Chapter Fifty: Ice Skating

Chapter Fifty: Ice Skating
I went shopping because I wanted to unwind and not think about the conversation we had in Karlo’s study. But even though I was already choosing bags at Chanel, which is one of my favorites, I couldn’t get over the fact that Karlo’s family is dead, and yet he told me that they are abroad. Is this why I have never seen them in person? Was that the reason why I couldn’t see them when we were at our wedding?
“Madame, do you like that bag or not?” A saleslady approached me while I was staring at the white Chanel mini bag.
“Huh?” I only muttered, not taking my eyes off the bag.
“Umm, you’ve been staring at the bag for ten minutes already, madame. If you think you missed something, I can show you other designs of ours,” the saleslady offered.
“Aahhhh,” I mumbled when realization hit me and regarded her. “No, no, I want this. I was just, umm, admiring this masterpiece; that’s why I’ve been only staring at it, hehe.”
I liked the fabric of the mini bag. There was even a huge logo of Chanel in the center, below the handle, but it didn’t look like a nuisance. It only made it beautiful and branded in appearance. When I think about it, I can even use this at work.
“I’ll take it,” I decided.
The eyes of the saleslady sparkled as if she just won a lotto, but she composed herself and opened the glass where the bag was. I saw the price. That’s when I realized why she was excited. Her commission can buy a whole subdivision. It’s nothing to our wealth, but my parents have always said to me that whatever is little to me, it’s big to others.
I am mean. A spoiled brat. But I have never looked down on people for being unfortunate in life.
While the store was taking care of my purchase, I glanced at Karlo, who was now talking on his phone outside. He looked deadly serious, but was still in his stance. Just a few words came out of his mouth, but when he met my eyes, he smiled a little and even waved at me.
So kind to me, yet so mysterious to the world.
“Thank you,” I said to the store and left with the paper bag.
“Thank you so much, madame!” I heard the saleslady say.
I started walking towards Karlo, who instantly ended his call and stashed his phone in his pocket. My eyes remained on his pocket, disregarding his approach to me.
“Who was that?” I asked curiously.
“No one,” his usual response came out of his mouth. “What did you buy?”
“A mini bag,” I simply responded.
He took the paper bag out of my hand and held my hand so we could walk. I was about to berate him for holding my hand, but when I noticed that his head consistently looked around, I concluded that he must be preparing for some kind of ambush or trap that would possibly be set up while we were at the mall.
So he doesn’t really want to hold my hand. He is just being conscious of our surroundings for possible danger lurking.
I was kinda disappointed deep in my heart, but it was best not to dwell on it. I let him hold my hand while we watched the stores we passed by.
“Where are we going?” Karlo suddenly said in the middle of our silence.
“Huh?” I snapped out of reality and looked up at him.
He shot an eyebrow. “I am asking which store you want to buy something from. We have been walking for a few minutes now, but you are not leading the way.”
I wanted to snap my forehead and realized it, too. Yes, of course, we are here in the mall so I could shop, and yet I would have considered the park if I had just enjoyed holding his hand rather than buying things!
“Ummm,” I muttered and thought of something when I saw the ice rink not far from the food court. “I want to skate…”
“Sorry?” He had to lower his head so he could hear me because I just whispered.
“Skating!” I exclaimed loudly now and bestowed a huge smile. “I want to skate!”
His eyes surveyed and finally found the ice rink that I was pointing at. He again looked at me as if he was checking if I was serious. When I began pulling him, he then hesitantly followed my lead.
“I thought we are going to buy bags and makeup, Minerva?” he asked. “We never did any extracurricular activities in the mall whenever I escorted you in the mall.”
“I have a lot of collections in my wardrobe. You know, let’s just do some fun for a while,” I said and shrugged.
My giggle must have been contagious because he slowly smiled and chuckled too. The next thing I knew, we were running towards the booth of the ice rink so we could purchase an hour of ice skating.
We put our things and the shopping bags in our locker before we started wearing ice skating shoes. Thankfully, I didn’t decide to wear a dress and heels. My romper was the best choice to do this! I can’t wait! The last time I went ice skating was when I was in high school with my friends.
“Let’s go?” I invited Karlo and stood up when I was done putting on my shoes.
“Wait, almost done,” he said.
He was still starting to tie his shoelaces on the first shoe. I don’t know what he was doing, but on initiative, I attended to him and slapped his hand away from doing it. I tied his shoelaces, while he just watched.
“This is the first time I am going to try this,” he suddenly said when I was going to tie his second shoe.
I looked at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?” I muttered while widening my eyes.
He chuckled and nodded. “Might not be believable, but I am not into fun activities. I was trained my whole life to be an assassin by my parents,” he said.
The tingling feeling of curiosity went back again. I stared at him, trying to decipher something in his eyes, but all I could see was pure admiration and excitement. I don’t know if he has always been amused when he looks at me. Remembering how serious and stern he was when he is on his phone or talking to other people, different from his treatment of me, now I have my answer.
He is trained as an assassin by his parents. If his parents had died, who trained him after that before he got to where he is right now?
“Then I will teach you how to skate…” I whispered and stood up, now offering my hand for him to hold.
Karlo looked at my hand, next is my face. He gradually accepted it. We held hands as we went to the rink.
“Slow down,” I warned as I guided him to the ice. “Hold on to the railings so you won’t fall…”
“Okay.”
I watched his face, expecting that he would have anxiety or fear across it. But all I could see was his focus and discern to what he was doing. He held onto the railing just like I said.
“Now you slide your left foot and then your right, like this…” I demonstrated how I do it, and he just followed. “To balance while doing it, just bend a little bit.”
Like a good boy, he followed every instruction I gave. I kept smiling while teaching him because, for the first time, there is something he doesn’t know, and I am able to guide him!
“You like skating, but I never knew,” Karlo pointed out in amusement.
“Oh, there are still things you don’t know about me, Karlo,” I responded and chuckled. “Look…”
I left him on the railing and skated backward. Now I saw the fear in his eyes when I wasn’t holding anything and just placed my hands behind me. I even shrugged just to show him that I could do it. When I was far away from him and saw that there was a vast space, I started doing skate tricks, like turning around fast and jumping in the air, landing perfectly on the ice.
I danced in the rink with all my heart, reminiscing about the ice skating classes I took when I was in high school. God, I miss my friends doing this, but I have no idea where they are now since they are living abroad and I have no contact with them anymore.
It was just a minute that I showed him some tricks because some people are watching me now. The last thing I would want is attention, so I approached him again with my hands spread like I was showing off.
“See?” I said and caught my breath.
He was now leaning against the railing while smiling down at me. He raised his right hand so he could place the strands of my hair on my left ear. I bit my lower lip to stop melting and inhaled sharply.
“Yes, my wife is amazing,” he said. “So can you teach me those tricks as well?”