Emerald felt a low, simmering heat in his blood as he drove the DBX back through the polished Swedish streets. He was boiled—not just by the petty confrontation with Elias, but by the weight of Zinan's unwanted actions and the impossible performance he was maintaining. Isak, usually a torrent of commentary, didn't say a word, sensing the shift in the atmosphere.
As they cruised for a long stretch of silence, Isak finally spoke, pointing to a residential curve. "Drop me at that curve."
Emerald didn't even glance over. "Call home. Tell them you'll be late."
Isak just stared at him with an undeniable uneasiness. He knew this wasn't an invitation; it was an order, delivered with the quiet authority of the man who owns the car and the secret.
"Don't take it the wrong way, my friend," Emerald said, softening his tone slightly. "I'm just offering you a little dinner, that's all."
After a short drive, they arrived at Emerald's mansion. Isak wasn't surprised after seeing the imposing structure; knowing Emerald was married to Eva made the extravagance feel logical. Emerald walked in first. Taking a few steps more, he got a view of Eva, who was standing in the living room, arms crossed, radiating a cold, magnetic displeasure.
Following Emerald, Isak walked in, offering a hesitant "Hi" as he noticed the woman.
Eva wasn't in her usual composed, quiet mode this time. She uttered a low, clear sentence. "You're the guy from that café, right? Isak, I presume."
"Isak, I think you should leave," Emerald sensed the hostility from Eva, something unusual, even for her.
"No, he don't," Eva said, her voice dropping to a dangerously soft tune. "Isn't he our guest for tonight?"
Eva urged him to sit with a gesture that brooked no argument. Isak, fascinated and slightly terrified, took the offer without thinking twice. A heavy, absolute silence settled.
"I got a call just a few minutes before you got here. Would you like to tell me why you did that?" Eva's words were kind, almost musical, but her face was the mask of a fuming dragon. Emerald just kept looking down, avoiding the inevitable confrontation.
"Is it you, or Zinan? I want to know what I'm in for," Eva's voice started to raise, tightening with controlled anger.
"It's all on me," Emerald finally admitted, taking responsibility for the arrogance that had led to the confrontation.
"Mr. Isak, can you wait at the guest room? Your friend Emerald and I have a little bit of talk to do. Would it be okay with you?" Eva asked Isak, her tone professional, dismissing him.
"Of course," Isak said, already scrambling to his feet, heading to the guest room with palpable relief.
As the door clicked shut, Eva exploded, though her voice never fully rose above a fierce whisper. "Do you have any idea about the destruction you have done?"
"I know," Emerald replied, exhausted.
"Oh, don't do that now, boy! You put 23 mere humans in the hospital! Why would you do that?"
"I had no choice. It's me or them. What would you have wanted me to do? Tell me, Eva."
"You had a choice to take the fist to your face! Just think, Emerald. The dolls could never crack an iron statue."
"What about honor? I'm a man, Eva. There's my ego. It cannot be dealt with the way you said."
Eva laughed—a sharp, mirthless sound. "Honor? Where's the honor in smacking 23 humans? We are vampires. We may bleed, but we heal in a fraction of a second, unlike those puny humans."
Emerald just kept his head down. He then sat up, looking Eva right in the eyes, which were the color of storm clouds. She was waiting for something from him.
"I apologize, deeply... That is... I may have dishonored your kind by acting in a humane way. The actions I did cannot be justified by my mere words. I will do what I'm needed to do by my side, if you entrust me with the duty." Emerald had a gleaming, painful determination in his eyes—a blend of Zinan's rigid honor and his own shame.
The silence between them started to grow, thick with lingering hostility. "What about the clips and the parents? They were some bigshots, am I wrong, Eva?" Emerald raised a doubt.
"It's been dealt with," Eva replied dismissively.
Emerald raised an eyebrow over the short answer.
"What do you take me for? I'm the head of the Brown bloodline. The clips were completely wiped out. As for the parents, you might need to apologize directly; you can't back down over that."
"Yah, I would." Emerald gave a half-hearted, weary assent.
The meeting was held in a private room near the university.
"Sir Rimmel, we can have terms," Mr. Waffet proclaimed, the father of one of the injured seniors, after giving a wide, calculating look at his son and Emerald. Alex, Ken, Tony, and Sophia were the only students present, along with their respective elders.
