I was startled at the sudden voice and I quickly whipped my head around to find myself staring into a pair of familiar light green eyes, gleaming with a knowing look. I was looking right at Evelyn.
What the hell? What are the odds?
She marched towards us, closing the distance between us in a matter of seconds. She looked down to glare at me with narrowed eyes, disdain clearly written all over her face.
"Does Xavier know you are out here seducing and hooking up with another man?!" She spat the words out like they were poison in her mouth. "You are truly disgusting and shameless Aurelia, I can't believe you would betray such a good man for a man like…" she stopped, the words that were once sitting at the tip of her tongue dissipated when she finally had a good look at the man who was right before her eyes.
I watched as a hint of recognition flashed past her eyes and soon enough, realisation washed over her. Her face fell in an instant and her eyes widened in horror when she finally realised who the man was.
"...Mr Jones?" His name left her lips in a soft mutter, surprise evident in her voice. She took a step back, staring at him with a blank look etched onto her face, blinking a couple more times to make sure that she wasn't stuck in a dream. "It's nice to meet you," she quickly said, extending her hand to give him a handshake.
He glanced down to look at her hand, ignoring it. He looked back up to meet her gaze, his lips were pressed into a thin line, clearly he didn't look pleased. "Evelyn," he said her name in an icy tone. "You are here early, you aren't supposed to be here until at least 8pm."
That explains it… She must have been featured in the art exhibition too and was probably here to meet him too.
She stuttered. "I… I didn't know you were meeting someone else." Her gaze flickered over to look at me. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked, feigning innocence, her words implying that there was some sort of intimate relationship between Henry and I.
Silence enveloped us as tension continued to brew in the air between us.
"I saw you…" she continued but I quickly interrupted her, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence.
"Are you trying to imply that Mr Jones and I are having some sort of inappropriate relationship?" I questioned, my voice carrying a sharp edge to it as I arched my brow at her.
I watched as he grew angry at the accusation, his eyes burning with a fiery blaze and his jaws were clenched tightly.
Her eyes widened within the next second as she turned to Henry and raised her hands up to signal 'no' in a hurry.
"No. no! I wouldn't … do that…" she quickly exclaimed with a flustered look plastered across her face. "I didn't mean it like that…" she muttered under her breath as her heart raced inside her chest.
I stepped forward. "Then what exactly do you mean? What were you trying to say?" I challenged, a defiant glint twinkling in my dark brown eyes.
"Nothing at all!" She immediately explained, letting out a nervous laughter. "It was just an innocent question, I don't mean any harm," she proclaimed as her eyes darted between Henry and I, a look of panic masked her features at the risk of offending him.
A smirk morphed itself onto my lips as a wave of satisfaction washed over me, seeing the defeated look etched onto her face.
"Sure. But just so you know…" I started, deliberately drawing each word out as if I was savouring every single syllable. "I'm only meeting Mr Jones, to thank him for featuring my art in the upcoming exhibition," I declared.
Her eyes grew large with surprise, almost bulging out of her eye sockets when she finally realised what I had just said. "You what?" She blurted out and I could sense the anger and jealousy that laced her voice. "You will also be featured at the art exhibition?" She questioned with disbelief written all over her face.
I simply smiled at her. "Yeah," I confirmed and watched as her face fell once again. "Is there something wrong?" Within the next second, her cheeks were flushed red and her features quickly contorted into an angry expression.
"Are you serious?!" She burst out yelling in a fit of rage as impulse clouded her judgement. "This is a prestigious art exhibition for up and coming new artists. How could someone like you be chosen?!" She snarled with a disdainful scorn, each word that left her lips was dripping with a thick layer of venom.
A cold chuckle escaped from my lips.
"And what exactly do you mean by someone like me, Evelyn?" I sneered. "Don't you forget that your parents hired me to be your art tutor. That must mean that no matter how bad my painting is, I'm at least better than you are, right?" I retorted, shooting her a harsh reminder as a smirk played on my lips and I kept my gaze steady on her.
"You –!" She hissed as rage spread within her like a wildfire she couldn't seem to tame. "I bet you seduced him and slept with him so that he would feature your artwork!" She shouted loudly, her voice dripping with accusation as she glared at me and jutted her finger out to point directly at Henry.
The words only just left her lips when he stepped forward to slap her across her face, the sound echoing inside the room.
"That's enough!" His voice boomed loudly as his voice shook with anger. "How dare you accuse me of such a horrible thing?!"
I watched silently as she looked back at him with shock evident on her face and her hand flew up to hold her face.
"Mr Jones! How could you do this? Have you lost your mind?! Do you know who I am?" She shrieked.
He snickered. "Of course, I know who you are," he said and there was a brief pause before he spoke again. "You are no longer welcomed at our art exhibition," he announced casually with an unbothered look that was stretched across his face at the moment.
Her eyes widened significantly as they sparkled with astonishment. "Wh…at? No, you can't do that!"
"Yes, I can and I will," he insisted, his voice remained unwavering.
"My dad paid you a lot of money to have me featured at the exhibition!" She confessed on impulse. "You cannot do this to me, Mr Jones!" She pleaded, desperation seeping through her voice as she reached forward to grab him by his arm.
He quickly retracted his arm, avoiding her touch. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pen and a piece of blank cheque, quickly signing it. "Here," he sneered, throwing the cheque back at her. "I don't need the money, $10,000 is nothing to me."
A gasp left her lips and a bewildered look was plastered across her face as she clutched tightly onto the piece of cheque, basically crumpling it.
"You cannot afford to offend my father, Mr Jones," she said this time. "You will regret it."
He smirked. "I will be just fine."
She turned to fix her gaze on me this time, contempt and disdain swimming in the depths of her eyes. Before I knew it, she rushed towards me, grabbing me by my dress.
"You! This is all your fault!"