Soooooo... who is in Christmas spirits? Meeeeee! And it is because of that same Christmas spirits that I was not able to update as sooner as I planned to. It's a holiday season, y'know? Anyways, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! (I'll try my best to make another update on or before 2021, but well, I know myself so... just in case). Lol.
P.S. Dear silent readers, please don't stay completely silent. Drop a vote or a comment to let me know that you are actually there and it's not the literate spiders reading the chapters. Pretty please?
Anyways, enjoy!
P.P.S. Don't kill me at the end. XD
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It was Sunday. A day before Eva's surgery.
I was in my office doing some works that were still remaining. Both of our offices, that is, Eva's and Co. as well as The Stones Inc. were working today since Adrian's company had a similar 'server crash'. Our investigators were looking at the case since these events looked too suspicious to be a pure coincidence. But in the meantime, we had to recover things.
It was a stressful situation. Specially with Eva's surgery the next day. I would be taking leave for a few days so I was trying to complete as much as I could before that.
I was checking the files when I saw that a few of them didn't have Adrian's signature in them. I'd told Leah to send them to his assistant last week but the woman seemed to have a hard time interpreting directions. I looked around for her but she was nowhere to be found. She'd come earlier with my blueberry muffin and coffee when she'd arrived and she hadn't logged out of her computer so she must still be inside the office. But where exactly she was inside the office was a mystery to me.
I sighed. It seemed like I had to go by myself. The file was highly confidential so I couldn't send anyone else for that. I rubbed my aching head and sent an email to Leah, informing her of my whereabouts. I really needed a new assistant. She had been doing well for some days, but now she was back to her former, not-taking-orders-from-anyone-although-she's-her-employer self.
I walked into his building after parking my car. I nodded and smiled at a few faces that had become friendly over the past few weeks. The elevator was empty as I got in and I used that time to think about the mysterious talk between Adrian and my sister.
He had this weird look in his eyes after their talk; he looked like he was trying to figure something out of me, which was a little unnerving. When I asked him about it, he shrugged it off as Eva needing his famous pep talk.
When I asked Eva about the same thing, she shrugged it off as well, saying she wanted his view on her designs. As if they hadn't already spent the whole hour doing just that. I was feeling like I was about to go insane with all these suspicious events and people.
I didn't see his strawberry blonde secretary on her desk, which was unusual but definitely welcomed. The woman had serious glaring episodes and I wasn't in mood for that today. Even glaring back at her required lots of energy, which had already been drained by Leah. I had a feeling that both of these assistants would land me in a psychiatric ward one of these days.
I reached his office, and contemplated knocking at the door. The idiot barged into my office everytime as if it was his own. I rolled my eyes remembering that and shrugged. If he wouldn't knock before entering my office, I wasn't going to knock before entering his either. Sue me for being immature.
I nodded to myself and smirked as I turned the doorknob.
"Stone, don't tell me you've grown independent all of a sudden. I can't see your personal as-" I stopped midway as soon as I took in the events.
I wished I had knocked before entering.
There he was, the almighty Adrian Stone sitting on his usual seat with his strawberry assistant straddling him.
The sight felt like a knife to my heart, stuck in deep, drawing out blood little by little. I had just acknowledged my feelings for someone for the first time, albeit only to myself and there goes the universe, reminding me that I did not deserve it.
Adrian suddenly went pale as his eyes locked into mine, while the strawberry lady smirked at me as if she had won the freaking lottery. I ignored my whining subconscious and quickly composed myself. When I spoke the next, my voice came as my usual cold, businesslike tone.
"I see. I was worried for a while that you fired your assistant. I'm glad that I was mistaken. She seems to be performing her job impeccably." I looked straight into them. If Adrian was pale before, he went as white as sheet as he looked back forth between me and his Strawberry.
Realization finally dawned on him and he jolted up from his seat with a bang, throwing the blonde beauty on the floor. I smirked internally in satisfaction at her but it died as soon as I realised what was about to happen here, had I not interrupted.
I controlled my emotions once again. Evelyn White would not cry over petty things. "I'm sorry to interrupt your... important meeting but I need you to sign these files. I'm in a hurry so I'd appreciate it if you do it sooner rather than later. You can then continue with your... well, your works. I'll be waiting in the actual meeting room."
