"What is death for you?"

"Silence."

(from Rina's interview for the program 'Through the Looking Glass')

And again there was a strange house, echoing with echoing steps in a half-empty room, loneliness and maddening suspense. Rina wasn't so much worried about her future as worried about the lack of news about Nikolai: where is he, is everything okay with him, will they see each other? But as the days went by, she still didn't know anything about him.

Their plan succeeded. Everything went as well as possible. Love filled Rina with such power, which she did not receive even from concerts.

Nikolai chose a place from which they could see everything, and they themselves would remain unnoticed. And Rina carried out her plans, acting according to the planned plan. The earthquake scared off the few employees who were in the building of the center at that night hour. A crack zigzagged across the ground from a powerful push. People were shouting something and hurriedly leaving the base. After waiting a little so that everyone could run away to a safe distance from the buildings, Rina imagined how the foundation crumbles under the main building and the building flies into a bottomless abyss, and at the same time 'hit'. At the moment when the crescendo of her song reached its peak, a bright blue flame burst out of the crevice. And with a high note, Rina brought down the building into the portal. The rest of her strength was spent on patching up the 'hole'. Her legs gave way, her head was buzzing, but Nikolai managed to catch Rina. She remembered how he ran somewhere with her in his arms, then sat her in his car, which Lev was driving. But for some reason he didn't sit next to her. He quickly kissed Rina goodbye, waved his hand and ran to another car, in which there were some people.

Since then, Rina didn't know anything about Nikolai. And Lev's words that he would prepare her departure from the country did not calm her down, but only added to the anxiety. Lev didn't appear, didn't explain anything, so Rina only had to guess about her future. Where will they take her? To which country? With Nikolai or alone?

She managed to extinguish her anxiety by reading for a while: along with the necessary things, Lev brought her a weighty stack of books that his wife had collected. Yana gave Rina her own books and, being carried away by the plots, she briefly forgot about her own twists and turns.

She was taken far away, she did not even know the name of the village in which this large and uninhabited house was located. In what area? Is it far from the capital? Behind a high stone fence, two jeeps with silent, sturdy men were on duty, and two bodyguards constantly patrolled the inner territory. They also delivered products to Rina and passed her requests to the boss - Lev. But all of Rina's requests turned into one: to find out what was wrong with Nikolai. Lev was silent in this case.

Just once she decided to go for a walk. She was released for the territory, but the executive 'two from the casket' followed. Rina walked around the endless field, went out onto a country road and headed towards the rumble of a freight train coming from afar. The guards, keeping at a distance, repeated the route, but when Rina turned to the settlement, they caught up with her and politely asked her to return to the house. She never left her 'prison' again.

That late evening, when despair, from which books were no longer saved, reached its peak, Rina heard the noise of a car approaching and voices. She immediately jumped out of bed and ran out onto the porch as she was: in pajamas and barefoot. But instead of Nikolai, she saw Vsevolod and Violet walking towards the house, accompanied by them. Rina screamed and rushed to them. At first, she impulsively hugged Vsevolod, and then burst into tears on Violet's shoulder and did not even notice at what moment Lev tactfully left, leaving Rina alone with friends.

They talked late into the night, realizing that their meeting would be the last. Rina calmed down, but Violet burst into tears. And while Rina was already comforting her friend, Vsevolod was pacing the small kitchen with restless steps. Friends left her in the early morning. And, despite the strained smiles and assurances that everything would be fine, the farewell turned out to be difficult. Rina promised to send a postcard as a conditional sign that she got to a new place well. But when her friends left, she burst into tears. She beat the pillow, cried into it and screamed everything that was torn from her heart until, exhausted, she fell asleep. Rina woke up, calmed down, took a shower and got ready. The arrival of friends made it clear to her that this day in her 'prison' was the last. If only she could wait for the night, survive these hours that stretched to eternity!

It was not Lev who came for her, as Rina expected, but Nikolai. But there was no time for joy, questions and hugs. Nikolai quickly carried her bag to his car and, before starting the engine, said:

"Don't be afraid of anything. Trust me."

Jeeps with guards followed them, keeping at a distance, but not letting anyone get behind Nikolai's car. The night road, illuminated only by the headlights, didn't seem to roll out in a smooth canvas, but ran away to the black sky. And from such an effect, enhanced by the feeling that they were alone on this suburban highway, it became creepy.

Nikolai was silent, and this also added to the anxiety. It seemed that he was only interested in the road. And Rina, exhausted by anxiety, began to boil. Until recently, she thought that when she met Nikolai, she would die of joy. But here he is, nearby and, at the same time, somewhere far away. And Rina, instead of being happy, was angry.

