You Would Never Know

XXVII | Everything Goes South

Each time I come here, I learn all over again how cold it is in Switzerland. The air is cold and crisp; you can smell it, hear it, and feel it. The wispy breeze was ruthless, so I made sure that my skin never came into contact with it. Each one of us was wrapped up from head to toe in warm and thick clothes to avoid the winter's chill.

It's not like it's not cold in Italy, but I believe there's a difference between a winter in Italy and a winter in Switzerland.

"Oh, my Lord, it's so cold. Why did we even come here?" Esmeralda grumbled, and the rest followed along. "It's so cold, even breathing hurts."

Jonah wholeheartedly agreed, as he kept trying to warm himself up by rubbing on his arms. "I literally look like a panda with all these layers of clothes. Plus, all of this is pointless; all you're doing is walking around like there's no end, and we're following along like little ducklings."

He turned to Abel to question his sanity, as he was the only person to not protest and whine. "Say something."

"Shut the fuck up."

I snorted, proud of Abel's response.

The whole time, I didn't bother to respond to their whining, as it would stop soon.

"Here it is." They all started to look around to see what I was talking about, and that made me realize how stupid my friends are, so I pointed at the spot for them to look.

"Seriously?" Diana muttered under her breath, and I nodded in response and said, "Yes, seriously, this is one of the main reasons as to why someone should come to Switzerland. For this delicious, out-of-this-world hot chocolate." I could literally smell the sweetness from here, and my heart is giddy, ready to leap out of its cage, knowing that I'll finally get to sip my favorite hot chocolate after such a long time.

The idea to bring them to this spot didn't just fall upon me; it was because Abel whispered earlier in my ear while the entire group was goofing around in my hotel room that he desperately craved hot chocolate. Of course, since he's the birthday boy, he was going to receive everything he wished for, so I immediately announced to everyone that we're going somewhere.

"One sip will have you kissing the ground I walk on." Me and Abel took the liberty to enter the small space side by side, as the rest had no choice but to follow.

I was going to order for them the same thing as me since they all chose to trust my choice, but the old man couldn't hear me because of how low my voice was, so Abel did it for me.

He was practically reciting the order word for word, just like how I'd word it. It was like he memorized my order by heart, even though I never told him it in the first place.

I side-eyed him before rolling my eyes at his stalker behavior. "I bet you even know about the mole I have on my butt."

Abel gave me a boyish smile as he responded, "I actually didn't know, but thanks for me telling me."

I raise my brows as I fake a surprised expression and say, "So you're telling me there is still some mystery between us? Love that!" All I received in return was a wink as he continued smiling, clearly having the time of his life today.

A few minutes later, our order was ready. I took my wallet out to pay, but Abel immediately grabbed it with his left hand and tucked it back in my purse while he handed the old man the money. I opened my mouth to argue, but one glare from him shut me up.

Each of us grabbed a warm cup, and we went back outside, returning to the cold weather. "Come on, drink it while it's warm," I advised, sounding like a mother. They complied, and their expressions gave it away. "You can thank me later," I smugly said.