I threw the file over his desk, immediately cringing as I realised it may not be as clean as it looked like. I shook my head and stepped out of his office because I couldn't stand the feeling in my chest.
I entered his empty meeting hall with Adrian right in tow. He was behind me as soon as I stepped in and I had to wonder if he was actually a vampire with his speedwalking abilities. I immediately shook off that notion as he closed the door and came to stand right in front of me. I noticed the file in his hand and sighed. The sooner we finished it, the better.
When he didn't make any move to sign it or even look at the papers, I raised my eyebrows at him. He was still looking at me intensely in a way that gave me unwanted flutters but I killed all of those because I was not in the mood.
"Evelyn, it's not-" Adrian started but I cut him off midway. I was really not in mood for this.
"Not what it looks like. Great! Nice information. Now can you please sign them so I can go?" I said, gesturing to the file.
He clenched his jaw but slowly took out his pen from his breast pocket of his suit. He signed all the papers slowly, and without reading. He had his eyes on me the entire time he signed them. I mentally made a note to make him print all the papers again if I found a single flaw with his signature. That would teach him for the next time he decided to go all Hollywood on me.
He completed signing all the papers and I outstretched my hand for the file. But instead of handing the file over to me like some gentleman, he did something I could have never imagined in me dreams. And that was a pretty big thing because I imagined the weirdest of the weird things in my dream. You know, because it is an imagination, and I would be dreaming.
Adrian Stone unbuttoned his suit jacket, put the file against his chest and buttoned it again.
I blinked a several times to make sure it was actually the hard headed Adrian Stone in front of me. He sure looked like the devil himself but I had to make sure he was not possessed by some 5 year old kid. Because who on earth would even pull that move?
So to test my theory, I went closer to him and... pulled on his left ear. Hard.
"Ow, ow, ow, you crazy woman! Aaah, that hurts! What're you doing?! Leave my ear! Ow! Jesus, ow!"
Adrian let out the shrillest shriek ever known to human existence. I let go of his ear and ignoring his sigh of relief and his 'are you crazy' gaze on me, I looked at him closely for any signs of a demonic soul. I'd heard that the possessed souls showed their true colors if they're harmed in any way. But when there was no sign of changing shapeform or something as dramatic as that, I finally realised what I'd done.
I tried to control it. I really did. But in the end, the universe hates me. So I doubled over in laughter. It was the kind of laughter that you really want to stop but all your attempts to stop it only makes you laugh harder. Adrian was still looking at me like he was contemplating if he was safe to be around me or he should call the asylum immediately. But I couldn't care less.
How I went from wanting to cry over some annoying handsome devil to pulling the said devil's ear and laughing like a maniac, I had no idea. Maybe I was going insane, after all.
I finally calmed down. Then looked at him to find him already looking at me with another weird look. The same look he'd given to me after his talk with Eva. He frowned at me, his left hand still rubbing his now red ears.
"You still like pulling my ears." He mumbled to himself, making me frown. Still? I was pretty sure this was the first time I pulled his or anyone's ear for that matter. Despite my contradictory behaviors, I was not a violent person at all.
I wanted to ask about it but let it go. Knowing him, he'd say some really cryptic things and I was not in mood for that either. I just wanted to get away from here. From him.
Adrian clasped his hands behind him and started stalking forward towards me with an odd glint in his eyes. I really did not want to, but I couldn't help myself from taking equal steps backwards until my back hit the wall. I know, sue me for being immature and cliched.
"I've signed the papers like you wanted. But you'll only get them if you listen to what I've got to say." He breathed, leaning down at me.
I didn't want to hear about his escapades with his secretary but I didn't want to be stuck here going back and forth with him either. So I sighed. "Alright, tell me whatever you need to. I am really busy, unlike you."
"Three things." He said, holding up his fingers. "First, whatever you saw there, it's not what it looked like. Me and Ms. Carter have never and will never be involved that way."
Ms. Carter, huh? So Strawberry did have a name. I ignored my Ms. S and snorted. "I don't care about that, Adrian. Whatever happened or not is not my business at all. All I want is my work done smoothly and nothing else. I'm sorry I should've knocked. Now can we move on to the next?" I said, feigning impatience. Well, I was impatient.
