Inigo felt a sense of impending doom when he arrived in the cafeteria.
As he went to check his name on the list of duties and partners, a pair of eyes bore a hole through the back of his skull.
Ignoring the strange sensation, he slid his index finger down the list while searching for his name. He didn't have to go a long way down because he found his name among the first few names right beside Amora Hart.
His heart leaped with joy, fluttering like a butterfly's wings. Yet, he also felt fear when he remembered the events from this morning.
He visibly gulped and backed away from the wall with a blank stare. When he lifted his gaze back up, his eyes met with her fierce ones, and he knew he was doomed.
'Why was I so hasty in the morning?'
He ignored the buzz around him and only concentrated on the beautiful face before him. With a charming smile, he walked forward and came to stand before her.
"Hi. " His voice was deep, and sultry. He purposefully showed her an innocent, yet irresistible, front.
"Take that mop and follow me." The smile wiped from his face the instant he heard her indifferent reply. The horror he felt when his charm went ignored.
How could there be such a girl who could resist him, the Inigo Nowell?
Without him realizing, he just fell deeper in love with the girl.
He followed her with the mop in hand and looked at her, struggling to carry the bucket of water in one hand and the mop in one. He bit his lips to hide another smile.
Amora felt her heart jump out of her chest when a hand grazed hers and stole the heavy bucket of water from her.
"What do you think you're doing?" She cried out, looking at the boy who ran to walk in front of her.
Inigo shot her a look from over his shoulders, "Lending a maiden in distress a helping hand?" He sounded amused, and that further fueled her anger.
"I don't need your help," she said firmly.
"I beg to differ. " Was his prompt reply. He turned to walk backwards while matching her fierce glare.
The sparks crackling between the two were unconcealed from everyone but the two.
Noah nudged his sister. " What should we do? The attraction seems to get stronger?"
"I don't know. Let's just follow them for now and keep a distance between the two."
Before the twins could act on their plan to separate their best-friend and that demonic mistake- 'that's what Nora called Inigo now- someone called them.
"You two, your duty is here, scrubbing the walls. Where do you think you're going? I am given specific instructions to monitor you two." Apparently, these two were the most likely to try to skip the punishment.
"Your wayward actions give the both of us a bad name." Noah glared at his sister, who pouted.
"I haven't even done anything today, though." She felt wronged.
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"That's not how you do it!" Amora felt like she was repeating this for the twenty-fourth time in the past half-hour.
Inigo gave her a clueless look, which even a fool could discern, however, and he had hearts in his eyes when Amora spoke to him. He was acting as fake as his intentions were pure.
The boy only wanted attention from his crush, which was hard considering how she hated him. Thinking about that made his chest pain.
"I am trying my best. There is so much dirt here. How should I clean this up? This sauce stain is being stubborn and just won't come out. " It was a hard battle for someone who hated filth with a passion to clean up the mess. His endearing whine almost melted Amora's heart. "It would be great if you could help me out."
"What do you think I am doing?" she deadpanned. "Quit acting like a child. There is still a lot of floor to cover. And by the way, you look completely ridiculous." She commented on his weird fashion sense. The rubber gloves are fine, but why did he need the mask and the hair cap?
"I won't even drop dead in this dirt without these on." Inigo answered with a straight face and fully serious.
She rolled her eyes and mopped while walking backward, her gaze fixed to the ground.
Inigo sulked at the lack of attention from her. What's the point of tolerating the muck around him then?
"Don't think I forgot about what happened this morning. You'll be giving me that very important reason after we're finished here." Amora reminded him.
Inigo felt significant amounts of hostility ooze from the girl. Now he felt it was best when she was purposely ignoring him.
"Sure, love." He answered under his breath. He still had to figure out the suitable answer for his unexplained action in the morning.
Amora's sharp ears caught him whispering, "What did you say?"
"Nothing. " He whiffed his head.
Amora tried to take a step closer to him. "I don't think so-" Before she could finish, her feet slipped on the wet floor and in a bid to regain her balance, she stumbled and her back hit a table. The chairs that were piled on top of the table wobbled, but before they could fall and hit her, a pair of arms took her out of harm's way.
Amora stared at the same pair of eyes that captured her yesterday.
"It's the other way round this time, sweetheart. Doesn't this feel like fate?" His sweet, yet mischievous smile that peeked out from the mask which had slid down to his chin caused her heart to go into a frenzy and her mind to lose sense.
