Angel

Chapter 44

The doorbell rang an hour after James called. Ann opened the door to find James carrying a box of pizza on one hand and two paperbags full of food on the other.

"Wow! You must be really hungry huh.." she joked.

"You couldn't be more right," James answered. "I skipped breakfast 'coz I didn't have time earlier, I was running late for my shoot."

"Well, let's get started on that pizza then, haha!" Ann ushered James inside her unit and went to the kitchen to prepare the food that he brought.

Soon after, they were both heartily eating lunch while talking about whatever came to mind. Ever since they patched things up, the atmosphere around them had become very light and they had gotten even more comfortable with each other.

However, even though they were okay again, Ann still had to remind herself to watch her actions towards him, since she had admitted to herself that she still loved him and could very well fall head over heels again.

It was James who was always affectionate between the two of them. Never a day passed by that he didn't give her a hug, held her hand or kissed her on the cheek. She tried telling him off but he just shrugged it off and told her that it's how he is with people that are really close to him. She didn't have the heart to say anything about the issue after that. Hard as it has become for her, she just let him be.

While they were eating, James couldn't help but steal quick glances at Ann. He just loved to watch her eat. She had always been a hearty eater and she ate with gusto. He had to admit, it was one of her endearing qualities. He was careful not to let her notice him stealing glances at her because he didn't want her becoming conscious and awkward around him. Somehow, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, he could feel that her attraction to him was still there. He hoped though that Ann loved him too and was not just having some shallow physical attraction.

He so wanted to take their relationship to a higher level but he was afraid that he might scare Ann away and he'd end up losing her instead. So for now, he had to settle with what they have. Not for long though, because he knew that Ann would be leaving and he didn't want her to leave without getting her to commit to a relationship with him. He just didn't know how to go about it. So now that was his dilemma, he was stuck. Trying to distract himself from his thoughts,

"So, tell me, did you break a lot of hearts in Singapore?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Ann said.

"Come on, dude, you're very pretty, you've got a cool personality, PLUS, you're a celebrity. You definitely are a great catch! Don't tell me you don't have men getting down on their knees just to be with you..."

"Shut up, James! You're exaggerating things, haha!"

"What, it's true!" James answered laughingly.

"You're just saying that 'coz you're my best friend, haha!"

"No seriously, you ARE beautiful... and you are being evasive..." James teased her for not answering him.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that question instead of you? How many girls have you left crying?" Ann asked him back.

"Come on, you know me better than that. I'm no player." James said, feigning a hurt look on his face.

"Really? Really?" Ann teased.

"Really! Geesh!" James teased and threw a piece of chocolate mallow at her, which hit her right smack at the nose.

"What did you do that for, dude? Tsk..." Ann said. "You shouldn't have started it because then it gives me reason to do this..!" she said and threw the remaining contents of her plastic cup at his face.

"What the..!" James sputtered, with disbelief written all over his face.

"Food fight! Haha!" Ann said and slapped a large slice of pizza on his face.

Taking advantage of James' shock, she hurriedly got off her chair and got as far away from him, expecting to be thrown food at her any moment. She didn't expect James to calmly get up, go to the sink, wash his face and look seriously offended.

"James, are you mad?" Ann asked hesitantly.

"What do you think?" James answered stiffly.

"Oh dude, I'm so sorry...I guess I went over the top with that... Here, let me help you clean up," Ann said as she moved closer to James.

"You shouldn't have done that, Ann... because then it gives me reason to do this!" James said and caught Ann by the waist and held her tight. He hurriedly scooped some ice cream, placed it on the table, got some with his free hand and splayed it all over her face, all the way down to her neck.

"Stop it, James! Stop it!" Ann laughingly begged, unable to get away from James' hold of her.

"Not until you say Uncle..." James laughingly answered while continuing to spread ice cream on her, this time on her arms.

"No, not on your life, James! Hahaha!" she said and continued to struggle against James' hold.

The floor had gotten slippery because of all the spilt food and James stepped on some melted ice cream. One minute they were both laughing hard and then the next minute they were slipping on the floor. In a protective gesture, James wrapped his other arm around Ann's head to prevent it from hitting on something. His other arm was still tightly wrapped around her waist. He cushioned her body with his as they fell to the floor.

Knocked out of breath for a few seconds, James just lay there, unmoving, but looking straight into Ann's eyes.

Ann was still laughing when her face bumped into his chest as they fell on the floor. She raised her head to look at James, only to catch him looking intently at her. Drawn to his gaze, she stared into his eyes and got lost in them.

At that moment, James decided that Ann was and has always been the one for him. Images of them being together and looking very happy flashed before his mind and suddenly he was so excited to spend the rest of his life with her.