The following morning was like nothing Eva had ever experienced before; Jervis had already fully committed to treating her as a child. His firm knocks came, waking her up, but Eva had never been an early riser. No one had ever cared about when or how she woke up or lived her life, so she was thoroughly used to sleeping in. This morning, however, was different. Jervis came knocking a second time, and when she still didn't reply, he opened the door and walked straight into the room carrying a bowl of water. Before she could even process his presence, he splashed the cold water directly onto her face, pulling her from the depths of sleep with a shocked gasp.
"Go take your bath, or you will be late for school," he stated, his voice leaving no room for negotiation.
She looked at him, water dripping from her hair, her expression filled with so much grievance. "I want to sleep more," she whined, leaning back into the wet pillow with a dramatic groan.
Finally, he had had enough. In one swift motion, he picked her straight up from the bed, making her yelp. He carried her to the bathroom and dumped her—clothes and all—into the empty bathtub. He switched on the shower, and more cold water rained on her.
"You have thirty minutes to get prepared, or I will bathe you myself with colder water," he declared, then turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. He heard her mumble in grievance, "6th Anderson is a bad guy." He simply shook his head and walked away, leaving her to her morning routine.
She got prepared in twenty minutes, a record for her, and walked out of the room still looking groggy. However, her sleepiness vanished immediately upon seeing the food laid out on the table. It was simple but rich: scrambled eggs, toast, and sausages, and her stomach growled in anticipation.
"Come on, sit and eat," Jervis said as he poured out some orange juice.
She didn't need to be told twice. She sat down immediately and began to eat with hurried gusto. "Slow down, or your stomach will hurt later," he warned immediately.
"But..." she tried to counter, her mouth full. She just wanted to enjoy her food to the fullest.
"No arguing," he said firmly. "Eat your food slowly," he told her, and she had no choice but to agree, forcing herself to take smaller, slower bites.
But that wasn't all for the morning. He meticulously checked if she had packed the right necessities for school, inspected her uniform, and fixed everything that was out of place, straightening her collar and tightening her tie. Then he handed her a neatly packed lunchbox. It was a 'wow' moment for her. No one would ever believe this if she told them, but she kept her excitement to herself, merely looking as cute and innocent as she could. Finally, he grabbed his own bag, and since they were both headed to the same campus, he asked her to get into the car so he could drop her off. Eva hopped in immediately, mentally calculating all the fees she had just saved from eating to transportation.
The ride was largely silent, punctuated only by Eva's soft humming to the music from the radio, and when she got bored of that, she watched cartoons on her phone, the cheerful sound effects and character voices filling the car. Jervis wasn't used to these noises, and they grated on his nerves, but he didn't want to be the bad guy by stopping a 'child' from having fun, so he remained silent about it, his jaw tight.
Finally, when they approached the bustling gates of Archeous College of Education, Eva asked him, "Do I need to tell everyone that I am married to you?"
"No," he said flatly.
"Everyone would laugh at you," he added as an afterthought.
"But they have never stopped laughing at me," Eva said, her voice soft.
This made Jervis fall silent for a moment, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. "Just don't tell anyone about it. It should be our little secret," he finally said.
She raised her hand up just like the previous evening. "I promise I won't tell anybody," she said, her voice dripping with cute sincerity.
He gave her a look of approval. "Good girl."
He dropped her off at her faculty, the Faculty of Management Science, where she studied accounting, and then drove off towards the Faculty of Social Science, where he taught criminal law. Many of her classmates saw Eva being dropped off by someone in a nice car and noticed she was even wearing a new, clean uniform. This made them intensely curious, all wondering who would be so kind as to drop a fool and a failure off. Their curiosity, as always, quickly turned malicious, and they decided to play their usual prank on her. Unfortunately for them, Eva didn't want to play along this morning; her precious food would be ruined.
She stood by the classroom door, humming to herself and basking in the morning sun. No matter how many times her classmates shouted and gestured for her to enter from the window, she just smiled sweetly and continued to stand there. Her patience paid off. Soon, a lecturer came along, Mr. Arnold, a very strict man whose face always seemed permanently etched in a scowl. He walked straight into the class and was immediately hit with a big bucket of rotten eggs, followed by a shower of baking powder, and to ruin it all, a dousing of dirty water. He was a complete, sputtering mess from head to toe; even his books and notes were not spared. The class went deathly silent in shock. Without a doubt, they were in monumental trouble.
