A Beautiful Misunderstanding

Chapter 62 Someone Is Peeping In The Opposite

"Did I wake you up?" Zac's voice was slightly deep and hoarse, most likely because he had just been caught in the rain.

"You should change into some dry clothes," Essie said with eyes that showed a kind of gentle concern. She couldn't tell whether he was upset. He didn't seem to be worried about getting sick from the rain either.

When Zac saw the look on her face, he quickly realized what was going on. He took his time, however, and went to the bathroom to take a shower and change into his pajamas.

She wasn't in the mood to talk to him when he got home. However, she quickly empathized the moment she saw his tired and miserable face. She picked up some pills from her drawer and handed them to him.

"Take them as soon as you can so you don't get sick. I don't want to end up catching a cold from you." All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

He took the pills with an endearing smile. "You're not upset anymore?"

"Why should I be upset?" she scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"I shouldn't have left in the middle of our date last night, but when Leila called, I thought she was badly hurt..." Before he could even finish his sentence, Essie quickly interrupted. "It's not a big deal, it wasn't even a real date anyway," she said in a casual tone, deliberately trying to make it seem like she didn't care at all.

As Essie said this, Zac felt a wave of sadness seep into his bones.

He had prepared some lines to say to her when he was on his way home, expecting that Essie would be furious. However, he was stunned from Essie's selfless response towards the situation.

'If you weren't angry, then why did you hang up and turn off your phone?' he thought.

"Did you end up in the bar last night?" he asked as he wore a skeptical expression on his face.

She quickly remembered that she had left Zac a message earlier on. So in return, she beamed him a smile and acted all giddy and excited. "Yes, and I had a great time. I ended up dancing with a lot of men."

"Were you drinking?"

"I've kept in mind some rules whenever I go to a bar alone: don't drink liquor and don't ever let anyone take advantage of you." She took these rules seriously as she never wanted to be gullible enough to be fooled by men while she was alone in a bar.

He was relieved when he heard this, but soon after, his eyes turned deep and dark while his frown was almost painful to watch. His worries overcame him and he rubbed his forehead as thoughts rummaged through his mind.

He thought that maybe she had hung up the phone simply because she did not want to be disturbed. He wondered if he just got it all wrong and misunderstood the situation. Apparently his presence, or lack thereof, had no impact on Essie.

"It's getting late. Get some sleep," he said as gloom enveloped his mind and body. He turned around, deeply disappointed, and went straight to his room.

The rain stopped the moment he arrived inside his room, but after a short while, it continued to pour heavily again. He thought about momentary lapse of brightness in his heart, before the sound of thunder boomed from the grey clouds above.

He walked towards his window to open his curtains and let some fresh air inside, but was shocked with what he had seen.

There were two bloody skulls painted vividly on his window.

He shook his head and laughed aloud in wonder. However, by this point his mood ricocheted between highs and lows, and he felt much better now.

From her room, Essie had heard Zac draw the curtains. It suddenly occurred to her that she had done something foolish earlier on, so she quickly grabbed a duster cloth and rushed straight into his room. Her face turned red and flustered from embarrassment while she walked towards the window to wipe it. Zac pulled her arms back to stop her.

"I didn't expect you to be such an elegant woman. This piece of art needs to be treated well and preserved!" he said with a smile as he mocked her.

Her face blushed from her neck to her hairline and quickly explained herself. "Earlier this afternoon, I was hanging laundry in your balcony when I saw a woman from the opposite house peeping at you. So I drew these two skulls to freak her out!"

"Really?" Zac asked while he raised one of his eyebrows, "The other building is more than a mile away from us. What kind of woman has such keen vision?"

"Of course I found her staring at you with a telescope!" She pouted. "If you could see a hair on the moon, of course you could see the reflection of a telescope from a mile away!"

Zac looked up as he touched his chin. "But you don't have a telescope and your vision is horrible. How could you have seen a woman using a telescope from the other building?"

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Essie swallowed hard and continued to explain her side calmly. "I couldn't help feeling like there was a pair of eyes staring at us. My strong intuition was bothering me, so after you had left, I decided to walk to the other community when I found a huge telescope on the balcony of the sixth floor."

"So it seems to be." Zac finally decided to give it up and act like he understood. He didn't want to push her any longer to avoid any repercussions. Otherwise, he might end up triggering Essie into an explosive rage.

Content with his response, Essie proceeded to pick up the piece of cloth and said, "You should clean it up. You never know if the person watching from the other side would end up with a heart attack." She wiped the window several times until it was clean, when a cunning expression suddenly flashed in her eyes. "Maybe you should consider closing your curtains before you sleep, unless you want someone to watch you playing around with two women." The remark stemmed from vengeance for his behavior during dinner. He had abandoned her as if she was garbage to have a private meeting with his old lover.

Zac choked when heard this, confused from the sudden air that came from Essie. His expression soon changed into arrogance and quickly disputed. "They are stupid and silly. Many skills don't work. My baby doesn't like them. If I want to play with someone, it must be you."

"No way!" She walked away while stomping her feet on the ground and slammed the door as she left. Essie wasn't not simply a second choice or a backup plan, however it always made Zac happy to quarrel with her.

At the jewelry show that weekend, Leila had once again asked Zac to accompany her because she had injured her ankle.

Essie decided to toughen up and asked to join them despite the embarrassment.

She had no choice but go despite her hesitance as she had been entrusted to destroy their meeting.