Adrian looked like he was about to add something but shook his head. He then looked at me intensely again. "Second, there is another thing I need to tell you. It's very important but since you're already stressed with Eva's surgery tomorrow and with our companies' recent events, I won't be adding to your stress. But I'll tell you everything once all of this is over, okay? I promise."
I had no idea what he was talking about. But I couldn't think anything else when he leaned so close to me that his lips were only a breath away from mine. I couldn't control my harsh breathing and I hated myself for that.
"Now the last, and the most important thing." He breathed above my lips and moved them near my ear.
"You're hot when you're jealous."
I was too dazed to comprehend anything while he took a step back, swiftly took out the file, handed it to me, and opened the door.
I finally came to my sense and opened my mouth to deny his last statement but the annoying strawberry lover held up his hand and smirked at me. "Now, now, Evelyn, I know you're busy so I need you should get going."
I pressed my lips together in annoyance, silently fuming in anger. Instead of wasting anymore of my time, I snatched the file from his hand and walked away. He was still chuckling behind my back so I flipped him off without looking back. And since I hated any forms of swearing and cursing, I showed him my ring finger instead. Yeah, sue me for being immature, cliched and a goody two shoes.
I was storming in anger when I bumped into a solid wall of a chest, making my head immediately start throbbing from the impact. Rubbing my head, I looked up to the owner of the wall.
It was Nate.
"Woah, Eves! Are you okay? What're you doing here? I just came from your office, searching for you."
I took me a few seconds to come back to reality after my head finally toned down its dancing with the stars. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Why were you in my office?"
He shrugged in reply. "I was supervising the investigators. But let me tell you something very important." He suddenly widened his eyes and leaned close to me as if he was about to reveal a secret that could lead to the downfall of the entire human existence. I was suddenly curious to know what it was that got Nate so shaken.
"Your secretary is weird!" He whisper-yelled to me with wide eyes.
So much for knowing a secret.
I rolled my eyes. "Tell me something I don't know." I mumbled to myself. I caught his confused frown and sighed.
"So, what did she do?" I asked, feigning interest, when in reality, I'd rather not hear about it at all.
He widened his eyes again and started talking animatedly. "Well, I was on my way to your supply closet when I saw her standing outside of it, with three cleaning staff before her. She was teaching them the proper way to address her. Man, I remember her exact words. 'You should know how to address your seniors. I'm the secretary of the CEO so you should address me as such. Okay, try it now. Ma'am. Not m-a-m, it's m-a'-a-m, with an apostrophe.' As if she can detect the presence of that apostrophe while they're speaking"
He then proceeded mimicking her, which was actually hilarious. But I didn't have time nor patience to hear about Leah's weirdness. Lord knows I had endured enough. So I cut him off midway through his mimicry and bid him goodbye. I walked out of the building, ignoring Nate calling me to stop because he was not done yet.
***
It was Monday. The big day.
Eva was undergoing her surgery at the moment. Me and Allie were waiting for the doctors or nurses to come out and give some news, any news about it.
I had stayed last night with Eva, and so had Allie. She had a date last night, but she cancelled it to spend some time with us. Apparently she had confessed her feelings to Jake through a text. And then blocked her number for three days straight.
Poor Jake had called me two days ago asking if he should consult a shrink because he thought he was hallucinating about the text. Allie finally unblocked his number after I threatened her that I'd play cupid for them. Because apparently my matchmaking skills were more horrible than Joey's jokes in Friends.
So, they'd talked, where obviously, Jake reciprocated his feelings for her and asked her out on a date. He didn't know about Eva so Allie told him that she needed some days to think about the date because Jake sounded too eager, which, according to her, was not hot at all. And that idiot believed her.
But above everything else, I was grateful for her. I did tell her to go on that date but deep down I needed her to be with me. Allie understood it without me having to say anything.
"You're awesome, you know that, Als?" We were both sitting on the waiting area with a cup of coffee that Allie had brought a few minutes ago.
Allie grabbed my cup from my hand and took a sip, immediately cringing as it wasn't as sweet as hers. "Seriously, Eves, you'll be growing a black heart if you continue drinking this bitter stuff." She made a gagging gesture and returned the cup bag to me.
