Author's Note: Yes, all readers are allowed to strangle me for the time taken for this chapter, so I have make it slightly longer to make it up to you. I have enjoyed writing this chapter enormously, so if there is anything you dun understand, please review!! Though I may have emphasis greatly on Michael and Elizabeth in this chapter, Jenos, Eve, Train and Rin are still the main chapters, so dun worry!! Please review!!!
(P.S. There is no love between Eve and Jenos, beware of that! The original couple remains!!)
Chapter 23:
"So are you here to help me?"
Eve and Jenos nodded simultaneously.
"Okay, come on then."
It had been close to thirty minutes since Jenos and Eve have helped with the guests. Being free at the moment, Sephira decided to strike up a conversation.
"So what were you guys talking about?"
Both of them look up with a confuse look.
"What do you meant?"
Sephira shrugged.
"Well, Eve almost upset the vase so you guys must be talking about something funny, care to enlighten me?"
Eve snorted lightly.
"Oh is funny alright."
Jenos glared at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Eve rolled her eyes slightly.
"Don't you know that everything about you is funny?"
Sephira laughed softly.
"Now kids, you should loosen up and tell me what happen."
Sephira tried to stop laughing when both Eve and Jenos glared at her. After a while, Eve placed a hand gently on her hips and stared at her brother with an annoyed look while trying to remember what had really happened,
"We met a childhood friend of our father's and Jenos noted his terrible taste in clothing and was being idiotically proud over his own taste. So he asks me to take a look and I was probably not looking where I was going because he was looking too horrible for words. End of story."
Eve ended with a shrug and a glare was sent to Jenos who suddenly seemed very interested in the beautiful flowers that were decorated quite near to the main hall. Sephira gave a oh-now-I-get-it look.
"Not my fault that I'm so good-looking…"
Jenos murmured silently. Eve and Sephira chuckled lightly before stopping suddenly with horror when they heard a familiar voice.
"Ah when you are talking about good-looking, are you by chance talking about little'o me, hmm, Cousin Jenos?"
Jenos turned back slowly afraid to see who the speaker though he knew very well that the manner of speaking and that annoying cocky attitude from anywhere. However, no matter how he hated them, or more precisely him, he turned around and put on a big fake smile, much to his disgust.
"Ah, Cousin Michael! Long time no see! How fortunate of me that you were able to make it here from all the way from England! How was your trip?"
Jenos offer a handshake to Michael who looks at Jenos' hand daintily as though Jenos' hand was made from slime. Nevertheless, for the sake of cousins he just brushed his hand slightly and that was enough as a handshake. Jenos was obviously boiling inside and out but he was talented in hiding his emotions in a big smile. But, oh...how he felt like shredding all his organs to pieces.
"The answer to your question is boring, cousin Jenos."
Oh no…here comes the lecture again…
"Oh and what had spoiled your lovely trip?"
"Nothing. Is just that I have been to England so many times that it is starting to bore me out. Don't you agree, cousin Jenos? But how can you understand my pain since you never been out of your own country but only to nearby towns?"
"Forgive me but I don't have really an interest in going out of countries as I prefer to stay near my home."
Michael gave him a skeptical look.
"Ah, yes surely that is a poor excuse for someone like you, dear cousin. I pity you my dear cousin, while I have visited England, London and Europe five times, you only have been in the neighboring countries. Don't you wish you were me?"
A smirk was clearly seen. Jenos gave a vomiting look. Little did he know that Jenos had been to England, London and Europe more times than him but he wasn't going to be stupid to brag about himself. He knew there were even richer people out there and Jenos wasn't going to destroy his reputation just like that. He glanced at Eve and Sephira who was chatting with another cousin of his, to be right; it was Michael's sister they were talking to, Elizabeth. He shuddered slightly as he rethought the day they had first met.
Flashback
"Jenos, can you please come here for a minute?"
12 years old Jenos placed his book down and quickly ran to his father's side, he looked up innocently,
"What is the matter, Father?"
"Nothing much, I just want you to meet two cousins you have never met. Fortunately, they were just around visiting some towns and they decided to stay here for a night. Aren't you lucky? You get to make more new friends!"
Jenos smiled at his father that he had always been proud of.
"I'm sure we will get along well, Father. By the way Father, can you tell me more about them so I might be more prepared?"
Before his Father replied, a loud shriek was heard.
"Mother, mother! I don't want to make friends! Not with a commoner!"
"Hush, dear! That is rude! I have you know that His Majesty is the King! I will not have you making rude of his well-behaved children! Unlike you, they don't scream at their own parents! Now behave! Or I will request that you to be brought to the gallows!"
The daughter however, did not bother one a bit and began to scream and after a while, crying. Jenos winced. Was this girl really his cousin? If she really is, then that would be much to worry about. However, he wondered where was the second person and also he beloved sister, Eve? He just hoped that the second was at least better behaved then this one.
