19. Face slapping

She was never going out with Marbles again. If she did, she'd be slapped by a flying fish. The man seemed to have lost his marbles. Or perhaps she had lost hers to have even considered going out with the bubble tea fanatic. She was never drinking bubble tea again either. It reminded her too much of Marbles.

"Good afternoon, what bubble tea would you like?" the waiter behind the counter smiled. "The new mango green tea with red beans, jelly and mango pudding is pretty good."

"I'll have that then," Suo Baibai said in a distracted manner, still wrapped up in her thoughts and brooding in her bad mood. She needed a good boost to keep her motivated today. "Make it a large with pearls."

"No worries. That'll be $9.50," the waiter smiled. "Card or cash?"

"Card," Suo Baibai rummaged in her purse and then her bag, before remembering she had forgotten to put the card back in her purse after she had last changed handbags. "Wait. No. Sorry. I'll pay by cash."

Handing over a ten dollar bill, she received her fifty cent coin change and walked over to the serving counter to wait for her drink.

"Excuse me, Miss," a student tapped her on the shoulder. "You dropped this bag of marbles."

"Oh. Right. Thank you," Suo Baibai blushed with embarrassment and received the small bag of marbles from the student. She'd forgotten it was in there and must have accidentally lost it while rummaging through her handbag earlier. They were all the marbles she had won from Marbles when he had taught her how to play marbles.

The crowd of after school highschool kids jostled her. She had come at a bad time. There were too many students that had come here immediately after finishing school for the day.

Stepping backwards, Suo Baibai slipped on something smooth and round underfoot. Falling backwards, arms windmilling, she angrily wondered who had dropped their trash on the ground for her to step on. She clenched her eyes tight against the impending fall, only for her to feel someone catch her about the waist and right her, holding her tight until she had found steady footing again.

"Careful," said a familiar smooth voice. "Sorry. That was my fault. I accidentally dropped my marbles."

"Marbles!" Suo Baibai bit out, watching as the students collected the runaway marbles and return them to her ex-boyfriend. She noticed the bag he'd put them in appeared to have a hole in the side, but refrained from pointing it out. It didn't matter what she said or did, the man would still somehow manage to lose his prized marbles.

"Here!" Marbles replied with alacrity and almost standing to attention after releasing her in his nervousness. "Speaking of which, I'm surprised to find you here at my favourite bubble tea shop. I thought you were never coming here again?"

"I wasn't," Suo Baibai sniffed, "but then someone made me lose my temper and I needed a pick-me-up."

In the next moment, she was picked up and whirled into the corner, while the crowd of students jumped and screamed, colliding into each other and falling down. There was a fishy whoosh of wind, followed by twin thumps and then the sound of wet things flopping on a hard surface.

"Sorry, sorry. My bad," said a worker in overalls and a fish tank of fish on a trolley. He left the trolley to collect his escapees. "I forgot to put the lid on."

Suo Baibai looked up at the handsome man who had protected her so promptly. His dark eyes gazed down into her slightly dazed ones with an intense warmth and a hint of infatuation.

"Don't break up with me," he whispered into her ear, making it tickle and burn red in response. "It was my fault last time. I was insensitive. I'll do better. I'll change. I love you."

It had been like this last time too, Suo Baibai sighed heavily. He'd saved her from another inexplicable accident. That time from a man's nail file which had somehow slipped out of his hands in the park and almost stabbed her. Marbles had been lucky that it had struck his blazor button and not made a hole in his suit. She was such a sucker. Her boyfriend was really just too handsome as her personal white knight in shining armour saving her from strange mishaps.

His eyes were mesmerising, drawing her into the depth of his -

SLAP.

A fish leaped out of the tank before the worker could put the lid on it down after replacing the original two escapees. It seemed to have specifically aimed to fly through the air like a dripping missile with a wagging tail to soundly slap Suo Baibai across the face not once but twice across the face before falling to the ground.

Suo Baibai raised an incredulous hand to wipe the slimy, fishy water off her face. Had she just been fish slapped?

That did it. She was never getting back tog-

SLAP.

Another fish slapped her.

What was this? Face slapping day?