Evelyn grinned widely and came beside Nathan, running alongside him. Nathan glanced at her before gradually decreasing his run which then turned to a stop in the middle of the track and Evelyn mirrored him.

"What are you doing here?" Nathan asked under his scowl and frowned at her.

"Why are you running? Are you frustrated?" Evelyn asked cheekily, ignoring his question. Nathan let out a huffed and glared at her for a moment before continuing to jog on the track. Evelyn grinned widely behind him before following behind him. It was obvious that Nathan was mad and Evelyn was enjoying this very sight of him.

"You seemed angry. Is everything alright?" Evelyn asked behind him, pretending to be all innocent and unknown. Nathan abruptly stopped at his track and did a sharp turn to face her. Evelyn quickly stopped at her track as well, saving her nose from crashing upon his perfectly shaped back.

"You!" Nathan snapped and pointed his finger at her, near her face. Evelyn slightly tilted her head back and frowned looking at his finger. She then looked up at him and crossed her arms over her chest. 

"You should stop whatever you're doing, Evelyn. I told you clearly that I don't feel the same for you. I just see you as a close friend. Then why do you keep making me-" Nathan monotoned with no emotion playing on his face but his words died midway when he realizes what he was about to spill out and quickly, he bit back the rest of the words on his tongue and simply glared down at her. 

"What! What did I do?" Evelyn asked in demand and glared up at him. 

Since the day she confessed to him, his mind has been restlessly bothered by her. He even started seeing her in his dreams. Nathan closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh trying to calm his restless and burning heart. He has never been so angry towards any girl like he did toward Evelyn today. She had confessed to him saying she likes him and yet she cared too much for other guys too. And yes, he was mad because of it but he didn't let it show or maybe he already did. 

He cursed under his breath.

Nathan opened his eyes and met with those beautiful glossy green orbs. His eyes widen a little when Evelyn smiled and lovingly stared at him. His heart always melts whenever she does that to him. 

"I know why you are being like this," Evelyn said softly and smiled.

"What-" His words died midway when he felt his phone vibrating at the back of his uniform pant pocket. He huffed deeply before fetching his phone and receiving it without even caring to look who called him.

"What?" He said in a bad-tempered.

"Nathan?"

The moment he recognised the voice, Nathan featured turned cold. He pulled his phone away from his ear and immediately cut the call. And without saying a word, he left the place at once, leaving Evelyn alone in the track. She wanted to go after him but something at the back of her mind tells her not to, that if she did, it will only make it worse. The need for taking out her emotions washed inside her and she began running on the track alone.

*

After the classes, Evelyn and Russell went to the photo studio to take the frames. After taking the frames, they headed to the coffee shop to spend some relaxing time over there. Russell silently read his book and enjoying the coffee while Evelyn absentmindedly circled her finger over the rim of her coffee cup as she thought of Nathan. Nathan didn't show up for any classes after he ran away from the college stadium. Something must have happened when he was on the call for a mere second or two. And she wonders where he might be right now. 

"Don't worry, Eve, he sure is fine," Russell said softly looking over his book.

"I know. I'm just-" Her words died midway when her eyes suddenly drifted towards the entrance and went wide. Russell creased his brows and looked at her only to see her staring hurtfully over his back. He turned back and saw Nathan and Carla walking towards the counter. He slowly drifted his eyes back to Evelyn who was now sadly staring down at the empty cup in front of her.

"You okay there?" Russell asked quietly.

"I'm alright," Evelyn scoffed softly and smiled at him. Russell was surprised at how well she could mask her emotion in a second. If he didn't see the hurt earlier, he would have believed that she was totally fine. Evelyn was very good at hiding her emotions. He learned that about her after getting to know her for nearly a month.

"Hey, you both are here too," Carla said in a sweet surprised voice as she and Nathan came beside their table.

"Yeah, and we're leaving now," Russell said with a small smile. "C'mon, Eve, let's go. We got lots of works to do with the frames," He lied and stood up from his chair to which Evelyn nodded at him and stood up from her chair as well.

"Have a lovely evening, both of you," Evelyn said and shot a glanced at Nathan who was already looking at her with concern look. She smiled at him before walking towards the counter where Russell was already paying the bill.

"You're leaving early today," Dora said in disappointment as she walked out from the kitchen.

"Got some work," Evelyn said and pursed her lips.

Russell and Evelyn exchanged their goodbyes to Dora and got out of the shop. "You needn't have to lie but anyway, I appreciate it. Thank you, Russell." Evelyn said under her amused smile.

"I know you are hurt, Evelyn. You can let loose your emotion and feel free around me." Russell said sincerely with a sad smile. Evelyn let out a sad sigh and glanced towards the coffee shop.

"He is not my boyfriend, Russell. I just like him. He can hang out with any girls he wants." Evelyn said casually in a shrugged.

"Always pretending to be tough, don't you?" Russell said under his sigh.

"No, I don't pretend. I was born tough." Evelyn said proudly before throwing a glare towards him. "You should stop reading too much of psychology books, it's making you hallucinate," She said amusedly and fake a pointed looked towards him. Russell simply looked at her in disapprove and shook his head.

