𝗅𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗇 𝖺 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗍𝖾

( I'm in uni right now
but i still updated bcs
priorities ig 🙂 )

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Happiness is like a beam of light to the soul. It is the absence of all negative emotions, and a presence of a positive one. An intense passion that blooms into a warm feeling, so beautiful yet rare to find.

To the devil, happiness came in the form of a beautiful woman.

His angel.

The way her gentle smile would ignite a room radiating pureness. They way her emerald eyes would sparkle and shine with joy. The way she spoke of nothing but kind words, all thoughts of anything else were replaced by this soft emotion that had been sneaking its way into his chest and she was the sole reason.

No beauty in the world was a match for hers.

So he would paint her, to appreciate the reason behind his smile, admire her, and respect her.

Focusing on the canvas in front of him, and being careful not to ruin the masterpiece, he hadn't heard of the light footsteps as she tip toed into the art studio and wrapped an arm around his torso, peppering kisses on his shoulder blade.

"Why are you painting me again?" She looked over his shoulder and he chuckled setting his brush down and turned around, cupping her delicate cheeks.

"Because you're a work of art. Your beauty is perfection," he whispered, rubbing his thumb on her cheek soothingly.

She furiously blushed, laughing and shaking her head at his charms. "Oh really?"

"Yes really," he smirked. "I want to show the world the love of my life." She smiled softly as they stared into each others eyes.

She then stood in front of the canvas and moved it placing a clear one on the stand. "Teach me how to paint then. I want to show you to the world as well." She peered up at him over her shoulder.

"As you wish, my love," he smiled as he handed her the paintbrush and stood behind her with his hand over hers.

He moved her hair to one side and she giggled when she felt his nose nuzzling her neck, trying to distract her as she painted.

"Stop it." She tilted her head, giving him a glare that terribly failed and he pecked her nose.

He chuckled and moved both of their hands making small strokes on the canvas. She continued to follow him, not even paying attention to what she was doing but instead focusing on his soothing, deep voice as he continued to guide her.

"I think I'll leave the painting to you." She dropped the paintbrush back in it's pot and turned around, placing her chin on his chest as she gazed up at him. He smiled, brushing the hair away from her face.

"What?" He asked.

"I love you." She smiled.

"And I you, my love." He grinned as he pressed his lips against hers, perfectly moulding in sync.

She squealed when he lifted her up and spun her around as he showered more kisses all over her face. Her melodic laughter, the only sound echoing in every corner of their home.

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   The sound of Evelyn's ringtone, caused her to wake up from her blissful dream. She groaned as she stretched her hand out from under the covers and picked up her phone from the nightstand, placing it against her ear.

"You better have a good excuse why you called me because I was having an amazing dream," she scowled and Damon chuckled.

"I bet it was me," he proudly stated and she could imagine the smirk plastered on his face.

"You're only in my nightmares," she snapped.

"No need to get feisty," he mumbled. "Anyways come and meet your favourite man at the Grill."

"Which one? I have too many," she teased him.

"Seriously? I'm the only one you know cupcake."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She rolled her eyes. "You have a big ego."

"Come to the Grill please," he pleaded.

"I can't be bothered," she groaned as she laid back down on her bed.

"I'll buy you food," he bribed her.

"I'm on my way." She quickly agreed to that and heard him chuckle. They said their goodbyes and Evelyn stared at the ceiling wondering about the dreams she'd been having.

"Who are you my mysterious man?"

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Jeremy watched as Evelyn stomped her way into the kitchen, a scowl fixed on her face. "Aunt J, Eve's angry," he whispered to Jenna and she turned around. "I'm leaving." He stood up, grabbing his cereal bowl to escape whatever caused his sister to be in this mood.

"Give me that." Evelyn snatched the bowl off him and he frowned, trying to take it back but one glare from her made him step away from her.

"What's with the grumpy look?" Jenna rested a hand on her hip and Evelyn pouted, stabbing the spoon on the cereal whilst Jeremy looked at it with a downhearted look.

