CHAPTER 5: A New Life

EVELYN'S POV

My heart kept pounding hard in my chest as he drove me off, and maybe I was starting to regret it, but there's no way I could back out now. The drive went on for a few minutes, but the awkward silence in the car made it feel like hours. Then the car stopped. We were far out of North Crest's territory, and we were now in a completely different environment that I wasn't familiar with.

“We're here,” Damien muttered as he got out of the car, and I stayed rooted in the car as my heart pounded loudly in my ears.

Damien rounded the car and opened my door. Then he stretched his hand towards me.

“Come on out.”

I hesitated briefly before finally taking his hand, then he pulled me out.

My eyes landed on the massive white building before us, and it was beautiful. There was a massive training track outside the building, enclosed by a wired fence, and that really bumped me.

I lifted my gaze at Damien, brows slightly pulling together. “You said I'd be able to study here without distraction, but there's a training track here, which means there'll be a lot of noise.”

“Oh…” He said, walking past me towards the car trunk. “Every room in the captain's suite is soundproofed, so you won't have any problem studying.”

The heck… Is this place that good?

Damien got my bags from the trunk and started walking towards the building.

“Follow me.”

I did. And as soon as we entered the ground floor, I noticed a subtle change. The air around me got cooler, and it felt like a completely different world.

Damien walked into the elevator door, and I followed. Then he punched in the 5th floor, and the elevator started ascending.

None of us said a word until the elevator chimed and the door opened. Then Damien walked out, and I followed.

I looked around as soon as I got out, and my chest pulled tightly.

‘Wait,” I muttered, fingers clutching tightly around my bag's handle. “You said this whole suite is for you.”

He looked at me with a neutral expression and nodded. “Yeah.”

What the fuck… The floor was massive, and it looked so clean and beautiful. I couldn't even think of how he uses this place all by himself.

I was still lost in my thoughts when my eyes caught Damien already moving on without me. I jerked back to reality and trailed behind him. Then he placed a back card on the digital screen beside the door, and it opened.

My mouth parted open as I followed him inside the room, and I was completely dumbfounded.

It was a massive room painted black, and several pieces of furniture and a comfy bed were in it. Everything looked so perfect, but I couldn't even dream of the place belonging to me; maybe he was just showing me his room.

Damien turned towards me and handed me the black keycard. “This place is yours now, until you decide otherwise.”

“What?” My mouth fell open. “You mean this whole room is for me alone?”

“Yeah…” Damien shrugged as he gently placed my bags on the floor. “You thought we were going to share?”

“I… I don't know,” I stuttered, eyes dancing around the room. “I just didn't think I'd be awarded this luxury.”

“Well… Now you have a place to study,” Damien muttered, and that pulled me back to my actual goal.

“If you happen to need anything,” Damien said, already darting out of the room. “My room is on the other end of this floor.”

I couldn't respond; I just stared at him until he reached the exit.

“Damien,” I called, and he turned towards me. “Thank you… Thank you so much.”

He didn't say a word; he just smiled and left.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, I let out a long muffled scream, and I started exploring the room.

The first place I ran into was the restroom. It was sparkling clean, and there was a bathtub.

“This must be heaven,” I bit my lips as I galloped into the kitchen.

The kitchen was also beautiful, but not only that. There were several exotic foodstuffs already loaded there.

I sighed heavily, hands akimbo as I looked around me. I had literally nothing to worry about. Then I walked back into the room and jumped on the bed, and for the first time since I got here, I noticed how quiet the room was. I smiled as I shut my eyes, thinking of Jason's reaction when he saw that I was leaving with Damien.

“I guess even you could make a face like that, huh?”

I lay there quietly until I started losing consciousness of the world around me, and sleep swallowed me whole.

***

“Argh… What the fuck?” My hand scrambled across the bed for my phone, as the ringtone was piercing my eardrums.

“Hello,” I said weakly as soon as my thumb slipped across the screen, eyes still completely shut.

“What the fuck were you thinking!” The voice tore loudly into my eardrums, and my eyes flung open.

I glanced at the screen, and it was Lilly.

“What do you mean?” I placed the call on speaker, then reduced the volume.

“The whole school is going crazy because of you.”

I pushed myself up and rested my back against the wall. “What do you mean?”

“How could you do that, without thinking about the backlash you'd get from everyone?”

My eyes widened as I slowly realized what she was saying.

“Wait… Jason told everyone about it already?”

“I don't know if it's Jason,” she responded. “But there are several pictures on the school's gist page of Damien carrying your bag, and you two entering their player's hostel.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah…” she hummed. “You didn't think it was going to happen this way? Well, just stay back for a while until everything dies down.”

“What do you mean, stay back? I shot at her, eyes teary. “I have an appointment with the Vice Chancellor tomorrow… Missing it will only spell more trouble for me.”