"Alright, let's just get in the car and-"

 "Russell!" Evelyn interrupted briskly in a sweet tone. "You go ahead, I have someplace to go." She said.

"You wanna spend time alone?" Russell said in an understanding tone.

"Yeah, I always like to spend my time alone," Evelyn said casually to which Russell sighed tiredly knowing that she was still hiding her emotion.

"Tell me where and I'll drop you there," He offered smilingly.

"It's alright, Russell. I was just thinking of strolling around for a while and be back later." Evelyn said amusedly and rolled her eyes over in a smile.

"Alright, just give me a call if you want a ride, I'll come and pick you up," Russell said with a bright smile.

"Thank you, Russell," Evelyn smiled back.

Russell nodded and waved at her before getting inside his white Audi R8. Evelyn waved at him as he started his engine and drove off. She then turned on her heels and started to wander off wherever her feet took her to.

An hour passed, the sky has already changed to dark and Evelyn was still wandering around the town, aimlessly looking at everything around her. But then a boy appeared out of nowhere and bumped into her making her nearly fall on the floor.

"I'm sorry," The boy apologised in a hurried tone. Evelyn snapped at him and notice the boy be a teenager at the age of around 14-15, dressed in a school uniform.  

"There he is," Evelyn turned her head towards her side and saw four of high schoolers boys glaring and shooting daggers at the boy standing beside her. The boy attempted to run away but Evelyn quickly reached the back of his collar and stopped him. She glanced at the boys who were now five steps away from her and was looking at her with careful and cautious eyes.

"Aren't you guys too young to be playing gangsters, huh?" Evelyn said mockingly. 

"He started it. He punched one of my friends and ran away." One of the boys said sharply, pointing his finger at the boy beside her. 

"Are you sure you guys weren't trying to bully him?" Evelyn asked in a deadpanned tone and jerked a daring eyebrow at them. The boys went stiffed in their position and shared knowing glances at each other. "Are they your classmates?" She asked glancing at the boy beside her.

"Yes, they are," The boy answered quietly.

"Do they always bully you? Are you the target of the school? Are you the weakest?" Evelyn asked lazily but the boy didn't answer and simply crouched his head down in defeat. Evelyn sighed in exasperation. Even if she helped the boy from getting bully now, there's no guarantee that he won't be bullied again, after all, they share the same school and classes. 

"Come here, kids," She called the four kids lazily, motioning them with her hand. The boys took careful steps towards her and stood a step away from her. "Now tell me, why do you guys bully him? Did he do something to you all? I don't think so. See how innocent and weak he is and yet you all bully him, am I right?" She said with lots of sarcasm in her tone but the kids didn't get the sarcasm behind her words. Well, it's good then.

"You four seemed to be the popular boys in your high school, and yet your behaviour doesn't suit your title." Evelyn shook her head and looked at each of the kids. She can't believe that she is actually lecturing these kids instead of just kicking their asses and get over with it. But her heart goes to this poor kid making her want to protect him from getting bullied for the long term. She hates when people looked down on weak people and especially when they bully the weak ones.

"You all should be the heroes instead of being the villains. You should protect the weak ones. You know-" Her words got interrupted when four men around of her age or maybe a little older appeared out of nowhere and hold each of the kids by the uniform collar.

"Got these bastards finally," One of the men growled at the kid face. The kids struggled to free themselves from the hold but they were nothing in front of those four men. 

Evelyn sighed in exasperation and lazily looked at those men. "Excuse me, what did those kids do to you?" She asked in a deadpanned tone.

The men looked at her and their eyes went wide for a moment before sharing knowing glances at each other. 

"You are that girl who challenged our boss in the pub." One of the men said dangerously. Evelyn frowned in thought for a moment before rolling her eyes over.

"Maybe," She said nonchalantly in a shrug. "Now, leave the kids and get out of here." She drawled lazily and tilted her head to the side, gesturing the four men to get out of her sight. The kids looked at her in shock.

"Sis, they are the gangster. We should make a run." The boy beside her whispered in her ear making her scoffed out loud.

"Don't you think you're all too old to pick fights with the kids?" Evelyn taunted at them while the boy cringed deeply beside her. "Go and get into some real fights, retarded bastards," She shouted and this was enough to make the men boiled up with anger and charged towards her at once.

*

Evelyn stood on her place with her arms crossed over her chest and watched the police handcuffing the gangsters and putting them inside the car. After the police drove off, she turned towards the innocent boy and looked at him in deadpanned expression. 

"Did you really have to call the police?" She asked him.

"I thought they were about to damage you, calling the police were the only chance to save you from them but I didn't know that you were so good at fighting." The boy answered quietly and scratched at the back of his head. Evelyn let out a chuckled and shook her head at him.

"What's your name?" She asked casually.

"Easton," Easton answered with a smile. Evelyn smiled back and turned to look at the four kids.

"Are you guys hungry?" She asked amusedly. The four of them looked at each other before nodding at her. "Alright, c'mon, let's go and get something to eat, my treat," She said cheerfully to which they relaxed and smiled at her.

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