"Him," Evelyn grumbled.

"Him who?" Jenna asked.

"My mysterious man," Evelyn huffed as she set the bowl down, and waved her arms in the air. "He's so annoying."

Jeremy tried to take the bowl back but Evelyn slapped his hand away. "It's mine now."

"What?" Jeremy asked, but Evelyn ignored his complaints and carried on with hers.

"It's so frustrating Aunt J," Evelyn whined. "Why can't I ever see him? I just want to know how he looks like."

"You're seriously crying over a man that is in your dreams and doesn't even exist," Jeremy chuckled and Evelyn narrowed her eyes at him.

"I didn't quite catch that, mind repeating it again," she said.

"I take that back," he cleared his throat.

"Where are you going?" Jenna asked her niece.

"Damon told me I need to meet him at the Grill," she said, handing the bowl back to Jeremy.

"You finished it," Jeremy frowned, looking down at the now empty bowl.

Evelyn smirked. "I know."

"And you're eating again?" He asked.

"Who says no to free food?" She grinned.

"Take your medicine, Evie." Jenna reminded her.

"I already took it!" Evelyn shouted out before she left.

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Adjusting her backpack over her shoulders, Evelyn squinted her eyes when she found Stefan outside the porch, loading a suitcase in the boot of his car. "Stefano?"

Stefan glanced to his side, smiling and waving at Evelyn as she made her way over to him. "Hey, Eve."

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm taking Elena to your family's lake house for a couple of days," Stefan said.

"Oh, that's lovely." Evelyn nodded.

"Hey." The voice made her turn around to face Elena who was standing opposite her and giving her a nervous smile. "Still not talking to me?" Elena asked.

Don't say anything. Evelyn repeated to herself. She was still upset with her. Don't give in, Eve.

"I'm just going to wait in the car," Stefan awkwardly drawled out, walking away from the twins.

"I'm going to the lake house," Elena began.

"Cool," Evelyn pressed her lips in a thin line. You had one job idiot.

"You're talking to me," Elena nervously laughed.

Evelyn shrugged at that, adjusting the strap on her back. "I need to go. Have a nice time," she quickly said.

Elena's eyes lit up when she watched as Evelyn moved towards her, her hands slightly rising up as though to embrace her in a hug.

But all Evelyn did was raise her hand towards her as a fist and Elena frowned at that, but still gave her a fist bump. What the hell am I doing? Evelyn mentally cursed herself.

She quickly walked away before waving at Stefan from his car and smacked herself on the forehead.

Elena sighed, sitting inside the car as Stefan looked over to her. "Don't worry. It's Eve. She'll forgive you in no time. She won't be able to hold a grudge for too long against you."

"I lied to her, Stefan. I deserve this," Elena murmured.

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"You want me to do what?" Evelyn looked at Damon as they both sat next to each other in a booth at the Grill.

"A dinner party." He shrugged.

"Wait a second– why the hell did they put salad in my burger," she grumbled whilst looking down at her food. "They're calling me fat aren't they? Let me have a word with the chef. Who made this?!" She stood up, shouting out for the chef and Damon pulled her back down.

"No they're not. You weigh like feather." Damon rolled his eyes and began to pluck the salad out of her burger. "As I was saying I want you to suggest a dinner party. It needs to look like your idea."

Evelyn folded her arms across her chest. "What are you up to, Damon?" She eyed him warily and Damon sighed.

"Elijah seems sketchy and I want to know what he's up to." He shrugged and slid the plate back to her. "He'll become suspicious if he thinks that I planned it. He trusts you."

"Damon this sounds like a bad idea. There is no reason to betrayal his trust." Evelyn bit her lip. "He's my friend."

"You're already friends with him?" Damon raised a brow and Evelyn nodded.

"He's very sweet actually," she said. "Yesterday he bought me ice cream. There's nothing suspicious about him."

