A Deceptive Beauty

Chapter Sixteen

"Belle?" Sebastian's came from the other side of the closed door. In response, Belle stayed in the position she was in: lying across her bed with her hair hanging off the edge.

Belle waited a few seconds before replying, "Yes?"

"May I come in?" he asked. Belle jerked up from her relaxed position. She mentally wondered if it was socially acceptable to invite him into her room while she was alone.
But it wasn't as if she was going to do anything scandalous with him. Besides, she could leave the door open.

"Sure, but leave the door open," Belle replied, getting off her bed and headed towards the sofa for the second time that day.

From the sofa, she watched Sebastian walk in, towards her. But when he got to her, he stayed standing up. He looked like he was going to say something, based on the way he was rubbing the back of his neck looking thoughtful.

"I just wanted to say sorry. About earlier," he apologized. Belle was confused. What was he apologizing for?

"Kaiden is lashing out at you because of me. It doesn't make it any better that I'm being a cad," he clarified, looking a little ashamed.

"Well, he can apologize later. But I don't need your apology. Clearly, your history with Kaiden is none of my business," Belle replied flatly, although it wasn't directed at Sebastian.

Sebastian paled slightly. "So he hasn't told you about what happened," he deduced. "I suppose I should have realized that when you decided not to look at me with disgust."

Belle had an appalled look on her face. "Of course he hasn't told me," she quickly said about his first comment before jumping in to ask a question. "Surely you didn't do something that bad."

Sebastian looked dejected and even more ashamed. "I did. Kaiden does have a reason to despise me."

Belle thought he looked so horrible that she decided to tease him a little, to cheer him up. "Wow. Thanks for saying that and not explaining. Way to tease me."

Her teasing absolutely failed when he looked even more dejected, so she dropped her grin with a wince.

"Sorry, bad joke," Belle apologized. "How about we talk about something different," she suggested, realizing that the only way he could cheer up was by talking about another topic.

"That would be good," Sebastian replied quickly, looking a little relieved.

Belle quickly tried to think of something to talk about. She thought about what happened during the day, with the exception of Elizabeth's tantrum.

"I can't dance," she blurted out, suddenly thinking of the masquerade ball.

As soon as she said it, she wondered why she had admitted that. She couldn't even admit that to the other girls, mostly because it'd be more embarrassing.

"That's surprising," Sebastian thought aloud. "You look like someone who would be a natural at dancing."

Belle couldn't help but burst out laughing at his comment. Clearly, he hadn't been there long enough to see all of the embarrassing feats where she had been clumsy.

Her laughter must have been over the top because Sebastian gave her a concerned look.

"I'm not even a natural at walking," Belle managed to get out in between laughter. She planted her face into the sofa to see if that would stop her from continuing. Her abdomen was starting to ache.

When she lifted her face off the couch, she had finally found the strength to stop laughing. She took a deep breath and faced Sebastian, who was now giving her a weird look.