Love could make a woman grow overnight, but it could also change them drastically. Everly could feel her greed overwhelming her after she fell for Caleb. Eventually, she thought it was okay to use Heather as leverage if it meant she could get in touch with Caleb. Everly had been waiting for Caleb’s visit, but he never came. Instead, Matthias showed up.
In that case, she wanted to match Matthias up with Heather, since the only way to make Caleb give up on Heather was to get a boyfriend for her. But what Everly didn’t know was that men would never give up on a woman—unless they lost their love for her.
It was the first time Robert realized that Everly was no longer the young girl she once was. And then he made the same mistake as Heather—Robert thought Everly was falling for Matthias. But no matter what Everly had in mind, Heather and Robert would not let it go on. Subsequently, Heather and Robert exchanged glances.
Robert didn’t let Matthias stay after dinner, as he asked Heather to send him off. Then he summoned Everly to his study. I have to nip this in the bud.
Heather and Matthias were walking side by side under the moonlight. Heather was staring down, and she saw that their shadows were getting drawn out by the silvery moonlight. Matthias was stepping on her shadow, which reminded her of a legend that went like this: if one stepped on someone’s shadow, one would never break up with them.
“Why did you stare at Everly back then?” Heather needed an answer right then and there.
“Oh, is that her name?” Matthias didn’t know who Everly was, so that was the first time he had heard of her name.
“What are you trying to do? Trying to seduce my cousin because I’m not letting you pass?” Heather questioned irritably. Then she realized she sounded jealous, and her face turned scarlet.
It wasn’t something big, but Heather was vexed by what she saw earlier. If Matthias was really a playboy, then she had made a bad choice.
“Don’t take this the wrong way. I think she’s cute, and she looked at me first. I thought there was something on my face,” Matthias quickly explained himself. All he had was admiration for Everly and nothing else.
“There were a lot of people looking at you, so why did you only stare at her?” Heather didn’t believe him. Her family was a curious one, so almost everyone was staring at Matthias earlier.
He smirked and nudged her with his elbow. “Someone’s jealous.” She’s jealous.
“As if.” She snorted. Someone’s getting ahead of himself.
Oh, she’s not admitting it, huh? Matthias continued, “She’s a pretty one, so she caught my attention. I like all things beautiful.” Matthias instigated her.
“Don’t get any ideas. She’s too good for you.” Heather insulted him, much to his annoyance.
Matthias snapped. “It’s the other way around, okay? You think your family’s all that? Well, my family doesn’t think so. We’re just accepting the proposal out of pity.” He wouldn’t back off once the fight started.
“Ah, don’t worry. None of us would marry a member of your family anyway.” Heather jeered at him. She was going to play along as his girlfriend and get something out of him, but the more she talked to him, the more she realized they couldn’t get along, let alone falling in love. Heather was infuriated, and she thought he was just wooing her for fun. No matter what, she could never get along with him.
Matthias was dumbfounded. What was I even saying? Why’d I bring our families up? Sh*t, now I’ve done it. Matthias wanted to take back what he said, but he knew it was too late.
“Your car’s up ahead. Have a safe trip.” And Heather turned back.
Matthias saw her off, but he had nothing to say. Everything was going fine up until the end, and as a result, Heather stormed off. Goddammit!
Everyone was still in the living room when she came back, but Robert and Everly were nowhere to be found. Not that she cared though. Everyone lowered their voice when she came in, and they looked at her as if she was Robert. They feared her, so they didn’t talk much.
She went straight to her bedroom, feeling frustrated. Life hadn’t been well, for Matthias was there. Ever since he showed up, her life had turned upside down, making it harder for her.
At the same time, Everly was sitting up straight in the study, facing her grandfather. She was nervous about the fact that Robert summoned her there. Getting called to the study was never good news.
