And Let Fate Lead You

Chapter Forty-One

"So I'm picking you up at seven, right?" Elias asked, turning to face Eira, who was sitting beside him in the car.

She nodded as she searched through her bag, her eyebrows knitted in that annoyed way he had grown so familiar to.

"Yeah," she muttered, giving a frustrated sigh and dropping her bag on the floor from its original place on her lap. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, she turned towards him and gave a small pout. "I can't find it," she said, irritated.

Elias frowned. "What?" he asked, confused.

"My Bio textbook," she muttered, a sad shade crossing her face.

"Why do you need it? You're only here to tell your teachers you're leaving for the semester," he said, watching her as she gave another breathy sigh and grabbed her bag again, setting it onto her lap with a clunky plop.

"Yeah, but I still need to return it. I mean, I'm leaving for practically the rest of the year. There's no point in just keeping it. And it's not like they'll let me, anyway," she said, pushing the bag open as wide as it would go and growling angrily when she still couldn't find what she was searching for.

Elias gave a small chuckle at the expression of anger. It didn't suit her at all, what with her petite frame and shy, timid personality. And yet at the same time, it was still incredibly sexy.

Finding it difficult to continue watching her try and find something that clearly wasn't there, he grabbed the bag from her lap and threw it behind him into the backseat.

"Elias!" Eira gasped, twisting to try and retrieve it. "What did you do that for!? I was looking for something!"

"Yes, I'm aware, sweetheart. But you're not gonna find it in there no matter how hard you look."

"And how do you know that?" she asked, turning back towards him with a sharp glare. He smiled at the way her eyes flashed and her mouth pursed sourly, drawing his eyes and making his heart beat faster.

"Can I kiss you really quick?" he blurted before he was even aware of what he had said. For a moment, Eira continued to stare at him in anger, but then her face softened into one of confusion.

"What?" she breathed, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. She leaned towards him threateningly, her cheeks growing red in anger. "You're asking me for a kiss when I'm asking you why you threw my bag into the backseat?! Elias, I'm going to kill you! I have to go! You're going to make me miss cla-"
Suddenly, she stopped, her mouth clamping shut and her face flushing.

"What did you say?" Elias asked, shaking his head. "You have class?"
Eira remained silent, staring straight ahead at the dashboard, her hands gathered in her lap.

"Eira," Elias snapped warningly. "What do you mean you have class?"

Eira still remained quiet, but her eyes had fallen to her hands. "I--" she began but then stopped.

"You're going to class today?" Elias cried, feeling his skin heat. "Eira! I told you not to! You were going to go behind my back!?" He felt his fists clench around the steering wheel, but Eira seemed not to have noticed.

"Elias, I was just..." she sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "I don't want to miss so much school, okay?"

Elias took a deep breath to calm himself down and loosened his hands on the wheel. "I know you don't, princess, but your health comes first. And you know that. I can't have you keep going to classes and staying up all night studying when you have a baby you should be looking after," he said, leaning towards her and gently brushing her hair out of her face. She sighed and looked up at him, her eyes conflicted.