How To (Not) Fall For A Villain

7. The Totally Unintended Kiss

The beach was closed for the day, but there still were a few surfers riding the waves, the setting sun dyeing our surroundings deep golden-orange. We landed near the wooden pier running along the beach and sat on the edge, watching the sun set just above the horizon.

Apart from the surfers, there was nobody else on the beach but us. It was a perfect moment.

Or, it would've been a perfect moment if I'd known why Morgan was showing this to me. I didn't mind it, not at all, but... I guess something in me just urged to know.

"What are you thinking?" Morgan asked. "Are you wondering why I brought you here, instead of beating you to smithereens on the sand?" He added, a playful smirk tugging on the corner of his mouth. I looked at him, then glanced at the beach stretching for atleast half a mile towards the crashing ocean waves, and then back to Morgan. "Oh, umm.. kinda?" I answered. The smirk on Morgans' lips grew.

"Well, I could still do that, if you feel like it." He said.

"What, no! No, I mean- not today. I just want to be, okay?" I replied, and Morgan nodded, turning to look at the ocean. He then took a deep breath and seemed to kind of.. relax.

"It's so different here than in my hometown, y'know? There aren't a lot of places where you can hang out like this, and even if there was, you couldn't be alone. The athmosphere is completely different here, it's not as pressuring, not as.. stressful, I- nobody knows me here. Nobody knows who I really am, where I came from, what I have-" Morgan explained, but then stopped mid sentence, a look of dawning horror appearing on his face. He gulped, his fingers gripping the edge of the boards.

"Morgan?"

He drew a deep, shaky breath, his shoulders growing tense.

"What I have done. And it's all my fault." He whispered, his voice strained and barely audible.

"What did you do, what happened?" I asked worryingly. Morgan stared out into the distance, not saying a word, but I could see his face contorting like he was witnessing something horrifying only he could see. His breathing was shallow and rapid, sweat rising on his forehead and neck.

"Morgan? Morgan, are you okay?" I asked, gently shaking him by his shoulders. No answer, which meant he was mentally somewhere else at the moment. "Morgan!" I called out, now shaking him a little harder, trying to get atleast some kind of a reaction out of him, until he gasped and shook his head furiously, coming to his senses as he stared towards the beach, and then turned to look at me.

"You.. you okay?" I asked, relief washing over me as I studied his face, small drops of sweat still shimmering on his tan, freckled skin, tiny little tan lines showing under the sides of his mask. "Um.." he said with a sigh. "I.. I think I'll be okay. I just.. had a bad memory. I-it's okay now, don't worry." He stuttered.

"You know I'm still gonna worry about you. I just want to know you're alright." I said, absentmindedly picking small bits of trash off his hoodie. Morgan smiled again. "I will be alright, don't you worry about it." He told me reassuringly.

I noticed a small dirt stain on his cheek, and licked my thumb to wipe it off. "You got a little something there.." I muttered as I wiped the stain. Morgan said nothing, but his ears started turning red.

"Maybe we should get going now. It's getting dark already." He said after a while and I agreed with it. "It's better to fly when it's not dark yet." He added. The surfers had also left as the sun set beyond the horizon.