Chapter 9. Mysteries of the night

   The bar was crowded. The sun, which had just set below the horizon, left a honey-colored trail on the bar's facade, and the lights on the support columns of the canopy in front of the entrance lit up like fireflies as dusk fell. The sea was not visible from the bar, but the gentle lapping of the waves could be heard from the shore.

   The long-awaited warm Greek evenings had arrived, and eager people flocked here, filling several tables under the canopy at the entrance. Inside, at the bar, young people watched a football match while drinking strong alcoholic beverages. The atmosphere vibrated with different voices — there were so many of them that they merged into a monotonous hum. It seemed that all the visitors were talking at the same time, without the slightest pause, and I was amazed at how, in this chaos, they still managed to understand each other. The air in the bar was thick and dense with clouds of cigarette and hookah smoke, and it smelled of fruity and berry tobacco.

   I brushed the curls that the light evening breeze had scattered across my face with my hand and began to carefully squeeze my way between the tightly packed tables. A group of very young, excited Greeks were sitting near the entrance. All the guys looked so much alike with their identical hairstyles and simple youth clothing that they looked exactly like twins: thick black hair combed high on top like a sea wave, well-groomed thick stubble, white shapeless T-shirts with somewhat boyish prints, and black pants that were indecently tight on the curves of their young male bodies.
The noisy company fell silent for a moment when they noticed my appearance.
Their eyes followed my movements intently, without the slightest deviation. Then one of them leaned slightly toward his neighbor and whispered something, glancing at me with a fixed gaze. And when, after a couple of steps, their table was behind me, I heard the unrestrained laughter of the guys, who were so childishly eager to get my attention in this way. 
I was already excited about meeting Victoria, and now I really didn't want to be the center of attention.

I approached Vicky; her companion was not at the table; she was alone.

“Just look! Yes, they couldn't take their eyes off you, oh my,” Victoria whispered loudly, fanning her face with her hand as if she had suddenly become hot. 
“Just kids,” I said, nervously adjusting the dress straps, which were already in its place.

Vicky suddenly stood up and took a step back from me, as if wanting to get a better look at me from a distance. 
“You haven't changed, Nicole, still the same seductress of men's hearts!”
She laughed loudly, her chin raised high, and her protruding breasts jiggled with the vibrations of her laughter.
Nature had not deprived her of her voluptuous forms, to say the least. And despite being slightly plump, her figure retained the proportions of an hourglass, and her firm breasts protruded boldly like two volcanoes from the bowels of the earth.
Shaking with laughter, she hugged me tightly.
It seemed to me that Vicky had changed a little and become more attractive. She looked slimmer and more well-groomed. Her thick, straight, shoulder-length hair, the color of wheat and honey, contrasted beautifully with her hazel eyes and expressive dark eyebrows, whose deliberately upturned shape always gave her a slightly coquettish air.

Her gaze was bold and precise, like a rifle sight. She always cast it around easily, scattering sparks to the right and left. 

“Oh, my goodness, Nicole,” Vicky exclaimed, “It feels like ages since I've seen you.  I've missed you so much!” With one hand, she deftly pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her purse.
"You know, nothing ever changes here in Halkidiki. It seems like everything goes in an endless circle: tourists arrive in the summer, the locals get bogged down in their dreary tourist work again until October, everything empties out in the winter, and in the spring... in the spring and fall, we wait for a miracle that never happens. Sometimes it seems to me that this place is just frozen in time..." She fell silent for a moment and, looking in the direction of the group of guys, lit a cigarette, inhaling and exhaling smoke as if drawing an ornate pattern in the air.
“So you still don't smoke?” Victoria asked. 
 I frowned in response, showing my complete dislike for the habit.
“The one on the right is pretty cute, don't you think?” she asked with a sly smile, keeping her eyes on the guys.

