Chiara pursed her lips more. In the end, she still nodded at him. "Alright. Fifty."

Gabe smiled at her. "That's a deal, Chiara."

She nodded at him for the second time.

“So, Chiara, what's the name of your ex again?" Gabe asked out of nowhere while he was putting some rice on his own plate.

“Toby," she answered in a small voice.

“Toby?” Gabe suddenly raised his brows at her. "Now you owe me a fifty, Chiara."

Her lips parted. “You asked me his name," she defended herself. "Of course, I would answer you."

“I was testing you,” Gabe answered, smirking at her. “You should have said Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort, or Valak instead of his name.” Gabe shrugged his shoulders before he handed out his empty palm to her. "Come on, Chiara. A deal is a deal."

Chiara took out her wallet and handed him a fifty peso bill. "Here."

He grinned. “Thanks, Chiara. Now we have an additional budget for dessert.” He even playfully winked at her.

A few minutes later, their order got completed.

“Here. Taste it first," Gabe said after he finished slicing the steak.

Before Chiara could taste it, she gasped when she accidentally put her finger on the sizzling plate.

“Chiara.” Gabe immediately came to her rescue. He gently took her hand and inspected it. "Let me see it," he said softly.

Chiara pursed her lips. "It's fine, Gabe. I'm not really that hurt."

But instead of letting her go, he grab the cold glass of ice and placed it on her injured finger.

“Uh, I'm really fine, Gabe," she said to him. But then Gabe only let go of her after a few minutes.

"Let me, Chiara," he said when she was about to get the hot plate of steak. "I don't want you to get hurt again."

She then pursed her lips and muttered a thank you.

“Sorry, I'm just really clumsy sometimes," she said with a shy smile.

He smiled at her. “It's fine. Even I have clumsy moments too. Come on, let’s eat.”

“Come on in, Gabe,” Chiara said to Gabe when he walked her to her apartment.

For the past few days, Gabe has always waited for her at work. If they both had the same schedule, he would eat lunch with her. Gabe has been a great help to her. If Gabe wasn't around her, Chiara would be sure that until now, she was crying over Toby.

“I'm sorry about my apartment," Chiara said as Gabe entered her apartment.

Her place was just a studio room apartment for one person. It has a small living room, a small bedroom, and a kitchen.
There was a townhouse that was left to her by her Aunt Isabel. But then she decided to put it on lease since she didn't really need to stay in a large house. She then just decided to rent a small apartment on her own.

Gabe looked around the place before his eyes went back to her.

“How's your neighbors here? Are they okay?" he asked her instead of commenting about her apartment.

“It's safe here, Gabe. The neighbors are nice, especially our landlady." She said, smiling at her.

Gabe picked up a picture frame that was displayed on the shelf in the living room. It was a picture of her and Toby.

The photo was taken during their high school graduation. Toby's arms were on her shoulders and there was a wide smile on his face.

“That was our high school graduation. Toby's the valedictorian of our class,” she told Gabe.

Gabe didn't comment. Instead, his eyes traveled to the collection of stuffed toys displayed on the other side of her apartment.

“You like collecting stuffed toys? " Gabe asked her with an amused smile on his face.

Chiara pursed her lips. A small smile appeared on her face.

“Uh, no. They were all given to me by Toby. Do you know that claw machine in the mall arcade? We always spend time there. Toby's good at catching stuffed toys."

Gabe raised his eyebrows at her. “You owe me one hundred, Chiara.”

Chiara's eyes widened when she realized what she just said. “You asked me about him?!” she reasoned out.

“You should've used a pronoun,” Gabe answered back, shrugging his shoulders.

Chiara opened her wallet and handed him a hundred peso bill.

"Thanks, Chiara," Gabe said as he put the bill inside his pocket. Then he looked around at her place for the second time. “You know what? I think you should let go of the things he gave you...” He looked at her.

“How can you properly move on if all the corners of your apartment remind you of your ex-boyfriend?"

Chiara stared at the stuffed toys displayed in her apartment. She didn't think that she couldn't throw away all of those. She then sighed and turned to Gabe. “I don't think I can throw them, Gabe."

“I didn’t say you should throw it. Just keep it away… just hide it somewhere that you won't see every day."

Chiara looked at the stuffed toys. They were already part of her apartment… just like how Toby had become part of her life. Her apartment wouldn’t be complete without those stuffed toys. “Do I really need to do that?" she asked.

She immediately noticed how Gabe's expression changed. His face went serious.

“Tell me, Chiara.” He said while looking her straight in the eye. At that moment, it was like Gabe wanted to read what was on her mind.

“Are you still hoping that your asshole ex would come back to you?" He asked in a cold voice.

Chiara couldn't find herself to say something. It was so easy to tell that she would move on from Toby. But then she realize it was so hard to do. She wouldn't deny that until now, a small part of her was still hoping for Toby to come back.

“I guess, silence really means yes," Gabe muttered, his lips pressed together.