The sudden whisper by his ear made him freeze. She made use of his momentary pause and loosened her limbs around him. Ryan swiftly turned around and help her stand on her feet. The whole set of events had somehow brought her into his arms. His heart started to beat faster the moment he realized this. He had to look away at the waves to avoid eye contact with her.
"Why did we stop?" Ryan continued to play along whatever game she was playing.
"To lllook," she said.
"To look at what?" he asked, still looking at the waves.
She didn't answer for a while. Thus he brought back his gaze to that someone within his embrace. He could see a pair of bright, curious eyes looking up at his face.
That stare was definitely innocent, childish yet disturbing in an unknown way.
"What are we looking at?" Ryan finally asked her without looking away from her.
"Hmmm?" she responded as if she is in a trance.
"What do you want to look at?" he rephrased the question. But instead of the casualness of his previous version, his voice had softened.
"There was a ship," she replied but continued stare at him.
Her direct gaze was entrancing and he couldn't take it. His pacing heart started to pound. He looked at the sea then at her. She was still looking at him.
"Look, the ship is over there," he pointed in the direction.
"I… wanted to watch the ship. But now I want to watch you," she said with dreamy eyes.
Ryan abruptly turned his head towards the path. He must hurry. It's not safe to stay with a drunken Rhea!
He tried to pick her up from the ground, but she struggled.
"Stop, stop" she spluttered.
Ryan didn't listen as he turned around.
"Piggy! Get on!" he calmly told her.
She didn't argue for long and got on his back.
She hugged him around his neck as he lifted her.
Ryan started to walk towards that water villa. He reached the door of the villa and put her down and steadied her in his arm. He used the key Yuan Yu gave him to open the door. Then tried to lift her once again but she started to struggle.
"Rhea, don't be troublesome. You should sleep."
"No. I don't want to sleep."
"Do you know what time it is?"
"I know it's night time," she giggled.
Ryan wanted to hit his head somewhere. What should he do with her?
"I don't want to sleep now!" she kept insisting.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I… I want to stargaze," she looked up at the starry night sky above her head. The half-moon shone above them as well. Though it was not a perfect day to stargaze, it was possible.
Ryan thought about the pros and cons. This was the first time Ryan got the opportunity to be with her after a long time. In the end he didn't deny her wish.
"Ok… Let's star gaze!"
Rhea was all teeth.
As she was going to move back to the bridge, Ryan hurriedly pulled her back.
"It's not safe to be out now. Party is about to end. We don't know where the paparazzi will be."
"Paparazzi?" she widened her eyes.
"Yeah."
"But… but I really want to stargaze!" Rhea was truly unhappy. She pouted.
"Yes. I know. Let's go in and watch from the other side."
The water villa was designed in a way that made it possible for them to watch the night sky. From the bridge, once they entered the villa, there was a sofa and behind it, there was her bedroom with an attached bathroom. Beyond that was the balcony. That balcony consisted of the swimming pool. So once can stargaze from that balcony without worrying about privacy.
Once the door was open, Rhea stumbled and tried to walk inside.
Ryan pulled her back once again and lifted her. This time he carried her in his arms. Rhea felt nervous like that. She didn't want to be carried like that. Piggyback ride would do, but this...
"Put me down! I can walk!"
Ryan stopped walking and looked straight into her eyes then.
"Didn't you ask me to carry you before?"
"I didn't!"
"You didn't?"
"No!"
Ryan didn't listen to her anymore and walked towards the other end of the water villa. He walked past the swimming pool in the open area and reached the balcony end.
The ocean was still making noise. Other than that, everything was peaceful and silent. The stars shone above the two of them together with the moon.
Ryan didn't let her down. He made her sit on that balustrade.
Once she was seated, she tried to look up suddenly. If Ryan let her go, she would possibly fall down into the ocean. So, Ryan had to hold her from falling down. Rhea abruptly pulled her hands out of his holding almost started to fall behind.
Ryan saved her by holding her waist.
But to his agony, she was wearing a crop top so his hands naturally touched her bare waist.
Ryan's eyes widened in shock, Rhea's as well.
"..."
"..."
In the process of saving her from falling, her upper body had shifted forward towards him so her face was just above his a lot closer than before. Ryan kept looking up at her face.
The two kept staring at each other in shock for a few seconds.
"What are you doing?" she plainly asked him.
"...…."
Rhea's face was already flushed because of the liquor so her facial expression changes were not that visible. But that was not the case with Ryan.
Ryan's ears naturally reddened. But this time Rhea could clearly see that. She titled her head with a grin. She lifted her right hand and slightly touched his left ear. Since he had to stop her from falling, his hands were busy holding her so he ended up defenseless! But Rhea's hands were already freed and were reckless. She couldn't help but look pleased because of this sense of dominance.
She kept looking at the ear, then drifted her eyes and looked straight into his eyes which was already fixated on her face.
"It's red!"
Ryan didn't move or respond. He kept staring at her face which was just above his face. Her face shone in the background of stars and moon. He kept staring.
Her hand stayed in his ear for a while then moved to his face. She cupped his left cheek with her right hand then curiously examined his facial features for quite some time.
This too ended like the ship watching. She came to star gaze indeed. But ended up watching the brightest star she could ever see.
He was her star! The one and only star she could ever see this close with such loving eyes and delicate touch.
The only star she could ever fall for!
Ryan could feel the warmth of that little hand more than anything in the midst of the ocean's cold breeze. That peaceful night, with only the ocean's sound as a background and her face so near, was taunting enough! Additionally, he could take in her floral smell.
He calmly closed his eyes and rubbed his face in that soft hand once.
Ryan did it out of impulse, but for Rhea, it looked like an adorable cat rubbing its face in her palms. It was insanely cute and it was definitely not something she expected from Ryan.
She found it quite amusing. She titled her head to the right, just like him, then brought the other hand to the other side of his face, to see if he'll do it again.
Seeing her with such curious eyes, Ryan couldn't help but smile once. He had already pulled himself out from the trance and had switched back from the cute mode to handsome mode.
"What?" he asked.
"...You're handsome."
He very well knew he was handsome. He even found compliments funny many times. But when Rhea said that openly while holding his face in the moonlight, it was indeed different.
Rhea didn't wait for him to say something.
She used her right hand's first finger and fathomed his long and pointed eyebrows, from the inner edge of his brows up the temple.
First right, then left.
"Your eyebrows… they are so…. beautiful"
She kept on doing it again and again.
Ryan calmly closed his eyes letting her play with his face. The softness of her fingers against his cheek made him thrilled. He indeed behaved like a cat which very badly wanted her to pet it!
When he opened his eyes again, her attention shifted.
"Your eyes are glistening! Just like those stars." She looked up once more at the night sky. But Ryan's gaze didn't shift even a little from her. All he could see was the faultless skin of her neck. It made him wonder what it would feel like to bury his face there.
"It's Beautiful!" she brought down her face.
With a smile she touched his nose.
"And this… it looks as if it was sculpted", she continued to play with his face. She fathomed his nose pinched his nose with her fingers. Then once again grabbed his cheeks and pulled him closer, rubbed her nose with his twice.
"I wanted to do this for a long time"