<div style="text-align: justify;">Mariya was immensely relieved when Vitali sat down. She was really concerned that he might snap and hurt her, but a part of her also worried that he would leave and never come back again. When he sat down, at least for the time being, this was not an option. At the very least, Mariya hoped, Vitali would hear what she had to say before doing anything.<br/><br/>Actually saying it was both harder and easier than she had thought. It was hard because she felt horrible for having done what she had and was doing. And it was easy because despite what could happen, she was finally coming clean and telling the truth, instead of having to think of a lie every time she opened her mouth. <br/><br/>When Vitali finally started speaking, Mariya felt her palms cold and sweaty. She was really nervous, but amazingly enough, he was more reasonable than she had expected. With a sigh, she nodded her head after his considerations. “It is true. I would be a walking corpse the moment they knew that I had told you”, she agreed. <br/><br/>Mariya was really unsure about what to do now, and also about what Vitali was going to do. His next words made her jaw drop involuntarily. She had expected everything but this, to be honest.<br/><br/>“Are you sure?”, Mariya asked, still unsure about what to think. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Vitali, she really did. It was just that it was too much of a surprise for her to wrap her mind around all of a sudden. “Do you… do you forgive me, Viti?”, she asked, really needing to be sure of what was happening there.</div>