Twelve

EVE’S POV

I walked into the kitchen to the sight of Morgan, standing over an overturned recycling bin, with several shattered beer bottles at his feet. He had a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other, still as he looked at the mess he had made.

When I appeared, he looked from the mess to me and then back again. 

"l, uh..." he began, then went to rub the back of his neck, but realised that was impossible with the dustpan in his hand, so he dropped his hand and shrugged.

I was relieved that he didn't seem to have hurt himself. But I couldn't help but be amused at how he looked standing there looking at the mess he had made, as if not sure how it had happened.

He cleared his throat and looked at me.

 "I was sweeping and then. I hit the bin."

Yeah, I had guessed as much. Stepping forward, I reached for his broom.

 "Let me clean it up."

"No" he said, stepping back.

 "Careful" he added, looking down at the shattered glass.

 "Don't step on them".

I stepped back from the fallen bin.

“Are you sure you don't need help?”,

"l can handle this," he told me, beginning to sweep the shattered pieces together. 

"But I can't handle you getting hurt because of me", he added.

I couldn't keep my smile to myself. Did he realise how sweet that sounded?

 "Okay”,

I finally gave in, seeing as he really did have a handle on things. Leaving him to his devices, I went back to continue tidying up the living room. It didn't take much longer for Morgan to clean up his mess and complete the rest of the cleanup.

MORGAN'S POV 

When I looked around the kitchen, I felt satisfied at the result of my efforts. I couldn't remember the last time I had done such intense housework, but it sure felt nice, almost therapeutic.

Leaving the kitchen area, I ventured into the living room. I had caught glimpses of Eve moving around, but hadn't managed to really see what she was up to. Now, looking at her final result, I couldn't help but stare in awe. It was the same old living room, the same furniture, but it looked completely different. She had moved the furnitures, gotten rid of all the clutter, and seemed to have wiped down every visible surface.

She suddenly turned to face me and indicated to the room.

“What do you think?”,

She had a big smile on her face that suggested she was happy with her work. She had every reason to be, I guess.

 "It's nice" I told her. 

Way more than nice.

"It looks very different and way better,"I added.

"Really?" she asked, her eyes shining with joy.

"You like it?"

"Yeah" I said, looking around again. 

There was something about how she had rearranged everything that reminded me of my late mother. My mother was very organised and at all times, everything in our home, down to the smallest details, always looked thoughtfully placed. And, in a way, it made the house more warm and lively.

 "It reminds me of my mother" I found myself admitting out loud. 

I didn't care whether that was too much information or not. She was really good at making a room look like the comfiest place ever.

"Your mother must have been a gentle woman”, she said, smiling softly.

I gazed at her with a small smile. 

"She is your mother-in-law, you know.", I teased 

She looked away in embarrassment when I pointed that out. It was true, it's just that.. with the fakeness of our marriage and all, she really hadn't thought of such things. It wasn't as if we had dated, or gotten a chance to get to know each other's families.

I headed for the mini-fridge to look for a drink. After all the leaning, I was feeling thirsty. Looked like I wasn't the only one, too. Where Eve was sitting at the dining table, she was eating an ice cream. To my disappointment, there was nothing in the fridge. While cleaning the refrigerator in the kitchen,I had noted it was empty too.

Turning away, my eyes landed on the ice cream on Eve's hand. I didn't think twice as I took a step towards her, caught her hand in mine, and then lifted the cool treat to my mouth. I took a bite and pulled away, enjoying the coolness that filled my mouth. I was aware of Eve's wide-eyes gaze at me, and I figured I must have astonished her. All I had been thinking about was quenching my thirst.

Suddenly, my phone rang, and I retrieved it from my pocket. It was a call from work, so I walked away from Eve to receive it.

“I have to go out" I told her

 A minute later when I got back, I walked up to her.

 "I'm needed at work"

"At this time?" she asked, frowning.

"It's only eight" I told her. 

"I will be back before it's too late"

"Okay" she said, and watched as I put on my jacket and coat, before leaving the house 

EVE'S POV 

Even after he was gone, my heart was still beating fast from what he had done with my ice cream. I never would have expected him to do something like that. It was way too intimate...hell, it was an indirect kiss. 

I wondered whether he had felt anything while doing it. Did he realise the intimacy of the action? No, he hadn't seemed to notice…

I was probably the only one working myself up over nothing. But still, I couldn't stop thinking about how close his face had been to mine, how his hand had closed around mine, holding me gently.

I quickly shook my head as my face grew hot. I really need to stop letting my thoughts run away with me.

When l woke up the next morning, the first thing I did, was tocheck my email to see whether I had any correspondence from any of the companies I had contacted. I was shocked when the first new mail in my inbox bore the Edwards Group logo.

 At first, i thought it must be related to their rejection, but the subject threw me off. An apology?.

I quickly opened the email and read through it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The HR department of the Edwards Group, has sent me an email apologizing for their unfair evaluation. What's more, they gave me a new invitation for another interview.

It was all too good, I almost feared it was a dream. But no, it wasn't, I confirmed it after reading the email for the second, third, and fourth time. I also counterchecked the sender. It was indeed the same account that had invited me to an interview before.

I could barely contain my excitement as I hopped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Morgan was still sleeping soundly on the sofa, and I was careful to not rouse him. After he had left for work that night, he had come back at around eleven o'clock.

I wondered what job he had, and wished his boss wouldn't call him out at night when he had already had a tiring work day..

While I showered, I wondered what had happened to make Edwards Group invite me back. Given that they had apologised for unfair evaluation, I supposed that meant Ella had indeed personally influenced my rejection and had been found out.

Anyway, that was none of my concern anymore. I was determined to ace this second interview too and gain the job fairly. It looked like my dream to work at the best fashion and design company in the industry was still very much alive.