“So, you better tell me what you were doing on the island. I thought you had left there for good, but you suddenly came back. Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing special happened, Vicky,” I replied awkwardly. "On the contrary, everything turned out even better than I expected. I found a good gallery in the center of the old town. They bought paintings from me and sold them to tourists. To be honest, I didn't expect such success," I looked up and thought for a moment to formulate my thoughts. 
“You know, on the island, I worked from morning till night. Unexpectedly for me, my life's work turned not into a search for true beauty and perfection through artistic expression of the soul, but into handicrafts, a crude postcard stamping of local views.”
The pause I made calmed my thoughts a little. I took a deep breath of the air, which smelled of tobacco and sea breeze.
"And the island... you know, life on the island is very different from life on the mainland. I felt cramped on that rocky piece of land in the middle of the endless sea, even lonely, and I thought about Halkidiki more and more often. Until I said to myself, ‘Enough,’ and then I just packed my things and left. I didn't even have time to pick up the remaining paintings from the gallery. I wanted so passionately to come back here, as if some vital part of me had remained in Halkidiki, calling me back so strongly."

Vicky listened, and something like understanding flashed across her face, but a moment later her eyes sparkled with mischief. She leaned closer to me, her lips almost touching my ear.

“Well, there you go,” she whispered, “you're back. That means fate will put everything back in its place again.”
She smiled and leaned back in her chair.
Vicky felt relaxed. Everything about her spoke of it: her free posture, her manner of speaking, her easy flow of thoughts. She didn't hold back or think about what to say next. She lived so naturally, without complicating anything, in a way that I had never been able to.

“And what about you, Victoria? What's new?” I asked, stroking my bare shoulders with both hands. The evening breeze was already bringing coolness from the sea and enveloping everything around us in mystery, as if preparing us for something bigger.

“Ah, Nicole,” she sighed, "Even though nothing changes in Halkidiki, so much has changed in my life! Remember when you visited my logistics office in Kalithea a couple of times? Well, I closed it! Yes, I just threw it all away!"
I looked at her in surprise, and Vicky immediately raised her hand, as if to dispel my skepticism.
“Don't even look at me like that!” I was tired of it all. Endless paperwork, contracts, phone calls, I never saw the light of day! I wanted to change everything! And you know what, I did it! Oh, I've been drawn to something unusual for a long time. So guess what I'm doing now? "
Victoria tilted her head, looking at me slightly from under her eyebrows, and began tapping her fingernails on the table.
“I can't imagine, Victoria, tell me,” I replied.
"Okay, I'll tell you, but you'd never guess anyway! Drum roll... Now I'm doing energy massage!"
She dramatically folded her hands on her chest and rolled her eyes for a second, as if immersed in meditation. 
“Energy massage?” I asked, not hiding my surprise.
"Yes, it's a procedure aimed at restoring and harmonizing energy flows in the human body by acting on bioactive points and energy channels. Anyway, I won't bore you with technical terms, now I work with Qi energy! 
I've completed special courses and now I'm seeing clients. I became so deeply immersed in it that I even began to see something..." 

She fell silent and stared at me with her black eyes. 
“See? What do you mean?” I asked, puzzled. 
She continued to stare at me. "How can I explain it? It's like I've discovered a kind of gift. I can see auras, people's energy, or something like that. And I've started to feel, or rather anticipate, events. They say that everyone has such abilities hidden within us, we just need to be developed."
She leaned closer, her gaze becoming intense and piercing, as if she had already seen something. 
I don't know why, but at that moment, goosebumps ran down my skin. Maybe it was the coolness of the evening finally settling on the ground, but I felt a shiver run through my body. 
Then Victoria suddenly put her hand on mine and laughed, instantly dispelling the tension.  
“You're shaking all over and your hands are ice cold. Are you cold? Let's have a drink to warm you up.”

I nodded — the tension needed to be released.

“Yes, Vicky, I could really use a warming cocktail. By the way, you said you wanted to introduce me to your new boyfriend.”

