VIII

"Finally, you came too. Come on, let's go to the cafeteria and eat!" said Secretary Joe.

I saw Secretary Joe standing near the reception desk while Sinta was sitting on the sofa near where the receptionist was. As usual, Secretary Joe was back on the phone for a few minutes and then hung up again.

"Sir, is the canteen that you mean far from here?" I asked.

"Not too far," Secretary Joe replied.

"Is it in this building?" said Sinta.

"That's right, Sinta. It's still in this building."

"Wow, cool!" I said in awe.

***

After thirty minutes of walking, we arrived at a very large area of the room. There is a line of buffet-style food, a glass display case containing various kinds of food that I can recognize and I can't recognize, and chefs and kitchen staff who work there. On each storefront, there is a white paper written to explain where the food was such as from Asia, Europe, Africa, Mexico, and America.

"I love the smell!" I said cheerfully.

I smell the various aromas of food that makes my saliva flow. No need to take a deep breath, all the scents are mixed. It's not just the scent that blends in, but the hungry people also blend into one. They are ready to choose, take food, and put it on their plate. Like ants swarming sugar, humans behave the same way. After being satisfied looking at various foods, Sinta, Secretary Joe, and I looked for an empty seat.

"What have you guys decided to eat?" asked Secretary Joe while looking at me and Sinta.

We sat at a small table with four stools. Secretary Joe sat with Sinta while I sat alone in front of them.

"Hmm ... I think steak would be good," said Sinta.

"Okay… Sinta. You want steak, how about Claretta?" Secretary Joe asked. He crossed his arms on the table looking at me as if waiting for my answer.

I put my left arm on the table and my right arm on my cheek. I moved my lips left and right while thinking. I want a steak like Sinta but I have a tradition not to eat the same food when eating together.

"What would Secretary Joe want to eat?"

I even asked Secretary Joe. I didn't want to order the food that Secretary Joe choose. Luckily Secretary Joe wasn't a fussy eater like me and answered right away when I asked him what kind of food he wanted to eat

"I want pasta," Secretary Joe answered quickly.

"Okay, since Secretary Joe order pasta. I will order Fish and Chips. Btw, Secretary Joe's tastes are Italian." I said as I put my hands together and opened my mouth in amazement.

"Your taste in clothes is very Italian. Very fashionable!" I continued.

"Ah… it's not like that, Claretta. This is just a formal dress that a secretary should wear," he said, blushing.

"It's true. I'm amazed by Secretary Joe's style. You are young, and a stylist. You want us to call you Secretary Joe not Sir as your honorific name. Secretary Joe is too long so sometimes we slip calling you sir," I chuckled.

He chuckled at my compliment. He is blushing. Then he rose from his seat.

"I want to order food for us first," he said goodbye.

"Okay," I said with Sinta at the same time.

While waiting for food orders and Secretary Joe to come, Sinta and I sat alone.

"Sin..." I said in a whisper

I saw Sinta making a video call with someone. So I can't talk to her. Instead of daydreaming and convulsions. Finally, I chose to play with my mobile phone and open the Sudabay application. I would love to see what message S.S sent.

[Hi, Claretta. Thank you for being my match]

I saw the message sent by S.S. From the message, I had the impression that he was a decent-looking person. He's also not like most of the guys on dating sites who just type "Hi". So, to appreciate his politeness. I replied to S.S.

[Hi, S.S. You're welcome. Btw, your real name is S.S]

"One Hit!" I muttered.

I'm a person who doesn't like small talk. Usually, people will ask how are you first after the word "Hi". However, I don't think getting to the point is a problem either.

[Ha ha ha. Of course not. This is just my initials]

Turns out my guess was right. He uses initials. Then I try to call him out.

[Why use initials?]

I saw that S.S only reads my messages. Suddenly I felt annoyed.

"What the hell is this guy? Pretending to be private," I grumbled.

I was mad at him so I want to use the swipe feature on Sudabay application. I direct the cursor and do a swipe. I did a lot of swipes without looking at their faces or bio. I hope that they do not swipe me back. In case, if I got a match because they swipe me back, I hope they are not a creep. I stopped swiping and viewing chat features. This time, there were no new matches or incoming messages

"I am lucky. I was afraid if there was a creepy message," I said relieved.

Then, I saw my last chat with S.S. He still did not message me back. I only saw the dots. The dots in the Sudabay app are typing marks. I saw S.S typing, then the dots disappeared as a sign that he was done typing. However, not a single word of the message came through. Then, I saw him typing back, and finally, I saw the message that came from him.

[There are many reasons why someone keeps their name a secret.]

It was the content of the message from S.S. I snorted in annoyance.

"He typed so long just to send this?" I thought.

Then, I replied to the message quickly.

[Yes. There are many reasons why people keep their names a secret. Usually, people with this type are scammers.]

Then I sent this message and started a new paragraph. I want to type a few words back. Before I could finish typing, S.S immediately replied to my message.

[I'm not a scammer.]

Of course, the scammer will not admit that he is a scammer. Like a thief, he would not admit it when someone caught him red-handed.

[You want to catfish me, right?]

I sent a message to S.S. I know he is a scammer but I really want to teach the scammer a lesson. He must hit the rock. So, I will try to unmask the scammers. No matter how.

[Not. I have no intention of catfishing you at all. I'm real]