Lines Crossed - Volume 1 Chapter 30 30

I got out of the car in front of the beautiful brightly lit hotel that announced its quality The Paragon Hotel and I looked at my plain baby blue drawstring dress with a simple oval cut neckline and short sleeves and sighed. I felt like I had made a grievous mistake in my outfit the moment the car had arrived at my house, and now I felt like I needed to escape, there was such a clear difference between the two of us, it couldn’t have been painted more clearly across the galaxy. It looked like I had dressed to go to work or university classes for the day not a night at a restaurant in the city probably a super classy one, I would never have a chance of getting into myself. A valet stood at the front and had even opened the door for me, he stood waiting like a prince with a man to guide our night, like a moment out of some fairy tale. The valet boy in his deep purple satin shirt, velveteen black vest that looked supple and shiny in the waning light that struck regally across his face and hit his long black pants which oddly enough shimmered lightly in the hotel lights. The whole scene made the two of them seem almost light and beautiful, a ghosting of ethereal beauty that relentlessly ravaged my eyes with their vision. The valet looked at me slightly startled for a moment, then assayed it as best as he could with the decency not to embarrass me any further.

I tried to cover up my embarrassment and just as I wondered what to do. Mark walked out of the hotel dressed in a beautiful deep blue suit jacket, it’s single button was unbuttoned and yet hung crisply to his body, as if it had been formed for him. My bet was that it had been, underneath it, he was wearing a crisp white shirt with lots of black shining buttons. There were accent buttons on his lapel and the single button that was on his suit jacket matched it to closely for it not to have been a set. His pants sat cleanly at the ankle and were a dark black to offset the smooth Egyptian blue hue of the jacket. He looked amazing, and very much like he belonged in a place like this. I put my hands in front of me politely and bowed in greeting, even if this was all just some weird dream or if I had really been sucked into my comic it was important to be polite to someone who was older than me.

He watched me, but nodded back amused.

“You don’t have to be so formal with me You saved my life if anything that makes us close enough to drop such formalities.” Mark said as he ushered me inside.

“Ah, no I couldn’t, that’s too much, let’s stick with formalities.”

“Oh, but I insist”

“You saved my life, I’d be dead right now.”

Mark smiled sweetly but his face twinged.

“Ah, okay then. Thank you for inviting me to this. Place.” I said carefully.

“When you said dinner, I didn’t expect you would have picked something sooo.”

“Fancy?” he finished with a smile.

I nodded.

“I figured you might not have anything in that closet of yours so I had Jaemin bring something for you to change into. It’s upstairs. That’s where we are heading first,” he gestured towards the elevators.

I gulped, ‘Up into the hotel part above the restaurant with him Alone.’

I followed him into the elevators and he stepped in behind me. He took out a key card and swiped it before pressing a black button with no number on it. I smiled at him.

“So the fanciest restaurant in the whole city.”

He nodded.

“I didn’t know you liked to eat at places like this.” I said carefully. Because it was true his style was one where even though he had all the money he could ever need. He still liked to frequent smaller, more unknown establishments, normal places anyone would hang out. Not the number one place on the market, it just wasn’t his normal choice, and I had drawn him on a date or two before, I guess I thought I knew where he would usually go.

“My restaurant preferences didn’t pop up on that internet search you did of me?” He asked humorously in the silence of the elevator.

“Hahaha I wasn’t really paying that much attention or anything.” I lied.

He squinted at me. So you don’t remember my preferences, only that I am not dating anyone. Okay.” He smiled at me cheekily.

I paused, wondering if I should correct his cheeky assumption that I was regularly checking up on him, then thought better of it. It’s not like I could tell him the truth anyway.

The elevator doors opened and we walked straight out into the penthouse suite. I stared about with interest.

The walls were plain white with a dark gray inset ceiling. The room was illuminated by lots of tall narrow windows that were set on a sideways insert. While the ceiling held the most beautiful light fixture. Hundreds of dangling glass crystals in the form of infinity circles hung from it. Their lights twinkling through the glass prettily. I gulped at the beautiful city view outside those windows. We were high up, and the view was breathtaking. Not only outside the suite, but inside. Large modern couches with green suede and giant pillows sat opposite each other in the large common area and a big wooden table that looked custom made had a dress bag dr.a.p.ed across it.