"Eve, I know you're not on the best of terms with Elena right now," Damon began.

Evelyn cut him off. "Oh man. You know I really wanted to give her a hug but instead I gave her a fist bump like the idiot I always am. Who even does that?!" She groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Damon chuckled before continuing. "Look, Elijah's going to kill Elena for the sacrifice. So I need to know what he's going to do in order for that to happen."

Evelyn frowned. "Damon, I don't think he's going to kill Elena you're just being paranoid. Elijah's nice once you get to know him."

"Damon, Eve," Alaric greeted, sliding into the booth opposite of them.

"Hey Ric." Evelyn smiled.

Damon nodded. "So what did you do this morning?"

"Jenna was showing Elijah around Mystic Falls," Alaric rolled his eyes.

"Did you get anything out of Elijah besides a history lesson?" Damon asked.

"No, it was boring. Of course, Jenna thinks he's charming," Alaric scoffed.

"You sound jealous," Damon smirked and nudged Evelyn next to him. "He sounds a bit jealous?"

Evelyn looked up from her plate. "You shouldn't be Ric. Elijah wouldn't do that, he's probably dating someone or he could be married." She shrugged.

"Didn't we have a discussion earlier about what you don't know about him?" Damon asked and she heaved a deep sigh.

"He's my friend," Evelyn argued back.

"What's going on?" Alaric pointed between the two.

"Eve knows that he wants to sacrifice Elena but she's in denial," Damon told him.

"I'm not. I just want to hear him admit it." She rolled her eyes. "Which is not true by the way," she added.

"And I just need the right opportunity," Damon muttered. "Ah, there's Jenna with her new boyfriend." He saw Jenna and Elijah enter the Grill.

"Don't be rude," Evelyn hissed quietly to Damon.

He patted her hand reassuringly before raising his hand in greeting. "Hi."

Jenna looked over and smiled. "Hey, guys." She came over with Elijah and stood at the side of the table.

"Hi Eli." Elijah looked at Evelyn, sending his usual friendly smile and she smiled back. He just seemed so nice.

"So I hear you two had quite a meeting of historical minds today," Damon smirked and Evelyn rolled her eyes, rubbing at her temple.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Jenna laughed.

Alaric shifted awkwardly. "Well, as much as I'd like to continue this, I've got papers to grade."

Damon continuously nudged his foot against Evelyn's signalling her to speak up. "Oh, uh, you know I was thinking– we should have a dinner party," she blurted out, and immediately regretting what she said.

And the biggest dumbo award goes to me.

Damon smirked. "Ohh, my girl," he said, hugging her against his side.

Elijah frowned upon seeing how close the two were. Are these two dating? He thought because a certain someone would not like this.

"Full of good ideas. And I'll be happy to host." Alaric looked unhappy and tried to get out of it, but Damon kept speaking over him. "Say tonight maybe?"

"Will you come Aunt J? I'm going to need help in the kitchen," Evelyn gave her the puppy eyes.

Jenna sighed with a smile. "Fine, I'm free."

Evelyn looked at Elijah. "It will be a pleasure," he nodded.

"Great." Damon smiled up at the Original. Elijah was immediately suspicious and glanced to meet Evelyn's eyes as she began to pick on her fries, averting his eyes away from hers.

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"So what's going on with you and Ric?" Evelyn asked, having noticed the awkwardness at the Grill. The two were now preparing for the dinner party that was being hosted at the boarding house. "I feel like there's some tension between you two."

"I don't know," Jenna sighed. "I really like him. It's more than like," she admitted and Evelyn smiled. "And I want it to work, but I can't help but feel he's hiding something from me."

"Oh?" Evelyn murmured.

"It's like the universe hates me. My first boyfriend told me I was boring and broke up with me over text and you already know about Logan," Jenna shrugged and Evelyn nodded. "My love life sucks," she chuckled dryly.

"No it's not." Evelyn gave her aunt a sympathetic smile.

