The Price of Love (Part 1).

PLEASE REMEMBER that this work is fiction, so don't take some situations close to your heart. May God bless you all. Author.

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Seven years later.

A little girl turned over from one side to the other, the second half of the bed next to her was empty and cold. She cringed in unpleasant coolness as the blanket slid off her legs and hung down from the bed.

"Maam?"

The girl sat on the bed and looked around. There was nobody in the room except her and only a dim light, breaking out of the corridor through a slightly opened door, which illuminated the room along with a lonely moon outside the window, shining high in the sky.

Elena crawled out of bed, bare feet touching the cold floor. The girl immediately got on her toes so she would less touch the surface of the floor. Without making a sound, like a small mouse, she headed for the door and looked out into the corridor.

Mom was also not there, but Elena heard that voices came from the kitchen, one of which was unfamiliar to her.

The apartment in which they stayed a week ago after arriving at this new place was small and consisted of only one bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.

Usually, their housing was more spacious, as unknown people constantly came to her mother, wherever they stayed. Elena obediently waited for her mother to finish her work, so most of the time she sat in one of the bedrooms and read books. She was strictly forbidden to show her eyes if there were strangers at home as if her mother did not want anybody to know about the girl.

But this time it was different. For the whole week, her mother did not have a single visitor and Amelia spent time with her daughter from morning until evening. They even went to the circus and the zoo, watched cartoons on TV together, played and ordered different snacks at home. In the evening, Elena fell asleep in the warm embrace of her mother and slept sweetly all night.

Therefore, when she woke up a few minutes ago, she became agitated, not catching her mother in her usual place.

The girl leaned to a narrow slot and looked inside the kitchen. Due to the fact that the door was not tightly closed, she could see what was happening inside, even if only a little.

She saw the back of a tall man, his hair was light, his shoulders were wide, his back was straight. Amelia was standing opposite, holding a glass of red wine in her hand.

"Did you do everything as I asked?" The woman brought the glass to her lips and took a sip.

"Don't worry, everything is ready. All the documents are drawn up too, there will be no problems," he answered and put his glass on the table. Then he took her drink from Amelia's hands and put a glass next to his own.

"Hey! What are you doing?" The woman asked in a bewildered voice when the man suddenly pressed her to him.

"Nothing. Just wanted to hug you, do you mind it?"

"No," Amelia muttered and buried her face in his chest, "Hey, I'm not a child!" She was indignant when the man began stroking her head and humming a lullaby as if she were a little girl.

"You can think that you have matured over the past seven years, for me you are still the same arrogant high school student who unceremoniously disturbed my rest with a kick in the ass when I was peacefully sleeping on a bench and didn't touch anyone," Armand said in his defense.

"Not true! I just kicked you in the foot, I didn't care about your ass. Although, the kick in the ass would have been more effective, probably," Amelia muttered in response to which the man gave a slight laugh and touched the top of her head with his lips.

"Please, stay for tonight, don't leave yet," she whispered. She wanted to talk about so much, and this person, at this moment, was the only one who could listen to her.

"Well, with pleasure," the man smiled back, "It just seems that you and I are not alone," he added and nodded toward the door.

Amelia looked out from behind him and noticed a pair of small beady eyes hiding behind the door. The girl, realizing that she was noticed, immediately jumped back a step and, like lightning, darted toward the bedroom.

The woman laughed, but her smile was more sad than joyful.

"Won't you follow her?" he asked, Amelia did not take her eyes off the place where her daughter had stood before and seemed to be lost in thought.

"No. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I stay with her for the night, I won't be able to let her go later," she whispered, and after a short pause, added, "Well, how about another glass of wine?"

. . .

The sun's rays were breaking through the dense crown of green trees. Amelia lowered her head and smiled, noticing how her daughter narrowed her eyes from the sun, the child could not restrain the sneezing that followed.

"Bless you, bunny," the woman said, and a happy smile lit up her face.

"Mom, where are we going?" little Elena asked.

"To meet with one lady, dear. Mom has known her for a long time, she's a good person," Amelia stroked her daughter on the head. For the average passerby, this small gesture would seem like a family routine, but for her, even this smallness was an invaluable moment and memory. "She has a little son, a year younger than you. I want you to make friends."

The girl nodded her head. She walked along a narrow path into the depths of the park and saw a woman and a boy in front of a bench. He was playing with a small clockwork helicopter, and his mother carefully watched every step of the boy, like a tigress guarding her offspring.

The woman noticed Amelia with her daughter, got up from the bench and waved her hand.

"Hello, Liu Yang. Good to see you," Amelia greeted her friend.

"Hello, Amelia. Yes, indeed, we have not seen each other for a long time," Liu Yang smiled back. Much has changed in her life over the past week, from the moment she received a call from her best friend that it was time to pay for the contract seven years ago.

As Amelia then said, Liu Yang was very happy and loved all these years, she had an amazing family - a loving husband and son, for whom she was ready to do anything. Even sacrifice her life.

"Is he your son? He looks like Chen Lee," Amelia squatted down and looked at the boy, the baby hid behind his mother, shy of an unfamiliar lady.

"Junny, meet this is aunt Amelia. And this is her daughter, Elena. Say hello to them," Liu Yang hugged her son's shoulders and nudged him forward slightly.

The surprised boy looked at the woman's outstretched hand, but when he noticed her sincere smile, he joyfully extended his hand in response. The kid felt an incomprehensible warmth running through his body from the palm of this new aunt, but he liked this feeling.

