I am the Queen

"Did you two fight?" Lilybella asked.

"None of your business," Satele snapped and circled her way towards the cabin.

"You know, Lilybella envies you."

Satele stopped and faced Lilybella with a scowl. "Huh?"

"Lilybella is doing everything she can for the man she likes. But you have it easy since Asher is going after you." Lilybella tilted her head and forced a smile. "Lilybella is envious and . . . irritated. It's alright if you don't have feelings for him, but it certainly is not the case. So what's stopping you?"

"Shut up!" Satele shouted. Her anger was boiling again, for Lilybella hit a sore spot. "What do you know?" She couldn't fall in love with him. She couldn't. She didn't want the pain that comes with that word.

"Are you two fighting?"

Both Lilybella and Satele looked at the newcomers.

Eric and Evangeline were looking at them, hand in hand.

"Did we disturb something?" Eric scratched the back of his head.

"I told you. No need for you to come here and tell them to eat. They're busy with their issues," Evangeline mewled and hugged Eric's arms with both hands. "Come now. Let's get out of here and enjoy ourselves in the lake. Hmm?"

"Great, another annoying person I don't want to see," Satele murmured, but everyone heard it with all the silence.

Evangeline let go of Eric's arms and took a step towards Satele. "What's wrong with you?"

"Besides being together with rich spoiled, self-centered people, no. Nothing is wrong," Satele sneered.

Evangeline huffed a smile of mockery. "Right," she said, dragging each letter as she crossed her arms and tilted her hips. "Then why are you here?"

"You think I'm here because I want to? "

Evangeline smiled with no mirth. "Let me rephrase it then since your pretty little brain couldn't catch up," she said and added, "I'm asking why you are still here despite not wanting to? You could go. Take a bus into the city or hire a taxi. No one is stopping you from leaving. Yet why are you still here?"

Satele couldn't answer for a moment, and Evangeline continued.

"Let me guess. Because despite what you said about not wanting to be with spoiled, self-centered rich people, deep inside you, you wanted attention. You wanted Asher's attention. That's why you still stayed. Am I right?"

Satele looked Evangeline in the eyes. "Don't put words in my mouth. You have no right to make up images of me in your head. You don't know anything about me."

Evangeline laughed full of scorn. "My dear, aren't you the same? Since day one, you're making these images of who I am. Because it's much easier to blame your circumstances and others than taking a step forward, right?"

Evangeline smiled and met Satele's eyes. "You're scared. And I don't blame you. It takes guts and confidence to return a Cole's affection. And it takes even more courage to face your feelings. One, you might want to practice instead of thinking excuses. Just a bit of advice."

She then winked and strolled back into the lake.

Eric shifted her head between Evangeline and Satele before he walked closer to the latter.

"If you want a ride home, I could book a cab for you?" Eric said.

"Don't bother," Satele sighed and waved a hand before she went into the cabin.

  Well . . . that didn't go well. Eric thought, and he looked at Lilybella at the side.

"E-er . . . Lilybella thinks that she should grill those meats for his Highness." Lilybella excused herself and scurried away, following the path that Evangeline took.

Eric shook his head and sighed. So far, this trip indeed reached its intended purpose of elevating Evangeline's depressed mood, even if just a little. But with it came along other relationship problems.

He just thought that Evangeline might need another company. Not just his.

Maybe it was really not a good idea to bring the others along.

In the end, Asher drove Satele back into the city while the others stayed.

In the evening, Daniel was hiding from Lilybella's constant disturbance by camping alone in the forest. He enjoyed the peace and tranquility nature brings as he looked into the stars. In contrast, Lilybella was searching for Daniel the whole night with her dishes in hand.

In one of the rooms, Eric was ready to sleep while Evangeline was still on her phone.

"What is it?" Eric asked, curious. He noticed that she was on her phone most of the time lately.

"Just researching," Evangeline replied with a smile.

"Researching about what?"

"Nothing. Just random styling stuff."

"Oh . . ." Eric didn't push the topic anymore since it was good that Evangeline was showing interest in something.

He kissed her cheeks, whispering, "Don't stay up all night."

"Hmm . . ."

He then shifted to the side and closed his eyes. But no matter what he did, he couldn't sleep. Something was not right. He could feel that Evangeline was hiding something. Adding to his predicament, he couldn't sleep with the light of her phone blinking from the side.

He couldn't exactly force her to tell him what was going on since he, too, was keeping secrets from her.

He let out a silent sigh as he closed his eyes.

. . .

. . .

Two hours passed, and he found himself in the cycle of sleeping and waking up. He shifted to Evangeline's side and found that she was fast asleep with her phone on hand.

He looked at her tranquil face before he caressed her hair towards her cheek. He then gently kissed her shoulder and grabbed her phone.

Curious as he was, he didn't check her phone. He turned it off before he was tempted to read anything. He placed her phone on the bedside table and covered her with a blanket.

"Good night, Eve."

----

A/N

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