Yesterday, Meryl and I decided to go out on a date this Saturday. Don’t bother to remember if there’s a scene like that in the previous chapter because that conversation is not there. It was not included because this story will be a lot longer if I included everything that happens in my life so I’m only picking the interesting ones to tell for you to read. Breaking the fourth wall aside, Meryl and I decided to meet at the bus station before 1 pm. It is an iron rule to arrive fifteen minutes before a date but out of nervousness, I arrived one hour earlier.

“Am I really that excited?” I asked to myself while watching different people pass by.

After half an hour, Meryl finally arrived. She is wearing a white sleeveless blouse designed with frills and a red flared mini-skirt. Her hair that is usually loose became a pony-tail with a big ribbon design. Because of her new image, it left my mouth hanging open.

“What time did you arrive here?” she asked with a somewhat worried face.

“Huh?” I reacted in a dumb-founded face.

Jeez, I got entranced too much! I have to say something!

“Ju...just a minute ago so don’t worry,” I whispered as I try to maintain my usual serious face.

“I thought that I will be the first one here. It is still this early you know,” she commented with a slight surprised look.

I then averted my gaze and replied, “You can’t blame me. I can’t relax at home so I decided to go here as early as I can.”

She then gave me a smile and said, “Then, let’s go.”

After walking for a short distance, we arrived at the destination. Then, I got surprised from the unbelievable level of crowd everywhere I look. What the heck is with this unusual amount of people?

“Is there an event here?” I asked to Meryl.

“You don’t know? This was the hottest topic last week you know,” she reacted with a shocked expression.

“No one told me about this or rather...no one talked to me except you this past week in the school,” I answered in a straight face.

“Daniel Ranilla will arrive here.”

“Daniel Ranilla? Who the heck is that?”

“You don’t know him? He is the most popular male artist of our generation, you know,” she said with a slight surprised face.

“I…really don’t know,” I followed indifferently.

“So you’re a shut-in. In a room where there is no T.V. that is,” Meryl whispered with a pitying sigh.

“How did you know?” I asked with a shocked expression.

“It’s quite obvious,” she retorted with a neutral look.

“I am always watching anime every night so I don’t have time to watch news and late night shows,” I explained seriously.

“Anime?” she repeated, clearly clueless about the word.

Explaining from the start is very hard you know so let’s go back to the previous topic instead.

“Don’t tell me that you are a fan of that Ranilla too,” I said with squinted eyes.

She got surprised from my question and said, “Fan?”

“...”

She gave me a teasing smile and said, “What if I said yes? Will you get jealous?”

“W-why would I be jealous?” I said, surprised from that sudden reply.

“I’m just joking. Well, he is indeed handsome but my type is the one who usually pretend to sleep during break time at school just to avoid conversations,” she followed with a teasing smile.

I averted my gaze and replied, “I don’t know if you are just mocking me or not.”

“Do I look like a liar to you?” she asked with a serious face.

I looked at her and said, “Fine, fine. You are the most honest girl that I’ve ever met. I just don’t get the people who really admires idol to the extent that touching one can make them jump very happily like a fool. They are just humans like them you know.”

I can understand them if they will do that when they’ve saw Minori[1] in flesh. She is not a real human after all. Minori walking around...and a handshake...darn...I’m drooling.

“Well, I am not in that level so I can’t really understand too,” Meryl followed.

“Well, humans have different beliefs so understanding one another is not that easy.”

“Right,” she said with a smile.

I guess that even if our attitudes are almost polar opposites, we an still agree on some things.

“Anyway, I didn’t expect that the crowd around here will be this many. What if we got separated? Meryl, how about deciding a place to meet if that happens,” I suggested.

“Separate?” she repeated in a puzzled look.

“For the worst case scenario that is. Where do you want to meet?”

Wait…I forgot about the existence of cell phones. That is a loner for you.

She bowed her head and became silent for a minute.

“Meryl?” I called.

She looked at me with blushed cheeks and said, “How about...we hold hands?”

What the…holding hands? The sign of affection between couples in love! It looks like I’m progressing without doing anything special! But aren’t we moving a little too fast?

While waiting for my reply, Meryl continued staring at me with unusual charming eyes. Like I can resist something like this!

“Well...if you insist...” I said and held her right hand using my left hand.