I rolled my eyes. It wasn't even that bitter. Just not as sweet as her overly creamed one. Before I could defend my poor coffee though, she flipped her hair, nearly hitting my eyes. "And FYI, I know I'm awesome. The universe knows I'm awesome. So don't waste your time stating the obvious." Then she flipped her hair again, this time actually hitting me in the eyes.
I rolled my eyes again, but smiled when she took my hand and leaned her head against my shoulder. We were both worried about the surgery, maybe even more than Eva herself. She was very optimistic about it so I was just scared it would break her if anything goes wrong.
We had talked about a lot of random stuffs last night. About Jake, about Adrian, whom she claimed as her new best friend. Obviously, I tried not to get offended. Much.
I suddenly remembered Eva's words from last night. She was talking about everything she'd do once she'd be able to walk. Ice skating, snorkeling, mountaineering, partying-so-hard-till-the-cops-get-jealous, well, you get the idea.
But suddenly she'd become somber, and she'd quietly whispered, looking into my eyes.
"I want to do all of those. But... if... if by any chance this goes downhill, I want you to remember that this is NOT your fault at all. It's not. Maybe I was meant to be this way, so it was bound to happen. Just don't blame yourself, Eves. I can't see you that way. It hurts me that you're feeling guilty of something that was not in our hands more than it hurts me being here like this. So please, just... don't blame yourself, okay?"
My eyes filled with tears recalling her words. Eva had been so accepting of her treatment that it was easier to forget that things could go wrong. Even I was feeling confident about this because of her. But hearing her scared, broken voice last night made all confidence slip away from me. I was now more scared than ever.
I felt my hand being squeezed and gave a small smile at Allie. She, too, had unshed tears in her eyes, no doubt recalling the same words of my sister. That only made me remember how lucky I was to have Allie in my life. She was not just my friend, but my entire family.
Both of us jerked up from our seats when we heard heavy footsteps coming our way. I looked up, expecting to be a doctor or a nurse, but to my surprise, it was Adrian.
He was in his work clothes, another black suit, and his hair looked haggard. He breathed in relief when he spotted us and came to stand in front of me in two long strides.
"Evelyn, are you okay? How is Eva? Is she out yet? Did the surgery to well? I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier because there was a lot to do." He breathed out, holding my shoulders as he searched my eyes, frowning when he saw the tears which had fallen against my wish.
I felt a warm feeling all over. He remembered. And he came. I knew there was a lot of work needed to be done since our grand meeting was in two days. But he still came despite everything.
Shaking myself off of the emotions coursing through me, I gave him a watery smile. "I'm fine. Eva is still inside. We were both waiting to hear news about the surgery."
It was like he just registered the fact that I was not alone in the hospital. He looked surprised for a moment when he saw Allie standing there with raised eyebrows and amused eyes. He smiled sheepishly at her.
"Oh, I'm really sorry to not have noticed you earlier. Forgive me, miss. I was just... occupied. Anyways, I'm Adrian Stone." He held his hand to her, which she took with a grin and let go only after swinging it hard for several times. I shook my head at her.
"Oh, it's okay, Mr. Stone! I don't mind at all. It happens when you're occupied with good things. I'm Allie, by the way! Eves' best friend, the person you need to impress before... you know?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him making me glare at her while Adrian smiled in amusement as he looked between the both of us.
I was about to retort when the door leading to the operating room opened and a nurse walked towards us. All three of us suddenly tensed and turned to her attentively. Allie swiftly caught my hand and gave it a squeeze.
"The surgery is over and Ms. Evangeline has awoken and we have shifted her to post operating room. Dr. Marshall is about to do some tests to know whether the surgery went well. I take it that you want to be there?" I nodded and all but sprinted towards the direction she pointed at with Allie, when I saw Adrian standing there awkwardly. I smiled and nodded at him, to which he let out another sigh of relief. He gave me a small smile in return and followed us to Eva.
We entered just when Dr. Marshall was running a pin-like thing on the soles of both of feet, asking her whether she can feel it.
My heart almost stopped when Eva's scared eyes which were pooled with tears found mine and she whispered...
"I can't feel my legs."