The Female Bodyguard

07 ‖ Dance With Me

The remorse is hitting me all over again yet I am still unable to bring myself to apologise to him.

Just as I am guilt tripping myself, Casimir thankfully interrupts my train of thoughts. "Your first party?" He asks.

"Yeah, what gave it away?" I finally look at him, slightly surprised by how he knew.

"Many things," he chuckles as he starts to swirl his drink and continues. "First it was the gas mask, your choice of outfit and drink, and how you almost just walked away without bringing your cup of water with you. Everyone knows that you should never lose sight of your drink at a party. Someone could spike it, you never know."

I furrow my eyebrows in suspicion.

Is he suggesting that my drink has been spiked by him?

"Don't worry, your drink's fine. I didn't do anything to it. Though I might not want you to be my bodyguard, I would never put anyone in a situation where their safety is compromised." He clarifies and his expression suddenly turns solemn.

Before I can say a word, he clears his throat and gets up from his seat. "Dance with me," he says and extends out his hand.

I stare at his hand quizzically.

Me and him? Dance?

Either he is a doppelgänger or he has really lost it.

"Just for tonight," he mumbles and his gaze softens. He smiles ever so slightly, as if trying to mask his unhappiness and continues. "Let's pretend we're normal teenagers just for one night. A night where I am not a prince to-be king and you are not my bodyguard. A night where we don't have responsibilities."

Though he is speaking to me, his eyes seemed to be in a daze, distant. It is as if his mind has wandered elsewhere. Perhaps a world where problems did not exist for him.

Hesitantly, I place my hand above his and instinctively, he wraps his hand around mine. He holds my hand so gently as if it would break by the slightest pressure. He then brings us away from the party, to the backyard that is surprisingly empty.

"You can barely hear the music out here," I point out.

"That's the point." He grins and takes his phone out from his pocket. "We'll use this instead. I prefer slow dances."

With that said, he plays some random waltz music at full volume and places his phone on the grass. Despite the music being played at full volume, you can still hear the jarring music being blasted from indoors.

"I don't know anything about ballroom dancing," I say in a panic.

Now, I am really questioning his definition of normal.

Hardly anyone learns how to waltz dance in this day and age. Normal teenagers would not even know the basics of it. That includes me. I know absolutely nothing about it.

"Take off your shoes and just follow after me. Don't worry." He reassures, while removing his shoes and I follow suit. He then grabs me by my waist, pulling me towards him, causing me to stumble forward. He continues to hold onto my hand and I reluctantly rest my other hand on his shoulder.

He starts to lead the dance and I try my best to keep up, clearly clueless about what I am meant to do. I feel uneasy about how close we are to each other but nonetheless, I try to focus on the beat of the music while swaying to it. My gaze never once leaves my feet. Even so, I still trample over Casimir's feet a couple of times. Despite how dark it is, I notice his feet turning red as I had stepped onto them more times than I can count.

"It's okay, just look at me." Casimir mumbles and I slowly look up.

I gaze into his eyes and it is as if I am getting lost in them. I have never noticed how deep the shade of his eyes were. You could easily mistaken the brown for black.

The music starts to fade and eventually, it comes to a stop and we are suddenly still. He does not loosen his grip on me and continues to stare into my eyes. Subconsciously, he starts to lean forward, moving his hand up from my waist to my cheeks. He then brushes my cheeks tenderly and his eyes seem to be filled with sorrow.

Stunned, I stand rooted to the ground, incapable of pulling away from his touch. His touch is so warm that it feels as if I am no longer cold because of the wind. For some odd reason, I did not hate the way he was caressing my face. Before I can even process my thoughts, he hauls me closer towards him and my mind goes blank in a matter of seconds.

His eyes flickers to my lips for a quick second before glancing back up at my eyes.

"I just want to know why. Was I not good enough for you? I just can't seem to wrap my head around why you left. We were in love and the worst part is that I still am." His voice is shaky and his eyes are watery. "Every damn second, you're on my mind. How can you be so cruel to make me fall for you if you knew you were going to leave. I miss you so goddamn much that it feels like I'm going insane. I can't. I won't hold back anymore, Rose."

Rose?

I see it now. He's drunk.

He reeks of alcohol. How did I not realise that sooner?

I quickly take a step back, pulling away from his grasp before he could do anything else. Weirdly, my heart is wrenching inside of me. Was everything he said tonight a lie simply because he was under the influence of alcohol? A part of me wanted to believe that it is not just all hatred between us. Yet unfortunately, it probably is.

"Casimir, look at me. I'm Larissa Fable, your bodyguard. Not Rose." I state harshly, feeling slightly upset at him.

"I think I'll head back in first. You probably need some time to sober up. I'll be at the same spot if you need me." I add on, taking one last glance at him before heading back into the kitchen.

For the rest of the night, I can't help but replay everything that had just unfolded.

Who is Rose?

Despite that being the biggest question I had, what bothers me the most is how I could not erase the feeling I had whenever I remembered Casimir's touch and the way we danced tonight.

I could not stop thinking about it.