20 CURIOUSITY KILLED THE CAT

A man on the riverbank waiting for his princess turned out to be Jim; he had a dazzling smile on his lips. When he saw that Mary was hesitant and on the verge of running away, he patted the place beside him calling her to join him. He was sitting on a folded bedcover and there was enough space for two people.

Mary turned around, made sure that no one was watching her and sat down beside him. It seemed they were sitting too close, because in the cool evening air she could feel his body heat on her skin, it caused a wave of goosebumps. She shivered, more from discomfort than from chilling river wind.

"What are you doing here?" she addressed him overlooking formalities and skipping the greeting part.

"Waiting for you... Does Daniel know you have a fancy for walking alone?"

Mary clucked her disapproval and chose not to answer.

He faced her and saw that she was not even looking at him; she was just staring at the river. He also noticed her shivering but wrote it off to her light cloths and rising cold wind.

"Right, as long as he doesn't know it won't hurt him. Look at me!" His last sentence was sharp, Mary started and turned her head, but what she saw was not only Jim's face but also a flash from old Polaroid which was directed at them. A photograph came out, and on it she and Jim were sitting together while rose petals were covering the ground all around them. Mary realized that this photo could very well ruin her relationship with Daniel in one moment. She tried to take the photo from Jim stretching her hand for it, but he quickly moved his own hand holding the photo to his back. Not willing to let her lay her hands on this precious photograph he stood up, making sure that she would not be able to grab it.

"Give it to me!" she cried out.

He hid it behind his back always keeping his face to her no matter how much she tried to circle around him. Already desperately trying to take the photograph, she wrapped her hands around his waist reaching out to his back where he was hiding this cursed piece of paper, but for the onlookers what they were doing looked more like hugging than fighting.

"What if someone took our photo now?" He asked laughing.

She let go of him quickly putting some distance between them. "Cursed man!" she thought.

"What do you want?" she asked with fury in her voice. Now she was trembling not from discomfort, or from cold, but from anger.

"You know too well what I want. Are you ready to give it to me?" he was almost flirting with her while her face looked more like a spiteful grimace.

"You wish!" she hissed in return.

"Let's sit down and talk, Mary. I'm not showing this photo to anyone yet..."

He waited until she sat down first still breathing heavily. He hid the photo into his pocket and took out an envelope instead, then joined her on the ground. She watched him open the envelope carefully, there was no haste in his movements, they were calm and steady, as if he was a judge preparing to announce the verdict.

"Do not tear them. I have digital copies anyway." He warned her before she could do anything rash.

He took several photos out of the envelope and placed them one by one on the ground.

One of the photos was taken when Mary was drinking wine together with Marcus, another one was her and Jim in his apartment having romantic supper with wine and candles, then there was another with Mary getting out of the taxi while Marcus was waiting at the entrance to the house where she was renting her flat, then a photo from yesterday when she was sitting together with Jim on the swings and he was holding her hand. All of the photos where she and Jim were captured together looked more like the photos of a couple deeply in love than the photos of a girl being constantly stalked by a crazy person.

"And our recent hug on a riverbank covered with rose petals will crown it all!" when he said it there was ice and iron in his voice. Mary could hardly recognize it. His eyes were fixed on her, unmoving.

"What are you gonna do with them?" she asked him in a faint voice, if she were standing she would have easily lost the ground from under her feet. But she was sitting and the world around her just swayed a little.

"Hmm... I haven't decided yet. How do you think, what a person in love should do with such photos?" his expression did not change much, he was still cold and unmoving, eyes fixed on her.

"Please don't! I'll never forgive you if you show them to him!" she looked at him with accusation in her eyes and yet pleading. In her head she already saw how Daniel was turning away from her, distant, unreachable.

"And will I forgive you for using me?" Jim asked coldly.

"I wasn't..." But, oh, she was, she knew she was. And he knew it as well. She wished she was not so curious, she wished she did not follow those rose petals, she wished she did not know who was waiting for his princess at the riverbank. She was trapped again!

"I won't show these photos to him. I'm not this kind of person. But dear God, I'm in love, sooo in love!.. And people in love aren't themselves anymore. So I want you to remember that I have them. I want you to remember it very well, Mary." His voice was not ice cold anymore; it seemed there was fire in it as well as in his black eyes. And when May looked into them she saw glowing embers inside.

She watched him silently for some time and then nodded signifying her understanding. She would never be able to forget that he had those photos and maybe would have many more, because she now really felt like she was being watched, all the time. It was not paranoia after all.

"Good... Now, be nice, sit with me a little longer before you go." He collected the photos from the ground, put them back into the envelope and offered it to Mary. She refused. Why would she want to take them with her to Daniel's apartment?

They were sitting side by side, not speaking anymore. The wind was getting stronger and Mary shivered again, she felt cold. Jim took off his jacket and wanted to put it on her shoulders but she refused it and stood up ready to return home, that's when her phone rang.

"Damn!" she cried out seeing Daniel's name on the screen.

Jim laughed.

"Curiosity killed the cat!" he said with satisfaction in his voice as if this was exactly the reason why he asked her to wait a little longer before she went home.