Mandy was conned and was left all alone, so now when she had nothing else left, she decided to go to Ralph and apologise if she hurt him unintentionally. After that she had to continue living a romantic love life with him, as he was the only caring and supportive guy she knew.

However, before all this, she had to report to police about Rupert. But the problem was that she didn’t even know his real name and had no picture of his.

She, however, dresses up properly and prepares to leave for Ralph’s house.

An hour later, she arrives at Ralph’s place and knocks on his door. Austin comes to answer. He opens the door but doesn’t like her presence.

“What do you want?” he asks Mandy.

“I need to see Ralph,” she responds.

“He’s not here,” he sighs, “... he’s somewhere outside.”

“Where?” she asks anxiously.

“Look Mandy, today because of you he’s lost his normal state of mind.”

“What does that mean?” she asks in confusion.

“He’s getting a little retarded.”

Austin explains Mandy about his obsessive love disorder condition. This worries her and she thinks about finding him and proposing him for love, even though she didn’t really love him.

Last week of June

At the seaside, Ralph was walking all alone. No one was there as the place was completely bare. He was holding a blue diamond ring, which he bought for Mandy. It was quite expensive, but he was thinking of throwing it in the sea.

Pamela and Rupert arrive there, as they were to leave Vienna on their ferry, which was parked there. Rupert sees Ralph and tells Pamela, “I think I’ve seen this guy before.”

“Who? That guy standing there?” asks Pamela.

“Oh yeah! I remember, he was there at Mandy’s place,” he tells her.

“What is he holding?” she says looking at the gleaming ring.

“Whatever, let’s go,” Rupert ignores Ralph and prefers to leave.

“No wait, I like this ring that he’s holding.”

“Look Pamela,” he says, “we’ve gathered enough money, so let’s just leave immediately.”

“Wait…” she stops him concentrating at Ralph’s ring. “You’ve always done what you wanted. I want this ring, and I can get it myself. You may leave alone.”

She slowly walks towards Ralph and says, “Good evening!”

“It’s not a good evening,” he replies absently.

The way Ralph talks and looks around, like a psychological patient, leaves Pamela feeling weird about him.

“Why are you so alone here?” she says looking at the ring.

“Who are you?” he asks without caring to know.

“Well I’m…”

Ralph turns around and walks away leaving the seaside. She follows him.

Two weeks later

It was the end of July and Ralph was missing from the mental hospital. Either he had escaped or was kidnapped by someone. Austin was very worried about his brother, so he sent a team of cops to search him. The cops were looking for Ralph everywhere in Vienna but he was lost.

There was a small house located near a lake on Vienna’s border. This was a place at the edge of Vienna. No one could reach as it was hidden in a small forest. Ralph was living there with Mandy. They had been there for two days.

One night, Ralph asks her, “I don’t remember much about how I got to this place. Can you tell me how did I escape from that hospital?”

“Let me explain,” she says nicely, “your brother Austin, admitted you to the mental hospital and then no one believed that you are not mentally ill, except me. So I helped you escape that place with help of some nurses. And now we’re living here far from our families and relatives in this house.”

“I see… but what about my brother? I mean why does he think I’m insane?”

“Well, I’m responsible for that,” she says, feeling guilty. “Your brother is just concerned about you and he has sent a team of cops to look out for you.”

“Look out for me? A search you mean?”

“Yes.”

Ralph gets quite worried about that, but he was happy to be with Mandy the love of his life. They both were all-alone and hardly had anything to survive. Covering expenses was really difficult for them. Mandy was the one managing everything.

That week, when they were running short of food, Ralph felt as if Mandy didn’t actually love him, instead, she was just faking her love for him, on purpose. So to test her love, he throws away all the food in the nearby lake and as Mandy returns home, he says to her, “Mandy, I need to tell you something.”

“You’re up early today, before eleven o’clock?”

“Yeah, I hardly slept. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that I just figured out that we have no food left.”

“Well, I was expecting that later.”