“Hello, Everly,” he called her gently. Robert never watched over Everly much, and when he wanted to take a good look at her, she was already all grown up. Everly used to be a cheeky one back then. She would play all sorts of tricks, and she was as adorable as she was now. She loved to dress herself up when she was younger, so she was a precocious one. But eventually, she grew up to become a quiet and reserved one.
Nobody would realize she was there if she said nothing, and her tastes in clothes changed. Most of the time, she wore pastel-colored clothes, and her favorite color was white, just like Heather. But unlike Everly, Heather was the center of attention no matter what she wore.
Because of that, Everly was always left in the background, her spotlight taken away by Heather. Nobody would know she was there if she stayed silent. “H-Hello, Grandpa.” Everly was scared of her grandfather, since he punished her a lot for the pranks she pulled back in the day. And the study was where he punished her.
She thought she didn’t do anything wrong, so Everly wondered why Robert called her over. Overwhelmed by fear, she couldn’t even look him in the eye.
“You’ve grown up, Everly. I don’t think I ever got the chance to talk with you, did I?” Robert started calming her down, since he could see that she was afraid.
“Y-Yeah.” Everly was still looking scared. Women of her temperament would be preferable for men, but all the brilliant men now would like women who could stand on the same level as they were.
“Do you have someone you like, Everly?” Robert looked her in the eyes.
Oh no. Did Grandpa find out that I like Caleb? She clenched her fists and started sweating. Everly couldn’t admit it, and she stared down in fear.
“Don’t be scared. I’m just asking. It’s normal for girls your age to fall in love.” Robert calmed her down. The younger someone was, the purer their love was, and they wouldn’t ask much from their partner. The more they grew, the less pure love would become. It would become harder to fall for someone, let alone open up to them.
“Why are you asking me about that all of a sudden, Grandpa?” Everly didn’t want to keep talking about it, since she was getting jittery. Even her parents never talked about that. All they told her was to not date anyone while she was in school.
“They think I’m siding with Heather, but no. I love everyone fairly.” Yes, Robert might give Heather preferential treatment, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about everyone else.
Everly was surprised, since she seldom heard Robert talking about sentimentality. Finally, she looked up at him and saw the genuine look in his eyes. I guess he’s being honest. Everly had pushed down a lot of her thoughts, but at that moment, she wanted to tell her grandfather everything.
Heather wasn’t the only one who wasn’t loved in the family; Everly wasn’t, too. At least Heather still had Robert on her side, but nobody was on Everly’s, not even her parents. It wasn’t as serious as Heather’s parents, but she didn’t feel the love nonetheless.
That was how the Langstons were. Everyone lived together, so it might seem like a happy family at first sight, but the concept of family was fickle at best. The most they felt for Robert was respect, and there wasn’t any love between parent and child, unlike the other families out there.
“Can we not talk about this, Grandpa?” Everly mustered up her courage to say that, since she didn’t know what else she could say. But even that short question drained all the color from her face, obviously exhausting her.
“Why not? Don’t you trust me, your grandpa?” Robert tried to wheedle it out of her. He felt sorry for Everly, but he needed to nip the forbidden relationship in the bud, or else Everly would be hurt. He thought Everly liked Matthias, as Matthias was the gentle, shining knight every girl liked. If he knew Caleb was the one she liked, Robert would have had her under house arrest until she gave the idea up.
“No. I won’t betray the family, nor would I shame the Langston name. Can you stay out of this, Grandpa? Just let me crush on him for a bit. I know what I’m doing, and I won’t get in Heather’s way,” she said, embarrassed, as well as nervous, as if she was thrown into the public in nothing but her birthday suit.
Robert didn’t want to force her either. Even if Everly did like Matthias, that didn’t mean she’d compete against Heather for him. But he didn’t want her to wallow in her sadness any longer.
“I know you’re a good girl, so keep that love deep in your heart, okay? You’ll feel better once you meet your true love, so don’t be too hard on yourself.” He spoke in a roundabout way. That was all he could say. There was once where he fell in love with someone he couldn’t get, and he did something crazier than all of his descendants did, so he had no right to judge them.
