Top Secret ✔

Chapter 14 || Trust Issues and Insecurities

Chapter 14 || Trust Issues and Insecurities (to the right is the picture of the mural)

      "Colton! I can't cycle!" I screamed into his ear from behind him.

He simply chuckled and told me to just pedal.

We were currently riding a two-person bike around Armenian Street, where the sort of life-like murals were. As the sun seemed to be glaring at us wherever we went, I decided to rent a bicycle and to not walk.

I was sitting at the back. The front cyclist does all the work while the back one only pedals; which was exactly what I was doing.

"I have zero balancing!" I reminded him.

Colton cycled faster, making sure that I needed to pedal at the same speed as him and successfully making the wind blow faster into my face. Strands of hair flew across my face and I spit some of them which have made their way into my mouth.

"You're wearing sunglasses!" I reminded him yet again.

What if he couldn't see and accidentally banged a tree? What if he couldn't see and accidentally banged a car? What if he couldn't see and accidentally bang a truck?

Colton seemed to realise the many questions running through my head and made an attempt to reassure me. "Trust me."

Trust him? Someone who I've only known for a couple of weeks? Two weeks to be exact?

Trust him? Someone who I've always disliked up until about 14 days ago?

But the problem was, I do. Trust him, I mean.

"You've never been here before!" I shouted in realization. He was cycling at the speed of a professional in foreign grounds?

"Trust me!" he repeated.

I let out a huge sigh of relief when we stopped briefly to take pictures when we reached one of the murals around that area. Colton parked the bike and told me to line up first without him. Yes, there was actually a line.

I got into queue and watched the other tourists posing in front of the mural with so many eyes watching them. Wasn't it kind of awkward? Colton slid in behind me and whispered, "Should we take turns to take the pictures?"

I nodded in agreement at the suggestion. "We'll ask somebody to take a picture of us using your phone."  I said, coyly. I didn't like the idea of a complete stranger having my camera, even if it was just for a single picture.

The mural was of a little girl and her little brother sitting on a bicycle. The bicycle was a real one; it was cut into half and firmly glued to the wall where the picture was painted on. Tourists could actually sit on the seat to take pictures.

Colton went first and I volunteered to help him take his. I went on one knee with my camera in hand and took shots of the still sunglasses-clad Colton. He then did the same for me. I was reluctant to hand my camera over to him at first, but after some icy stares from the other tourists and some rude remarks for me to hurry up, I heavy-heartedly handed it to him. "Don't break it!" I warned. Colton could definitely see that I meant my threat and he nodded and told me to trust him.

Do I really have trust issues?

After my awkward one-minute photo shoot, we then asked a fellow tourist to help take our picture, this time with Colton's phone.

It was quite intimidating to have to pose beside Colton who already looked like a supermodel without much effort. I was sitting on the seat with a grin plastered onto my face while Colton was at the back of me, acting like he was trying to push the bike.