Ralph assumes that she would suggest that they should go back to their respective homes, which was not actually possible for him. But she replies, “Don’t worry I’ll manage. I’ll get us both a living. You just relax here and be comfortable.”

This surprised him and his love story took a positive turn making him realise that Mandy’s love was true.

He stops her and says, “No Mandy, I can’t let you do this on your own. We live together, so we are meant to work together and support each other.”

Mandy smiles and appreciates his words, but she was caring for him only because he was still mentally retarded, so she refuses his offer to help.

Ralph only cared about the fact that Mandy’s love was true and it wouldn’t end. But there were other consequences that he was unaware of.

His days and nights continued with Mandy as he was happily living with her. This was Ralph’s love story that was expected to have a tragic and twist ending.

August

However, Austin was at his home feeling distressed. He was only thinking about his brother and was wondering for how long he would survive in that condition. While he was sitting, he made a phone call to one of the cops.

“Hello Austin, this is the third time you’ve called and my answer is the same. We haven’t found him yet, we will inform you as soon as we find him.”

“Look officer, I’m really worried. What if my brother is dead?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him before he gets into serious trouble.”

“Did you search him in the sea?” Austin asks sadly.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean what if he has drowned somewhere in sea.”

“Don’t worry please,” he chuckles, “everything will be fine, trust me.”

“Thank you.” Austin hangs up.

Then he faces his head downwards and holds his forehead.

“Oh God!”

His phone begins to ring and he answers the call, “Hello?”

“This is Austin, right?” An unknown voice replies.

“Yes, but who are you?”

“I’m not a cop, but I have found your missing brother.”

“What?” Austin asks standing up getting alarmed and confused. “I mean what are you saying? Who are you and where is…?”

“I know... I know you have a lot of questions in mind,” the voice says, interrupting him, “but I will tell you about him only if you give me your word that you won’t involve police in this deal that I’m about to offer you.”

“What sort of deal?” Austin asks.

“I’ll call you tomorrow night before 10 o’clock.”

“But wait… at least tell me who are you and how is Ralph?”

“This conversation is over for today,” the call gets disconnected.

Austin gets puzzled as many questions were teasing his mind. He was relieved about one thing that his brother was safe, but he was confused whether he should involve police into this or not.

Next afternoon, Ralph walks outside his home towards the lake. Mandy sees him from the window inside their house. She comes out and slowly follows him. Ralph walks until he reaches the lake. He likes the view of the place and sits on a large rock to enjoy that view.

Mandy who was following him, comes and sits next to him.

“You’ve been following me,” he teases.

“Is that a wrong thing?” she asks nicely.

“No, I wanted you to follow me since long and today you finally did. I really like it.”

“Well, there is more than that. I mean we are already together forever, so what difference does that make.”

“You’re being rather vague. But I like whatever you say.”

They talk for a while and then sit silently enjoying the view.

Around sunset, Ralph felt the moment around him. He loved two things the most, firstly Mandy and the atmosphere during sunset. But this time, he was surrounded by both.

It was getting a little darker. Ralph wanted to stay there for the whole night, but Mandy suggested that they should leave now. Ralph insists to stay, so they do. Ralph sees a flashlight over himself and Mandy. The flashlight appeared just for a second. Ralph looks towards its direction and feels as if someone was taking their photos.

He asks Mandy, “Did you notice that?”

“Notice what?” she asks.

“Oh nothing,” he says, ignoring it.

Then another flashlight blinks over them from another side. He gets vigilant again and says to her, “Didn’t you see that light?”

“Light? No, I didn’t,” she responds.

He stands up and goes towards those bushes from where he felt the light came from. Mandy stands up and says, “What is bothering you, Ralph?”

“Mandy, I’m scared,” he replies fearfully, “the cops have found us.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Someone is taking our pictures.”

He holds her arm tightly and takes her towards their house.

“Mandy they are following us; let’s just leave this place before they find our home.”

Mandy goes along with him towards the house. Someone took their photos and then secretly followed them to see their house.

Next moment, Mandy and Ralph were at their home. Ralph went to sleep as Mandy asked him to rest. She also felt that someone was following them.

