Evelina hung up the phone, but her emotions were far from settled. It felt as though a storm was raging within her.
Her father had indeed called her “Evie”, a name she hadn’t heard in years.
Deep down, Evelina harbored a nagging doubt. Her father had been a violent man, prone to taking his frustrations out on her and her mother after losing money in poker games. Eventually, her mother had left, unable to endure any more, and Evelina, being a girl, found life even harder.
Then, one day, her father supposedly died a hero, and she was taken in by the Langstons.
Something about the whole story had never sat right with her. Her father was not the kind of man to put himself at risk for others.
However, Evelina kept these suspicions to herself, fearing that any investigation by the Langstons might strip her of the luxurious life she had come to enjoy.
So, she chose to forget these oddities and gratefully accepted the Langstons’ generosity.
But the call claiming to be from her father had reignited her fears. What if her father was still alive? What really happened in that supposed car accident? She couldn’t bear to think about it any longer. The sound of knocking brought her back to reality.
“Eve, you taking ages to change or what?” Alaric’s voice came from outside.
Evelina quickly collected herself, “I’m ready.”
She decided to block the number and delete the call log, pretending it never happened. It had to be a scam. It wasn’t the truth; her father was dead. After regaining her composure, Evelina stepped out of the room, “Let’s go, Alaric.”
Alaric looked a bit impatient.
Outside the bar.
Lemira got out of the car, following Orion and Thaddeus. The sight of the bar’s signboard struck a familiar chord within her. This was the very bar where Evelina had humiliated her in a past life. en FindNovel
What a coincidence.
Orion noticed Lemira’s uneasy expression, “What’s up? If you don’t like this bar, we can go somewhere else.”
“No, it’s famous, isn’t it? Been pretty popular lately.”
Thaddeus looked back, “Yeah, this place is buzzing.”
Orion gave Lemira a concerned look, “You sure you’re okay?”
“With you guys here, what could go wrong?”
Lemira masked her initial disgust. After all, this wasn’t her past life, and she wasn’t about to let Evelina walk all over her again without fighting back. Gazing at Lemira’s back, Orion sometimes found her expressions oddly mature for her age, almost out of place. He wasn’t sure if it was simply his delusion.
The three entered the bar. Lemira donned a fox mask, in line with the evening’s masquerade theme.
The scene was eerily similar to her past life.
She remembered how Evelina and the school heartthrob Dorian had flirted here, with Dorian staging a confession to get back at her for Evelina.
Back then, her heart had known no love, and her first encounter with a confession ended in mockery.
To make matters worse, Alaric was
there but defended Evelina,
dismissing it all as a joke. She had been fooled, considered as a laughingstock, her feelings deemed insignificant.
She was curious about how this life would unfold.
As Lemira entered the main hall, the rhythmic music came. She saw the spotlight was set on the stage where Dorian, flowers in hand, approached a girl in a bunny mask.
Lemira instantly recognized the bunny-masked girl as Evelina.