CHAPTER 39
Gelo and I rushed inside his room. A gray boxer was lying in the middle of his bed. His face turned red after seeing it. He grabbed it and threw it inside the laundry basket which was also in his room.
“I’m sorry for that,” he said, scratching his back. He must not clean his room that often. His pens and papers were scattered on her table. His television wasn't perfectly aligned to the wall. And his bed wasn’t even made up.
“Am I here to fix your room?”
“No, Cath. Is my room that dirty and messy? I thought your room was worse when we cleaned it the last time.”
I’m guilty. He’s telling the truth. But I was just stressed at that time and I don’t have the thought of cleaning my room just like what he’s doing most of the time.
“Why can’t we stay outside? In your living room.”
“That woman was there. She might disturb us again. Isn’t it weird an adult woman is lying around and will stop the two of us from being too sweet?”
“It’s weird,” I said. “Mila’s always serious back in her hut. She’s even a great actress for pretending to be crazy. And now, she’s putting that hat off and acting crazier this time. Is she against love and relationships?”
“I don’t know her. But Nana trusted her so I trust her as well. You trust her, right?”
I nodded. “We haven’t talked about our mission-like promise to each other. Maybe I’ll talk to her next time. She wasn’t even approaching me about that. Maybe because we’re together most of the time.”
“Maybe that’s the reason why or she turned crazy after that attack in her hut.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gelo, you’re ridiculous.
“Clever,” he corrected.
He opened the television and looked for something to watch. I’ve read romance novels previously and obviously, I don’t want to watch them anymore. “Maybe a thriller one will do. Supernatural horror movies are something that I don’t enjoy that much. I love murder mysteries yet it wasn’t a usual genre in movies or series.”
He handed me the black remote control that’s lighting with red, blue, and violet neon lights. Cool, I thought. “Choose something for the two of us. I can watch anything with you. I get food for the both of us downstairs. I’ll be back after five minutes.”
“Make sure it is indeed five minutes. And make sure that it’s yours, not Sage’s.”
He placed his pointing finger to his mouth and whispered, “He might hear us. Lower down your voice when you’re talking about him.”
I chuckled until he left the room. The air conditioning system of his room was making me feel chilled. I grabbed his thick blanket and wrapped it around me. It gave me a heating feeling which is better than frosting myself inside his room like ice.
This must be the blanket that he’s using most of the time especially when it’s too cold for him. I can feel his presence, him hugging me comfortably with this blanket. I can smell him, his presence that he’s just beside. Is this how it feels when you like the person or when you love?
I filtered the choices on the screen and made it all horror and mystery movies. I skipped all of the ghost movies and also the ones that I have watched before. I saw a fabulous TV cover that looked cool for a mystery series to watch. But I heard and read reviews about it that it suddenly turned crazy. I don’t want to spend my time watching a trashy series.
Then there was the book to movie adaptations. I would’ve wanted to watch them but not until I read those books. There’s an exciting feeling when you know that the book you just read was already adapted into a movie. And I don’t particularly appreciate reading books after I watch movies. I already got the story and I’m only hating it if the stories are different from one another.
After minutes of deliberation, I finally picked a murder mystery movie about a group of teenagers killed one by one in their outing. The premise was absurd.
The door creaked open and Angelo came inside with plain nachos in her right hand. A bowl filled with Nacho dip on his left. He glanced at the screen and whistled. “Cool pick. It’s one of my most anticipated thing to watch. But I get distracted most of the time when I find something else.”
He placed a small square blanket in the middle of his bed. I avoided my legs from hitting the nachos and the bowl of dips. I gripped stronger on the thick blanket that was covering my whole body.
“Are you cold?” he asked. “We can increase the temperature.”
“No, I’m fine. I can manage.”
He didn’t listen to me and went to the airconditioner to decrease its level. He’s so caring about me. Just like my brothers.
He sat back beside me and opened the bag of nachos. The cheesy and crispy smell mixed with the air. It made my stomach crave it even though I wasn’t exactly hungry.
He dipped one and turned to me. “Try it.”
At first, I hesitated because we looked like those couples in adult romance books who are going to feed each other. Because he was waiting for me to take a bite, I surrendered. “It’s great. How did you learn to create nacho dips that taste like this.”
“Oh, just watching videos. You can learn a lot by binge-watching on the internet and searching everything up. I think I’m going to get a culinary degree though I also want to pursue a business one. I’m going to find work in the nearest nearby town as possible so I could still go home and assist Nana here. It’s more than four years yet I’m planning almost everything.”
“It’s not unusual to plan everything right now. Your family will support you.”
“I wanted to open a restaurant in this town. We don’t have. At the same time, we don’t have that much space where we can put that restaurant or cafe. Four years is still a long period to wait. My dad is planning to get me a car of my own. Do you think I should let him get it and practice on my own?”
“Of course! If you already know how to drive a car, you can bring me to a lot of places outside Dusk and Dawn.”
“Okay, I’ll tell him.”
We stared intensely at the moment. Our hands crippled towards each other, forcing us to feel the thump inside our hearts. Before our hands connect, and the strings of our hearts became complete, the door wrecked open because of Mila.