Tytas takes me away from the crowd, the sound, and the chaotic surroundings behind the main hall. The corridor shines dimly, and I can smell the lavender scent; it is very calming. I see the staircase that I mentioned to Irin. I give a quick glance and follow him to the private, quiet living area, but he still can see the way up to the second floor. He takes me to sit on the vintage sofa and sits beside me.
"Do you remember?" He asks,
"Hehe, yes." I chuckle as I look around the room inside.
"We hung out in this room all the time, " he says, raising his glass to drink. "Back then, you came here often." I look at the stuff under the living tables. We used to play a lot of board games, all of them—chess, in this room, on the carpet. "I miss those times, " he says.
I turn to look at him, and his eyes are gazing at me.
"You were just a little tiny boy back then," I say with a little smile. But right now," he's pretty intimidating.
"Right now…" He repeats, waiting for me to finish my sentence. He leans his body to the front, resting his elbows on his thighs.
"You're grown up—a big boy now." I chuckle. Honestly, I don't know what to say or compliment him. He already receives the best compliments from others.
"Hehe," he chuckles and smiles widely. I'm still that boy, you know…to you, " he adds.
"Can I…" I say, looking at him patiently, as always. "Have your drink?" I ask. He smiles, leans back to the backrest, and gives me the glass. I take his drink from him and sip it. "Urg."
"Hehehe." He laughs joyfully, "Not your cup of tea?"
"Don't tell me you like this drink?" I ask.
"Yeah…It's my fav—" He pauses when he sees me drink all his drinks in one go. He's still watching me while I'm feeling the aftertaste.
"I think I know why you like it," I say. He keeps on watching me with his smile. "Irin—says you like me." His pupils widen.
"I thought you knew…" He says, gently taking the empty glass off my hand and placing it on the side table beside him. "Everybody knows." He adds.
"I don't," I reply. He turns to look at me with a bit of surprise.
"Ahh…I think it's obvious…Maybe I didn't make it obvious enough…" He chuckles in his throat and uses his hand to rub the back of his head. He looks nervous. "You have to know, right?...all the stuff I do, the gestures…" He leans to me.
"Honestly, I thought you were just being polite," I explain.
"What…haha, oh, Zia…"
"You meet many people, and I see you're very kind to others—especially girls," I pause. His green eyes look through right inside mine. "You're a gentleman," I say.
"I've never treated anyone like you, Zia…" He softens his voice. "I want you to know that…I really like you—a lot." He keeps on locking into my eyes.
Suddenly, I saw the shadow behind him near the staircase. Is it Irin?
"Zia…" He calls me, but I pay attention to something behind him. " What is it?" He asks, and he turns around. But the shadow is already gone.
I think it's Irin.
But I heard Tytas calling my nickname. It's the first time. "You haven't called me Zia before," I say,
He turns to face me. "I wanted to call you." He says,
"Why not?" I ask.
I feel the back of his fingers lightly touch my left leg through the stocking. "Ha—I'm—" He wants to touch me, but I can sense he's hesitant. "I don't know that I'm allowed, " he says.
The top-tier popular boy in school, famous across the city, is confident and intimidating to others, but he suddenly feels shy. He looks so cute like this. His smile and his green eyes are pretty tempting, to be honest.
"I like it," I say. I don't know if it is because of the influence of alcohol or just me being me.
I watch the tip of his tongue stick out as he licks his bottom lip again. I look up at him, and I feel his face is getting closer.
Cling.
Suddenly, something is being hit or falling. We stop and turn our faces in the staircase direction.
Fuck, is it Irin? I need to text her.
"Wait here, please," Tytas says and gets up that way.
I quickly take out my phone and text her.
Me: "Is that you? Hurry, he's about to go that way."
I send the message and then follow him from behind. I look around and try to lean my face to see from his broad back. I see nothing; there's no shadow. Tytas turns left behind the staircase. I notice a black shadow again, but it looks bigger than Irin's body. Tytas approaches me from behind.
"Maybe some servants." He says, I nod.
Ting. I get the message from Irin.
Irin: "I'm coming down right now."
"Shit." I curse it out lightly. Tytas smiles and looks surprised.
"Is there anything wrong?" He asks after he notices my facial expression.
I quickly grab his hand and take him behind the staircase. I pin him to the wall. He's stunned while he looks at me.
"What is it?" He asks confusingly. I lean to him as he holds my waist. "Zia…" He calls me.
I look at him and stay in that position stiffly. What should I do? Then I notice the shadow is closer and lower to the same floor as me. While my eyes follow the shadow, I see Irin's high-heeled shoes. It's going to be loud. Tytas is about to turn to look. I hold his face with both my hands and force him to face me.
"Look at me," I say. He seems so confused and shocked. "Tytas—I," I say softly as I look into his eyes. He holds my waist properly and fully touches my back. Then my eyes shift to Irin, who sneaks away, turns to me with her jaw-dropping, and winks at me. It's not the time to joke around, Irin.
My heart beats so loud, and I pray for Tytas not to turn around. "Look at me—please," I say.
