Faux Vows, True Desires

"Cecilia, fancy some late night grub? It's on me."

Cecilia, not missing a step, continued to stride towards his car, responding, "After all the snacks I've had at the theater, I don't think I can stomach another bite." Owen fell silent for a moment. He'd slipped up by providing too many treats.

"Guess it's late. Let's head home."

Cecilia stood by his car, looking back at him.

"Alright."

Owen approached, unlocking the car, courteously opening the door for her. Once she was in, he shut the door, circled around the car and got in himself.

Glancing at her for a moment, he asked, "Did you enjoy the movie tonight?"

"It would've been better if you hadn't been all over me."

Owen looked genuinely apologetic. "I was really scared, didn't expect the movie to be that terrifying."

Cecilia scoffed inwardly: Yeah, right. You're such a bad boy!

"Next time, let's watch something different."

No more horror movies. Something romantic, something sweet.

Cecilia didn't respond.

Owen started the car, driving her home.

As they approached her home, a narrow lane, Cecilia asked him to stop.

"It's too narrow for you to turn around easily. Just drop me off here, I can walk the rest of the way."

Owen peered down the dimly lit alley, faintly lit by a few street lamps. His eyes flickered with worry, "It's late, don't you think it's dangerous for you to walk alone? What if you run into a drunkard or a pervert?" Cecilia had already exited the car.

"People who live here are all old friends. We've known each other for decades. There's no danger."

"You should head home, goodnight."

Cecilia waved him goodnight and disappeared into the alley under his watchful gaze.

of the

She even gave

Ruby, his positive attributes seemed

he'd always had many positive traits but they had all been directed towards

with streetlights, were dimly lit. Some of the lights were even broken, no one had bothered

light

darkest part of the lane, she suddenly noticed

her and instinctively, she dodged the glinting object

It was a knife!

"A robbery."

a

the figure lunged at her

to kick the robber, but he swung the knife at her leg. "Cecilia,

been

the robber, causing him to miss Cecilia's leg, giving her the

darted out,

robbers, both with

"Cecilia."

them. In the scuffle, he was nicked by one of the robber's blades. He bit back the pain, disarming the robbers before they could react. Realizing they were outmatched, the robbers fled into the darkness, disappearing without a

them but was stopped

If they have other accomplices, you might fall into a

the darkness, Cecilia

saw was Owen's exceptional combat skills. He'd disarmed the robbers and chased them off in no time. Without Owen, she would've been able to fend them off but it would've been much more

cursed. I've been walking this path at night for years and nothing's ever happened. But the

using the

two knives,

She sighed.

such a situation, who could've told

seemed to be blood on the real

her flashlight on it, even touching the blade. It was

spinning around and rushing

beam landing

scratch from their knife. It's a superficial

some first aid supplies. Once we've stopped the bleeding, we can head to the hospital." Cecilia