Is this destiny?

~ France, the Chateau ~

When Sarah and Aiden reached their Chateau, it was Saturday evening.

When they arrived, everyone was in the dining room assembled for a late dinner, and Sarah, Aiden, Jesse and Oni joined them right away.

All members of the Sigma army were present: Lucija, Petar, Marija, Emir, Tereza and Mishi.

Mishi's girlfriend, Eliza was also there, and Sarah observed her belly which unmistakably showed that the woman is pregnant. Sarah took a mental note to ask more about it later.

Sarah introduced Oni to everyone present. It is Oni's first time to see members of the Sigma army, and she was happy that they all greeted her enthusiastically.

Jesse and Oni are not aware of the Sigma army and what they do, but they know that this diverse bunch of people are Sarah's and Aiden's friends and that they meet occasionally.

Oni was happy that Sarah and Aiden allowed her to peek into this side of their life. It made her feel important, especially because she is the next one after Jesse from all the kids to get this access and that means how she and Jesse have another thing in common.

Jesse and Oni will stay overnight and in the morning head to Frankfurt with a car for their next mission of scouting known bases of Shadow Ravens.

During dinner, Emir was the chattiest one, as usually.

Sarah was happy to hear that Lucija and Petar are still together, even though they live in different countries. Somehow, they are making it work.

Marija made sure to switch seats so that she can sit next to Jesse.

When Sarah told them few days ago that Jesse will be joining them, Marija was ecstatic. They all met him last September.

Oni frowned at Marija's persistent attempts to get Jesse's attention, and she was dejected when she heard them chatting… but there is nothing she can do about it because other than 'friends' she does not have any other status in Jesse's life.

When they arrived, Oni admired the Chateau and wished to explore it enthusiastically. But now when she saw Marija acting flirty with Jesse, Oni wished for this dinner to end quickly so that they can go to sleep, and in the morning leave this place. Just Jesse and her.

The evening ended with them calling it a night. They all arrived that day and could use a rest.

Sarah reminded them that tomorrow morning at 9 AM they will start with meetings which are important, so everyone needs to wake up in time to get ready and have breakfast by then.

Later that evening…

Oni is lying in her bed and has trouble sleeping off. She is not really tired, most of the day she was sitting in the plane, and she even napped for some time.

It is close to midnight, but that is only 3 PM in Los Angeles, and it's not easy to adjust body-clock to nine hours difference.

Oni concluded that Sarah, Aiden and Jesse are  probably having the same problem.

Oni perked up her ears at the sound of the door closing. It's the room on her right, if she heard it correctly and that is where Jesse is staying.

Oni used Eve-vision to determine the distance between her and Jesse and confirmed that he is walking away.

'Is he going to the kitchen, for a late snack? Or a glass of water?', Oni thought.

Two seconds later, Oni was out of the bed, putting her slippers on and walking out in her short-sleeved, full-length-pants pajamas which are not revealing, so she had no thoughts of putting a robe on. And it's a warm June night, so it was not chilly either.

Oni was halfway through the long hallway when she confirmed that Jesse is in the kitchen. Oni smiled brightly when she verified: she was right!

Oni already has a plan: she will meet Jesse in the kitchen, and then start a chat how it's difficult to sleep and they will end up talking. Yes. That plan is perfect. There is nothing better than filling up a sleepless night with Jesse's company.

Her steps halted at the sound of voices drifting from the kitchen. A woman's giggle and a deep male voice talking, which definitely belongs to Jesse. Who is the woman?

By instinct, Oni dashed to a dark corner, close to the entrance into the kitchen and held her breath while listening intently. A moment later, she scolded herself. Why is she hiding? Why is she eavesdropping? But this was stronger than her.

The woman spoke again, and based on the heavy Eastern European accent, Oni concluded that it's Lucija, Tereza or… Marija. In the next second, Oni eliminated Lucija and Tereza because only Marija could speak so seductively.

"…you are such a meanie. Two emails in nine months? I thought that you forgot about me…", Marija was complaining but her expression didn't show that she is angry.

"I was busy.", Jesse responded.

"That is a lot of busy. How are you going to make it up to me?"

Jesse chuckled. "Is there a way to make it up?"

"Of course… this way… straight to my room…", Marija ended with a giggle.

Oni shrunk in the corner and didn't breathe while watching Jesse and Marija walk down the hallway, away from the kitchen. It seems that they didn't notice her.

The last thing Oni saw is Marija's arm moving around Jesse's waist and Jesse's arm landing on Marija's shoulders and then everything was blurry.

It took Oni few seconds to realize that her blurry vision is due to the tears which are filling up her eyes.

The hallway suddenly lacked oxygen and Oni struggled to breathe.

She dashed outside and somewhere through the garden lost her slippers, but she didn't care.

Oni was running as fast as she could, ignoring pebbles and splinters and anything else which dug into her feet. Her whole body was numb except for her heart which hurt like crazy while breaking into a million pieces, tearing her soul in the process.

Oni does not know how much she ran, and how far she reached. She was running without a direction, and the only thing on her mind was that she needs to increase the distance between herself and him... between her and Jesse who is spending a night in Marija's room… with Marija.

It might sound silly, but she thought that if she runs far enough, the pain will lessen. But it didn't.

After a long time, Oni collapsed on the ground by a tree and wailed in agony.

Oni told herself that there is nothing going on between her and Jesse. She told herself that she should be happy just to be by his side. She told herself that she has no right to feel upset. But nothing helped. Her heart refused to listen because part of her hoped that one day he will see her.

He called her 'little girl' so many times and she was confident how one day, when she is older, he will stop calling her that… and that maybe he is waiting for her to grow up. But now it all shattered, together with her heart.

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