Midnight had descended. Outside, the low, steady roar of the sea echoed against the glass, while inside, Alia was fast asleep in Viktor's arms, tightly embraced by him. But that peaceful aura didn't last. A nightmarish vision began to take root in the darkness of Viktor's mind.
The dreamscape shifted in an instant. Viktor saw himself sitting with his head bowed low. Right behind him stood ten bodyguards in black suits, completely motionless like statues. Seated on a sofa directly in front of him was a mysterious woman whose face was shrouded, completely obscured from view. A cold, metallic gun was clutched in Viktor's right hand. Driven by an unknown compulsion, trembling violently, he held the gun out and placed it in front of the woman, then sank down onto his knees. His entire body shaked with an unearthly terror. At that exact moment, from that mysterious woman's lips, broke out Alia's familiar, demonic laughter a sadistic, echoing glee ringing in his ears.
Waking up with a violent start, Viktor bolted upright in bed. Cold sweat dotted his forehead, and his heart pounded wildly.
Seeing him awake, Alia opened her eyes beside him. Noticing Viktor's abnormal shivering and sweat, she gently placed a hand on his back. In a soft, concerned voice, Alia asked, "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?"
Viktor's entire body was still trembling violently. The horror of that dream seemed to be replaying right before his eyes. Alia's cold and demonic laughter was echoing deep within his mind. Struggling to pull himself together, he stammered in a broken and strained voice, "N-nothing..."
Hearing his tone, a crease of worry formed on Alia's forehead. She sat up straight in bed, moving even closer to Viktor. His hands felt as cold as ice. Suddenly, with a frantic look in his eyes, Viktor blurted out, "I'm going to Russia... I'm leaving this place right now!"
Startled by his abrupt and erratic words, Alia blinked in confusion and asked, "Why? What happened? Why are you suddenly talking like this?"
Viktor grew even more restless than before. A clear look of fear and unease surfaced in the corners of his eyes. Panting heavily, he said, "It's been five days... I can't stay here a single moment longer! I'm suffocating... Give me water, hurry, get me water!"
Without wasting a single second, Alia hurried over, brought a glass of cold water, and placed it into Victor's shaking hands. Even after holding the glass, water kept spilling over the edges from his tremors, and he quickly emptied the glass in a single, breathless gasp.The cold water did little to calm the rising panic within him. As the glass clattered against the bedside table, Viktor gripped his head in his hands, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
Alia watched him, her heart aching with confusion and distress. She reached out, trying to pull him gently toward her to soothe the frantic tremor running through his frame. "Viktor, please... talk to me. What is happening to you? What does Russia have to do with this?"
But Viktor couldn't meet her eyes. The sound of her voice even filled with genuine warmth and concern threatened to warp in his ears, dragging the terrifying echo of the dream back to the surface. He pulled away abruptly, his voice a desperate, fractured whisper.
"I have to go, Alia," he choked out, his eyes darting frantically toward the dark window where the waves crashed endlessly against the glass. "It's a trap... everything here is a trap."
Softly, Alia tried to calm him down, saying, "We just want to live in peace, Viktor... why are you so terrified of all this?"
Before her comforting words could even fade, the situation took a sudden, chilling turn. As Viktor pulled her close, gripping her tightly and looking into her eyes, he felt as though he were staring at a total stranger.
The warmth vanished from Alia's face in a flash. A pure, ice-cold, malicious smile crept onto her lips the exact, identical smile Viktor had seen in his nightmares. Slowly, Alia leaned in close to Viktor's neck, planted a spine-chilling, freezing kiss there, and whispered right past his ear in a strange, distorted voice:
"Want to live in peace? Did you really think you'd escape this easily, Viktor?"Startled, Viktor asked, "Alia, what did you just say?"
Looking at him with a mysterious gaze, Alia smiled nonchalantly and said, "Oh, nothing."
Then, raising her voice into a louder, distorted, and echoing tone, she declared:
"Want to live in peace? Did you really think you'd escape this easily, Viktor?!"Furious, Viktor shouted, "What did you just say?! Say it again!"
He raised his hand to slap her, but before he could, Alia burst into an even more distorted and terrifying laugh, screaming loudly and echoing right past his ear: Want to live in peace? Did you really think you could escape the blood and shadows of the past? Did you honestly think you'd escape this easily, Viktor?!" Suddenly, shattering the suffocating darkness, Viktor bolted upright in bed, drenched in sweat. His heart was hammering against his ribs he realized that everything that had just happened was nothing more than a living nightmare!
Right at that moment, Alia, lying beside him, stirred awake and asked in a soft, sleepy, and worried voice:
"What is it, Viktor? What did you see this time?" Clutching his head in both hands, Viktor trembled and muttered to himself, "I think I'm slowly losing my mind..."
Unable to contain his overwhelming anxiety, he abruptly got out of bed and hurried up to the rooftop. The cold night air hit his face as he tried to steady his racing thoughts. Just then, Alia followed him up to the rooftop. Looking at his bizarre and frantic behavior, she asked with a curious and deeply concerned tone:
"What on earth is wrong with you? I don't understand a single thing... Listen, why don't you tell me the details of that dream? What on earth did you see that shook you up this badly?" Viktor let out a heavy sigh, his eyes still filled with lingering terror. Gripping the rooftop railing tightly with both hands, he began to speak in a shaky voice:
"The dream started out normally... the two of us were in a quiet, peaceful place. I was trying to calm you down, thinking we could leave all the fear and the past behind us and start over."
He paused for a second, staring intently at Alia before continuing, "But in a split second, the air around us turned freezing cold. The moment you looked at me, all the warmth and gentleness in your eyes completely vanished. A cruel, ice-cold, demonic smile crept onto your lips a smile I had never seen before. Then, you leaned in close to my neck, planted a freezing kiss, and whispered right into my ear in a distorted, echoing voice..."
Viktor's voice trembled to a near halt, "You said 'Want to live in peace? Did you really think you'd escape this easily, Viktor?!' " Hearing Viktor out, Alia first burst into a light giggle, then hugged him tightly while calling him crazy, whispering, "You really are a madman! I missed you so much..."
Yet, as she rested her head against his shoulder while saying those words, a pure, ice-cold, and deeply enigmatic smile crept across the corner of her lips in the darkness one that Viktor completely failed to notice.