A Kiss At Midnight (Delilah and Caelum) novel Chapter 73

Chapter 73

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The ride from the bowling alley to our next destination wasn’t long, and before I knew it we were pulling up in out not so usual mall, it was a bit smaller than the one we have been to.

We climbed out of the car together and Kaia immediately takes the lead again, practically bouncing toward the entrance as though she had been waiting all day for this part.

She pulls the door open as the music fired from the near by stores and it was very much crowed but with everyone going” about their respect place.

Elias looked around before turning to Kaia, “What exactly are we doing here?”

She stopped just long enough to give him a look “Oh, I don’t know, maybe to admire the tiles,” then tapped her chin thoughtfully, “or perhaps we’re here to interview the mannequins.”

He rolls his eyes but decides to play along. “Makes sense.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” it was her turn to roll her eyes as she adds, “We’re here to shop, genius.”

“Oh, I would’ve never guessed.”

“I can tell,” a laugh escaped me as the two of them continued walking ahead, throwing sarcastic remarks back and forth like it was second nature.

Honestly, I had no idea how they managed to tolerate each other when every other sentence seemed to end in a jab, yet somehow neither of them ever looked genuinely annoyed.

Still smiling to myself, I followed a few steps behind them as Jace slowed his pace until he was walking beside me.

“So,” he began, glancing sideways at me with a grin, “I was thinking..”

A warm hand suddenly wrapped around mine from behind and my steps came to an immediate halt, I blinked before turning around.

Caelum stood there, his fingers still lightly held my hand, as though he’d acted before giving himself time to think about it.

I looked at him curiously, “What’s wrong?” his lips parted, for a moment it looked like he was about to say something, then his gaze shifted past me. I frowned slightly before following his line of sight tk Jace who had stopped walking too.

His eyes dropped to where Caelum was holding my hand, then they slowly lifted to his face, one eyebrow arched, neither of them spoke.

Caelum’s fingers remained around my hand for another brief second as the silence settled between the three of us. Turning toward Jace, I didn’t have to say a word, and although he looked a little reluctant, giving Caelum a curious glance before nodding and walking ahead to catch up with Kaia and Elias.

Once they were out of earshot, I looked back at Caelum. “Okay,” i said, “what was that about?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking almost embarrassed. “Nothing..I was just wondering something.”

“What is it.”

He hesitated for a moment before asking quietly, “Does Kaia know about.. us?”

Tilting my head “Us?”

“I mean,” he gestured vaguely between them, “about us, we’ve been spending time together.”

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Chapter 73

Understanding dawned on my face. “Oh. Yeah, she knows.”

“Not just the tutoring?” I smiled and shook my head.

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“She knows everything, including our deal,” he looked down for a second, a faint blush creeping onto his cheeks,

“I wasn’t sure how much she knew, the way she looked at me earlier.. I thought maybe I’d missed something.”

Letting out a soft laugh. “Trust me, Kaia notices everything.”

He let out a quiet, defeated sigh. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“I tell her most things,” I admitted as we continued walking side by side,” not every little detail, but enough that she knows what’s going on.” glancing at him. “I hope that’s okay with you.”

His gaze met mine and he gives me a small smile. “Yeah, it’s okay,” his gaze remained unwavering and it looked like he was about to say something else, but before he could, Kaia suddenly stopped in front of a store.

“Here we are.” I welled myself not to blush as I looked up at the sign above us.

A thrift store

Elias stared at the entrance before looking back at Kaia. “I thought you said we were going shopping.”

She looked at him with the most bored expression I’d ever seen, “Um… yeah.”

His eyes narrowed. “This is a thrift store.”

Placing a hand over her chest as if she was personally offended. “I will have you know they sell some of the nicest things.”

He looked unconvinced. “Sure.”

Ignoring his tone. “Besides, what’s better? Spending thousands on one designer piece…” gesturing toward the store, “or finding something ridiculously cute for a fraction of the price?”

Elias tilted his head. “Do you really want to know my answer?”

“Probably not,” she replied immediately and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Honestly, watching the two of them argue was becoming one of my favorite parts of the day.

I stepped forward before Elias could say anything else. “I think it’s actually a nice idea,” both of them looked at me and I shrugged, “and besides, the place looks well-managed.”

Kaia pointed at me like I had just proven her entire argument. “Exactly,” she turned toward Elias, “So stop being a crybaby and let’s go.”

“I’m not being a crybaby.”

“You are”

“I’m expressing a valid opinion,” she rolled her eyes and walked inside and he followed after her, still muttering something under his breath.

I shook my head, smiling as I watched them. somehow, they were both exhausting and entertaining at the same time.

The moment we stepped inside. I was hit with the smell of the place, the sweet scent of toffee mixed with the bitter hint of stale coffee drifted through the air.

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Rows and rows of clothing racks created a maze throughout the store, filled with everything from jackets to dresses to shirts of every style imaginable.

My shoes scuffed against the dark green carpet as my eyes scanned the store, searching for Kaia. It didn’t take long, because apparently, she had already started her mission.

I spotted her coming toward us with several pairs of men’s jeans hanging over her arms.

How does she work this fast

Before I could even ask, she reached.us and immediately started handing them out.

“Here.” One pair was shoved into Jace’s hands, another into Elias’s, and then she turned to Caelum, placing two pairs into his arms before he could even react. “Try them on.”

