Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Melodramatic Farce
At this moment, two words flashed through Ashley Shaw’s mind: unlucky.
Really unlucky.
Just as Ashley was hesitating whether to take the stairs on the other side before they noticed her, Cillian Xavier saw her.
"Ashley?"
Well, guess there’s no leaving now.
The cinema isn’t owned by them anyway.
"Hello." Ashley nodded politely.
The other two turned their heads at the sound, but Ashley pretended not to see them and didn’t greet them.
"What a coincidence."
Cillian walked up first and pointed to the empty seat beside her: "Is anyone sitting here?"
The film Ariana Grant liked was quite niche, so there weren’t many people watching.
In a hall with so many seats, it was obvious why Cillian asked if the seat next to her was taken.
Ashley didn’t want to look at Rosalind Lynch, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hint of disdain in Rosalind’s eyes as she leaned in front of Warren Prescott.
She turned a blind eye to it and calmly replied to Cillian, "Yes, my friend will arrive a bit late."
"Noted."
Cillian responded and then crossed the narrow space in front of her to sit on her other side.
Ashley: "..."
She vaguely felt a hostile gaze fixed on her.
As soon as Cillian sat down, Rosalind also sat on her other side.
Before Ashley could say the seat was taken, Rosalind spoke first.
"Since your friend will be late, I’ll sit here for now. The view is better here; you don’t mind, do you?"
Ashley took a deep breath: "Suit yourself."
She knew why Cillian chose to sit next to her; after all, he had just confessed his feelings to her earlier that day.
But Rosalind... she didn’t understand, but she respected it.
In any case, Ariana was not coming.
So the seating order naturally became: from left to right, Cillian, her, Rosalind, and Warren.
An extremely bizarre arrangement.
The movie hadn’t started yet; the screen was still playing ads. Ashley was focusing hard on the screen, yet she was still keenly aware of everything around her.
She heard Warren asking Rosalind if she was cold and if the cinema needed to lower the air conditioning.
She also heard Rosalind complaining that she couldn’t open her soda bottle, followed by someone on her side swiftly opening it with a popping sound and handing it back.
It wasn’t until Rosalind suddenly said her legs were cold and asked Warren to put his jacket over her feet that Ashley understood why Rosalind chose this seat.
It was to make her see these details.
Things Warren had never done for her in either their past or their current lives.
But there really was no need for Rosalind to do that.
There was just one thing she couldn’t figure out: in their past life, Rosalind didn’t care about her at all. So why, in this life, did she suddenly see her as a rival?
Clearly, Rosalind had returned to Westcroft at the same time in their past life, and events were more or less the same.
She didn’t quite understand the reason behind it, just felt that Rosalind’s actions were rather boring.
At least the movie finally started.
Ashley tried her best to ignore everything around her and concentrate on the movie.
It was a foreign film about racial discrimination, not widely available.
But Ashley vaguely remembered that the film would later gain critical acclaim and become a dark horse, capturing the global box office title of the season.
In her past life, she hadn’t seen it, but watching it in this life, she still found it impressive.
She felt a certain allure in the discriminated protagonist of the story that she really liked.
Even when faced with constant prejudice, he managed to endure and show his best side to those who underestimated him.
If it were her, she didn’t know if she could persist to the end.
The movie had no post-credits scenes; as soon as the lights came on, she heard Rosalind complaining.
"What a boring movie, I almost fell asleep."
Warren chuckled: "Wasn’t it you who chose this movie?"
"A friend studying abroad told me it did well over there; how was I supposed to know it would be so dull?"
Ashley waited in place for a moment, seeing that Rosalind had no intention of moving, she simply said to Cillian: "Excuse me, can you let me through?"
"Just follow me; be careful of the steps."
"Thank you."
The two walked out of the screening room one behind the other.
Before Cillian could say anything, she went directly into the restroom next to the screening room.
However, after she’d finished up and came out, she saw Rosalind touching up her makeup in front of the mirror.
She looked at Rosalind’s overly mature red lips and four words floated through her mind: pesky ghost.
Expressionless, she walked up, turned on the faucet to wash her hands, then turned to leave.
She assumed they’d part here, but didn’t expect Rosalind to follow her out.
"Ashley, wait a moment."
Ashley continued walking a few steps until Rosalind called her a second time, making her stop as if she’d just heard her.
"Miss Lynch, what else?"
"You seem quite impatient with me?"
"You misunderstood, I’m just rushing to catch the last bus home."
"It’s past ten, there are no more buses. Why not join us for a late snack? I’ll ask Warren to drive you home."
"No need, I can use a shared bike."
"It’s not safe for a girl to bike home alone at night. Join us for a snack?"
"There’s really no need, thank you for your offer."
Just as she was about to leave, Rosalind stepped forward.
"You’re not avoiding having a late snack with us just because you don’t want to see how close Warren and I are, right?"
"I simply don’t have the habit of eating late snacks."
"You can at least sit with us for a while; you know I like lively settings."
Ashley was about to refuse again when she noticed Rosalind’s gaze flicker behind her. Suddenly, Rosalind hurled herself towards the wall and fell to the ground in pain.
"Ouch—"
It seemed to hurt a lot; Rosalind took a sharp breath, tears welling up in her eyes.
Ashley frowned, a cliched false accusation scenario flashed through her mind.
She inwardly sighed: no recording or video this time.
Approaching footsteps came quickly from behind her.
She instinctively turned back, only to be shoved out of the way by a tall figure rushing over.
The person’s elbow struck her right shoulder, making her face turn pale immediately.
It was Warren who had come.
Unmistakably, the male lead in this absurd scene.
"Rosalind, are you alright?"
Rosalind was so hurt that she cried, yet forced a brave smile.
"I’m fine, Warren. Just a bit sore from hitting my back, I’ll be okay after a while, just let me sit here for a bit."
Ashley almost wanted to applaud.
A real acting talent.
Cillian came over at the sound.
He glanced at Rosalind on the ground, frowned, and asked, "What happened?"
Rosalind, eyes red, said, "I fell by myself, don’t blame Ashley, she didn’t push me."
Warren suddenly looked up at Ashley.
Ashley didn’t even care to interpret Warren’s stare, she spoke first: "Miss Lynch, why don’t you look up?"
Rosalind looked up in confusion, meeting the red indicator of a camera in the corner.