Chapter 135 Chapter 135
“Are you scared of the ride?” he teased, kissing her forehead. Some of her anger faded.
“I’m not scared,” she replied stubbornly. “What about you, though?”
Arrogantly raising his head, he said, “I don’t even know what fear is.”
However, he would come to regret those words since riding a rollercoaster with many twists and turns, curves and peaks, was by far not as fun as he’d imagined. Valerie realized that he was awfully quiet throughout the whole ride, and when it ended, he was suspiciously pale and stumbled out of the seat. She quickly followed him and took his hand.
“Are you dizzy?” she asked worriedly since he was never this quiet.
“A bit,” he admitted. Since he really didn’t look good, she guided him to a nearby bench and told him to sit down.
“We’ll rest for a moment, and then it’ll go away,” she said, letting him lie his head on her shoulder. She soothingly brushed over his white hair, and he sighed quietly, closing his eyes. “No more rollercoasters for you today.”
They stayed like this for a while, and Valerie used the opportunity to look around for a bit, her gaze roaming over her vicinity. Since it would be Halloween soon, everything was decorated accordingly with spooky pumpkin lanterns, skeletons, and ghosts made of white linen fabric. The latter was amusing to her since ghosts did not look like that at all, but most humans wouldn’t know.
Cheerful music reverberated around them, originating from a merry-go-round for children nearby. She smiled, remembering how she’d loved those when she had been younger. Those had been the highlight of the day for her whenever she had gone to the amusement park with her parents.
“I wonder what Esther and Vaughn are doing,” she mumbled, thinking that it was good they separated since she knew that Vaughn would have made fun of Maxwell. She was a little concerned for him, brushing a few strands of hair away from his brow to peer at his face. Some color had returned to his cheeks, and his features were relaxed. If he had been human, she would have thought him to be asleep, but she knew better.
“Maxwell, are you alright?” she asked, causing him to open his eyes. He lifted his head off her shoulder and straightened his back.
“Yeah, I am,” he replied. “Only humans would invent such an unnecessarily stupid thing,” he complained, referring to the rollercoaster, which he threw a sinister glare at.
“I’m glad you’re better,” she smiled and leaned in to share a kiss with him. She tasted a hint of sweetness on his tongue from the cotton candy he’d had earlier.
“As long as you’re happy, it’s worth putting up with all the humans in this place,” he murmured against her lips, his slender fingers brushing over her jawline.
“That’s very kind of you,” she giggled, and he smirked in response.
“Do you want anything to drink? I could get us something before we move on to the next ride.”
“Why not?” he said. “This bubble tea stuff looks interesting. I’ve seen it somewhere earlier.”
Her eyes lit up, and she nodded. “Yeah, I think I know where it was. Please wait here, and I’ll be back soon.”
She got up from the bench and walked off with a smile on her face, wondering if he’d like bubble tea as much as he’d liked cotton candy. It also tasted very sweet, so she was positive that he would love it, especially since she planned on picking strawberry flavor for him. It had surprised her that he hadn’t taken the rollercoaster ride well, but she would make it up to him by getting bubble tea. After all, she wanted him to have a great day too.
Unfortunately, the line in front of the small bubble tea shop was annoyingly long. She sighed and waited anyway because she wanted to see his reaction to the sweet drink. A few children were in line before her, whining at their parents, and their conversation went on her nerves. Valerie was relieved when she finally got her two drinks and took them, walking back to where she had left Maxwell.
Since it was midday, the park was filled with people, and it took her a while to walk through the crowds to Maxwell. He was probably losing his patience already; she just knew it.
As she neared the bench and spotted him sitting on it, her steps faltered. A bad feeling rose in her gut when she saw him talking to a woman who was sitting next to him, and rather close, too. Valerie remained where she stood and watched tensely as the woman inched closer to him.
Valerie couldn’t see Maxwell’s face since his back was turned to her, but it didn’t seem like he was opposed to this stranger, who, on top of it, was very pretty. She reached her hand out to touch him, and to Valerie’s astonishment, he took it and held it. They remained in this position, the woman’s eyes widening as he said something to her.
Valerie couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Her heart broke in her chest, shattering into tiny pieces. It suddenly became harder to breathe as a lump formed in her throat. Why did he flirt with other women when she wasn’t around for ten minutes? Why did he have to be like that? Was she not enough?
Hot tears flowed down her cheeks. “Jerk,” she sobbed and turned on her heels to run away. She dumped the bubble tea in the next trashcan and hurried on, narrowly dodging people when her vision blurred due to her tears. She wasn’t in the mood for an amusement park date anymore; in fact, she regretted ever coming here.
Did he, as a demon, not have an ounce of dignity? It had been him who proposed to form a new bond, so why did he act like that now? Tormented by her insecurities, more and more tears rolled down her cheeks. She ran faster, passing people who stared after her in astonishment, but nobody stopped her.
Maybe she wasn’t interesting enough. Maybe she wasn’t pretty enough. Maybe she was just a burden. Hadn’t he said so himself?