Chapter 48 - How Was I?
Gael's genuine laugh actually masked his racing heartbeat. This—staying with Angela alone in a dimly lit room was not good for his heart. He should stay at least three feet away from her—no, make that five.
He experienced a rush of adrenaline earlier when the koala decided to jump on him. Her body pressing on him and the way she clung onto him like he was her lifeline made him question his life choices. Who told him to invite her to his suite?
But the one thing that baffled him was that even though he was surprised by her actions, he found all of it so natural. He reacted by instinct—that despite knowing how silly she was, he wanted to make sure she was okay. Heck—he would probably be willing to fight off ghosts for her like a fûcking ghostbuster.
Gael watched as she casually laid back down on the bed like she owned it and he was the guest. It made him feel hesitant to lay down. He couldn't possibly remain standing, could he? Sit. Sitting is good too. So he sat.
Sitting up on the bed, he brought his knees up, and lazily rested his arms on them. They were quiet again as if the silence would ease the strange tension between them.
Meanwhile, Angela thought about how she just wanted to get through the night without making herself look like a fool even more. It had only been a few hours since he had knocked on her suite and woke her up, but she felt like a lot had already changed between them. Compared last Saturday when she first saw him again after three years, she now thought that being around him wasn't so bad.
Her thoughts brought her back to his question earlier—"Who are you avoiding back home?" She swallowed the growing lump in her throat when Evan's image appeared in her head. She didn't want to tell Gael about him because there was no point. Evan wasn't his problem and he had no business with her past, therefore, she had no obligation to tell him anything.
However, there was this nagging feeling somewhere deep inside of her that she couldn't explain. It was as though her heart and her brain were battling with each other whether to tell him some truth or just forget about it.
Out of nowhere, she yawned. The dim lights and the nonstop sound of the rain were sort of calming that she was feeling sleepy again. How could this be possible? She already slept for so many hours and now she wanted to sleep again.
Letting out a small sigh, she blurted in almost a whisper, "My ex."
Gael glanced down at her and caught her staring at the ceiling, her legs crossed and her hands resting on her stomach as if she was in deep thought. "Sorry?"
"Back in Esmea. It's my ex. I don't want to see him…" she explained.
His brows furrowed upon hearing what she said. He had thought of asking her again about it later, but she suddenly started the topic. "Why are you avoiding him? What happened?"
Her throat bobbed as she contemplated her response. "Bad breakup. That's all. Nothing much."
"When was the last time you saw him?" he wondered.
"Three years ago. Before I came to this island…" she slowly turned her head to the right and met his stare.
He knew exactly when she was talking about. It was when they met during the Chos' wedding. And though he didn't like it, he made assumptions, thinking that she had just gotten out of a relationship—maybe that's why she told him that night that she wanted to escape?
"So… You came to the island in the hopes of looking for a rebound?" he teased.
"What? Oh no… I broke up with him six years ago. I was single for a while before I came here… and… met you."
"I see…"
Gael still wanted to ask her questions, but before he could even do so, she had already turned to the side facing him and plastered a smile on her face as though she didn't look a bit uneasy just now while she talked about her ex.
"So... How was I?" she asked.
Unsure of what she was referring to, he cocked a brow in question.
Seeing his expression, she clarified, "My story. How was it? Was it satisfactory?"
As soon as he understood what he meant, the scenes that he had imagined while she told her story flashed in his mind again. And the first thing he thought of was the horrifying face of the ghost that was about to rip his heart out—wait no, not his… Scott's! Was there any difference? He thought he was living in the story and had put himself in Scott's shoes. Not only that, the haunting voice of the vengeful ghost that overtook Scott's voice while he chanted rang in his ear.
Was the story that scary or was she just that good in telling it? Gael couldn't tell what he was feeling exactly, but he wasn't about to just tell her that!
Clearing his throat, he answered, "Not bad."
"Eh? I actually thought it was pretty scary… I guess I need to practice more..."
He looked away. This woman. What other crazy stories did she think she would tell him? Without thinking much, he just nodded. "Mm. Keep working on it."
A few minutes of silence later, he heard a beep on his nightstand and when he turned to look at it, he realized that it was Angela's phone. He didn't mean to, but he was able to see the screen notification. There were texts and a few miscalls from an unregistered number. He knitted his brows when he read one text preview that said:
[Unknown number: I want to see you. You can't avoid me forever]
The text preview was cut because of the limited space and the screen display had turned off, but it was enough for him to guess that it could be her ex. Who else would it be?
"Hey… Your phone…" his voice trailed off when he turned and saw that Angela had fallen asleep. "Are you serious? Didn't you just wake up a few hours ago?"
No answer.
The only answer he got was a very faint sound of her breathing.
He scoffed and shook his head. A minute later, he laid on his side facing her, chuckling when he noticed that her mouth fell open. Just how deep was her sleep already?
Tentatively raising his hand, he grabbed the hem of the blanket that was only covering her partly and brought it up to her shoulders. He crossed his arms and took advantage of the chance to observe her sleeping. It was strange how he found even just looking at her quite intriguing.
Although she couldn't hear him anymore, Gael whispered under his breath, "Good night, Angel."