25 Taste Wine from a different place.

"Stop looking at it like you want to eat it," Alexander mused, and Evangeline dejectedly withdrew her gaze from his hands to his eyes.

His beautiful eyes were looking straight into her soul.

"I don't want to eat it. But I want to do something with it for sure," Evangeline said, her lips twitching into a smirk, and Alexander's gaze darkened.

She was deliberately talking in double-meaning sentences.

A witch. That's what she would've been if this was a supernatural world. She was alluring and trapping his curiosity and interest with herself.

"And what would that be?" He asked, but rather than answering him, she focussed back on her group of friends.

"Thank you, Justin. I was really caught off guard at that time. I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there. As a thank you, can I treat you to a coffee?" Evangeline asked, batting her eyelashes innocently.

Justin's gaze moved to his brother, who was leaning back in his chair and scrolling something on his phone. Though he was laid back, Justin knew very well that he was listening very intently.

Everyone anticipated his answer. They wanted to see if Justin would dare to go against his brother.

"No," Justin said, and they looked at Evangeline pitifully.

A smirk stretched across Alexander's lips, and he turned to her.

"Technically, I was the one who saved your life. Shouldn't it be who you should be treating? We still haven't settled the scores of last time," Alexander said, and Evangeline was about to answer when Justin interrupted her.

"On the other hand, would it be okay if we go to dinner?" Justin asked, his rebellious eyes looking back at his brother, who looked at Evangeline with narrowed eyes.

She knew it.

This girl knew that his brother would be rebelling against him and would go with her. She could've asked this question to him later too when he wasn't around, but she deliberately asked him right now. Was it a way to show him that his brother was getting under her control? Alexander thought.

"My shift will end at eight. Let's go after that," Evangeline said.

"I am tagging along," Sarah added shamelessly, and Justin's eyes narrowed.

"Well, I am sure you won't your brothers coming with you," Aaron smirked at Justin, and the latter rolled his eyes.

"Aww, was Justin trying to have a couple dinner with Evangeline? A date?" Ethan teased, and Evangeline smiled forcefully.

"A dinner is a dinner. What's so couple like in it? Couple-like things happen after that," Liam said, and everyone grinned at his insinuation.

Justin raised his gaze towards the girl in front of him from under his lashes to see her reaction, but she was sitting like she didn't understand anything, as a matter of fact, as if she didn't even hear anything.

Her attention was somewhere else. Where it was?

On his brother?

Evangeline's fingers clenched around her cup as Alexander's hand squeezed her knees, and she looked at him with a glare.

Her expression clearly asked a question - what the hell do you think you are doing?

"I hope you haven't forgotten about our dinner," Alexander said, his attention on his phone, and Evangeline gritted her teeth before stuffing a fried potato cheese ball in her mouth.

"There are so many decent girls on this table. Why can't you pick another one?" Evangeline asked.

"I can't take them to dinner because they all call me brother, and are like my sisters. You are the only one who calls me, Mr. Alexander," Alexander said.

"That's it? Is that all that's making you bully me into this? I can call you -" The rest of the words stuck in her mouth when Alexander's hand traveled further up to her thighs, and though she was wearing jeans, she could still feel the heat creep on her skin and she gulped.

A soft gasp left her mouth at the sensation that traveled down her ribcage.

"I dare you to try it," His expression was dark, promising nothing good.

"I will make you taste wine again, and I assure you, it will be from a different place this time. You will still like it though," Alexander whispered, and Evangeline's heart skipped a beat.

Evangeline was about to answer him when her phone started ringing with an incoming call, making his brows knit.

It was strange. Not the call, but the name she saved the number with.

Water? What kind of name is that?

She picked up the call and placed it near her ears, munching on her fries now.

"Important?" She asked rather than saying hello, and the other party immediately knew that she was surrounded by the people, and she didn't want to get up from her place, which means she must be eating.

"Project," the voice came, and Evangeline sighed.

"How much?"

"200,"

"Negotiate," Evangeline ended the call before looking at Justin, who was looking back at her.

She smiled at him softly, making him sigh.

Even the way she talks on the phone while eating was enchanting, but more than that, it was her voice that captured his heart. Would he get the chance to hear her sing again?

She could sing at the - he looked at her when an idea popped into his head. They can always go to karaoke after dinner tonight before calling it a night.

"380, final," the man on the other hand said, and Evangeline looked into Alexander's phone.

"550, final," Evangeline said softly.

It wasn't hard for Alexander to know she was negotiating and making a deal about something, but what it was? And why the hell was she being so secretive? As if she was in some kind of secret government agency.

Could it be really possible? Alexander thought before taking a fry from her plate.

Pat!

To Alexander's utmost shock, she swatted his hand, making him drop her fries, and he looked at her, surprised.

Everyone at the table was busy talking to each other, but Justin, whose eyes were only on Evangeline, chuckled loudly, making Evangeline and Alexander look at him.

"I dare you to laugh," Alexander said, and Evangeline smiled helplessly.

"Brother, one thing you should know about her is that you should not mess with her food. All this stuff with Tina started partially because of that too. Let her eat in peace," Justin said, and Alexander turned to the girl.

Is that so? Does that mean he was the first person to have shared food with her?