The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

88: Remember to Have Fun

"Hm," I tapped my chin, thinking hard. "Another 'A'. I feel like this is some sort of prank the staff are playing on us." I remarked as Zhuo Zhi and I walked away from the spinning teacup ride.

"So our clues so far are L, S, A and A," Zhuo Zhi listed, confusion lacing his tone. "Your English is better than mine, Yue En. You'll need to help our team out with this."

"It might not even be an English word," I shrugged, glancing over to the signpost where it directed us to the Riverside Adventure attraction. "It might be the pronunciation of some Chinese phrase."

"You're right," Zhuo Zhi sighed, walking next to me as we made our way through the not-so-huge crowd across the park. "We'll ask Jia Le and Bai Yang for their clues when we meet them."

"At least we have a better chance of guessing correctly," I added, my purse hitting the side of my hip as we walked on briskly.

"Mhm," Zhuo Zhi nodded. "I have to go to the restroom for a moment, by the way," he said as we walked past the restrooms, its doors wedged into the whitewashed walls of a one-story building randomly placed between restaurants.

"I'll wait outside," I offered. I leaned against the wall of the building as Zhuo Zhi disappeared behind the door of the men's restroom, waiting patiently. I watched as people of all ages flocked past me with happy, excited beams on their faces while they made their way through the amusement park. Children screamed in delight as they chased each other around adults' legs, while couples ageing from young adult to middle age looked on with exasperated smiles. A few grandparents laughed at their grandchildren's naive behaviour, calling after them to be careful to not bump into anyone.

Someone emerged from behind the restroom doors and I straightened, wondering how Zhuo Zhi had taken so fast to use the restroom. Unexpectedly, my eyes landed on a skinny elderly man around my height sprouting wispy white hairs on the top of his head. I could see that his face was written in a map of wrinkles he looked at me. He held a broom and dustpan in each hand and wore a cleaner's uniform.

"Ah, good afternoon, Uncle," I greeted politely and stepped aside to make way for the old man.

"Good afternoon to you too, Girl. Nice hair clip." The friendly old man's eyes twinkled when he smiled, deep crinkles forming near his mouth as he referred to my pinwheel hair clip. "It's terribly hot today. Why are you standing out here?"

"Just waiting for my friend," I explained shortly, tilting my head to the restrooms behind me.

"Alright. Remember to have fun, you and your friend both!" The old man reminded kindly, letting go of his dustpan to wave a hand.

I returned a warm grin of my own. "Of course, Uncle. Have a nice day!"

The old man smiled earnestly once more, like how a grandfather smiles at their grandchild. He turned away and began sweeping up the litter on the ground, gathering plastic wrappers, tissues and dead leaves in his dustpan. The scorching sunlight shone ruthlessly on his back, his shirt already soaked with sweat before I had met him. The old man straightened up to wipe the sweat off his forehead tiredly, then bent back down to continue sweeping.

Something about the old man's behaviour evoked a feeling in me-- sympathy, it might have been. The old man being shunned by other visitors passing by him, not even giving him a second glance. Some even casually dropped their rubbish on the ground beside the old man, then walked on without a word of 'thanks'. It took me one more second of observing the old man that made me jump into action.

I glanced back to the restroom to make sure Zhuo Zhi hadn't come out yet, then jogged across the road to a drink vending machine. I rummaged through my purse for loose change and inserted them into the slot, pressing on one of the buttons for a drink. A bottle clattered to the bottom of the machine and I picked it out of the port. A thought popped into my mind and I decided to buy two more bottles of iced tea as well.

I ran back to the other side of the road while hugging three plastic bottles of iced tea in my hand. My eyes darted over to the old man, still sweeping the road, and I walked up to him briskly.

"Uncle, here," I said, holding out one of the bottles to the old man, its cold temperature numbing my fingertips.

The old man looked up and his greying eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Is this for me, Girl?"

"Mhm," I nodded, giving him a pleasant smile. "It's a hot day today, isn't it?"

His bright eyes flickered from the bottle in my hand, back to my face. "Are you... sure I can take it?" he asked hesitantly, seeming embarrassed to accept the iced tea.

"Ye-es, Uncle."

The old man smiled again, this time his face lit with gratitude as he took the bottle of iced tea from my hand. "I appreciate your kindness, Girl. Thank you."

"Yue En!" I heard a familiar masculine voice behind me, and in seconds Zhuo Zhi appeared at my side. He looked from me to the old man in puzzlement. "What happened?"

I grinned, tossing another bottle of iced tea at Zhuo Zhi. He reacted fast and caught it deftly while I explained, "I gave him something to drink. It's very warm today."

"Hello, hello," the old man beamed welcomingly at Zhuo Zhi. "Are you her friend? Or her boyfriend?"

"Just friends, Uncle," I quickly added, sliding my finger sheepishly along the lines in my iced tea bottle.

Zhuo Zhi looked similarly awkward to the old man's casual comment. "Good afternoon to you, Uncle," he addressed kindly. "Uncle, have you eaten?" He added.

"Not yet. Have you kids eaten yet?" The old man asked in response, unscrewing the cap on his bottle.

"Neither have we," A mysterious smile appeared on Zhuo Zhi's face, making me wonder what he was up to. "Uncle, stay here for a moment," Zhuo Zhi said, then walked away from me and the old man swiftly.

Curious, I tagged after Zhuo Zhi, having to run to keep up with his wide strides as we weaved through the flocks of visitors. "Senior, where are you going?"

"Just wait," Zhuo Zhi told me, halting in front of a bun stall. The last customer had just left the queue and Zhuo Zhi moved up to the counter nimbly. "Hello, I would like to order three steamed buns?" he asked politely, pressing a money note to the counter.

"Three?" I gawked at him as the owner acknowledged Zhuo Zhi's order. "The old man can't eat that many, right?"

Zhuo Zhi chuckled at my statement. "No, I'm just getting one for him," he said, then held up the bottle of water that he clutched in his other hand, grinning. "By the way, thanks for the iced tea."

"No problem,"

The owner of the stall packed the steamed buns in three paper bags each. Zhuo Zhi handed one to me and held on to the other two bags as we jogged back to the old man, still sweeping the road with the bottle of iced tea half-dangling out of his trousers' pocket. I slowed my footsteps, straying a distance from Zhuo Zhi and the old man as I watched their exchange. The old man looked very humbled to have received food from Zhuo Zhi, refusing at first, but after a bit more convincing he accepted the bag.

While Zhuo Zhi made his way back to me, the old man was waving at us with the friendliest, cheeriest smile I've seen on someone in a long time.

"The old man was really nice," I sighed, taking a bite of my steamed bun. I hadn't realised I was hungry until I swallowed a mouthful of it.

"He was, wasn't he?" Zhuo Zhi agreed, a mild smile etched on his face. "It was pretty worth it."

I quickened my pace, edging Zhuo Zhi to do the same as I chewed on another bite of steamed bun. "Before we start talking, I think we should start running to find Jia Le and Bai Yang now, Senior Zhuo Zhi."

☆ ☆ ☆

This was initially part of the previous chapter but it became too long, so I made it a separate chapter. I wanted to write this to sort of show a kind, friendly side of the two main characters and how they act around others besides their friends, I think it's an important side to show if you want to judge one's character.

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~ Snowy ♡