The whole place was a maze of tables and benches, people carrying trays of food while dodging each other as they find their seats, random kiosks spaced unevenly across the wide hall, buss personnel pushing their trays of used plates and utensils, and...
"Wait a minute," I said after making sure I scanned the whole area for at least three times. "What happened to the drinking fountains? There used to be drinking stations for the customers, right?"
"Oh that?" Jiwoo answered. "Gone. Years ago. They now sell ZM Mall branded bottled water."
"Capitalism." I joked. "Never mind that. What are we eating?"
Jiwoo scratched his head with his left hand, his right still holding mine. "What do you feel like eating? There's all sorts of food here: Sizzling Plate, Pao Tsin for Chinese snacks, you name it, they have everything here."
"Where do you want to take your boyfriend for a date?" I asked Jiwoo teasingly.
Jiwoo let go of my hand and started scratching his head faster and harder this time around.
"Fuck! I swear I wanted to take you somewhere better. But I don't really have a lot of cash on me right now. I thought I could cook you something special for lunch, but I screwed up that plan because –"
"You were screwing me," I finished his sentence for him, laughing.
It was Jiwoo's turn to blush, and slowly, he returned my smile.
"I'm really sorry, BJ. You deserve better."
"Oh, shut up." I said, taking back Jiwoo's hand and dragging him towards the Sizzling Plate corner. "Stop worrying about that stuff, alright?"
To be honest, I got scared for a second there. I was really just teasing Jiwoo when I asked him which fast food he'd like for us to eat. I wasn't expecting him to be all sensitive about getting me fancy stuff.
I guess that's something we should work on for this relationship to work.
I fell in line to order food with Jiwoo right beside me. A dozen other gay guys and ladies suddenly changed their store choices and started lining up after Jiwoo.
And as usual, Jiwoo seemed oblivious about it and I'm not sure whether I'm okay with that.
"Hello sir, what would you like to order?" the lady at the counter asked.
Right in front of her was an array of fake sizzling plates with amazingly realistic models of the different dishes they sell. I gave it a quick scan and immediately chose that one thing I've been meaning to eat ever since I came back home.
"Pork Sisig, please." I ordered, pointing at the replica to the far left. "And a tall glass of pineapple juice, please."
"Two hundred five pesos, sir. You can get a free banana from the central counter if you present this receipt."
"I'll pay for that," Jiwoo told the lady at the counter as she gave me a spoon and a fork wrapped in tissue paper. Jiwoo slid a brown tray towards me and motioned for me to follow the person to my left.
I could hear Jiwoo ordering a pork chop set and a tall glass of root beer. I heard the lady telling Jiwoo the total amount as well as her spiel about the free bananas.
"Here's your meal, sir," said another lady as she carefully placed the sizzling and smoking plate of Sisig with the most amazing half-cooked egg on top. "And here's your tall glass of pineapple juice."
"Thank you." I greeted her as I lifted my tray and moved to the side to wait for Jiwoo.
Jiwoo got his meal right after. But I guess it was more than a meal.
YOU ARE READING
Absinthe
RomanceBJ, an internationally renowned financial analyst , is in perfect control of everything. His competence and skills brought him to the top of his career and success seemed to follow him everywhere. But this set up comes with a catch - he needs to h...
