Stella sniffed the strong aroma that came from the porridge she made. Her lips curved into a smile as she realized that it was better than she expected. Her mood became great and she started humming a song while taking a few slices of bread, hoping to put some butter and jam on them.
Unlike her cheerful state, the boy standing next to her had a frown on his face as he observed her actions unhappily for a long time. When he saw her making coffee, he lost it.
"It will ruin all the nutrients if you give him coffee along with breakfast," He spoke up with a poker face.
Stella blinked her eyes when she heard him. After she could process his words, she directly threw the coffee away and put the food on a tray along with a glass of water.
Her brother became speechless as his jaw dropped to the floor. When he could finally speak, he blurted out, "Why did you throw it out? You should have given it to me!"
"Everything I make belongs to Heidith." Stella looked into his silver eyes. "No one can eat it. Not even you!"
"Freak!" Ferry looked away. "You have changed. I think you no longer remember your duties."
"So what?" Stella didn't bother to pay attention to him anymore as she carried the tray and began walking out of the kitchen.
When she arrived in front of the students' council room, she gently knocked on the door and slowly opened it without a sound, stepping inside with a tender smile. Her smile widened when her eyes fell on Heidith's working figure. Although she was quite familiar with it, every time she saw that scene, the butterflies in her stomach started dancing, giving her weird yet exciting feelings.
"Here's your breakfast." She put the tray down on the table, close to him and took a seat beside him. "Quickly eat it before it becomes cold."
Heidith put the pen down and looked at her with a smile. "Thanks, Stella. I really appreciate it."
"Don't be so formal every time I do this. It makes me feel like we are strangers." Stella pursed her lips.
"But you don't have to do it." Heidith felt bad. "I can get something to eat after work."
"And pigs can fly." Stella rolled her eyes. "If it weren't for me, you'd be starving for a week now."
Heidith couldn't say anything to defend himself because he knew that she was right.
For the past nine days, he was busy with tons of work. It was because of upcoming Winter. He had to make arrangements for it and he couldn't finish it even after more than a week. Undoubtedly, he was exhausted. The president was busy studying for his final exams thus he couldn't help him. It was like he was just a nominal president because Heidith fulfilled all of Vincenzo's duties.
As a result, Heidith couldn't find time to eat. He barely managed to get some sleep after midnight as he dragged his aching body to his room. He didn't even bother to take a wash and just directly fell on the bed and dozed off. Same routine went on for days. Despite everything, he could still get his three meals thanks to Stella.
She was secretly happy about it because she felt superior to Zadhea. She was Heidith's fiancée but she never even cared about him. Stella thought if it continued like that, Heidith would fall for her anytime soon. Hence, she never delayed his food.
She loved the saying, 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.' That was the reason why she made his meals all by herself.
"By the way, how's your fiancée? I'm sorry for telling this. But I think she doesn't care about you." Stella wore a sympathetic look on her face. "I really feel bad for you."
Heidith's face darkened and his hand which was about to take a sandwich, paused halfway. "What about me myself? I also couldn't meet her for days. It's my fault too."
Stella became extremely disappointed. "What are you saying? You are busy with work. So it's not your fault. Why do you need to defend her? She doesn't deserve it!"
Heidith opened his mouth to say something when they heard a knock on the door, making him swallow it.
"I'll see who it is." Stella rose to her feet and approached the door, opening it a little. When she saw the person behind the door, her face became gloomy.
"He's busy," She spat out emotionlessly.
Derek's mouth twitched. "He's always busy! I have so many things to tell him. Lemme meet Heidith today."
"No. Go away!"
"Hey! Who do you think I am? I'm Rodwef's prime minister's son.."
"I don't care." Stella slammed the door in his face.
"Who's that?" Heidith looked up at her while chewing a cake slice.
"Your.." 'Good for nothing' "Friend." Stella let out a sigh. "Why can't he just let you be? Always sticking to you like glue."
"Maybe he's bored." Heidith sighed too. "He must be feeling lonely."
He knew to Derek, he was his only friend and best friend. It wasn't because Derek was unfriendly, it was just he was too proud to be friends with others.
Stella snorted in her mind. 'As if that womanizer doesn't have a girl to hook up with.'
Suddenly, there was another knock on the door. Stella stood up again and stormed towards the door angrily.
She opened the door, yelling, "Why can't you just..." Her words stuck in her throat when she saw who it was.
"Let me go inside," The girl behind the door said in a cold voice.
"For wh..." Stella couldn't finish her question as Evelyn pushed her away, entering the room forcefully before rushing to Heidith's side, panting a little.
She hesitated for a second when she realized that he was still eating.
Heidith put the spoon down and fully concentrated on her. "What is it?"
"You.. you have to come with me!" Evelyn took a breath and blurted out, "Zadhea is about to leave! Please stop her!!!"
A few hours ago...
"If it weren't for me, you would be dead by now."
Zadhea paused her actions and looked into Evelyn's pink eyes before slowly nodding her head. Then she whispered softly, "Thank you!"
"Eat a bit more." Evelyn tried to feed her another spoon of soup but Zadhea shook her head in refusal.
"Okay. Then drink this." Evelyn gave her a glass filled with orange juice.
"I'm pestering you, ain't I?" Zadhea sighed softly. "I'm such a pain in the ass."
"The hell you are talking about." Evelyn almost hit her. "You're a sister to me. So don't say such bullshit!"
