Green Eyes

“Let me go!”

Esmeralda yelled and fought against the rough hands of the police officer that was dragging her inside a cell.

“I did nothing wrong. I have all the right to be here and protest! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!”

As much as she wriggled and demanded, the officer seemed to be made of stone as he locked her up. She grabbed onto the bars, she looked bewildered.

“You are just staying for the night.” He explained briefly, his voice somewhat understanding.

“But that’s unfair!” She spat “I was just defending animal rights!”

“You were being loud.” He replied.

“Loud?” She asked, scuffing “Just because I was standing in front of one of the fanciest brand of the city, which uses real fur by the way, I am considered loud? HYPOCRITES!”

The police officer sighed heavily and left her alone. Esmeralda growled and went to side in the corner of the small cell. Luckily it was clean and the other guy who was in another cell was ignoring her, she didn’t mind. She needed the silence. She sat with her knees up to her chest and she sighed.

Despite only being 19 years old and a college student, Esmeralda was what some people could call an activist. She stood up for various causes: from women rights, to animal rights, to children rights in Africa, to equality for homosexuals and so on. The thing was that she was marked by the police.

She got into the different organizations easily and she stood out because she defended everything with her heart but standing out had consequences. When she started to be able to create some ‘noise’ around the causes, the police started to arrest her and this was her third time. They never really pressed any charges because she never committed crimes but they needed to keep her in for the night so the mobs she took with her would go away.

Ironically, Esmeralda and her friends also managed to piss off the richest of the city. They exposed their flaws to the public eye and that meant trouble, even for the man ahead of the company, who paid for her scholarship, Hiddleston enterprises.

Edward Hiddleston, who was sitting calmly in his large dining room reading the news paper, had reached an agreement with the local Mayer, he would provide with a few scholarships in return for his finances to be ‘eased’ away with taxes and so on. Esmeralda, despite receiving a scholarship from the Hiddlestons, exposed the case saying that the workers were underpaid.

The man almost chocked on his coffee when he read the paper mentioning him and what scandal that would cause. He was furious, beyond furious actually. He had realized that Esmeralda would be trouble the moment he met her, but even still he had agree to pay for her studies because she had excellent grades and upon meeting her, he saw how eloquent she was but now she meant trouble and he would quickly deal with it.

Esmeralda rubbed her tired eyes as she finally reached the small room where she lived. It was the only place she could afford. She went off to get any kind of food when she saw something beeping, she had one message on her voice-mail. She pressed the button and froze up when she heard the voice of Mr. Hiddleston’s secretary.

“Ms. Crawford, your presence is requested as soon as possible in the office. Mr. Hiddleston wishes to see you.”

Esmeralda swallowed nervously. She remembered that she had exposed him but the journalist had promised to keep any mentions to her out of it. Esmeralda had hesitated to tell the truth about him, it would be a bit ungrateful, but she couldn’t keep it quiet, he was corrupt and if she covered up for him, all the things she had fought for would lose their meaning. She was confident that he simply wanted to discuss about college. Sometimes he did that, to make sure that she was worth investing in.

She took a quick shower to look presentable, almost as if she was putting on a mask. Mr. Hiddleston didn’t know that she got arrested a few times, she thought, she was wrong. He knew everything about her. What she supported and how she supported them, the protests she had been too, the riot she had been in and the times she had gone to jail.

She made her way inside the fancy looking building, carrying her backpack on her shoulders and a book on her, it was all about sending a message and an image. Despite only having classes much later that day, this would cause a good impression.

Mr. Hiddleston’s secretary allowed Esmeralda to go through and the girl knocked before peeking inside.

“Mr. Hiddleston?” She called as she looked inside to see the tall man looking over the city through the window.

“Come in.” He spoke harshly and coldly. Esmeralda was used to it, he always spoke to her as if he was superior so she just closed the door behind her and stepped in “Sit down.”

She said as she was told, despite hating being ordered around. He didn’t move to sit, instead he turned to her simply and said “Look at the newspaper.”

Esmeralda trembled but tried to be casual. She read the title and swallowed hard, it was an article about him and as she read it, she widened her eyes. She was mentioned.

“Can you explain what the fuck is that?” He asked harshly slamming his hand on wooden desk making Esmeralda jolt up from her chair.

“It’s... It’s the truth Sir!” She exclaimed as she saw the man turn considerably more intimidating as he stood tall and approached her. He almost looked ready to kill her.