That night before 10 o’clock, Austin was continuously staring at his cell phone, as he was waiting for a call from that unknown person. After a while, he gets a call from another number and immediately answers it, “Hello?”

“I’m sure you were waiting for my call,” Rupert replies devilishly.

“Yeah, I was… who are you?”

“Well, I am a con man. I use different ways to earn money.”

“So you’ll demand money in exchange for my brother.”

“Well, he’s not with me. I mean, I know where he is. He is completely safe and happy, enjoying his romance.”

“Romance?” Austin asks getting the idea. “Anyway, what is your price?”

“Good, you don’t want to waste any time… I like it. I’ll tell you where he is after I get my money from you. I took Ralph’s pictures today and you’ll get them any moment now, I have sent them on your postal address.”

“Where do you want to see me?”

“Wait for the package that you’re about to receive,” Rupert says, “you’ll find all the details. And one more thing, if police is involved then you’ll get your brother’s dead body, that’s my word.”

The call gets disconnected.

This delay doesn’t satisfy Austin as he wanted to see his brother immediately and admit him back to the mental hospital.

Later, when he checks his mailbox, he finds a huge envelope that was posted to him by someone anonymous, but actually Rupert. He takes it inside his house and hastily tears it open, as he shuts the door. Inside the envelope, there were some photographs and all of those photographs had an amount of two million Euros stated behind.

Now he had to collect the stated amount without involving the police if he wanted his brother safe.

Next day, at Mandy’s house, Ralph was lying on his bed. He was a little confused thinking for how long he and Mandy would stay like this. He wanted to see some to progress in their relationship. He thought of proposing to her but had lost his diamond ring somewhere in the hospital. He sits up and after a while gets out of his bed.

Mandy was cooking food in the kitchen. He comes to her and stands right next to her,

“Good morning!” she smiles at him.

“Morning!”

“You seem disheartened.”

“Disheartened?” he chuckles, “That’s a strong word, I’m not disheartened; in fact, I’m confused. I actually wanted to propose you.”

She laughs silently, wondering what Ralph had just said.

“You want to propose me?” she questions. “So, what’s the problem?”

“I have lost a diamond ring that I had to give you.”

“What? You lost it?” she asks getting worried.

“Yeah, in the hospital.”

“In the hospital, are you sure?” she enquires anxiously.

“Yes, but why are you asking like this?”

“I always knew you had something for me. I read it in your diary… But if it’s in the hospital then it’s not a problem, I’ll ask that nurse who helped me let you out of that place.”

“I don’t think she’ll find it; it might be stolen by now.”

From the kitchen’s window, Rupert was recording their entire video in his camera, as he had to show this video to Austin.

That evening, Austin was waiting for Rupert at the parking area of a restaurant. He was holding a brief case that had money. He waited for almost an hour, until all the lights turned off. Austin stands still. A small bulb light flashes open.

Rupert arrives in front of him. Austin says, “I’m sure you’re the person I’m waiting for.”

“Hand me the bag,” Rupert told Austin.

Austin hands it over as if he was losing everything,

“Now, where’s my brother?”

“I’ll leave, if I get away safely, then I’ll tell you about your brother”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I’ll make sure there are no cops following me.”

Austin gets even more tensed now as he was just seeing delays.

Rupert leaves taking the brief case and giving Austin a CD that had Ralph’s video.

That moment at Mandy’s house, Ralph was writing poems in a diary. Mandy comes and sits next to him on a couch. She tells him, “Ralph, I have a good news for you.”

Ralph looks at her as if he was questioning what it was.

“I called that nurse at the mental hospital,” she says delightfully, “and she told me that she had kept that diamond ring safe since the day you were admitted.”

“Oh really! So it’s with her?”

“Yes and I’m going to get it from her tomorrow morning.”

“Can I come with you?” he pleads.

“No, of course not, I mean if anyone catches you there, then you’ll be caught.”

“Well, ok.”

They sit and talk like this until it starts getting dark outside.

to be continued...