Evelyn reached out to hold Jenna's hand, the smile turning into a frown when she was unable to understand what she was feeling all of a sudden.

Pain?

Evelyn snapped back to reality, shaking away the feeling and gave Jenna's hand a squeeze. "Logan is a dick for cheating on you and the other one is definitely missing out on this so his life sucks." She gestured to Jenna's figure and Jenna blushed.

"I've got John whispering things in my ear about Ric," Jenna said.

"Like what?" Evelyn asked, curiously.

"Things I don't want to believe. Things I don't believe, not if they're coming from John's mouth," Jenna told her niece.

"Oh. Well, trust is the key to any relationship," Evelyn nodded but couldn't help but wonder what John was up to.

"How is it that my favourite niece gives the best advice?" Jenna winked and Evelyn wrapped an arm around her.

"Elena would be upset if she hears that." They shared a laugh.

"Well it's a good thing she's not here." Jenna winked. "So is there any secret boyfriends or girlfriends I should know about?"

"I have no time for that in my life." Evelyn let out a laugh, shaking her head.

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The doorbell rang and Damon opened the door revealing Elijah. "Good evening," Elijah greeted.

"Thank you for coming. Please, come in." Damon moved aside, giving him a friendly smile.

"Just one moment. Can I just say that if you have less than honourable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider," Elijah warned calmly.

"No, nothing, nothing dishonourable, just getting to know you," Damon faked a smile.

"Hmm. Well, that's good. Because, you know, although Elena and I have this deal, if you so much as make a move to cross me, I'll kill you and I'll kill everyone in this house. Evelyn and Jenna are the exception. Are we clear?" Elijah threatened, his voice sounding friendly.

"Crystal." Damon smiled.

Evelyn rounded the corner when Elijah entered. "Evelyn, my dear. You look beautiful." He smiled.

"Thank you," she said, her cheeks flushing pink. He kissed the back of her hand, watching her face, and he could sense something was troubling her.

"These are for you," Elijah handed her a bouquet of flowers.

"They are gorgeous," Evelyn awed. "Thank you, once again."

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Later on they gathered at the dining room. "Eve did most of the cooking," Jenna admitted when Elijah had commented on the food.

Evelyn laughed. "I do it all the time at home," she said, sitting next to Damon who was at the head of the table.

"It's delicious, Evelyn," Elijah said and Evelyn waved a hand.

"I told you to call me Eve." She rolled her eyes at him and he nodded with a smile.

"My apologies, Eve."

"I hate to break it to you, Damon, but according to Elijah, your family is so not a founder of this town," Jenna spoke up.

"Hmm, do tell," Damon murmured.

"Well, as I mentioned to Jenna earlier, a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trails in the 1690s. Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from persecution," Elijah spoke.

"Hmm. Because they were witches.," Jenna added like she was telling a ghost story. She winked at Evelyn who laughed.

"Yeah, but there's no tangible proof that there were witches in Salem," Andie spoke up. She was invited as a distraction for Damon's big plan.

"Andie's a journalist. Big on facts," Damon told Elijah.

"Well, the lore says that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria," Elijah countered and continued to tell his story.

"I wouldn't repeat this to the Historical Society," Jenna laughed.

"It's starting to sound a little like a ghost story to me," John added, but everyone ignored him.

"So why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres," Damon inquired.

"Well, you know a healthy historian curiosity, of course." Elijah shrugged.

"Of course." Damon nodded. "Would anyone care for some cognac? I have a bottle I've been saving for ages." He offered as he stood up.

"None for me thanks. Nine bottles of wine is my limit," Alaric joked and everyone laughed.

"Can I have some more lemonade please?" Evelyn gestured to her glass.

"Sure." Evelyn frowned at Damon when he subtly nodded at Andie. Something was going on and she was being left out of it?

"The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study," Andie spoke up.

"Well that's sexist," Evelyn mumbled to herself.

