TWENTY FIVE ( Panda)
"Can you stop flirting, she's with me you know—"
"Flirting?" Nicholas chuckled,
"I wasn't flirting with your wife—"
"Guys can you just stop!" Mia suddenly cut in, "I thought we were here to have fun—"
"Well yeah, we are. If it's the roller coaster then so be it." Ethan concluded. Deep down, he knew he had never been on a roller coaster ride.
---
After paying for the ride, the trio got seated in the cat and slowly, it began to move. Suddenly the tempo began to increase as they ascended; it got faster as they approached the climax. Meanwhile, it was evident that Mia and Nicholas were enjoying the ride while Ethan struggled to stop himself from screaming. There was no way he was going to let another man hurt his pride in front of a woman.
When the ride finally came to a stop, Ethan staggered out and rushed to the nearest waste bin.
"So Mr. Regal, still interested in the carousel?" Nicholas teased, while Mia bit back laughter,
"I'm perfectly fine Mr. Lim, and I'm not seven." He retorted. He was obviously still very dizzy from the ride.
Mia finally let out the laughter, and it was loud.
"Hey! Panda, this isn't funny—"
"Well you should have seen the look on your face." Mia chucked,
"Hold on a sec, you call your wife Panda?" Nicholas began.
Mia suddenly realized it at that same moment.
"Like you said, she's mine not yours." He sneered, causing Mia's heart rate to increase.
"Mr. Lim, if I recall correctly, you said your wife was ill and you were going to get her some medicine, so why then are you here meddling in our business." Ethan added,
Nicholas chuckled with embarrassment,
"I'm just realizing that myself," He nervously rubbed the back of his hair, "I'm going to go now, leave you two lovebirds alone. Catch you later." He smiled then quietly left, he suddenly,
"The rest of the couples are in town today and were going to meet at a—"
"You should be on your way now, Nick."
"Right."
When he was finally out of sight, Mia turned to him and asked,
"Do you want to go on another ride—"
"No, how about you ask Nick." He replied, "After all, he knows the makeup that suits you well, he knows the perfect lipstick for you, hell he even knows the perfect date spot for you!"
Mia chuckled,
"Are you being jealous right now?" She smirked,
"Jealous??" He retorted, "Why in the world would I be, you're not even my…" He paused as his voice trailed off,
"Right, I'm not even your wife." Mia completed.
Ethan let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his temple,
"Look Mia, I didn't mean it like—"
"Off course you didn't—"
"We're supposed to be acting like a couple, and I was only doing what any sensible man would do to a guy flirting with his wife—"
"Off course, be rude to him so he goes away. Why not, makes perfect sense, don't you think." She replied sarcastically.
"Look Mia, I planned this day to spend with you, so can we not make this about him." He told her stiffly, even though he hated that stiffness in his voice. It was something he couldn't stop even though he tried.
"Did he really plan today? Why would he do that?" Mia thought, but she was not courageous to ask. One call from Ethan brought her back to reality.
"I said, can we keep moving—"
"Yeah, sure we can." She murmured as she followed behind.
As they walked around, a nice vendor beckoned on them to come and play a game.
"Throw a dart and win a stuffed animal, I like that." Mia grinned,
"Are you being serious right now—"
"Yeah, I want to get that ninja doll for Noel."
"You want to?—"
"Uh-huh." Mia nodded,
"You can't even throw a shoe, how do you want to do this—"
"Is that a challenge," Mia chuckled, "Because that sure did sounded like a challenge—"
"A challenge huh? Cool, I like competitions." Ethan smirked as they stepped forward and purchased some darts.
Turning to each other, Ethan said,
"May the best man win?"
Ethan began first, claiming he needed to show Mia how it was done, but he missed, Mia tried and missed too. They kept missing until they both realized they were left with one dart, so Mia decided to go first this time, but unfortunately, she missed again and then it was Ethan's turn,
"You cannot miss this one, Ethan." Mia prayed,
With precise attention and coordination, Ethan sucked in a deep breath and exhaled then carefully shot, this time; it hit the bull's eye.
