135 Angel's Smile

"This seems easy," she muttered. "We'd finish quickly after this."

He softly chuckled at her confidence and looked around the arcade, trying to see which ones they could also use for their little competition. There were many options like other shooting games, car or motor racing, basketball, and claw machines. 

"Let's race to three. What do you think?" he suggested.

Angela agreed to his proposal and chose a partition on the shooting gallery. The staff explained to her how to load the pellets, aim, and shoot. Gael watched as she listened attentively, folding his arm across his chest and leaning against the wall of her partition. She looked and acted as if it was very easy earlier, but looking at her now, it seemed as though she hadn't done this before.

She wanted to go first, so she positioned her arms on the table, and then awkwardly held the rifle.

"Are you sure you want to go first? Have you tried this before?" Gael wondered.

"Nope. It's my first time." She smiled and appeared to be excited.

Angela tried to move here and there, but she couldn't seem to find the most comfortable position. He chuckled, scratching his temple and sighing as he decided to help her out.

"Here. Let me help you." Gael gently placed his hands on her shoulders and slowly twisted her into an angle where she could appropriately hold the rifle. Then he moved her hands and arms to the proper positioning and even helped her on how to aim.

Feeling his warm hands on her as he positioned her properly was distracting, especially when he had to teach her how to aim. How could she concentrate when he was so close to her like this? He was definitely doing this on purpose!

Clearing her throat, she told him, "I can do it. Thanks."

"Okay." He backed away and gave her some space, allowing her to apply what he taught her.

Once she felt him off her, she shook the jitters away and composed herself. Following exactly what he taught her, she aimed for a moving rubber duck and pulled the trigger.

The rubber duck fell off to the side. Her aim was perfect.

Angela rejoiced quietly in her head, but she didn't stop there. Wanting to build her momentum, she continued to concentrate and aim for the next duck. 

Gael was impressed at her first try, considering that she hadn't done this before. He thought it was beginner's luck. However, the next shot was also a hit. And then the next. And the next. His brows slightly furrowed at the perfect aim. 

"Are you sure you haven't done this before?" he questioned her in a curious tone, digging his hands in his pockets deeper as he got suspicious.

She looked up at him and saw the surprised look on his face. All she could do was nod. "I told you it's my first time."

'First time my ass. If that were a real gun, she had already slaughtered five. Who were you with when you came to a place like this?' he childishly thought.

When it was his turn to shoot, it wasn't a surprise that he hit all five perfectly. The staff handed him a bear stuffed toy bigger than Angela's, but Gael declined the bear and pointed at something else instead—a pink pig plush toy. It was smaller than the bear, but he insisted on it.

Then he gave it to Angela who received it hesitantly. "Why did you choose this?" 

"Because it looks like you," he answered with a straight face.

Her mouth fell open, and she glanced at the soft pig in her hands. "You think I'm a pig?! Do I look like a pig?!" She glared at him, annoyed at his words.

Staring at her, Gael responded with an expressionless face as he pointed at the pig's smiling lips. "You always smile. It's cute." Then he walked past her and headed to a basketball arcade machine.

Angela blinked several times at his nonchalant response and checked the adorable pig's face. It had a crooked smile, and it looked really cute. Her heart fluttered. Gael was smooth whether he did it on purpose or not. How could she win?

"Move along, Angel. Let's see if you can win this time," he called behind her as he stood by the basketball machine with a smirk on his face.

Angela instantly changed her expression into a neutral one as she went over and played the rest of the games they had to play.

In the end, Gael won three games first, which made him the winner for their little competition. For the first time in a while, Angela had so much fun that she forgot about her worries. 

At half past five in the afternoon, they got their gelatos from a shop nearby, which Gael paid for as per their deal. The dessert was late, but it tasted sweeter after their playdate.

While eating her gelato outside the shop, she checked the messages on her phone and saw a text message from her father's assistant. The message contained the information about her date for tomorrow. She almost forgot that it was going to be the weekend already.

"Everything okay?" Gael asked, noticing the change in her mood.

Angela told him about the message she received in a disinterested tone.

"Do you have to go?" he probed.

"Unfortunately."

Just as she said that, her phone rang, and she immediately answered when she saw that it was the front desk of her apartment building. She spoke on the phone for a minute and then faced Gael after ending the call.

"I have to go home. The supervisor has an update for me regarding the repairs. The front desk also said someone's waiting for me at the lobby," she said.

Nodding in response, he gestured towards the movie theater's parking lot, and then they headed back to her building.

…

Entering through the front entrance, the employees greeted both Gael and Angela by their surnames. She knitted her brows in confusion, wondering why the staff knew Gael too. However, she snapped out of her bafflement when someone from the side called her name.

Turning her head, she saw Vincent Stone walking towards her. He was dressed fashionably in a blue checkered suit with a light brown trench coat over it.

"Vincent… What are you doing here?" she asked when he arrived in front of her.

"My phone died, and I was going to invite you to dinner. I figured I drop by instead," Vincent replied, glancing at the arrogant-looking man next to her and seeing all the stuffed toys in their hands.

Gael's cold and sharp stare at Vincent caused Angela to feel nervous all of a sudden. She swallowed the lump in her throat as the atmosphere began to feel tense. 

First thing's first, she decided to introduce the two. "Oh… Um… Gael, this is Vincent Stone." Then she cleared her throat. "This is Gael De Luca."

Keeping it simple, she didn't add titles. Now that that's done, she waited for one of them to react. 

But the only response she got was silence as the two tall men continued to size each other up.