Chapter 319: Let Thy Emotions Be Rampant

"Evangeline, is that you?"

"Mila!" Eve blinked. She glanced over the area near the foot of the stairs. Among the four chairs, one was empty. She turned back to Mila and said, "You're with the string quartet, right? I'm so sorry about the dress. Let's go upstairs and see what we can replace it with."

Mila began shaking her head. "Oh, no. You don't have to—"

"Of course I do," Eve cut her off. "You're performing and there are enough dresses in this house for you to wear instead of this one."

She put her glass down and Mila's. Then, she tugged the latter in the direction of the nearest exit. Luckily, it wasn't too far. They could stay near the wall to avoid unnecessary attention.

"What I meant to say is…" Mila tried again. By this time, they had entered a hallway. "I do have a spare dress in the car."

"Oh." 

Eve stopped walking. She spun on her heel and scratched the back of her neck. "Sorry about that. Is your car nearby? Let me help you."

"It's not too far from here." Mila cleared her throat. She pulled her hand back and gave Eve a shy smile. "Why don't you wait here while I go get it?"

The two women found an empty room that had a private bathroom Mila can change in. Eve waited for her on the bed, texting Ambryan what happened. 

Things happened so fast. She had almost forgotten that the twins were present in the party too. They stuck by Avery and Jackson's side, parading among the crowd. She wondered if Mila knew about the secret suddenly

The connection could be made easier now than before. After all, they had no intention of hiding it anymore.

The bathroom door opened. "Um… Evangeline?"

"What is it, Mila?" Eve rose to her feet, making her way towards the bathroom. 

Mila stuck her head out. She wore a sheepish expression. Then, she turned around so her back would face Eve. "I need a little help with the zipper." 

"I'm on it." Gripping the pull tight, Eve yanked it upwards. It stopped around the rib cage area and she cinched both back pieces of the dress and narrowed down their gap. 

Mila stared straight. The door directly opened to a mirror where she could see her reflection along with Eve's. The zipper almost reached the base of her neck. It had a halter cut top so the zipper was high.

When Eve touched her shoulder, her gaze landed on the pink diamond. She couldn't peel her eyes off it and counted the months. Almost half a year had gone by since that fateful day.

Her mind went into a trance. 

"I joined the website too, you know." Mila thought out loud. The words came out of her mouth before she could process them—her head had become preoccupied with the past.

Eve finished pulling the zipper and looked up. They made eye contact through the mirror. "Ah, yes. I heard about that."

She pressed her lips together before breaking away first. She busied herself with Mila's dress, dusting off dirt and smoothing creases. 

"I know it sounds weird to hear now but I always liked him a bit even though we never met." Mila wanted to slap herself for her own rude behavior. She shook her head and broke out of her reverie.

The couple was engaged! This wasn't something she should talk about! "I don't have any feelings for him now! Don't worry about that. I'm sorry if that came out wrong."

Eve straightened her legs and smiled in the mirror. "It's okay. I'm not worried at all."

'And she did seem like it', Mila thought. Both of them had been walking on thin ice around each other. Except for work, they hardly talked about anything else. 

It was sort of a shame. From what she could tell, Evangeline sounded like an amazing person. She had to be, considering how picky Ambryan was based on what Mila heard.

"How about you? Did you like him too?" Mila attempted to ask. There probably won't be another opportunity like this. Since she already made a fool of herself, it couldn't really get much worse.

Eve frowned at the ginger curls in front of her. Without warning, she adjusted the hair comb that Mila wore on her head. "I… I admired him. As a person, I mean. But as a potential lover? Not really. He seemed too serious for me and not good with commitment."

Mila found it amusing for some reason. A wide grin stretched across her lips. "Well, look at you now, future Mrs. Hathaway."

"Yeah, life's funny that way." Eve laughed breathily. Silence fell between them again. "So how have you been?"

"Good, good."

"Seeing anyone?"

"Oh… " At this, Mila turned red. The blush on her face could rival her hair. "I-I don't really know…"

Eve's perked up. She grabbed Mila's upper arms and propped her chin on the latter's shoulder. Brown eyes and jade ones met once again in the mirror.

