My Words Are Law

An odd Pair (2)

Chryses tried to contact her regularly after that, but she purposely ignored the calls. She has not yet conditioned herself for a second and an even lengthier conversation... So when her phone stopped ringing, Amaryllis felt relieved until she remembered they were going to meet next week in Mr. Rowland's class. It was an inevitable and unfortunate reality. The longer she thought about it, the faster the days seem to pass, and suddenly, it was Tuesday again, and now as she sat in Mr. Rowland's class, she started to blame her luck yet again. It was the only thing she could blame at this point and the only thing that comforted her.

After all, she refused to think that this was a trick of Chryses to get a hold of her, and whatever reason he has, surely, isn't out of any noble intentions. She'd rather believe it was all just a coincidence and that her existence to Chryses is that of the many insignificant pebbles underneath the soles of his shoes. It was easier that way, and she wouldn't have to be so unnecessarily wary of him, which would undoubtedly attract his attention if it were the opposite. She doesn't want a recurrence of the conversation they had when he called the first time.

"I assume the two of you are going to choose Mr. Taylor's output for the background of your project?" Mr. Rowland muttered when he stopped by in front of Amaryllis. He asked for the pairs to sit together to brainstorm a while ago, and Chryses readily went over to Amaryllis, who was dawdling by her chair. After all, she didn't want to be near the people around him, and she was sure the feelings were mutual. She was too caught up in choosing between waiting for Chryses to come or going over to sit beside him that the decision was left entirely to Chryses in the end.

Kayce and Samantha were trouble, and while she felt relieved that she didn't end up sitting anywhere near them, the eyes that were burning holes in the back of her head were equivalent to the uncomfortable feeling of sitting beside them.

"We were just talking about that... Right, Amaryllis?" Chryses smiled as he stared at her.

Talking about what?

"R-Right..." No, they weren't. But Chryses' and Mr. Rowland's stares were piercing her. She only had a second to choose between tossing her conscience to oblivion and facing Mr. Rowland's disappointment that she wasn't doing her best to work with the most brilliant student to ever walk the earth. Of which the repercussion of the latter occurrence is sure to be grave.

"So..? What will it be..?" Mr. Rowland muttered a follow-up question as he continued to stare at her.

"Yes... About that..." She gulped as she glanced at Chryses for backup, but he seemed intent on entirely leaving the decision to her as he remained silent. "W-We... The two of us..." She struggled as she glanced at both faces back and forth, nodding a few times at Chryses and slightly frowning at the end. "The two of us decided that... That Taylor will be the one to decide." She then looked to Mr. Rowland, tentatively smiling at him as she mentally patted herself on her back. Dodged it.

Chryses chuckled, looking amused as Amaryllis' cheeks puffed and unpuffed while looking at the cover of his output.

"Yes..." Chryses opened his mouth to talk as he inconspicuously handed his research to Amaryllis when Mr. Rowland focused his attention on him. "I was thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of pushing with either of our choices. The company I want to study is located abroad, and their website lacks relevant information, which can make further gathering of vital data difficult for us... " He glanced at his partner, who was skimming his output with all of her attention. There were only a few pages left.

"Yes... That's true, indeed." Mr. Rowland nodded thoughtfully.

Chryses smiled. "Meanwhile, Amaryllis' output has easier access to the information we will be needing... So-"

"I think... I think Taylor's choice of an old, declining company struggling in the market today is far more interesting, actually. We'll be learning a lot from working on this project. As for the missing data, we might be able to get it from old news articles, since the company received a great deal of publicity in the past... If it doesn't work then... we could always reach them via email..." Amaryllis muttered as she turned the last two pages. "I'm already excited to work on it!" She added with an eager expression on her face as she finally looked at Mr. Rowland's face.

He looked impressed as he nodded profoundly. "Indeed. Miss Larson's enthusiasm is as I've heard. It's nice to know that there are students like you who are always interested to learn more."

Amaryllis smiled at his statement.

"Well then... I'll be looking forward to your finished project." Their professor gave them one last glance before moving on to the next pair.

Amaryllis sighed in relief as she relaxed her stiff posture. "Th-thank you..." She handed the papers back to Chryses, who nodded at her gratitude.

He didn't rat her out.

"By the way, just message me if you want to discuss the project..." Amaryllis added.

"Hmm... But it's much more convenient to talk like this." He retorted. "Were you busy these past few days?"

Amaryllis flinched at his obvious intention to maneuver the topic towards the calls she ignored.

"Yes... I'm sorry..." She looked away, biting her lips anxiously.

Chryses continued to stare at her. "I see. Then why not give me a rough summary of your schedule? That way, I won't be calling you at an inconvenient time. Also, it would be better to meet at least once a week besides class hours to work on the weekly accomplishments... Don't you think so?"

No, I don't think so. "...Yeah. That would be really g-gr-great!" Amaryllis smiled at him awkwardly.

Chryses returned her smile, looking ignorant of Amaryllis' contradicting body language. "I look forward to our meetings, Amaryllis."

He sounds so considerate, but it only made Amaryllis wary of him. He treated her once like this last year until he suddenly didn't.

"Yeah... Me, too." She replied, the words leaving a bitter aftertaste at the back of her throat as the memories of her nightmare's continuation appeared in front of her eyes in vivid images.

***

A/N: Edited dialogue. (9.8.20) Thank you, @diditmp for the insights regarding the projects. ('∀'●)♡haha. I hope the dialogue about the project sounded more convincing, however, I'm still not really sure if Amaryllis' opinion is valid there... (ㆆᴗㆆ)

A/N: Actually, what kind of outputs do business majors work on? Do they have major projects to pass every finals, too? I was basing on my experiences on an entirely different major so please pardon my assumptions if it's wrong.. ヾ('▽｀;)ゝ

(ｏ￣∇￣ｏ)

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