Just then, Eva walked in, her eyes widening in fake surprise at the chaotic situation. "Sir Arnold is dirty! Everyone get tissues and clean him up!" she called out innocently.
The lecturer ignored her, his face purpling with rage. He stormed out of the classroom, dripping and fuming. This was not a good sign at all. The class, in a panic, turned their collective anger towards Eva. As soon as she settled into her seat, a group led by one of the biggest bullies on campus, Rhoda, marched over to her desk.
"Hi, classmates!" Eva greeted them with a bright, vacant smile.
They didn't even bother to reply. Rhoda went straight to the point. "Eva, we have decided to start playing with you," she said, her voice filled with false friendliness.
Eva looked at her with feigned surprise. "Really!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly.
"Yes, Eva. But before we allow you into our group, you must do one small thing for us," Rhoda said, her smile forced and tight.
"Anything! I would do it!" Eva said, her eyes wide with manufactured hope. She could already guess what they wanted, and they didn't disappoint.
"Tell Mr. Arnold that you were the one who caused what happened this morning," Rhoda commanded.
Eva frowned slightly, playing her part perfectly. "Isn't that lying?"
"No, it's not," another classmate chimed in quickly. "It's a white lie, and white lies are fine."
Eva looked at them all with an expression of determined resolve. "I would do it," she declared.
They all exchanged triumphant, smug smiles that Eva didn't fail to notice. She, meanwhile, couldn't wait to see how this would all unfold, as she had no intention of taking responsibility for their actions at all.
"Let's go then," Rhoda said, pulling Eva up by the arm immediately. They marched her through the campus to Mr. Arnold's office, a procession of bullies and their scapegoat. Rhoda knocked, and his cold, furious voice came from inside.
"Come in."
She pushed the door open and stepped in cautiously, still holding onto Eva's arm. Mr. Arnold's face became stormy the moment he saw them.
"I don't want to hear anything. Go back to your classes and wait to be punished," he snapped.
But Rhoda wasn't ready to give up. "Eva has something very important to say, sir," she insisted, shoving Eva forward.
"Good morning, sir," Eva greeted with a sweet smile. Then she began her solemn, rambling speech. "My class is such a great class with great classmates, and I have always wanted to be friends with everyone, but no one likes me. Until today! When you took the prank that was meant for me, they finally approached me to be my friend. I have been so happy about it. But there was a condition for our friendship, and sadly, God said not to lie. So my classmates did the prank for me, but you ended up taking it, sir. I am sorry you got dirty." She explained everything before Rhoda could even process that Eva had just thrown them all under the bus. "Have a good day, sir, and thank you!" Eva added with a final, cheerful hop before skipping out of the office, leaving a stunned and pale Rhoda to face the full force of Mr. Arnold's stormy wrath.
All through the class before lunch break, Eva could feel Rhoda's burning, hateful gaze drilling into her back, and she couldn't help but fear her gaze would actually light her on fire, but luckily Immediately after the lunch break began, everyone involved in the prank, including Rhoda, was summoned to the Chancellor's office. They returned after the break with long, grim faces and the news that they had all been suspended for a week.
As Rhoda walked out of the classroom with her bag, she stopped by Eva's table, her expression twisted with rage. She snatched Eva's precious lunchbox, opened it, and deliberately threw the entire contents onto the floor.
Eva exclaimed in genuine shock, "My food!"
Rhoda didn't care. She leaned in close, her voice a venomous whisper. "Watch your back, fool. Watch your back."
"Friends don't treat each other like this," Eva cried, her voice trembling with a mix of real sadness over the ruined meal and well-practiced hurt.
Rhoda gave her a look of pure disgust and stormed out of the room. Eva looked down at the ruined food scattered on the floor, her shoulders slumping. She was genuinely sad about it; she hadn't even had a single bite of the lunch Jervis had made for her.