Everything that happened since the bathroom pipe burst felt like a blur once Angela had calmed down. Did that just happen? Did that really happen? The incident seemed like a nightmare and she waited to wake up from it. But with Gael's arms around her, she knew that it was real.

He stroked her back as she leaned against his chest, allowing herself to succumb to his touch because it felt so good, and she needed it.

However, she could only clutch his wet shirt, despite wanting to circle her arms around his torso. And they stayed in the same position for a minute.

When Angela finally snapped out of it, she slowly pulled away from him. She met his worried gaze, and she couldn't say anything to him because of her embarrassing situation. His stare briefly lowered, then he immediately looked away and released her.

"You should get changed," Gael muttered before clearing his throat and walking out of her bedroom.

Subconsciously, she looked down to her chest, and that's when she realized her soaking see-through wet shirt that's tightly clinging to her skin. Her arms automatically flew up to cover herself, but it was too late. She knew that he already saw it.

Angela went to her flooded bathroom and saw the mess. The walls and counters were wet, and some of her stuff was floating. She drained the tub and hoped that the floor of the bathroom would also drain faster. Next, she grabbed two big fresh towels from the top cabinet. She covered herself with one, and then she took a men's white shirt from her closet before going out to find Gael. She found him standing in the middle of her workroom, looking at the rows of books on the shelves.

"Here." She handed the towel and the shirt to him.

"Thanks." He received the towel, but he stared at the shirt in her hand. He didn't say anything, but he drifted his gaze back to her face as though he was waiting for some explanation.

As if reading his mind, she tentatively smiled and reassured him, "It's Oliver's. He has some stuff left here."

Gael nodded as he received the shirt. "You'll get sick if you don't change. I'll handle calling the maintenance."

Angela took his offer as an act of kindness, so she didn't question him and went back to change into a new set of clothes inside her bedroom.

Once she left, Gael whipped out his phone from his pants' pocket, thankful that it was waterproof, and nothing happened to it. He talked to someone on the phone for a few minutes before ending the call. Then he let out a sigh, recalling what happened when he arrived.

Lifting his gaze, he saw the rows of books again. The familiar cover of the book caught his eye—Angela's first book. Unlike the other books on the shelves that were arranged with the spines facing outward—just like most of the books in a library—the books that Angela wrote had the front covers on display as though they were in a museum. They were all hardcovers, but there were also paperbacks of her books on the shelves with the other books she collected.

Without much thought, he removed his wet shirt and tossed it on a stool by the shelf. He took his time wiping his torso and arms dry using the fluffy white towel, his muscles flexing whenever he moved. Then he wore the t-shirt on him—it wasn't tight, but the fabric clung to his upper arms.

Gael turned around when he heard a knock on the door and saw Angela. She had already changed into something more decent than the first one he saw her with—although he could no longer remove the image of her in it in his head.

"Hey…" she greeted, inserting her hands on the back pockets of her jeggings. "Umm… Thank you."

He smiled in response as if it wasn't a big deal—and for him, it really wasn't. "I already called someone. But they can only come here tomorrow morning. I shut off your water's main source, so I'm afraid you're gonna have to stay somewhere else tonight."

Angela nodded. She knew that he was right, and she already thought about it before she came out of her room. Her first option was to go to Nina's apartment, but she remembered that her crazy cousin was staying with her. Next, her brother Oliver, but his message earlier flashed in her head. And there was no way she would go home to their mansion as she was still ignoring her father after yesterday's incident with Jason Burke.

After telling Gael about her options, she turned around and headed back to her bedroom to pack some things. "I can't stay with Nina… I'll just try to contact my brother again, or maybe I'll stay in a hotel for tonight."

He followed her to her bedroom, but he stayed by the door near her vanity dresser and leaned against the wall, watching her move about the room and putting stuff inside an overnight bag.

Angela zipped the bag close and stared at her phone screen, reading her brother's message. She tried to call him a minute ago, but instead of answering her phone call, he sent her a text message.

[ Oliver: Viv's at my place. DND. ] The message had an angry emoji at the end.

She took a deep breath and let it all out to calm herself. Today was just not her day.

Meanwhile, Gael examined her room, looking at the minimalist design she had going on and the things she placed on top of her drawers, shelves, and the dresser next to him. She loved perfumes. It was apparent—there were several crystals and glasses in front of her vanity mirror—some brands he knew, some he didn't. But what caught his eyes was something he thought wasn't hers.

A Jaeger-LeCoultre metallic gold watch box was in the middle of her dresser—a watch brand that was the same as the one he always wore—and currently wearing. It's a Swiss luxury watch that was one of his favorite brands.

Reaching for the small card on top of it, he opened it and read the hand-written words inside.

~

"I hope you find the one who is daring enough to be with you. You said you would put your life on the line for her... I'm sure she would do the same for you. Happy birthday."

-Angela K.S.

~

Reading the message caused his heart to race, and it pounded against his chest when he saw the date written at the top of the note: August 30.

His birthday.

"I… Uh… I'm going to stay at the hotel tonight," Angela muttered behind him.

Gael turned around to face her with the small card still in his hand when he met her stare.

Her mouth fell open as if her secret had just been discovered when her eyes landed on the card in his hand. "That's… um…" She swallowed. There was no way she could deny what he found on her vanity dresser. It was pretty evident that it was for him. She had wanted to return it to the store when she stopped expecting him to return, but she couldn't.

And just when she thought he would confront her about the watch, a more surprising statement came out of his mouth.

"Stay with me," said Gael.