"Are you going to keep quiet?" she couldn't stand the silence. "Can you tell me where we're going? And where have you been all this time? Why didn't you report yourself? I was freaking out with worry, damn you! You and your Lev!"

"I'm sorry," Nikolai said, glancing at her briefly. "We had to prepare everything..."

"What to prepare?!"

"Our departure. Documents, tickets, visas. And to do everything without attracting attention, and it's not easy. They're looking for us. And if they find us..."

He didn't finish, but she already understood that in this case they would not live.

"We're going to the airport," Nikolai continued. "From there we will fly to Germany, then we will cross to Switzerland."

Germany, Switzerland... Tears welled up in her eyes, because it was only now that Rina fully realized that her life would never be the same again. There will be no concerts, meetings with friends. From now on, strangers will surround her. Diving into an alien environment and an unfamiliar language is like jumping from a tower into icy water.

"It's the only way out. Just trust me. And don't be afraid."

"How not to be afraid?!" Rina exclaimed, to whom Nikolai's confidence seemed infantile this time. "How will we live there and where? For what?! What language should I speak?!"

"Rina, the main thing is that we will live. I'll take care of everything. That's why I needed time to prepare. Lev has friends even in these countries, so we are going there. At first they will help us, and then we will get up on our own."

"How simple everything is with you!" she screamed and stopped. She herself signed up for such a life when she volunteered to destroy the center. Nikolai is right: the main thing is that they will live. And together.

"I'm sorry," Rina muttered. "Yes, we can handle it, since we managed to get out of the otherworld. It's just a pity that this is not Italy, where Violet comes every year. And not South Korea, which is familiar to me. I have friends there... But it is so, my whims! The main thing is that we will live. It doesn't matter where! Really?"

Rina didn't have time to get an answer, because one of the jeeps suddenly overtook them. Nikolai frowned, and his anxiety was instantly transmitted to her.

"Is something wrong?"

"Perhaps they received some kind of order. Or decided to check..."

He didn't finish because he was interrupted by a deafening crash. A bright flash of flame lit up the black sky, and Nikolai hit the brakes while Rina screamed.

"Hold on!"

He abruptly turned the car across two lanes and sped in the opposite direction. The Jeep following them did the same.

"Kolya?! What's going on?!"

He didn't answer her, just tightened his jaw and pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

"Get down!" Nikolai shouted to Rina when they were overtaken by two cars rushing at cosmic speed. He barely had time to slow down, because the cars turned around and blocked their way.

"Creatures!"

Rina, on the other hand, could not even scream from the horror that gripped her. Security guards jumped out of the jeep that stopped behind them and rushed to their car.

"Run!" Nikolai yelled, unbuckling Rina's seat belt, followed by his own.

Not thinking anything out of fear, but obeying the order, Rina jumped out onto the road and immediately fell under the cover of one of the bodyguards. Carried away by him, she looked around in fright:

"Kolya?!"

Unfamiliar men jumped out of the cars blocking the way and, throwing up their weapons on the move, rushed to intercept them. Rina screamed when the shot rang out, and squeezed her eyes shut, realizing that in the next second her life would end. Another shot rang out. Rina felt that no one was covering for her anymore. But the next second someone grabbed her by the arm and dragged her towards the forest landing.

"Hurry up!" Nikolai hurried, and then suddenly pulled her arm down, so that Rina stumbled and almost fell.

"Get down!" he shouted, but he was cut off by a short burst. Following this, there was a deafening crash. The sky lit up with bright flashes again. And then darkness descended on Rina.

A few days later

"I can't believe it," Vika whispered through her tears, mechanically stroking Shusha, who was perched next to her. The dog sensed his mood: he put his muzzle on Vika's lap, squinted with his brown eye and whined softly.

"How so?!"

Yura silently put a cup on the table next to the chair, sat down next to it on the armrest and drew Vika to him. She clung to him trustingly, and Yura handed her tea. But as soon as Vika took a sip, she started crying again.

The terrible news that thundered through all channels shocked even those who were not fans of Rina. Natasha Svetakova, the owner of a famous magazine, was the first to write about the death of a popular singer in a blog. The shocking news was immediately picked up by other journalists, TV reporters rushed to the scene of the tragedy, and in the morning the whole country was talking about what had happened. The car in which Rina was driving was shot by unknown people on a deserted road. The singer and her companion managed to get out of the car before the gas tank exploded, but they couldn't escape from the killers.

