No Further Persuasion

“Tara told me firmly…in many colourful words, of course, that you are not here, and I should stop bothering her,” Maxwell said as he lay back and stared at the ceiling with the bemused smile still on his face.

“It was really frustrating but then, for a moment there, I almost believed her.” He turned around to look at her and reached out to touch her face. “You know, for a moment there, I truly thought I would never see you again. I was…” he shook his head, rubbed his eyes, then let out a short, humourless laughter.

Then he brightened again as he continued his narration “So, there I was on my way back, already in the car and I saw this notification on my phone. You see, I have this setting that enables me to get news notifications from any country that I am currently in. I've got to keep abreast of things, you know.”

“Uuh, uuh,” Reyona said, with a questioning look still on her face.