The friends waited fretfully under the night sky until Asher's voice crossed their ears, "Guys!". They followed Asher to the big, empty room which was grey as dead. Their eyes reached Mike who was lying on the floor, with a strange smile. He was healed. Not even one injury, one bruise could be seen anymore. Asher cured him magically. Mike glew up like nothing ever happened. Julie ran as fast as she could and kneeled next to her brother. "Mike.", she said crying hard.

Mike: "Don't cry now. I'm fine. Thank Asher."

Julie stood up and turned back to face Asher. She joined her hands and worded, "Asher...". She couldn't stop her tears as her voice uttered, "Th--Thank you."

Asher stepped close to hold her hand and wipe her tears off. He said with a thin smile, "You don't owe me any thanks. Mike is my best friend and I never break promises." He glanced at Rose who stood with her lowered head as if she didn't want to match her eyes with him.

Jane spotted Asher looking at Rose. She broke his stare with slapping words, "But, what about the betrayal?"

All eyes stopped at Jane.

Elisa: "SHUT UP!"

Jane: "DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, ELY. My best friend almost lost her family today because of this bi---"

Elisa: "JANE!"

Jane, with tears in eyes, walked to Julie, "Do you see this girl, now?", said Jane pointing at Elisa. She continued, "I always said, her only friend is Rose. We were never her friends." 

Elisa was saddened by Jane's words and Julie's silence. "Really? You're saying I'm not your friend. Just like that. Was it this easy to break friendship. Our friendship." She faced Julie in want of hearing her reply. "Why aren't you saying anything?", she asked when Julie's wet eyes didn't look up at all. Her lips were frozen.

Elisa spoke loudly, "JULIE! SAY SOMETHING!"

Julie closed her eyes, breathing heavily, lowered her head and said in a low tone, "Rose... Rose is not worthy of you, Elisa."

Elisa looked at Julie with disbelief. The words that came out of her mouth were like a vicious attack for Rose, who was taken aback.

Julie opened her eyes and locked them at Elisa. She said, "Rose is not worthy of our friendship. No matter what she does, no matter how many mistakes she makes, we are always there to cover for her. We fight so much for her. We protect her. We did anything and everything for her. We always put her on the top. Even when she and Asher broke up, we literally boycotted Asher. We made him our enemy. And what do we get in return? Betrayal. We lost a golden friend like Asher because of her. I almost lost my brother, Elisa, my only family. I'll die if I lose him. I can't do this anymore. I can't put my heart on stake for this heartless girl. I can't." 

Elisa looked at Rose who was about to break down. She saw her sprinting out but before she could move her feet to follow her, her hand felt a grip. Elisa looked down and found Julie holding her back. "You have to choose now, Ely. Me or that heartless bi---."

Julie's words aggravated Elisa's anger. "At this moment you're not even yourself. Because, the Julie that I have known for years would never say something like this."

Elisa pushed Julie's hand away. Before leaving she looked straight into Julie's eyes to say, "And do you wanna know who you're acting like, right now? Jane succeeded, Julie. You're officially Jane's sidekick." 

Elisa's words were harder than nails for Julie. Tristan watched his sister leaving. He sensed some wrongness in the moment. 

Julie couldn't come out of the shock that Elisa's words injured her with, when Asher steps forward to say, "I never intervene between you and Ely but what you just did is unacceptable. Do you remember yourself telling Elisa that Rose needs a friend like her? You told her Rose is a wallflower typa person. She is nice, she isn't expressive. Do you remember? I can't believe you called her heartless. Ely was always right. You are Jane's sidekick." Julie looked up at Asher in shock. She didn't expect those words to come at her again, like a stabbing knife.

*start the song at 4:20*

She broke down. Tristan couldn't stop himself walking to her to console her. He took slow steps towards her. Julie looked to her right to see Tristan facing her. She looked in his eyes and didn't wish to ever look away. Tristan's eyes were forming tears at the sight of Julie. She stepped close to lean her head against his shoulder. Tristan brought his hand up to caress through her hair strands.

Jane left the room, leaving them alone. "I wish I had camera.", she mumbled with a smile. Meanwhile, Mike stood up and walked around them. He faced Tristan who had his eyes closed and a thin smile embedded on lips. Mike, now faced his sister who also had her eyes closed. He smiled seeing them and said inwardly, "Like the princess finally found the prince.", and left.

Next moment, Mike spots Jane hiding behind the wall. He walked closer to see Rose, Elisa and Asher talking in the hallway.

He taps on Jane's shoulder scaring her to death. "Are you crazy? You scared me.", she said in whisper.

Mike whispered back, "What are you doing?"

Jane: "Eavesdropping."

Mike: "Why?"

Jane: "It's interesting."

The two eavesdroppers sense a figure behind them. They slowly turn around to get the shiver. Stood in front, Rose with her usual blank expression. She glared at both of them and then ceased the glare at Mike. With a smirk, she said, "So you joined Team Jane atlast." Elisa and Asher controlled their laugh as Rose mocked Mike with the dark joke. "Well, Jane was always good at socialising."

Rose walked away. "What did she mean?", mumbled Jane.

They walked to the grey room to find Julie apologising to Rose. "I'm sorry, Rose."

Rose brought her in a hug. She replied, "I'm the one to be sorry. I'm sorry for Mike."

Julie: "I'm sure, you had your reasons. Ben is here to ruin our lives anyway. I trust you."

The girls released the hug and looked at each other smiling. "Thanks.", replies Rose when Julie nods.

"WAIT--",said Mike in an alerting tone. "Where's Christopher?"

They panicked and looked around for Chris. They called his name but got no response.

Elisa: "Let's go check outside."

Asher and Tristan were about to leave the room with Elisa when Ben's men in all black attire blocked their way. "The firearms are back.", said Elisa spotting the guns in their hand. They stepped back. "Sit quietly, y'all.", commanded the man.

They sat on the floor, silently when Elisa looked around in distress. "Where's Asher?", she said when Tristan covered her mouth with his hand to shush her.

The next thing they see, the men fed them some pills. "What's that?", asked Rose.

"We aren't ordered to tell you yet.",replied the man before feeding the pills to Rose and forcefully making her drink from the bottle. 

The men left when the captives felt dizzy and drowsy. They yawned and fell down. Before they knew, their eyes felt heavier than ever and they fell asleep like a dead person. Mike, the only one to have his eyes open, uttered, "Those were sleeping pills I guess." He fell asleep as well. 

Asher saw them, hiding behind the wall. He was about to walk in when his ears sensed footsteps. He hid again. 

Leaning his head a little, he spots Ben stepping in the room alone. Asher walked silently to see what he was up to, when he finds him walking around the room casually eyeing the teens lying on the floor as if he was inspecting. He almost stepped out when out of blues, his eyes looked to the side. Asher stepped forward to see who Ben was walking to. 

Asher's  eyes widened in disbelief when he saw Ben kneeling down in front of Rose. He stared at her with all the love and affection in eyes. There was no wickedness, no evilish smirk. It was absolutely strange to see Ben being all caring. His actions were like a series of shocks for Asher.

Ben smiled seeing Rose sleeping like an angel. A hair strand was however, veiling a part of her face. He gently slid the strand off for a clearer view at her face. He caressed her cheek and looked at her soft hands. He caressed her hand and then looked at her face again. He was staring at her incessantly.

Asher was silently observing Ben. He wasn't aware of a stone on the floor which he was about to step on. His attention was grasped by Ben's actions. Before he knew, his feet hit the rock. He ran for life as Ben heard the sound. He walked out to check and what he finds next, shook him.   

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Word Count : 1480

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