SMASH!Both Eric and Evangeline"s eyes, as well as the other students, snapped towards that cluttering sound.
"Watch where you"re going, freak!" A s.e.xy woman yelled while her minions beside her all snickered as they left the cafeteria, leaving a woman, lying on the floor with clattered foods and broken plates around her.
When the students saw who it was on the floor, they resumed eating like nothing happened, like it was just an everyday occurrence. Some didn"t even want to get implicated as they circled their way from the kneeling woman on the ground.
Evangeline too didn"t bother with it as she resumed to finish her meal. However, her eyebrows creased when Eric stood up.
She immediately yanked his sleeve.
"Where are you going, Eric?" She smiled, yet her eyes held warning as her voice turned threatening.
"I"m just going to clean the clutter. I"ll be right back," Eric replied, didn"t mind Evangeline"s tone of voice.
"We"ve already agreed that you won"t be working here anymore." Evangeline dryly chuckled without humor.
She didn"t like it if someone disobeyed her order even it was Eric, and she didn"t like it more if someone disturbed her alone time with him.
"Yes, but our agreement only starts next week. So in a sense, I"m still working here."
Eric softly planted a smile on his face and gently pinched the woman"s hand that was yanking his sleeve which caused Evangeline to withdraw her hand lighting fast as if being electrocuted.
Eric chuckled and added. "And besides, I haven"t handed my resignation letter yet. Just wait here and continue eating. I"ll be right back."
Then Eric stormed towards the kitchen without waiting for Evangeline"s response. And moments later, he came back with a trolley, a mop, dustpan and broom in hand.
"Sorry..."
The lady on the floor muttered softly when Eric approached her as she kneeled on the floor, trying to pick up her mess, but Eric tightly held her arm and gently yanked her back.
"Don"t touch it. You might slice your fingers. Leave this to me." Without waiting for the girl to reply, Eric swiftly dusted the broken plates and mopped the floor clean.
Minutes had pa.s.sed, and everything was spotless once more.
"Thank you." The girl softly said, her voice lax and low, yet it had this rebellious and unbending tone to it that Eric couldn"t help but glanced to take a look at the woman.
Gla.s.ses met gla.s.ses, and Eric was momentarily stunned by the girl"s appearance.
Black hair, darker than night, framing her flawless face. A sharp contrast against her pale skin and thin pouty cherry-like lips.
But that was not what made Eric momentarily lost himself. It was those eyes behind those round spectacles. It reminded him of Evangeline"s purple ones.
While Evangeline"s eyes were the lighter shade of purple almost blue, the girl, however, had a darker shade of violet almost black.
And for the woman, seeing up close the man who helped her, she too was momentarily stunned.
Such ashen silvery eyes.
Unconsciously, she wanted to reach out and wiped those messy hairs from his forehead to get a closer view of his eyes.
Before she could even raise her hand, however, a stunning lady blocked her view.
"Don"t you think you have stared long enough, Miss...?" Evangeline purposely hanged her sentence so she could get the name of the meddler.
The girl blinked before arranging her gla.s.ses, not one bit affected at the intimidating woman who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Satele Risova."
Evangeline smiled, yet her smile held scorn and threat
Evangeline smiled, yet her smile held scorn and threat. "I think you should wash your clothes Miss Risova, least you wanted it to stain."
Satele slightly peeked at her simple black turtleneck shirt, and true enough, some food and sauce had scattered on it. "Then, excuse me." But before she left, she glanced at Eric one last time. "Thank you, Mr.....?"
"Eric Phelps."
Stale beamed at Eric and ignored Evangeline"s glares as she went towards the bathroom.
.....
.....
Evangeline appeared calm on the outside, but she was secretly fuming inside. Not many could elicit a reaction like this from her. She was usually cool and composed both inside and out.
But when it came to Eric, she was unusually easy to ruffled.
She glanced at the man with a mocking smile playing on her lips. "Must be pretty good to have a beauty like that gave you thanks, right? No wonder you insisted on helping her clean her mess."
Eric"s expressionless face remained unmoved. "I"m still working here after all. I have to do my job."
"I don"t like it that my servant is serving another that is not me. You better pa.s.s that resignation letter now, Eric." The words came out fast before Evangeline could think things through.
c.r.a.p.
She was always the one who say whatever was on her mind. But ever since she had taken a liking to Eric, she wanted to change that somehow since she didn"t want the man to hate her.
Great! And we had just gotten close two days ago!
She was prepared to take her words back when much to her amazement, instead of taking offense, Eric smiled and patted her head.
"Alright, I"ll pa.s.s my letter of resignation later. But I think we have to compromise about certain stuffs if we wanted this master and servant thing to work between us."
Evangeline blinked. She was somehow in a daze, watching the man smiled at her instead of getting angry like what Daniel and all the others did in the past.
Eric was different than Asher as he was not family. Much so different from her fan club and her servants since he was something more than that to her.
While Asher would submit and pamper her to death. While her servants all revered and adored her without making much as a squeak by her unreasonable demands. Eric behaved differently.
And for the first time, Evangeline didn"t know how to respond. Hence, she just lowered her head and pursed her lips.
"Firstly, you have to understand that I"m a working student, so I have to serve other people when it is time for me to do my job. Secondly, you and I have our own life, so it"s inevitable that I won"t be there always to serve you..." Eric stopped when he saw that Evangeline lowered her head more, like she was submitting to him. He helplessly smiled and continued. "How about this, whenever we are together, I won"t serve anyone else, only you."
Evangeline snapped her head and looked at the man in front of her. Oddly enough, Eric seemed to know the underlying meaning from every glint of her eyes, every curved of her lips and every deformation of her face.
What was more, he precisely knew what words to say to appease her almost instantly that left her a little vexed – happy, but vexed.
Evangeline merely replied. "I think that will do." For now.
Then she was back to her usual intimidating ice cold self. "My offer still stands, Eric. You can very well quit your jobs and serve me, in and out of school. You can even come live with me and be my personal butler, and you"ll earn more in a single day than your part-time jobs in a month. What"s more, you can save on rent, house bills, and food."
Since Eric didn"t seem to mind her arrogant, pompous and straightforward words, she decided to drop her act and be honest with him.
After all, she was getting impatient and tired at always thinking and threading her words around him.
"If I change my mind, I"ll let you know. Being your servant during school is enough for now." Eric replied with a chuckle.
Actually, being Evangeline"s servant wasn"t that much tiring. All Eric had to do was take down notes for her. Whispered answers to her. Do her a.s.signments and projects. Carry her bags and other things. Do her school ch.o.r.es and detention punishment. And sometimes, escort her to her apartment, and he would be handsomely rewarded at the end of the day.
Evangeline returned his smile, yet beneath her eyes held disappointment. She didn"t know why Eric insisted on doing his part-time jobs when he could get easy money from just being her butler alone.
But still, she didn"t ask. She wanted for him to tell her his story and maybe one day – she too would tell her hers.
Like that, a tall, lean, geeky man was adoringly patting the head of an intimidating ice-cold beauty, but the lady seemed to not mind at all as a small smile tickled her lips.
The scene was quite moving, and somehow, the two had forgotten that they were still inside the school cafeteria where a bunch of students were now dumbstruck for being forcefully fed with sugary sweets at the blatant public display of affection.