Chapter 67: Echoes of Absence
After the physical examination was over, nearly eighty-five per cent of the students had ended up in the infirmary to recover from the beast attacks, and ten pairs failed the exams altogether. They all nervously awaited the results of their other subjects, which would determine whether they had fallen into the academy’s staff category or not.
The next couple of days were a little chaotic to say the least, as an official search permission was granted by Head Master Charles to conduct a thorough search of each student’s belongings to uncover any forbidden items in their possession.
It was noon time when Evelyn stood outside her room in a beautiful white dress, with her hair left loose. She folded her arms across her chest as she waited for the academy authorities to finish their search for anything forbidden in her room.
Mrs. Morris stood at the entrance of her room door like an immovable corpse.
While the security personnel searched her room, Evelyn’s mind was nowhere near what was happening in front of her. Her beautiful blue eyes drifted toward Ivan’s room door, which had remained firmly shut. It had been three days since they completed the physical examination, and he had somehow disappeared after that.
He hadn’t attended any classes or appeared in the dining hall. Countless questions swirled in her mind. Where was he? What was he up to? Why was he missing classes? Was he not worried about his grades? Was he sick...or was he sick of her company? He had yet to answer the question she had asked him back in the cave after their intimate moment. She tried not to think negatively, but her thoughts inevitably strayed. Was he purposely avoiding her? Was he guilty of what they had done...or worse, was he out there spending time with some other lady and had already forgotten about what happened between them?
Usually, when he stepped out for some work, Damien was always with him, but she saw Damien on the campus every day, yet no sign of Ivan at all. His glaring absence left a dull ache in her chest.
A silent voice suddenly echoed from within, ’How pathetic. Look at you, not learning your lesson from the past and still expecting him to show up and answer your questions. Do you think someone like him would care about someone like you? A needy, helpless little princess.’ With that, the ache in her heart deepened, suffocating her till she felt paralysed.
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, but the tightness in her chest did not ease. While Eve was drowning in despair, she didn’t know someone else was also in the same boat. Edward walked down the corridor as though the sun had stopped shining on him. His steps were heavy and his expressions gloomy; he sighed for what must have been the tenth time that day. When he looked ahead, he spotted Evelyn, standing outside her room, lost in her own thoughts.
"Good afternoon, Evelyn," he greeted her as he walked close.
Eve, pulled out of her thoughts by the familiar voice, turned to see Edward offering her a warm smile. "Good afternoon, Edward!" she replied, returning his smile politely.
"I see your room is in the middle of being searched," he remarked, glancing at Mrs. Morris, who was standing like the world might end if she so much as twitched.
Eve turned to look inside her room and murmured, "Yes...I wonder what must have happened for them to search everyone’s rooms so thoroughly."
Edward blinked in surprise at her words, then turned to her, "You don’t know why?"
"No. Do you?" she asked back as her eyebrows furrowed.
"Yes..it’s..actually because of His Highness."
When Eve looked more perplexed, he cleared his throat and explained, "After the exam, when you left with Dr. Zora to have your wound treated, His Highness informed us that someone had rubbed a restricted potion on your sleeve, which resulted in you guys being attacked by multiple beasts. He was the one who requested that every student’s room be searched."
Eve’s brows shot up in surprise as his words, "I thought you knew..."
"Oh..I..ahem..I didn’t know," was all she managed to say.
Then Edward stiffened and called out, "Evelyn.."
"Yes?" She waited for him to respond.
"Did-did you speak to Cece?" he asked hesitantly.
"I did, during lunch. Why, what’s wrong?" she asked, noticing the hesitation in his voice.
He cleared his throat again, as if the words were stuck there. "Nothing, actually. I was just checking."
She had a feeling he wanted to say more, but couldn’t. "Is...everything alright between the two of you?"
"Yes! Absolutely!" he answered too quickly, glancing at Mrs. Morris before adding, "Well, I’ll see you around then." He offered her a polite smile and rushed off before she could press him with more questions.
’What was that about?’ she wondered as she watched Edward practically running away.
Closing her eyes and rubbed her temple as she felt a mild headache. A soft sigh escaped her lips, and when she opened her eyes again, she nearly jumped out of her skin, seeing Mrs. Morris standing right in front of her, looking very much like a ghost wandering through the forest at night.
"All clear," Mrs. Morris said in her monotonous tone.
"T-thank you," Evelyn replied, forcing a small smile. Mrs. Morris stared at her for a second longer before gliding away.
"She really ought to get a little sun," Eve muttered under her breath, then stepped inside her room.
.....
Friday arrived quickly, yet Ivan was still a no-show. Eve was really starting to get worried about where he had disappeared to. In the dining hall, she sat playing with her food, her appetite completely gone. She lifted her eyes and looked at Damien, who was busy cutting his steak.
When she remained silent for too long, Damien, who felt her eyes on him, finally lifted his head with a dramatic sigh, dropped his cutlery and said, "Okay, there is no way I can keep eating, while you’re burning holes into me with that stare, Evelyn. Just ask already." He tilted his head at her, "What is it?"
She pursed her lips and replied, "Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare...I was just wondering, why are you here when His Highness isn’t?"
Damien gasped dramatically and placed a hand over his chest, "You wound me, Evelyn! So if Ivan isn’t here, I’m not supposed to be here either?" Though his words sounded offended, his eyes sparkled with mirth.
"I-I didn’t mean it that way.." She stammered as her cheeks heated up in embarrassment at her own words.
Cece, who had been listening, sighed, "Stop pulling her leg, Damien."
Damien, who was still pretending to be hurt, chuckled and said, "Relax, Evelyn, I was just having some fun." His face broke into a wide grin as he added, "So...I’m guessing you want to know where Ivan is?"
"Uh..y-yes. It’s just that...he’s missed all four days of classes, which is very unlike him, because he’s so particular about his grades. And...and since he’s my partner, I was just wondering where he is. I mean, not that I should know, but... whenever he is gone, you’re with him. So I thought maybe you’d know and.." She stumbled through her words in one breath, her cheeks flushed as she tried to justify why she was asking in the first place.
Cece and Damien just stared at her for a moment, listening to her long explanation, when it was clear to them that there was more going on beneath the surface. Cece pressed her lips together and glanced at Damien, silently urging him to respond.
Damien smiled broadly and said, "Ah, I get it, Evelyn. You don’t have to explain so much. We all know you’re worried about him."
"W-worried? Who said I was worried? I was just asking so I’d know how to respond to the teachers if they asked me about him.. that’s all." She gave them a small, awkward smile and quickly picked up her glass, chugging down the water as her throat suddenly felt dry.
"Ah! I see..Thank you for letting us know, Evelyn. And here I was starting to think you were asking because you...missed him."
As if on cue, she spat out the water, making several students turn to her as she broke into a violent cough from the water going down the wrong pipe. Quickly, she grabbed a tissue to cover her mouth, her cheeks flushed red as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Tch tch..oh dear! Careful there!" Damien said with mock sympathy.
Cece, who sat beside her, rubbed her back gently as she asked, "Are you okay?"
"I-I’m fine," Eve replied after she regained her composure.
Watching her recover, Damien leaned over with a grin, "So...I was going to tell you about Ivan’s whereabouts."
"It’s fine...I’ll just ask the teachers to ask you instead next time," she muttered quickly and returned her attention to her food, determined to act unfazed.
Damien chuckled wickedly at her attempt to play it cool and murmured, "As you wish..." letting Ivan’s absence remain a mystery.
