22 ANGELIC FOODIE

"I'm Zoe's friend. And you are?" Erin inquired in curiosity with her wide and glowing eyes. 

While she was enjoying herself, Raigon was in a dilemma if he would answer her question truthfully. He was the Crowned Prince of the hidden City of Terra. He must not let others know something concerning his identity.

"Um.. Uh…" Raigon responded while massaging his temple.

Noticing the hesitation in Raigon's response, Zoe's eyes narrowed.

'He didn't state his name the last time either. Was he a mafia or something?'

She remembered how he tried to save her a couple of times so she tried to help him out.

"Hey Red, what brings you here?" She asked him in a flat voice while checking out some dirt in her dress, feigning a nonchalant attitude.

'Where in the world did Zoe get that nickname?' Raigon gave her a half-grin and silently tapped his fingers on the table.

"So, his name was Red. Red as a dash of hot chili pepper," Erin wiggled her shoulders forward to Raigon with her cheeks curved upward, not sensing about what's going on.

"I'm here for the same reason you both have." He offered them a confident smile and a gaze that lasted longer on Zoe.

Zoe closed her eyes and tightened her lips. 'Silly me, why did I even ask that. We are in a restaurant!'

The moment they opened, they threw daggers at Raigon at lightning speed as if they're saying, 'I just helped you out here, in case you didn't know.'

Raigon grinned from ear to ear. He just loves teasing Zoe and watching her pretty face crumpled and yet still is fascinating to behold.

"Here are your orders, Mam." A waitress butted in with their food on a tray. She put out a kingfish dish from the fully loaded tray and laid it close to Zoe.

"Oh, that one was mine," Erin commented as she licked her lips, seeing Lord Howe Island's kingfish menu again after so many years.

"The rest of those on your tray, it's hers." She added as she grabbed her knife and fork to dive on her favorite menu of this diner.

"This is all yours?!" Raigon exclaimed in disbelief as he gawked at the double portion of fishwings, prawns, mussels, potatoes, and cherry tomatoes in their table.

"Of course not!" Zoe blurted out at lightning speed as a flush crept across her cheeks. "I ordered these for both of us!" She shielded herself while grasping her handkerchief and wiping drops of sweat from building up at her forehead.

Sensing the embarrassment of her homegirl, Erin commented in haste, "She must have expected that you're coming," and winked at Zoe.

Zoe bobbed back at Erin with gratitude. "Yeah, Erin actually informed me that this restaurant hired a private aircraft to service them so they could have fresh meat and vegetables each time. You should try it!" She prodded on while pushing the plates to Raigon's side.

She encouraged Raigon to dine with a sweet beam on her face, but deep down she was very disappointed because she really wants to devour every bit of them.

'Maybe I would just invite Erin here again tomorrow.' She resolved to herself as she gazed at the sumptuous meal presented to her.

Her stomach growled in complaint, which was audible to Raigon's ears. He chuckled inwardly in amusement at the scene. It draws back memories from the island fifteen years ago.

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"You're still hungry?!" Little Raigon asked little Zoe who simply nodded at him while patting her tummy. She had just finished eating from two baskets full of rice cakes with cream cheese that he sneaked out from the Castle's gallery.

Zoe was lying unconsciously in the middle of the Blackvine Forest when he picked her up and carried her to a treehouse he built in secret for himself with the support of Azra.

At first, he used it to escape from his counsels, who were responsible for training him the entire day with sessions and lectures concerning his ascension as the future king. Now it seemed it would be an undercover hideout of a lost angel in the land.

"All right, I will come back." Little Raigon lifted the curtains so he could leave when little Zoe halted her and grabbed his arms. "Do you also have a strawberry milkshake?" She begged him with a hoarse voice.

She exerted too much effort screaming as she locates the exit of the deadly woods. Her hair was disheveled and her skin and clothes were dirty from the mud that she plunged into. But they could not cover her cherubic features.

"Please don't forget the whipped cream and the cherry on top," She added with reaching arms while she was kneeling on all fours and Little Raigon was climbing down the treehouse.

'She must be an angelic foodie from heaven's kitchen,' Little Raigon scratched his head as he scurried back to the Castle so he could somehow satisfy the cravings of his newfound friend.

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Food brings people together on many different levels. It brings nourishment not just of the body but of the soul.

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