Free Web NovelChapter 182: I know you are angry.
"Also, make sure you keep apologising."
"What?"
"Yes, even if you are wrong, just apologise. You don’t want to get on her bad side. She is Evelyn Starling, after all."
"No, that’s wrong.
Don’t do it.
Always remember—
First treat a woman like a person, then a princess, then a Greek goddess, then a person again."
"NO! She is Evelyn Starling!"
"All the more reason to treat her that way!"
The girls became more and more gossipy. Lucian heard everything they said, some of it made him raise an eyebrow.
Some of these girls were scary.
He didn’t know if it was because they were talking about Evelyn or they wanted someone like that themselves, but some of their expectations were a little too high.
Of course, he ignored that for now and continued, and just as he was wondering whether he should start signing autographs—
His eyes moved past the crowd and fell on a certain girl with long pale blonde hair and a shoulder bag hanging on one side, staring at him from a distance.
Naomi.
Lucian’s smile froze.
And Naomi—
She walked away.
"...Uh oh."
Lucian’s expression changed. He looked back at the crowd and clapped his hands.
"Alright, everyone. It’s time for my class, I need to leave. I barely come to University these days, Professor will kill me if I go late on the days I do attend."
"Awwww..."
Several students complained.
Lucian quickly made his way through them, all as he smiled at them.
"I still haven’t gotten a picture!"
A girl shouted.
"You need to take a picture with me too! I won’t let you go next time!"
"I’ll be charging 10$ per picture next time."
Lucian joked as he walked away.
The crowd laughed, some looked curiously toward Naomi, others simply waved goodbye. And as Lucian excused himself from the crowd and finally moved closer and closer to Naomi—
His confidence started to drop.
Because Naomi—
She wasn’t stopping.
"Naomi!"
He called her, she still didn’t answer and kept walking towards the academic building. Lucian chased after her and quickly caught up to her.
"Naomi."
Still nothing.
She kept looking straight ahead.
Lucian, who was now walking with her, rubbed the back of his neck.
"...You’re really angry."
"Oh? What could possibly give it away?"
Naomi snorted.
"The silent treatment.
The fact that you’re pretending I don’t exist.
The terrifying aura."
Naomi glared at him for one short second, then she continued walking, ignoring him completely.
"I missed talking to you too."
Lucian chuckled weakly, trying to lighten the mood.
That clearly wasn’t working, Naomi didn’t even respond, so finally—
"...I’m sorry."
Lucian spoke as he lowered his head a little.
Naomi kept walking.
"I really am!"
That didn’t do anything either.
That made him sigh.
"I know you are angry and you have every right to be.
I disappeared again."
Those words finally made Naomi stop.
She glared at him, this time, with even colder eyes than before and—
"Yes. You disappeared again, when you told me you wouldn’t. You didn’t answer my calls, my texts, anything."
She spoke in a strict, angry voice.
"I spent weeks wondering whether you were alright. You said you wouldn’t do it again and I believed you, that was my mistake.
Because I believed you wouldn’t do that to me again, I thought you got into trouble, I thought maybe the lawyers came back, maybe Ryan’s family used other methods because law didn’t work. I..."
Naomi stopped herself, now glaring at Lucian with eyes that looked moist.
"You have no idea where my mind wandered off to, the terrifying possibilities it came up with. It terrified me.
And then one day, while I am worried sick like a fool, I hear a bunch of girls gossiping about you living your best life with Evelyn Starling of all people."
She spoke, letting out all her anger and frustration, then, as she stared at Lucian standing in front of her, with his head low, she...
She walked away.
"I wasn’t."
That was when Lucian spoke up.
Naomi stopped again, staring at him and Lucian answered—
"It may look like it, but trust me, I wasn’t out there living my best life."
He looked at Naomi and—
"The reason I couldn’t reply or call you was because my phone was taken away."
"For weeks?"
"We couldn’t risk it, phones are easy to hack."
Naomi stared at him. Lucian then tried to explain himself.
"And I am not trying to make excuses, I know I am at fault. I could have used someone else’s phone or contacted you in any other way. I didn’t and I was wrong."
He looked at her and—
"I’m sorry."
He apologised again.
Naomi looked at him for several seconds. She had known him for a long time now, she knew he meant it and she—
"I’m still angry."
She snorted and turned around again.
"And I haven’t forgiven you."
"I know."
Lucian quietly followed beside her.
A minute passed like that, with neither of them saying anything until—
"So... Umm...
You know...
I had a second apology prepared."
Lucian spoke up, Naomi kept walking.
"It was actually pretty good."
Lucian tried to sell it.
"I even practiced it."
He waited for her to respond.
She didn’t and he—
"Alright...
I’ll save it for later."
Lucian sighed dramatically.
Naomi’s lips twitched for a moment, she hid it immediately, but Lucian still saw it.
"You almost laughed."
He grinned.
"I did not."
Naomi kept a serious face.
"You absolutely did."
"I absolutely did not."
"You laughed, that means you forgive me."
"I absolutely do not."
Naomi glared at him.
"Don’t push your luck."
"Wouldn’t dream of it."
Lucian raised both his hands.
"You are literally doing it right now."
Lucian placed a finger on his lips like the good boy he was. Naomi snorted, it was more of a way to let out her laugh than an actual snort, though she still didn’t break character and continued walking.
Lucian followed her carefully as they entered the main building.