"Do you believe that this is Lebedev's revenge, as they write about it everywhere?" Vika asked, and Yura shook his head.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The media blamed Rina's ex-fiance for the incident. Dimitri's name has recently been associated only with illegal transactions, the disappearance of his competitors and other scandalous offenses. Therefore, few people doubted that the brutal massacre of Rina was staged on his orders. The public, which had previously admired a successful, young and charismatic businessman, now claimed that it was quite in the spirit of Lebedev to ambush on a deserted road and shoot and blow up a car.

"I don't believe it," Yura replied to Vika. "I don't believe that Lebedev arranged it all. And you know why. Rina is a portal girl. Shortly before her death, a vegetable base fell into the ground in a strange way. Which wasn't really a base. Rina and Nikolai were removed out of revenge by those to whom they spoiled all the plans. They didn't let them escape. And they hung everything on Lebedev, because the version with jealousy and revenge is logical and true."

Vika nodded dejectedly. She recently successfully passed an interview and was already supposed to take up the duties of a secretary instead of her predecessor, who was going on maternity leave, but in connection with the incident, the future boss gave her a few days of rest. Yura was hard at work in the editorial office of Natasha Svetakova. The boss just instructed him to write a scandalous article about strange anomalies and mysterious tests. Yura didn't fail to share with her his version of the death of Rina and Nikolai, but for some reason Natasha insisted on the version with Lebedev's involvement. Yura didn't argue, especially since he had his own scores with the businessman.

"Vika, let's go away for a few days?"

Maybe the trip will distract Vika a little, who even dyed her hair black as a sign of mourning?

"I can take a couple of days to work remotely," Yura continued. "Together with the weekend, it will be four days. If your visa is in order, we will go abroad at least. Wherever you wish!"

"And where is Shusha going?" Vika asked sullenly, but wiped her tears away.

"We will ask Manya to shelter Shusha for these days. I don't think she'll say no... to you."

A girl dressed all in dark with short black hair took off her sunglasses and looked questioningly at her companion. He nodded silently and went to the free counter, where the airport employee was just getting ready to start work. The man said something quietly to the employee, and she accepted the documents handed to her.

The same man brought his companion to the line and already there said goodbye to her with a restrained nod.

It was as if an invisible Angel had led her through all the controls: no one had caused obstacles, found fault with the visa in the new passport and asked unnecessary questions. The girl smiled goodbye to the stern border guard, although her heart was beating somewhere in her throat, and went to the right hall. There was a lot of time left before boarding, duty-free shops beckoned with an assortment, but she sat down in a chair and buried her face in a book.

She was the last to board, waiting for the queue to clear. The stewardess glanced at her with a duty glance, smiled affably and returned the boarding pass.

Turning away to the porthole and greedily absorbing the outlines of the capital's airport with her eyes, she finally said goodbye to her former life. The popular singer Rina Sokolovsky died, another girl was born instead of her - unknown to anyone, with someone else's name, to which she still had to get used, with an unclear future, but with hopes arising in her heart.

Enough time has passed since the shooting on the highway, and the media were still trying to develop a controversy around her 'death' and find out what kind of man accompanied Rina on that tragic night. But no matter how the journalists dug, they only found out about Nikolai that he was a private detective. Therefore, speculation on whether Rina had gone to him quickly stopped. The detective was hired by close friends of the singer, and only business relations connected her with Melnik.

Rina quickly stopped viewing publications about herself: it's creepy to read how the whole country mourns you. And she opened them only because she wanted to know what they would write about Nikolai.

How she missed him! It was unbearably painful, to the point of a heart-rending scream and the unshed tears that poisoned her. She missed him every second of those unbearably endless days... And only now, when the plane took off to the clouds, her soul was freed from pain.

The plane went to land, and Rina clung to the porthole, looking from a height at the peaks of the mountains covered with cotton clouds, the turquoise sea and the coastline cut by coves. The plane made a circle over the sea and flew low over the colorful squares of fields. Her heart began to beat faster: her new life had begun!

Rina hardly stayed at passport control: Lev, through his contacts, got her not just a passport with a visa, but a card of a resident of South Korea. She didn't have a suitcase with her, so she didn't waste time waiting for him.

Fainting with excitement, she went out to the arrival hall and immediately saw a tall, handsome man in the crowd who greeted her with a white-toothed smile. And then he opened his arms and took Rina in his arms.

"annong!" Chin Hwa greeted with Korean spontaneity and added in Russian:

"Hello, beautiful! How are you?"

And he laughed when Rina forgot all the words in her excitement and could only nod, wiping her tears and smiling happily.

