Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Surprised?" the man asked, grinning, and I stared at him, mouth agape.
For most of my life, I had been taught not to trust. And most of the time, I heeded that advice, because I knew what a difference the lack of trust could make. I never remembered how I came across it, though—who gave me this advice, or what, or the circumstance that led me to believing it. Maybe it was something from my childhood. Don't ever trust a stranger.
Maybe I had lived for so long not trusting people I knew that I forgot the key part of the sentence. It wasn't simply don't trust.
It was always don't trust a stranger.
"This is always the best part," Minho said with a smirk. He turned away and leaned against the wall, sticking an unlit cigarette stick between his teeth so it hung from between his lips.
Despite living with trust issues all my life, I had made the most fundamental mistake.
I had trusted a stranger.
The heir walked up to me and stood before me, his hands behind his back. His eyes glittered, so genuinely joyful that I almost forgot that he was the man who had singlehandedly made my life hell. It could have also been because I had seen kindness in those very eyes so many times. False kindness, I knew that now.
"You..." I breathed.
"You don't have to say anything, I know everything you're thinking right now," the heir said. He leaned closer to me, and I felt a jolt go through me at the closeness. "And you have every right to be angry at yourself for missing it. It was obvious who I was, from the very start. The places I showed up? The way I behaved?" he shook his head, still smiling. "It was obvious who I was, but you still failed to notice."
I felt dizzy from shock. This wasn't my first time being surprised, but most other times it had been like a jumpscare. This was the real deal. Shocked horror, raw and true, spread through me when I realized what I'd done. I had mistrusted everyone who ever helped me, and trusted the man who they had been trying to protect me from.
"I want you to say it," the heir said, straightening. His voice was almost good-humored, sweet even, but there was an edge of insanity to his eyes. Oh, god, his eyes. That's why he had always looked so familiar. "Everyone I've ever deceived has always given a name to me in their head. A title to the nameless man they trusted with their life. I want you to tell me what you called me."
It made complete sense.
It wasn't even hard to believe.
"The blonde escort," I said under my breath. "You're the blond escort."
"A little simplistic, but effective." He lifted a single shoulder in an elegant shrug. My eyes were unfocused, thoughts muddled, head so heavy that it felt like it was dragging my entire body along with it. "It has a nice ring to it, too. With the 'the' and everything."
