[EVE]
A few days after being discharged from the hospital, I'd been avoiding Cole like he was the taxman during audit season.
It started small: slipping out of rooms the moment I heard his voice, pretending to be engrossed in a very urgent phone call whenever he walked by.
However, it quickly escalated into a full-blown game of hide-and-seek—only I was the one playing both roles.
At Sinclair's mansion, it became a mission. The first time I heard Cole coming down the hallway, I dived behind the couch, narrowly avoiding him as he stepped into the living room.
Victor gave me a bewildered look from across the room but said nothing. I mouthed
"emergency"
at him, which only made him roll his eyes.
The next day, Cole nearly caught me in the kitchen. I had gone in for a quick snack—one granola bar—and ended up scuttling into the pantry like a gremlin when I heard him approaching. I stayed there for twenty minutes, nibbling on a bag of crackers I found on the shelf, too afraid to come out until I was sure he'd left.
Then there was the truly humiliating moment when I spotted him on the stairs. Thinking fast, I spun around and tried to take the long way to the library, only to get cornered in a dead-end hallway.
I ducked into a storage, crouching among Sinclair's old coats and scarves like some deranged fashion goblin. Cole walked past without noticing, but when I tried to sneak out, I tripped over a shoe rack and went sprawling face-first into the hallway.
"Everything okay there?" Sinclair asked from behind me, trying—and failing—to hide his amusement.
"Fine," I hissed, grabbing the nearest coat rack for support and retreating with whatever shreds of dignity I had left.
By the third day, even Sinclair had decided to join the circus. As I shuffled past him in the hallway, he glanced up from his book and said, completely deadpan, "Eve, he's in the study."
I froze mid-step, my soul briefly leaving my body. "Why would you even tell me that?!" I hissed, my voice an octave higher than usual.
Sinclair shrugged, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "Just thought you'd like to know."
"I
didn't!
" I yelped, spinning around so fast I nearly tripped over my own feet. I power-walked away like I had an urgent meeting with literally
anywhere else.
Behind me, I could hear Sinclair chuckling softly.
Even Sebastian had joined in on the fun—or at least,
Your next journey awaits at empire
he thought
it was fun. The little traitor had taken it upon himself to blow my cover at every opportunity.
No matter where I hid, Sebastian would somehow sniff me out, wagging his tail like he'd just uncovered buried treasure. He'd then proceed to bark excitedly, as if yelling,
"Hey, everyone! She's in here! Come look!"
The pantry? Barking at the door. The coat closet? Barking at the crack under the frame. Once, I tried to hide under the dining table, only for Sebastian to crawl in after me and bark directly in my face.
"Sebastian, stop it! Go away!" I whispered furiously, trying to shoo him. But he just flopped down in front of me, tail thumping happily against the floor like he was waiting for Cole to arrive and award him a medal.
By day four, I was convinced he was working
for
Cole. Why else would he suddenly decide to be so diligent about finding me?
"You're supposed to be on my side!" I hissed at him after his latest betrayal, crouched behind the laundry basket as Sebastian barked his little head off.
He tilted his head, gave me a smug little doggy grin, and barked again.
The pinnacle of my agony, however, came when Cole stepped into the dining room during breakfast. I panicked, grabbed the nearest object—which happened to be Victor's newspaper—and held it in front of my face like it was the ultimate disguise.
"Eve, I can see you," Cole said, his voice laced with exhaustion.
"No, you can't," I mumbled from behind the paper.
Victor, seated beside me, smacked his forehead. "This is getting ridiculous."
Ridiculous or not, I wasn't ready to face Cole—not yet. So, for now, my hide-and-seek saga would continue.
"What's going on here, you two?" Victor asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he glanced between Cole and me. "Something definitely happened, didn't it? This all started the moment you got out of the hospital, Eve. Did Cole do something to you? Is that why you're avoiding him?"
"Of course not!" I blurted out so fast it practically came out in one syllable. No one—
no one
—needed to know what happened back in that cave. NO ONE.
I snuck a quick glance at Cole, expecting some kind of reaction, maybe a flinch or even the tiniest hint of awkwardness. Instead, he was the picture of composure, calm and unbothered, like nothing happened between us.
Meanwhile, I was a walking disaster, falling apart whenever he was near.
It hit me then—was I
overreacting
?
But then again, I had almost lost my virginity to him in that cave, so the natural thing to do was overreact.
Still, Cole's cool, unaffected demeanor left me feeling like the only one making a big deal out of this.
Should I have been grateful he wasn't bringing it up? Or annoyed that he was acting like nothing happened between us at all?!
Before I could unpack that emotional whirlwind, Sinclair casually spoke up. "By the way, Eve, I talked to your principal. You're allowed to take your exams this weekend. If I were you, I'd start studying while you still have a few hours left."
I groaned, slumping into my chair like a deflated balloon. "Oh, right. The exams."
While my classmates were probably done with their tests and already planning their Christmas break, I was here trying to survive an avalanche of last-minute cramming.
I could practically hear them laughing and sipping hot cocoa while I had to figure out algebra formulas and world history dates.
And now, on top of my school stress, I had to juggle avoiding Cole like he was the plague. The logistics were exhausting—dodging him in the halls, eating meals at odd hours, and pretending to be super into whatever book I happened to grab when he walked into a room.
No. I couldn't let myself get distracted by all that. Exams first, emotional breakdown later.
I crossed my arms and glared at the study materials Sinclair had conveniently left on the table. "Great. Just what I needed. More reasons to panic."
Victor shot me a pointed look. "If you spent half the energy on studying as you do on running away from Cole, you'd ace those exams."
I threw a crumpled piece of paper at him. "Not helping, Victor!"
Somehow, I was sure he was angry at me for some reason while Sinclair was enjoying this chaos way too much.