"I have to say the food was almost as wonderful as the company," Elijah said and Andie laughed.

"I like you."

Elijah turned to Evelyn. "You did a wonderful job, Eve," he said and Evelyn blushed, a shy smile on her lips.

"Thank you, Eli."

"Here you are, gentleman, make yourself useful." Jenna shoved some plates into John's hands roughly.

Evelyn sighed and went to Damon's end of the table, rolling her eyes at the mess he left. "Men," she scoffed.

"I suspect this is my fault." John shrugged at the history teacher as they spoke in hushed tones.

Alaric narrowed his eyes. "What did you do now?"

"I merely mentioned that you haven't been completely honest with Jenna about your dead wife." John smirked.

"You son of a bitch." Alaric hissed, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

Evelyn gasped and immediately ran over to them. "No, don't. He isn't worth getting into a fight with Ric." She stood in between them and looked at Alaric. "Please." He let go of John.

"I think I've been very clear with you, Ric. I want my ring back," John snapped and walked off.

Evelyn followed after him. "What is your problem?" She asked John who turned around. "I may not hate you but the others do. So stop causing trouble because no one trusts you and that includes me."

"I would be very careful with who to trust, Eve. Why don't you go ask Damon what he's really planning?"

"We're going to talk to Elijah what he's up to." She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest.

John rolled his eyes, tsking. "Seems like Damon hasn't been honest with you either."

Evelyn frowned, slightly tensing. "What are you talking about?"

"Why don't you go ask him," he said.

"Why are you causing problems between Jenna and Alaric?" She changed the subject. She would have to talk to Damon about it later.

"I want my ring back." He shrugged.

"At the cost of destroying someone's relationship?" She scoffed in disbelief.

"He shouldn't lie to her," he said.

"Yeah like you haven't been lying to me my whole life. What a saint you are," she snapped with sarcasm laced in her tone and walked away.

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"Where's Jenna?" Evelyn took a seat back at the dining room.

"She left the dessert at home so she's just bringing that back here," Alaric said. "If you'll excuse me." He left the room and Evelyn narrowed her eyes at him, wondering what was going on with everyone today.

"Elijah, did John tell you that he's Eve's uncle/father?" Damon asked with a small smirk.

"I'm well aware of that." Elijah nodded as he glanced over to Evelyn who didn't look like she was enjoying the dinner party at all. He could now clearly see something was indeed troubling her.

"Of course, they hate him, so there's absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list." Damon grinned and John rolled his eyes.

"What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how you intend on killing Klaus?" John asked.

"Come on!" Evelyn interrupted. "It's Kevin," she groaned in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Kevin?" Elijah was now curious.

"Eve doesn't like his name." Damon let out a quiet chuckle.

"I never said I didn't like it. It's the heebie jeebies, Damon. I feel weird," Evelyn mumbled.

"The heebie jeebies?" Elijah asked, confused with her words.

John interrupted their small talk. "Well? What are you going to do, Elijah?" Elijah's face contorted into a serious look now.

"Gentlemen, there are a few things we should get clear right now. I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as a courtesy." His eyes narrowed at them. "If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you and you'll never see her again along with Evelyn."

Damon eyed him angrily and Evelyn's eyes widened. "That is a promise," Elijah finished.

"What has Eve got to do with this?" Damon sneered and Evelyn's heart began to beat rapidly by each second.

Why am I getting dragged into all this? This is so stressful. I need ice cream now.

Elijah just simply sent him a smirk.

Andie came back to the table and smiled at him, ending their conversation. Evelyn leaned back in her seat wondering why Elijah was smirking like that.

"Okay. My first question is when you got here to Mystic Falls–" She was cut off when Elijah cried out in pain. Alaric stood behind him, plunging the dagger into his heart and Evelyn shrieked, a hand covering over her mouth.

When Elijah slumped, grey and dead, Alaric jerked the dagger from him his back and placed it onto the table. "Now, get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert," Alaric ordered.

