𝐔𝐍𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 (𝟏𝟖+) √

16

ROSE

Tobias and I were playing this little game called pretending to be ignorant. Last night, he helped me shower and applied some oils on the spots he bit or hit with the belt. He made me a cup of tea and cuddled me until I fell asleep which was the most precious thing he'd done for me.

But, in the morning, neither of us spoke of last night's shenanigans. To my surprise, by the time I was awake and ready for the day, a hot breakfast was waiting for me alongside a cup of coffee. We chatted briefly about nothing in particular, and he asked me about my flight and what my next plan was.

Luckily, the conversation was interrupted when a knock came to his door. Joseph and Evangelia decided to drop by and thankfully, save me the trouble of having a conversation I wasn't ready for. And somehow, Eva felt the tension in the air and offered to take me out to get some new clothes.

''I've never been this broke,'' I mumbled when I saw a gorgeous dress on the mannequin. This town was small, too small, but it had a boutique or two that were worth giving a chance. ''Granted, all of the money I ever had was from my parents, but still.''

Eva chuckled and showed me a dress, ''Sadly, I know exactly what you mean. How about this one?''

I shook my head, ''Too flashy.'' I stated, though it was my taste, perhaps it was because those kinds of dresses never looked good on me, ''And what are we buying the dress for, exactly?''

Eva paused for a moment. Her eyes skimmed through the boutique, making sure that no one would be able to hear, ''There's this... event. Basically, the people of the church are getting together for a barbeque, chats and all of that. I thought you'd might like to go and check it out.''

I snorted, ''Absolutely not. I'm leaving in a week, so there's no point.''

Her eyes went wide, ''What? Why? Did anything happen?''

My response was to shake my head slightly, ''Not necessarily. I just came to realize a lot of things, and nothing is keeping me here, so I decided it's best if I left while I was still able to.''

Eva licked her bottom lip and returned the dress where she pulled it out from. Next, she grabbed my hand and I was being pulled by this lunatic for a solid minute before we reached a bench that was near the boutique we were visiting.

''What's that all about?'' I asked, skeptically, which was shown in my voice. Eva sat next to me and took a deep breath, all while looking straight ahead.

''Listen, Rose.'' She began, ''Life... is unique and different for everyone. Sure, the two of us met fairly recently and you may not even consider me an actual friend, but please, think about leaving.''

I laughed, ''You're being overdramatic, Eva. It's not like I'm abandoning my husband and child for my lover.''

This was when Eva turned to look at me, and her gorgeous green eyes told me she meant business, ''You and I met, what, like four times in total? And the moment I saw you with Toby, I knew that you were the one for him. I mean, it's going to sound crazy, but the feelings I had for Joseph when we first met were the same ones I felt when I saw the two of you interact.''

I found the situation hilarious, though I didn't dare to laugh in her face, ''I promise you, it's not that deep.''

''Okay,'' Eva said before she finished speaking on the topic, ''Just make sure you're not going to regret anything. If I've learned something, it's that regret is inevitable, it's just a matter of time before it catches up with you. Be sure of your choices and stick to them.''

I was creeped out, honestly. Not because Eva was prying, since I was the one who didn't try to stop her, it was how accurate it was. As the conversation set in my mind, all the doubts were slowly crawling back.

I knew that the time I had with Tobias was limited, and that I needed to leave, for my sake, for my mental health in the long run, so why did Eva's word sting deep? The emotions, the vibes she felt when Toby and I interacted was something I was curious about, but the conversation was shut and I didn't want to reopen it.

All I knew was that as much as I missed New York, and wanted to go home, I somehow didn't want to leave Tobias. If only I could bring him with me.

Eva's demeanor changed as soon as we walked past a small bakery. Freshly baked chocolate muffins were exactly what I needed to bring back the energy I lost, thanks to Eva.

Although she was now aware that I wouldn't be in town for the church event, she still forced me to go with her whilst she was picking a dress for herself. Since Joseph was still a member of the church and attended regularly, she was invited as his plus one.

Their relationship wasn't accepted by everyone, from what she'd told me. In fact, many blamed her for taking Joseph away and straying him from his true path. However, Eva never had issues with putting people in their place and wasn't shy to show them that they had no idea what they were talking about.

''How about we go get our nails done?'' Evangelia suggested.

My brows raised, ''I haven't seen any salons around here.''

As I've stated, the town was small. The main street was where everything was located. The only restaurant they had, the bakery, the coffee shop, the church, of course, two boutiques and a fast food place. That was all.

''A friend of mine owns one, though it's in her apartment. Let's go.''

Of course, Evangelia didn't wait for my response as she began to walk away. While we were walking, she called the said friend, a girl named Ariella and asked if she could squeeze us in. The girl was more than happy to do so.

And a few hours later, we both got our nails done, and I asked Ariella to wax my eyebrows since they were long overdue.

By the time we returned home, Joseph and Tobias were both... worried. Apparently, Eva ignored Joseph's messages and calls and since my phone was always on mute, I never saw the missed calls and texts from Tobias.

''Do you have no concept of time, Eva?'' Joseph seemed furious, though, Eva wasn't bothered in the slightest. She slid her jacket off her shoulders, took her boots off and waltzed towards the living room where she made herself comfortable.

''We were busy.'' Was Eva's simple response. Obviously, the boys were drinking some wine and Eva took a sip from Joseph's glass and leaned back into the couch..

''Busy with what?'' Tobias asked, this time.

I raised a curious eyebrow and Eva began to laugh.

I took a deep breath and mimicked Eva's actions, plopping myself onto the empty space next to her, ''Just girl things. Nothing important.''

Tobias snorted, ''We'll talk about this later.''

''Ooh, am I about to get punished?''

Joseph choked whilst Evangelia laughed. The rest of the evening was spent with Joseph and Eva bickering like children and Tobias giving me a nasty look from time to time. It was rather funny how aggravated he got, and how easy it was to get under his skin.

Honestly, it was one of the better nights at this place.