Chapter 427 - Window Shopping

Cui Xukun had been driving aimlessly as per Cloe's instructions when she suddenly asked him to stop.

"What's up?"

Cloe pointed towards the shopping mall and said, "Let's go and watch a movie."

Cui Xukun glanced at her and then at the shopping mall, "You want to go to the mall to watch a movie?"

Cloe shrugged her shoulders, "It's not like we have any better plan than this one right now." She took a brief pause and explained, "There is nothing wrong with a movie. And there is no point in going anywhere else to watch a movie when we are already here."

Cui Xukun couldn't possibly bring himself to refute so he nodded his head, "Okay, let's do that. Let me find a parking space."

"Alright!"

Cloe's only plan for today was being random. She decided to go out on a date randomly and now, she randomly decided to watch a movie. She had gone to a movie premiere with him before and she actually had a good time. So, she felt like they could watch a movie again.

Going straight to the cinema, Cloe looked at the list of movies being shown. 

"Which one do you want to watch?" asked Cui Xukun. "I'll buy the tickets."

There was a horror movie, an action-adventure movie, an animated movie, a crime mystery, and a romantic comedy. And even after browsing through all, she still ended up picking the romantic comedy. She couldn't help it. She had always been a fan of this genre. It wasn't her fault. Although according to netizens, the crime mystery had the highest rating, her heart was biased towards a romantic comedy.

"I wanna watch that," she pointed at the poster of the movie she wanted to watch.

"Okay," answered Cui Xukun went to get the tickets.

"I'll buy popcorn for us," said Cloe.

"Wait!" Cui Xukun stopped her.

"Don't say you're gonna pay for it," warned Cloe with a serious face.

Cui Xukun waved his hands to show that he didn't mean that. Instead, he said, "I just wanted to tell you that there is still over an hour till the next screening. So, buying popcorn now is not good."

"Ohh..." Cloe responded in understanding.

When he got the tickets, he got back to her and asked, "So what now?"

"What now?" repeated Cloe as she raised her brows at him.

Cui Xukun found her expression to be really adorable at the moment and he really wished to pinch her cheeks. In fact, his disobedient hand had come up to commit a crime but he noticed it on time and put his hand back down pretending as nothing happened. However, this small moment hadn't escaped Cloe's eyes who had her eyes everywhere. 

The observation was one of the skills she learned from Raelle. As her Chief always said, in silence, you can see what others can't. So, it had become a reflex for her to pay attention to everything around her. She paid attention to the smallest of details that others might even overlook.

"How about we look around?" suggested Cui Xukun. "I mean we can shop here."

Cloe nodded her head, "That's a good idea. We can do window shopping."

"Window shopping?" repeated Cui Xukun uncertainly. "You don't wanna buy anything?"

Cloe shook her head in reply, "Window shopping is more fun." Of course, she wasn't gonna tell him that she was way too economical in her personal life. She hardly spent money on her own self. That's why she always felt disdain coming from Raelle towards her. But she couldn't do anything about it. It had also become a habit for her to send more than half of her salary to her parents. 

Although she was a western, she actually had a lot of personal qualities like Asian kids. She believed she owed her parents everything for raising her and bringing her into this world. That is why even when she felt tired and disheartened by them, she still went along with their demands. She knew that she was being used by her own family but she was happy with the fact that she was at last useful.

So, shopping was a luxury she wouldn't allow herself to delve into. If the thing wasn't really needed, she'll never buy it. And even while buying the smallest of things, she'd ask herself thrice, 'Do I really need it?' And only then she'd buy it.

She did exactly what she said, she only walked around window shopping. There was a black dress in the display window that really made her want to buy it but she held herself back from being willful. Cui Xukun, feeling her internal struggle asked, "Do you like it?"

"It's alright," she answered in a bland voice.

"Then... Will it be okay if I buy it as a gift for you?"

Cloe glared at him, "No! I don't want it from you. If I really need it, I'll just buy it myself."

"Do you have to be so particular about it?" asked Cui Xukun. "Earlier, you did the same thing."

Cloe sighed out, "I must have sounded like a jerk but I can't help it. My Chief says a relationship should never be based on benefits. That makes it seem cheap. Also, we call ourselves independent women, then why do we need men to buy things for us?"

"You Chief sounds like a..." Cui Xukun couldn't find the right word to describe it.

Cloe shook her head at him, "You can choose all the wrong words to describe her but she is the only right person I have met in my life. And I don't regret it even a little bit." She held his wrist and dragged him over, "Come, let's get some ice cream."

Cui Xukun looked at her delicate fingers wrapped around his wrist and looked up at her. And then he forgot all about the world as a goofy smile made its way to his lips.. Just this small gesture was making him feel giddy inside.