< Althair Starlight Hotel
UTC+6 0709 PM
Festive Hall, Lobby >
She looked at him in disbelief.
"Oh no, do I really?" She asked in exasperation, "And here I tried so hard not to be the center of attention."
"Well," One Shot started to smile, "If that was your goal, I hate to break it to you, but you've failed miserably." With those words, he lifted her high in the air and spun her around.
Her protest turned into an unbelieving laugh.
"You're impossible!" He put her down slowly. "But is that even legal to say? You're the bride's brother."
"I am also a man."
She snickered. "Right."
"What?"
"Nothing. It just sounds like something a boy would say." Something about her statement felt odd, resonating with a vague memory in his mind.
"I can't refute the fact that you are the most beautiful woman in the room."
"You have a talent to only say what the other wants to hear the most, don't you?"
"Do I? It's my first time hearing it," he said.
"You're like my opposite. You see, I have the talent to say what the other hates to hear the most."
"I'm sure you can drive people insane." One Shot replied, recalling the conversation she had with her ex-boyfriend Joffrey before. "But you don't even need words to work your magic on me."
"Oh? Have I already made you mad?" She looked remotely apologetic.
"It's the only rational explanation," One Shot sighed before dropping down his voice and asking softly, "Why would I lose sight of everyone but you if I had not gone crazy for you?"
She smiled that smile again, the one that built up a wall around her. "You're playing your part perfectly today."
He turned silent. She was thinking he was only acting as her pretend lover. Of course, she would. And he should. Only…it felt like more than that to him already. Lost in thought, he wrapped a wild strand of her hair around his finger before slowly letting it slide across his skin. It was like golden silk, ever so soft. But the color…
"Red…" he muttered, more so to himself than to her.
"Pardon?" She asked, "I didn't quite catch that."
But the music came to an end just then, and a new song came on. He shook his head and let go of her delicate frame. Maybe it was for the better not to tell her that she had just reminded him of his first love. He bowed like a gentleman in front of her and said, "thank you for this dance, Angy."