The vibrant city lights of London brightened up the night and the colourful illuminations reflected along the River Thames, bedazzling the onlookers who were lounging by the Riverside Walk. It was now 6:50 PM and the chilly autumn night settled in. 

Ein felt his strength return, his light-headedness had vanished and the dull pain inside his head subsided. He was now sitting upright beside Henry on the wooden bench.

"I'm sorry if my request sounds… a little unreasonable." Ein sighs.

"It's all right Ein, no one blames you for forgetting. As I said earlier, memories fade with time, so you don't need to apologise." A warm smile forms on Henry's face.

"I know it's presumptuous of me to ask such a favour, you don't have to oblige, Henry."

A chilly autumn breeze sweeps the length of the Riverside Walk along St. George's Wharf. The wind was icy and both men shivered as they felt the temperature drop. It looks like it was time for both of them to head back indoors.

"...Thank you." Ein mumbles.

"For what?"

"You were a reliable cushion and also for helping me while we were stuck in the elevator earlier…" A feeble smile forms on Ein's lips.

Henry got gobsmacked as he saw Ein donning a genuine smile.

"Doctor Arnaut told me that you did first aid on me, and for that I'm grateful." Ein fixes his coat and rises from his seat. "It's getting cold we should head-"

Ein's remark got interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling in hunger. It was already dinnertime and both men had spent more than an hour sitting on the bench. Henry trembled as he tried to hold in his laughter while Ein's complexion had become red as a tomato due to embarrassment.

"I-I'm heading h-home! Thanks again, H-Henry." Ein stammers as he bids farewell to Henry. He covers his face with his hand, his thoughts were telling him to make a run for it and avoid the shame he brought to himself.

"Wait a second Ein!"

As Ein was about dash off, he felt a gentle tug on the back. He turns his head and sees Henry, holding onto his coat's rear vent. 

"I'll help you remember," Henry mumbles and meets Ein's gaze.

"...What?"

"Let's talk it out over dinner." Henry tightens his grip on Ein's coat. "I'll cook dinner tonight and let's talk about it." His eyes sparkled and an eager smile appeared on Henry's face.

***

'Ein, look what you've done. Looks like your questioning backfired, you've bothered Henry again with your antics. But wait! Henry knows something that I forgot! It's just dinner, so there's no harm, plus I get a free meal too.'

My thoughts were a mess as I followed Henry to his home. After boarding the lift, we alighted on the 12th floor of Aquarius House. Both of us were walking along the corridor leading to his flat after he invited me over for dinner earlier.

I couldn't refuse his offer, Henry had this pitiful expression on his face, it pulled my heartstrings as he looked like a feeble puppy begging for attention. Not to mention, I was hungry and a part of me wanted to sort out the issue with my lost memories. Henry's shotgun dinner invitation made perfect sense since I can kill two birds with one stone.

"By the way, do you have any food allergies Ein?"

"No allergies for me, I'm good with anything."

"That's good to hear, how about any food preferences? Do you have a dislike for a certain food or ingredient?" Henry glances at me inquisitively.

"I don't like bitter melons and gourds." I groaned.

"All right! I'll make sure to avoid those then." He chuckles.

Henry's pace slowed down and eventually stopped in front of the door of 12J. His flat was the end of the hallway, just beside the emergency fire exit. It reminded me of the layout of my home as well… Only mine was situated on the 16th floor of Phoenix House.

"We're here." 

Henry takes out a keycard from his pocket and inserts it on the knob, he then dials in the access code on the numpad. 

"I apologise in advance if the place is a little messy." Henry smiled at me sheepishly as he opened and held the door for me.

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Henry closed the door gently after I walked inside, he then tapped my shoulder. "Oh! By the way, leave your shoes here on the entryway, feel free to stow away your bag and coat on the top shelf and wear this so it'll be more comfortable." He grabs a pair of soft, grey fabric indoor loafers from the bottom shelf and hands it over to me.

Henry quickly stows away his shoes and bag on the alcove, he then takes the pair of black knitted cotton slippers from the bottom shelf and wears them. "I'll go on ahead and do prep in the kitchen. If you need to use the washroom, it's the sliding door with a black handle near the living area. The mirrored door beside it leads to my room, so you better avoid that one." He then bolts toward the kitchen and the lighting inside the flat turns on, illuminating the rest of the space.

I took off my shoes and placed them on the middle shelf, there was also space to leave bags above it, so I stowed my satchel and hung my suit coat on one of the hangers. The slippers Henry gave to me were comfortable and the shoe size was just right.

As I entered Henry's flat, I was amazed by the cleanliness of the home. There was a faint smell of paint, the flooring had been fitted with dark mahogany planks and the walls were painted white. It felt like his home was recently renovated. His apartment was powered by motion sensors as the lighting adjusted its luminosity as I wandered further into the living room.