He took a sweet from the crystal bowl and slowly walked towards the screaming girl. He held the sweet in front the child's eyes, making sure she could clearly see it. Predicted, the child stopped crying and quickly snatched the sweet and gobbled it. Jenos didn't know what to say. Seeing her child's behavior, the mother quickly kneeled down at Jenos' eye level as much as possible. Her delicate hands held his hand in a warm embrace and Jenos loved the feeling,
"Please forgive my impudent child but I have troubled bringing her up as I have a fragile body or I would have brought them up like you, well-behaved and polite!"
Jenos could see that she wasn't lying as she look stern in handling in her own children but wasn't able to due to uneasiness from her body. He looked up and gave her one of his warmest smile,
"Don't worry, I promised I will take good care of her!"
The mother smiled and walked towards her daughter who was still gobbling her sweet,
"Now, Elizabeth, Jenos had kindly agreed to play with you. Now I want you to behave as good as possible and go introduce yourself to him."
"Yes, mother…"
Elizabeth must have detected the serious tone in her mother's voice and sulked while walking slowly to wards Jenos. Once reached she stopped abruptly and hesitated. This was probably the first time she was introducing herself so Jenos decided to help her and held up his hand and gave the biggest smile,
"Hey, my name is Jenos, shall we play together?"
Something must have happened because upon seeing Jenos' smile, she began to blush horribly red.
Jenos backed a little; he didn't want to know what was going on in this girl's head now. Without a warning, Elizabeth started hugging him while screaming,
"Mother, he's cute!! I want him!!"
Jenos could only think of five words. Oh GOD!! EVE HELP ME!!!
On the other hand,
"So Eve, I heard you like reading."
Eve backed a little.
"Yes, Michael, are you too interested in books?"
A red-haired boy leaned closer.
"Why yes, I am. Doesn't it pleases you that we have a common interest?"
Eve looked worried at the distance between their noses. This was getting way to discomfort for her. She could try tricking this idiotic cousin of hers; after all, he really did looked dumb. Eve was definitely sure that he wasn't they type to read books. Ugh, where was Jenos when she needed him? Little did she know, Jenos needed her as much as she needed him.
She was reading when they came and when she met Michael; she was immediately dragged off as Michael wanted her to show him around. Eve had wanted to wait for her brother to come down but couldn't, at least the crying girl didn't want to follow them. She mentally smirked at what Jenos was going to experiencing at a few minutes time. Well, enough of them, now about her...she got to act really well, she didn't really want to burst her act and receive punishment from her father for deceiving her cousin.
Eve stood as straight as possible,
"Cousin?"
"Eve, how many times have I said that it is okay to call me 'Michael'? Do you still uncomfortable with me?"
"Perhaps but may I ask you a question?"
"Please go ahead."
"Name me the books you have read so far."
"Uh…'The nightingale'?"
Eve gave him a skeptical look.
"What? You ask me to name a book!"
"Yes I did, cousin but I did not ask you to name me a book read by a child, I meant books that don't have any pictures."
"You meant books with words only?!"
"Yes, what else did you think I was saying?"
"Eve! That's crazy! I don't read that kind of books! How can you who is younger than me by two years read those difficult books?"
"Is there a challenge direct towards me, cousin?"
"If you don't mind. May I remind you that I don't like girls that lie to me. Perhaps you want to eat your words to gain my adoration towards you again? I'm sure you would love to do that."
"Please don't bother, cousin, to be straightforward, I don't like you either, so please come to the library so I may prove that my words are true."
Eve walked confidently towards the library with a dumbstruck cousin looking at her. He clenched his fists tightly. This was the first time a girl had refused him coldly and defend herself against him using poisonous words. Well, that makes things interesting. He will gain dominance in her cold heart and win her love. He stood up straight as he was sure that Eve couldn't prove her words true. Even if she could, there are bound to be other ways to get to her.
Jenos…
"Elizabeth?"
"Yes, Jenos?"
She answered in a sugar-coated voice making Jenos ready to puke.
"May we please stop playing 'House' and play a more practical game?"
Jenos immediately regretted saying those words as her lips started quivering.
"But don't you like playing 'House'? I think you make a great husband!! What do you think about me, huh?"
Jenos knew that if he answered truthfully, he will be in hot water. Personally, he would have rather married Eve than Elizabeth. At least, Eve wasn't as demanding as Elizabeth. He looked down at the garment he was wearing; boys never wear these things, why was he doing the cooking at the first place anyway, girls should be the one in charge of cooking and therefore are the ones wearing an apron. All Elizabeth ever done the whole time was staring at him and blushing as if that would help him. His right twitched slightly as he turned around and answered meekly,
"Yes, you are a great wife. I wouldn't dream of marrying someone else."
Wrong words.
