The woman with the green eyes

I straightened my tuxedo and stepped out of the opened door of the car. I adjusted my tie and when my stepsister came to my side which gave me time to look around, I followed her towards the large opened doors dozens of steps ahead.

Walking into the hall reminded me of one of those cathedrals built in the eighteenth century in the west.

I looked up at the gold chandelier hanging down from the artistically painted ceiling and I felt like I ought to own a hall like this in the future.

The painting caught my attention and the more I looked at it, the more I noticed the darkness lying in the gold, white, and red colors among the many other colors.

The people dressed gorgeously no longer caught my attention as I could not pull my gaze away from it.

"Do not stare for too long," I heard that familiar, overly familiar playfully dangerous voice.

I froze. Let me explain it because it was the first time I have felt that way. So, please permit me to take my time with that.

My body froze but my eyes did not hesitate along with my neck to turn downwards from the ceiling. All the hairs in my body rose and note that is not an exaggeration.

What confused me most was the fact that I knew nothing about why I got so scared of the owner of the voice until my eyes met his eyes.

He smiled at me and I cleared my throat since my petrification was finally over and I could move. He was not the king as I suspected.

Was that my thoughts alone? Or did you also suspect that the owner of the voice was . . .

You know what? Forget it.

I had no idea who the owner of the voice could be but now that I was staring at the person who wore a broad smile that I could almost swear had underlying meaning except that I could not pinpoint what the reason was.

The man who looked like a college student who was done with his military service was smiling at me and it was only a while before I got over the feeling of fear I felt.

"What's up with that expression?" he asked amused over what I had no idea about.

I could not hold back a pout and furrowing of my brow. My brain showed me the word loading with those three dots at the end of the word.

Loading . . .

I scolded the brain for not holding unto the important memories to save me such trouble.

"If you look at the painting for too long, your body will get absorbed into the painting as a victim," he told sounding like he was telling me a serious joke.

That only made me look up again and when I did, I understood what he meant by the victim in the painting and I moved my gaze down to him with my lips parted to say something to express the fearful surprise I felt.

Loading . . .

I could almost literally see the circle above my head. I swallowed and avoided his eyes as I could not keep staring into those Asian eyes looking at me.

"You love the painting don't you?" he asked me making me raise an eyebrow because of how silly that sounded, and definitely in an annoying way.

"No, I do not," I told him as looked around the filled the room for a spot to sit down since it would be a bad idea to be in the spotlight.

"Shouldn't you thank me for the shield?" He asked me just the moment I wanted to excuse myself like a gentleman before running off.

"Thank you," I appreciated sincerely, after all, I would have died if not because of the shield.

He smiled a waved a waiter over. He picked two wine glasses of colorless contents from the tray although the contents in the glasses left in the tray had contents that had that light champagne color.

I shifted although trying not to make my restlessness visible. I clasped my hands before my abdomen as I looked around but everyone else seemed too busy to notice my predicament until my gaze met a lady's green eyes.

She blushed visibly and looked away after our gaze locked for a couple of seconds.

"Do you still lust after her?" That voice came very close to me that I could almost feel the heat from his body transfer to mine.

I took a very careful but immediately step away from him and looked at him in disbelief.

Could you please help me?

Who?

I mean you.

Who could that woman be?

Loading . . .

Not again!!! Arghh!!!

I smiled as I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead and the sweat roll down the side of my face.

I must remember that my cat warned me about getting caught.

I smiled nervously.

"Hey, relax. Take this," he said giving me a glass of that colorless liquid that looked like water I did not need anyone to tell me it was not water but that did not matter at all because I gulped it down.

I was nervous and fear built up as fast as the growth of Amazon. He looked at me as though he was looking into my soul and I could picture myself getting beheaded after getting caught.

"You look so nervous," he told me with a calm smile. I wish I could uproot his vocal cord to end that playful speech of his as though I was not getting drenched in my sweat.

He pulled out his handkerchief like a gentleman. No, I take that back because, unlike a gentleman, he approached me and mopped the sweat from my forehead.

My eyes widened until they hurt and I stepped away from him. My eyes were not behind my head. Could he stop making me go backward?

He stretched the handkerchief from me and took my now empty glass from me.

"She got herself a new fiancé while you were in the prison world. You should forget her," he told me still smiling.

I was sure that I did not want to see that man without his smile because he looked handsomely scary enough but I could not help but wonder if he could do without that playfulness.

I could finally breathe without sweating like a first-time offender about to get interrogated. Thank goodness he did not notice that I could not recognize the woman I most likely took from the king.

"My brother was nice enough to let her family attend this banquet although I know it won't end well. Don't try saving her. Her family has given up on her for their position in this world."