"Mr. Emerald, with the highest consideration from mine and yours part, I will suspend you for a time being of a week to reflect on your own self behaviors, and also I will be needing an apology right here for the victims," sir rimmel stated, formal and stiff.
Emerald walked over to his seniors. He bent over with formal, subdued words of apology. He then got up and gave Alex an old-guy pat on his shoulder. "Guess we may get along from now on, my son." After saying that, Emerald went back to Eva's side, letting the ambiguous threat hang in the air.
"Before we disperse, Mr. Waffet," Mr. Rimmel, the director of the program, cut in, his voice authoritative. "It would be a reasonable thing to give justice on the act the victimhood has done prior to their incident. So, considering Eva's stance, I'm needed to suspend the four of you: Alex Waffet, Tony Daric, Ken Miles, and Sophia Williams for three days from now." Without taking up further conversation, Waffet accepted it as it was. He gave a warm smile at his son and got up.
Emerald went ahead of the commotion to relay the outcome to Isak, who was waiting in the outer lobby.
"So, how's the decisions?" Isak asked eagerly.
"Got myself a week's vacation."
"Huh, got suspended. Gonna be lonely without your troublesome acts for a week, my friend."
"You see, why don't you drop around? I will be free at home. Give a call." Emerald left after giving his invitation.
In the room, the elders crowded around Eva. "Madam Eva, we are really sorry for the inconvenience our brats have caused for you and your husband. If we had known it was you, there wouldn't have been a need for an arrangement like this. We are really sorry." Accompanying Mr. Waffet, Mr. Daric, Mrs. Williams, and Mr. Miles all offered sincere, nervous apologies.
"Ohh, that's not a problem. What's done is done, and the fault is at my side. There's no need to worry, Mr. Waffet," Eva replied in a warm, impossibly charming tone.
"If I don't offend, how long are you with him?" Mrs. Williams asked, unable to contain her curiosity.
With a soft chuckle, Eva responded, "Been a year."
"Ain't he too young?" Mr. Williams asked sarcastically, yet with a smile.
"You see, Mrs. Williams, I like my men young. Bonus, I get to spoil him a lot," Eva replied, laughing. They all erupted in relieved laughter, the tension completely dissolved by Eva's social mastery. Without taking any more time, Eva said her goodbyes and left the campus, accompanying Emerald on the way.
They headed out to get some food from a shop called Corella. They took a table in the corner. Eva ordered a few drinks for herself, while Emerald opposed the alcohol, finding himself preoccupied with the glorious food he could get from there.
Taking a few sips and watching the crowd moving around, Eva was letting her inner heat blow down. Emerald just kept a gaze of uneasiness on her actions, noting the effort she put into relaxation.
"What's that called?" Emerald pondered a question, pointing to the drink Eva was having.
"Porto Fine," Eva replied.
"Is it fine as it says?"
"Why don't you try?"
Emerald just gave her a warm smile, declining.
Eva took a fork and grabbed a piece of steak from Emerald's plate. As she munched, she hung a question on him. "Why did you let Zinan do the apology?"
"He said he would do it."
"It was your fault, and you didn't even try to reflect upon it. What kind of cheesy brat are you?"
"The cheesy kind that got the EGO problem," Emerald quipped, defending his human flaw.
She just gave him a pop-eyed stare and smirked, then crossed the border of Emerald's plate again. "You got a week off. What are you gonna do, boy?"
"Sightseeing, I guess."
"Alone?"
Emerald gave a look at Eva. She was clearly processing the thought, and she finally said it: "Okay, fine by me, but I will be your guide, though."
"Anyway, what's with those elders?"
"Oh, they're the local folks. Just in the same business, that's all."
"So, how long have you been here?"
"You could say 32, like I'm a 32-year-old woman who runs a couple of businesses and owns a lot of properties here and there."
As they were chitchatting, the waiter gave them the bill. Emerald looked it up and slid it to Eva. Eva took a look and asked, "Where's the ego now, kid? Ain't it a man's job to pay?"
"21st century," Emerald chuckled softly after saying it.
"But I still like to be from the 6th century."
Emerald took up the card and placed it in the tray for the waitress to take. As he did that, Eva softly whispered, "Genna's card, huh?"
Emerald replied with an arrogant rejection: "So what?"
Eva was clearly not done. She kept scrutinizing him, left and right, until they got home, relentlessly questioning the manliness of Emerald without giving him a rest. For Emerald, he just kept taking it to the heart without any response, knowing he was at a loss either way.
(To be continued)