They took the elevator down to the desired parking floor, approached the car, and only when they had already driven away from the terminal, Chin Hwa asked in Korean:

"gwaenchanha?"

"Okay."

"Good is very good" he answered in Russian with an accent and smiled.

So, shuffling both languages like cards, they started talking. Rina briefly talked about the flight, about her last days in Russia. Chin already knew what had happened. It was not she who contacted him, but someone from Lev and 'arranged everything'. From somewhere, Jaguar also became aware of Rina's friendship with the Korean musician.

"Shall we stop by our place? Iki is waiting for us for lunch," Chin Hwa suggested as they raced along the expressway. Rina clung to the window, curiously examining the scattering of houses on the slopes of low mountains.

"Mmm," she hesitated. She wanted to meet Chin's family again, but not now.

"I see. You're not up to it right now," Chin Hwa nodded. "Next time!"

"Yes. Iki won't be offended?"

"No. She'll understand. And I understand that you're in a hurry."

"Yes," said Rina and squeezed her knees covered with trousers with excitement. "How long do we have to go?"

"Two hours."

Rina sighed heavily, and Chin, wanting to entertain her, began to talk about his family: about Iki, about his son Su On, who recently turned seven years old. That Chin's restless sister was now traveling somewhere with her husband and daughter in Latin America. And when the stories ran out, Chin Hwa turned on the music, and Rina, to her amazement, heard her own song.

"This is my favorite," he replied with a sly smile.

They listened to the song in complete silence. Rina didn't speak even when another one from the same disc sounded. Wanting to hide her sudden sadness, she turned to the window, pretending to look at the scenery. They were no longer traveling on the expressway, but on the national road, which cut through small villages.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Chin Hwa said seriously. Rina nodded without turning around.

"I have been planning a project for a long time. I would like to act as a producer. I have already gained experience over all these years, there are enough acquaintances, our group has also entered the international market, so I can open the doors... for someone else. I have some songs that will suit you. Iki will translate them into English. To be honest, I wrote them thinking about you - under your voice, under your manner of performance. But we could change something, add a new sound and..."

"And how do you imagine it?" Rina smiled sadly. "I'm kind of dead. To sing is also to shine a face. Concerts, video clips. And you're also talking about the international market..."

"Wait, let me finish! We would have changed your style and 'classified' your face. Let's say they would draw cartoon musicians. Do you know the band 'Gorillaz'?"

"I know," Rina smiled. "We also had one singer perform like that. I know what you mean. But I'm not sure, Chin..."

"Don't say anything now. Just think. You have time. And I have the resources and capabilities."

"Thank you," she was touched. They drove in silence for a while, then Rina spoke up.

"I need to send a postcard. I promised my friend. How can this be done?"

"How? Very simple! Buy a postcard and send it!" he laughed and, seeing a yellow sign on one of the buildings, pulled over to the side of the road.

"Here, by the way, is the mail. Come on, it won't be long."

Sending a postcard to Violet and Vsevolod really didn't take much time. Rina chose one with views of Seoul - typical, giving a hint and without words. But when she told Chin Hwa that she wasn't going to write anything, he took the card from her with a sly smile and signed it.

"Let your friend get an autograph. How to write in Russian 'I wish you happiness'?"

They left the post office, got into the car and set off again. The road brought them to the coast, and Rina clung to the window, admiring the sea sparkling in the sun. Is she really going to live in a seaside town? Chin guessed her thoughts again:

"The town is not a tourist town, quiet and sparsely populated. But it's not far from a big city and the sea. I hope you like it. It's very beautiful and peaceful there, you'll see! By the way, we're almost there."

The seaside village was left behind. The rest of the way, Chin Hwa and Rina didn't talk anymore: she was silent from the excitement that surged over her, he - understanding her condition.

The separation was too long, too many worries overcame Rina all this time. Sometimes silence, even if forced, turns out to be scarier than death.

The village was surrounded by greenery and sunlight. He seemed friendly and promised a happy quiet life. The courtyards looked elegant because of the flowers, and Rina, looking at other people's houses, wondered what her own would be like? However, she would be glad even to have a small apartment – if only in this place. If only with the one whose longing burned out her whole heart.

"We've arrived," Chin said, parking the car near a chain-link fence hung with branches of an unknown shrub with purple and crimson flowers, like garlands.

Rina opened the door, stepped onto the cobblestone sidewalk and pulled down the edge of her traveling jacket in excitement. It was quiet and blissful here. The white track from the flying plane, like a 'lightning', tore apart the blue sky. The wind rustled faintly in the leaves. A lemon tree stretched branches over the fence, dotted with juicy yellow fruits.

