Teasing

Esther froze.

The musky scent of him coupled with citrus and cedar wood floated into her nose, intoxicating her. Those intimidating blue eyes of his sent blood rushing through her system.

Before she could get lost in the beauty in front of her, he let go of her. She stumbled. Nonetheless, she managed to stand right this time, and realizing how everyone had their eyes on her got Esther sweating.

The words were stuck in her throat, and the urgent need to escape overpowered the presence of Asher. After mumbling a soft and almost incoherent thank you, she rushed away from the scene.

Louis cackled at the sight, commenting, “You terrified her.”

Paying no mind to his words, Asher chose to walk away.

°°°

The art class was a torture for Esther who had a difficult time drawing a straight line. As the teacher explained about a certain technique, Esther was lost in her thoughts and began to scribble randomly on the paper in front of her.

This was one of those classes Esther shared with her sister, his. The girl was the favorite of the art teacher with her immense talent in the field. This is not what made Esther envious of her sister. It was that her sister had a relationship with Asher.

Although the relationship wasn’t anything stable— with both simply fulfilling their needs— at least her sister had the courage to approach the man. Remembering about the mess she was earlier, Esther slammed her head against the easel before her.

This caused the easel to shake, and before it could fall down, Esther caught it, feeling relieved at herself for not causing a mess.

This is when she heard laughs from beside her, and this made her turn her head. Her eyes met with a pair of green ones, and there was amusement written in them.

She recognized him to be Louis Grey, a close friend of Asher’s. He had the most friendly personality of the bunch , and packed with humor, he had his way when it came to words to charm the women. He had his fascinating looks to help as well.

Knowing that his laugh was targeted towards her, her cheeks burned due to embarrassment while she turned to face towards the canvas before her.

“Hey, you are that girl from earlier! The one that was scared away! You are cute!” he commented.

Esther stared at him with widened eyes and her lips parted.

‘Did he just talk to me? Should I reply to him? But I don’t know what to say to that. Will he think of me as someone arrogant?’

Sensing the fear and panic on her, Louis asked, “Are you afraid of me?”

Esther shook her head immediately and awkwardly said, “Thank you.”

Louis held in his urge to squeal at how adorable she was. She had a soft voice and small stature. Her scared and cautious demeanor made him want to pet her.

“What are you thanking me for? Hmm,” he teasingly stated, leaning closer to her.

Before Esther was able to say anything, the teacher yelled, “Leave my class if you want to flirt, Louis, Esther!”

Clearly feeling the teacher’s scorching gaze on her, Esther rested her head against the canvas, hoping for this humiliating moment to be over soon.