Chased by a Gentleman

Chapter 16

❝She couldn't believe that the teenage version of herself ignored this boy.❞

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Miles was clueless about how he was able to persuade Eloise to attend yet another meeting with him. This time, they decided to watch a movie together as she once mentioned that she was interested in a movie that was showing in the cinemas. Miles made the decision to take advantage of that to plan their next meeting.

Eloise checked her phone to check the time for the seventh time while waiting for Miles. Nearly 30 minutes have passed since their call time, and Miles has yet to show himself. Even though Eloise was growing impatient, she was still waiting for him to arrive.

She heard heavy footsteps approach her and it was no other than the latecomer.

"Sorry for making you wait. I was held back during my internship," He explained as he tried to catch his breath. Eloise instantly forgave him when she heard his reasoning. 

"It's fine. We still have time to go buy the tickets." 

The two walked to the cinema to purchase their tickets. As they neared the front of the line, Miles felt his heart practically skip a beat when he tapped his back pocket. He removed his phone from his pocket and patted his whole body.

"Anything wrong?" 

"I left my wallet at the dorms! I was rushing to get here but I forgot to bring it." He pinched his nose bridge in frustration as he realized that their date is almost failing.

"No worries. I'll pay for everything," Eloise calmly reassured as she understood his situation.

"Okay, but I'll pay you back immediately," He strictly stated.

"Sure, let's do that. But you don't have to pay me back for the popcorn."

Before this day arrived, he planned how everything will turn out. He pictured starting discussions with her in order to get to know her better and to provide her with as much comfort during their meeting as he could. But all of that was no longer possible because of his foolish act. He made her wait, and he even made her pay. Miles felt uneasy and humiliated despite the fact that they had both agreed that he would only pay when he had money on hand. While they wait for their turn, all Miles can do was stare at whatever with a blank mind.

Eloise's gaze shifted to the man beside her and instantly noticed that he was still bothered. She couldn't help but smile at his behavior. All of this mess wasn't really a big deal to her. His tardiness was all because of his internship and nothing more. But of course, Miles would not forgive himself.

Eloise lightly nudged his arm with her own. "Relax."

But due to her action, his state did not improve at all. Seeing that her optimistic behavior wasn't enough—she had to resort to a different strategy to save this date.

After purchasing the movie tickets, Eloise immediately started with her operation to make Miles back to normal and get his mind off the incident earlier. As if the universe was rooting for her, she spotted a standee of an anime character that she liked in front of a comic book shop that was a few walks away from the cinema.

"Look at that!" Eloise exclaimed as she pointed to the standee that she had already seen minutes ago.

"Why? You like that character?" Eloise left his question hanging and linked their arms together. She rushed to the standee, almost pulling Miles as he wasn't prepared by her hasty movement.

Miles glimpsed at their arms that are entangled. He could feel his mouth twitch upwards at the sudden physical contact that she initiated. Eloise grabbed her phone and opened the camera app.

"Let's snap a photo." Eloise unclasped their linked arms and stood beside the Oikawa standee which resulted in the standee standing between them. 

Eloise browsed at the pictures that she took of the two of them with Oikawa and couldn't help but feel satisfied with the results.

"I'll send these to you later."

____

Eloise was lying on her bed with her legs covered in the comforter and her back propped up against the pillows. For the purpose of putting her to sleep, she decided to browse all of her social media profiles. She saw a post from a couple that she wasn't familiar with and instantly recalled the date she had with Miles. 

She exited the app that was currently opened and looked through the pictures that she had taken with Miles. All of the pictures almost looked the same, excluding the very last one. The last picture contained Eloise smiling with the Oikawa standee while Miles was just looking at her face with the most attractive smile. Her index finger and thumb zoomed into his face and realized that he was hot as hell. She couldn't believe that the teenage version of herself ignored this boy. But all of this romantic excitement that she was feeling was cut short when she remembered that Brahms existed.

a/n

Hello! I started a writing account on Instagram not so long ago and I would like to shamelessly ask you guys to go check it out if you have an Instagram account. I plan on posting some stuff about this book on there soon so please do follow if you're curious!