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His business smile was learned; trained; perfected. He would expect no less from himself; there was no room for error or fault. The smile itself was malleable, changeable, flexible in many ways; but it always, always would have the genteel quality of deceptive obligedness.
It was a gilded smile; beautiful gold on the outside, pleasant to the eye and the embodiment of politeness and courtesy. It was a lovely show, and it shone with a sort of smooth, suave charm that pulled in the unsuspecting. With such an air, he found attracting people to him easy; so quickly were they lured into a (false) sense of trust! They played directly into his plans so simply, with minimal effort on his part.
But...as all things gilded, his smiles were not golden through-and-through; underneath that thin veneer lay cold, cold steel, icy in manner and intention. Sharpened, powerful, dangerous, and yielding-- and yet unyielding in some ways-- to influence that will give him what he needs.
He also knows the limits of his business smile, however, for it could only carry him so far; he knows that there is a certain person who could see right through this pleasing artifice he ran. He knows that this person could pierce the steel as easily as gold, looking directly into the part that cannot be described as anything other than simply him-- and thus this person knows him at his core.
He knows this, he tries to fight it--
--he fought it very hard, holding the person away at arms length--
--but in the end…he realizes he doesn't quite mind that this person has understood him so deeply. How should he feel, then? He is unsure, as he is both glad-- and yet terribly afraid-- that this person pried beyond the steel somehow, where he is no longer hidden behind layers and layers of plating.
Perhaps with time he will grow to trust.
Maybe it could extend beyond that.
But right now, at this very moment, all he could do was turn to that person…
And smile.
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