‘Lonely Chainsaw Man' was the latest movie showing then. It was a terrible horror film.
However, no good films had been aired recently, so Cherie decided to watch this horror film.
Boyle felt a little surprised since he did not expect a little girl like her would want to watch these sorts of things.
He was fine with it. However, the only concern he had was her screaming her lungs out later in the theater.
Verian would often bring Cherie out to watch movies with her when she was little. They would share popcorn and a coke, so naturally, Cherie bought some popcorn and coke for the movie.
However, after taking a glance at the popcorn, she recalled what Natalie told her during the day.
Boyle's family was extremely poor and he had once worked a maximum of four jobs a day.
Since popcorn and coke were junk food, she decided not to have any.
She had never expected that she would save up on popcorn and coke for a stranger she barely knew.
Boyle handed her a movie ticket before the movie was about to start. He said, "You can go in first. I'll join in a bit."
Cherie thought he was just going to use the washroom, so she nodded and went ahead first.
....
Boyle entered and sat down next to her not long after she got herself seated.
The man handed her a huge bucket of popcorn and coke.
Cherie smiled underneath the dim lights as she buried her little hand in the bucket of popcorn.
Crunch, crunch.
Boyle could hear the sounds of the woman next to him munching on popcorn.
Although he always valued his silence, the sounds of crunching popcorn did not annoy him. In fact, he raised his brows when he heard it.
It did not take long for the horror film to reach its climax.
Since the theater was completely dark, the ominous sound effects playing through the speakers made the impending jumpscare on-screen even scarier.
Cherie's heart was racing.
Although she feared these sorts of horror films, she still loved watching them.
Cherie instinctively inched closer to Boyle as she felt so afraid, she dared not even eat her popcorn anymore.
On the other hand, Boyle felt bored while watching the film. He grew impatient as he took a glance at his watch in the dark to see what the time was. It was already 11pm.
Usually, he would be working at this hour—analyzing the stock market's progression throughout the day.
Suddenly a jumpscare appeared on screen, terrifying everyone that was watching.
Cherie reached out to grab Boyle's arm, burying her little face against it.
Boyle was stunned as he lowered his head to look at her terrified little face. He actually cracked a smile on his serious face and said, "Why'd you choose to watch a horror film when you’re so afraid of them?"
Cherie puffed up her cheeks, raising her head as she replied in a confident tone, "I wasn't afraid. I was just startled by how sudden the jumpscare was earlier!"
The instant she finished saying that, another jumpscare appeared on screen, causing Cherie to scream her lungs out while hugging Boyle's neck.
Boyle grinned harder as he said, "Were you startled again there?"
Cherie asked him, "... Are there any more jumpscares?"
She was so terrified, she even asked him that question in such a childish tone.
She did not even dare to look at the screen.
Boyle patted her back to gesture to her that she could look now.
The instant Cherie looked up, Boyle glanced downward at the same time. This caused her to graze against his Adam's apple with her soft lips.
Somehow, strong feelings of love and affection were brewing in the dark theater.
It was fortunate for her that the theatre’s lights were dim, otherwise, Boyle would have no doubt been able to see her blush.
As Boyle stared at the screen, his gaze seemed to lose its menacing glare as his pupils contracted and his throat twitched.
He held back some very strong feelings of lust inside of him.
A horror film that started at ten ended at around twelve midnight.
Cherie received a text from Mandy when they got out of the cinema.
All her roommates were asking where she went.
'Oh, no. The warden must be doing his inspection now.'
When they arrived at the cinema’s exit, Cherie frantically exclaimed, "I need to head back to my dorm!"
Boyle took a look at the time and say that it was 12.05am. He said, "The dorms are locked at this hour."
"... I'll sleep in a hotel then!"
Boyle said, "Did you bring along your ID then?"
"...No."
‘Goddamit,’ Cherie thought to herself.'I can't sleep in a hotel without my ID.'
Boyle got on his bike and said, "Hop on."
Boyle's bike did not have a passenger seat since it was a mountain bike. There was only one seat for the rider.
