“It’s okay now, hush. I beat them up and chased them away. You’re safe now,” Zayn cooed gently, rubbing Faye’s cheeks. He tore the tape off the woman’s lips.A cry, followed by a heartbreaking bawl sprung out of her mouth as soon as the gag was removed, and the distressed woman threw herself onto Zayn. She was whimpering like a little girl.Zayn had her in his arms as he patted her back gently, hushing her with a litany of soothing assurance. This was the first time he had ever seen Faye cry like this.“I was so terrified… God, I was so terrified…” she sobbed. As soon as her ropes were undone, she wrapped her arms around Zayn and squeezed him as tightly as she could. Zayn felt like he could not breathe.Faye was scared that he would disappear, so she held onto him for dear life, like a drowning woman clinging onto the last floating barrel out at the sea. She had never been so scared before, not even during that one time with Ethan—she had never been so fearful.Honestly, Faye had
Faye had to muster all the courage within her to ask the question, and even so, the words could not leave her without her cheeks flaring a scarlet red. Blushing or not, she was determined enough to raise her head and her snow-fair neck before nailing her eyes onto the chairman of Violet Vision.The intensity of her gaze caused Zayn’s heart to pound tumultuously against his chest. He was starting to panic. His mind was expeditiously rummaging through all the possible motives that were fuelling her thought process. What was the purpose of her saying something like that? Was it because she had cracked the code? Did she know who was behind the mask?Or was it all a test?He was panicking so much that he could not read Faye’s gaze properly. He did not notice the ardor nor the passion burning brightly in her eyes.Faye’s heart was racing, too. The chairman’s silence made her believe that the man had conceded to her request, so she reached towards the man’s face to relinquish him of his s
Zayn was fortunate enough to have lied about being the chairman’s ‘friend’ to Faye prior. Otherwise, the cat would have been out of the bag. What a save!He went along with the convenient excuse and admitted, “Yes. Uh, I was in a hurry, so I borrowed his car.”“Oh,” she replied, nodding without any skepticism. Zayn breathed a sigh of relief.The car started to move, and after a journey filled with silence, they were back in the city in a matter of minutes.Faye was feeling anxious the whole ride. She was mostly excited though, as there were clearly other complex feelings being thrown into the mix. She summoned enough courage on multiple occasions throughout the trip to tell the chairman about her feelings, yet every time she turned to look at him, the very same courage was vaporized in an instant.She kept telling herself that she still had time—all the time in the world—to wait a little longer, just a little more…Zayn watched a very lovesick Faye and her furtive attempts to spy
Only God knew the amount of courage that Faye had to summon in order to confess her feelings to the chairman. Her heart was racing to its maximum speed, and she felt like she was coming down with a fever. It was the first time she had ever confessed to a boy!What was even more shocking—she had no idea what the man looked like at all, not even in the slightest!Half a year ago, if anyone told her that she would be confessing her love to a mysterious masked figure, she would have thought that they had lost it. Faye Carter would never do something so ludicrous!And yet here she was. It seemed outlandish—but there was a method to the madness. She felt that she had truly come to love the chairman. She loved him so much that she could not stop herself. Sure, she had never truly seen the man in his unmasked state, but her instincts were telling her that the chairman was strong, handsome, and everything that she looked for in a man!Despite meeting the chairman on only three occasions, th
Faye was like a bird freed from its shackles. Her feelings had been emptied like a pitcher; gone was the hesitation, gone was the conflict in her mind. Everything was crystal clear—her emotions flowed so naturally.“You might be shocked; I know you are. I’ve only met you three times, and I’m already irrevocably in love with you,” she said, passionately meeting Zayn’s eyes. Her gaze was softened by a gentleness that was previously unseen. “To be honest, ever since we’ve first met, your big heart... Your altruism… They left an impression on me that won’t ever go away. That was the darkest moment of my life. I was in despair; I was hapless, in pain, and I accepted my fate as a sacrifice. But you… You were the one who saved me. You showed me that there’s more to this world than monsters and men, that those knights in shiny armor really do exist!“My mom said it’s all an act—she said it’s the sort of masquerade that powerful people like yourself put on, so that naïve little girls like me
As Faye continued to reach her hand towards Zayn’s face, the cogs in his mind were working at their fastest pace. It was only two seconds, yet he probably used twenty-minutes worth of his brain’s capacity.He did want to stop her. Unmasking himself was a huge deal—he did not plan on revealing himself to her tonight at all.It was Faye’s sudden love confession that sucker-punched him. It made a mess of his steps and foiled his plans.Within those two seconds, he had thought of many, many things. However, whether he could stop Faye was not the issue; it was her reaction.Honestly, Zayn had no idea. Faye might have sworn her love for the chairman, but how different would it be when she discovered that it was Zayn all along? Would she still love him? Or would things take a turn for the worse and spiral in the opposite direction?So many unknowns. The future was ineffable.In the end, he chose to come clean. He chose not to stop her.He could feel her hand trembling lightly against h
He forced a smile anyways. “Fifi, I know that this is my fault. I shouldn’t have kept it from you…”“Shut up!” Faye cut him off curtly. “Zayn Larson, do you think it’s fun fooling me like this? Is this your revenge for my betrayal? By impersonating the chairman of Violet Vision to disgust me and watch me make a fool of myself?!”As Faye threw those accusations, she teared up. She did not feel any less upset than Zayn currently was.“Impersonate?” Zayn was stunned. How? Should he have continued lying and hiding the truth from her? Swiftly, he caught up with the situation. Faye actually refused to believe that he was the chairman of Violet Vision? What the heck?!“Fifi, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not impersonating the chairman of Violet Vision. I am the chairman of Violet Vision! I can call Sean right now if you don’t believe me. He can prove my identity!” Zayn hurriedly explained.Another idea struck him and he continued, “Or you can go to Violet Vision with me tomorrow. I can prove
Zayn kept quiet. It was when Faye sat on his lap and began taking off her clothes that he grabbed her hands and spoke darkly, “Enough!”Faye ignored him, flinging his hands away. She pulled her buttons loose in an instant. She gave up on herself completely, abandoning any care and regard for herself to the wind.Zayn felt his heart ache worse than it had just now as he watched her in her current state. It had suddenly dawned on him—she didn’t love him, in fact, she hated him. It hurt so badly…‘Despair is the greatest sorrow.’ That was an accurate depiction of what Zayn was feeling right now.“I’m sorry.” The words came out hoarsely from Zayn’s mouth.Faye paused momentarily. Guilt crept up her expression, though it flickered away promptly after. She resumed what she had been doing.Despite her hot figure, there was not an ounce of lust from Zayn because her reaction only deepened the wound in his heart.“You’re right. I impersonated Violet Vision’s chairman.” Zayn’s tone was so