CHAPTER FIFTEEN
1635 Words
EDWARD
I should have broken more than three fingers. I know humans to be daring, but Evan was just a fool. He knew what would befall him if he went against me. I had warned him once, and I told him I wouldn't warn him again. I should have broken more than three fingers.
I drove to my house—a place where nobody would disturb or threaten Chloe. As the gate opened and I drove through it, I remembered the two outsiders in my car. Why are they here? Throughout the drive, none of them spoke. The drive was quiet and uncomfortable for me—I don't know about the others.
"Sorry for asking, but are you also like him?" Chloe asked before any of us could exit the car. Edgar and Sarah looked at me as if they were expecting some sort of signal from me. But I was surprised as to why Chloe would ask them the question. What had she seen or noticed?
"Like him?" Sarah asked, and Chloe answered by nodding her head.
"Yes, they are. They are werewolves," I answered her, and she looked surprised. I tried to talk, but she beat me to it.
"How many of your kind are in this city?" She enquired.
"She knows?" Sarah asked in awe.
I'm tired of these questions. I need answers to mine. And no one is ready to hear me out. I breathed in and out to calm myself down, stopping myself from yelling at them, especially Chloe. I kept reminding myself that she was on her period—she needs care, not this.
I faced Sarah and said, "Yes, she knows," and I faced Chloe and said, "Quite a few," then the two ladies kept quiet, each with her thoughts. Now, I have the chance to ask my question.
"How much is few?"
"In this part of the City, few is like 150, more or less," I replied, and she looked surprised
Turning my head to Edgar, who had been quiet all the while since the drive.
"Why are you here?" I asked him, and he gave me an 'I've already explained' look.
"You don't want to get punished by the teachers. But why did you follow me? Why did you keep me away from hitting Evan? Why are you acting as if we are friends?" I asked. The last question came out exactly as I wished—the strain on the word 'friends' would let him know that I was serious.
"Ohhh… that? Will it be too cliché if I say we are friends? Or at least, trying to be?" He said unexpectedly, resting his back against the car seat as he looked relaxed.
He wants to be my friend? Isn't he the guy my mate was having a massive crush on? Isn't he the guy that wants to be with my mate? Isn't he the guy that caused the very first intense argument between me and my mate? Now, he wants to be my friend?
"No!" I said to him, and he replied, "No?"
"Yes! I mean, no. Yes, no!" I said, and he looked at me with a teasing smirk.
"Edgar, you know what I'm saying. We can't be friends."
"Why not?"
"Because it is you! And besides, I don't have any friends."
"What do you mean by that? But, it's because you don't have friends that I want to be one. I don't have one either," Edgar retorted, and I looked dumbfounded.
Since my past twenty-four years on this Earth, I have never been this stressed and tired of a person. It all seems like my life had escaped some crucial training in life. A training that would have taught me about how to deal with someone like Edgar and Chloe.
"We are the only werewolves in the school. So, it won't hurt to be friends," Sarah interfered in the matter. Was she also suggesting we be friends? These two are unbelievable! Friends? With me?
"She is right. But how do we solve the issue at school, Ed," Chloe said, and in my mind, it was like I had said a thousand words to her, but I was just staring at her. The atmosphere suddenly became cold, and I broke eye contact with Chloe and got out of the car. Within two seconds, the others did the same.
I ventured towards the entrance door, and I entered the passcode. The door opened, and I entered, and so did the others. I could see the awe and magnificent look on Sarah, and I knew she had a lot of questions to ask, but she did not. Edgar looked unbothered as he somehow found his way to the kitchen. He is really acting as if we are friends.
"You didn't answer my question, Ed," Chloe muttered out slowly, a hint of embarrassment in her voice, and I looked at her again. Sarah, who perhaps had noticed the tension developing, excused herself, leaving me and Chloe alone in the sitting room.
"Don't look away from me," Chloe said as I tried to break the eye contact again. The words I thought I had said flushed back to me, but I said nothing. Instead, I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me as I ventured upstairs.
She said nothing and obliged to the pull, making it easier for me to walk with her without force. I stopped at the front of a door, turned the doorknob, and entered with Chloe.
"Sit," I said to her, and she went to the edge of the bed and sat on it.
The bedroom was vast, easily double the size of the rooms in her father’s house. A palette of muted charcoal grey enveloped the walls, a choice that conveyed stark, controlled masculinity. I had personally selected every item: the striking white lamp stand resting on a plinth of black marble and trimmed with a subtle gold rim, the minimalist black bed frame anchoring a luxurious mattress, and the seamless, floor-to-ceiling grey cabinetry of the wardrobe. The entire house is meticulously cleaned twice a week, given its usual vacancy. I suppose I should hire some permanent staff in case situations like this reoccur.
"You are still not answering my question," she spoke out, and everything I wanted to say broke the bondage they were in.
"You are asking me about school? Really? Why did you allow him to touch you? Why did you allow yourself to be hurt? Take a look at your wrist and your dishevelled hair. How come the hair you tie became so loose? What if I hadn't been there? It would have gotten worse! Is this how you allow yourself to be bullied by others before I arrive? I thought you were so eloquent. Why didn't you say anything that would make him leave you alone?" I yelled at her angrily, and I could see the slight change in her sitting position. She must have been scared, for she had flinched and jumped as she sat.
I calmed myself and ran my hands through my hair. I reached for the air-con remote and turned the air-con on because I was starting to get hot. Chloe did not say a word. She just bowed her head, and I instantly regretted saying all that. I ventured to the bathroom and grabbed some first-aid supplies for her reddened wrist.
Without saying anything, I grabbed her hand and applied some cream on the wrist. Seeing the wrist erupted a different kind of anger in me.
"You should not have allowed him to grab you," I repeated what I'd said, but in a much cooler tone, and she looked at me.
"It's not like I allowed myself to be grabbed. Ask Edgar. He was there. He even tried to help me out of the situation, but I don't know why he said what he said. Maybe to make Evan angry or to make Evan a fool of himself," she said, her beginning statement leading to something I was completely unaware of.
"What did you mean by that?" I asked her, but she looked at me with a confused look. "What do you mean that Edgar tried to help you but didn't?"
"Ohh. That. He came to the class and told Evan to leave the class before you arrived. But then, he said something to agitate Evan, and then you arrived."
"That i***t knew I was coming, and he knew what I would do if Evan touched you. So much for being my friend," I murmured out.
"It won't hurt to have a friend or two. Three of you are of the same kind; it makes more sense," Chloe said, and I got up on my feet after treating her wrist with a relieving cream.
"Does it hurt?"
"No, it doesn't. But I'm hungry. I'm really hungry. I thought you went to get some things for me before the incident," she said.
"Yeah," I replied, and I turned my back to her and made way for the bathroom to return the kit. But as I reached the door that linked the bedroom and bathroom, I stopped and faced her and said, "I will buy the school if needed."
"You will buy the school?"
"That's what I said. As far as I'm concerned, since the school does not belong to the authority, I will buy it from the owner. Don't be surprised as to the amount of money I have and the one I'm glad to offer to them for you."
- Writer
