F.L.Y.N.N [ Book no.1 of "The Fouling Damned duo"]

02: 19 | press start to... BEGIN.

~Tempest's POV, continuation~

WHO IS YOUR DREAM GUY, RIYA? The very moment that the strange, yet alluring, and perhaps, even seemingly tantalizing man locked eye-to-eye with me, asking in that charmingly irritating notion of tongue, I suddenly feel like I'm being bombarded with a sudden wave of unexplainable doubt and pain. It's as if my very emotions are being toyed with right now, and I'm walking on eggshells with this man, this peculiar and pretty man who is legit gambling with my memories, my very existence.

I really hate this man.

Whoever he is.

I hate that he thinks he knows more about me than I should be knowing about myself. Say, if I tell him, no ask him how I was like as a child, who exactly was I before... Do I think, do I truly believe, that he'll... Know? Or rather, would he even give a so much as a damn to tell me, if I asked?

******

"Riya, what's wrong? You're spacing out again!" The pretty man continues to call me by that strange and achingly familiar name, all the while waving his left hand in front of my face, in an effort to bring me back to earth and out of the darkness of my mind.

"Hey..." I start to say, as I look up at him, as he continues to stare at me, but not in the way someone would stare at someone lovingly, or even in a kind and gentle manner. Why, this stare of his, it seems almost two parts downright scary, one part beautiful (darn, his good-looking ass face!) and, add a dash of the word morbid, and there you have it folks! The very exact method that this peculiar man uses to stare at me.

But, just as I'm about to continue what I was going to say, I suddenly see a familiar hat at the corner of my eye, situated atop a velvet cushion, on top of one of the shelves. It's sandwiched between two jester looking hats of different designs and patterns: the one off to the left being a half polka-dotted and half striped hat, with small silver bells hanging from each point on the hat, and the other...

Well, enough about that other rather insignificant jester hat-

"Oh! I see, you're looking at this, eh?" pretty boy says, with a soft smile, and... Oddly enough, off-putting enough, he says this in a melancholy, bittersweet, voice. He continues saying, " I see... You seem... Well, you at least appear to have some connection to this hat. Well, you sure have good taste, I can say."

He then proceeds to walk slowly behind himself as he picks the hat off the top of the shelf, and he... Places it on my head.

He walks back to his own chair, that he had previously placed in front of where I am seated, on this purple velvet plush chair of mine. Wow, how fancy.

I proceed in giving him my most sweetest smile, all the while saying, "thanks! It's not as if I could've taken that hat myself off the shelf or anything...haha, you're quite the gentleman."

His response is a sly smirk, tainted in agony, and somewhat ambiguous. What is this man thinking? I have no clue, honestly.

"With pleasure, miss!" he says playfully, and gives me a small salute, in a rather cutesy manner.

I give him a small smile myself, and retort back, "aye, aye, sir!" And basically, in turn, give him an equally as sarcastic salute back. However, for me, I made my salute much more exaggerated. Even going as far as to stand up from where I seated and stand up straight, looking pretty boy straight up into the eyes, similarly to how a cadet salutes to her major in the military.

"Pfft... Geez, you never do change, do you, Riya? Also, can I ask you a question, that I've been dying to know from you, my dear Riya?" Louis' smile softens when he says this, and he plops back onto his chair, positioned in front of me, suddenly a bit more closer than I clearly remembered it being placed...

When I don't answer, I see his right eye begin to twitch quickly, and his soft smile turns into a grim frown.

In response to all this utterly confusing behavior, I-

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS MAN-

Who is-

WHAT DOES HE WANT FROM ME?

"Um... I don't know who you are, where this place exactly is, and who is this Riya person, but... I do know that I think you've definitely got the wrong person here, buddy."

However, although I do say that straight up, given how honest of a person I personally know myself as, I can see it as plain as day that this guy seriously is... Delusional.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! Who are you? Woman, tell me, what is your full name, race, and how old are YOU?" This man, geez... The nerve.

The moment he starts to spew out absolute gibberish, he edges his wooden chair closer and closer to me, and even gets so close to the point that his knees are touching his own, and his beautiful face is less than an inch to mine.

Honestly, I feel super bad for the guy. I have no clue who this 'Riya' was to him, but you know what they say about the senior citizens had have dementia or Alzheimer's: they are always looking for someone.

Someone.

Somehow.

Somewhere.

Perhaps I look like this 'Riya,'?

Who knows.

I start to observe this sad, tragic man, with a new heart.

He looks petrified, that's for sure.

After that almost scary experience with him just now, I look at him with a sad smile, a countenance that I bet looks like the face of a girl who doesn't know what the hell this man... Or anyone... Is going through right now, or rather...

What he went through in the past.

Eventually, he releases himself from his bizarre nature, and he clears his throat, somewhat exaggeratedly.

"Ah! I'm so so sorry about that miss... I must've mistaken you for someone else! But yes! What is your name again, miss-?" He reverts back to how he was originally, before this whole fiasco occurred.

ORIGINALLY.

I cross my right leg over my left, and purse my lips as I respond to this pretty boy, saying,

"I'm Tempest Zappia, age nineteen. You?"

The doubtless gamble of emotions has begun.

Press start to begin...

NOW.