The Target Was Me

Bullseye

Sean went first.

He put on quite a show of it, even tossing Sophie a flirtatious look before he threw.

His first dart landed on the blank edge of the photo.

One could barely count that as a hit at all.

…

By the time he finished all 10 throws, only three had actually landed within the figures.

Sean tried to play it off as he laughed awkwardly. "These darts feel off. That round doesn't count. I hadn't warmed up."

Sophie smiled at him indulgently. "It's fine. We're just playing around."

Then, it was Sophie's turn.

She was better than Sean, but not by much.

Only five hit the target area out of her 10 darts.

She turned to me, her eyes full of thinly veiled contempt. "If you admit defeat now, we can forget the bet. I'd hate to watch you embarrass yourself."

The words made my stomach turn.

I had not seen a trace of hesitation from her when Sean had driven his darts into my face on the picture I tacked on, yet she was trying to play the caring girlfriend after that? Please.

So, I ignored her and picked up the darts.

The first one landed dead center.

The room went silent.

Sean's smile froze while Sophie's eyes widened in disbelief.

A faint trace of mockery tugged at my lips as I threw the next one.

Then, the next.

All 10 darts landed in the bullseye.

I dusted off my hands, turned around, and smiled at the stunned faces staring back at me. "I dabbled in this during college," I remarked lightly. "It looks like Sophie and Sean will be squeezing into the master bedroom tonight."

Sean's face turned ugly. "That... that's impossible! You had to have cheated! How could you possibly be that good?"

I looked at him and laughed. "The darts were yours. Everyone here was watching us play. How exactly was I supposed to cheat?"

Sophie's expression darkened even further. "Max, since when did you know how to do that? Why didn't I know?"

"You never asked," I replied. "You were never interested in knowing me."

Our "relationship" had been an arranged match between two families.

I had always been the one who cared more about our relationship. Sophie never wanted it, so she had always treated our engagement like an outdated arrangement imposed on her by our parents.

Anger flickered across her face at my retort. She let out a cold snort and said nothing more.

Then, Sean appeared to realize something. Sure enough, a flash of joy lit up his face.

He put on a casual front as he sauntered over to Sophie and spoke loudly. "Sophie and I are like family. We even bathed in the same tub when we were kids. What's the big deal about spending one night in the same room?"

I looked at them with a half-smile and said, "Then, by all means. The master bedroom's over there. I changed the sheets this morning, so make yourselves at home."

"Fine. We'll go," Sophie shot back at once. "Max, don't regret this. Just wait. You'll be apologizing to Sean tomorrow."

With that, she grabbed Sean by the hand and strode toward the master bedroom.

As Sean passed by me, he lifted a brow in smug triumph.

The three people left in the living room exchanged uneasy glances.

"Uh... Max, we should probably get going," Zoe stated with a dry laugh as she blindly grabbed her coat.

The other two hurried to catch up.

As they left, they glanced at me with awkward sympathy. They looked as if they wanted to say something, but eventually decided against it.

In the end, one of them only sighed and murmured wanly, "Get some rest, Max."