Ash's Darling | ✔

Chapter 54

~Esther~

"One more store and then we'll leave, I promise." I told Ash while grabbing his hand and dragging him into Bath and Body Works.

I had brought him to the mall with me since I needed a few things and we both wanted to spend time together. He had been working a lot the past few days which meant we hadn't gotten to see each other much so this morning when he told me he had taken the day off I was ecstatic.

Bath and Body works didn't have anything I needed but I wanted to look at their candles and lotions even though I knew I wouldn't buy them. It was like a ritual to smell all of their overpriced candles while I was here.

"Take your time, darling. I have all day." Ash hadn't complained at all in the two hours we had been shopping but I could tell he was tired.

I walked into the store and was immediately drawn to the display which had a few different candles lined up in rows across it. I walked up to it and opened one of the candles to smell it and as I did Ash came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist to pull my back against his chest.

I quickly went to put the candle down after learning it smelled disgusting. It smelled like someone's grandma. Ash chuckled at my reaction and moved one of his hands off my waist, using it to guide my hand that was still holding the candle towards his face so he could smell it too.

After smelling it he scrunched his nose and shook his head, letting me drop my hand back down while he wrapped his arm back around my waist. "No, you were right. That's horrid." He mumbled as he laid his forehead on my shoulder.

I laughed as I put the lid back on the candle and set it in its place with one hand, reaching up to run my fingers through Ash's hair with the other.

I continued looking around the store for about ten minutes before picking up one last candle, telling myself it would be the last one. After this I would let Ash take us home where we could sleep for the rest of today.

'Whipped Coffee' I read as I picked it up and took the lid off. Smelling it, I realized it was my favorite out of all the ones I had picked up today. I normally didn't like the smell of coffee since it was always too strong for me but this candle was amazing. It smelled faintly like an old book shop. I think I'm in love with a candle.

I lifted it to Ash's face, making him smell it too. "It smells good. Do you like it, darling?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but I don't think I'm going to get it. I don't know if it's worth twenty five dollars when it'll most likely be gone in three days." I looked down to the table where the candle sat, trying to make up my mind.

"Darling." Ash lifted my chin towards him. "If you like it, get it."

I shook my head, finally making a decision. "I'll just get it another day, let's just go home and rest. I'm exhausted."

Ash seemed to accept my decision and he let it go. "Okay, I need to use the restroom real quick, wait for me outside?"

I agreed and he let go of me before walking to the back of the store, where the bathrooms were, as I walked out of the store and waited for him on a bench outside it.

Ash walked out a few minutes later with a hand behind his back and I immediately knew what he had done. Instead of using the bathroom like he had told me he was going to do, he had gone back to buy the candle for me.

I smiled and shook my head. "Ash, I would've been perfectly fine without it. You didn't need to."

He let his hand drop from behind his back and handed me the Bath and Body Works bag, confirming what I had known. "It was the only candle in the whole store you liked so I got it for you. Shush and accept it, darling. I like spoiling you."