Evan laughed.
It was a real one, not his usual mocking or sarcastic version.
It was so foreign to his ears that, as soon as he let it out, he immediately pressed his lips and looked away. Freiheit and Eternity's eyes were wide, as if they couldn't believe what they had just heard.
"Sorry," he coughed, covering his lips with his hand. "I didn't—"
"Please," Eternity interrupted him. "Do it more often, Evan."
His eyes darted at Freiheit, who gave an approving nod in reply. Unable to react to their immense show of support, Evan found himself laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
It wasn't similar to his previous one, of course. But to Eternity's ears, the mere sound of it almost made her knees buckle.
"Are you alright?" Evan asked worriedly, grabbing her before she fell face-first to the kitchen counter.
'Oh,' Eternity thought. 'My knees buckled. I must adore Evan to have my knee functions actually give up on me.'
"Lunch is ready!" Freiheit announced, hitting a metal pot with a wooden spoon repeatedly.
It made Eternity zoom back to reality.
Actually, it made her flying thoughts return to her body at the speed of light because of the irritating sound of metal clangoring. Evan literally had to grab and take the spoon away from Freiheit's hand, equally annoyed.
"Can you not?" Evan glared.
"Sorry, sorry," Freiheit laughed wearily.
***
It was Freiheit's time to leave after they finished eating lunch (Eternity wondered how two adult men could devour their meals quickly, knowing that they had just eaten breakfast less than two hours ago).
They were standing in front of the apartment's doorstep, bidding farewell to the traveling artist.
"See you soonest!" Freiheit said as he gave Evan a manly hug. Evan made a face but didn't say anything. "And you, Mademoiselle." He turned his gaze to Eternity, taking her hand before kissing it. "I'll be sure to find out your secrets."
There was absolutely no hint of menace in Freiheit's words, yet Eternity found herself pulling her hand away.
Freiheit didn't seem to mind. Instead, he didn't point out his displeasure at Eternity's rudeness. He gave one last wave before opening the doors and exiting the apartment.
Evan and Eternity were left alone in the apartment without the pesky Freiheit to annoy them. Eternity didn't mind Freiheit, not at all. She found him funny.
But his last words to her sent a chill down her spine, and she didn't know why.
"Are you okay?" Evan leaned down to her level, tucking a stray red lock behind her ear.
Her green eyes widened, surprised that he could sense that she was uncomfortable with what Freiheit just said.
"I know Freiheit is a bit extroverted," Evan continued. "So I won't blame you if your social battery was sucked out of you."
Eternity's eyes softened in disappointment, but she didn't want Evan to notice it.
"No, I don't mind." She shook her head. "As a matter of fact, I enjoyed his company."
"That's good," Evan said with a sigh of relief. "Anyway, let's go back inside."
***
Since it was Saturday, Evan had nothing important to do today aside from laze around his home.
'Their home,' his mind corrected him. 'His and Eternity's.'
Evan found the ends of his lips forming a slight curve, but he dismissed them as soon as they appeared.
"Why are you smiling?" Too bad for him, Eternity saw it and was quick enough to probe him.
They were both lying on Evan's bed. Eternity's head rested on his chest while his chin was buried in her long red hair.
"Nothing in particular," He said, shaking his head, causing his chin to dig deeper into her head.
Eternity was silent for a few seconds, staring at him with her wide doe eyes. Suddenly, she shifted her position and sat up.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked her in return, sitting up as well.
"I…" Eternity hesitated.
"What is it?"
"It's nothing." She shook her head.
"No, seriously, what is it?" Evan insisted.
"I…" She paused. "Freiheit told me something!" She said, her tone changing to a bright one.
Evan knew that she meant to say something else in her mind but decided against it.
He wouldn't force her to say it if she didn't want to. He'd be a despicable man if he did. He decided to play along with her, although he would lie if he said it didn't bother him.
"What did he tell you?"
"No, I think the right sentence was that 'he withheld something.'" Eternity clarified.
This piqued Evan's interest.
"What do you mean?"
"He told me not everything is his story to tell."
Evan gave her a long look.
It was written all over his face that he was processing her words. Freiheit, the fucking chatterbox that he is, saying that 'not everything is his story to tell'?
That's borderline unbelievable!
"Even though I have no mind-reading powers, I can guess you're insulting Freiheit internally right now." Eternity chuckled. "You must care about him, don't you?"
Evan looked surprised at her contradictory words. But he knew what Eternity meant.
He liked to believe that he was a person who kept his guard up, a person who wasn't easy to read. But Eternity seemed to have easily decoded that his tendency to insult a person rigorously was his morbid way of showing affection.
'Just like a cat,' Cynthia's, his younger sister, voice echoed in his mind.
For some reason, Evan didn't seem to mind that Eternity managed to read him like an open book.
"He's one of the few people I tolerated," Evan replied coolly.
"I hope I'm part of that 'few people'." She muttered under her breath.
Evan smiled, leaning forward and closer to her.
"Of course you are." He whispered before allowing his lips to touch hers.