90 The Mall

The ride in the car was quiet. Julian sat in the driver's seat while Gradis stayed in the backseat with Matheio. It felt too awkward for her to sit next to him so she hid behind him.

Every once in a while she felt his gaze through the rearview mirror and she'd turn to look at him just for him to turn away from her. It was like a push and pull game. She didn't want to play but was pulled into playing since she wanted to check up on him but not actually look at him face to face. 

She wasn't the type to be reluctant but something about this moment prevented her from being as straight-up as before. She felt guilty, for an action that she shouldn't feel guilty towards.

"We're here," Julian announced, flashing a smile into the rearview mirror at Matheio and Gradis.

Gradis immediately sat up and began unbuckling Matheio's car seat seatbelt. 

"Where are we?" Gradis asked, giving Julian a side glance. 

"At the mall," Julian replied blankly.

"THE MALL?!" Gradis yelped, turning to Julian in shock, her eyes shining in absolute disbelief. "Why're we going to the mall?!!"

"To have fun," Julian grinned.

A sigh of relief left Gradis' lips when she realized the dark shadow over his eyes was no longer there. Another boulder was placed on her shoulders when she looked out the window at the large groups of people at the mall. It was swarming with people left to right, going in and out of the door. She gulped.

"Are you crazy?" Gradis scolded, softly swinging her hand at him to punch his shoulder.

"Yea," Julian muttered, catching her punch. He held onto her hand and pulled it towards him slightly, his eyes maintaining strong eye contact with her's. "I am crazy."

Gradis pulled her hand away and turned to Matheio. "I can see that."

She knew he was staring at her back but refused to look at him, knew what he meant when he said that but refused to acknowledge it. She also knew why he brought her there, but she was going to play dumb. She wasn't going to fall deeper than she had already. Especially on a day like this. 

"Aren't we going to be seen by a lot of people?" Gradis asked, lifting Matheio out of his seat, "a lot of paparazzi and onlookers too. Are you ok with that?"

Julian scoffed, "More than ok. This might be the one time in which I want rumors."

"Aish," Gradis groaned, "who gave you those lines?"

"Nobody," Julian grinned, "I'm just that smooth."

"Hmm, sure hun," Gradis rolled her eyes, "a few more levels and you'll be cringey beyond belief."

There's a long silence before Julian cleared his throat.

"Ready to go?" He asked, looking back at her.

Gradis looked at the window at the crowd once again and then sighed, tightly gripping Matheio's hand. "Yea, I'm ready to go."

Julian glanced at them momentarily and got a glimpse of the smile Gradis gave back to Matheio. His smile brightened a bit before dimming again. He turned back to his car door and pushed it open. "Here we go."

Slowly he walked around his Lexus car to Gradis' side, giving her time to adjust whatever she wanted to fix before he opened the door.

Julian adjusted his tie and cleared his throat before bending over and opening the door for Gradis. "Mademoiselle," he greeted as he opened the car door. He stretched out his hand, assisting her as she stepped out the car.

"What are you doing?" Gradis whispered to Julian as she caught the stares of some onlookers, peering at the scene.

"Rehearsal," Julian grinned, closing the door behind her after she helped Matheio out. 

"Re- what?" Gradis muttered, flashing him a glare, "you wouldn't dare."

"Anything for my queen," Julian teased, playing with a strand of her hair with a smug smile on his face.

"I swear-" Gradis growled, raising her hand to smack his head.

"Ok, ok," Julia chuckled. He outstretched his arm again, asking for her to place her's in his. "I'll stop"

"You better," Gradis huffed, linking her arms in his. 

She eyed the huge building of the mall, recognizing the name of the mall. 'Ah… it's one of their malls,' she thought to herself, her eyes identifying the name beside the title of the mall. She locked eyes with Julian for a moment, a smile forming at the edges of her lips when he grinned at her. 'Ok… I'll trust him.'

"Where to first?" She asked.

"Anywhere," Julian shrugged, "as long as there's fun there, we can go there."

"Hmm…" Gradis murmured glancing at her watch, "we only have a few hours though."

Julian lifted her head up away from her watch, a pout clearly shown on his face, "Stop staring at your watch when you're with me," he commanded.

Gradis felt her face heat up at Julian's touch, she turned away immediately, pushing down whatever emotion that wanted to show on her face. She was hesitant and could already feel the stares. From left and right, they seemed to be fixated on her, watching her every move, small gasps of realization escaped people's lips when they realized who they were looking at. She hated it. The adoring and jealous stares they gave her made her feel self conscious in a way that made her want to walk confidently or shrink back into her shell and hide behind the high stacks of work back at her office. A gem hidden away until it was polished enough for its next appearance.

Suddenly she felt the urge to remove her hand from Julian's, she didn't like the idea of just making a random visit to a place unrelated to her next big action that was in or so hours. She felt the urge to take back her hand, enter the car and drive back home. In fact, she could actually-

"Come on!" Julian yelled, pulling her along.

"Hey- wa- Mathei-" Gradis began only to realize he had let go of her hand and begun sunning ahead with Julian. 

Julian, noticing Gradis' hesitancy was not going to let her go back. He was rejected enough that he deserved these hours with her and there was nothing that was going to stop him from taking them. Even her emotions.