Tytas's left-hand touches my right cheek. He strokes and rubs it softly. His gesture makes me look at him as I hold his face, and he slowly slides down to his neck.
"I'm looking at you." He says.
He puts his hand behind my neck and pulls me in as he leans his face to me. He purses his upper lip, slightly touches mine, and is about to close his lower lip, which is about to close. He kisses me.
"Tytas." Someone calls him.
"Ha…" I gasp lightly and tilt down my head.
We turn our faces to look at the man. It's Vik, who is standing still, watching us.
"What?" Tytas asks in a low, upsetting tone.
"They're about to leave," Vik says,
"So?" Tytas turns his face to me.
"It's time for a game." Vik shifts his eyes to me. Tytas lets go of his hands. "Heh, come on…your princess can play too," Vik adds.
"You go first," Tytas says while still looking at me. Our bodies are close, like two pieces of bread for sandwiches. I glance at Vik, who is still standing there waiting. "Fuck, give us—"
"Heyyy…" Then, Irin comes in. "Umm—Zia," She calls me as she walks to me and grabs my hand. "They're playing games. Let's go," she tells me, holding my hand. I look at Tytas.
"Games?" I turn to ask Tytas,
"Yes," he says lightly, glares at Vik, and follows me.
Irin and I hold each other's hands, walking together and passing Vik ignorantly. Tytas leads us to the same place before I came in: the gentlemen's seats. Felicia and her two friends sit next to her while she's giving space to someone, but there is only one for her, Vik. Felicia glares at me like she wants to riff my head off. Vik walks past us, breaks through, and cuts our hands carelessly, and he sits next to her moody girlfriend.
"This mother fu—" Irin mumbles.
Tytas shows his palm so I can sit on the empty couch across from Vik. I sit in the middle, Tytas on my right and Irin on my left. Two friends of Tytas and Vik, polo team members, are sitting on another couch in the middle of ours. We surround the living table. A few minutes later, the servants bring the shots, more than fifty, I can say. They lay down the shots, lining up in front of our seats, three lines facing each other. I look down and count, from my eyes, that there are ten shot glasses.
Tytas leans his body to me as everybody looks at his behavior. "If you don't feel comfortable, you don't have to play. It's just a silly game."
"She's already in," Vik says. I look at him. "Right, princess?...or Are you scared?" Vik provokes me, but Felicia, upset or enjoying it, hardly knows.
"Hahaha," their friends laugh and chuckle. Other eyes surround our seats, making me feel uncomfortable, but I try to blur them out of my sight.
"Tell the fucking rules," Irin says.
"Don't be the bumper, Irin," Felicia says with a little smirk. "Behave…we are nice class people."
"Really? I barely know that." Irin talks back and gives her devil smile to Felicia.
"Come on, guys!! Let's play!!!!" One of the guys-friends hype up and claps. "Yeah!!" Vik smiles and claps along.
"We each choose one opponent to compete." Vik says, "And we ask each other questions, each shot per question."
"I guess if I don't answer, I will drink?" Irin says,
"Yes, but if you answer it, it's the person who asks, drinks," Vik adds.
I glance at Irin, and she also glances at me simultaneously. I know that looks; she finds something, I bet. Now, I want to play the game, but I hope that the man before me won't do anything crazy to me or worse to Irin.
"Who goes first!?" Felicia asks excitedly.
"Me," Vik says,
"Alright, Babe…who is going to choose," Felicia asks,
"Ice princess." He says directly to me. Felicia leans her back to the backrest and crosses her arms with a smirk. "For a welcoming gift—the first time you came down from the tower, hehe." Vik jokes around.
I look at him.
"How about we add an extra rules," Vik says,
"What?" Tytas glares at him.
"Don't be so fucking tense, man—nothing much, not just question this time. You can order them to do anything."
"OOOHHH," two friends on the center couch make a sound.
"Come on, Captain. if she…can not do it or doesn't want to, she can just drink away." Vik says with a sneaky face.
Tytas glances at me and touches my thigh. "Are you okay with that?" he asks with concern. "You don't have to."
I say nothing and look at the man who clenches his jaw while looking at us.
"Jesus, just a game man. Why is she too fragile?" Vik says,
"Careful, Vik." Tytas threatens him.
I turn my face to Irin and raise our eyebrows at each other; Irin holds my face and leans into me. "I got you back," Irin whispers,
"Then, beat this fucker down," I whisper back, and we chuckle together.
"You two should get the room," Vik says.
"Hehehe," We chuckle. "Sure, I don't have anything to hide," I say with a smile.
"Are you sure about that?" He seems to be pleased.
"Do you?" I tease him back, and He's sure to enjoy my sassy part. "So how do we do it? switch?"
"Nah, we're rolling up at one time." Vik says, "Let's see how you can handle tequila or just knock it down by only one shot, hahaha."
"Hahaha," and their friends laugh and giggle.
"You don't wanna fuck with her, man," Tytas says to Vik. He glances at Tytas, slightly stunned, and shifts his eyes at me.
I raise the right eyebrow for him, so he chuckles lightly, "I'll go first." Vik says.