"Tell me the details. I want to hear all about it!" Was it because she was engaged? Eve wasn't normally this eager about someone's romantic life. Maybe it was because pairings were sprouting around her—such as Rose and Mikael.

"I'm not so sure about that." Mila bit her bottom lip. She hadn't told anyone about this yet. Her heart pounded inside her chest.

"Why not?"

"Because you know him."

"And…?"

"And I don't think you like him."

Eve scowled. That could be anyone but, at the same time, she felt like she should know who it is. "Why don't you tell me and we'll see how it goes. Only if you're comfortable that is."

Mila took a deep breath. She stared into Eve's round brown eyes. They pulled her in, assuring her with its endless abyss. And so, she recounted the story in a brief summary. It took every ounce of restraint for her not to share any side comments on the story.

Things felt natural in a way that she found scary.

Eve stepped back.

"You…" She breathed out.

Mila nodded her head and closed her eyes. "Yes."

"And… Elias Walker?" Eve gaped at the mirror, her jaw dropping. That was definitely a name she hadn't heard in a while. "I mean, wow. I probably wouldn't guess that if you had asked me too."

Mila spun on her heel to direct her scrunched eyebrows at Eve. "How many guys do you hate?"

"Hate? Oh, no, no, no. I don't hate Elias. But I am not fond of him either. My thoughts and feelings on him are neutral, I guess."

"It's crazy, huh?" Mila chuckled but it didn't reach her eyes. She raised her right hand and touched her left arm. " One day, this man makes a joke and smiles at me. The next, I'm singing while doing my chores."

"I know I shouldn't feel anything," she groaned. "The man is a natural born charmer. He's like that to everyone probably."

Eve thought about her encounters with Elias. When they first met, she did see his boyish charm come through. Things escalated after that and she failed to see it again. 

A thought occurred to her head.

Was it possible that he also attended the party?

Mila stalked towards the bed and sat down. She cupped her cheeks with both hands. "How do you deal with this? Emotions I thought I had known before are going rampant. How do I handle this? Why do I sound like I'm not a grown woman at all?"

Hesitating, Eve approached Mila at a snail pace. She also sat down and rubbed both of Mila's upper arms. "Don't pressure yourself, dear. If you makes you feel any better, Ambryan will never forget how I ran away after our first kiss."

"You ran away?" Mila forgot about her problems for a second. "Are you secretly 12?"

"Shut up." Eve scoffed, nudging her side. "I'm just saying we all have our own pace. It gets easier over time but that won't happen if you avoid it."

Mila stayed quiet for a while. Her mind went to the time she ran into Ambryan and Evangeline at the grocery. Elias had recognized her right away, inviting her to a cafe he was headed for. They ended up chatting about different things and stayed until the cafe closed for the night.

It seemed surreal even when it's been weeks.

"I don't think I'm the best person to give this advice but…" Eve started ro say. She placed her hands behind her and let them sink into the mattress. "Just see where it goes. Let emotions be rampant if they want to be. Accept them. Suppressing them will only make things harder for you."

A huge rock lifted off Mila's back. There were still some left but she appreciated the loss of weight nonetheless. Although still unsure about the future, she had started to worry less. 

Her hand touched Eve's. "Thank you, Evangeline."

"Um…" Eve sat up abruptly. She tucked her hair behind her ears. "If it's okay with you, you can just call me, Eve."

"Eve?" Mila arched an eyebrow and thought about it. "I have met an Eve and I wouldn't want to mix you two up. I'll stick with Evangeline."

"And who is this Eve?" Eve flinched. 

"An older sister of two students in my school."

"Erin and Eden?" 

Mila tilted her head sideways. "You know them?"

"I never thought I'd actually say this," Eve spoke softly, mostly to herself. "Maybe I did before but people had been doing it for me that I had gotten used to that instead."

"What are you talking about?"

Eve held Mila's hands and tucked her chin. She looked at Mila at an angle that showcased the seriousness in her brown eyes. 

"I am their older sister. Me. Everlee Hart."