"Oh, Nicole! I can't wait to tell you about him. To be honest, I haven't felt this in love in a long time! God, he's so attentive, sensitive, and just gorgeous! You'll see for yourself. He's here, at the bar!" 
Victoria stood up slightly and smiled, waving her hand toward the bar counter, where a crowd of young people was gathered. I followed her gesture with my gaze.
And at that moment, time seemed to stand still... A wave of cold sweat ran through my body from head to toe: Leonidas was standing at the bar, smiling and waving back at Victoria.

“Oh my God, it's him, Leonidas!” The thought crossed my mind. “Leonidas and Vicky? Oh no!” I was overcome with panic. “How stupid I am, how foolish! How naive I was to cherish my groundless illusions.” 
Anger at myself, disappointment, everything came crashing down on me at once. The desire to rewind everything and simply not go to the meeting with Victoria was painful and pointless. 
I wanted to disappear and run away immediately. My head spun and I almost lost my balance.
“Nicole, you've gone pale, are you okay?” Vicky asked, frowning, looking into my face and waving her hand in front of my eyes a couple of times.  
“Hey, Nicole?”

“Sorry, Vicky, I don't feel well,”
I whispered, clinging to the edge of the table with my fingers. 
“I'd better go.” You know, this move, and I'm not sleeping well in the new house. I guess I'm just tired and need to rest."

“Wait!” Victoria got up from her chair, crouched down, looked up at me, and said calmly but firmly:
"You're not going anywhere in this condition. Sit down for a while, pull yourself together, I'll order something for you."
Vicky picked up her phone, quickly typed something, and sent a message to someone.  
I always ran away from awkward situations. But for the first time, a stubborn desire arose within me — not to run away, but to face my fear head-on. Even if my heart was pounding out of my chest.
Victoria was saying something, emotionally recounting the details of her new life, laughing, joking, but I couldn't hear her: my inner screaming monologue drowned out all external voices. 
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice behind me:
“Girls, aren't you bored?”
Everything inside me froze. Only my heart was beating a clear, nervous rhythm. Afraid to turn around, I sat for a few more moments, staring into the void, but the seconds dragged on unbearably long. Finally, I cautiously turned around—behind me stood Leonidas, handsome, tanned, dressed in a crisp white shirt, so neat and stylish. A smile lit up his face, and he looked straight at me. Leonidas was holding rich amber-colored cocktails in his hand. He leaned carefully over the table and placed the glasses down. There were four of them.  My thoughts raced: “Could this really be Vicky’s new man? Here it is... my dream is becoming her reality.”

“Nicole,” Victoria exclaimed loudly, “meet this young Greek god. His name is Leonidas, like the king who fought for Sparta to the death.” She proudly introduced him and waved her hand dramatically in his direction. 

Inside, I had a hundred questions with no answers: “Should I pretend that Leonidas and I don't know each other so as not to put him in an awkward position? After all, there was nothing between us. The rest is just a figment of my treacherous imagination.”

I was about to answer when Vicky suddenly jumped up and exclaimed
“Ah, here's my love! Christos, where have you been all this time?”
I turned my head and saw another young man following Leonidas, reaching out to hug Victoria. 
The guy Vicky introduced as Christos leaned over her, pressing her so tightly that her breasts flattened between their bodies and looked like soft dough. 
I sat there in a daze. Leonidas stood nearby, smiling slightly, but there was something in his gaze that was meant only for me.

Vicky, oblivious to my confusion, cheerfully said:
“Nicole, don't be surprised. Leonidas, this young god, is a friend of Christos. They came together, and I thought, why not keep them company? So here we all are!”

She took Christos by the hand and sat him down at the table, looking at him with sincere delight.
“Christos, my Christos!” She kissed him tenderly without hesitation and said, "He's not like everyone else. With him, I feel alive for the first time."
I smiled mechanically, but my heart continued to beat as if it were trying to break free. Leonidas sat down opposite me, his gaze sliding over me, and I felt it almost physically, like a gentle touch.

The world around me became noisy again — voices, laughter, the clinking of glasses — but it all seemed far away.

Leonidas carefully moved Vicky's cocktail closer, gave the second one to Christos, placed the third one in front of me, and kept the last one for himself.

