The Nine and a Love (ON HIATUS)

31.

Evelyn shut opened her eyes and saw Adrian standing some steps away in front of her. Her eyes turned sad and slowly turned her gaze down on the floor. Adrian strolled towards her with a concerned look and stood a step away from her.

"You alright, Cupcake?" Adrian asked softly looking down at her. 

"I'm alright," Evelyn said looking up at him. "I was just thinking about my Nana," She lied and smiled at him.

"Really! So you have a Nana going by the name 'Adrian'!" Adrian jerked an eyebrow and tilted his head sideways with an amused look. Evelyn cursed inwardly and let out a defeated sigh. Adrian reached for her cheek and cupped gently between his fingers. "What's going on, Evelyn?" He asked softly.

"You tell me, how are you doing?" Evelyn asked quietly. 

"Don't worry about me, Cupcake. I'm doing totally fine." Adrian said in a smile. "Boys are emotionally and physically tough, unlike girls." He added but there was not a sign of boastful in his tone. He was sincerely saying it. 

"Being a girl is complicated. I don't even understand myself sometimes." Evelyn sighed tiredly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Wanna talk about it?" Adrian said and raised his both eyebrows in anticipation.

"I think I can handle it, now I know what to do," Evelyn said in a smile. 

"If things get unbearable, you can always come to me. I'm always here for you, Cupcake," Adrian said softly and tugged some strands of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you, Adrian," Evelyn said sincerely to which Adrian nodded and smiled at her.

"Alright now, let's go and join the others, they're all waiting for you," Adrian said and rested his arm over her shoulder.  

*

Evelyn was the first to wake up. She went downstairs and started to prepare breakfast for all of them. 

"Good morning," She turned her head and saw Nathan leaning against the door. His hair was damped which shows that he came here after a shower. And the very sight of him was making her heart fall for him over and over again. Never in her life did she ever thought that she would truly, madly and deeply fall for someone but she did and he is standing right in front of her. 

But it always breaks her heart knowing that he doesn't feel the same for her. For a change, he might have developed some feelings for her but it was all because of her being persistent to make him fall for her, never caring about how he might be going through. It was a selfish act of hers.

"Good morning to you too," Evelyn said in a small smile and quickly looked away from him and continued doing her work. Nathan straightened up from his position and strolled towards her.

"Nathan," Evelyn said, not looking at him. "I'm sorry for being an annoying person to you." She said quietly as she continued to make breakfast. "I got carried away and did silly things to make you realise how much I love you," She let out a soft chuckle. "But I realise now, I was being very selfish." She added and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain coursing out from her heart. 

"Thank you for bearing my silliness. And now you can rest assured, I will stop doing my silly act from now on," She said amusedly, perfectly masking her emotion. "I don't want our friendship to be destroyed just because of my one-sided love,"

"You're giving up on me!" Nathan exclaimed and couldn't hide the disappointment in his tone. Evelyn snapped and looked at him with creased eyebrows. "I mean, I really don't mind what you do. You said so yourself that night at the party, you were doing what you wanted to do-" Nathan said in a shrug, trying to be casual. Silence fell between them and they simply stared at each other for a moment longer.