Kiss Me Not

Brione smiled, looking at the beautiful garden. The night view of it, especially with the moon shining brightly in the sky and the fairy lights enhanced its majestic beauty. The Perdu Palace Garden was one of the sights to behold. Mitch was right, she felt refreshed just by taking a walk in this wonderful garden.

She walked slowly and admired how everything around her was perfect. The classic style landscape and the fountain in the middle were very eye-pleasing. It had the historical fantasy vibes.

Every side of the garden was adorned with ornamental basins and bronze statues. She hit her head because she wanted to take a selfie but forgot to bring her phone with her. But then she was staying here for plenty of days so she would surely not miss it tomorrow.

Brione looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. She could smell the aroma of the flowers blooming. It was such a romantic evening but here she was, strolling all alone.

"Gavin," she whispered, recalling how Gavin would often bring her to parks with beautiful flowers whenever she was down since she loved them.

"It's not safe for a beautiful lady like yourself to be out at this hour alone," a manly voice spoke from behind her.

'That voice…It's Gavin,' she thought but quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts. She deduced that she was missing Gavin so much that she was probably hallucinating his warm voice.

Gavin was a news anchor blessed with a really charming and manly voice which she adored a lot.

She sighed and continued to walk when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and turned around quickly while stepping back to see who it was. However, she lost her footing because of her abrupt movements and was about to fall to the ground.

Brione closed her eyes and braced her body for the impact which never came. Instead, she felt a strong grip on her wrist and a firm arm encircling her waist catching her just in time. As she was pulled towards that person, her nose was wafted with the pleasing fragrance of the person holding her firmly.

She opened her eyes and her lips unconsciously parted. The man's face was so close to her that she could feel his warm breath fanning her face. She could not have a proper view since he was covering the light and was also wearing a silver mask that covered half his face.

She did not know why but her heart was pounding hard.

'Weird,' she subconsciously thought.

One wrong move from either of them and their lips would definitely collide. She panicked as her fear of kissing surged so her instincts took over and she pushed the man with all her might. But since he had held her wrist tightly, he was able to pull her again towards him, causing her to fall on his chest.

She raised her head to stare at him in disbelief.

"I caught you and stopped you from getting hurt and is this how you thank me milady? By abruptly pushing me away from you?" he taunted with his strong voice. Brione visibly gulped. She had never felt intimidated in her whole life but now she was feeling tense for the first time.

His voice sounded exactly like Gavin's but this man before her sounded more powerful and authoritative.

"Oh, thank you for saving me. Could you please release me now?" she meekly murmured with an awkward smile, realizing that her action of pushing him away was indeed rude.

Her eyes widened when an unfathomable smirk formed on the man's lips. His lips were so full, red, and kissable.

'What the hell is wrong with you Brione?!! Kissable? Really?!' she snapped at herself. She couldn't believe that she thought of something like this in this situation!!

She exhaled loudly and twisted her wrist to free it but the man seemed to be determined not to let her go. She swung her hand up and then straight down to break the grip but he pulled her closer, this time holding her waist firmly as well...

"Hey!! What the hell is wrong with you?! Let me go!" she yelled in annoyance when she found herself helpless under his firm hold.

"I want a sincere thank you…" the man demanded.

'What's wrong with this man!' she wanted to scream. But then she let out a smile and sweetly said, "Thank you for catching me on time and saving me from falling on the ground. Are we cool now? I'm really uncomfortable in this position so please release me already. This closeness is suffocating me..."

She was a black belt in karate since her brother made sure she knew all kinds of defense after the traumatic incident she had when she was a child. That was also why she was good at doing all her stunts in movies or dramas even without a double.

If she really wanted to be free it was not that hard to escape the man. She could just knee him on his groin and free herself, so she wondered what was stopping her from doing it? Maybe because she did not want any scandal about her since she knew that most guests inside the castle were all high profile and very important people. So she must avoid offending any of the guests as much as she could.

But if the man does not release her on the count of ten, she would definitely knee his groin!

After a few seconds, the man finally released her and said in his icy cold tone, "You should head back inside…"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks again..." She mumbled and quickly walked back inside the castle.

As soon as she was inside, she started walking through the hallway and stopped in her tracks halfway, and touched her chest. She could feel the rapid beating of her heart.

Was she very nervous? Why did she feel like something weird was going on with her? She calmed herself first then immediately walked back to the ballroom.

"Where have you been?" Berry asked.

"Just out… Strolling in the garden," she simply answered.

Soon Manager Ruth announced the arrival of the Prince. Everyone gasped as soon as a well-built man with a powerful aura entered the hall wearing his black jacquard brocade bespoke suit decorated with silver embroidery on the front and backside. He had a silver mask that was sitting perfectly on his rectangular-shaped face while covering half of it.