“Wait, you mean to say that Stephen and Richard are a couple ?
“Hmm, aren’t they?”
Steve’s eyes got wide in shock, but shortly he started laughing hard, which made Steve the center of attraction. Whereas Eva got startled by his reaction, and his laughs implied that whatever her friends assumed and fed her mind with was justrumors . Now Eva was terrified. What if Steve discloses her stupid thoughts to the family?
Everyone present at the table was giving a puzzled look at Steve. Rose couldn’t hold her curiosity and was the first one to interrogate
“What’s the matter, Steve?”
Steve was going to answer, but Eva held his palm. Steve looked at her and she pleaded with his eyes. He felt awful looking at her fearful eyes.
"Nothing, mom Eva just shared a joke with me.” “
Stephen, who was noticing all the moments shared between Eva and Steve, got more anxious listening to Steve’s answer
Richard also started. ‘ That’s bad, Eva dear; don’t you share the joke with all of us?"
Eva, who was already nervous about the situation, blurted out without thinking much
“It’s not a joke but an embarrassing incident so... I don’t think it will be a good choice to share it with you all."
"Hmmm, ok," Richard replied smilingly
But then he murmured, "Well, now they are sharing memories too. Don’t you think this boy is going fast?"
Stephen’s grip on the fork got more firm. He wanted to punch Steve for getting so close to his girl but now it was not the right time. so he just gulped his anger and continued with his dinner
Eva was so frightened by her blunder that, in tension, she spilt some juice on her dress. She excused herself to the washroom to clean herself. When she reached the washroom, she cursed herself for letting her thoughts out and for believing her friends’ useless gossip. It was nice of Steve that ego didn’t spill her words in front of the family. Otherwise, what must Richard think of her and what about Stephen? She doesn’t want to even imagine his outburst. In all these thoughts, she completed her cleaning session and left the washroom.
When she reached the lobby, she was so busy in her thoughts that she crashed into someone and lost her balance, but the person held her by her waist. When Eva noticed the person, her face paled as if it were none other than Harry Hudson.
After a moment, Eva noticed their position as she was in his arms. Eva composed herself and quickly stood on her feet.
Harry chuckled at her nervousness, whereas Eva was tensed, as William will not appreciate harry‘s presence around her
“Sorry... “
“It’s ok, dear, just be careful."
"Hmm, ok, bye."
“Wait, why are you always in so much hurry?”
“Harry, I am getting late, I will talk to you in the class, ok?"
"Yeah, I mean, ok."
Eva reached the table, got settled in her seat, and gave a fake smile at the family. She was trying to behave normally, but her sweating face was telling some other story. The others didn’t notice it much, but Stephen noticed her discomfort.
That night, when Steve was resting in his room, Stephen called him and asked him to reach his study room. It shocked Steve as Stephen didn’t call him in his study without a reason, but anyhow he reached the study.
Stephen was sitting on the couch, enjoying the drink. He signaled Steve to take a seat beside him
Steve felt perplexed because Stephen had never interacted with him so casually before. He was eager to know the reason for this unexpected meeting.
Eva was busy scolding her friends. Eva gave a detailed description of her shopping outing and also about the blunder she did. Sara, Joey, and Madison were listening to her carefully and quietly, as she was very furious with them and was lecturing them nonstop.
“Thanks to Steve that he didn’t tell about my thoughts to his family and Richard. You know, because of you people, I was going to face the embarrassment of a lifetime.”