“Well, shall we toast to our meeting?” Christos said cheerfully, raising his glass.

Vicky clinked glasses with him, laughing. I carefully took my glass in my hands, feeling the cold glass burn my palm. Leonidas, without taking his eyes off me, raised his glass too.
“To our meeting,” I repeated quietly, trying not to let the tremor in my voice betray me.

The conversation quickly got going — Vicky, as always, talked animatedly about her new job, complimented Christos, joked, and laughed. It seemed that all attention was focused on her radiant figure.

But between Leonidas and me, an invisible thread stretched across the air. Every glance, every casual movement of his sent a thrill through me.

“Nicole, how are you settling in?” Christos suddenly asked, turning to me. “Victoria has told me a lot about you.”

“Very well, thank you...” I smiled hastily, but the words came with difficulty. “The house, and especially the garden, still requires a lot of attention. But I will take care of it in the near future.”

“She lives not far from me,” Leonidas suddenly interjected. His voice sounded calm, but too confident.

I froze. Vicky raised her already raised eyebrows:
“Really? Oh, what a small world!”

I tried to smile.

“Yes, we... already know each other,” Leonidas said. His gaze lingered on me, as if he was waiting for me to continue his story.

“Acquaintances?” Vicky repeated, her eyes shifting from him to me. “Wow! And you didn't say anything?”

I felt my face flush.
“Well... we met by chance, on the beach, not far from my house,” I managed to say. “As you said, it's a small world, and Greece is a big village.”

Leonidas took a sip from his glass, still looking straight at me, and said,
“Sometimes chance encounters turn out to be the most memorable.”

His words touched me and a chill ran down my spine.
Christ, not catching the undertone, laughed:
“Well, Nicole, consider it fate that brought us all together at this table. Today we have a little celebration.”

Vicky happily chimed in:
"Yes! Today we should just be happy. Let everything else wait."

She grabbed the cell phone lying nearby and stretched her arm out as far as she could to capture our whole group and took a picture.
With two swipes of her fingers, Victoria posted the photo: smiling faces, the atmosphere of an evening cafe, and the hashtags #Halkidiki, #myfriends, and a tag on Instagram @nikolspring. 

The sweet amber cocktail with its slightly tart, bitter notes slowly spread through my veins, relieving tension and warming me from within. Leonidas' presence excited me: the sparks that flew when our eyes met seemed capable of igniting into real flames. I was drawn to him. The light, accidental touches of our hands across the table made my head spin and set my imagination racing, almost awakening sexual fantasies. 
The evening was drawing to a close, the laughter and buzz of voices at the neighboring tables gradually subsided, and we were about to leave.

“Leonidas!” exclaimed Victoria.
“You and Nicole are going in the same direction to Sithonia. Go with her in her car. She wasn't feeling well earlier in the evening, so it would be better if you accompanied her. It's dangerous to drive at night. And tomorrow, Christos will bring your car to you.” I got up from the table and staggered slightly. The cocktail and the excitement had done their job. Leonidas quickly and deftly caught me by the elbow. His strong arm held me up, and I had no choice but to agree.
Leonidas stood nearby. Victoria was about to say goodbye and leave when she suddenly froze for a moment, the smile faded from her face, and she looked not at Leonidas and me, but through us with a frozen, lifeless gaze. Her voice sounded hollow and unusually serious: “I see something, something between you and Leonidas... Wait... It's as if a shadow flashed by.”

She paused, squeezing my hand a little tighter, and added, almost in a whisper:

“Be careful, Nicole. Sometimes a good deed can hide a predatory cunning.”
She let go of my hand and, as if nothing had happened, called out to Leonidas and me, “Καλο σας δρόμο” (Have a good trip).
Her mysterious message made me wary. But as soon as I looked into Leonidas' clear, jade-green eyes, all my thoughts evaporated.  

