Wednesday — December 19


    Ang had barely forced herself to wash up in the bathroom as she was so exhaustedst night when she came home—she never liked sleeping without showering first. When she was done, she passed out on her bed the moment she dove in.


    The next morning, she woke up at half past seven with her rm clock ringing off. Shezily grabbed her phone to check her messages, and she had some from her brother, Nina, and Gael.


    [ Oliver: The van will pick up the boxes @ 11:30. See youter, Anj. Proud of you. ]


    Ang quickly tapped a thank you reply and then opened Nina''s.


    [ Antonina: I''m such a bad friend. :( Please don''t hate me. See you at the gym at 8:30? ]


    She didn''t quite understand what her best friend meant with her first sentence, but she knew Nina would tell herter when they meet. After a long day yesterday, she honestly wanted to stretch her muscles, so she replied:


    [ Ang: I don''t know what you did, but I''ll decide how mad I''ll beter. Better bring me coffee. See you. ]


    Pursing her lips, she then checked Gael''s messages, realizing that he had texted herst night, but she was already asleep and was only able to read it now.


    [ Gael: I''m home. You awake? ] — sent at 1:45 a.m.


    [ Gael: I guess you''re asleep. Sweetdreams, Angel. ] — sent at 1:48 a.m.


    Ang couldn''t help but smile reading his texts fromst night. It felt like she was a teenager all over again, receiving a text from a crush. She bit her bottom lip as she read the texts this morning.


    [ Gael: Good morning. The sun''s out today. Beautiful huh? ] — sent at 6:19 a.m.


    He sent her an image of theke where he said he''d go jogging every morning. The sun was up, and the rays created a beautiful cast behind the mountains, shining down theke. It really was nice up there—very picturesque. She wished she could have seen it personally. It made her imagine a nice scene by theke with a id pic nket, a brown basket, mimosas, and delectable food—a wonderful image in the spring.


    [ Gael: You going somewhere this morning? ] — sent at 7:25 a.m.


    Hisst text message was sent several minutes ago. She quickly tapped her response.


    [ Ang: Morning. Thanks for the photo. It''s lovely! I''m jealous I don''t get to see that every morning. I think I''ve had enough of the sea view. Wanna trade houses? ? I''m meeting Nina at the gym in an hour. ]


    She got up, did her thing in the bathroom, and when she came out to make herself some coffee, Gael replied to her text.


    [ Gael: I thought you were still snoring. How''s your sleep? ]


    [ Ang: I don''t snore! And my sleep was amazing. Thank you. ]


    [ Gael: If you''re so jealous, why don''t youe up here? No need to trade houses. La mia casa è tua casa ? ]


    "Flirt." Angughed. She didn''t have to look up the trantion of what he just told her in Italian. It sounded pretty simr to the Spanish ''Mi casa es tu casa''. Gael always grabbed the chance to flirt. She shook her head as she responded.


    [ Ang: I bet you say that to all your girls. ? ]


    His response came fast, like lightning speed.


    [ Gael: I only have one, though, and she''s reading this. ]


    An indescribable noise sounded from her throat. It was like a mix between a cough and a giggle. She pped her hand over her mouth. "Are you insane? You''re acting like a teenager. Stop it, Ang," she muttered, but the smile on her face remained.


    ***


    Ang and Nina spent over an hour following their trainer''s course in shaping their legs. After Nina told her that she couldn''t go to the orphanage with her, Ang asked the trainer to give more attention to her friend—meaning, let her work out more.


    "I can''t. My legs are dying. I won''t be able to walk anymore. This is torture!"ined Nina with a pleading look. She also projected her best puppy dog eyes to their trainer to let her go.


    Ang chuckled at her little payback. "You''ve been ditching metely. You deserve it."


    "I already said, I''m sorry!" Nina slumped on the floor mat with her arms and legs spread wide. "I swear. I''m not going to marry. Divorce is exhausting. Look at what''s happening to me! My body needs to be split because of my parents'' separate activities which I always have to be present."