“The dress I told Jaemin to bring is over there. You can change in the bathroom if you want.” It is down the hall.

I nodded, then turned, grabbed the bag from over top of the chair and walked to the bathroom to change.

The moment I pushed open the door to the bathroom my mouth dropped open in a silent “O” This was a luxury, this was elite. I flushed.

‘Was Mark trying to show off his wealth to impress me?’

The bathroom was covered in marble everywhere, the bathtub was black marbling with white veins. While the floor, walls and even the giant shower that was big enough to hold a plethora of people in it were all white marble with black veining. The most surprising thing was that there was even a personal sauna inside the room a door with a dial outside it on the left.

“Wow, are you showing off?” I said in awe.

“Not bad at all, for a fictional world, you could almost believe it all is real.”

My eyes caught on my reflection in the mirror, and the awe and wonderment, slowly melted from my face, I touched the edge of the dress I was wearing.

‘Is this the part where the leading lady gets a magical transformation? Is this the part where someone saves me from my embarrassment, and crappy life?’ I sighed.

‘I don’t need a transformation.’

“I like me, I don’t want to turn into Princess Ariel just because I saved the prince.”

I glanced at the garment bag, and unzipping it slowly freed the dress from inside.

It was gorgeous.

A perfect fit for any princess, movie, or tv moment. Except there was no heroin or princess here, just someone who had saved someone they had tried to put to death.

The dress hung from the hanger in my hand and I stared at it longingly.

A rich dark pink that faded into peach. The entire things was covered in what seemed like a million peach blossoms cascading down the soft chiffon fabric, a million tiny crystal pink beads winked in the light.

Did I deserve a gift, after the immoral thing I had done back in my own world, if this was really a happening, after I had tried to kill?

No.

The resolution burned stronger inside me, I needed to put things back the way they were before, this wasn’t my world, these moments were never supposed to be mine.

I walked back out of the bathroom.

Mark’s beautiful face turned to look at me, his radiantly dashing smile disappearing instantly upon seeing I hadn’t changed.

“I.”

“Was the dress” We both started at the same time.

“I prepared for this, just in case the dress wasn’t to your liking. Jaemin brought in a whole rack of stuff when I asked him to earlier.” Mark started towards a rack against the wall where more bags covered stunning clothes.

I reached out and grabbed the cuff of his sleeve.

He stopped and turned to me slowly.

“It’s not that.” I whispered carefully.

“This isn’t. These don’t I don’t belong in this world.” I said and let go of his shirt gently.

He stopped and stood up straight.

“My world, is dark and dirty and empty.”

“It would be best”

“Don’t let it be then.” He interrupted, I paused.

I picked at the nail on my right hand index finger unsure what to say in the silence.

“Your world doesn’t have to be empty anymore, mine was for a long time too But I started to fill it with things I love, and desired.” he smiled.

“People too.”

I don’t need you to change, into clothes, who you are. I invited you because you saved me, and because I feel a connection, I can’t explain. Like somehow, we are connected drawn from the same cloth.”

My heart ached with pain.

‘Oh, if only you knew, just how similar we are, Your exactly a dream for me, because that is how you first appeared to me. Was as a dream. And I wish that this dream could end soon, before my heart forgets the lines I am drawing in them. The ones I simply must not cross, not even to someone who wants to extend their hand as a friend.’

“Thank you for wanting to return the favor, to pay kindness forward. But”

“One dinner that’s all I ask.”

“Then we never have to meet again.” He held up a single finger.

I looked at the ground awkwardly, but thinking about his proposition.

‘Well, it was just dinner and I had already said yes, breaking my word now would be terribly rude.’

I nodded yes, gently.

He smiled at me and my heart felt like it was plummeting into my stomach and its sea of waves.

He reached out and grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the fancy suit and into the elevator.

“But the dress.” I stated realizing we were going to one of the fanciest places in the city, that had its own dress code. He was even in a suit, and I was wearing something that looked better suited to taking notes in the back of a university class.

“Hey, I can’t possibly go like this If we are going to go then I should have changed.”

“You don’t need to change, you look perfect as you are right now.” he said a little too loudly, right as the doors opened into the foyer of the hotel and all the people standing there looked up in surprise and snickered, at what surely looked like a cute couple emerging from the elevator box.