Page 56 of Eyes Like Angel (Eyes Like Angel #1)
“So, I was thinking,” Romano began as he perched on the left side beside me. “I was hoping for you to go and hang out with me at the foundations. We can talk, and I’ll help you with your work, and you help me—taking turns and all.”
He nudged me playfully by the elbow, wiggling his dark brows.
His suggestion threw me off, imagining Mrs. Rivers’ anger rising if she were to discover Romano’s intentions, his intentions on breaking his code of work ethic. He leaned his face closer, closely brushing my cheek with his lips, ignoring Marceline’s protests.
“Shall we, Sister Eden?” he asked, a smile appeared on his face had my hands stiffened as I remained disoriented, disassociated, shrinking, almost like I got suffocated, or being pressured on the spot.
Marceline’s anticipation has awaited me, sensed the tension Romano summoned onto me. Her brown eyes sharpened at his way, telling him to get off of me, but he ignored her regardless. She could try to push him, but he wouldn’t budge.
“I’m sorry, I have to go now,” I said to him, getting up from the bench, dusting my gloved hands off stuck its shavings from the food pebbles.
“Oh, come on,” he whined in a playful manner. “Didn’t you want to at least ask me how my job is doing? Or what I’ve been up to my new tasks?”
“I think your people know. But it’s so nice to see you, Rafael.”
His lip twitched as his frown deepened. “It’s Romano,” he corrected, his voice roughly grated and his sitting position dreaded in an unwanted welcome, glowering at my unfazed words.
Marceline choked a little in her refreshing drink, her carbonated soda. Spritz of bubbling soda leaked from her nostrils.
“What I said,” I told him, my shoulder blades bopping, looming at Marceline, who didn’t hesitate to depart and create distance.
“Bye,” Marceline said, suppressing her giggles as much as she held.
After we left farther back to the Rivers Foundations, Marceline patted me on the back, as my eyes darted on her colorful nails.
“Nice going, dude! You got him good,” Marceline said, sniggering. “Oh, you should’ve seen the look on his face. He’s so dramatic!” Her body slouched forward, heaving from her genuine guffaw and slapped her knee twice. “Oh my God, He had his eye twitch!”
At first, I was hesitant. But now, I hadn’t felt this good in a long time on refusing on someone who couldn’t memorize my name.
Reaching by a familiar spot at the Rivers Foundations, we ambled on until Marceline yelped beside me, and Romano’s hand touched me—before he could reach me, another man’s hand clasped Romano before the forearm, Adrian making an appearance.
His iron-grip coiled harder at Romano’s forearm.
“Touch Sister Eva one more time and you die,” Adrian said darkly, grasping to a point where Romano had his squinted in agony at Adrian’s powerful coil by the forearm, almost as if he’s suffocated by Adrian.
The onlookers were in awe, their gasps freed and their eyes spread wide in terror, muttering to one another.
“Fucking let go off me, you freak,” Romano grunted, attempting to detach but no to avail.
Adrian’s fingernails punctured onto Romano’s bone, drawing a crying wince in Romano’s visage, a once arrogant and playful one into suffering.
To make matters worse, Romano took retaliation by putting his hand and wrapped around Adrian’s neck; Mrs. Rivers intervened, along with Sister Joanne, Sister Jane and Emily barging into a scene at a parking lot.
Everyone’s eyes were watching us, in awe and disdain.
I hated their stares, wishing could pluck their eyes out to bring misery, but I shoved this morbid wishes aside.
“What in the hell is going on here?!” Mrs. Rivers exclaimed, horrified at their commotion stirring. “Someone needs to explain this. Now!”
No one was able to fill the information in.
If Mrs. Rivers finds out about the shenanigans with Romano and Adrian’s protection from Marceline being shoved, things might escalate into a worse case retribution, not wanting Adrian to get at the end of a short stick—hanging by the thread when the thread is about to snap in half.
Her back coiled forward, almost forming a hunch. “Talk now or I’m calling the cops—”
“They were playing charades, Mrs. Rivers,” I began, playing my fingertips on my gloved hands, fright vibrated in my nerves.
“They thought it might be better for them to pass time by playing charades. Apparently, they’re good actors, and wanted to put their potential for a good contribution in to be as actors for the scene in a Bible they’ve come up an idea with,” I explained, devoid of stutter, devoid of unnecessary violence.
“They’re reenacting a scene in one of the bible verses. ”
Mrs. Rivers crossed her arms, squinting her gaze at me. “And what scene is this?”
“Cain and Abel,” I simply stated, my hands intertwined. “Where Cain is about to kill Abel,” then I glimpsed at them, “and apparently one of them wants to play as Cain. Maybe they can do that for next year’s reenactment, have auditions and a casting director to decide who’s better.”
The wintry air became still.
Mrs. Rivers finally took into a consideration.
“It seems like my son has done his assignment to participate and join us in a holy community, where we care about people, poor or rich. I thought that was an excellent job on your behalf,” she said to me, then eyeing her son in disdain.
“I was hoping for my son to be one of us soon, anyway. With an idea of a reenactment for the following year might be a swell idea. Who knows it might be soon next year or so, depending on the schedule.”
The air locked in my lungs exhaled. The memes on the internet has been paid off to pave my feign confidence in.
Mrs. Rivers’ glare signaled for both boys to release each other from their coiled grasp, and watched Romano resuming back to his work.
The crowd’s attention withdrew back as Mrs. Rivers retreated while Sister Joanne narrowing her eyes at me before dispersing back to Father Divine; Sister Jane is infuriated at me, eyeing back and forth between me and Adrian before she stomped her way at a thick crowd, reunited with Brother Josh, who was ignoring my existence and consoled Sister Jane.
Emily, in her nun outfit, brushed past me, hissed the words, ‘ You’re such a fucking liar, ’ onto my ear, and flounced far to reunite with her angry friends, who were staring at me, after Emily accusingly pointed her index finger at me, for being at a close proximity with their favorite men, as one sandy blond-haired girl sneered, baring her abnormally straight, pearly teeth, leering at me, snickering like I have a chance with their muses.
Along with Sister Jane, who was begrudgingly disregarded me by rolling her eyes again and repositioned her back to me, to not meet my gaze, it was certainly bizarre for someone like her to stare at me just to ignore me at the end in full grudge.
Her ginger hair unruly, flaring as if her head was angry at me, too.
Meanwhile, Adrian clenched and unclenched his bare fist and took one last glance lingering onto me before disappearing, back to his duty calls on unloading boxes and organizing the supplies and cooperating with Mr. Rivers’ assistants.
As I followed his retreating form, Bjorn examined me with an unreadable countenance moments before he turned his back on me.
Exhaling, a blank, numbing sensation eclipsed me as I strolled back at the church’s entrance, and as soon as Micah saw my ghastly state, he and Marceline consoled me in a best way possible, not outlandish or foolish for once.