Chapter 17

"Mmnn . . ."

Evangeline groaned when she felt something dripping from her mouth. Her eyes flung open, back shot straight. She wiped the drool from her lips with her handkerchief while glancing left and right. When she made sure that no one was around, it was only when she breathed a sigh of relief. But only to be startled when she heard low soft breaths beside her. Glancing at her right, she blinked several times, trying to ascertain who it was who was sleeping so soundly.

She frowned when she couldn't recognize the man. He was peacefully sleeping on top of his crossing arms propped on the table. His head was facing her direction, and half of his face was hidden beneath his arms. His thick dark, messy hair fell on one side of his forehead showing his bushy brows and those unbelievable dense, long lashes. He had straight, proud nose paired with a sexy jawline and sensual lips.

The man was unbelievably soul-stirring!

Who?

Evangeline felt that he was oddly familiar and not at the same time.

She, at the age of soon to be twenty, already saw all kinds of men. The beautiful type. The flirtatious type. The quiet and aloof type. The mysterious type.

But this man just smashed her standards of beauty and remade it a new. He couldn't even be compared to Daniel's charms nor Asher's allure. Yet somehow, she couldn't take her eyes off him.

His skin was deathly pale, and with his dense dark hair, brows and lashes, he looked ethereal. And yet, she found herself fascinated at his sharp features that she unknowingly stared at him without blinking.

The man opened his eyes, and her lilac orbs rounded. Her breathing hitched and her heart hammered inside her chest, wanting to break free and crawled its way to him.

The sleeping angel woke up and turned into a deadly alluring demon with cold silver irises.

Eric blinked. He rubbed his eyes before he grabbed his glasses and put in on.

And the godly sexy demon turned into a mortal.

"Sorry," Eric said, voice raspy. "You were asleep when I got here. I didn't want to wake you up. I didn't know that I fell asleep as well."

He stretched his neck, and ran his fingers through his hair and finally, settled his eyes at Evangeline.

"You okay?" he asked when Evangeline didn't answer as she continued to stare at him with mouth hanging open.

Evangeline's eyelids flickered many times. She didn't know why, but she lowered her head and fumbled her fingers. Couldn't look Eric in the eyes.

The revelation was too much and her brain overheated!

"Y-yeah . . . ," she said, voice barely audible. She didn't know that she was acting like a love-struck teenage girl on her first date. If it was another, that man would have been crying under the table by now or had drop dead on the floor from her deadly tongue upon seeing her sleeping face. She didn't like it that a man, nor anyone else for that matter, saw her weakest defenseless state.

"So . . . What are you going to tell me?" Eric leaned closer to her. He held his chin with his palm, trying to capture Evangeline's elusive gaze.

Briefly closing her eyes, Evangeline stabilized her breathing before she put her game face on. She smiled and met Eric's gaze.

"I'll get straight to the point then. I want you to do all my assignments, projects and other school related stuffs like taking notes, taking my shifts when it's time to empty the trash and do my other chores. I also want you to buy me lunch, snacks, and hold my things when we are at school."

Eric's eyes never strained on Evangeline's smiling face. From start to finish, he didn't bat an eyelid.

"What is it for me?" he asked, after a short silence.

Evangeline's smile grew wider.

"Of course, I'll pay you for your services. Each month, you'll receive four thousand dollars. For the projects, I can pay you according to the difficulty of the task, and I'll even shoulder all the materials and equipment. Furthermore, if you buy me lunch and snacks, I'll also pay for your meals. Thus, you don't have to wash the dishes in the cafeteria for you to eat for free."

Eric smiled, and Evangeline's eyes glint in victory.

"I refuse."

". . ."

". . ."

Evangeline huffed a laugh. Her ears shortly made ringing sounds as if trying to block the words Eric had said.

"Sorry, I didn't quite get that. Can you repeat it?"

"I refuse." Eric chuckled, starring at her with a mocking smile. "I don't want to be your servant boy."

. . .

. . .

Maintaining her smile, Evangeline's cloudy eyes were clearing.

"I see . . . From the start, you don't plan on ever agreeing."

Eric smirk, never leaving her eyes.

"Then why did you still make me wait and have me come here with you?" she asked, voice turning deeper. She already knew the answer. But she wanted to hear it from his lips.

Eric leaned closer. "I always wanted to see you step down from that high throne of yours once in a while."

. . .

. . .

Snapped. Snapped. The sound of broken strings that held Evangeline's priced self-worth.

Her pride. Her self-esteem. Her patience. Her tolerance.

Everything shuttered.

Her emotions stirred, laying waste in her mind. Anger, embarrassment, shame, humiliation . . . above all else –– unacceptance.

Disbelief that a nobody rejected her. That a nobody dared to say no to her.

This nobody dares to make fun of me!

Evangeline's lips quirked forming a chilling smirk. She stood, looking down at Eric with eyes brimming with fury.

"Well then, I hope I entertained you today. Before I forget, this is your payment for the paper."

She reached for her purse, grabbed a few hundred dollars and threw it on Eric's face.

"A job well done," she said. "But then again, it's the only thing you are good at. Doing meager jobs for scraps of money to save your hide."

She turned and flounced out of the café, leaving Eric with the scattered money on the ground.

. . .

. . .

Moments later, Eric seized the money one by one. And when he collected all that hundreds of dollar bills . . .

Riiipp!!

He shredded the money to bits, pupils drawn to slit, cold and remorseless.

I don't need distractions right now.