52 parts Ongoing Mature> "He's NO item," they whispered, a dark omen. "PLEASE don't like him," they pleaded, their eyes filled with knowing sorrow. "He DON'T wife 'em," they declared, their voices hard with experience. "He ONE NIGHTS 'em," they finished, a final, brutal truth. I ignored them, blinded by a foolish hope. Those warnings, though they seemed like tired clichés, were the very essence of him. And now, I confess, I wish we'd never met. Funny how everything shifted, how the mask fell away, once he'd taken what he desired. Nothing remained the same.