In the heavy silence of the long stairway, two steps of two figures echoed. They were none other than Jinn and Evelyn Little.
As he stepped up, Jinn tried his best to keep his eyes up ahead. He could feel the gaze of the woman walking by his side.
The silence lasted for so long until Evelyn decided to speak.
"If I knew money would get you to agree, I would not have added the other condition."
As she spoke, the brown-haired girl moved her crimson eyes to the huge suitcase she was holding from one side while the other side was in Jinn’s hands.
Snorting at her comment, Jinn scoffed a reply, "Do you really think I am someone who can be swayed with money?"
"You are." Evelyn did not even take a second to answer him.
’Only if there is enough money.’ Jinn thought inwardly while keeping a righteous front on his face. "You think wrong; I only agreed because you looked pitiful standing there having a staring contest with the stairs."
"So I can cancel the money award I offered you?" facing Jinn, she blinked innocently.
"Are you going back on your word, young lady?" Jinn finally looked in her eyes and shook his head with disappointment. Watching his antics, Evelyn felt her lips twitch, and finally she gave in with a sigh.
Her eyes turned to the small suitcase she was carrying in the other hand. After much haggling with the shrewd student she came to know, Evelyn wondered if she was too innocent for the world.
"So..." Jinn stretched his voice, bringing her out of the trance.
"What do you even carry in these bags? Don’t tell me you brought everything you had in your room along with you."
The emotionally challenged girl shook her head and replied, "Just some equipment, my hobby, you could say."
’A girl of few words. The scary kind.’
Seeing Evelyn had no intentions of explaining in detail, Jinn changed the topic.
"You know, you could have asked one of the staff members or someone you know to help you with this. Why go through so much hassle?"
Evelyn did not answer instantly; she looked at Jinn like he was a weird creature for a while before looking away. Thɪs chapter is updated by novèlfire.net
"No one in the staff can help me, rules. As for the other thing,. I don’t have any friends."
Jinn paused for a second, making the girl stumble a little. Their movements caused the bag to shake and make some clattering sounds from the inside.
She looked back at him with an unimpressed gaze. Jinn chuckled dryly before glancing at the bag and began to sweat inwardly, thinking, ’No wonder it made so much clattering noise. Just who or what is this girl?’
The reason he stopped was not because of Evelyn mentioning that she had no friends but because Jinn asked the imp to secretly look into the bag and tell him what was inside.
The answer was something he could not have expected.
"Would you mind being careful with that?" Evelyn expressed her dissatisfaction before she resumed climbing the stairs.
Jinn caught up and shook his head. "Not really; I can tell that someone like you might not have many friends."
"Are you making fun of me?"
Seeing the indifference in her eyes, Jinn chuckled and shook his head, saying, "No, just sharing my thoughts."
Silence returned between them, and soon they arrived at the third floor.
As Jinn knew it, the entire floor was designated for the living quarters of the students studying there.
"You can let go now." Evelyn spoke with no emotion in her voice, "I can take care of it from here on."
When she thought Jinn would eagerly let go of the suitcase and demand his reward, his response surprised the young lady:
"Nope, we had a deal." Jinn passed a devilish smile and added, "Since you are honoring yours, backing down will be unbecoming of what I represent."
The smile and the words caught Evelyn off guard. While she was distracted, Jinn used the chance to take the suitcase from her hand and dragged it like he saw her doing after the orientation.
"Are you going to tell me what your room number is? Or am I supposed to just roam around aimlessly?" Jinn called out without looking back.
The subtle shock on Evelyn’s face disappeared as soon as it came. she said, "Did someone tell you how insufferable you are?"
"Are you making fun of me?" Jinn mimicked her cold mask before chuckling.
"Ooh... sounds ominous."
While Jinn and Evelyn continued to walk while talking to each other, they failed to notice the group of students standing behind in the open elevators with their mouths hanging open.
"Am I dreaming, or was that the handsome boy from earlier?" one of the girls asked with a look of horror on her face as she nudged her friend.
Her friend nodded with a similar expression.
"With the cursed princess?"
And she nodded again before the whole group broke into a frenzy of chatter.
"Oh no!! He is doomed to die now; the cursed princess got him."
"I wonder if we can still save him?"
"Forget it, there is no saving him."
The girls completely ignored the other boys in the elevator with them and stepped out, still chatting.
Suddenly they froze upon seeing a young man standing at the stairs watching Jinn and Evelyn’s back coldly. No one knew how long the boy had been standing there for.
His gaze turned to the girls for a moment before he snorted coldly and walked away.
"That was..." The first girl gasped with slight fear and more delight before her friend completed the sentence for her.
"Lloyd Pelagaios, The heir of the Pelagaios family."
"Is it true? That they are all rulers of the sea, and no one can compete with them on water."
"Truer than your love for handsome boys."
’Yeah... it’s better if we leave secretly.’ The ignored boys in the lift looked at each other before they reached a single conclusion.
Exchanging glances, they sneakily left, leaving the budding crushes for the girl that they had developed along the way.