Chapter 2 :"Elizabeth"

3 August 2017

13:05 PM

The next day Matthew was heading for the university cafeteria, when a noise caught his attention.

"Come on!! Why it's not working!! Come on!! Nooo, my coffee!" Before Matthew, there was a scene that he would never forget - that of a girl arguing with a beverage machine. But what made him speechless was that the girl who was visibly irritated and was kicking the machine was the same one who had poured coffee on him the day before.

Matthew continued to watch the scene, until he couldn't take it anymore and bursted out laughing.

She turned to him, like a deer surprised by the headlights of a car, she recognized him and blushed with embarrassment.

Matthew came over and tried to contain the laughter, but failing miserably in the process, he gave a light slap to the distributor and as if by magic the machine started working. She looked at him as if he was an alien..

"How!?" She asked him, amazed at how he had succeeded in the first try while she despite trying to make it work for almost twenty minutes had not managed to accomplish anything.

"Easy...a tap and voilà works like new," replied Matthew amused by the expression that the girl showed on her face.

The girl rolled her eyes at him.

"Anyway, I'm sorry about yesterday, I'm Elizabeth, Elizabeth White, first year of the Primary Education Science Course", the girl named Elizabeth reached out her hand to Matthew, still sorry to have ruined his sweater.

"Matthew....Matthew Cox, third year of the business and management degree program," he shook her hand, and examined her closely.

Elizabeth White was about 1.60 m tall, had a fairly slender build, her hair was slightly wavy and raven-colored, she kept it loose and reached her hips, you could see that she took great care of it. The color of the eyes was similar to Matthew, they were blue but unlike Matthew hers were tending to brown. She had plump lips of a bright red colour. But what stood out most was her skin tone, she was very pale, she looked like Snow White.

She wore a pink white flower dress that embraced her waist and ankle length, white sneakers, and a white backpack with black kittens printed on her right side. It was a mild day, perfect for eating in the courtyard.

Elizabeth was a beautiful girl, she did not wear designer clothes, but it was evident that she knew how to match the dresses well with each other. The only flaw was that sometimes she was a careless and slightly naive person in relationships. On the other hand in some things, she was impeccable: she was hard-working, she set herself goals, she already knew what work she wanted to do. she wanted. But if there was one thing she really cared about, it was the promises, it was very important for her to keep her promises.

It was a very immature thing, but she had been taught from an early age to always keep what she promised at herself and to the others. It was a part of herself that made her special and reliable in the eyes of others.

***

"Here.... I don't need them, you can keep the money," Matthew said, going through his pockets, pulling out the crumpled dollars and returning them to her. Those were the compensation Elizabeth gave him for ruining his sweater.

Elizabeth looked at that six dollars and accepted them. Matthew was speechless, thinking that she would reject them and not that she would immediately accepted them.

"What is it? , you said you didn't need them. Don't look at me like that"; she stood up and noticed the stunned look on Matthew's face.

Matthew still speechless stared at her.

"All right! keep the money, there you go! Just stop staring at me like that!" Elizabeth put the money back in his hand, took the coffee that had now cooled and ran to the cafeteria to secure a seat for herself at some table.

Matthew finally out of his amazement did not see Elizabeth anymore, he put again for the umpteenth time the money in his pocket and he also ran to the cafeteria to secure a seat for himself.

***

14:55 PM

There were only five minutes left until the end of the day, and Matthew was getting ready to go home, he collected his things and then closed his bag, then he got up from his seat, greeted his fellow students, he then took his leave and asked the driver to pick him up. Matthew had a driver's license and a lot of fancy cars, but if you have a private driver hired to take you where you wanted, he might as well use it.

Matthew went out and went into the university yard, after ten minutes he received a call from the driver that he arrived and that he was waiting for him at the parking lot of the university. Once in the Cadillac, Matthew asked to be taken home and they left.

***

Matthew was leaning against the window on his elbow, as he looked disinterestedly at the usual scenario that for years ran fast in front of him. Always the usual houses, the usual trees and that damned feeling of déjà-vu that always accompanied him on the journey home.

Until suddenly something new infiltrated the usual boring old scenery. It was Elizabeth returning home. What a coincidence, he didn't often meet someone three times in a row in two days. Well...except that she and Matthew had nothing in common, not even the class.

"Wait for Jack, pull over," Matthew ordered the driver , who turned to look at him confused.The car approached the sidewalk, once Matthew stopped, opened the door, got out of the car and turned to look at Elizabeth, who unlike him who had a private driver and a Cadillac, she instead hurried to ride on an old bicycle.

"Elizabeth!.... Elizabeth White!" Matthew shouted, trying to get her attention, succeeding.

Elizabeth, who was 50 meters from him, noticed him instantly, stopped, got off her bicycle and walked with it towards the black Cadillac.

"What do you still want, Matthew Cox?" she asked in an annoyed tone as she looked into his eyes."What are you doing out at this hour? Shouldn't you be at another class in your course?" He asked, not looking away from her. Matthew didn't know why he decided to pull the car over and get her attention. There was something about her that interested him and it was not a physical attraction, but something that he himself lacked and that she possessed. It was evident that he felt drawn to her like a moth attracted to the light. It was the freedom he himself had been missing and longing for ever. To be able to live without being burdened by the responsibilities imposed on him by the Cox family.

The constant fear of always being according to the expectations of others and choosing your own future. It was intoxicating. An addiction to something. And that something was her - Elizabeth.