5 I'm with you (Part 3)

"Welcome to Tom's Stew house!"

The waitress says with a warm smile upon seeing us entering the restaurant, with such hospitality is no wonder why it is so famous and pictures of well-known celebrities visiting are being displayed on the wall with their autographs signed on it. The floor tiles are squeaky clean that the lights reflect on it, furthermore the tables and chairs are made of good quality woods and the atmosphere gives a cozy countryside feeling; the waitress guides us inside and prepared a table that can accommodate a lot of people, the guy's gazes fixed on the waitress as if hungry wolves, drooling and licking their whiskers over a succulent stray sheep, only Yohan seems disinterested while shuffling the pages of the menu. His thin and pale fingers touching the pages of the menu with great caution and those deep blue eyes staring with the intent that makes me feel like I'm drowning.

"Good afternoon ma'am, sir. May I take your orders?"

I snap out of my thoughts of Yohan when the waitress comes back with a notepad, ready to note down the orders. Afterward, she politely asked to wait for our orders with a smile and left us; to kill time, Amber starts small talk. On the middle of the conversation, Yohan went to the restroom and seemed like he is in a hurry, kinda suspicious; then a waitress acted overfamiliar, waving her hand at him all of a sudden, now it became really suspicious. I get the feeling that Yohan is hiding something from us, well it's not like no one does not have a secret nor want someone to get nosey and try to decipher those secrets. Plus, we do not have an intimate relationship where our trust to each other is strong that we can reveal the skeletons in our closet;

"Sorry for the wait, here are your orders."

our eyes popping out for the shock as we see Yohan wearing the restaurant uniform and carrying the orders. He chuckles  upon seeing our reaction and then he starts serving

"Surprised?"

"Well of course we are! You're a part-timer here?"

Amber asks, still not believing in what is in front of her. Yohan shakes his head and smiles

"My uncle is the owner of this Stew house and from time to time I come here to help. Uncle is not tight so I can still be with you guys."

"Ah, I see. That's why you suggested here."

"By the way, Tom's Special Beef Stew! I guarantee you, it's really good. Don't worry it's on the house."

he boasts while putting the large bowl of beef stew at the center of the table. By only the smell of the stew, I feel my mouth starts drooling and its appearance makes it more delicious. Yohan joined the group once again after he finished helping the staff; the beef stew is really good as he said, the meat is unbelievably tender and juicy making it really easy to masticate and has an exquisite taste. Every bite is cloud nine.

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After satiating ourselves at the stew house, the amusement park is our next destination; it has been a while since the last time I went to an amusement park, back when I was still a kid I went on this kind of place with my parents a lot. I took a glimpse of the ferris wheel back on the train; the speakers of the park blasts cheerful songs to reinvigorate the sore feet from playing around and gives the ambiance suitable for kids and kids at heart, the pathway filled with people coming and going to different rides and stores. We roam around and tried a lot of rides, I thought it will last until we part ways but I was absolutely wrong as Amber suddenly declares

"Next is the Haunted House!"

"Wha-, I'll p-pass."

"No you won't Ash or the pairing will not be balanced."

when I was a kid I got lost inside a Haunted House, I kept wondering in the dark for hours and from that day I got a trauma on dark places and the Haunted House itself. Amber divided us into 3 pairs: the two wolves, Amber with the other wolf, lastly are me and Yohan. My knees started to shake when it became our turn and standing in front of the starting line; it's dark inside and cold, I move with extreme caution so my heart can get ready for any sudden appearance of ghosts, but it was too sudden and I was still unprepared. My arms suddenly wrap Yohan's body and my face buried on his chest,

"Are you all right?"

"S-sorry!"

I respond and weakly pushed him away from me, I want to run away from here but my whole body is paralyzed in fear and feel my tears ready to burst out. We stood there for a few seconds, but for me, it felt like years before Yohan grabbed my trembling in fear hand and reassures me.

"I'm here Ashley. I won't leave you, I'm with you."

His words seem like it has magic because my fear started to loosen up and the trembles cease when I heard them, I gave him a simple nod as a response and I hold on his hand. I trust him so I left myself in his care, I let him guide me and be my light in this darkness; then we finally found the exit where the others were waiting. This is a precious memory that I will treasure forever. It is already dusk when we came out and the stars begin to appear on the black mantled sky, chatting and laughing we head down to the main gate of the amusement park when a sudden explosion halted us. It is a firework display that brightens the surroundings, we look at the show with a smile painted on our faces; I and Yohan still did not realize that we are still holding each other's hand.

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