The furnishings inside were all simple, modern and clean; the lack of decorations like artwork or collectables made it look like a modern minimalist's flat. His home adapted an open plan as the living room seamlessly opened up to the dining and kitchen area. The floor-to-ceiling windows also made the space bigger, as the apartment was a corner unit that had a balcony. It reminded me of the affluent, modern Japanese apartments that I see on Asian dramas on the telly.

"You call this messy?" I raised an eyebrow at Henry who was busy washing his hands on the kitchen sink.

“Well, I haven’t unpacked and arranged everything yet. Haha!” Henry laughs nervously as he wipes his hands dry with a towel. He takes out a small, glass container from the fridge, it was like a jar filled with jam.

"I think the word bare would fit your home better." 

"True." Henry groans. "Most of the decor is not yet sorted out, I'm almost done unpacking the rest of my stuff.” He takes out a glass mug from the cupboard and fills it with hot water.

“Your place looks good though… I noticed the faint smell of paint when I got inside, you’ve done renovations?”

“Yup! Originally, this place was a dark and outdated three-bedroom flat. I got some contractors to freshen up the place since I needed a dwelling that could also serve as a studio. The interior designer removed the third bedroom and combined the two adjacent bedrooms into one. So I ended up with just one bedroom with an en suite and a large kitchen and living space.” Henry hands me a glass mug filled with warm tea. 

“The heating just turned on, that will help you warm up, Ein. It’s honey, lemon and ginger tea, it’s a good remedy for nausea too." He then heads back to the kitchen to do more prep work.

“Anyway! Make yourself comfortable and feel free to sit anywhere you like.” He grabs one of his kitchen knives from the drawers and honed the blade. “I’ll whip up something quick."

"All right, I'll leave it to you, Henry." I took a seat on one of the cushioned stools by the kitchen island and watched Henry as he took out several ingredients from his pantry cabinet. 

I drank a bit of the tea that Henry gave me, it was refreshing as the scent of lemon and the warmth of ginger soothed my palate, the addition of honey complimented the spice and it was easy to swallow. 

Henry then takes out a bag of peeled prawns from the fridge and a packet of pasta from the pantry cabinets. “Ein, you don’t mind spicy food?”

“Spicy is fine for me.” 

“Glad to know!” Henry then takes out a pasta pot, fills it with water, seasons it and places it on the stove to boil. “Dinner’s gonna be Shrimp Aglio e Olio, it should be ready in under thirty minutes.”

"Sounds good, I'll look forward to it."

I took another sip of the tea, it was good. The citrus flavour and the spiciness of it make me feel nostalgic. There was something about its golden hue that seemed familiar. I never really liked spiced tea like Masala Chai and Cinnamon Tea since the spices would overwhelm the tea. What weirded me out is that I didn’t mind the taste of the one I’m drinking now, in fact, I enjoyed it. It didn’t taste like those poorly made ginger infusion tea bags you buy in the grocer. 

“Did you brew this tea, Henry?”

“Yes…” His ears flushed red as he responded to my inquiry. Henry tosses the pasta noodles onto the boiling pot.

"It's quite tasty, may I have the recipe for this?"

“Ein… you were the one that taught me how to make that in the past.” He grabs a bulb of garlic from the counter.

"Really?" My jaw drops in shock. I didn't expect that my younger self did such things. "I… must have forgotten about it then." I then finished the drink and placed the cup on the counter. 

"I told you, I'll help you remember, Ein." Henry lets out a soft chuckle. "I'll teach you the recipe after dinner, that should help you remember some things." 

"Yeah… hopefully." I groaned as I watched Henry swiftly peel and mince an entire bulb of garlic.

"Don't feel bad, Ein." Henry grabs a pan from the rack and preheats it on the stovetop. "If it helps, do you want to talk about how we met?" He pours a liberal amount of olive oil onto the pan.

"Truth be told, I'm really curious about that…” I scratched my head as I recalled the image of Henry as a child inside my thoughts. “I’m also wondering why you appeared as a beaten-up kid too.”

Henry chucks the minced garlic onto the pan. The smell of sauteed garlic fills the room, he then adds chilli flakes, tosses in the prawns and seasons it with salt and pepper. 

“Ein, we used to live in a shared council house in Henley-on-Thames, I was a minor back then and you were the eldest amongst the group.” He then gazed at me with a worried expression.

“The house we shared was a shelter for abuse victims, I was the youngest out of all of us and you took care of me during my stay there.” Henry sighs, “We lived together for two months, you were my roommate back then too.” Henry drains the cooked pasta from the pot and tosses it to the pan.

“That makes sense… Now I know why you appeared in my thoughts with bruises.” I then remembered the dream wherein I gave chase to Henry. “Is that also the reason why you tried… to run away and tried to kill yourself?”

I saw Henry’s eyes dilate in shock. He then turns off the stove and sets down the spatula from his hand.

"You remembered it, Ein?"