Chapter 138 - Surprise Date
Too immersed in her thoughts, Cassidy did not realize that Adrian parked the car in front of one of the most famous establishments around that place.
This will be part one of his plan. Setting all of these up should have taken at least a month, but for the head of the Millicent Inc. and one of the most affluent personalities in the country, there is nothing impossible. That being said, everything he has only figured out last night was already right before them.
"W-What the...? I thought we were going home...?" Cassidy said incredulously, reacting completely thrown off guard.
"Why are we in an aquarium park? And wasn\'t this the one I kept seeing on TV?"
"Let\'s stop by here. We can have our lunch in their seafood restaurant later on. That one\'s pretty popular, right?" Adrian told her quite calmly, smiling like he was going to enjoy this thoroughly.
"A food chain should have been enough-"
"Come on. There is a lot to see here. It has been a long while since I visited this kind of place too."
Before she can turn the idea down, he already reaches out to grab her hand and start pulling her all the way to the entrance.
As if being taken there as a treat from her husband is not enough, she later finds out that they are the only people there aside from the employees, which is definitely a huge surprise. After all, this particular place is an extravagant tourist attraction. It is the country\'s first world-class marine theme park with an integrated urban resort and lots of sea life attractions.
"Hey, don\'t tell me..." Cassidy muttered with a flat look, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"It\'s impossible to see no one else here, especially on a weekday. Did you reserve this place beforehand?"
"Hmmm...?
What if I did?" Adrian only beamed at her, making her brow twitch a little."Why did you do it?"
"Can\'t I go on a date with my wife?"
"Huh...? D-Date...? And by closing up this whole thing?"
"It\'s better this way. No one will interrupt us."
As much as she wants to continue talking back, she only sighs and looks away from him.
It is quite insane to even think that he has only arranged all of this last night. Imagining how much money he has spent on it is already making her feel guilty. If he is doing this to earn her favor or something, she is afraid that it is only futile. While she does want to say that she is going to part ways with him soon and that he should not do anything like this again, she has a feeling that he will only do more instead of stopping.
In the end, Cassidy decided that she would just let Adrian do what he wanted.
"Have you ever been to an aquarium park before?" he asked while walking beside her.
"I have not. This is my first time," she replied, still frowning.
"I see... It makes me glad that I\'m with you in your first, then."
"Nonsense."
"No, it\'s not. I want to be with you in all of your firsts."
At that, she only falls quiet once more. He just keeps saying everything he wants.
By that moment, they have already entered a place they called the Oceanarium.
The establishment\'s means of displaying a throng of living aquatic animals for public viewing is nothing short of the extravagance that it promised. Modern aquarium tanks stretch all around the hall they are passing through. Through these thick, acrylic glass windows, they can view different kinds of marine species while feeling like they are under the ocean at the same time.
"Woahhhh...!"
Cassidy could not help but breathe out in awe and amazement, unknowingly beginning to enjoy this as well."Wait, are those sharks?! Like... real sharks?!"
Then, in a matter of minutes, she is back to being playful and bubbly.
Adrian watches her rush towards the tank to take a closer look. Seeing that his efforts did not go to waste after all, he silently let out a sigh in relief. It was just that she was not looking impressed or pleased for a while now ever since they arrived there. He worried that she would keep frowning up until the end.
"Oh my, there is a lot of them! Not just sharks...! I wanna see a whale too...!" Cassidy ecstatically exclaimed like a little child - and at that second, Adrian recalled that she never experienced something like this before.
"Oh, and jellyfishes! Are there any jellyfishes here?!"
He knew that she was not blessed with a lot of things that most children would have experienced. Something as simple as ice cream would already make her a thousand times happier than any spoiled little girl would be if she received a whole store of it.
Of course, his wife would be pleased by a visit to an aquarium park. She was only hiding it for some reason he badly wanted to know, but he also shouldn\'t have thought that she was not impressed or pleased by this.
Now, Adrian is back to regretting everything.
He regrets not giving Cassidy as much as she deserves all those times - in fact, she deserves a lot more than he can ever think.
"Yes, there are whales and jellyfishes too. Let\'s go there next..." he chimed in and approached her with both of his hands shoved inside his pockets, feeling like taking things easy from here on out.
"They have a special exhibit of the Antarctica as well. There are penguins there. You can pet and feed them or something-"
"Penguins?! Really...?!" she enthused with an ear-splitting, thrilled grin.
"How about jellyfishes? Can I pet them too-"
"No, of course, you can\'t."
After exploring the entire Oceanarium as well as that attraction they call the Dancing Jellies Sea Fairies, they proceed to one of the special exhibits that the aquarium park promotes in addition to their permanent collections.
It is a whole new world for them from that point on - a snow world, more particularly. They put on some heavy outer garments before entering that place and getting a close-up view of the penguins. A few guides tour them around - a few and not just one because the head manager of that establishment was actually present with them as well, considering that a big shot was visiting.
"A penguin...!" Cassidy chirped in delight as soon as she came across one of the animals there.
"Kyaaa...! So adorable!"
With how she reacted, the penguin ended up getting frightened and hastily making its retreat.
Turning her toddler mode on, she only goes ahead and chases after it with open arms, taking the tour guides aback. Because of her excitement, she completely forgets that the floor is slippery. With that, she finds herself nearly slipping and falling over, making her screech in surprise at the same time.
But before she meets the ground, her husband immediately comes to rescue and catches her by the waist.
"Be careful. Why\'re you running like that...?" Adrian gently chided before he bent and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her bridal-style all of the sudden.
"If you do that again, I\'ll carry you the whole time."
"How can I pet the penguins, then?!" Cassidy bolted out indignantly, minding that concern of hers more than the fact that he swept her up like this without any prior notice.
"You can still use your hands."
"And I\'ll use my feet too. So, put me down."
"Alright. But only until we get there."
"Huh?!"
At this point, they are hogging everyone\'s attention there. That time around, their tour guides only decided to observe them from afar, putting enough distance to give them space and let them be all lovey-dovey to their heart\'s content.
At least to Cassidy, that is what their smiling faces are telling her.
\'Give it up, guys. This love team\'s long been over,\' she only deadpanned in silence while shooting them a sharp look.
As soon as they got to where the penguins were, Adrian finally put Cassidy down just as he said.
She moved on from that right away as she began lavishing her attention on the animals. This is another first for her, but these mean little seabirds seem to give no damn as they only keep running away from her. Little did she know that she kept ecstatically bouncing around the place that they felt like they were going to be hugged and squeezed to death.
"Here, Cassidy. I got one," Adrian called out to her while petting a penguin that seemed to be clinging to him.
"Wow, bossman. They must be attracted to your coldness," Cassidy flatly remarked, not amused by this special treatment.
At that, he comes to a halt and stares at her in surprise. Finally, he has heard that nickname again. As much as he doesn\'t want to admit it, that makes him happier than he expected. It reassures him that she is still seeing him the same way - in a way that she considers it comfortable to be around him.
"I\'m glad to see you smiling again," Adrian said with a loving and endeared expression, making Cassidy regard him for a moment.