Slow Dancing

05 | oppure

0 5

o p p u r e

[It.] : Or; used to indicate an alternative version of a passage.

THE FIRST THOUGHT that came to my mind was to run as far away as I could away from Kaden. It was ridiculous. I'd fancied him for the past four years, hoping to one day have the opportunity to meet him again. And now that I had, I couldn't wait to get away from him.

"Well?" He pressed sarcastically, his deep voice grating in the silence. "Do I get a bloody prize for guessing? I know I'm blind but did you think that I wouldn't notice?"

Wordsmith that I normally was, I now found myself utterly speechless. My tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth and my feet seemed rooted to the ground. And all I could feel was the beat of my heart against my chest, a beat that seemed louder than anything I'd ever heard before.

His shook his head, his eyebrows knitting together almost threateningly. "I deal with fraud and scandals in the company all the time. I can smell a lie from a fucking mile away and trust me; this lie reeks of my scheming, conniving mother. And you thought you could pull this off?"

"Kaden – "

"I must've been a fucking joke to you," he snapped, sharp words raining down like heavy sleet in the coldest of winters. Reaching out, his figure loomed tall and imposing before me as he grabbed me by the shoulders, fingers gripping firmly onto my skin, leaving me without the slightest chance to escape. "Pretend to be madly in love with the blind man and get a shitload of easy money in return. That's the best deal anyone's ever made. No wonder you took it."

His words sent a sharp, shooting pain through my heart but I braced myself. "I'm sorry that this had to be done," I tried to keep my voice steady amidst the tense atmosphere. "But there was no money involved. All we wanted to do was to protect you."

There was a long pause, but I could've sworn we both heard the thundering beats of my heart. I didn't know what he was thinking, but I was definitely crossing my fingers for him to believe my words. After what seemed like hours, he finally released my shoulders and fell a step back. I instantly felt the tension in the room clear; the air seemed a lot more breathable.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously, the suspicion still evident in his tone. I could hardly blame him. I was basically a stranger who had teamed up with his mother to lie to his face. Mutual trust wasn't exactly in the equation right now. "Do I know you?"

My head snapped up. This was a moment I had anticipated for so long, for the four years since I had last met him. I always dreamt that one day, Parker would introduce the both of us and that I'd say hello to Kaden and he'd remember me, even if my feelings for him would never be reciprocated. When I had agreed to playing Evangeline, this lovely thought had disintegrated to dust.

But now, now that Kaden knew everything, now that the ruse was up and I was no longer needed to play Evangeline – could I tell him?

Apparently, I had taken several seconds too long to give a response, because he sensed my hesitation and frowned. "Alright, so I do know you," he concluded, except he couldn't be more wrong. He didn't know me apart from that one dance we shared. That didn't count; we couldn't even be called acquaintances. "When have we met before? What's your name?"

I'm the girl you danced with when you were twenty, do you remember? Or did you dance with so many other girls that this one no longer made a difference?

"I could find out either way, you know," he continued calmly, when I still didn't respond. "It wouldn't be difficult at all."

"Does it really matter?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I could think twice. "Is it so important to know who I am?"