A Veiled Deception [ON HOLD]

Chapter Three

//Please note that I’ve changed Ella’s name to Ivy. Ella was too similar to Eli lol. If you see Ella pop up anywhere bizarrely that’s why. Enjoy xD\\

 

Chapter Three.

“Her words were like tinfoil; they shone and they covered things up.”

~ Helen Cross, My Summer of Love

                His silver eyes flickered to me. “Hey,” he replied, his gaze betraying no emotion as he nodded at me. I felt my breath hitch as I noticed how striking his features were in daylight, and how his eyes seemed far brighter and richer, almost blue, in normal light. His dark hair fell into his eyes, and there was a light dusting of stubble across his high cheekbones and his chin, making him look like he had just stepped out of a billboard advertising aftershave.

                I broke the eye contact, when I realised I had been staring at him and a faint blush rose up to my cheeks. Thankfully, my mother and Heather were in a conversation about their kids, so my embarrassment went unnoticed by them. But not by Eli.

                Darting a glance back at him, I was taken aback by the fact that he was still looking at me unwaveringly but there was another expression lingering on him which made my blood grow cold.

                He was looking at me curiously and I could almost see the cogs in his brain whirring up, trying to remember why I looked so familiar. My heart began to beat faster with my palms sweating profusely. I held my breath and steadily held his gaze, waiting for the penny to drop and for him to point his finger at me, to call me out, label me a fraud and a liar.

                But no accusations came.

                “It’s nice to meet you,” Eli finally said, breaking our eye contact. He turned to Heather, “Mum, I’m ordering out for dinner, don’t bother cooking.” With another polite smile for my mother, and a nod to me, he stalked out of the room, leaving me feeling a little lightheaded.

                Mother and Heather had started cooing about how wonderful Eli was but I tuned them out, internally panicking. What was with that look? Did he know that I was the girl who he saved on the weekend? The girl who was now sitting in a holier-than-thou position, wrapped with layers of clothes and a scarf securely on her head whilst yesterday she had her cleavage spilling out?

                I felt sick.

                But then I calmed myself. It was dark outside that day, and my face was caked in make-up. There was no way he could have known it was me.

                “Saffiyah?”

                Mother’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts and I was startled to see her ready to leave. Scrambling to get my things together, I quickly stood up ignoring mother’s remarks about me never paying attention. Heather walked us out and just as we were about to leave, my mother blurted out what she had been trying to work towards all evening, ever since she found out that Heather’s husband was a cardiologist.