Chapter 209 - Scarlet's 'Part-Time Job'

Their relationship grew a lot closer after the talk. Scarlet felt that Edward didn't treat her any differently even after knowing more about her past. That made her feel reassured that he wouldn't judge her for the other secrets too. It would be better to ease the secrets into their very new and unstable relationship.

Sure, Scarlet and Edward had no problems cohabiting, unlike Alex and Jasper who had started dividing territories because they simply couldn't see eye to eye. However, Scarlet and Edward were just too busy as of late. The first project season was coming and both students were locked in their rooms most of the time. They no longer waited for each other to come back home. Scarlet was always busy meeting with her group mates to work on presentations while Edward was pulled along by Alicia and her team for various events. The psychology department was recruiting freshies for the open house and Edward was roped in to help manage the projectors for their showcase.

To put it shortly, Scarlet and Edward's relationship was making no significant progress because of how busy they were.

Scarlet's classmates and groupmates were nice people but the girl wished that she didn't have to hang out with them as often. In comparison, listening to Alicia talking was a lot more interesting. She didn't know if it was because of the difference in their course of study but psychology and philosophy students had very different mentalities. The classmates she had were very bookish and often spoke in a sophisticated manner, carrying themselves with a sort of air that made it hard for others to come close. On the other hand, Alicia and her gang were very laid-back and welcoming. Scarlet felt slightly out of place with her classmates and always found excuses to bail earlier. The group project wasn't difficult for her but these people simply spent too much time talking about unrelated stuff trying to sound more profound than the other. Scarlet was not in a mood to entertain their paper pride. She had better things to do and places to be.

Everyone was too busy with their lives lately so Scarlet took this opportunity to distract the guards that Claire placed on her. It hadn't been easy trying to hide her other celebrity personas from Edward because the teen was sometimes too perceptive. She had to give him more credit than she originally thought when he found out about her secret dislike for chickpeas when not even Tina knew about it. To summarise it, Scarlet had now confirmed that Edward was extremely observant when he wanted to be. Scarlet just happened to be his sole obsession and nothing went past his eyes.

He had almost discovered her secret job as a writer too and Scarlet had a heart attack when he found her 'report' on the dining table. It was her fault for leaving plot drafts all over but Scarlet hadn't expected Edward to read them. Thankfully, the teen didn't understand her scribbles and Scarlet nearly collapsed in relief in front of him. She didn't like showing anyone her plot bunnies because most of them didn't make good content for books. Even Debbie was shown polished plots in Judah1.

That said, Scarlet hurried home today. It was a miracle that he was able to leave the campus by three in the afternoon when she had been going back at eight because of the project. The report was finally finalised and they submitted it earlier. Scarlet was finally free to do what she pleased and skipped on the invitation to celebrate the project's competition with the girls. Compared to going to a tea time party at a local cake shop and debating over various political views of the common folks, Scarlet preferred to look through her manuscript and edit the poor thing that has been sitting at the back of her laptop for months.

Edward was still not home yet and Scarlet heard a sigh of relief. Not many people knew about Scarlet's writing process and how she got into her writing mode but there was nothing glamorous about it. For starters, Scarlet dressed down. She either dressed down completely or wore something so absurd that nobody could look at her without judging her for it. For today, she felt too dull for such a thing so Scarlet looked through her minimal clothing selection before pulling out a brightly coloured jacket made from quilt patches. 

To get inspired, she needed to first feel inspired.

Tying her long hair into a very messy bun, Scarlet looked for her favourite headset and rejoiced when she found it. She usually used earpieces for normal occasions because she only plugged in one side. It was a habit that she developed after working on-site and in studios for long enough. However, when it came to writing, nothing felt more familiar than shutting the world around her out completely. The beauty of writing was being able to lose herself completely in a sea of words. Scarlet looked at the time and got changed into her pyjamas as the coffee brewed. She was going to make an entire flask of it and grab a packet of blueberries to pop while she was at it. The tin of mint sweets and a bottle of plain water was also within reach. Scarlet went through her mental checklist.

Yes, everything was in place. It was finally time to write.

The door was closed, the windows were shut and the curtains were drawn. Scarlet flipped on the light and put on her computer glasses. There were about four more hours before Edward returned. She was confident that she could get about a third of the manuscript edited before he came back. Although Scarlet shared a lot of things about herself with her boyfriend, she still wasn't too ready to tell him about her 'part-time job'. In fact, she didn't tell him anything about her family's background or celebrity personas but they don't scare her as much as him finding out that she was a writer.

While Scarlet knew she wasn't the kind of girl to care so much about how others perceived her and she didn't preen whenever she looked at any mirror, she didn't want Edward to see her in such a dishevelled state. She wanted to look presentable in his eyes even though it was only a hoodie and a pair of faded jeans. Anything would be better than this disastrous slob of an appearance!

Confident that she would be able to finish what she needed on time, Scarlet played the instrumental track to some of Britannia's old songs loud enough to drown out any other noises. Blocking the world out around her, Scarlet finally settled into the editing mood and scrutinised the manuscript with a critical eye.

Time flew by quicker than expected and Scarlet didn't know when the flask of coffee had been emptied or when she had finished the packet of blueberries on the desk. Her stomach protested but she ignored it.

"Just one more chapter," she told her noisy stomach and continued to read.

Fatigue was starting to set in but with the power of caffeine and mint sweets, Scarlet powered through one more chapter.

It was nine when Edward returned. He was tired and still rather confused. He sent Scarlet texts and even called her but the girl wasn't replying. Wasn't she meant to finish the project today? Did something happen at the last moment that she became so busy?

Those questions were immediately thrown out of the window when he saw her sneakers by the doorway. Scarlet was back. That was odd. Why didn't she answer any of his messages or pick up any of her calls?

As he walked to her room, he heard it. The sound of typing and music. Scarlet usually didn't close the door while she worked. What was going on today? He knocked on the door loudly twice and called out to her but there was still no answer. Hence, he tried the door handle and found it unlocked. If it was unlocked, that meant Scarlet wasn't sleeping. Why wasn't she answering?

He stared at this adorable sight of his girlfriend in a chair with her legs folded in it, eyes focussed on the screen with a deep concentrated frown. He heard a weird sound as well and it took him a while to realise that it was coming from her stomach. How long had she been working on the project that she forgot to eat? This wouldn't do.

Tired as he may be, Edward wasn't going to let Scarlet go hungry. He wasn't angry at her for not replying to him. After all, whatever she was doing looked important. He hasn't eaten either and it was late so Edward decided to go for something simple - pasta.

From her room, Scarlet was distracted by the smell of something good. Finally unable to ignore her stomach, the writer pulled away from her work and saved it. She was progressing better than she thought she would and checked the time.

It was half-past nine and Scarlet gaped. What happened to the alarm she set?

Saving her work and shutting down the laptop, Scarlet pulled off the headset and stretched. Whatever Edward was cooking in the kitchen, it smelled heavenly. Curious, Scarlet crept out to spy on the cook. The name of Scarlet's exchange journal with Debbie.