We approached my car. It was nestled under the branches of two fluffy olive trees on the side of the road. Somewhere in the distance, dogs were barking, and the sea brought moisture 
“I'll drive,” Leonidas said firmly, opening the passenger door for me and getting behind the wheel himself.
I obediently handed him the keys, lightly touching his hand: it was warm and soft. 
I sat down, carefully smoothed the folds of my dress on my bare knees, and noticed Leonidas's gaze sliding over my legs.
We sat so close to each other. 
The space in the car immediately became cramped, saturated with his warmth and scent — a mixture of the sea, his perfume, tobacco, and something barely perceptible but maddening, like a promise.
“Just don't speed!” I said with a smile. “I already know what you're capable of.”
“Don't worry, that was an emergency. You're in safe hands!” Leonidas looked at me playfully and winked, taking his time to look away from me and back at the road. 

The car started moving. The headlights snatched a narrow ribbon of road and the flickering silhouettes of olive trees from the darkness. Night reigned outside the windows, and only the light of the round moon silvered the treetops, creating a ghostly glow.

We drove in silence for a few minutes. But our silence spoke louder than any words. The air seemed to pulse between us.

“You know, Nicole,” Leonidas began, “It was a big surprise for me to meet you today. I didn’t think that when I came to the bar with my friends I would see you. I must admit, this surprise was pleasant.”

I smiled shyly and looked at him, glad that he had broken the shell of the silent moment.

"Christos is my good friend. You won't find a more reliable person!
Actually, he is a fisherman. He has his own boat, old, but good. He got it from his father. Every morning he goes out to sea. And all the fish that is served in our tavern is his catch. I have known him since childhood. He is a good guy, simple, but sometimes even too much. People like him are called pure people" -
He thought for a second, and then continued.
- "He and Victoria seem to be completely different, but they look to be in love with each other, right?"-

"It is difficult for me to judge, I said, - "But it seems that Victoria looked happy" 

I glanced furtively at Leonidas. In the moonlight, his snow-white shirt seemed to phosphoresce, and his bronze skin looked even darker and velvetier. The cold green of his eyes seemed to glow from within with a magical light.

His gaze was so tenacious that every time Leonidas looked away, his image did not disappear - it remained in me, like a light negative, imprinted directly on the iris of my eyes.

I glanced at the flickering landscapes outside the window. Only the moon remained in place, motionless and silently following us.
I wondered how I could convey the glow of the moon in a painting and what colors I could use.
The pale silver disk was outlined by a golden rim, smoothly dispersed in the thickness of the inky sky.  Squinting, I tried to catch the shades without being distracted by the details: white mixed with Naples yellow, Prussian blue and transparent indigo slightly mixed with Mars black.

– "Σελήνη!" – I said quietly. – "The moon! Look at the moon today! Perfectly round, without a single flaw, and how it shines with a steely light" –
He looked through the slightly open window of the car, from which a cool breeze with the aroma of herbs and damp earth was coming. He turned his gaze, looked closely at me and said:
– "You are beautiful both in the rays of the golden sun and in the light of the cold moon." –
My face blushed and I smiled shyly, lowering my gaze to my knees.

- "They say that the full moon is the time of the highest energy, capable of fulfilling any wish," I continued.

- "It turns out that if you have a wish, now is the time to make it?" Leonidas asked.

I looked up at the shining pale ball of the sky again. It seemed to have become even brighter. Through the slightly open window, a fresh breeze ruffled my eyelashes and threw back my hair, which had absorbed the smell of cigarette smoke during the evening. I fell silent for a moment and noticed that Leonidas was looking at me attentively, as if trying to guess what I was thinking about.

"I can make a wish," I said and paused for a moment. - "But there is always a time for a dream to come true, the most suitable one, when a person is ready for it." -
Leonidas chuckled thoughtfully and shook his head to the side.
- "So are you ready to submit to fate and wait?"

- "Not just wait, but go towards my dream. And at some point we will meet." - I answered easily. - "After all, sometimes an untimely fulfillment of a desire can catch a person off guard and lead to trouble or even ruin a person's life.
You know, sometimes you need to go a long way to be ready to meet your dream face to face, and this takes time and the right steps!"