"Yay! You did it!!" Mia squealed in excitement as she threw herself against him without realizing. Realization dawned on her when his arms snaked her waist and she heard him laugh.
She quickly freed herself from his grip and they both stared at each other. Their staring contest was interrupted the elderly vendor who called them to hand the doll he had packed, as he gave Mia the bag, he said something in Japanese then pointed to both of them with a wide smile. Mia nodded, thanked him and smiled back as she collected the bag then turned to Ethan who tossed her an awkward smile. After they walked away, Mia finally let out a loud laugh,
"I had no idea of what he was saying."
"Me neither." He smiled,
"So what are we going to do now…Would you like to try the sky flower." Mia teased,
"Very funny Mia, do you know how many casualties occur at amusement parks every year—"
"Do you know how many people have loads of fun at amusement parks every year?" Mia retorted,
"Touché."
"C'mon! Live a little."
"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who stuck at the top of the Ferris wheel at ten years old." He told her,
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry—"
"Its fine, that was a long time ago, I'm sure the safety team is more conscious these days, a rescue can be done in minutes, rather than hours."
Mia suddenly paused in her tracks,
"How long were you up there?"
Ethan paused and turned to her direction,
"Two hours, maybe three…I can't remember." He shrugged; Mia gasped and placed her hands over her mouth,
"Now please don't say another sorry, I don't need your pity." He told her then walked away.
Mia caught up with him again,
"…Hey, I've been meaning to ask, when and why did you start calling me a panda—"
"I call you Panda like a noun—"
"What's the difference anyway?" Mia sighed,
"Pandas are clumsy, funny, humorous and dumb—"
"What make you think they're dumb—"
"Because they are clumsy—"
"Being clumsy isn't a sign of lack of intelligence—"
"And that's why you're a panda, Panda." Ethan smirked.
Mia wanted to say something but she couldn't find the words.
"C'mon, I know a place you'd really love to be."
---
"A Kayia Astley boutique at the mall! Seriously?—"
"C'mon Mia don't be so modest, women know exactly what they want but some are just so scared of owning it—"
"Oh so you think I want to spend my day at a store where I can't afford anything?? This is your idea of fun. Huh? I mean look at this dress," She paused as she held up the price tag, "This could be my entire month's salary—"
" Mm…Are you paid that little?—"
"The pay's decent, I think that's the only thing our crazy CEO did right for us—"
"Crazy huh?" Ethan smirked,
"…Yeah, something tells me he's behind making the manager giving us my friends and I a week of suspension. We've never even seen him in person, but somehow he knows everything that happens…Freaking sociopath."
"Sociopath." Ethan repeated,
"Yes…" Mia replied in matter-of-factly way.
"By the way, why are we even shopping for these clothes, it's not like I can wear them to work—"
"Tonight's the Kenato's 40th anniversary banquet, and we've been invited and that's why we are here." He replied in a stiff tone he hated.
"Oh…"
Before any of them had the chance to say another word, an older woman, elegantly dressed in a suit walked up to them and introduced herself in English as Ms. Ariake, the manager of the women's department.
"…We came in here for a dinner gown. Take me to the latest and most expensive." Ethan told her. She nodded then beckoned on them to follow and then led them to an entire aisle of dinner gowns.
"I cannot believe you dragged me out here to shop for a dinner—"
"No, to hang out." Ethan replied vaguely as he feasted his eyes on different racks, "If I wanted to get you a dress on my own, I could have easily done that. George took your stats remember?"
Mia blushed with embarrassment,
"That's…Right." She replied as she quickly walked to another rack and held up a dress,
"Hey, what do you think?"
"No. Too flowery." Ethan replied, then she took out two others, but he rejected them all.
"If I'm going to be wearing the dress can I at least pick it myself—"
"I want to pick only the perfect dress, I'll buy an entire rack if I have to, hell an entire aisle—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Chill out Tiger, it'd just dinner, a dress would do." She feigned a smile,
"Fine, I'm going to go get them an anniversary present. Pick out a dress. No! Two dresses you like and we'll see what I think…I'll be right back."
Mia smirked,
"Oh and 40th anniversaries are for rubies!"