Chapter 594: Movie Theater
A month passed in the blink of an eye. For the entire month, everyone had been in the mining district burying utility poles; even Ronan Kendrick hadn’t left The Undercity. Seeing as they had been busy for a month and had already installed two-thirds of the poles, Evelyn Ford decided to give everyone a day off to rest and relax.
The Undercity had recently opened a cinema. Evelyn had heard Liam Sterling mention it when he delivered fruits and vegetables, but everyone had been too busy to check it out. Now that Evelyn had given them a day off, they were free to go out and have fun. Quincy and Wyatt Vaughn, along with Miles Vaughn and Joelle Finch, were raring to go. They all wanted to see a movie and go on a date.
The disinfectant mist had been developed half a month ago, and several giant, automated misters had been installed on the roof of every building in the base. Now, residents no longer needed to wear protective suits when leaving The Undercity or their shelters.
Evelyn Ford took out a few boxes of cosmetics from her pocket dimension. She’d forgotten where she had scavenged them from but figured it must have been a department store.
She handed the cosmetics to Wyatt Vaughn and Joelle Finch. "Hope you all have a great date today."
"Aren’t you and Ronan Kendrick going?"
Evelyn Ford smiled. "I hear the cinema is packed every day, so it’ll probably be very crowded. Ronan Kendrick doesn’t like places like that."
"It’s not every day we get a place to go on a date, just like before the apocalypse. You two shouldn’t miss out," Wyatt Vaughn said, leaning closer to Evelyn and lowering her voice. "Ronan Kendrick would do anything for you. There’s no way he wouldn’t like a place if you wanted to go. He’d probably be thrilled to take you to the movies."
Evelyn Ford raised an eyebrow. "So I should go ask him?"
"Go on, go on! I need to hurry up and do my hair and makeup."
Seeing how excited Wyatt Vaughn was, Evelyn couldn’t help but feel happy herself.
In the bedroom, Ronan Kendrick placed a box on the nightstand. Just as Evelyn Ford pushed the door open, she saw the serious look on his face.
"Oh my, is this box another gift for me?"
Ronan Kendrick’s ears turned a little red. "See if you like it."
"How could I ever dislike something you made?" Evelyn Ford bounced over to him and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Kendrick."
"You’re welcome. Go on, open it. If you don’t like it, I’ll make you another one."
Whenever Ronan Kendrick had free time, he would be in the wood cabin carving jade. Evelyn Ford already had several boxes of jewelry. The way he was going, it seemed he wouldn’t stop until he had carved every last piece of it.
She opened the box. Inside was a pair of green jade earrings, and beside them, a gold-inlaid jade bracelet.
Evelyn Ford picked them up and put them on. "They’re beautiful. But Ronan, I have more jewelry than I could ever wear. As long as the apocalypse continues, I can’t possibly wear these things out. I already have so much... I probably couldn’t wear it all in a lifetime. You don’t have to keep carving. I know you don’t scar, but I also know you often cut your fingers when you’re working."
Evelyn Ford took both of his hands in hers. "Whenever you have a spare moment, you’re off carving these stones. Ronan, I don’t want you to work so hard. You could go relax like Quincy and the others, play some ping-pong or badminton. You could make friends, read a book, listen to music, or see a movie. You don’t have to spend all your time on me."
Ronan Kendrick’s gaze grew deep. He looked like he wanted to say something, and his throat moved, but in the end, nothing came out.
"Okay."
Hearing him agree, Evelyn jumped up and wrapped herself around him. "You’re my favorite, Ronan!"
"Me too. You’re my favorite, Felicity."
"Oh, right. The Undercity Cinema is showing movies tonight from eight to midnight. Let’s go."
Ronan Kendrick nodded. "Okay."
Evelyn Ford took out the sweaters she had previously crocheted. They were a matching set for a couple, in a very understated dark blue. Evelyn had hidden a personal touch in them: she had carefully crocheted a few small leaves onto the sleeve of her sweater. On Ronan Kendrick’s sleeve was a tiny "F"—for Ford, or perhaps Felicity. It was so small you would never notice it if you weren’t looking closely.
"I’m going to go wash up. You should get changed."
Humming a song, Evelyn Ford went into the bathroom. Her hair had grown long enough that she could curl the ends a bit.
After washing up, Evelyn put on a face mask for the first time in over a year. She had stockpiled so many of them back in the day, yet in more than ten years, she hadn’t even gone through ten boxes.
Evelyn was all thumbs when it came to makeup. After putting on toner and lotion, she applied a bit of toning cream and some lipstick, and her look was complete.
She tried curling the ends of her hair, but the result wasn’t great. Frustrated, she ran her hands through it and ultimately decided to just tie it up in a bun.
She wore a long-sleeved white T-shirt under the blue sweater, paired with black wide-leg pants and black sneakers. Evelyn Ford looked at herself in the mirror.
’Whoa, where’d this high schooler come from?’
’So fresh-faced.’
When Evelyn Ford opened the door, she found Ronan Kendrick standing right outside. He had already changed. The blue sweater made his skin look even fairer, and without his usual hat, his black hair made him look boyish and gentle. He was just standing there, doing nothing, yet the sight of him was enough to take Evelyn’s breath away.
Evelyn couldn’t wait to pull out her phone and start snapping pictures of him. Ronan watched her, a resigned but amused smile on his face.
"Aren’t we going to take one together?"
"Of course we are!" Evelyn jumped up, wrapped an arm around his neck, and snapped dozens more photos before reluctantly putting her phone away.
"Let’s go. It’s almost eight o’clock, we should get there early to grab a seat."
The two left the dorm hand in hand, heading for the cinema. They ran into several acquaintances along the way, who couldn’t resist teasing them a little when they heard they were going to see a movie.
When they arrived at The Undercity Cinema, it was already buzzing with people and nearly full. The theater wasn’t large—it could probably only seat about two hundred people—but it was luxuriously decorated, and there was even free popcorn and soda.
The lights inside the theater were dim, and they couldn’t see where Quincy and the others were. Ronan Kendrick led Evelyn inside, and they found two seats in the third-to-last row.
"I’ll get the drinks." Ronan settled Evelyn into her seat, then went to the automated machine outside and came back with two Cokes and a popcorn.
The first film on the schedule tonight was a horror movie, followed by a drama. ’Whoever’s in charge of the programming has an interesting sense of humor,’ Evelyn thought.
Evelyn’s shoulder was tapped. "Excuse me, are you here by yourself?" A girl in the row behind her had struck up a conversation. She looked quite young, probably only about twenty.
Evelyn shook her head. "I’m with my husband."
Just as Ronan Kendrick returned with the drinks and popcorn, he happened to hear those two words: "my husband." He felt a jolt, as if struck by lightning. A tingling warmth shot up from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.
"Oh, I thought you were single! You’re so pretty," the girl said. Her eyes were big and bright, and her voice was soft and sweet.
Evelyn smiled. "You’re very pretty, too."
"Hasn’t your husband come back yet? The movie’s about to start."
Evelyn looked up and saw Ronan Kendrick standing there.
"He’s here now."