Prologue & Rumour has it

The engaged couple laughed, danced and smiled. 

Little flames which soon would become raging flames were growing behind the bar counter. Someone had played with some sparklers and left them unsupervised. The bar was about to rapidly turn into a mere pile of ashes.

The entire stash of bottles of alcohol next to the bartender caught fire. First, there was a scream. Then, an alarm. 

The couple ran towards the exit, panting and coughing, but it was too late. One layed in the midst of the blazing red monster and the other with his left side crushed by the parts of the second floor that had fallen down. 

The worst kind of accidents are when only one faces the harsh look of death. In this case, nothing but the engagement ring remained of his completely burnt body. Half crushed, the dead’s fiance fell to his knees.

Now, the engaged couple cried, mourned and was separated.

❀ ❀ ❀

PROFESSIONAL DANCER MARS MCKENNA OFFICIALLY QUITS AFTER SPECULATION ABOUT HIS SEXUALITY.

The headline screamed at Dylan. He had no choice but to continue reading. He didn’t know who Mars McKenna was, and frankly didn't care, but these speculative articles were perfect inspiration for his romance novels. This was no ordinary scandal.

Dylan started to examine the article but before he could actually understand what was going on, his phone began to ring. He answered, and-

“Holy crap, Dylan! Did you hear?!”

“What is it, Sicilia,” he replied with barely any enthusiasm.

“Mars McKenna, the Mars McKenna is rumoured to be gay!”

“Oh,” he said. He didn’t have to read the article after all. “Why does that matter to me?” Dylan sat back and yawned, to exaggerate his disinterest.

“Well, first, you're a romance novelist.” Dylan nodded in agreement. “But also, doesn't it make you excited?”

“You’re still not going to give up on proving that I’m gay?’ Sicilia was Dylan’s oldest friend, but she would always bring up this topic once in a while.

“C’mon. Think about it. You have absolutely no interest in girls. You turn down every single one of them, and you don’t have any friends that are men.”

“True. I have no interest in girls, but not wanting to be in a relationship with a girl doesn’t mean I like men!”

Dylan did in fact only make friends who were female, and he was comfortable with it. His blind dates never worked out, even if the girl liked him. All the things Sicilia said were true, except that Dylan was gay, or so he thought.   

“Still,” she continued. “You’re only twenty\-four. Maybe nothing's been figured out yet. I’ll respect your thoughts for now. Oh, but you even rejected the hottest girl in university before you dropped out. Everyone swore she would be the one to break your streak\-”

“Um, sorry. Sicilia, I’m losing connection.” Dylan wanted to get out of this rabbit whole before he couldn't anymore, even if it meant pretending his wifi was failing him. “Talk\- to\- y\-ou later\-” 

He hung up. A call from Sicilia flew in, but he did not answer it. 

Gay? No. Way, he thought to himself. And besides, they are just rumours. It’s only speculation. For some reason, knowing it wasn’t absolutely true put Dylan at ease. He did not dare think of the possibility of him having interest in men. He opened a new document and started to type.

*Reason why I have no interest in Mars Mckenna:

I don’t know who he is

Mars is a weird name

I know nothing about dancing*

Dylan searched up a photo of Mars McKenna.

“He’s good-looking,” Dylan remarked without thinking. Then he slapped his face. “What am I saying! I should just go to bed.”

And so he did, without skipping a single second to think about Mars McKenna’s gorgeous face.

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