Carmen only smiled smugly and continued to enjoy the dance.  After a while, she said, “Think about it this way, if I always move one step ahead of you, you will be the follower, which means I am controlling every step you make.”

Shane starred at those big eyes and raised an eye brow.

“This is a dog eat dog world. Ray is not around, his territories are threatened. If I don’t scare his enemies, they will be seeing this as an opportunity to invade his territories.”  She continued to explain it to Shane.

Shane understood it at last.  “So I am the innocent party who just became the guardian of Ray’s territories?”  She felt like crying but at the same time admiring Carmen’s strategy.

 “You could say that.”  Carmen thought about it and smiled.

“If you one day decided to be ungrateful and leave me on my own, then I would be swimming with the sharks?”  She saw the disadvantage of this plan.

Carmen starred at Shane, “At the end of the day, who is the ungrateful party here?  You or me?”

Shane knew the answer to this was without a doubt – herself. 

“I am sorry, I do not belong to you and your brother’s world.”  Shane said plainly.

Carmen was silent for a long time before she finally said, “Everyone has a place on earth, if you do not belong to that place, no matter how hard you try you still won’t fit in.”  Her voice sounded bitter that Shane had never heard of.

Carmen added, “But if you want, you can have a comfortable life.  You don’t have to cut hairs anymore.”

“I will live longer though, if I do not have any motor accidents.”  Shane still wanted out after a month.

“Do you really want to live long?” Carmen asked curiously.

“Of course, who doesn’t?  I am scared of dying.”  Shane started to relax a bit.

“Me.  On the contrast, I am scared of growing old.”  She admitted.

“At last, you are scared of something.”  She teased her.

“Of the wrinkles, of losing my hearing, of losing my sight, of losing my teeth, of losing my mobility.  Just thinking of it gives me creeps.”  She pretended to shiver.

Shane only smiled, different people had different opinion of growing old.  Women were more sensitive to this topic.

The song ended, they walked to one side.  People were starring at them, she guessed that most of their intentions were nasty.  She acted normal as they were being evaluated and she couldn’t show any weaknesses.

“It’s time to go.” Carmen said.

“We haven’t tasted the caviar yet!”   Shane pretended that she wanted to stay.

“I can take you somewhere else for that.”  She smiled and left the party with Shane.

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