"I'm glad at least you are with me." Zadhea smiled bitterly. "I only have you."
Evelyn wasn't too happy to hear that. "Why did you sound disappointed? Isn't it a good thing that I'm with you? Why can't you say, 'I'm happy because I have you' or something like that? Hmph!" She crossed her arms over her chest, puffing her cheeks.
Zadhea chuckled at her cute behaviour. "Yes, yes. I'm happy because I have you."
Evelyn smiled. "That's more like it."
For the past week, Zadhea locked herself up in her room, refusing to come out. Because of that, Evelyn had to bring her food three times a day. Sushie, Zadhea maid freaked out when she found out from Evelyn that Zadhea didn't eat anything for two days in a row. She didn't even bother to take a wash. After Evelyn witnessed Zadhea's situation with her own eyes, the first thing she did was feeding her some food and she continued it for days without getting tired. Meanwhile, Sushie helped with other things.
Zadhea took a sip from the juice before asking about the thing which had been bothering her for a long time. "What are they saying..?"
"It's horrible." Evelyn bit her bottom lip. "Almost everyone insults you... terribly. Especially that duo. Your..." She swallowed the word, 'Bullies'.
"Aisha and Deera." Zadhea's eyes flashed. "I know they are behind everything. They must be the ones who are spreading rumours about me."
"But why do they do that? What did you do to them for getting such a treatment?" Evelyn couldn't understand.
Zadhea sighed and shook her head. "I don't know either. I guess they are just jealous of me. I once saved Dreva from them. Maybe they hate me for that."
"It must be the case." Evelyn nodded to herself. "It's your fault. Why did you poke into others' business?"
"Of course I had to do it. If I go back on time, I'll still choose to save her."
Evelyn shook her head in disbelief and mumbled, "Gosh, I can't understand this girl."
Zadhea flashed a small smile. "As a victim myself, I know how terrible it feels to get bullied by someone. I don't want someone else to feel it like I did."
"Yeah. True." Evelyn could only sigh as her eyes fell on a painting in Zadhea's room. It was a middle aged woman's portrait. She didn't know who it was.
"When do you plan to come out? They are calling you a coward. If you continue to stay in your room all day, how can we solve this matter?"
Zadhea clicked her tongue. "Just forget it."
"No way!" Evelyn took both of her hands and squeezed them. "You're the strongest girl I have ever known. I know you can overcome this challenge too. Please don't give up fighting. Please.." Evelyn looked at her pleadingly.
Zadhea's heart felt heavy. "I'll think about it." She looked away, removing her hands from Evelyn's.
When Evelyn left, Zadhea sighed loudly and laid on the floor, thinking about what Evelyn said. She knew she had to solve this problem as soon as possible however, she wasn't ready to do so. She hated dramas. Moreover, she hated to go out and meet people. She just wanted to stay in her room. If she could, forever...
She flinched when she heard something hit against the door.
"Who's that?" Zadhea sat up straight.
There was no sound after that.
She shrugged and was about to lay down again when her eyes fell on the white house lizard.
Zadhea blinked, stunned. "You... you made that sound?"
She couldn't believe such a tiny little thing could make a loud noise like that.
The house lizard's right eye twitched at her words. He could understand what she meant.
Then the next second, it became a lion.
Zadhea was dumbfounded. She looked at the giant white lion in front of her with wide eyes.
"H-how???" She couldn't speak.
Then the lion became a baby elephant and squeaked loudly. Fortunately, Zadhea's room was huge enough for him to stay comfortably.
"Hey, stop making noises!" Zadhea facepalmed herself.
The elephant became a tortoise and began stepping towards her direction very slowly.
"Really?" Zadhea kept looking at the way he walked for a few minutes with an emotionless face. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore.
"You little weirdo! Show me your human form for god's sake!" She yelled in frustration. She wasn't in a mood to take part in his little games.
"Ouch!" She blinked her eyes and kept looking at the creature that sat face to face with her on the floor. "Are you an albino?"
"I don't know." The boy shook his shoulders.
He looked eighteen or nineteen years old. His shoulder length hair, eyebrows and skin were super white. The only part of his body that wasn't white was the pair of purple eyes which were currently fixed on Zadhea's blue eyes.
"Damn! Your eyebrows..." Zadhea subconsciously mumbled.
The boy looked at her doubtfully. "What's wrong with them?"
"So thick like coconut coir."
"... Thank you I guess."
"What's your name? How come you have purple eyes?"
In her past life, Zadhea also got purple eyes just like her mother. She thought no one had such eyes apart from the two of them. Apparently, she was wrong.
"As for first question Sully. I refuse to answer the second question because it's dumb."
"Sully?" Zadhea felt like it was such an odd name.
"That's right." The boy nodded.
"Like..." A smile took over her face. "Silly?"
"What?" Sully raised a brow in confusion.
"Silly Sully, Sully silly." Zadhea giggled.
Sully's face blackened. "Brat, stop it!"
"It's Zadhea. Not Brat." She continued to giggle.
"If you don't stop it, I'll become a tiger and eat you," The boy threatened.
"Wait, yes!" Zadhea became serious. "Who are you? Are you a wizard? Why did you come to visit me? Are you even a human? How come I haven't seen you before?"
"Too many questions." Sully scratched his neck.
"Nevermind, I'll answer them one by one."
A/N:
I guess I'm finally back.
(•‿•)