Elias stared down at the jeans, then back at her. raising brow said everything. “You can’t be serious.”

She crossed her arms. “Very serious.”

jace, surprisingly, didn’t put up much of a fight and simply looked down at the jeans before walking toward the dressing rooms, almost like he was somewhere else entirely

Caelum, on the other hand, looked completely caught off guard. his eyes moved from the jeans in his hands to Kaia, then slowly turned toward me.

I had to bite back a laugh.

“Is she always this….” he gestured vaguely toward Kaia, causing me to glance at her, watching as she confidently searched through more clothes like she owned the place.

“Hyper. persistent, determined. Intense.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. “I was going to say overwhelming.”

I laughed softly. “Yeah, that too,” then pointed at him, “but I told you so.”

A quiet laugh escaped him before he looked down at the jeans in his hands, still unsure, reluctant. Almost like he was wondering how his life had somehow led him to being forced into trying on clothes by Kaia.

The expression on his face made me laugh again

He shook his head slightly before making his way toward one of the dressing rooms. Jace had already disappeared into another one, and Kaia was currently pushing a very unwilling Elias toward the same direction.

“Come on.”

“I’m fine with what I’m wearing.”

“No, you’re not. Elias looked like he wanted to argue, but she wasn’t having it

When they finally disappeared, she turned back to me. “Welpp.” I smiled at the dramatic exhaustion in her voice was completely fake

“So what now?

She looked around the store “Now we find a few more things, and just like that, we were back on our mission.

We moved between the racks, searching through different styles and picking out pieces we thought they would actually wear Finding things for Elias wasn’t too difficult, Jace was easier, he had a style that was pretty obvious, and somehow Kata

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Chapter 73

seemed to know exactly what would suit him.

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But when it came to Caelum..I found myself hesitating. i didn’t even know why, It wasn’t like I was trying to impress him, at least, that’s what I told myself. I just wanted to find something he would actually like.

Something that felt like him, that he would choose for himself

my fingers moved through the clothes on the rack as I searched, my mind running through everything I knew about him. it felt like I needed to get this right, like finding the perfect thing for him meant more than just picking out a shirt.

And that thought alone was enough to make me pause.

“Wait,” Kaia’s voice suddenly caught my attention, I turned just in time to see her pull something from a nearby rack.

An oversized faux-fur scarf, one that was bright, ridiculous and also looking like it belonged on a celebrity walking a runway instead of someone standing in the middle of a thrift store.

Her eyes lit up as she wrapped it around her neck with complete confidence. “Oh, look at this,” she adjusted it, “I was born for this.”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. “You are unbelievable.”

Ignoring me, she stepped into an open space between the racks and lifted her chin, striking a pose like she was standing in front of a hundred cameras.

“Welcome, everyone, to my red carpet moment.”

“You really committed to this.”

“I always commit.” I reached toward another rack, searching through the random accessories, before pulling out a pair of sunglasses.

They were ridiculous, the frames were oversized, star-shaped, and covered in tiny glittering details that immediately made me laugh.

Without hesitation, I slipped them onto my face and she stared at me then slowly nodded.

“Perfect.”

“Don’t encourage yourself.”

She gasped. “How dare you,” then turned back to her imaginary audience, “today’s look is inspired by one of the most iconic fashion moments in history,” pointing at herself, “this kinda reminds me of that time Jin from BTS wore those ridiculous glasses and somehow still managed to look amazing.”

“And somehow you’ve decided to recreate that?” I scoffed lightly.

“Exactly,” before I could respond, she suddenly started doing the most ridiculous dance I had ever seen, a dramatic, exaggerated version of what she called the tuna fish dance.

I stared at her for a second, then I completely lost it, my laughter echoed through the store as she continued dancing without shame.

“You’re just one of a kind aren’t you.”

Flipping her hair. “So have been told,” she removed the ridiculous sunglasses from my face and placed them on my head. then walked closer, resting her chin on my shoulder as she looked through the clothes in front of us.

So her eyes scanned the rack, “what exactly are we looking for.”

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I ran my fingers over the different fabrics, feeling the softness beneath my fingertips. “I don’t know.”

She hummed, “you’re literally the person who knows him best,” the words were meant to reassure me, but instead, they added another layer of pressure onto the one I already felt.

The person who knew him best, i wasn’t sure if that was true, but i wanted it to be, I wanted to understand what he liked What made him comfortable, what he would actually choose.

I looked back at the clothes hanging in front of me. “Let’s just get a range of things.”

She lifted her head. “Different styles?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to force him into something that’s not him”

Because honestly, I didn’t want to change Caelum. The old worn out clothes, the simple choices, the way he never seemed to care about standing out,, that was him. i wanted to find something that still felt like him, something he would actually like.

But a small part of me couldn’t help wishing that whatever I picked out would become his favorite, and i had no idea why that thought mattered so much.

My train of thought was broken when Elias emerges first from the dressing rooms, he pushed the curtain aside with all the enthusiasm of someone walking toward his own execution,, tugging at the sleeves of the dark denim jacket he’d been forced

into.

“There,” he deadpanned, “Happy?”

Kaia looked him up and down, arms folded across her chest, “Not bad.”

His brows shot up. “That’s it? Not bad?”

“Don’t get excited,” she said with a shrug. “you stil have your face.”