Twenty one

EVE'S POV 

In the evening of my third day at the Edwards Group, Daniel appeared at my desk when it was time to go home. 

I hadn't seen much of him for the past two days now, besides when we had lunch together.

 Part of it was because I was avoiding him actively. Even though Morgan had accepted my explanation about our relationship, I didn't want to risk another misunderstanding. The other reason was because we weren't in the same departments and were both busy at work.

When he appeared, I was gathering my things, ready to leave. Most of my co-workers had already left.

"l came by to see if you want us to get off work together?", Daniel asked when he got to my desk.

The request was innocent enough, I suppose. But I couldn't help thinking about the last time we had left the building together.

When I hesitated, he added.

 "l haven't seen much of you these last couple of days, I was hoping to catch up. You can tell me about how you're getting along with work."

I appreciate his concern, I really did. But besides what happened the last time he accompanied me, that was something else that was making me think twice in accepting his offer.

That first day we met at the flower shop, I had assumed he had long lost romantic interest in me, even after leaving college.

But each time we had interacted in these three days, I couldn't ignore how he looked at me, talked to me, and sought to spend time with me.

I would be fooling myself if she pretended that his attention on me was only because we were friends.

Daniel Sean was pursuing me again, and I didn't want to do anything to raise his hopes. But how can I tell him that I don't want the both of us to get off work together? He had been so kind to introduce me on my first day. Maybe I could accompany him for today.

Lost in my thoughts, my phone rang at that moment, and I excused myself to take a look at it. I found that it was Morgan calling, and I stepped away to receive it.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Eve. Are you off work yet?"

"I'm about to leave,” I replied. 

"Why?", I asked.

"Come on, I'm waiting for you outside. I found a house near the company, I will take you to see it”.

My eyes widened. 

"Really?"

I hadn't expected him to find a house so soon. Finding a vacant place in the centre of the city was hard enough, and finding a cheap one had to be way harder. He really must know a lot of resourceful people to be able to find one so quickly, I concluded.

"Yes, and it was quite cheap”. He replied.

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute;" I told him excitedly. 

I hung up and turned back to Daniel.

"Sorry, I have to rush. I'm meeting someone."

*********DANIEL POV**********

I could barely hide my disappointment as she gathered her bag and got ready to leave. Whatever that call was about, it had made her really happy and had also robbedme of the chance to catch up with her. 

I had been unable to spend as much time with her as I liked for the past two days now, and I had been thrilled to find her at her desk. 

The previous day, I had come looking for her, but I had a meeting that ran late and by the time I got there, she was already gone.

Looks like I was out of luck once again.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow”, I replied, hiding away my rejection. 

Right, tomorrow. I would do my best to catch her alone the next day.

She skipped out of the office, and it made me wonder who on earth she was so happy to see. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I walked over to the window and looked outside. From there, I could see the front of the building clearly. 

A couple of minutes later, Eve emerged from the building and walked towards a tall man who was waiting outside. I watched as the two got closer, then the man took her bag and led her away. 

I felt disappointment crash my heart. Was I too late to win her heart?.

*******EVE'S POV*****

When I met Morgan at the front of the building, I felt relieved that I hadn't accepted Daniel's invitation right away. If we had walked out together only to find Morgan outside the building, there was no telling what could have happened.

After meeting me outside the building, Morgan led me to a small apartment not far from the company. The building looked quite nice, such that l began having doubts even before setting foot into the apartment.

By just looking at the state of the building, plus its strategic location, I knew the rent would be very high. But I didn't say anything until Morgan brought me to the apartment. 

I was tentative as I walked through the door, but as I walked into the living room, I couldnt help but gape in awe. The room was nicely furnished and decorated, and it looked more spacious than I had anticipated.

A quick tour around revealed there were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It was way much better than our current old house. Living here was not only close to my workplace, but also suitable for us since we would each have our own room.

That thought didn't last long in my mind, though, as the real problem resurfaced. A two-bed room apartment in the city centre had to be super expensive. The smile that had been building on my face fell as I turned to Morgan.

 "How much rent are they asking?"

"The landlord wanted to rent the house out as soon as possible, so I was able to get it for three hundred dollars"

I looked at him as if he had grown a second head. Three hundred dollars for a two bedroom apartment near the city centre? No, that couldn't be right. Not even a studio apartment could cost that.

"Are you sure? Three hundred bucks? Just that?" I asked, looking around the apartment. 

"Yeah. I know it's quite low, right? We are lucky”. He replied. 

I sighed and paced around, taking another look at the furnishings, the walls, the fixtures. Everything was in good condition and clean. I would never believed the apartment went for just three hundred dollars until I heard from the landlord.

"Can I talk to the landlord?" I asked Morgan.

Morgan motioned to the realtor who had been around since he brought me to see the house.

 "Can you please call the landlord? My wife wants to confirm the rent amount."

The realtor nodded and then reached for his phone. 

"I'll make the call right away:" the realtor assured.

As soon as the man disappeared outside, l approached Morgan and in a low voice and said.

"I think someone died in this house"

*******MORGAN'S POV******

I looked down at her, feeling amused at the suspicious look on her face. 

"What?"

"It doesn't make sense that they would only ask for three hundred bucks" she said. 

"That's way too cheap. Did you ask around? I feel maybe they were unable to find a tenant because someone died here, so they lowered the rent ridiculously. We should talk to the neighbours before signing the lease."

When I had made plans to rent the apartment and convince her that it was cheap, I hadn't expected she would be so suspicious. But anyways, I had prepared well in advance.

Not only had I brought along one of my subordinates to act as a realtor, but I had also prepared the perfect reason as to why such a nice apartment was so cheap. 

Fortunately, it didn't involve any dead tenants. But it sure was entertaining to see Eve get worked up as she tried to make sense of the low rent. If I let her get her way, I didn't doubt that she would really go knocking on the neighbour's door to ask whether someone had died in that house.

Her nervousness was showing on her face as she blinked rapidly and sweat appeared on her nose. She really must be quite superstitious, I thought.

 Without thinking, I reached up to wipe away the sweat on her nose. Her eyes flew to my face instantly, but then the relator's voice interrupted us.