Chapter 6

The host's snow-white suit shone under the spotlights as if it had built-in lighting. He walked through the arch, climbed up to the wheel, and placed his palm on the silver Cupid's arrow. Turning back, he smiled at the audience with the smile of a tempter offering to buy souls for five minutes of bright spectacle.

I don't know why that thought came to me, but my throat went instantly dry, and one thought, like a supernova explosion, blinded everything happening onstage.

Oh God, not me! The thought flashed through my head. Please, not me first. Mom, I can't do this! If you can hear me, could you temporarily close my chakra?!

Standing on my round marker, I was so frozen with nerves and fear that I really did look like a mannequin.

  Meanwhile, the cameras moved closer to Valentine and showed him in close-up. The host's hand flew up, and he spun the wheel with ease. He struck his palm against the silver arrow, sending it in the opposite direction, and everything began to spin as if in a fairy tale about the flow of time. Multicolored sectors flashed past, rotating separately from one another, bells rang, and the wheel began to slow...

Mommy... I want to go home to Zodiac. Drink coffee, read a book, and knit a hat. In that moment, I swear, I couldn't move!

The wheel stopped, the sectors aligned, and the arrow pointed simultaneously to the pink triangle with the name "Kate" and the blue one with the name "Bogdan."

The audience reacted with expected enthusiasm, and I exhaled and closed my eyes.

Had I really been spared?

"Congratulations to our contestants! We have our first couple!" Valentine proclaimed solemnly. "Katherine, a delicate artist who dreams of old Parisian streets and romantic dates under the Eiffel Tower, and Bogdan, a future lawyer with a character like a rock. And so fate has decided to bring together brush and legal code... an intriguing choice. I ask the couple to come down to us!"

Close-ups instantly appeared on the screens: a fragile brown-haired girl with delicate features and a fair-haired, self-assured guy. I didn't manage to get a better look at them. My nerves wouldn't let me. Both came down from their places and met under the arch. Greeting them, Valentine, shining with his trademark smile, noted:

"Here it is, the magic of a turn of the wheel! Just look at these contrasts. One loves to argue, and the other seeks inspiration in every glance. Well, we will see whose feelings prove stronger. I ask the couple to proceed to our improvised cafe for their first date and take their table. We will certainly return to Katherine and Bogdan!"

 The audience applauded, the music started again, and I suddenly thought, seeing how confidently the guy placed his hand on the girl's fragile shoulders: good thing that lawyer hadn't ended up with me. He would crush poor Kate in any argument with evidence, like a python crushing a monkey, because guys like that don't know how to "hear" anyone. Although... what if she had paints capable of covering even concrete?

The couple disappeared behind the arch, and Valentine returned to Cupid's Wheel again. Lowering his voice, he said:

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment has come for the next choice. Who will become the second couple of the evening? We will know the answer soon!"

He placed his palm on the golden rim, held a dramatic pause, and gave the wheel a hard shove. Lights flashed again, bells rang... and my heart dropped.

No, please, not now! Choose someone else, not me. I'll just drop off behind the stage and crawl, crawl away... Maybe no one will even remember me!

But then the spinning slowed, and the arrow froze on a pink sector. The hall froze with it... and I felt an icy current pierce straight through me.

The name flashed on the enormous screens... "Diana."

No, you cannot prepare for fame. No matter how many times I had talked myself into acting confident, the sight of my own name blown up to the size of a car made my vision go dark, stole my breath, and suddenly compressed every sound into one dull blow, like a slap against an eardrum. The space in front of me opened wide, while the familiar world did the opposite: stepped behind my back, walked out the door, and left me standing alone onstage.

I did not hear or see the guy's name. A spotlight hit me in the face, my heels wobbled treacherously, and everything inside me dropped from nerves that pinned me in place.

I swear, this show is scarier than any exam.

"And so, we have the second couple of the season!" Valentine's loud, solemn voice reached me from somewhere in a parallel universe. "Diana, who does not believe in love at first sight but does believe in Tarot cards! And... Dennis, the guy ready to risk his own heart just to prove that love is not for him at all! Let us see whether these two can avoid Cupid's own trap... I ask the couple to come down to us!"

Oh no. I can't do this.

For one second I stood there as if I had grown into my round marker, trying to remember how to breathe with my lungs and move legs that had forgotten how to work. Then the assistant director's sharp whisper burst through my earpiece:

"Diana?.. Diana, that's your cue! Wake up, go! The camera is on you!"

And I went, forgetting the length of my dress, my heels, and where my hands were supposed to be for a "flattering shot." Afraid of falling on the smooth floor and smiling on pure instinct.

The light blinded me, blood pounded in my temples, but I made it almost to the middle of the stage and the Wheel... when I suddenly noticed the guy approaching from the opposite side and stumbled. We both slowed at the same time and froze in place when we saw each other.

What is happening?

My lashes flew wide in confusion, and I almost backed away, running straight into a mocking smile I knew as well as my own.

No... No! Anyone but him!

Dennis freaking Demond... here? I wasn't wrong?

No, not like that. It was much worse.

The last guy in the world I expected to see here was my...match?! IMPOSSIBLE!

Demond's blue eyes reflected the same shock as mine. Neither of us could believe it. And if there is such a thing as the irony of fate, then I did not appreciate its joke.

I have no idea what was happening to my face, but Demond's crooked smirk faltered treacherously when he saw me... and slid downward, while the look in his eyes became priceless, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him. He looked me over from head to toe, bit his lip, and frowned.

Oh, as if I was thrilled to see him!

At least those few seconds of confusion gave me time to look him over.

Dennis was wearing a gray trouser suit with a youthful cut that perfectly emphasized his athletic build. Under it was a white shirt, the top buttons naturally undone, and on his feet were white sneakers. His dark hair was carelessly pushed back, but a few stubborn strands had fallen over his forehead. He looked like... like Demond. Ironic, stylish, and unfortunately attractive. Dressed up as if he had prepared to play the lead in a romcom. Damn poser. A guy like that couldn't even fake feelings convincingly, let alone fall in love for real.