"For it reminds me of you," he chopped his words spoken in baritone towards her ears.
She was left unable to respond; she felt uneven; she couldn't catch her breath.
 "I miss you Shakkira… Missing you so much." He nibbled on her ears.
She turned back to him when her muscles received the impulse from his bite.
 "Aus…"
 Her throat dried. He let their position be struck along with the passing vehicles on the crowded street. 
He neither articulated any word nor did he syllabicate anything explaining his gestures. She was also speechless.
 "Tsk."
 The moment held finality.
 Raindrops slowly evacuated down to the earth. The sky roared on the horizon. It darkened.
 "We better get inside."
 He pulled away from their closure and went inside the car, while she was statue.
 "Shakkira, get in," he called her from the inside. 
 His voice was soundless, so she didn't hear. He opened the window and called her again.
 "Shakkira, get in."
 She woke up and went inside.
 The rain dripped thicker from the dim skies. It soaked half a quantity of her clothes.
"You're soaking wet. You should have been alerted." 
 He almost cringed seeing the draining moisture; he offered her the tissue paper.
 "Thank." 
 She pulled it.
 "I have no extra clothes here."
 "As usual," she mumbled.
 "Settled with the tissues first. I'll take you to the boutique."
 "You don't have to. I'm fine with this."
"No more complaints. We'll go ahead."
 He began turning on the engine.
 "I said it was fine. Don't belittle me, doctor."
 She took off her upper garments. His jaw dropped when he turned to face her.
 "Give me the pillow."
 He grabbed it at the backseat and offered it to her.
 "We aren't transparent right?"
"Yeah."
"Problem solved."
 She hugged the pillow, which covered her nude body, and positioned herself properly facing the road.
 "Let's go now," she signaled him to go.
 Then, the engine crunched for a leave.
 ***
Dehamas Municipal Town 
01:00 PM 
34°C
 At first, Jasmine wondered where they were heading; They went inside the municipal hall; the rain poured down as soon as they entered the door. 
 They'd met a series of job employees inside who bowed their heads in greeting. She followed him silently.
 He was a short man and his pacing was too slow. They entered a room that said on top "MEETING HALL". 
 There was none when the glass door swung clear. However, the man continued going inside the empty meeting hall. 
 She thought of nothing while following his slow movement. They came across a long table with six chairs each adjacent size and one on each edge. 
 He didn't say anything, so she was. She examined the room, the wall was empty and painted with brown color. It had no designs.
 What caught her attention the most was the ancient clock that was hung on its wall. She looked at the time. Its long tail stretched on the number "12" while the short tail pointed on the number "1". At 1:00 p.m., Jasmine whispered in her mind. 
 She was about to put off some spooky scenes in her mind when something fell from the table.
 "Jesus."
 Jasmine heard him picking the thick cards that were spread on the floor.
 "Let me help you."
 Jasmine hurried my feet towards him.
 "You don't have to."
 He immediately pulled out his hands to stop her from nearing him.
 "Why? What's wrong?" Jasmine asked, forcibly jerking towards his angle.
 "Jasmine, this is none of your business. You stay there." 
 His voice was dry and hoarse.
 "I just want to ask? Care if you'll tell me?" she protested.
 "Stayed there, child. This has nothing to do with you."
 He calmed down.
 "Oh-okay…"
 Jasmine paced back her shoes.
 Jasmine left him picking up the photo cards on the floor. With every crinkling sound of the thick papers, her headache. 
 She didn't understand, but its sound and the smell seemed familiar.
 Dejavu, she thought. But, not. She couldn't discern in her memory that she had been in a scene like that before. 
She ventured her fingers on the shiny wooden brown table. She was almost lost in her balance. 
Every whack and the smoke of paper seemed familiar. She knew that she knew it, but she didn't know how and why she knew it. 
Her head growled. It felt like her cerebrum was wanting to separate from the entire organs composing my brain. She wasn't facing him; he was at the back. However she could hear his heavy whiffs, like one in a minute, someone might catch him.
 The dosage of familiar smells and sounds filled her eardrums and nostrils. 
 The waves of impulses mixed barking on her head upside-down and back and forth. She looked back, but before she succeeded.
 "Stay there. Never look back," the man ordered.
 Her body stiffened. She was hypnotized.
 "1:15 PM," a rough voice appeared.
 Jasmine stopped. He stopped. They both heard a stranger's mouthpiece. Sour. The perfect adjective she would describe is his voice.
 Jasmine eyed above the ceiling, hoping she could find some piece of audio record. None. There was none. Her face was about to turn back on him.
"I said stay there."
He was breathing so fast at the back. Her curiosity pulled him to see him, but with every movement of her head, he stopped.
"Who are you?"
Jasmine's knees broke down; her body crashed; her heart sank. She recognized the unknown voice.
Slowly, she tore. But before she could turn to confirm the owner of the voice, a loud BANG was unleashed.
She thrashed her trunk on the floor. She was left with none. Her tears pulled off from their origin. 
 It endured all the humility of revealing its frailty.
"Apology for being too late, Frank."
 Jasmine's consciousness went away. 
***
The engine pulled over from the driveway. The sun was getting back from hiding behind the clouds. 
 The heavens were closed to clear out. The moisture brought by the rain glistened as the sun's rays swept it. It was like a fresh morning sun, late occurring in the early afternoon.
 "My gosh, Austin what are we doing here?"
 He was close to deaf when she yelped seeing the huge sign on top of the institution.
 "What's that reaction? This place belongs to us, Shakkira."
 He paddled towards the basement.
 "Not anymore for me, Aus."
 She shook her head.
 "Maybe we should go back from the beginning."
 He unbuckled the seatbelt.
 "I'm leaving, and I ain't gonna come back anymore," she scowled.
 "No, you are staying."
 Shakkira faced Austin.
 "I am. I am no longer your property Austin. My life, my decision."
 "We shared it way back then, so what's the point?"
 "There is always a point we can't fathom Austin. Can't you see? I just want to live a normal life."
 "This place is our normal world. We must deal with it."
 "You go alone. I'm living." 
 She threw the pillow at the backseat and unbuckled her seatbelt.
 "Shakkira, I have no time for arguments."
 "Then, why did you fetch me? Austin, can't you comprehend? It's been ages."
 She attached her head roughly and rubbed her face.
 "Shakkira, you don't understand."
 "I do. I completely do. Even before, I do."
 "I hope that "I do", you'll be saying on our wedding day."