Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

39. Store Visit

Haresa

Sheldon was slow to react to a lot of the surroundings around him. I wasn't sure if it was because he was still feeling sick or if it was because he was still processing everything.

The grocery store was fairly and the fluorescent lights flickered over the condensed stacks of food on shelves. There was a lot of fruit and vegetables stacked as well from jackfruit to mangoes to bitter melon.

Sheldon had his arms crossed over himself and he seemed to be shivering.

"Why is it cold in here? It's already cold outside," he muttered to himself.

"It's to keep the produce fresh," I remarked and he gave me another glare. I shrugged it off and began walking toward the snack aisle.

He quickly caught up to me. "Do we need a shopping cart?"

"No, it's not like we're going to buy that much."

He shrugged and kept his eyes to the ground. I hoped the grey-ish white tiles were interesting to him because I was struggling to make small talk with him.

The air wasn't as cold when we got to the aisles with shelves full of preserves. A few steps later I was able to find the snacks.

"Here we are. We might have to look around for a while since this store carries a variety of Asian food. I know a lot of Chinese and Filipino folks buy from here too but they carry lots of Vietnamese stuff." I put my hands on my waist, somewhat proud of myself for showing him around.

He didn't seem to listen as his eyes were locked on something.

I followed his gaze and saw he was staring at a yellow and red bag. The word "Tipo" was scrawled on it and my eyes lit up.

"Does that look like a good— Hey, what the heck are you doing? We have to pay before we try eating it!"

Sheldon was in mid-motion of ripping open the bag. It didn't break yet but it was very close to it. He was crouching down and was now looking up at me with a blank expression, like as if he was in a trance.

"Do you uh... want that then?" I leaned down to grab a bag and had a better look at the label. "Cream and egg cookies? Do you want these for your presentation? Ah, they're made in Vietnam too. So that's good."

"Ah, right. That."

"You forgot already?!"

He gave me a side-eye and looked back to the shelf. "How many do you think we would need?"

"Enough for twenty people, I think? But there's gonna be a lot of food so we shouldn't worry about buying too many packs... Aaaand you're taking the whole shelf, okay that's fine."

Sheldon struggled to carry the bags in his arms and I found myself staring at him in horror.

I scratched my head and sighed. "Maybe we should get the shopping cart after all."

After a very awkward transaction and losing sixty dollars of my allowance, we stood outside Xu's store.

"Thanks for paying," Sheldon mumbled under his breath and adjusted his grip on the plastic bags.

"I wasn't going to let you just rob the place," I huffed. "If you want to eat there's a park right next to the store. So don't think about eating outside here or else you might drop it on the ground."

"Did you have to say it in such an annoying way?"

"I paid for you. I'm not letting my money go to waste."

"Understood."

He sped walk to the park and I had no trouble keeping up with him. By the time we arrived, he was sweating and huffing and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Out of shape?" I asked.

"Shut up." He wiped the back of his forehead. "You're lucky you got super speed."

"We didn't even walk that far."

Sheldon propped himself on the park picnic table, sitting on the very top part instead of the bench. He placed the bags next to him and I reluctantly sat next to him. He took the bag and ripped it open with his teeth. I stared at him with awe as he greedily took out another packet, opened it, and then ate it quickly.

"So, you've eaten this snack before?" I asked him.

He continued to chew the snack but it slowed down the moment I asked the question. His eyes looked watery but he kept his neutral expression.

"Yeah." He finally said with his mouth still full.

"So, your, uh, creator did give you snacks? I heard you never tried ice cream so it would make sense that Viet—"

"No. That man did nothing for me." He swallowed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Then... how do you know it?"

That was when the first tear fell. He seemed to have a hard time holding back as a forcefield surrounded him. The barrier between us was thick and the greenish-brown tint of the forcefield only made it harder to see his expression.

"A... instructor. I suppose I can call him that." His voice was muffled through the barrier. His knees were now pressed up to his chest with one arm wrapped around them.

I decided not to push the topic further. "Well, he sounds cool."

He met my gaze briefly and gave a curt nod.

"He was."