"All right." Damon nodded.

"What have you done?!" Evelyn yelled, hurrying over to Elijah. Damon quickly caught her wrist, pulling her away from him before she could take the dagger out and she looked up at him.

"It had to be done, Eve," Damon replied.

"You lied to me. Why?"

"Not now, Eve." Damon shook his head.

"You said you were just going to talk to him. We could have come to some negotiation! Why do you always have to resort to violence?!" She shouted.

"He just admitted that he'd take you away for no reason!" Damon snapped. "When are you going to stop being stupid and naive?!"

She winced at the tone and felt like she had been slapped on the face but it was pointless being upset about it. Damon was right after all. She was being stupid and naive.

"I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry, Eve but we'll talk about this later, okay?" He told her in a softer tone. He and Alaric picked Elijah and carried him away. Evelyn watched as she bit her lower lip.

"I told you, Eve. You can't trust anyone even the people you love," John murmured. She scowled, grabbing her bag and ran out of the house.

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Evelyn was about to open her front door when a hand clamped over her mouth and she struggled to get out their hold. The person turned her around, pinning her against the door and her eyes widened.

"Elijah?" She said once he released her and saw the anger in his eyes.

"You lied to me," he scowled. "I trusted you–" Evelyn cut him off.

"I didn't know what they were doing." Evelyn defended herself. "Please, believe me. I would never want to hurt you," she pleaded.

"Quiet. Stop lying to me!" He seethed with a harsh glare and Evelyn flinched at his tone.

She shook her head. "You're the one who lied to me, Elijah. You said you would protect Elena not sacrifice her."

"And I also told you that he took my family and I would do anything to get them back. This dinner was your idea after all?" He asked, still keeping his glare on her.

Evelyn sighed. "I only mentioned it because I thought we could talk about what you were going to do. I trusted you, I thought we were friends," she murmured.

By the way she spoke, Elijah realised she was innocent in all this and had no clue. He sighed and spoke in a softer tone. "It brings me no pleasure to do this to you but Elena is leaving with me. I'll respect your wishes and you can stay with your brother and aunt."

"No Elijah," she begged him with tears now in her eyes. "Please don't do this to her. I don't want to lose her too."

"Like I said I had no intention in hurting you but what your friends have done has angered me." He sped off before she could say anything.

"Urgh– well– you need a haircut," she stammered over her words, angrily wiping her tears away and ran inside her home to let Stefan know.

━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn bit on her thumb as she watched Damon and Stefan lay Elijah's daggered body in the cellar. They had successfully daggered him after he found Elena in the lake house but she lured him and used the dagger on him.

Damon glanced up at the soft girl. "Eve, it had to be done."

"But– but they could have been a different way." She pointed to Elijah's body and crouched down, stroking his cheek. "He looks likes he's in pain," she murmured.

Elena entered the room and glanced over at Evelyn who avoided her gaze. Elena sighed in sadness. Her sister was still upset with her.

Damon searched Elijah and found the moonstone in his jacket pocket. "Ah, what do we have here? A little moonstone bar of soap. I'll hold on to this." He smirked placing it in his pocket.

"So, that's it. I mean, as long as we keep the dagger in there, he stays dead?" Evelyn asked while playing with her fingers nervously. She didn't like this. Elijah was her friend but he lied to her yet she still didn't want him daggered.

"Pretty much." Damon nodded at her.

"Goodnight." Elena walked towards the stairs before turning back around. "You know, you guys want me to fight, fine, I'll fight. But if we're gonna do this, you can't keep anything from me anymore. From this moment on, we're doing it my way." She went to walk up the stairs.

"Trust works both ways," Evelyn scoffed.

"What's that meant to mean?" Elena walked towards her twin.

"Not telling me the rest of your little secret plan with Elijah. How stupid are you?!" Evelyn exploded into anger and Damon caught her wrist holding her back.

