Outside the suite, Gael had just finished his cigarette and took the last puff when he heard Angela's scream. He immediately tossed it to the side and rushed back inside, pushing the door open and finding her shrieking as she got out of the bathroom.
"What's wrong?!" he asked, worried about what the hell happened to her.
And as soon as he did, she ran towards him and jumped on him. He instinctively caught her without hesitation, his arms wrapped around her waist as he steadied himself with her added weight. It was a good thing that he had a good balance or they would have surely stumbled down. His eyes grew wide from the shock and his ears perked when he heard her muffled cry on his shoulder.
"There's a ghost in your bathroom!"
Apart from the trembling of her whole body, he could clearly feel the frantic beating of her heart. She was truly horrified by whatever scared her just now.
"What? What ghost?"
"In the bathroom! She was there!"
"Calm down. What are you talking about? There's no ghost."
She tightened her arms and legs that were locked around him, refusing to believe what he said. She was pretty much like a koala and Gael was the tree. He couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago, she was telling him a gripping horror story about ghosts and now, she saw one? Not to mention, she was scared out of her wits. How could this woman be such a good storyteller, yet easily gets scared by ghosts and thunderstorms?
"But I saw it! She's exactly like that horrifying ghost that Scott saw in the library!"
His brows drew together, knitting in absolute confusion. "I thought you said you made that story up?"
"Does it matter right now? I saw a ghost!" she insisted.
Gael sighed. Angela Su was truly one of a kind.
"Get down. I'll go check on it," he told her.
When he thought that she would actually get off him, she tightened her hold even more, determined not to get down at all. "No!"
The breeze entered the dark room because he hadn't closed the door, so the cold wind swept against them, causing her to shiver. He squeezed his eyes shut as he composed himself. He had frozen earlier when she had forcefully jumped on him—now, he calmed down and pulled himself together. Slightly turning to the side, he shut the door close.
"Then… if you don't go down, you'll have to come with me as I check the bathroom," he said. When she didn't respond, he took her silence as a 'yes'. He shook his head, and then took his first step forward.
The bathroom was only a few steps away and when he turned to the right to face the door, he asked her, "Where did you see it?"
"It was behind me when I was standing in front of the sink. I saw it through the mirror, she was staring at me. Can't you just not go inside? Let's leave…" she pleaded, her voice sounding so pitiful.
He could leave with her, that wasn't hard to do. But until he finds out what it was that she saw, he couldn't possibly rest either. So, he ignored her plea, took out his phone, and turned on the flashlight. With his right hand on her waist and the other holding his phone, he stepped inside the small space. He scanned the area—all while carrying the big baby in his arms.
There was nothing. Apart from the howling of the strong wind and harsh rain outside, there was nothing scary in here. Doublechecking, he lit the walls and raised his hand higher. Then, he did a double-take. Extending his arm forward to clearly light up the place, he saw it. It was right there just like she said.
"Get down," he said in a low tone.
"No."
"Angela, look."
She shook her head. She was still trembling a bit.
Letting out a long sigh, he slid his hand up to the middle of her back and gently patted her. Softening his voice, he whispered, "Just look. I swear, it's not a ghost."
Finally, she slightly leaned back and turned her head to the right, following the direction of the light from his phone. And through her misty eyes, she saw a towel hanging on a hook.
A towel.
She could still remember what she saw earlier and she was sure that it looked like a veil. Now that she saw that it was a towel, she realized how stupid it was that she got scared shît of it.
Angela turned to face him as she loosened her arms, only to find that he was looking at her—and they were only a couple of inches apart. She saw him lower his gaze to her lips and her heart that had just calmed down started racing again.
She cleared her throat, unlinked her legs that were around his waist and she slowly slid back down until her bare feet touched the cold tiles. She pursed her lips as she thought of what she could possibly say to him after what just happened. How could she move on from that? Because she was clueless, she acted as if they didn't just have a moment, then she nonchalantly moved away from him saying, "I swear, this blackout is going to be the death of me."
Gael scoffed upon hearing her statement. She was like the queen of denial. He shook his head and mumbled under his breath, "You're going to be the death of me."
"What did you say?" She whipped her head around.
"Nothing!" He lazily sauntered back to the bed. "God, what a workout!"
Realizing what he meant, she huffed and followed after him. Did he just indirectly call her fat? "Excuse me? That's not a nice thing to say!"
Then, his laugh that she was starting to like, reverberated in the room as he unabashedly replied to her, "I didn't mean to be nice."
Seriously. This Gael. She had never met any man like him. He was surely one of a kind.