šMAY
I?š
(r0m@nƧĀ£is a Meal)
;By Sommy Pearl F.
Chapter 7&8.
āāDO NOT COPY OR REPOSTāā
ā ā ā ā
Raymond quic-kly looked up. He studied the light bulb before returning his gaze to her.
“You…are that airport girl?” He asked.
May nodded.
“You recognize me? That’s a relief”
“Huh…Yeah, I do recognize you. You were the girl I gave a pack of cookies and a milk shake to eat?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I was sitting close to her…or rather, you were sitting close to me” May continued smiling.
“Yeah. So, what brings you here?” He asked.
“I…followed you” She muttered.
“Pardon?”
“Is this where you work? Wow. A restaurant-
“Excuse me,, I thought you were suppose to take a flight to Italy around noon. This is alre-ady late in the night. How come you ended up here late if you really followed me?”
“No… I wasn’t going to Italy. I was coming from Italy”
“Be honest”
“I am…. Are honest girls perhaps your ideal type?” May asked, and raised a brow.
Raymond sighed de-eply.
“Let’s say you c@mĀ£ back from Italy. I heard you just say,, you followed me here…Why are you here by this time then?, It’s late. I arrived here since afternoon”
May shook her head again.
“I never followed you”
“I heard you”
“You didn’t. You misheard me”
“So, what are you doing here then?”
May blinked her eyes. She remembered running out of the airport, taking a taxi that followed him all the way to his restaurant.
She had been looking at him all throu-gh that afternoon. She watched him talk and laugh to his family and friends. She also noticed he had no girlfriend…and that made her extremely happy.
She couldn’t go in since they were lot of people in the restaurant. She stayed un-der a tree, and thankfully, there was a bench. She was able to sit, rest and keep her things. She even ate there. When night c@mĀ£, Mosquitoes c@mĀ£ afterwards and showed her no mercy.
She felt bad she was stalking him. She guessed crushing on someone made her feel like a fool.
She couldn’t even call her mom. Her phone was the problem. She wanted to go home the next morning and explain things to her mom. Firstly, She had to look for where she would spend the night.
And then, she thought,, nothing wrong would come out of it in spending the night at his place.
Her joy knew no bounds when she saw Raymond walk out of the restaurant. She ran to him and there, she still was…staring and thinking.
“Hello? Aren’t you gonna reply? I said, what are you doing here? What do you want?” Raymond asked, disĀ£ngaging her from her thoughts.
May blinked her eyes,, hastily.
“Uh…I…I c@mĀ£ to eat”
“I’m sorry but we are closed. As you can see,, we aren’t running today. Rather, we are celebr@ting my welcome”
“Can’t you just cook a meal for me. I’m…hungry”
Raymond sighed.
“Go home. Home made food are preferable”
“My place is far from here. It’s late,, I’m scared to walk home”
“Then spend the night at a h0tel and order food. Good night” Raymond uttered and made to leave.
“You said a meal saves lives!” She suddenly shouted.
Raymond opened his eyes wi-dely and turned his head slowly to her.
“Save me. I’m hungry. Prepare a meal for me. I know you are a chef,, don’t ignore your customer or you are just gonna be a doctor who ignores a patient at the edge of death”
Raymond glared coldly into her eyes. He quic-kly gr@bbĀ£d her hand and pu-ll-ed her away.
He went to the back of the restaurant, opened the small door and led her in. May who was quite shocked said nothing.
Raymond led her to a chair, sat her down and kept her luggage beside her. He closed the door and kept his glas-s of wine on the cu-pboard.
He slowly walked back to her. He looked de-eply into her eyes and May looked back,, she tried to maintain eye contact with him but it was ha-rd .
Her eyes kept blinking and she kept gulping.
“I’m gonna take your order, What do you want?” He asked, briskly.
“I want your name” She smiled in a whisper.
“What?”
“I don’t know your name,, yet”
“Why do you keep doing and saying obnoxious things?”
“You asked me what I wanted? My response is your name”
“That wasn’t what I meant. I mean what’s do you wanna eat?”
“You should have spoken more accurately”
Raymond sighed. He was getting infuriated.
“Okay,, Pardon my Hangul. What do you wanna eat, I’m gonna take your order”
May placed her palm un-derneath her jaw and smiled wi-dely.
“I wanna eat yourl-ips” She whispered.
“….Pardon?”
“Huh?” May’s eyes blinked fast.
“What did you say?”
“…Nothing. I…I said…I wanna eat a hamburger. I’m fine with bottled water”
“It seems you don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?”
“Aiish! Does this place looks like I run a crabbie paddie restaurant?”
“What?”
“I ain’t Sponge Bob,, so I don’t do those. We don’t sell those either. I only deal with- Raymond paused and curved his brows.
“Didn’t you re-ad the restaurant sign post up earlier?” He asked.
“No, I didn’t. I was least interested in that” She replied.
“Then, what exactly were you interested in?”
“You” She smiled.
“What? Me?”
“What? Who? You? No…I wasn’t. I…I was just…What do you sell and make here then?”
“Whatever. You said you are from Italy, right?” Raymond asked.
“Yea…That’s where I c@mĀ£ from, like I said earlier” May answered.
“Yes, I agree. I saw you in the airport. Who am I kidding?” Raymond sm-irked.
“Yeah,, Why do you ask by the way?”
“You ate a lot in Italy, right?” He asked, avoiding her question.
May nodded.
“Hmm…Yes, I did. I ate a lot. You know food is life”
“Well, Goodnews. I run a Italian restaurant. We deal with Italian crusines and dishes here…different varieties”
“Oh wow”
“You said you are from Italy…Now, what Italian dish do you want me to make for you?”
“…Eh?”
“Tell me the Italian dish you wanna eat…The ones you ate during your stay in Italy. I’m gonna make any one for you,, as soon as possible” He said in a mischievous voice.
May swallowed ha-rd in fear. She was getting anxious alre-ady. She thought of using her phone to search for it but she remembered her phone’s screen state. It was blank and ha-rd to see throu-gh.
“What am I gonna do now?” She thought and bit her lowerl-ip.
“I’m waiting” Raymond said, allowing her heart to jump ha-rd .
Sandra’s Home,, 10:45pm***
Sandra slowly walked to the window. She pushed the curtains and stared outside.
Her phone was on her hand, while her glas-s of alcoholic beverage was in the other.
“Why isn’t she picking up?” Sandra thought, worriedly.
“Is she still in the plane?”
“Did she arrive safely?”
“Did anything happen?”
“Has she found a lounge alre-ady?”
“Did she eat?”
This thoughts and more circled her mind. She sighed again and dropped the champagne on the table close to her.
She used her phone and gave a call to May. It was her 151st call, that day.
As usual, she heard from the network service provider.
*plea-se, The person you are calling isn’t available. Try again later or leave a voice message at the end of the beep. Otherwise, hang up now*
Sandra didn’t hang up. She waited to hear the beep. After hearing that, She started crying.
“Baby, Are you okay there? Why aren’t you calling? You aren’t picking your calls either. What’s going on? You know I love you so much, huh? I believe in you. I cherish you. I adore you, May. plea-se, Make me proud. Live well, Stay well, Eat well…Mummy loves you, darling. Call me, plea-se…as soon as you receive this voice mail. Muah”
Sandra sĀ£nt it and kept her phone down. She closed the window and began to cry ha-rd . She placed her palm on her face, wailing as the free tears flowed down her eyes.
“I’m alone…again” She whispered.
TBC