Salvation (Joseph Seed)

17. Self Restraint

"Joseph sees something in you, and in all honesty, so do I" he explained with a small shrug, there really wasn't much reasoning behind their kindness. They simply took a liking to the young woman.

"And what is that?" she asked, still non the wiser.

"You have a good heart, something that's rare these days" John smiled.

"But...you don't know me?" Evelyn sighed, not understanding the strange family.

"I can sense it" John winked playfully, making Evelyn laugh and he laughed along with her.

"Well, thank you John" she smiled as they both stopped laughing.

"Anytime, Evelyn" John nodded. This started out as a younger brother trying to find out why Joseph was so interested in a woman, but now John was beginning to grow fond of her as well. "Can I confess a secret?" he asked in a playfully hushed tone.

"Don't you usually listen to the confessions?" Evelyn asked, chuckling gently.

"Well, yes I do. So would you be kind enough to listen to mine?" He asked with a happy gleam in his eye.

"Of course" she nodded. Evelyn couldn't quite explain it but something about John made her comfortable, made it easy to talk to him. That wasn't the first impression that she got from him but right now she was thinking that she could very much enjoy his company.

"Well, I actually like talking about things other than the Project. All of Joseph's other followers only talk about the Project, at least with me they do. I'm just the Baptist to them and they don't really feel comfortable enough to talk to me about anything other than the Project and confessions. I feel like I can talk about other stuff with you" John confessed and Evelyn smiled. Apparently he felt the same way that she did about finding it easy to talk to each other.

"You can talk with me about whatever you like. If you ever want to talk, or you need somebody to listen to your confessions again, you can talk to me" Evelyn offered with a kind smile.

"I knew that you were special" John smiled, laughing softly to himself.

"I wish people would stop saying that" the woman sighed, her happy expression falling from her face.

"Why?" He asked. Don't people like being made to feel special?

"Because I'm not special, I'm just human and I'm okay with that. I don't have to be special" Evelyn explained. Joseph had called her special. It's nice and everything but Evelyn knew that it wasn't true, she wasn't much different from the other people here, but that's not exactly a bad thing.

"I like that...I've always wanted to be special but really...I just wanted to be treated like a human" John nodded, able to understand what she was saying.

"Well...I'll treat you like a human" Evelyn assured him, the smile returning to her face.

"And I'll just treat you like a human too" John smiled back.

The sound of heavy footsteps approaching made the pair turn to see who it was. Both were a little surprised to see Jacob walking towards them. "Is John harassing you?" Jacob asked, looking them them both.

"Oh, no, not at all" Evelyn shook her head, wondering why Jacob would even ask. She wondered whether it was a real concern or if it was his was of joking with his youngest brother.

"Why would I be harassing her?" John asked, giving his brother an irritated look.

"John...I don't know why you do half of the things you do. Just making sure you aren't making her uncomfortable" the soldier shrugged blankly.

"Unbelievable, I can't even talk to people now" John scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I never said that" Jacob shook his head, a smirk beginning to tug at his lips.

The two brothers turned their attention to Evelyn when they heard her laughing. When she realised that she had laughed out loud and that they were looking at her, a blush rose to her cheeks.

"What are you laughing at?" Jacob asked, it was impossible to tell whether he was joking with her or threatening her.

"Oh, n-nothing, I just...I think it's sweet when you both bicker like siblings, sorry" Evelyn admitted, blushing a little harder as she apologised.

"Oh yeah, and I make her uncomfortable" John glared up at his brother, who was significantly taller.

"Does he make you uncomfortable?" Jacob asked Evelyn, putting the poor girl on the spot once again.

"No, neither of you make me feel uncomfortable" Evelyn laughed slightly, beginning to actually feel comfortable with joking with them.

"See!" John huffed, dropping his arms back to his sides. Evelyn smiled at the two brother, knowing that she was getting to see a different side of them both, like they forgot that she was there or maybe they just didn't care. Jacob and John always seemed to composed, the eldest silent and intimidating, the youngest charming and somewhat formal. But right now she was seeing them as brothers, this was more like who they really are.

"Okay, I can see why you all like her" Jacob chuckled lowly to himself, shaking his head before walking away.

"And that is the nicest compliment he will ever give you" John promised the woman with a small sigh, not sure whether to laugh or apologise.

"I think I can live with that" Evelyn smiled.

"Jacob really doesn't make you uncomfortable? He makes everyone uncomfortable" the youngest Seed brother asked, not able to wrap his head around how she wasn't completely uncomfortable around Jacob.

"He is intimidating but he doesn't make me uncomfortable. I mean, he carries a knife and a gun on him at all times. That's a little scary but it doesn't really bother me" she shrugged, something just told her that Jacob wasn't going to harm her so she wasn't scared of him.

"Well, duty calls. I'll see you later, Eve" John sighed, looking over at Faith who was waving him over with a little too much enthusiasm. "Oh, can I call you Eve?" he asked, realising that none of them and called her that before.

"Sure" Evelyn laughed as John walked away, sending her one last wave.

Evelyn glanced around the compound now that she was alone and her gaze settled on one person, and of course her gaze would settle on him. She saw Joseph and sighed. He was talking to a member of his flock, the charming smile on his face but it wasn't the same smile that he gave her. She only looked away when he glanced up and made eye contact with her. Evelyn found that it took a surprising amount of self restraint to not speak to Joseph, to not be around him.

Evelyn just tucked her hair behind her ear before turning around and walking towards the gates of the compound again.

Joseph has completely forgotten about the follower that he was talking too, they were still talking to him but he wasn't hearing a word they were saying. All he could focus on was Evelyn leaving the compound. He knew that he had to do something because he just couldn't go much longer with the uncertainty of her feelings towards him.

Perhaps Joseph just didn't have his usual self restraint when it came to Evelyn, she was so different, he wasn't even sure whether he could blame himself for his lack of composure when he was around her. Joseph politely dismissed himself from the conversation, that he checked out of a few minutes ago, before walking towards Evelyn, following her with the intention of apologising. He couldn't just sit around without knowing whether she hated him, or whether she was just conflicted about something.