On the other side of the cafeteria hall, Noah was grappling with his sister to keep her from storming to the raven-head and turning him into a crow.
"My pure, innocent child! How dare that devil touch her below the equator?"
"He helped break her fall. Why don't you concentrate on that aspect?" He almost yelped when she gave him a scathing glare as her reply.
Close to them stood Joel, who had a dark shadow crossing over his face. His tightened fists squeezed the squish out of the sponge.
Amora regained her balance and pushed the aggravating boy away from her.
"What did you call me? And keep your hands to yourself! I could have saved myself, there was no need for you to meddle." She snarled.
Why does her temper reach its peak around him? It's only been a day! This is all that dratted accident's fault.
She began hitting his legs with her dripping mop.
Inigo laughed at her poor strength. "Careful love, you're going to make me wet at this rate."
Amora gasped, light shaded of red covered her cheek and the top of her ears. She halted to look around and check if anyone heard him. Luckily they were in a corner, far enough from the nearest pair that they won't hear anything.
"You! Stop spouting nonsense. Don't you think before you speak?" She questioned in bewilderment.
"How can I when you occupy my mind night and day?" Inigo accused her of his statement.
Amora gasped at his shamelessness. She felt a strong itch in her palm which she unfortunately couldn't satisfy at the moment when there students and supervisors around to witness her assault. She would be faulted for getting provoked.
"Just shut up and do your work." She closed her eyes and counted backwards in Spanish to calm herself.
Inigo grinned, relishing the feeling of getting under her skin. Anyway, her attention was on him, and he knew she was thinking about him only. That's all that mattered, for now.
"Alright, students! You've done well. Let this afternoon of grueling work serve as a reminder to respect the staff that performs these duties every day without complaint. I will deal with any behavior similar to how you acted today with more severity in the future. You have been warned." With these last words, Principal Bairos ended the cleaning session, much to the relief of the exhausted students.
The girls and boys divided to go to their respective washrooms to clean themselves. There were showers in the washroom, and extra pair of clothes in the students' lockers.
When Amora came out with Nora, feeling clean, her face turned sour upon seeing who was waiting outside for her.
Seeing the raven head reminded her of their unofficial appointment.
She turned to Nora. "You go ahead. I need to talk to him first before I leave."
Nora immediately disapproved. "You don't have to talk to him about anything. He's a lunatic who does strange things. Didn't we tell you to ignore him? And," she came closer to whisper in Amora's ear, " He's dangerous. What if he makes you disappear?" She looked genuinely concerned and scared.
Amora looked at her quizzically. "How would he do that? I am thumb-sized, you know. And don't worry, if he tries to do anything fishy, I kick him and run away. "
"If you fight, you will end up injuring yourself more than him." Nora felt more scared stating the fact.
"Would it hurt you to show a little faith in me? First my love life, and now my fighting style." Amora pointed out.
Nora just grinned sheepishly and bid her farewell with a hug.
When Amora's back disappeared round the corner with Inigo, she searched for her brother.
Finding the boy coming out of the boys' bathroom, she pulled him away from the crowd of students and gave him a hard slap upside down on his head, making him yelp in pain.
"You crazy woman, what's wrong with you?"
Nora was incredulous. "Me? What is wrong with you? Didn't I ask you to keep an eye on that devil's creation?"
"When did you ask me to do that?" Noah couldn't remember any order like that ever escaping her mouth.
Nora fumed. "Do I have to verbalize everything for you? What is the use of being twins then? What about the telepathic connection that we should share? Or is it we are not really twins? I did always believe you were adopted." She scoffed.
Noah looked at her, exasperated. "There is no such thing as a telepathic twin connection. Not unless we use the mind-line spell. And stop exaggerating. Even with our different genders, our similarities in physical appearance are enough to guarantee us being twins is a truth. Also, if anyone of us were to be adopted, it would definitely be you."
Nora took the path Amora took instead of answering back, making Noah tail behind her, shaking his head.
"About that 'Devil creation' moniker that you gave him. Isn't he, indirectly, our creation- I mean mistake? Doesn't that make us the devil?"
Nora lifted her hand and showed him her middle finger without slowing her pace.
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"Speak." Amora impatiently asked with her arms folded across her chest.
Inigo took a deep breath. " I apologize for my rude action this morning. But, I don't regret it. The reason is simple- I love you, Amora Hart!"