"Oh Jenos, thank you but don't worry I won't let anyone court me and promise me that you won't too!"
What…? Marry her in reality?! I rather jump off a cliff!!!
"Uh…I don't think that it is necessary for me to make strict rules for my life just for your liking."
"PROMISE!!!"
Jenos winced at the volume.
"Uh…yes…is a promise…"
" Yay!! We will live happily after! I will make sure of that!!"
Jenos shuddered at the words. He hoped that Elizabeth would forget about it once they grew up.
"Jenos!! Elizabeth!! We all are going have tea! So come on!!"
"Coming!! Elizabeth, lets go! I'm awfully hungry!"
Jenos started at her surprised as she looked annoyed.
"Jenos!! As your future wife, you are to learn some proper manners! You hold my hands and we walk down the stairs together."
Jenos knew that Elizabeth's manners weren't stated in Father's manners as he had make sure that Jenos and Eve learned at the age of three so it wasn't necessary to follow her rules but for the sake for his eardrums, he had better follow.
"Yes, Elizabeth, shall we go now?"
"Yes, darling. Let's go."
That's it. He was going to the bathroom after tea. Eve is so going to laugh at me for this.
Eve…
"…and they lived in tragedy, never to be seen, never to be remembered, never to be heard. They never had a happy life, even though they were so much in love with each other. Everyone had betrayed the kind-couple who tried settling in every day's society but had failed……The End."
Eve glanced up, she had just finished 368 pages in one hour and the half. Her cousin looked tearful about the sad but romantic story but quickly rubbed his tears away when he saw Eve staring at him.
"Didn't your mother tell you that staring was bad?"
"Well, I didn't think it mattered so much since you have been staring at me when I first started reading the story."
"That was different!"
"Oh? Why was that?"
"Ermm, I was checking that there weren't any bugs around to irritate you."
"A poor excuse, cousin. Anyway, I read a book that didn't have any pictures but only words in 368 pages."
"All right, all right! You are smarter than me but that doesn't mean that you are better than me in outdoor activities or in games."
"I don't think so. Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I'm weak."
"Oh, now this is more interesting! I really want to see you bail yourself out of this."
"Right, I will do that right after tea."
"Hah, you're lying!"
"Eve, Michael! Enough playing! Time for tea!! Come on, Jenos and Elizabeth is already at the table."
Eve gave him a mocking smirk.
"Who was lying?"
"All right, you win! Let's go!"
He held out a hand towards Eve who gave him a confuse look.
"What? Oh, you don't know? I treat all girls nicely by companying them to a destination."
Michael was astonished at Eve's ability in reading, he was older than her two years and she could read better than him. At least, he knew she was totally going to succumb to his will when he beat her square in games. He was brought back to reality by Eve's harsh words.
"I don't need it."
And Eve walked off, leaving Michael, humiliated, angry, lust and possessive.
I will win you.
Tea Time,
Jenos and Eve sat across of Michael and Elizabeth while the parents were seated at the far end of each side of the table. Jenos and Eve had sighed in relief when their eyes met while the other two were obviously jealous at the distance between them and both long to separate them. Unfornately, Michael and Elizabeth had misunderstand sibling's love and lover's love together. Jenos and Eve knew that and tried to avoid them as much as possible because they understand each other well enough to talk about everything and didn't like anyone interfering in their lives.
However, Eve did find the part about Elizabeth with Jenos marrying in the future amusing and childish much to Elizabeth's anger.
Jenos have blushed with humiliation when Elizabeth have introduced herself as Jenos' wife, causing Eve to lose balance because she was trying to hide her amusement behind a straight face, making Elizabeth embarrassed. However, Eve got her shares of embarrassment when Michael's have announced that he would be Eve's fiancée. Jenos wasn't the only one to burst into laughter, the whole table burst too, unfornately for him. They were both thankful that the parents didn't take Michael and Elizabeth's words for real.
Michael was the first one to finished his tea,
"DAD!!"
"Quiet. I'm not deaf. What is it?"
A grey-haired man had replied his son's shouting.
"Can all of us go out and play together later?"
"Ask their permission, it wouldn't be nice if they were forced to join both of you."
"Both of you wouldn't mind, would you?"
Michael looked at them slyly. Jenos, obviously like to play outdoor games have not trouble and Eve remembering her words,
"No, we will join you afterwards when we are done with our tea, right Eve?"
Jenos winked at Eve who knew exactly what he was thinking. They both have to win this game and beat them, causing Eve to let out a small smirk.
"Right."
-End-of-Chapter-
Reviews:
Mama: KYAAAAAH! THX FOR THE FORGIVING REVIEW!!! U R THE BEST!!!! HOPEFULLY THIS CHAPTER WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU!!!
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Lizz: THANX 4 THE REVIEW!! I M SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG! HOPEFULLY U FOUND THIS CHAPTER INTERESTING!!
