Page 112 of Dream On, Liar

He slowly shook his head. “Not all of them.”

I frowned, as he continued.

“Some are just because I liked the design.”

“How many do you have?” I asked.

“I’ve honestly lost count.”

I pressed my lips together from asking more questions. It suddenly felt too personal. Because not only did I want to see them all, I wanted to reach out and touch them, and ask him about the ones that meant something.

Like he could see it in his eyes too, his eyes sparkled with a dare. Almost like he wanted me to rise to my curiosity.

I hated how easy it was for him to read me.

I hated more how much I loved it.

As a child, it had been such a “difficult” part of my personality. My teachers hated the amount of times I used to raise my hand in class; what they hated even more was when I diverged into questions that took us off topic from what the class needed, no matter the relevance of my questions. My mother loved to comment how I could go further with my social group if I didn’t constantly question everyone around me. My father had only been who never seemed to mind it, at least on the days I was with him.

“Do you mind if I freshen up first?” I asked, my voice lower than I’d intended.

Rihaan watched me intently before shaking his head once. “Go for it.”

“Thanks.” I replied before moving like there was a fire under my arse, scrambling to open my suitcase, grab my things, and rush into the bathroom.

I DID MY BEST to avoid Rihaan as much as I could once I left his room.

Not just because I didn’t want to impose on him any longer, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t hold an eye contact with him for longer than a second, even when I tried to.

So, I was stuck sitting around the lounge in the lobby, waiting for my room to finally open up…with a laptop, that was about to run out of battery soon. It was the only thing I could grab before I needed to make myself scarce from the room when I heard the shower turn off. Only, when I’d asked the reception for an update, they’d informed me that the person had asked for a late check out, but they’ll prioritise on cleaning the room for me. Still, it didn’t help I had another couple hours of roaming around the hotel until I had my own space.

The small irony didn’t fail to land on me.

“Hey,” A voice made me snap my head up. “What are you doing here?”

Raina watched me with a concerned look, as she closed the gap between us.

“Just trying to get some admin work done. What about you?”

“Just came to inform the reception about a package that’s coming from NexGen’s local campus, so they’d hold it back for later.” She frowned, then. “What about your room? It’s so muggy down here.”

I hesitated, and before I could stop myself, the lie was spilling out of me. “There was a…leak in my room. Something about the air-con? I’m not too sure but they asked me to wait down here, while they fix it or swap me for another room.”

“Huh,” She said, unconvinced. “Do you want to hang out in mine and Oliver’s room? We’re just about to head out and take Lilli and Milo out for some air. We’ll be gone for an hour or so.”

I blinked, before shaking my head. “Thank you. I don’t mind being down here. They said it wouldn’t be that long.”

She gave me a nod, then. But I could see that she was still not entirely convinced. “Well, if you change your mind. Our room number is 11011. We’re thinking of leaving in another fifteen minutes.”

I gave her a smile then. “Thank you, Raina.”

“Of course.”

I watched her go, my attention easily moving to the couple of boys from the team as they exited the lift.

Shit.

If any of them found me sitting here and had the same instinct to reach out, I wasn’t sure how I long I could string the lie along. Especially, if my father was the one who’d spotted me.