BANG!Once Evangeline stepped inside the dark murky storage room in the very back of the track and field, the door behind her closed with a loud bang!
It didn"t take a genius to know that someone had locked her from the outside.
*sigh…
It was the oldest trick in the book, yet she still fell for it.
It was not entirely her fault though. People cursed and spread rumors behind her back, but no one dared to actually plot against her. This was the first time.
I wonder where they got the courage to do it.
Unknown to Evangeline, since she was preoccupied with Eric, she hadn"t heard the latest rumors being spread that she had now fallen from her grace. That after she was abandoned by her father and used up all her wealth that her father supposedly gave her, she was now prost.i.tuting herself to older men for money to sustain her lavish lifestyle. And now that Daniel too had dumped and abandoned her, she no longer had protection in school.
Not actually knowing that Evangeline owned forty percent of FROZEN"s share and that she inherited a fortune from her mother.
It was never made public who were the company"s stakeholders. And since Robert Krisnov never announced it, not even the shareholders knew that his daughter owned forty percent share in the company.
Of course, Robert Krisnov also didn"t know about the inheritance Emerald left for her daughter. If he knew, he would scheme and plot nonstop to get his claws on that enormous amount of money.
And that was why Evangeline contented to hid her fortune. The less someone knew, the more peaceful her life would be.
Evangeline did try to open the door.
Lock.
Just as she thought.
She glanced left and right. Her fingers pushed the switch to turn on the light so that someone from the outside would notice and open the door.
But of course, as she guessed again, the switch was not working or rather, someone removed the bulb from the ceiling.
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!
She glanced at that small awning window hang high above the wall. Even she climbed towards it, she wouldn"t fit. Specifically, her hips wouldn"t fit.
Evangeline frowned at the thought of her figure, her pride and joy, would become a hindrance one day.
Forget it.
At worst, I"ll have to sleep the whole night here.
She laid the handkerchief she was still clutching on top of the piled tatami mats before sitting on it.
Those two girls who had locked Evangeline inside the stuffy storage room just wanted to scare the woman. Locking her up until morning in a dark, scary place. Even though Evangeline would complain about it to the teachers the next day, but who would side with her?
A woman with no backing.
At most, the girls would deny it since there was no wetness. Saying that the janitor accidentally trapped Evangeline without noticing.
But contrary to those girl"s expectations, Evangeline remained calm and poise, sitting like she was sitting on the most comfortable couch as her eyes glanced at the gloomy sky outside that small window.
Her gaze wavered for a second as her mind flew in a distant memory.
----?----
Daniel and Sisley walked hand and hand on a cobbled pathway towards Sisley"s house.
In truth, Daniel always rode in his expensive white Rolls Royce.
However, on this day, he purposely left it behind.
This day was special. It was the first day that he would escort Sisley home since the time they had gotten together. Thus, it was only natural that he wanted to spend more time with her going to her house.
Though it was raining, it didn"t stop him from doing just that. He even hid his umbrella so they could share under one parasol.
Though half of his side was soaking wet, he didn"t mind as he was consumed with happiness at the moment.
Both of them were.
Sisley"s face remained flushed throughout the walk. With the way that her face been heating up, she didn"t feel cold at all. Especially her side which sometime would graze Daniel"s shoulder.
But this time, just as she was about to put distance between them once more, Daniels"s arm casually flew towards her shoulder and pulled her to him.
Sisley"s face was about to burst from being boiled with embarra.s.sment as well as the overwhelming happiness that flooded her heart that she felt like floating.
"Sorry… it"s better like this so you won"t get wet." Daniel explained in a calm manner. But in truth, his face too was a bit red.
He felt like a boy walking with his crush for the first time. It was out of character for him to be this awkward and fl.u.s.tered.
Then again this was the first time that he felt like acting so freely. Without regard to anything else. Being with Sisley made him feel relaxed and just be himself.
He felt like, whatever he did, the girl beside him would still love him nevertheless.
Daniel smiled at the thought.
Unlike his relationship with Evangeline, he would always feel guarded like he couldn"t afford to make any mistakes towards her, or that make any moves at all from just the sight of her intimidating, cold eyes.
It was tiring.
"Mmm…." Sisley softly hummed in response as her head lowered, too shy to look at Daniel. Her fingers, intertwining with one another, contemplating whether she too should hug Daniel or not.
But then the man abruptly stopped causing the cold droplets of rain to wake her up from her thoughts.
She immediately stepped back under the umbrella that Daniel was holding.
"What"s wrong?" Sisley asked when she saw that Daniel kept on staring at a certain spot.
Sisley glanced to where Daniel was staring, but all she could see was a lone waiting shed.
"Daniel….?"
Sisley called once more. But still, Daniel remained transfixed as if lost in thought.
A year ago
It was also raining.
The sky was gloomy, and thunder occasionally rumbled. It was the first time that he and Evangeline would go home together. Thus, he skipped his basketball practice for the first time since Evangeline didn"t like waiting.
In preparation, he also left his car in his home.
It was a perfect afternoon, without talking much or even without holding hands, he was – happy.
Until the gushing rain fell like waterfalls.
