Page 67 of A Vow So Soulless

I’m pretty sure she’s joking, but Enzo’s reply is swift and serious.

“You’re not on the guest list.”

“How do you know?” she asks him, raising a dark eyebrow. “You don’t even know my name.”

“Yes I do,” he counters. “Your English name is Annabelle. Your full Korean name is Choi Ha-Rin. 21 years old. Third-year English student taking music as an elective.”

Annabelle’s mouth falls open, but she recovers quickly.

“Why do you know all that?” I ask Enzo.

“It’s my job to know all that. Same why I know the names and backgrounds of every other student sharing classes with you this semester.”

“Well, that’s intense,” Annabelle says. She pauses, as if unsure she wants to say the next part, but then appears to decide to just go for it.

“Am I allowed to text you?” When I don’t answer immediately, she turns her attention to Enzo. “Can I text her? Are you going to give her phone back later?”

“She can have it back now,” Enzo replies with a shrug. He pulls it from his pocket and hands it to me. “Boss didn’t want you texting in class but he told me to give it back to you afterwards.”

“How kind of him,” I reply with mock cheeriness before turning back to Annabelle. “Yes, you can text me. I’ve still got your number.”

“OK,” she says with a nod. “Well… I’ll do that then. And I’ll see you in class next week?”

She asks it like a question, as if she’s worried I’m going to disappear off the face of the Earth. Which, considering the kinds of circles I’m running in these days, maybe isn’t so unrealistic.

“Yes,” I tell her firmly. “You will.”

She smiles again, then heads out the door, leaving just Enzo and me in the room.

“Well, we might as well go,” I say, surreptitiously checking my phone. There are no more messages from Elio.

“Good,” Enzo says. “Let’s go. Boss wants to see you.”

“Oh? What about?” I ask as we head through the door into the hallway and then outside into the cold afternoon air.

“What do you mean?” Enzo asks.

“I don’t know. You said it like he has something specific he wants to talk to me about.”

“Oh,” Enzo says. “No, I think he literally just wants to see you. That’s what his most recent message to me said. ‘Bring Deirdre home now. I want to see my fiancée.’”

Chapter 21

Elio

Much as I try to ignore it, I feel worse and worse as the day goes on. I think I’m going into Deirdre withdrawal. It makes me feel like my whole fucking body is shutting down.

I use voice-to-text to send Enzo a text message.

“Bring Deirdre home now,” I tell him. “I want to see my fiancée.”

My voice sounds raspy and dry. My head throbs with every word.

Not long after that, Enzo’s reply lights up my phone.

“We’re at the vehicle and heading your way.”

Feels like fucking forever before I see the car show up on the security cameras. I follow Enzo and Deirdre on my phone’s screen until they’re mounting the stairs together. Enzo doesn’t go any further, but Deirdre does.

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