Deceitful Devils

XI: The Devil and The Queen

❝I'll never forget the first time I saw you..❞

Ethel had seen a lot of pretty girls in his life, lots. Even though he had never admitted it to anyone, staring at smiling girls had been one of his favorite hobbies as a kid—not an obsession, just a little pastime. He loved making people laugh, no matter what gender or race or country the person belonged to, if he could put a tiny sense of joy in someone's heart, then Ethel always thought that that would be enough to live for.

But this was not how he pictured he would meet the person who changed his life.

The girl who, right now, laid on top of his chest, her hands flaying around to find something to hold on, legs curving into an awkward angle, and her face clouded with obvious embarrassment and humiliation, slowly stared up at him, cheeks going red under the thin layer of makeup. The chocolate brown eyes clearly held the expression of silent apology as she tried to get to her feet which were stuck in too-high heels. As he kept watching her silently, making absolutely no move to help her up, she seemed to be growing even more and more uncomfortable as she failed to move her legs without showing him some considerable amount of skin—which she seemed extremely reluctant to do, but had no other choice. Then, slowly, as if the realization just struck her, she first got on her knees, taking his arms as support which he was more than happy to provide, and lightly stood up, her legs still shaking. Speaking of legs, Ethel gaped at the long limbs that seemed to go on for miles and as his gaze went upwards, he, for the first time, noticed her toned body and lovely face. She was really one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.

Not being able to keep his eyes off her, he stared at her in awe.

And as if she felt his gaze on her, the girl looked down at him and as she noticed him watching, she went a shade of dark pink. The yellow light coming out of the glass window of the restaurant made her skin look strangely welcoming. Ethel glanced down at himself—on the dirty floor with both of his hands as his only support—and looked up at her again. He repeated this process for more than five times, before he finally realized that he was acting like an idiot.

Trying his best to look graceful as well as cool, he too lightly got up to his feet, with the beautiful girl staring right back at him, and let out a breathe of relief. He had not even gotten the chance to properly look at her and apologize when she beat him to it.

"I'm so sorry." The girl said playing with the end of her black skirt. She looked up at him, her eyes flashing with such sincerity and innocence that Ethel found himself taking in a sharp breath of strange delight. "I just wasn't looking where I was going," she continued nervously, still staring at him right in the eyes taking his breath away, "and my head wasn't thinking either and I am so, so very sorry. I didn't mean to—"

Ethel's mind started working faster than a running bullet train. He had to say something. Something..Anything..Anything.

"I am an Alzheimer's patient." He blurted out. Uh-oh. Okay not anything. What the hell was wrong with him? Why would he say that?

The girl looked up at him, clearly losing her sense of coherency. "Huh?"

"You're really pretty." He tried his best to correct himself, but something about this girl made him extremely nervous. "Like really, really pretty." He took a deep breathe, eyes running all over her confused face. "May I have this dance?" He asked solemnly.

"Huh?"

Oh right. This was not a party and they were not in a club. Think. Think. Think. "My attraction for you is like diarrhea, I can't hold it in." He said picking out the worst pick-up lines from the list of worst pick-up lines ever. But something about her made him incredulously anxious.