    Waving their trainer, who decided to end their overtime session, Ang joined her friend on the mat. "Your family parties are times two. How fun is that!" The sound of sarcasm in her voice was apparent, but she wasn''t mad at Nina. She agreed that her situation was definitely exhausting. Just this morning, her mother decided to throw an afternoon party. Her mother was a sweet woman, but she could also be a b?tch. Her rtionship with her daughter, Nina, was quite toxic, but thetter couldn''t say no. After all, she''s her mother.


    "Let''s not talk about it anymore." Nina rolled on her side, pulled her weight on her elbow, and rested her head on her hand. Wiggling her brows, she asked, "So...how was the membership?"


    Ang rolled her eyes. "I''m not gonna kiss and tell."


    "Oh, my god! You just did!" Ninaughed, yfully pushing Ang as she teased some more. "You kissed? I mean, you already did before…but this is different, right? I mean after months of not seeing each other. How was it?"


    "I don''t know... I… It was different. I guess?"


    "What kind of answer is that?"


    "He''s...okay, fine. He''s an amazing kisser."


    "I bet…" Nina wiggled her brows, her voice low and teasing. "And I bet he''s a great kisser down there too, isn''t he?"


    Ang''s lips curled inward, forming a thin line as she avoided her friend''s gaze.


    "Holy smokes! You guys did it!" Nina sat up in excitement, causing a few heads to turn their way.


    The horror on Ang''s face wasughable as she pped her friend on thep. "Are you trying to tell the whole neighborhood? Jeez, tone it down! We didn''t...do it. Okay? Something happened, but we didn''t do it all the way."


    Nina, whose grin was ridiculously wide, gushed, "Definitely past second base. So third base?"


    "I''m not telling you."


    "Stingy!" Nina scoffed. Then the two of them headed towards the showers to change. "So...are you two like...official now? I thought this was just all pretend to get your father to stop arranging dates for you?"


    The question made Ang''s heart beat faster. Right. There''s that. But her family wasn''t even there yesterday, so Gael didn''t have a reason to pretend. He certainly didn''t have to act in front of his family. What for? She shrugged. "I don''t know. We didn''t get the chance to talk about what happened yet."


    "Do you want to?" Nina tilted her head to the side and looked at Ang seriously as if she was trying to figure out what was in her head. "Can you look past who he is and be with him?"


    Ang swallowed. She had been asking herself that a lot of times, too, and she was still confused. She definitely had feelings for him but was that enough?


    ***


    At around noon, Ang guided the men whom her brother had sent to pick up the boxes of toys and stuff for the orphanage from her apartment and had them loaded in a truck. She watched as she stood by the entrance of the building. Then, two men, who were about to enter the apartment building, greeted her—a fifty-year-old father and a twenty-two-year-old son. She met themst Sunday when she moved, and their family of four was sorting out papers. The family was only able to move today.


    Ang engaged in a small conversation with them as they asked what the boxes were for. So she told them a little about it, and the father, who was a Deacon, found what she was doing very admirable.


    A warm, strong arm circled her waist all of a sudden, pulling her for an embrace. "Hey… Sorry, I''mte."


    She couldn''t help but lean into his arms. Gael just smelled so good, like mint and ocean. "You''re actually early."


    Without hesitations, he tilted her chin up and kissed her right on the lips. A smile formed on his face when he leaned back but still kept an arm around her.


    Ang was slightly lightheaded from his warm greeting. She shook her head in an attempt to brush off the hot thoughts invading her head and remembered to introduce Gael to the neighbors. They shook hands, and then the father and son headed to the elevators.


    "What was that all about?" she asked him.


    "What?"


    She narrowed her eyes. "It felt like...you were showing off, being handsy and kissing me in front of them." She wasn''tining—just curious.


    Gael nced in the direction of the elevators where the men disappeared into, then he shrugged. "You can''t tell any stranger you''re living alone. They have to know you have a man around you every time." He tapped the tip of her nose. "For your safety."