The night road flashed with rare lights. The silence was broken only by the smooth noise of the engine.
"-Steps, steps towards a dream," - Leonidas said long and thoughtfully
- "You know, Nicole... Sometimes it seems to me that people talk too often, and do something too rarely" -

I turned my head and met his gaze. He was serious, there was not a shadow of frivolity in it.
"Do you really think so? — I asked again"

"Yes," he nodded. "Words are like the wind. Actions, that's what's important, small and big. The main thing is that they are real"–

I remained silent. Something flashed in my chest: these words expressed what I had always been striving for.
“Here is a man who does not seek to charm with beautiful words or turn my head in order to win me over. He is someone who backs up his love with actions.” 
My imagination painted a picture of Leonidas as the man with whom I wanted to share my life. 
I listened to him and felt the icy crust of mistrust that remained from the past I tried not to remember slowly melt away inside me.
With Him, the man from my past, everything was different: he captivated me with his words, like a spider weaving an invisible web around its prey. His speech was sweet and captivating, and at the time I thought that was what love was. But behind his beautiful words lay a cold emptiness. He only knew how to manipulate my feelings, making me doubt myself, as if my happiness depended solely on him.

Leonidas was different. His words were not a trap. There was no deception or gamesmanship in them. I felt that he spoke as naturally as he breathed—simply and naturally. And perhaps that is why I hung on his every word.
I imagined what life with such a man might be like: not a bright flash of passion that quickly flares up, leaving only ashes, but a quiet and steady fire that warms and lights the way. I imagined mornings with his warm breath beside me; evenings when we would sit together in silence, and even that silence would mean more than any words.
And yet, deep inside me, there was a warning: don't rush, don't let your imagination build castles in the air. I knew that I could too easily get lost in my own dreams and lose myself again. But can you forbid your heart to love and dream?
My imagination played with bright colors and sweet promises. 

The sea accompanied us along the right side of the road all the way home. The moonlight poured out like a milky stream onto its surface and sparkled.
We skirted the coast of Kasandra, which smoothly turned into Sithonia. The landscape of the peninsula changed. Hills and mountains stretched along the shores and resembled the ridge of a huge dormant monster sprawled along the sea line.

My sweet dreams were brazenly interrupted by a phone call to Leonidas. He pulled his mobile out of his pants pocket, glanced at the screen and, without thinking, turned off the sound. He did not pick up the phone. But his expression changed instantly: his gaze became sharp, his movements - abrupt. He stared at the road with his eyes, becoming tense, nervously changed gears in the gearbox and stepped on the gas.

This change in mood struck me. What could have changed his mood so abruptly? And most importantly, who was the reason for it?
This tension was transmitted through the air to me too. It seemed that Leonidas was being sucked in by thoughts like a swamp. We were silent. But the silence screamed.
I pressed the player button in the car to relieve the atmosphere. Pleasant evening lounge music was playing on the radio.
Then I noticed how Leonidas exhaled and waved his hand in annoyance, as if driving away bad thoughts. It was a barely noticeable movement, but I caught it.
He turned to me and his gaze became soft again.

"Nicole," he said quietly and calmly, as if he was returning to that moment again. "Have you ever been to the edge of Sithonia, to those places where there are no hotels or houses, only forests and heavenly beaches?" I reached for the player and turned down the volume. "You know, Leonidas," I said, addressing him by name for the first time.

"When I moved to Greece, I lived in Kassandra for a long time, and Sithonia, the neighboring finger of the Halkidiki Peninsula, somehow seemed so distant and unreachable to me. Even though the road takes only about an hour. But one day I was lucky enough to visit those parts. That was when I saw Mount Athos on the opposite shore so close for the first time."
I closed my eyes for a second, remembering how it was. 
"And even though the Toroneos Gulf separated us from the mountain, I stood at the edge of the sea and it seemed that the rock was so close, as if in the palm of my hand: an almost equiangular pyramid, gently melting into the blue of the sky. The shape of the mountain seemed funny to me: as if a child had drawn it with three lines without thinking — simple and ingenious. (look how it was)
But there was something about it... no, not in its appearance, but something that could only be felt."
I bit my lip as I recalled my feelings and turned off the music so that nothing would interfere with expressing that feeling.
Leonidas listened to me intently, distracting himself from the road every now and then to look into my eyes.

