Alter Ego: His Sultry Lover

"Listen to me," Cage asked. Katherine nodded once, indicating that he was, indeed listening. f𝗿𝗲e𝒘e𝚋ｎ૦𝘃𝙚𝑙.com

"It wasn't a live feed, first of all. I just want to slowly be part of your life, the part you share with others. While you put out one aspect of your life, you never show your personality to others. It can be really tiring when you are pretending to be someone else for a long time. You can act like someone else for short spans of time, but if you keep pretending, it takes a toll on your body and mind." He held up his hand before he could interrupt. "The videos are about your life and I am a huge part of it if I dare say so myself. I have to exist to your viewers. That doesn't mean that they will see me. You don't have to name me or talk about my job, but I can exist in this world of yours."

Katherine folded her arms over her chest, considering his words carefully. "How are you supposed to exist for them if they don't see you or know you?" she asked curiously. It seemed that she was warming up to the idea.

Cage gave her a cautious smile. "You can call me by nicknames. Right now I am just your 'boyfriend,' but you could give me nicknames as parts of my personality. You are good at naming..." he suggested earnestly.

Despite her seriousness, Katherine's lips twitched in amus.e.m.e.nt. She took a deep breath, some of the tension leaving her body. Cage realized that her staunch disagreement had diminished and took a cautious step in her direction. When she didn't move away, he took another step and placed his palms on her waist.

"What about your face?" she asked, calmer.

"You'll see," he answered mysteriously. Cage kissed her jaw before pulling back. "Trust me. I'll even help you edit your videos."

Katherine scoffed. "You're a busy bee. You'd die if you help me edit my videos as well." She slapped his chest. "If I don't like how your plan turns out, I'll not post it," she said firmly.

"Yes, baby," he obliged. Seeing a small smile turn up her lips, he pulled on her. "Now, get dressed. We have places to be."

- - -

Katherine started to laugh when she realized where he was taking her. "You're joking, right?"

They were already in the parking lot, so she didn't have much to protest about. There were a mere two cars in the parking lot and almost no sign of life. "Do you think I would joke about something as serious as an amus.e.m.e.nt park?"

Cage sounded so fakely outraged that Katherine had to laugh.

"This is your idea of a good time? Waiting in lines for rides?"

Cage glanced at her quickly before looking back at the road. A security guard came forward to give them a ticket. Take took it graciously without the other person realizing who the driver was.

"No need to fear the long lines. We've come at a time when the amus.e.m.e.nt park is generally empty and we'll be the only ones on the rides!" Katherine frowned but said nothing. "Don't be sour, Austen. How long have you not been in an amus.e.m.e.nt park?" he asked.

"Probably a decade or so," she replied. "Must have been with friends and most of them were busy dating so I didn't get to enjoy the rides." She looked around as they paid the unlimited entry fee. "But won't this close soon?" she asked.

"No," he said quickly. "I called in a favor. They'll be open all night for us to play." His chirp confused her.

"Did you rent the place out? How much is it costing you?" Now, there was a million-dollar question.

"Not much. This will be a shooting location for the next few days so I asked my friend to let me play here. Just called in a favor." He shrugged.

"So wasteful," she grumbled. Cage knocked on her head and pushed her forward. ƒ𝐫𝒆𝐞w𝗲𝚋𝗻૦𝘷e𝙡.c𝑜𝙢

"Just enjoy having a boyfriend who gives you these benefits," he commented sagely.

Cage pointed excitedly at a tram and pulled her towards it. When they were on it, Cage put his arm around her shoulder and pointed towards the lights in the distance. "Ah! We need to click a picture!" he exclaimed, pulling his cellphone out and posing.

Katherine quirked a brow before following suit. After a couple of pictures, Cage had the grand idea of unzipping the mysterious bag he had brought with him. From within came a brown paper bag with a smiley face drawn on it.

Katherine froze for a second. "Is this some new kink that we need to talk about?" she asked as politely as possible.

"We're clicking a picture for your followers. Introducing your boyfriend to them." He put the bag over his head and scrambled to hand her the phone. "Take the picture, please... I can't see through this."

Katherine burst into laughter and shook her head. "You didn't think this through, did you?"

"Not really." Though his voice was muffled, she could hear the slight amus.e.m.e.nt in his voice. She stared in bafflement as he fixed the bag on his face. "Ready?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," she said. She picked up the phone and did as she was told, clicking pictures with the inanimate looking paper head. If they asked, she could say her boyfriend had a sense of humor.

The tram came to a stop, their first destination having arrived. They hopped down after Cage placed the paper bag into the bag once again. As he walked, he was texting. Despite this, he kept a hand on her back. Katherine looked out for signs of collision but there weren't any people around for that to happen.

"Who are you sending that to?" Katherine asked, glancing at his phone.

"You, for now. I'm also placing it in the right folder and categorizing it. You never know."

Of course, they didn't need a ticket for the ride. Cage flashed his cellphone to the security and rolled inside. It was one of those boat rides inside the cave. "This is a horror cave, isn't it?" Katherine groaned.