The Man In The Mask

V - Captivating beauty

Mistaken belief.

"I'm so tired of getting chased by the paparazzi." I said with a gentle voice and regret. "You're a famous star for Pete's sake." He said with a smile while putting make-up on my eyelid. "Black? Why black?" as I saw the color the brush would stroke on the palette.
"Because they define you."
"And you too." I added.
"Me?" he asked with curiosity.
"Because you are mysterious and dark." I said while looking at those brown eyes of his; face covered with mask. Only the nose and the eyes are covered. Why won't he just remove it? He then looked back; this time, longer and deeper. The tension I feel inside my body's getting weird.

"You have the most tantalizing eyes ever. Of all the girls I've worked with, you are the best." he said with his perfect eyes focused on mine and never letting go. I cut the glare, and looked down. He continued doing his thing, and silence filled the whole room.

"I wonder what does your face looks like without that mask." I pointed to his black, shiny mask that probably took forever to finish because of those beautifully detailed vintage designs, carved around it. "Do you want me to?" with a weird, yet familiar smile. I recognize that damn smile. It was devilish. I've seen it a hundred times. I see it every day from my manager whenever a new deal comes in. But this one-it seems interesting. I nodded anyway.

He put the brush and the palette down, slowly removed the mask with his eyes looking at the floor. And as he did, my heart started to beat very fast every second. Finally, he looked at me and gave me a sweet wink. My gosh. He is so perfect. Who is he? If angels are real, he probably resembled them; better yet, he is one of them... That very stare he gave me took my breath away...

He sat still in front of me, "There you have it. You've seen enough." He picked up his brush and started to put blush on my cheeks. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I want him so bad. Although he needs a reading glass. His eyesight isn't that good because he needed to come near to look closer to the details of my face. And as he did, I had the urge to do something crazy-my body pushed itself to him, and kissed him. Shit. What is happening to me? Control it!

I pushed him away very hard. Damn. That smile again. "Is that how you artists do it? You kiss someone and make them feel heaven for a moment then push them away so hard to bring them back to hell?" I was catching my breath. I couldn't speak. Another shit..

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. They will never know." I exhaled, feeling relief and safe. My career would've been destroyed forever. "Now, my secret will die with you." I was shocked at the moment. What does he mean? This is getting weird. He put something on his lips-lipstick? "Are you gay?" I laughed. He then smiled, and replied: "No I am not. But you said black defines me. So I tried it."

I kept my mouth shut. It's better this way. My mouth always say the wrong things. "Now let me do it." Triple shit. His face is getting closer... Before I realized it, we kissed. For the second time. Between our kisses he said: "Your lighting beauty can easily be tamed by my shadowing poison." I felt something bitter run through my veins, it tastes so bad... Wait-did he just?

She was poisoned to death.