"You may call it however way you wish. Only take care not to forget that everything will be different, now that both of us are adults—-"

"Is that some kind of fucking threat?"

"A promise."

"Yeah right—-"

"Careful now,dolcezza."

It's his first time to address me with an endearment, and it actually steals my breath away.

What the hell is going on?

"I may be a lot of things, but have I ever lied to you?"

I stare at him mutinously, but silence isn't enough for him.

"Have I?"

"No."

But damn him for forcing me to say this.

"And have I ever given you any reason to distrust me?"

"You already know—-"

"Yes or no, Sarica."

"No!Happy now?"

"Not yet. Although I suppose I will be once I've made my point clear. But first, I need your hand."

What? Why? Fuck no!

"Your hand, Sarica."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I find myself placing my hand in his even as I hate myself for doing so.

"Now, look at me while I'm holding your hand."

What the hell?

"Lookat me."

The command in his words is unmistakable this time, and I find myself obeying even as it makes me hate myself even more.

I look at him.

"What do you see?"

A man with silver streaks in his dark hair. A man who's sixteen years older, but also sixteen thousand light years ahead of me in experience. A man whom the worldlovesto describe as both gorgeous and gentle. A man whom practically everyone sees as the prince of thieves.

I see the man that others see.

But I can't seem to make myselffeelthe way the whole world feels about him.