Tabby realized she was turning pale and suspected that a very unpleasant problem was about to arise right now. She shifted violently, nervously pointed her finger towards the stairs and forced the clueless David to put her down. Only then did he realize who was the cause of Tabby's sudden change in behavior. Ted straightened up and, as expected, said in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, I understand your negative reaction to our afternoon spent together today. I'm just surprised you're throwing yourself into such a…"
He suddenly stopped, realizing, apparently, considering his future profession, that he had gone too far. The two young men measured each other with a sharp look, and David gritted his teeth, clenching his hands into fists. Tabby watched them both nervously, seriously worried that something worse than a mere verbal argument might happen.
"Who is she messing with? You meant to say cripple, right? Go ahead, I can handle it!"
Ted blinked in surprise and replied confidently.
"You said that. And by the way, Tabitha, your new mother invited me to dinner tomorrow. So you're not going to get rid of me that easily, and as for me, I can't wait."
Tabby's eyes widened and her throat went dry. Oh, bye! Damn Nicole, she must have decided to run her life and make it hell! She turned a pleading look to David. They briefly looked for a lifeline in each other's eyes and then David spoke, now with icy calm.
"That's tomorrow, but I'll be waiting for you in the park tonight, at eight. Leave the dog at home, I want you all to myself…" And he winked at her conspiratorially. Her heart was pounding so hard that at times she felt like it was going to burst her rib cage. She had been dreaming about this sentence for several nights, and now she heard it with her own ears. She suddenly looked at him and whispered.
"Great, I'll be there and I'm really looking forward to it. And now, if you both excuse me, I have to go!" She decided to clear the battlefield, at least for now, but a small worm of doubt gnawed at her as to whether David meant what he said. After all, he had been trying to avoid her until now. What he had done and said today had surprised her quite a bit. She looked back uncertainly after them. She saw that Ted was still standing there as if glued to the spot and was casting murderous glances at David, but he waved at her briefly and hurriedly headed for the exit. Tabby ran up the stairs two at a time, ignoring her aching legs. She was beyond happy. She was thoughtfully sipping fruit tea in the dining room and suddenly the oppressive thought came over her again, whether David would come there at all and whether he just wanted to free her from the spider webs that Ted and Nicole had spun together against her and certainly her father's will...
..............................................
David walked quickly out of the hospital and drank the Coke he had bought from the vending machine in almost one gulp. Then he gritted his teeth, crushed the empty can with one squeeze, and angrily threw it into the trash can. To hell with that licked handsome guy! What does he think of himself? Tabby was visibly frightened by him, which he welcomed with satisfaction, even though an unpleasant stinging sensation shot through him that took him by surprise. Was it jealousy? Who knows, he had never experienced anything like it before. After fifteen minutes, he finally got home and made a hungry raid on the refrigerator. It was still full of supplies that his mother had left there before she and his father left for an internship.
In recent days, his appetite had improved a lot and he had also gained a little weight, a fact that his mother would certainly have welcomed with joy. With a painful feeling, he realized again that he still knew nothing about his illness. He hated to hide his burdensome secret, but considering her very sensitive nature, it was a perfectly reasonable solution for now. There was always plenty of time for bad news...
He lay down on the bed, folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. He tried to divert his thoughts to something completely different...
Tabby... A slight pleasant chill ran through him. He could still see her eyes the color of freshly blooming forget-me-nots and her lips, the shape of which fascinated him. They reminded him of ripe cherries in color. He wondered if they tasted like that too, and today he was so close to it... She was as light as a feather and when he held her in his arms, he felt her trembling all over. At the same time, her blouse rose slightly and he felt the softness of her hot skin on his palm. It was extremely exciting, especially when he imagined himself carrying her away like this, laying her down on the soft grass and…as he had done so many times before, he suppressed the violent reaction under the zipper of his jeans with all his might, but in his mind he was angry with himself for knowingly violating all his previous resolutions to avoid her. But something much stronger was penetrating him, which he could not resist. He had been hesitant until now whether to completely throw off his mask of inaccessibility and pluck as many flowers as possible from the tree of life while there was still time and meaning to do so. But he did not want to give her any false hopes when…
He glanced briefly at his alarm clock. There was still plenty of time until eight, but despite everything, he was already burning with impatience. For a moment, the thought of avoiding this meeting overwhelmed him, but in the end he decided to go. He turned his head to the side and his gaze fell on the pile of things he had planned to pack in his suitcase. The journey to the Himalayas was already inexorably approaching. He slowly got up, lit a cigarette and walked over to his desk, where the old maps still lay. He picked up one of them, the one that had apparently once contained some text written in Sanskrit. He was one of the best at school in reading ancient scripts, whether Indian or Egyptian. So he tried to decipher the text on the map at least a little. But only a very small part had survived, making almost no sense. There was a mention of some great danger lurking in the dark depths of the cave, so my mother's uncle was not wrong. But perhaps it was just some local superstition. The urge to learn the secret completely consumed David. But he was very surprised by one word repeated several times in a row, the true meaning of which he did not quite understand.
The word was junoon..