino in the eye, 'Mino! Forget what happened. That wasn't your fault, you just wanted to solve your problem, but you went wrong. I think that was our fault too; we were your friends, your problem was ours, but you couldn't trust us; this is awfully terrible-- Mino!  your friends (Parmis, Armis, Tina, and I) had plenty of money, and you wanted a little--- Oh, I can't blame you for what you have done, we are as guilty as you.'

Martin was in right, I felt embarrassment too, we had forgotten Mino completely;  but the little girl was still upset, and Martin really didn't know what he should do, so looked at me.
I shrugged my shoulders, 'No comment.'

Lucas grinned, 'Why not, we accept the money.'

Sara objected , 'We don't need her money.'

Maserati & Chocolate

Lucas smirked at her, 'We need more money, unless you don't want a valuable Maserati anymore'

I couldn't help grinning, Sara grumbled.

Lucas turned his attention to Mino, 'I truly felt your pain! and yes, we can grow our business by the dollars.' then he grabbed the backpack, 'Is it the whole money?'

Mino shook her head sadly, 'Well, when I got the money, I bought some chocolates.'

Lucas's smile vanished.

He behaved so greedly as to bother anyone; Martin knitted his brows, Lucas really got on his nerves.

Mino said in a calmer voice , 'I'm sorry. I thought it was my own money.'

Lucas laughed, 'No problem, why don't you join us, Mino? Feech needs to get smart people like you!'

Mino, 'Thank you. But I don't want to be under your feet. I am An Entrepreneur! and I have a new business."

Billy, 'what a pity! We'd like to see you here.'

I let out a bitter sigh, I was happy and worried at the same time: on the hand, I was anxious about what was on her mind, did she want to deceive anyone else??
And On the other hand, I was Pleased that she rejected Lucas's offer, Hr Thomson was the main investor of the Feech company , and surely he wouldn't like to hire whom had spied on his daughter, and spread out their family's photos.

Mino, 'Thanks again. I have to leave right now, bye and Merry Christmas!' then she headed for the door.

Martin glanced at the clock with worry, and cried , 'Gee, Renate is coming! What on earth can I do?'

We all laughed, Mino stopped, I put my finger to my cheek, and looked up at the ceiling for a little while, 'We had to face our problem. What if we go to the airport, maybe I can calm her.'

Martin shook his head, 'No, I'd rather stay here.'
I, 'No problem, I'm going.'

Martin shrugged, 'Never mind, but you'd better not go there alone!'
I, 'Don't worry! I'm going with my mom.'

Mino turned around, 'I want to come with you.'

I rose, 'So we'd better go now, it's getting late.'

The meeting finished, Martin sitting looked out the window while the others were getting up their seats; Lucas shouted, 'Merry Christmas, Have fun!'

All smiled, and greeted each other.

It was snowing faster, as Mino and I ran out. The street, rooftops, cars were white with thin layer of the first snow of the winter, we both started playing in the snow, soon Lucas, Billy and Sara joined us, we had a snowball fight, after that we built a snowman until the mom's car drew up in front of the door.

Kiarash, Carrying three shopping bags, got out the car. I went to my mom, Kiarash had gone home, when I said to my mother the matter. She accepted.

Mino and I got into the car, and the mom drove to the airport. Lucas hit to our auto with a snowball, Mino and I laughed, and waved our hands to the friends who completed the snowman.

The car pulled away home, the tire marks left on the snow. I enjoyed watching the snowy winter-day view, And Snow was still falling.

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Have Fun

M.T

Images from Pixabay

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