Twenty minutes later...
"What in the world…" Angela was floored when she saw Gael coming back to her with three tubs of popcorn, a large soda, and a water bottle. "Are we having a popcorn party?"
"I didn't know what you wanted, so I got all three." He shrugged innocently.
She narrowed her eyes. "You could have just asked…"
He glanced back at the long line where he came from and silently agreed that he indeed could have asked her first. He didn't go to movies often, so he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. Heck—he couldn't remember the last time he went to a movie house.
"Salted caramel. Thank you," she said as she grabbed the tub and the bottle of water from him with a smile on her face.
Returning her smile with his own, he nodded. "Got it. Movie's about to start. Let's go."
The two entered the cinema and found their seats. Angela laughed when she saw the kind of seats he chose. It was a red and black leather loveseat couch with boxed sides and rear for privacy.
"You're quite sly, Mr. De Luca. You surely had everything planned," she told him as she sat on the left side.
Mr. Moneybags insisted on getting the tickets and snacks, so she had no idea the kind of seats he got.
Gael chuckled as he sat to her right and set the popcorn tubs on the tray. "Ah… I didn't know it was so exclusive. I'm not complaining, though."
There were a few more loveseat couches, but theirs had the best view of the screen. The cinema wasn't full at that time of the day with only about twenty people inside, and she was thankful as she didn't like crowded spaces.
They were about to see an action romance film that she had wanted to watch since it aired. At least she would get her romance fill, and Gael wouldn't be bored with the action scenes.
When the first scene started, Angela opened the tub of salted caramel popcorn and popped one into her mouth. It was just the right sweet and salty flavor that she liked.
The room was dark, but he could see the excitement in her eyes when the male lead appeared topless and was only wearing joggers in his modern kitchen. She popped popcorn after popcorn like the scene was her appetizer. "So that's your favorite actor?" he asked in a disinterested tone.
"Mm… Matthew Jeong," she answered absentmindedly.
"Tch." He leaned against the backrest and crossed his arms with his bitter, childish self, thinking, 'I could totally beat this guy.'
A few minutes into the movie, she turned her head to Gael and saw him concentrating on the movie. "You're not eating?" she wondered.
"I don't really eat popcorn…"
Angela tilted her head in confusion. He bought three tubs of popcorn, but he wouldn't eat any. His eyes met hers, and she averted her gaze, leaning back against the luxe leather. She contemplated whether she should continue eating the popcorn as it felt a bit weird that she was the only one eating.
'Oh, well. Whatever,' she thought as she reached for another pop and watched the rest of the movie like she normally would.
…
When the movie ended, and the lights turned back on, Angela took out a pen and a small notebook from her handbag and started scribbling long lines of texts.
Gael watched her quietly and waited until she finished. He didn't know what she was writing, but she looked so into it that he didn't want to disturb her. From time to time, she'd look up at the screen for a few seconds as if she was looking or watching at something before writing again.
She only paused for a minute to gather her hair up into a ponytail and secured it with a tie. Some luscious strands fell to the side of her face, and his gaze went with it. He scanned her side profile—from her cheek to her jaw, and then down to her neck. Seeing her exposed nape made him swallow. He wondered how she would react if he pressed his lips on it.
Clearing his throat, he looked away and rolled his neck from side to side. "Are you done?" he asked even when she was still writing.
"Ye-yeah…" Angela muttered just as she ended her notes with a period.
The staff was already inside, cleaning the cinema. The two of them were the only patrons left, but Gael didn't rush her.
As she kept away her things, that's when he probed, "What were you writing?"
She looked up and scanned the room, realizing that they were the only ones left. She quickly stood up and apologized, "Sorry… We should leave."
Gael followed her out of the cinema, and as soon as they stepped out, she turned to face him and answered his question earlier. "I was taking some notes. I came up with ideas, and if I don't write them down as soon as I think of it, I'd forget it."
"Is it for your book?"
"For future stories, yes. But not the current one I'm writing."
"I see… So… I guess the movie didn't help with that block you're having now."
Angela's brows slightly knitted as she studied his expression. So he was really serious when he said he was only helping her? Did he really take her here in the hopes that she'd get over her 'block' and be able to end her book?
Then she recalled that during the entire movie, he didn't make any moves on her. In fact, he was quite a gentleman and actually watched it with her. They did talk several times, but they were talking about the scenes. Contrary to what she thought he would try—like the classic 'yawn-and-put-an-arm-around-her-shoulder move'—he didn't do any. Not that she was expecting him to.
And because of this, she appreciated him. A smile flitted across her face when she sincerely reassured him, "Although it didn't give me ideas for this book, it helped me for the future ones. So thank you."
Satisfied with her answer, Gael smiled back. "It's almost two o'clock. You must be starving," he said as he checked the time on his new watch.
Angela couldn't answer right away as she was surprised to see that he was wearing the watch she gave him the night before. Just like how she imagined, it looked great on him. Then she was reminded of the personalized case back of it. The words flashed in her head, and her heart began to race. When she gave it to him last night, she had actually forgotten that she engraved something on it. But now that she remembered, she thought she must have been crazy for choosing those words months ago.
"You're wearing it…"
He looked at her, he looked at the watch, and then he looked at her again. Seeing her nervous expression, he knew what she was thinking about. Gael suppressed a grin from showing, but he was having too much fun to hide it. "Yeah. I love it."
She turned away from him, not wanting to meet his eyes. He had already seen it! There was no way he wouldn't have!
"I'm hungry," she casually informed as she composed herself.
Leaning towards her until his lips were above her ear, he whispered in his husky voice, "I especially love the message."
Angela felt shivers ran down her spine, and she could only clear her throat as she walked away, leaving him behind. "Come on. Aren't you hungry? I could eat a whole cow."
Gael couldn't help but chuckle at her trying to deflect the subject. He caught up to her and happily led her towards the car. "I'll buy you a ranch so I can feed you until you're satiated. I don't want you getting hungry while you're with me."
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