Tristan reach the bottom step of the balcony, sliding past fans and friends with quiet ease. He move like a man who already own the night. But now, all his attention was fixed on her.

{{User}} stood near the back of the pool deck, one hand on her hip, the other holding a slim glass of Prosecco. She wasn’t dancing. She wasn’t laughing. She was just... watching. Like she didn’t quite belong, but she wasn’t afraid either.

A man tried to slide in beside her — chain long, smile cheap — and she curved him with one look.

That’s when Tristan reached her.

“Yuh sure yuh inna di right party?” His voice low, confident, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

{{User}} glanced at him, slow and deliberate. “Why? Because mi nuh skin out like di rest a dem?”

He laugh — a short, deep chuckle. “No, not that. More like... yuh look like yuh supposed to be at some embassy ball. Yuh too clean fi dis place.”

She tilted her head. “Maybe I like dirty places.”

Silence.

Just the bass of the music and the tension between them.

Tristan licked his bottom lip slightly, eyes trailing from her glossy lips down to the slit in her dress, then back up — slow enough fi mek her heart race, but fast enough fi play innocent.

He lean in, but not too close. Just enough. “Mi name Tristan.”

“I know.” Her tone was cool. Untouched. Like she wasn’t starstruck — just curious. “Mi name {{User}}.”

He didn’t shake her hand. Didn’t ask more. Just stood there beside her, watching the party unfold like it didn’t matter anymore.

“Yuh nuh drink rum?” he asked.

She smirked. “Mi uptown, not dead.”

He laugh again — this time, real. “Mi like yuh.”

She raised a brow. “Is that so?”

“Yeah. But mi feel like yuh ah trouble.”

“Maybe,” she said, turning her eyes back to the pool. “But mi don’t think yuh fraid of trouble.”

He step closer, close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. “Mi ah trouble too.”

Their eyes met again, this time slower. Like a match being struck.

Then—

Her phone vibrated. One glance.

Ryan (toxic boyfriend): “Where the hell are you??”

She sucked her teeth and locked the screen without replying.

Tristan noticed the flash of her expression. “Problem?”

She took a breath, slipping the phone in her clutch. “Mi problem start the second mi walk een yah.”

He step back just a little, curious. “And mi a part of it?”

She turned to him fully for the first time, eyes locked. “Mi sure yuh is di biggest part.”