Since the cinema was very close to their school, they walked to the cinema earlier while Boyle pushed his bike here.
Boyle frowned when he noticed she did not move an inch. Since he did not want to waste any time, he grabbed her hand while maneuvering his bike as he hoisted her up and sat her down on his bike frame.
Cherie was speechless.
A cold, deep, and manly voice could be heard from above her head, "Sit tight and don't move around."
Cherie still could not respond.
She had only seen her father acting so unreasonably toward Monty and never another man before.
The ride on Boyle’s bike was very smooth.
She felt safe when she was being shielded in his embrace.
The truth was, they were not that close with each other and had only known each other for two days. Now however, she had actually followed him around in the middle of the night.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To my house."
Cherie was speechless as the corners of her mouth twitched.
"Why? What if you suddenly have ulterior motives in the future!"
Cherie hugged her body tightly while she said that despite the fact that though Boyle did not seem like a man that had any ulterior motives in mind.
Boyle immediately retorted, "You're too wild and not my type."
Cherie was speechless.
How was she wild and what did that even mean? He must have known that she was quite the ‘appetizing’ person!
She stared furiously at him while standing by the door as she thought to herself, 'Hmph, you’re just blind!'
After Boyle watched the woman turn around and entered the room before shutting the door, he laid on the couch while resting his head on his hands.
The man smiled after closing his eyes.
It felt quite odd to be protected by a weak woman. His heart felt as if a bucket of boiling hot water was being poured over it. It did not feel warm, nor was it comfortable. He was a little against the feeling but was still a little touched regardless.
Boyle had never expected that underneath her stubborn facade was a pure and innocent young girl.
…
Cherie woke up extremely early the next morning.
It was five in the morning when she looked at the time.
She felt tired but thought about this being Boyle's home and that she should leave as soon as possible in order to stop Boyle's roommate from misunderstanding the situation between them.
The instant she got up and opened the door, she could see Boyle sitting in the living room. He was staring at a tablet and there were plenty of green and red indicators flashing on the screen. He seemed to be looking at the stock market.
'Good lord, someone’s a bigger workaholic than my father? He's actually studying the stock market's progression this early in the morning?'
Cherie scratched the back of her head while still feeling quite drowsy. She asked in her daze, "Why are you up so early?"
Boyle got up and poured a glass of water as he said, "I'm used to it. It's much better to study these things early in the morning."
He then handed her the glass of water. Cherie accepted it before giving him a thumbs-up as she said, "Sir, you have my respect. You can actually analyze this stuff so early in the morning. My mind would only feel foggy this early in the morning as all I’d be able to think about is sleep!"
Boyle sent Cherie back to her dorm after that.
…
After that day for a few days in a row, Boyle never contacted her again.
Cherie somehow felt a little sad as she clutched her phone and checked her Facebook messages every once in a while.
Whitney teased her at lunch, "Look at how dumb you are! Man, you went to watch a horror film in the middle of the night with Boyle? Oh, Cherie, why hadn’t I realize how inept you were at dating back then?"
"Who would use their brains when they're dating? People usually date according to how they feel. Who knew he would agree on a whim?"
As Whitney stared at how depressed she looked, she told her, "You didn't want to date him back then and now, you're completely glued to your phone. Look at how lost you are. Say, do you actually like him now?"
Cherie had always been blunt ever since she was a child, so she pouted her lips and said, "What's the matter? Am I not allowed to like him? Does he even have a girlfriend at the moment?"
"Of course you can like him! You have all my support! Emotionally and physically!"
Cherie's eyes lit up when she heard her statement and asked, "How do you even support me physically?"
Whitney hinted at her, "I'm an expert in scamming people! Why not we do that instead!"
Cherie was completely speechless as she exclaimed, “Just what kind of a dumb idea do you have in mind? I think that before you can even successfully pursue Boyle, he would have already abandoned you!"
"Oh, what do you even know! I happen to know many secrets in pursuing men! I know for a fact that Boyle is the lustful type! The more he rejects you, the more he secretly likes you!"
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