Since the two of them didn"t bring an umbrella, they temporarily waited under the protection of that exact waiting shed.
He was about to remove his jacket to give to the woman, but was stopped when he felt that the woman"s mood worsened when the rain didn"t have the slightest bit intention to stop.
Unwilling to end the memory of their first time going home together, he proposed to buy an umbrella from the nearest store.
She just watched him without any shred of emotion on her lovely face before she nodded.
He immediately ran his fastest to the nearby store to buy a parasol. Luckily, since the shed was still near the school, they were lots of establishment that offer school supplies and of course, umbrellas.
He even picked a single large umbrella so they could share underneath it.
He was full of happy thoughts as he ran back towards Evangeline, not minding that he was soaking wet from the rain.
Upon returning to his girlfriend in high spirit, expecting a warm smile from the beautiful lady. Instead, what greeted him was the woman"s smug look, smirking lips, and a cab nearby.
And…
A little puppy in her arms which he didn"t give too much thought as he was dumbfounded at the sudden appearance of a cab.
"Don"t tell me that you wanted me to walk all the way towards my flat under this heavy rain with just a single umbrella, do you?"
He didn"t speak.
More like, he couldn"t utter a word even if he wanted to. Just from the mocking tone of her voice was enough to shut him stunned. The embarra.s.sment he felt, the humiliation of knowing that he was the only one who had wanted romantic moments with her underneath the parasol, made him immobile.
"You should treat your girlfriend better than that Daniel." Then she went inside the cab without a second glance.
He was still at a loss of what just happened. He couldn"t entirely blame Evangeline as this was his own thoughts. He didn"t exactly ask her if he wanted to walk or ride a taxi instead.
But what was the whole point of getting soaked to the bone and running to buy an umbrella if they were going to ride a cab in the end?
Wasn"t it to humiliate him?!
From then on, he never left his car again whenever he and Evangeline would go home together which happened so rarely since he had practiced after cla.s.s while the woman hated waiting and would immediately go home at the first sound of the bell.
"Daniel."
Daniel blinked, then his head slightly lowered to looked at Sisley"s worried face.
He gradually smiled. "S-sorry…. I got sidetracked for a moment."
Sisley breathed a sigh of relief, but her eyes still held concern.
"Are you alright?"
Daniel continued to smile as his irises slowly turned soft, his hand slowly caressed the girl"s soft cheek which made Sisley blushed.
"I"m fine. Don"t worry too much." Daniel chuckled.
"Mm…" Sisley shook her head as she held Daniel"s fingers and gently rubbed it on her cheek.
Daniel"s eyes shook. Before he knew it, his lips already made its way on the girl"s forehead and lingered there for seconds.
After a while, Daniel backed off a little and held the blushing girl"s hand as he softly laughed.
"Let"s go. I don"t want you to get sick."
Sisley nodded, too fl.u.s.tered to say anything.
Like that, they ultimately made their way towards Sisley"s home.
It was an hour walk, and even though both their side were soaking wet together with their shoes, the couple didn"t mind as they continued to hold hands and merged in their love world, feeling the warmth and happiness the other gave off.
But all things have an end.
They had reached Sisley"s house.
A bit hesitating, Sisley said her goodbyes with moist unwilling eyes.
Daniel chuckled and softly planted a kiss on Sisley"s cheek.
"I"ll call you when I get home. Go inside and take a bath so you won"t catch a cold."
Sisley still wasn"t willing to end the wonderful feeling just yet. She hugged Daniel which caught the man in surprise.
"You too! You should hurry and go home to take a bath before you catch a cold." She raised her head to looked at her boyfriend. "Don"t get sick. Remember, bath only with warm water and sipped some ginger tea and drink anti-cold medicine. And… and... and if you feel any soreness in your throat or that if you feel anything at all remember to take medicines and call me immediately, alright?"
Hearing her worried and frantic voice coupled with that adorable face, Daniel was once more filled with warmth and contentment and he softly pinched Sisley"s cheek.
"I promise…..."
"Mmmm…."
Sisley hummed and released the handsome man as she stormed inside her house. She glanced one last time towards her boyfriend and smiled before uttering, "see you tomorrow," and shut the door.
…..
…..
It had been a long time that Daniel just stood there outside Sisley"s house with a smile on his face before he walked away, headed towards the main road to call for a cab.
Along the way, he couldn"t help but think of Evangeline.
Now that his thoughts were unoccupied, the curiosity of knowing why the woman stayed behind the school dominated his entire mind.
Maybe she didn"t bring an umbrella? She"s probably waiting for the rain to subside.
Daniel glanced at the gloomy sky, promising rain throughout the night.
Forget it. She has her phone, and it is not like she can"t call for a taxi.
He frowned.
Even though he ended things with her, it didn"t mean that he hated her. Besides, he still had lingering feelings towards her even if it was no longer romantic affections.
After all, he did like her in the past. Just because he had gotten himself a new girlfriend the feelings he had for her would just automatically disappear in one night.
And I did wrong her and hadn"t apologize yet.
Daniel"s brows furrowed even deeper. He knew that sooner or later he had to apologize to her or else, his conscience wouldn"t let him be.
Without a second thought, he hailed for a cab going back to the Academy.