I Am The Queen

Throughout the whole ride, the woman remained quiet while gripping his waist. Her forehead was pressing his back as if she didn"t want anyone to see her current state.

Even after they arrived at her unit, she remained silent with an unreadable face which made Eric at a lost on what to do.

Should I comfort her?

But Eric didn"t even know if she felt sad.

Nonetheless, he knew that something must have happened for her to act this way.

Even though her face was the epitome of calmness, she appeared to be on the verge of crying.

"Is everything…. alright?" Eric didn"t dare to step inside Evangeline"s unit without her permission. He remained standing outside, just in front of the door while the woman continued to grip his shirt, not letting him go.

Eric scratched the back of his head as he eyed the quiet woman whose head was lowered, unable to digest what was going on with her.

…..

…..

Finally, Eric couldn"t hold it and was about to gently pinched the woman"s hand so she would let him go.

However, at this exact moment, Evangeline abruptly disrupted the awkward silence.

"Stay with me."

"….."

"….."

Eh?

Eric blinked.

His thoughts were about to go astray at the sudden plea, but when he saw the woman"s trembling fingers still gripping his shirt, his hand that was about to grab hers stopped in mid-air, and finally rested by his side. His eyes darted towards her face that was hidden from the angle by her lowered head. Even so, he still searched for it. Longed to see what kind of emotion she was making right now.

Until his eyes gave up and contented to just gazed at her hair.

"Alright…."

----?----

In the quiet corner in the living room where the only light was the faint alternating colors of the flat screen that shone upon the silhouette of the two-person sitting on the sofa, Evangeline and Eric were silently watching a movie, both were now in their sleeping clothes.

Eric was comfortably sitting on the sofa. His head was resting against his palm. His body was leaning to the side while his legs apart. He was wearing Asher"s clothes which made him slightly uncomfortable. Still, he had no choice but to wear that V neck black sweatshirt and pajama pants since he didn"t bring any change of clothes.

His eyes would occasionally dart off towards the woman beside him who, in all honesty, didn"t know why was sitting so close to him. In fact, he was on the very edge of the couch, hoping to leave some s.p.a.ce between him and the alluring woman.

But the woman, who he probably thought, was finding it hilarious to tease him as she continuously moved closer to him when he decided to scoot himself from her until he was on the very edge of the sofa. If he could, he would very much like to sit on the armrest to put distance between the two of them.

Nevertheless, he remained in control. Being careful not to imagine what Evangeline was wearing underneath that oversized stripe pajama shirt which happened to be the only clothing she was wearing. He didn"t even know if the woman wore undergarments, and would be happy not to know for his sanity"s sake.

Eric appeared to be bored, but in truth, only the heavens knew how much he was secretly sweating, trying to control himself.

The woman was a temptress! A deadly vixen!

Not to mention her clothes, with just her enticing smell and flush after shower face alone was enough to drove his hormones crazy!

"Hey…"

Eric released some of the breath that he had been holding. Finally, Evangeline began to talk again after the never-ending silence between them from the moment they left the restaurant.

"Hmm…?"

Eric took a peek at the woman when she didn"t continue, but the latter seemed to be focusing on the movie. Her eyes glistened, reflecting the screen while she hugged both her knees closer to her chin.

Evangeline continued after a while. "The rumors…"

Eric"s eyes went back to the movie, waiting for the girl to finish her sentence.

The two of them seemed to be wholeheartedly focusing on the show, yet their minds were elsewhere.

Evangeline took a sharp breath as she slowly released it. "They"re not true."

"….."

"….."

"I know."

Evangeline"s head whipped towards the man, her expression confused while Eric remained focused on the screen.

"The rumors regarding you pushing down a kid near a park. I was just across the street working at a convenient store. That kid was bullying a puppy, and you happened to see it and rescue the dog." As he narrated, Eric"s voice was soft, and even his lashes flickered remembering that time.

It was a humid afternoon, and he was doing his usual cleaning in front of the convenience store he was working when he happened to see a group of children ganging up what seemed to be a stray dog at first. Then one child kicked the dog and Evangeline happened to be there, about to sit on a bench while Daniel ran off to get them something to eat. And by the time that Daniel came back, all he saw was Evangeline pushing down the kid.

Eric blinked and continued.

"The rumors regarding you receiving money from an elderly man, it was because that man was the owner of that puppy and wanted to compensate you. It so happened that it was the time of my out that night and I saw you in the same park."

This time, as he narrated, his lips slightly curved, remembering that time that Evangeline was acting her usual arrogant and pompous self, but the old man kept bowing to her no matter how impolite she acted. Her ice cold expression somehow revealed a crack, stating that she didn"t know what to do when she suddenly received kind gestures from a stranger while the puppy she rescued kept barking and wiggling at her from the senior man"s embrace.

Eric chuckled and continued. "Of course, I don"t have to explain about the rumors regarding you, a.s.sociating yourself with biker gangs as they were your cousin"s friends, right?"

While he explained, he didn"t notice that Evangeline"s face turned from cold and unyielding to soft and submissive.

The man reflecting in her vision became blurry as her lips quivered. Evangeline felt like she was swimming in a bottomless, endless sea all alone while she constantly struggled to keep herself afloat amidst the rushing waves. But she didn"t care since she knew how to swim.

Only…

….she was so tired….

Until someone rushed towards her, swimming the vast sea, meeting the ravaging waves. He didn"t bring anything with him, no life vest, no boat – just himself.

But that was enough.

Just him alone was enough for her to feel that the stormy dark and scary bottomless ocean felt like a puddle under the gentle rain. And they were both in a raincoat, holding a big leaf above their head, squatting on that puddle, face to face as they smiled and laughed at the b.u.t.terflies flapping around to avoid the droplets of water. Giggling and chuckling at watching the animals scattering to go back to their nests. Even the disgusting frogs turned to something magical, hopping and dancing around under the tender rain.

It was all because she was together with this man.

Evangeline"s eyes glittered like melting crystals that was about to drip. She quickly averted her gaze forward so the man wouldn"t see her expression. But the palm of her hand that gently wiped the tears that managed to escape had cracked her cold facade.

"Heh... stalker…," she tried to remain in control. Tried to make her voice as haughty and arrogant as possible. Yet her tone turned soft and slightly choked making it somewhat unrecognizable as hers.

Eric"s head flung to the other side to give the woman some privacy as he held his chin on his palm while his elbow rested against the armrest as he replied nonchalantly.

"The same could be said about you. Why are you always in places where I work…?"

Lies.

He knew exactly that he was the one who made the decision to work in places that she frequented too.

However, he was not about to confess that anytime soon.

Evangeline remained silent, there was a hint of a smile on her face though it was a little flushed and wet from her tears. She closed her eyes and leaned her body against Eric"s shoulder, a contented smile playing on her lips while the man"s eyes sparkled in different colors, reflecting the faint light of the screen.

….or was it he was also experiencing that kind of emotion that he refused to acknowledge?

No one knew.

But as of now…

This is enough….