“How dare you?” He snapped “I pay for your studies, you ungrateful girl!” He yelled as she threw her book to the other side of the room.

“Did you expect me to keep quiet while you pretend to run an honest empire?” Esmeralda asked, stepping away from him but he was quicker than her.

“What do you want? Huh? To ruin me? My family? Your future?” The man spat as he grasped her throat and pushed her to wall. Esmeralda widened her eyes and began to fight back.

“I want... justice!” She yelled.

“Oh, I will give you justice.” He said furiously as he began to suffocate her “First off, you will come to public and deny your statement.”

“N… NEVER!” She yelled as she struggled for breath, attempting to kick him and scratch him but his grip was vicious “HELP!” She managed to scream.

“Don’t be ridiculous Esmeralda.” He said with disgust “I will ruin you. You hear me? I will take your scholarship, you will live in the streets with your little rat friends.”

She glared at him, realizing that nobody was coming for her. She would rather lose her scholarship than take her word back. With a last hope, she was able to kick his stomach hard. She cursed against her as she finally snapped free from him.

“Come back here!” He yelled as she ran to retrieve her backpack and her book “I will fucking find you! This is NOT the end!”

Esmeralda ran for dear life as tears sprinkled down her cheeks. She was trembling and she was sure that that bastard had left bruises on her neck. As she ran out in complete panic, she yelled when a car stopped right in front of her. A Lamborghini. The guy inside, immediately opened the door as Esmeralda stared at him with wide eyes. In 10 minutes, she had almost gotten hurt twice.

“Look where you’re going!” He yelled, rudely making her narrow her eyes. He was definitely a spoiled child, he was too young to have money for a such a car and clothes. “You could’ve scratched my car!” And that was when she recognized him: Henry Hiddleston, Mr. Hiddleston’s son.

“Fuck off!” She spat, throwing her book towards the hood of his car while flipping him off. First the father, now the son? She’d kill them both if she could, as people they weren’t worth a penny.

“How dare you?!” He yelled as he began to go towards her when suddenly another tall figure stood between them, his back to her and his stance firm.

“Calm down Henry.” His voice was velvet and she peeked to see the other guy glare furiously towards him.

“Shut up, Tom. You are too sensitive to handle things like a man.” Henry replied angrily as Tom tried not to flip out and kept covering the shaking frame of the girl behind him.

“And handling things like a man means screaming at a woman?” Tom replied promptly as he watched Henry close his hands into fists.

“She threw her goddamn book at my car. MY car!”

“It didn’t leave a scratch or a moss, Henry.” Tom said patiently, knowing how to deal with him “And if it did, dad would gladly give you more money for another car.” He added sarcastically.

Esmeralda heart began to race. She didn’t know that Mr. Hiddleston had another son but apparently he did.

Henry huffed and Tom gestured for him to get into the car “Dad is waiting for you, he hates waiting. I’ll handle this.”

“Fuck you, Tom.” Henry said pointing at his younger brother as he kicked Esmeralda’s book and exchanged a final look with her before getting his car and disappearing.

When Esmeralda looked up Tom had turned to her.

“I’m sorry about that. Henry lacks… social skills.” He said trying to explain why his brother acted like such a jerk but there wasn’t a deeper explanation. His brother was just a jerk.

“And manners.” Esmeralda replied as she embraced herself.

“Sadly, I agree. I am sorry.” Tom apologized, observing the girl. She looked familiar but he could not place her.

“It was not your fault.” Esmeralda replied, looking up. Her emerald green eyes met Tom’s and she was fascinated. “Thank you for stepping up for me. You didn’t have to.”

Tom smiled and was about to reply when he saw the bruises on her neck and her eyeliner completely ruined by her tears.

“What happened to you? Are you alright?” He asked with concern as Esmeralda suddenly became self conscious and took a step back from him.

“I’m… hm… I’m fine.” She replied, not even bothering to smile “Just... Thank you.”

“Please, you don’t need to thank me but… You are bruised.” He said softly “Are you sure that you’re fine? I can take you to the hospital.”

“I’m sorry, I need to go.” She said quickly as she turned away from him and began to walk away.

“No. Wait!” Tom shouted after her as Esmeralda began to run off “Wait! Please wait! Your book…” Tom sighed as he picked it up, frowning. His brother had destroyed it.