"I went to boarding school here, for a few years," he was telling me as we sat in the surprisingly empty metro.

"Here in Brussels?" I turned to him in surprise, sitting beside him with a curious and old lady opposite us.

She was eyeing us with a small and sweet smile, most likely amused by the fact that we fit in so badly right now. The mustardy yellow seats we were sitting on had small stains on them, and a part of me worried it would stain my Balmain gown. I stopped caring though, once Ben began speaking again.

"Yes. Best years of my life," he chuckled to himself, "just imagine an extremely basic teenage boy in a city with the most amazing night life ever. Girls, alcohol, drugs... it was crazy."

"You're kidding," I gasped teasingly, "you? A wild child?"

He shook his head with a grin and rested his hand behind me and on my waist, holding me closer to him as the metro swayed a little.

"If you only knew," he replied, his tone one I'd never heard before. I hadn't thought I'd ever see him smile this much.

"It's Friday night," I decided to change the subject, "where is everyone?"

I motioned at the relatively empty metro carriage we were in.

"Ah," Ben mused, "they're at town."

"Town?" I smiled curiously, finding his dark eyes in the slightly horrible lighting in here, "and where's that, exactly?"

"You'll see when we get there, sweetheart."

It wasn't long until we got off at a stop called De Brouckere.

"I'll give you a taste of what my teenage years were like, alright?" Ben kept his arm around my waist, and I didn't mind it one bit. I felt safe in this new surrounding with him so close.

The wide street had people sitting outside of different restaurants and cafes, drinking, eating and laughing.

The whole vibe of this place seemed so relaxed and easy-going; I instantly fell in love. Ben could tell how much I liked this.

"Just wait until we go to my favourite bar," he told me, guiding me to walk along with him.

"What's your favourite bar?" I wondered curiously, unable to wipe the smile from my face.

He shrugged mysteriously and gave me a smirk, "it's a pretty sad place, nobody goes there anymore. It used to be the place-to-be when I lived here. It's called Dali's."

"Like Salvador Dali?" I raised my brows at him, and he nodded with a laugh as we walked through the lively street, lit up by the final rays of the setting sun and a few lampposts.

"I doubt he still works there, but the bartender used to be amazing. Fucker would serve underaged teens without thinking twice," he then shook his head to himself, reliving great memories in his mind.

"He served underage people?" I raised my brows at the man beside me, stepping over a broken bottle of beer on the paved ground.

"To be fair, the only people that did go to Dali's back then were teenagers. Underaged or just turned 16," Ben reasoned, "a few older, but only a few."

We soon arrived and he guided me through a slightly dodgy hallway until we reached the actual bar area. There were only two groups of teens, most likely getting pre-drinks before heading out where-ever they then decided to go to spend their Friday night.

Ben and I sat down at a table in the corner, me on the couch side and he on the regular chair opposite me.

"Is he the same bartender?" I nodded over at the man who had made us the drinks.

The music was not the best, but the dark red lighting made me feel excited. The bar wasn't the best, but I could definitely imagine it in its prime time; crowded by teens and young adults.

"No," he shook his head, "shame."

I gave him a smile and sipped my drink, "it's weird that you're suddenly so happy."

"Brussels makes me happy," he shrugged and also sipped his drink, "I spent my most important teen years here."

"Do you come back here often?" I asked, speaking lowly but with enough sound so he could hear me.

He shook his head, "not often enough. All my friends from here are either studying in the Netherlands or selling drugs wherever."

"Really?"

"Really. We really thought we were on top of the world here, you know? Like nothing was out of limits," he explained, and the way he spoke hypnotised me completely.

I left my drink alone and leaned my arms onto the small round table between us, just so I could get a little closer to him.

He was sitting casually on his seat, but also placed his drink down, eyes never leaving mine even when my cleavage was more than visible in my new position.

"You are on top of the world now, Ben," I reminded him, a teeny hint of seductiveness in my tone, "nothing is out of limits for you."

"It's not as fun as before. We weren't on top of the world, but it felt like we were. That's what made it so amazing," his nostalgic smile slowly faded, "some people are made to be on top of the world. My father is, but I'm not."

"I think you've done fine until now, considering you didn't have much training..." I reasoned with a small shrug.

I carefully moved my hair behind my shoulders, so more of my skin would be visible to him. A part of me wanted to test him, and see him get all nervous like most of the men I did this to, did.

"My plan is to just have a kid as soon as possible, so they can take over this whole business and I can go live life alone on an island somewhere," he told me with a completely straight face.

I raised my brows challengingly at him, "you'd push your child to do a job you don't want to do?"

"I was pushed to do it. It's the family's business, someone has to take over," he explained, "it's a shitty world."

"Why would you want to live alone, then? Wouldn't that be boring?"

He laughed, "after the hassles I've had to deal with as Don, a lifetime of seclusion doesn't sound too bad."

I hesitated for a moment. I could either just keep this conversation casual, or I could jump straight into the deep end. I decided to just go for it.

"Completely secluded? Without a man or a woman?" I wondered, seemingly innocently but with my seductive tone returning.

"Completely secluded," he confirmed without a second thought, his gaze still very much focused on mine before he sipped his drink again.

"I couldn't imagine being completely secluded, you know," I began, fully aware of what I wanted to do now, "I would need to at least have someone with me. A man or a woman. You understand?"

Ben's brows raised with interest, "you swing both ways?"

I giggled lightly and shrugged, "I really don't mind. I'm more into men, but women are amazing creatures."

He nodded once and glanced away for a moment. While admiring his relaxed jawline, I sipped my drink.

"Speaking of," I began, returning his attention to me, "why did you kiss me on the jet?"

His brows furrowed, "you kissed me."

"No, I'm pretty sure you made the first move..." I grinned mischievously, "and you asked why I didn't stop you. That implies that you needed to be stopped. Therefore, you kissed me."

He huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, "maybe we both kissed each other. How's that, hm? Neither of us started it, it just... happened?"

I pondered over it for a moment, before nodding in agreement, "that's fair. Why did we kiss then?"

An awkward laugh left his lips and he shook his head while leaning back in his seat, still managing to keep the cool, casual and collected stance he seemed to always have.

"I don't know. Maybe it was the champagne," he shook his head to himself, "it was a mistake. Shouldn't have happened."

"I liked it, though."

He stared at me. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it pretty soon after realising he didn't know what to reply with.

My smile widened and I tilted my head, "didn't you?"

My voice was as seductive as I could get it. Maybe champagne truly wasn't the best for me to drink when I would be around this man, but I couldn't help it. He was delicious in every way.

Ben composed himself after a short moment and laughed, "damn, you really are good."

"Huh?"

"With men. That was really freaky," he tapped the side of his head with his finger, "no wonder you're so good at what you do."

I frowned for a moment, not understanding why he'd change the subject like that, when I could clearly see through him.

He wasn't scared, was he?