Dinner (1)

Sebastian has been distracted the whole day. After he snooped on Clara, he couldn't think about anything else. He had gone back to the office to wait for her when she said goodbye to her father. Anticipating her to come to his office the last few hours, but she didn't.

Where was she? Did she just go back to her hotel? To occupy his time, he tried to find out her room number at the "V" but they wouldn't give it to him.

Waiting was driving him nuts. He couldn’t go out looking for her because he was not supposed to know she was there. So he started pacing in his office.

Earlier, he texted Max and Jeremy, telling them what he witnessed. They were tight-lipped about it for a while, but when he said he wanted to help, they told him where she was staying and when she was coming back. He didn't know why they trusted him, but they asked him to take care of her while she was in his area.

He was on his way out to find where she was when he heard a knock on his door.

‘I was in the area pitching to a client, and I wanted to check on my installations. I didn’t want to be rude and not say hi.’

‘Anyway, everything is wonderful. I checked the connections and all the other stuff with my laptop.’ And that explained her absence.

‘So, we’ll be back in 4 months for the evaluation. I just dropped by to say hi. I’m heading back today, so I’ll get going,’ Clara said hurriedly, making up this elaborate lie. Her flight wasn’t until tomorrow, but she wanted to be alone, to absorb what had happened.

She just saw her dad, and she wanted more of his hugs. He still had the same smell: citrus and herbal musk. And now she thinks she can still smell his scent on her shirt. She wanted to wallow in her pain and her longing.

He saw her sad eyes and thought maybe she shouldn’t be alone today. She had washed her face, but he could still see from her pink eyes, that she had been crying.

‘Wait, do you want to have dinner?’ he hesitated.

She was debating on it, and he could see she felt conflicted. He could see her eyes getting sadder.

He stood up and said, ‘I know you don’t want to have dinner with me. But think about it, those 2 clowns eat all your food and talk over each other. You'll never get this opportunity again.’

‘We’ll send them a picture so they can be envious of what we ate at this other expensive restaurant. C’mon, are you scared to have dinner with me?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘You know I can see through you, right? You’re using them as an excuse to go out with me.’ The fire was coming back into her eyes.

‘It’s not going to happen. I’ll see you in a few months,’ she says and walks toward the doors.

Sebastian pulled her back, and she was surprised because a second ago, she could swear he was safely behind his desk, away from her. ‘Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily,’ he said.

‘Remember when you cried all over me and held on to me like a leech in your bedroom?”

'Octopus,' she said, remembering the incident, and her cheeks colored.

'Oh right, octopus. With all your arms and legs around me,' he grinned. 'I feel like you took advantage of me. And I want you to take responsibility for my ruined shirt. You can compensate me by having dinner with me,’ he smirked. He knew he won when there was no answer.

She rolled her eyes, thinking, ‘How can this guy make everything go his way? So manipulative.’

‘You decided you wanted to come near me when I was asleep. I had no control over that,’ she said with an eyebrow raised while he just stared at her.

‘I think you’re just scared,’ he taunted, issuing a challenge.

‘Fine, I’ll meet you wherever you want to go at 7,’ she says in resignation.

He was grinning now. ‘Didn’t you say your flight was leaving tonight? Or was that a lie?’

‘I was thinking we can have dinner now, and you can make your flight at 8 am tomorrow.’ He wanted Clara to know that he was aware she lied. ‘Fudge,’ she thought, knowing she has been caught.

‘I’m not prepared to go out anywhere dressy or formal. I didn’t bring any clothes aside from what I’m wearing, and you know, casual clothing.’ she said.

‘Okay, then we’ll go somewhere casual. I have the exact place in mind.’

‘I’ll pick you up at 7. Where are you staying?’ he asked, pretending not to know.

‘I can meet you there. Tell me where it is,’ she insisted.

He said it was a surprise, so he needed to pick her up. And, of course, she had no choice. ‘Dammit, now he will know where I’m staying. How am I going to get rid of him?’ she glared at him.

It indeed surprised her when they got to the restaurant because it was not a restaurant but one of those open night markets. She hadn’t been to one of these before because they only had them when there were street fairs and festivals, and they never had time to go.

He said this market had been here since he was a small kid. He remembers all the old ladies frying, BBQing, and selling his favorite drinks.

She didn’t believe him. ‘You just read that from a magazine, and you are just repeating it,’ she said, her eyes growing big, taking in the aroma and looking at all the food around her.

‘Wow! Look at all that food. The boys will go crazy when I bring them here.’

‘Okay, take my picture while I get in line,’ she said, running around the different stalls like a kid in a candy store. She had totally forgotten her need to ignore him.

She got Korean pork BBQ on a stick, stir-fried noodles, pho(Vietnamese noodle soup), ramen(Japanese noodle soup), fried cracklings(pork skin), corn dogs(hotdogs wrapped in a batter and deep-fried), spiral potatoes, watermelon slushie, chocolate ice cream inside a fish, and a hot brownie fudge sundae. This place represented all the nations of the world. If you’ve heard of it somewhere exotic, it was available at one of the stalls.

They ended up sharing most of what they bought, feeding each other like they’ve been doing this forever like they were lovers having a wonderful time together. And for this moment, they forgot all their issues and concerns. There was only Clara and Sebastian, having fun.

They took lots of pictures, and she made him finish all the food she couldn’t eat. She was laughing so hard by the time they got to the sundae.

He felt lucky that he had the opportunity to spend time with her in her carefree state. He’d never seen this side of her before. And he will make sure that this will not be the first time she will laugh and smile like this when she was with him.