Grabbing hold of the wall, the nausea swam in my gut while my ears began to ring.
How had I thought he would find me attractive?
I was nothing more than a stupid little kid to him and he didn’t want me here.
I really needed to stop eavesdropping, I thought as the bile began to rise and I knew I was going to be sick.
Quickly retreating to the bathroom, I closed the door and emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet. Shame and self-loathing swarmed at how ridiculous I’d been in even coming.
How embarrassing! I’d genuinely thought he would be interested.
When all I had left were dry heaves and tears streaming down my face, I wiped my eyes and opened the door.
I needed to get the hell out of here.
I would message Sebastian and tell him I’d come down with something. I couldn’t face Cooper after hearing him say those things and if Seb knew something had upset me, he wouldn’t rest until I explained myself.
Walking quickly back through the kitchen I turned towards the long hall which led to the front door and smacked into a bare chest. Fumbling backwards I looked up carefully avoiding staring into the crystal-clear eyes I knew almost as well as my own.
“Oh, hey, Evy, are – are you okay?” His use of the name only he dared to say, coupled with his faux concern gave rise to anger as more tears pressed to be released. I needed to get out of here and I couldn’t look at him or I was going to crumble.
“I’m not feeling well,” I lied. “Tell my brother to call me when he wants me to come and get him.” Keeping my head down, I moved around him and quickly walked towards the front door.
“Evangeline, wait!” He called. But for the first time ever, I ignored him.
It was only when I was in the car, the tears running down my cheeks, that I realised I hadn’t even put my dress back on, exiting Cooper’s house wearing only my stupid green bikini and a heart full of pain.
CHAPTER 1
Eva
FIFTEEN YEARS, FOUR MONTHS AND TWO DAYS LATER
Numbers are my favourite thing in the whole world, which is ironic, given they can apparently determine your life and your choices, and thus far, mine have sucked.
Numerology, the clear belief that each life event corresponds to a numeral, is an interesting phenomenon and while I can’t say I am about to preach my conversion to the mythical being of digits, my numerical life-path has been fairly accurate.
Four.
I have a numerical life-path number of four.
Pre-determining that I, Evangeline Judith Micallef, am practical, loyal and straightforward. Things I feel are accurate.
But if we inverse this theory, our answer is the belief that as a number four, I am also argumentative, rigid and bossy. Traits my family may agree with, but I would, ironically, debate.
My passion for numbers started as a child. It was a habit, a fixation, where I would count letters, words, names. This turned into a love for all things maths which then led to my studying for four years at university and graduating with Honours in a business and finance degree.
Yes, there’s that number again.
Thus far though, I am more aligned with the number zero. Anumber which is neither negative nor positive unless it is in direct reference to the amount of money in my bank account – which shock horror – is zero. And nearing the end of my degree, the number of interviews or job offers I’ve received is also zero.
Four letters in the word zero. Clean, equal although unsurprisingly disappointing otherwise.
As is the timeline I am currently on - I have a few months to find a place to hire me for a minimum of six weeks, or I will be forced to pay back my student loans rather than be able to reap the benefits of the scholarship I received. And I’m certain zero minus twenty thousand is a negative number I do not want my account to reflect.
When I agreed to the terms prior to commencing my studies, accepting the fine print seemed feasible and was, up until now, something I’d been able to manage. Maintain a Distinction average in all courses, complete an annual practicum at a location of their choosing and source and complete a minimum six weeks of work experience. All criteria which seemed both attainable and so far in the future I could agree with no recourse.
Only now, I was running out of time.
