"They can't take a rejection."
Eva replied, looking anywhere but at him.
She could feel his gaze burn into her skin, or maybe she was just too conscious of his presence. Eva waited for him to say something, but all he did was stare at her. She began fidgeting and her toes curled involuntarily out of nervousness.
"I'm not lying, you know. All I did was refuse him last night, and he is here today with his goons to…" She trailed, realizing how wrong she had phrased her words.
She turned abruptly and found him still looking at her the same way, except that time, there was a little crease between his brows.
"I…it's not like that," she quickly tried to explain. "It's where I work. At the bar. He wanted to…"
Why am I even explaining anything to him? She asked inwardly, pursing her lips.
She heard him take a breath and looked at the ground. The men were crawling, attempting to escape but stopped as soon as they felt his gaze.
"Go home," he said at last. "This isn't a place where a woman should walk alone."
"I know that," she muttered, and when his eyes narrowed at her, she looked away. "I don't work that far away from here. Something like this has never happened before, so… I thought..." she saw him raise a brow as if saying, "yeah, and…?" She bent and picked up her bag, swung it over her shoulder.
"Fine, I'll leave at once," she said and began walking but stopped, looked over her shoulder, catching a glance at him once more.
A part of her wanted to leave, but another urged her to stay, approach, and ask a question she didn't think she should be asking anyone she meets in a dark and empty alley.
"What's your name?" She had turned, walked back to him, and spoken before her better sense of reason could stop her. "I never got your name, so I thought I should ask."
He looked at her as if he couldn't believe she came just to say that.
"I'm Eva, by the way," she added.
"Did you perhaps lose your sense of danger?" he asked, his gaze darkening.
Eva stepped back when she said the way he looked at her change.
"Did you forget I'm also a man and one who could even worse than these punks?" he continued to close the distance slowly like a predator sizing up its prey.
Eva gulped, alarm bells going off in her head. Her eyes darted towards the end of the alley, calculating her chances of escape. Then her back touched a wall behind her and her eyes widened.
"I… I am sorry. I just…"
He stopped in front of her, close enough for her to pick up the scent of his cologne, and the words died in her throat.
"I just wanted to know the name of the man who saved me, that's all," she said, and stubbornly held his gaze, all fear disappearing from her eyes.
The man looked at her, and for a brief moment, he looked stunned. She really has no sense of danger, he thought.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of footsteps rushing towards them had him pausing but didn't turn. Soon, the footsteps stopped behind him, and a woman's voice reached them.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," she sounded out of breath. "Everything is taken care of and…" the woman's voice trailed off when he didn't turn to look at her even now. It was then that she noticed the other person his figure cloaked completely. "I…I'm sorry, I didn't know you were…"
"It's fine," he spoke, his eyes still on Eva's whose mouth had run dry now and once again conscious of herself. "She was just leaving."
"Oh…" the other woman uttered, unsure of what she should say. Her eyes swept the area but showed no reaction to the poor men on the ground.
"Still won't tell me your name?" Eva pressed. "You know mine, it's only fair that I know yours too."
"I never asked," came his curt reply.
"Fine," Eva said as though relenting. But then she added. "Then I'll give you one. Rom," she stepped out of his shadow and began walking away like nothing happened there.
The man watched her go with amusement in his eyes. There was even a slight curve at the corner of his lips.
"So you have another name now, huh? Romeo," the woman teased.
"I believe she said Rom."
"Which is short for Romeo."
"Enough with the nonsense, Asia. Start talking."
The woman, Asia, laughed but soon composed herself and began giving her report. "It has been taken care of. Abigail succeeded. She wanted to come find you herself to share the news but I beat her to it."
"Where is Abigail?" he asked and started walking.
"In the office," Asia replied, letting out a breath as she was finally able to match his pace. "Why don't we stop somewhere for lunch? I'm sure you haven't had anything…"
"That won't be needed." he said, cutting her off and her face fell, but she didn't look surprised. A car pulled in front of them and he got in. "Go get lunch, Asia. There is not much to do today."
The car drove away after he said that while she just stood there with her hand on her hips, pouting.
Meanwhile, once the distance between her and the alley she had just left was wide enough, Eva stopped, a hand flew to her chest and she let out a breath, unable to believe that something like that had happened to her yet she was still brave enough to…
"What the hell took over my body?" she nearly screamed but still pulled on her own hair nonetheless.
She had acted as if she were a completely different person, talking so fearlessly without blinking to the man who single handedly took down four others and looked like he wanted to devour her.
And then she even gave him a name.
"Rom…?" Seriously Eva, she thought, covering her face, ears and cheeks burning red. The passersby glanced at her weirdly and then went their way without saying anything.