"Hello," Rina heard behind her. She turned around abruptly and immediately found herself in Nikolai's arms.

He hugged Rina tightly to him, buried his face in her cropped hair and exhaled happily. How unbearably endless was the separation! Silence is scarier than death. And so now, hugging his 'bird' tightly - in reality, and not in dreams, which, with the dawn melting, left a bitter taste of deception, Nikolai felt as if he had come out of the dark realm of the dead.

There, on the highway, the Jaguar people staged a spectacular 'shooting' for them. Nikolai and Rina were taken away by two guards, and the rest remained to continue to play a 'show' - with explosions, fire, pyrotechnics and blank shots, imitating the 'handwriting' not so much of Merinov's people and hedgehogs with him, as the scope of Lebedev.

When they were taken away from this highway, Rina was stunned silent for half the way, and then sobbed half the way. Nikolai comforted her in silence, saving all the words for the Jaguar. And so when Lev personally met them in someone else's half-empty house, he yelled at his friend right from the doorstep:

"I should have warned you!"

Lev let him vent his rage, helped calm Rina, and then explained in detail that at the last moment he had to replay his plans, because Nikolai and Rina were already waiting at the airport. They would not have been allowed to fly away, because they were being guarded.

"They will stop looking for you only in one case - if you die. There was no time and opportunity to warn, Kolya. But I also prepared for such a scenario."

"To involve so many people, to make such a noise, to pick up two suitable... bodies! Are you serious, Jaguar?! It's too complicated!"

"My guys are also not able to do this," Lev answered with pride. "And I have friends in morgues. The unclaimed bodies were picked up as needed and quickly."

"Jaguar, sometimes I'm afraid of you," Nikolai said warily. "I don't know anything about you, it turns out."

"I don't know everything about myself either, Kolya," Lev laughed. But he immediately stopped laughing and continued in a businesslike tone:

"Vsevolod will go for the identification from Rina. His nerves must be strong. To your mother, Kolya, I will go myself and right now. And then I'll rush to Nuilya. Give me her phone number. Natasha Svetakova is already preparing the news - 'lightning' in the right key. Everything is on the ointment! You just have to sit out and then leave."

Nikolai only discharged himself with curses in response. Okay, he himself, but Rina could have been warned?!

"So what should I tell my mother personally from you?" Lev asked calmly. And Nikolai, having given up, asked to say that he had taken one soldier from the collection.

They left with Rina separately. Nikolai left almost immediately after the 'death' - to prepare everything. Rina was hidden for a long time, documents were prepared for her, they waited until the hype associated with her 'death' would go down. And all this time they couldn't even get in touch. Lev commanded the parade, and they had to obey him.

Rina clung to his back so tightly that Nikolai could feel her nails even through the fabric of the polo. But he was in no hurry to get out of her arms, even though Chin Hwa was hovering next to the car, smiling shyly, and a three-month-old puppy rolled out of the open gate in a shaggy ball. Rina herself unclenched her hands, raised her tear-stained face, on which a happy smile now shone, and exhaled:

"Hello!"

Nikolai invited Rina's friend to the house, but Chin Hwa tactfully refused, saying that his wife was already waiting for him. Before leaving, he made Rina and Nikolai promise to come to visit. He saluted goodbye with two short beeps and sped off.

"Welcome... to our home. I hope you like it," Nikolai said with barely concealed excitement. Will she like it? By the arrival of Rina, he tried to arrange everything, but suddenly he didn't guess her tastes? What if she says that...

"It's beautiful here! These flowers! Lemon tree! The sun! And... and who is this?"

She finally noticed the puppy that was playing at their feet.

"And this is a troublemaker, a destroyer of the sofa and everything you can reach. Should grow into a large and harsh-looking beast, but kind at heart. In general, this is... a friend who brightened up my loneliness a little and did not let me get bored. Meet Yoshka."

"Yoshka?" Rina asked.

"Yoshi is like a character in a computer game," Nikolai explained, and Rina laughed:

"It's clear how you spent your time here!"

"Yeah! Playing games! In addition to repairs, garden improvement and my attempts to get water, light and gas from utilities in lousy Korean," Nikolai laughed in response. He picked up the bag, hugged Rina and led her home. The puppy ran after them, getting under their feet and biting their sneakers for joy.

"I'm back home," Rina said when she entered the hallway. "I've been looking for it everywhere for a long time. And it's here. With you."