章 33: Lines drawn
Of course, after that standoff, there was no way either Eve or Victor could continue with the tests this day. As they walked back to his house, Victor went in front of her, taking care to keep at least ten meters steps of distance between them at all times. Both he and Eve were deep in thought; but while Eve had a blessing to be able to think about whatever she wanted without interruptions, Victor had no choice but to have his thoughts constantly interrupted by hers.
As cold and rational as she was, Eve couldn't help but be a little shaken by what happened. Even if she could push the emotions away from her judgement, they were still there, rushing to the forefront of her mind as soon as Eve got a bit distracted. She closed her eyes for a moment as the kiss resurfaced in her memory for a tenth time. She knew it won't disappear anywhere until she processes all her emotions about it properly. 'And who knows,' Eve thought with a pointed glance at the back of Victor's head, 'it might serve to show a certain someone his mistakes in more detail.'
He was walking with his head raised and his back ramrod straight despite the weight of guilt pushing down on his shoulders. Even Eve's harsh thoughts didn't cause him to stagger outwardly, though inwardly that wasn't the same. Victor could only focus on the fact that Eve wasn't substantially harmed in the end, and that she didn't wish to get away from him anytime soon. That meant that he, at least, had time to do his best to repay for that mishap. 'Listening to her thoughts about it going to be an appropriate first punishment,' Victor thought wryly.
Behind him, Eve forced through her avoidance and concentrated on how his kiss made her feel, purposefully paying most of her attention to the worst part of it. It was forceful and unwelcome, harsh and painful. Victor didn't bite her hard enough to draw blood, but it was a close call, even if any damage had healed already.
She remembered the worst ride of her life, when she sat, paralyzed and helpless, next to a person who didn't miss an opportunity to stroke her thigh or touch her hair, or molest her in some other way. Even the memory made her skin crawl, and the way Eve felt in that moment was a hundred times worse. Molesting or forcefully kissing—one would've thought that the second was worse, but Eve didn't feel disgusted by Victor's kiss at all. Eugen was a pervert and a thug who only saw her as a piece of meat. Victor… as unstable as he was, it was impossible for him to not see someone as a person, and it was impossible for Eve to miss the value and worth he put on her, even if his goals were, ultimately, selfish too.
Eve didn't want to admit it, but the comparison that she had made in order to draw attention to the worst sides of the incident, had drawn out the best sides of it instead. There were no romantic feelings in Victor's kiss, quite the opposite—there was only lust and a desire to dominate. Eve wanted to think that it was a terrible thing, but couldn't put her heart in it. In the end, she could only shake her head in dismay. 'Romance or lust, they both aren't for someone like me.'
In the past, she had barely dated. All her boyfriends eventually said that she was too cold and loved her research more than them—which Eve wasn't able or willing to deny. Soon enough, she stopped looking for partners—she only tried one in the first place to appease her mother. She wouldn't start now. Yet, she couldn't lie to herself either—as unwelcome and painful and forceful as Victor's kiss was, its intensity made Eve's head spin in a way she had never felt before, and it was a pleasant feeling. 'Maybe it's my hormones are acting out after all the years of complete inaction. Either way, this isn't a good road to take.'
Away from her, Victor inwardly agreed. It wasn't a good road to take, if Eve wanted for Victor to keep his wits, because her thoughts directed at him were way too arousing. It wasn't something that had ever been a problem for Victor before, and he wasn't sure what was different this time. With his looks, there, of course, were many women in the past that looked at him with a certain interest, before and after the apocalypse, but had their thoughts never made him feel like now. Maybe it was because Victor himself never cared for them as more than a way to relief stress…
⠀
Their unexpected return gathered attention of Xia and Celina, who were chatting on the porch. When the two noticed Victor's stony and Eve's irked faces, both of them felt silent. Celina looked back and forth between them with eyes full of complete bewilderment, while Xia threw Victor a suspicious glare before looking at Eve with worry. At the sight of them, Eve felt her mood turning sourer than it had been before—now she also needed to explain the situation without blowing the matter up.
"You are early! Did something happen, Eve? An experiment went wrong?" Celina said. "You certainly look like something exploded in your face!"
"Are you alright, Sister? Is everything well?"
Eve rubbed the bridge of her nose. "There was a slight mishap, so I decided to take a break for today. Nothing exploded, there was nothing to explode! I'm a roboticist, not a pyrotechnist."
"Robots also could explode," Celina replied with a wise look. "Even if robots are tiny, that doesn't mean that they can't explode too."
Eve shook her head, but corners of her lips curved up a slightest bit. "Believe that if you want to, just don't spread that idiocy further, Celina. Also, move aside."
"Well, if you are well, then that's great!" Celina said as she and Xia hurried to move away to let Victor and Eve to enter the house. "Mister Kraust, are you ok too?"
He replied with a curt nod and followed Eve in. When the both of them disappeared on the other side of the door, Xia wordlessly beckoned Celina to follow her. She only walked a dozen meters away, far enough to not to be heard from the house, before opening her mouth to speak.
"Lin-Lin, I think that whatever happened with Eve and Mister Kraust wasn't just a mishap. No, I'm sure of it!"
Celina threw a glance in the house's direction. "Why? What else could it be, if Eve said so?"
Xia's eyes darkened. "Think about it. A man and a woman, alone in the woods… And I've noticed grass and dirt stains on Victor's clothes. They look like he was thrown to the ground, face down."
Victor had cleaned himself up after that scuffle, but Xia's enhanced vision let her notice even the smallest spots on his shirt and pants. They could mean many things, but in her mind she had already drawn all the connecting lines. The only reason she didn't call Victor out on it was because he was much stronger, and Xia knew well when she should bid for time.
Celina frowned, getting her insinuations, but unwilling to believe them. "Maybe he fell? Maybe something made him feel unwell, so he couldn't keep standing? Xia, surely Eve would've said something otherwise."
"Lin-Lin, be smarter for once! Be like Eve. She knows she won't be able to win against him, so she bears with it—for now. I'm sure she already thinks about how to ride away from here."
"Xia…" Celina looked at her with a twinge of pity in her eyes. "I know you were in a horrible situation before, but you can't push your experiences on everyone. And did you forget? If Victor wanted to do something like that with Eve, or with any of us, he'd not even need to use physical force for it. He can control minds! He could've made Eve fall madly in love with him or something!"
Xia grit her teeth. Even if she couldn't argue with Celina's words, she just knew there was something wrong about what happened between Eve and Victor. "Don't you patronise me! It's not about me, it's about Sister! And I know Victor had tried to do something to her!" She clenched her hands into fists and glared at Celina with a stalwart determination to not be persuaded otherwise.
Celina's hand rose to her heart, and her face marred with a guilty frown. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Xia! I didn't mean to belittle you or your experiences. But… I am choosing to trust Eve on this. I know she is smart and strong, and if she wanted to tell us, she'd do so. Even if Victor is threatening her, I believe she will find a way to reach for us if she needs out help. But… Just in case… Let's reach for her first, huh?"
Xia nodded, the bitterness in her heart melting down under the gaze of Celina's sweet blue eyes. "Yes. Let's do that!"
クリエイターの想い 
Garessta
Garessta I have great news for me and probably not so great for my readers... depends on how you look. I've got a contract! That means that starting April I'm going to go Premium and lock chapters. I promise to have 40 chapters posted before that. Which means that it's back to the daily schedule!
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