APRICATE ; p.sunghoon

✤ | 14 - food stealing gone wrong

AERA'S POV

the tour at the aquarium had taken about two hours and by the time we were heading towards the cinema hall, evening had rolled in already.

the cinema hall in which we were supposed to watch the movie was located inside a twelve storey shopping mall. the mall was huge in size, having the shops of many high-end luxury brands. the interior and exterior of the building were designed in a minimalistic yet luxurious manner, giving it a futuristic outlook.

the movie theaters were located around the top three floors. the halls itself were pretty large too, the seats offering a good amount of comfort.

in conclusion, the mall was basically made for chaebols and to suit their extremely exquisite yet picky taste.

me and sunghoon walked side by side as we made our way to the elevator, sunghoon pressing the twelfth floor button as its door started to close.

after a few seconds, the elevator door opened at the fifth floor, making a 'ding' sound. two middle aged men walked inside, one of them trying to take a discreet look at my bare legs as i started to feel uncomfortable.

suddenly, sunghoon took my hand gently in his as he pulled me to him, the action making me feel protected. i plastered a soft smile on my face as i looked up at him, trying to silently acknowledge his effort of comforting me.

"don't worry. i'm here." sunghoon said to me, his voice steady.

soon enough, the elevator reached the twelfth floor, the doors opening, as sunghoon shot a firm glare at the earlier creepy man, before guiding me out with his palm placed gently over my back in a reassuring manner.

i could feel my cheeks starting to warm up as i looked around the place vaguely to get rid off the stupid giddy feeling. as soon as i spotted a restroom near where we were standing, i muttered quietly, my voice low, "i... i need to use the washroom."

oh no. now he's gonna think of you as a fool. stupid, stupid aera.

i quickly made my way inside and gripped the marble over which the basin was placed, taking a look at my reddening cheeks in the mirror. my heartbeat increased as i realized that they weren't going to return back to normal quite soon. taking out my makeup pouch from my bag, i decided to reapply my lipstick and touch up my mascara.

after making sure that the blush on my cheeks weren't as noticeable as before, i exited the restroom only to find sunghoon leaning against the nearest wall, scrolling through his phone.

oh lord.

as soon as he saw me, he stood straight as he said, "ready to head towards the cinema hall? the movie's set to start in a few minutes."

i nodded before we began to walk to towards the theater, when suddenly, i noticed that there was a recently opened fast food shop on the adjacent hallway.

food! and that too, free since he'd be paying for it!

and without a second thought, i abruptly pulled sunghoon by the sleeve and ran towards the shop.

"what happened?!" sunghoon said, his voice a mixture of panic and confusion.

"oh... sorry. but can we get some food before going inside the hall?" i said, giving him my widest smile, hoping that he doesn't get mad at my sudden action.

"aera... you could have just told me then." sunghoon sighed, before a smile appeared on his face, as he said, "silly girl."

i smiled awkwardly, "well... yeah."

"what do you want?" he asked.

"a packet of bbq chicken pops, a stick of karaage chicken and a mint lemonade would be nice." i replied after checking the menu that was hung over above the cash counter.

"make it two." sunghoon said to the cashier, who billed the items.

i took the bag of food from the cashier after he paid the money.

"thank you." i said, looking up at sunghoon with a wide smile as he returned it with one of his soft ones.

if he buys me food like this till the day i die, i'll be more than happy to marry him.

we entered the hall, my eyes falling over the empty seats inside.

there isn't a day a cinema hall in this mall has one empty seat. how come all hundreds of seats are empty?

i turned to him, "sunghoon, don't tell me you booked the whole theater."

"i think i did." he smiled at me as my eyes widened.

"it's my second time asking you this question, sunghoon. are you trying to impress me?" i wiggled my eyebrows, teasing him while trying to hide my own flushed cheeks.

"oh shut up." he grumbled, his voice one of fake annoyance.

we sat on the two seats at the centre of the theater as the movie started to play.

i took my portion of the food, settling the packets on my lap as i began to eat, taking occasional sips of the lemonade, while watching the film that was playing on the big screen in front of me.

and after twenty minutes when i reached my hand into the packet to pick up and slide another chicken pop into my mouth, i realized that i had none left.

a slight pout formed on my lips, as i looked over to sunghoon's lap filled with food packets, more than half of the food still left.

i looked at him being fully engrossed into the movie before my food addiction surpassed my sense of morality. he won't notice if i eat one chicken pop from his packet, right?

i slowly extended my hand towards his packet, aiming for a specific piece. as i was about to pick it up, suddenly, he grabbed the same one, our hands slightly touching each other's.

my eyes widened as my gaze met his teasing one. "stealing other people's foods now, aren't we?"

no way. this is so embarrassing.

"no... well... um- sorry." i stuttered, feeling embarrassed.

sunghoon laughed, this time a wholehearted one, as he looked at me. "there's no need to be sorry, aera. if you wanted to eat my food, you could've just said so." he picked up two of his chicken pops and placed it on my packet. "eat up."

my cheeks started to burn as i looked at the newly added pops, a genuine smile forming on my face.

× author's note: hihi guys :) the chapter fourteen is here!! there are going to be MANY short and sweet moments between them before and after they would become a couple, since this story is a slow-burn. votes and comments are ALWAYS appreciated yayay.

with lots of love, reen <3