"I am trying to protect you!" Elena snapped. "Don't you remember what Katherine said? Klaus killed her entire family for revenge."

"It's Kevin!" Evelyn shouted. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"Fine. Kevin!" Elena shouted back.

"And I told you so many times I don't need you to do that. We fight together as a family," Evelyn hissed. "How many secrets are you going to keep away from me." She huffed, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

"Evie." Stefan spoke to Evelyn and she looked at him. "Calm down," he said softly.

"C'mon." Damon pulled Evelyn away. He sat her down upstairs and soothed her gently until she was calm again.

"You still lied to me," Evelyn murmured.

"I'm sorry." Damon nodded. "I'll buy you ice cream to make it up?"

Evelyn laughed. "You're learning."

But how many more secrets were hidden away from her?

━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn settled down on her bed and took a deep breath as she stretched her body whilst taking her heels off with her feet. "I missed you bed." She stared up at the ceiling.

"You okay?" A voice broke her out of her thoughts and Evelyn turned to see Jeremy, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Truth or lie?" She asked.

"Lie."

"I'm doing great, Jemmie. Just fine," she mumbled and he stepped into the room, nudging her a little as she made space for him and laid down besides his sister.

"Talk to me. I'll be your punching bag," he said and she laid her head against his shoulder, sighing.

"Well firstly Elena pissed me off once again," she said.

"Mhm," he hummed.

"Somethings happening to me, Jer." She whispered and he frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Evelyn wasn't quite sure herself what was going on. Just that she wasn't able to understand what she was feeling.

"I don't feel like myself anymore," she murmured and he tilted his head to look at her. "Like– like something is about to change my life?"

Or someone.

"I'll protect you." He wrapped his arm around her.

"I love you, Jemmie." She smiled.

"I love you too, EJ." He kissed the top of her head.

━━━━━━━━━━

It was the middle of the night and Jenna opened the door to her niece's room, finding Evelyn staring at a photo frame. "Can't sleep?" She made her way over to Evelyn sat on the edge of her bed.

Evelyn glanced up from the frame. "Just thinking." She gave her a lazy smile.

"Wanna talk about it?" Jenna asked and Evelyn shrugged. "Come on." She pressed it further.

"Do you think someone will love me the way dad loved mom? Like she was his whole world?"

"Who wouldn't love a sweet girl like you? It's hard to hate you." Jenna laughed.

Evelyn inhaled a deep breath and shrugged. "I mean Tyler told me he loves me because i'm good and kind and that's what he needed in his life. He never asked me what I wanted. He didn't understand or even acknowledge the other part of me. I don't think anyone will," she whispered.

"Eve." Jenna held her niece's hand in hers. "There will be someone who will love you fiercely. Because that's what you deserve, a love that is unique, that people will envy and would want to have."

"You think?" Evelyn asked.

"I know." Jenna nodded, cupping the side of Evelyn's face. "And if they don't love you at your worst then they don't deserve you at your best."

"I wish that were true for me," she whispered.

"It will come true," Jenna told her. "Now stop overthinking and get some sleep." She kissed her on the forehead.

Jenna turned back around before she left. "By the way, what is going on with you and Elena? You're both giving each other the cold shoulder."

"She um– she ate the last tub of my ice cream," Evelyn lied.

Jenna laughed, shaking her head at her. "I'm not even surprised about this." She left the room and Evelyn sighed.

She laid back down on her bed as Jenna's words kept replaying in her mind.

She just wanted to be understood.

Thank you for 100k!

I didn't think it would still happen but i've had some reader's rudely comment on Eve's soft and bubbly personality. If you don't like it then don't read my book, i'm not forcing you to. It's simple and saves me the job from arguing and deleting comments. There's this thing called character development, and this is just the beginning of her story so she'll have her flaws, making her perfect is boring. I'm trying to make this story as realistic as possible. So I'm kindly saying this, please do not hate or comment anything that is negative. I'm too sensitive for that shit.

Have a great day <33