The recovered pendant

"Why? Do you think... I will drop a kiss on your delicious cherry lips?" In a sly tone, he pulled her closer to his embrace by placing his sturdy arm around her waist. 

Eva shivered in fear with his luscious declaration and immediately tried to push him away from her stretching out her small fragile arms. "Don't you dare try to commit any pervy act with me here... I will definitely kill you--"

"Damn, you are seething at me just like a wild duckling!" He abruptly interrogated her fuming tone and put his other spare hand inside the pocket with a sly smirk on his face. "I was just messing with you, don't worry." Reverberating his words, he took a small shining pendant out of his pouch.

Eva swirled her deep brown eyeballs in awe witnessing the startling sight. It was the exact same mystic black hematite pendant that Zeus had gifted to her and the exact one which she dropped down into the pool of the aquarium on that cursed day. She had assumed to lose this priceless gift forever but miraculously, watching it in front of her again with him, she was utterly spellbound.

"Thi-This... This one--"

"It must be given to you by that dumb fool, isn't it? How romantic!" He interrupted her stuttered voice in a spooky tone.

She intensively gawked at the shimmering black hematite stone as from her gestures, she still seemed to be in disbelief. After a moment of shock, she snatched the pendant fiercely from his grip and shoved his arm away from her waist, moving a further distance back. 

"Hey, why did you snatch it away from me like that? Are you a burglar?" He sounded a bit offended.

"This pendant belongs to me! I had dropped it down there in that pool... I thought... I had lost it forever... Why and how do you have it?" She snarled at him.

"It wasn't me who found it for you." Narrowing his eyes, he murmured at her in a soft note with his gaze fixed at the black stone.

"What?"

"I just retrieved this pendant from Zeus's pocket...So it seems that he was the one who found this pendant for you. I don't wanna steal his credit--"

"What?" She shrieked out aloud, intervening in his statement in shock. "Zeus found this pendant? But how? I had lost it inside the aquarium..."

All of a sudden, her words halted as a startling realization flashed out in her mind. She reprimanded quickly that exact moment when Zeus arrived gallantly and stood before her giant shield when Ross tried to attack her. His clothes were completely drenched in water which had obviously piqued her curiosity earlier. That time, she didn't understand the reason behind it but now...it was growing evident!

"Tha-That means... he jumped inside that pool to search it back for me? He... He was silently taking care of me even though when I was with someone else?" The realization hit her mind hard, with warm tears dripping down her saddened eyes as she glanced at the hematite shimmering in sun.

Czar watched her silently, standing apart from a distance while she was grieving in shock. He exhaled out a deep sigh and responded to her in a gentle tone, "well, it seems that he didn't get the chance to hand it over to you on his own. I found this pendant after he was taken here and...as I had assumed it right. He has given it to you." 

"He... He did everything for me... Watched over me for the whole time on his own...and... and I... I couldn't do a single thing to protect him from that monster... Fuck...Fuck my life...Fuck!!" Sobbing bitterly with tears of anguish rolling down her cheeks, she sounded much vexed with herself. "I am absolutely worthless... I am good for nothing..."

"We don't have much time now. You gotta stay strong if you want to step inside the mansion to see him... Though he is in pretty bad condition if you still wanna see him, wear this pendant and come with me." Trying to console her grieved heart, he murmured his words in a deep voice.

Eva stood all frigid for a moment, clenching the pendant hard in her grip. Slowly, she wiped out her tears and tried to wear the necklace down her neckline. But, being constantly stabbed with painful realizations, her heart had turned out sour. Her arms were trembling in anxiety and she was facing many difficulties to put it down on her own.

"Damn it, why can't I even wear a necklace now? Stop shaking my stupid hands!?" Being all doomed with stress and anxiousness, she grumbled at herself.

Czar was silently watching her for a few moments and witnessing her struggles, he decided to interfere. Slowly, he approached closer to her and took away the necklace from her wobbling palm. With a stern expression imprinted on his face, he moved closer while trying to put the necklace on her.

She was startled by his sudden act of kindness and stared at him for a few seconds, raising her chin up. They were standing extremely closer to each other, with almost no gap between their bodies. As he was tying it on her, she could easily perceive his intense warm breath over her face. As Eva was staring at him in wonder, he too took a small glimpse at her deep brown rolled eyeballs before answering her.

"I am helping you today with everything for the very first and last time. After today, we will be treating each other like absolute strangers. You must keep it in your mind, little duckling." Slowly caressing her soft shimmering hairs a little, he took a step away from her.

Listening to his stern declamation, she regained back her senses and tried to avoid a firm eye-contact with him, averting her gaze. "You don't have to remind me of it consistently. And...stop calling me with that creepy name! I will be expecting the same from you to treat me like a stranger. Okay?" She blurted out in a whining tone.

Czar smiled a little with her reciprocation and boldly turned his grimace towards the mansion. "Then, let's head inside." He declared with a small smirk.

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