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There's a pause

INDIA: No I really need to just shut off the light and go to sleep I'll probably just be tired If I went for a walk now, I'd really be awake But thanks anyway

JON: Okay I think I'll go for a quick run I need to exhaustto sleep See you in the

INDIA: Good night

I put o for a run down the street where the hotel is located, needing to burn off soht before a big h I'nificent job I need to completely exhaust myself, and my little bout of self-abuse earlier in the day wouldn't be enough

So I run I run in the dark, the only sounds acco me the distant sound of the freeway and the noise ofthe pavement After about twenty minutes, I stop near a bus shelter and sit on the bench, catchingshoe laces, which have coh for the night, so I run back to the hotel, taking the same route

I glance up at the hotel and runoff the floors so I can find our floor and our rooure out which room is mine and which is India's and aure silhouetted in theThe drapes have been opened and she appears to be staring out at the city around the hotel

She looks lonely

My watch reads fifteen past eleven and she can't sleep either Why she refused to go on a ith ether back in the day She said it helped her sleep, so I can't figure out why she wouldn't come with me

That kiss must have really freaked her out

That's not a good thing The last thing I need is for there to be any tension between us I'll have to clear things up as soon as possible if I want our partnership to flourish

I return toin front of my television while o to bed My last thoughts as I lie in the darkness are not about the presentation in thelonely

I'm too busy to be lonely, surrounded all day andon Pacifica I'm never alone, and neither is India In fact, she and I are als and on various parts of the Defense Department project

How can India be lonely?

Chapter 5