Amelia at this time read the fate of the child and smiled. Still, she did the right thing when she intervened in the course of events a week ago. If she had not interrupted the signing of an agreement between two large pharmaceutical companies, the Lee family would no longer be alive.

Due to the presence of Marcus near her, she could not see much, but when she still managed to escape from his tenacious captivity, the forces returned to her again.

And this boy standing in front of her was an equally important link in this chain of events, inexorably striving for completion, the outcome of which she wanted to change even before the birth of Elena. And even if at the moment fate was stronger than her, Amelia still had the main trump card, which she was ready to use today.

The woman stroked the boy's head and said with a smile, "Well done, you are great, Jun. Mom and Dad will be proud of you. You will grow up a strong and good person."

Amelia's words evoked undisguised joy in the child, "I am already strong! And so big! Almost like a dad!" The kid raised his hands up, showing how "tall" he was.

"Ahaha, of course, you are already big. Then can I entrust you with an important task?" Amelia leaned toward the boy and slyly narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, aunt! Jun will do everything!"

"Well done, Jun. When you're a big boy, thank your dad a lot. Say that the aunt is very grateful to him that he-," the woman stammered, swallowed a lump, approached the throat and continued in a low voice, "He himself will understand everything. Here, and you'll give it to my Elena," Amelia took a pendant off her neck, the pendant that has been passed on to their family for hundreds of generations. It was the most valuable relic of the Teser family.

Perhaps even more valuable than the ancient scrolls, some of which she left with one of her acquaintances, a shaman named Wang shortly before.

"Can you do this?" she asked the boy.

"Of course I can! Does my dad know you too?" Jun asked, looking at a new item around his neck.

"No, baby, he doesn't know me. But I know that he is a good and strong man, so I can trust him with the most valuable that I have," Amelia looked in the direction of her daughter, she felt how seconds of time accelerated its course, as if fate already knew that the woman was going to break the most important taboo. "Go play along, and your mom and I will talk a little." Jun nodded his head and ran toward little Elena.

"Lia...," Liu Yang whispered, when Amelia turned to her, the woman could not resist and squeezed her friend in a tight hug, "I missed you so much! Silly, why have you been gone for so long?!"

"Oh, I'm flattered by such a hot welcome. I'm glad that Mrs. Lee has not forgotten about my modest person," Amelia patted her friend on the back, despite the years that passed as an instant, YangYang was still the same - kind and caring.

"Well, well, well. You owe me a mountain of explanations!" YangYang grabbed an old girlfriend by the hand and put her on a bench, "I, of course, assumed that you would appear unexpectedly, but I never imagined that you would have a child with you! Didn't you always tell me that love is sheer stupidity? And who is the happy father?" The woman raised her eyebrows playfully and winked.

"Ahaha, I now think it is utter stupidity," Amelia laughed. She believed for a long time that it would be better if YangYang agreed to a contractual marriage then and lived quietly until she was old. But now, looking at the children playing in the shade of the trees, Amelia already thought differently.

One smile of her own child was worth exchanging seventy years of calm life for her. And this awareness gave her strength to decide on the last step.

"Elena's father is the most amazing person I have ever met. He has a kind and loving heart, although he tries not to show it. He is a strong and confident man, but when Elena was born into the world, he was even afraid to breathe next to her," Amelia smiled sadly, recalling the days when he was next to her. "But it so happened that we can no longer be together. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I see," Liu Yang whispered. The woman felt that she had a lump in her throat that prevented her from even breathing. When Amelia contacted her a week ago and said that she had the opportunity to save her child, YangYang immediately agreed, no matter what it cost her.

"As I told you seven years ago, it is very likely that you and your child will die. But in fact, your whole family, including your husband, should have died a week ago. But this did not happen," Amelia said, 'because I intervened in the destined for the sake of my own selfish goals,' she thought to herself.

"If I tell you that I can save your child, but he will never see you or his father, and your husband will lose his family, but he will live, and in return, you will pay for it all with your life. Would you agree to such a price?"

"I agree! I agree with everything, if only they were alive!" Liu Yang answered without hesitation for a second. Even if she will no longer be in this world, even if the three of them will no longer be together, as long as her Chen and Jun live, they can be happy even without her.

Amelia smiled and took her friend's hand, "Well, this answer suits me." The familiar warmth flowed through YangYang's body, but this time the price of this decision was clear as never before.

"The pendant that I gave to your son is a strong amulet, and it will protect him from dangers. If everything goes as I see it, and Jun will return it to Elena after a certain time, then after that everything will be all right with him," Amelia explained. If everything goes as she saw and the amulet returns to her daughter, then what she was going to do today will not be in vain.

"Elena and I should already be leaving, my man will come here for you and take you to the woman to whom you will have to give your son. After that, this person will bring you to the place where you and I will meet."

"That is, I can't even return home? But what about Chen? Can't I even say goodbye to him?" Panic swept YangYang, she knew that it was better not to argue with Amelia since the latter knew much more than her, but even so, this situation was too difficult for her to accept so quickly.

"No. You cannot. You have already made a decision. Your child will grow up, considering another woman as his mother, and your husband will think that you and Jun died in a car accident. This is the price for their lives. You may not do as I said, but the consequences of this decision are also known to you," Amelia got up from the bench and looked towards the children.

"Elena! It's time we are leaving!" The woman shouted to her daughter. "YangYang, you have two more hours to be with your son. Sorry, I'm sorry that everything works out that way," Amelia whispered, took Elena by the hand and went with her daughter towards the exit from the park. The second woman was sitting all this time on the bench, her head bowed, and weeping bitterly.

. . .