Rue

15. Happy Birthday, Chaol

Rue steps into the Everson mansion, heading towards the hall and sitting down, waiting for the maidservant to wake Chaol up. She waits for a very long time, and have almost decided to call him by herself when he walks downstairs dressed casually with short pants and a T-shirt, his hair ruffled and sleep creases on his cheek.

Chaol stops on his tracks and steps backwards as he sees her.

"Why are you here?" He asks with one eyebrow raised.

Rue isn't prepared for this. She chides herself as she remembers that she forgot to ask Kate what excuse she should give to Chaol.

'Man... What now?' She tries to speak but finds no words.

Rue decides to just go for it without an excuse.

"Come-" She says just as Chaol speaks again.

"Cat got your tongue?" He smirks.

Rue feels like slapping him in the face at his smug look. He seems very much wide awake, but she can still slap him to wake him up further.

"Oh.. You've got gold in your mouth... You can't speak, can you?" Chaol sits down beside her and sinks into the sofa, causing Rue to fall against him.

"Shut up for a while, can you?" Rue exclaims.

Before she can continue, Chaol lifts her up and puts her on a chair nearby and goes back tp sink into the sofa. Rue is way too surprised to even protest and when she recovers enough she is already seated nicely on the chair.

"So you think falling for me is a good way for me to shut up? Then," Chaol shakes his forefinger at her, "Nope."

Falling for him? Falling, as in which kind of falling?

Rue finds him acting weird today, as if he is an entirely changed person, for usually he never speaks this much to her. Chaol is usually quiet and wears a bored look which is not very welcoming.

But this kind of teasing or sarcasm isn't entirely nice either.

"Come with me." She gets up from ber chair and takes his hand to drag him just in case he doesn't follow her.

"Why should I? You didn't even say what you want." He shakes his hand off hers and looks at her.

"Even if I tell you what I want, you won't listen to me!" Rue sits back down again. "Wait, I did. I asked you to shut up and come with me. And you didn't listen. See?"

"I listened. I'm not deaf." Chaol grins lopsidedly.

"If you listened, you would've came with me, and not sit there and keep frustrating me." Rue tries to be more gentle as she knows that Kate will be mad at her if she fails to do her job.

"Listening to you doesn't mean I acquiesce." Chaol gets up from the sofa and takes Rue's hand. "Now lead me where you want to. And I'll shut up."

"You're unbelievable." Rue pulls his hand off and leads him to the door. "Get inside the car."

He keeps his word. He doesn't speak, not even one word, and the silence is making the situation more awkward than ever. Rue steps into the driver's seat and waits for him to get in.

She gives him an envelope, and starts the car engine while waiting for the GPS to locate their location.

"Don't open it until we reach our destination, okay?" Rue stops him as he reaches to open the envelope.

"From, Chaol's mansion, to, Unknown place. Drive safely. In 300 meters, turn left." The GPS starts to give instructions.

Rue looks over to Chaol who is staring at the envelope with a hint of smile, seeming not to have listened to the phrase "unknown place". She smiles and drives on.

***

"You have arrived at your destination." It sounds again, this time telling Rue that they're finally there. She stops by the roadside.

"Chaol." She calls him, as he turns around to look at her.

She hands him something and says...

"Happy birthday, Chaol Arlert Everson."