"I thought for a long time about what kind of feelings this mountain evoked in me, how to describe them. And later I understood: I called it the magic of Athos. 
Yes, I already knew then that this place was considered holy and that there were many Orthodox monasteries on the mountain where monks lived. But there was something about that place that resonated in my heart, a kind of magical feeling that gave me faith in miracles!"

Leonidas listened to me without interrupting.
“My goodness, Nicole,” he smiled in surprise. “I think you've managed to convey your feelings to me.”
He took his right hand off the steering wheel and held it out to me.
“See, I've got goosebumps.” I ran my fingers over his hand, and at that moment we both laughed — so easily, so sincerely. For the first time all evening, I felt the tension melt away.

“You know, I have a gift,” I said, still smiling. “When something inspires me, I can inspire others with it.”

“Listen, we'll definitely go there together,” Leonidas replied. “I know so many incredible places that could be not only a new discovery for you, but also a real inspiration for your new paintings.”
His words sounded like a sweet anticipation of the future.

We drove onto the main road. Soon Leonidas' village appeared, but after passing it he confidently continued on his way, without even asking in what direction my house was. I was surprised, but said nothing. A few kilometers later, he suddenly slowed down and, as if he knew the road in advance, slid between the thick reeds onto a barely noticeable turn - a secret dirt road leading to my house.
It was pitch dark all around. The reed ominously leaned over the path, scraping the tips of its leaves on the roof of the car.
The rocky soil rustled under the wheels.

Here I froze. And looked at Leonidas with caution. He was silently and confidently driving the car in the direction of my house. "What? He knows where I live? But I haven't told him about it, have I?" Scary guesses flashed through my head.

"God! That silhouette from the thicket near the hills, that look I caught on myself today when I got out of the shower. Could it have been Leonidas? He was watching me? But why? Or was it just a ridiculous coincidence." This thought excited me and made my senses sharp - a kind of fear on the verge of arousal. I mechanically moved my knees. My breathing quickened. My breasts have become firm

A fox jumped out of the thicket of bushes. Leonidas slowed down a little. She stopped for a second in the middle of the road and, flashing the light of the headlights reflected in her eyes, quickly disappeared into the abyss of the night.

Leonidas drove up to my house and parked his car by the wrought-iron gate.
We stopped. The silence of the night was almost unreal. Only the waves in the distance seemed to tiptoe toward the shore, afraid to reveal their presence.

“Leonidas,” I said quietly but firmly, “You need to explain to me how you found out where I live.”
He turned to me, and there was no trace of confusion in his eyes. Placing his hand on top of mine, he said:
"Nicole, you left something behind on the beach that day. When you were hurriedly gathering your things, you dropped a couple of brushes in the sand. I found them and wanted to give them back to you. As you ran away, you gave me a hint, mentioning that you were going to the post office in the village square. So I went to our postman. That old local sly fox didn't hesitate for long before telling me your address. Everyone in the village knows this house, it's the only one of its kind, a house-hermit. He sits at the post office and knows a lot: addresses, who gets what letters, and so on... It's a small village, what can I say... You can't hide anything from anyone here. I know I may not have acted entirely honestly, but you can't achieve your goal without taking steps, can you?"
He winked, trying to ease the tension.
I looked into his eyes warily, two feelings battling inside me: my mind sowed doubt, but my heart  wanted to believe him so much.

“Nicole,” he continued, smiling slightly, “so that I don't have to look for you this way anymore... give me your phone number. I'll call you tomorrow at lunchtime, if you don't mind.”

After thinking for a moment, I nodded and gave him my number. At that moment, it felt like I was taking a step toward the unknown. The evening ended with unspoken words, where romance intertwined with doubts, and it was like the alluring blue waters in which you can either dive or drown.