305 Modest me
When Vincent dropped Eve home in his carriage and left with his coachman, she walked towards the main door of her house and noticed Mrs. Edwards smile, but the woman’s smile wasn’t heartfelt. Eve returned it with a stiff bow and stepped inside her house.
On seeing some of the furniture missing in the house, she finally realised that she wouldn’t be living in this house soon. Her life was going to change, and she hoped it was for the better.
“Good evening, Miss Eve. Did you have a good day?” Eugene greeted her, taking the lunch box from her hand.
“It was good,” Eve nodded, and she asked him, “Did Vincent’s men take away all the furniture that we discussed before?”
“Yes, milady. All of it,” Eugene responded before adding, “Lady Rosetta came to visit you today, but she was called back home before evening. I think her parents are in Skellington.”
Marquee Hooke and his wife were here. Eve wondered why the man had a sudden change of heart in trying to uncover his sister’s death. At first, she didn’t react, but then she replied, “I see. It will keep her occupied for some time. Anything else that happened during my absence.”
“I think you should somehow stop the cat from entering inside the house, Miss Eve. He drank the entire stock of milk, and ate the meat I had cut and was yet to cook in the pot. He didn’t even wait for me to cook it and selfishly ate it all like a glutton,” Eugene complained, not happy with Timotei’s parasitic behaviour.
“Where is he now?” Eve inquired.
“In Lady Aubrey’s bathroom,” Eugene sighed as if he couldn’t handle Rosetta and the black cat in one day.
Eve gave him a questioning look and then walked towards Lady Aubrey’s room along with Eugene. The door to the room was open, and she stepped inside to hear the sound of water splashing in the bathroom. With a frown, she stepped in front of the bath and noticed the black cat floating in the water of the bathtub.
“Ohhhh look at the water, that brings warmth on my skiiiiin,” Timotei seemed to be busy with himself, and he paused before saying, “Furry me. Mhm hmm, and then comes the rainbow with many col-ours.” A meow sound appeared from the cat’s mouth, who failed to notice Eve and Eugene’s presence. Eugene folded his arms, quietly staring at the spoilt cat who had no regard for anyone. “Water! Water!” The cat’s tail flapped on the surface of the water.
“Timotei?” Eve called the cat’s name.
The black cat, who was repeating the word ‘water’, stopped. Blinking at the wooden ceiling of the bathroom, he slowly turned to notice two pairs of shoes, and his eyes trailed up to see the two people.
“AHHHHH!” Timotei screamed, which ended with a cat growl. “My modesty has been stolen in broad daylight!”
“Timotei!” Eve scolded the cat, ready to drown it before he would startle her nosey neighbours. “What do you think you are doing!”
“What am I doing? What are you doing?!” Timotei had stopped floating on the surface of the water, and he quickly pulled his tail as if to cover the front of his body, even though he was often in this appearance without water for others to look at. “Peeping at me when it is my bath time,” he gave them an accusing look. He turned to Eugene and said, “I knew you were giving me fishy looks.”
Eugene held a blank stare at the spoiled cat and stated, “One of these days when there is a shortage of the logs of wood, I know what to throw into it.”
“Hmph!” Timotei harrumphed, “Can’t the splendid me take a good nice bath without having peeping toms? What has the world fallen into?! Such shame!!” He shook his small head.
“Have you been stealing all the meat that Eugene was yet to prepare?” Eve questioned the cat, whose bushy tail curled around his body.
“Steal? I don’t steal,” the black cat raised his head as if he was looking at the ceiling, but his eyes were on them. Yet he couldn’t look down upon the two people in the room as he was stuck in a small body. He said, “I thought it was all for me. I ate it all, but I must tell, the meat wasn’t as fresh as I expected it to be. In a way, I did you a favour, you deserve the freshest meat to eat. Maybe Eugene can go hunt fresh meat for you now.”
Eugene glared and went straight near the bathtub, and at the same time, Timotei struggled to get out of the bathtub. But the water turned him slipper, and he flailed his hands only to end up drowning. Eve also walked to the bathtub and pulled the black cat out. But the cat only screamed, “Oh, my modesty has been stolen!”
“I don’t think there’s anything left,” Eugene remarked in a mutter.
Two hours later, Eve entered the bathtub. She took extra care to wash her skin–rubbing the scented flower soap after using the bath salts. Vincent was right, as much as she was embarrassed by his words, those words stirred her in a way no one could.
Eve immersed the first half of her body in the bathtub, her head completely under the water, while she continued to be lost in her thoughts about Vincent and his family.
At the same time, a shadow slithered into her bathroom even though the room doors and windows were closed. Below the surface of the water, she ran her fingers against the almost still water in the bathtub. Suddenly, she noticed a shadow next to the bathtub that now hovered above her.
Eve couldn’t see who it was because of the sudden haziness, but whoever the person was, the person’s hand reached out for her, breaking the water’s surface and catching hold of her neck.