Her hand is so soft and small compared to mine. What the heck is this feeling? My heart is beating so fast just from this. I’m not going to be surprised if blood suddenly gushed out from my nose. This is so embarrassing that I could die any second.

We stared at each other for a minute and after a while, we realized that our worlds stopped, making both of us surprised.

“W-well...let’s enter,” I said with a flustered expression.

“O-kay,” she whispered shyly.

After that, we explored the crowded mall, we watched a movie, and we ate at a restaurant. When the clock went past six PM, we decided to go home. Because the traffic is at worst, we arrived at the bus station very late.

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“What a traffic,” I said after we got down from the bus.

“Well, we went home the same time as those Daniel’s fans after all.”

Darn that Ranilla. He showed up just to cause trouble for common folks like me. I hope that he will never appear here again.

“The time really flies just like that. It is already seven before I know it,” Meryl said after glimpsing at her wrist watch.

“Do you have a curfew or something?” I asked.

Because of my question, Meryl’s face somehow became sad.

With a sad smile, she replied, “Well, I’m living alone so don’t worry.”

Living alone? Well, asking here some questions is not appropriate.

“Well, let’s go,” I said and started walking.

Spending time with your girlfriend is indeed mysterious. Even though you are just both wasting time by walking around, talking about nonsense and the like, you can still find the word ‘happiness’ on it. I wonder why? Well, I think it is because humans are simpleton beings. The smallest things can make them really happy. As long as they treasure something, no matter how pointless and waste of time something is, they don’t care about that except the fact that they are with the ones they love. B-but that doesn’t mean that I already love Meryl. Don’t misunderstand me!

“Orel?” Meryl called because of my sudden silence.

I got lost in my thoughts again.

“We’re already in front of your home. I guess I will now take my leave then,” I said after we reached the front gate of her apartment complex. It is a two storey building with six compartments on each floor.

Just before I took my first step away from the gate of her apartment complex, Meryl suddenly stopped me from going by calling my name.

“Orel,” she called with a reluctant face.

“Hmm? Why?”

“It’s already eight. How about eating dinner here? I will just reheat the foods so it won’t take that long.”

“Dinner?”

“If it is fine.”

Once again, my cross flashed the red light and formed these words in front of me:

[Agree.]

[Disagree.]

Is there even a need to generate these choices? Of course I will agree.

“Well, I already told my little sister that I will be late so...being late a little more is not that bad, right?”

Because of my reply, Meryl gave me a smile.

“Then, let’s enter,” she said with her usual cheerful smile.

Meryl’s home is indeed smaller compared to my house. I think it is just more than 50 sq. m. in total. I sat down in front of the small table at the living room and waited for Meryl’s cooking to be finished. Well, you can only found two doors except the main entrance so those might be the door of her room and the door of the bathroom. The living room serves as her dining room and the kitchen can be found behind the big divider cabinet where the noisy TV is. Well, that is the rough blueprint of her house. As for the design, it is just fairly common with few picture frames hanged at the walls and figurines inside the divider cabinet. The entire house is clean and fragrant that it gave me a conclusion that she was always cleaning this whole house every now and then. But anyway…I wonder how her bedroom looks like.

“Thanks for the wait,” Meryl said, wearing an apron on top of her casual clothes while carrying a small casserole. She placed everything we needed to the small table in front of us. After the plates and others have been placed in the table, Meryl said, “Well, I am the only one eating here so the table is quite small” with a somewhat sad smile.

Well, from the smell of the pot, I think this is...

“Is that a pork stew?” I asked.

“Yup,” Meryl answered with a smile.

“Perfect. That is my favorite,” I said with anticipation clearly seen in my eyes.

“Really? I am not really confident about this. Is your Mom the one who is cooking in your house?”

My mom, huh.

“Nope. It’s my little sister. She is one year younger than me but her cooking skills are quite impressive.”

“Well...let’s see if my cooing is as good as your sister’s. Let’s eat,” she muttered with a smile.

“Well then,” I said and grabbed my spoon.

“Wait a minute,” Meryl whispered to stop me.

“Huh? Why?” I asked curiously.

“Let’s pray,” she said with an unusual enthusiastic smile.

It looks like she is really looking forward to eating with someone. I wonder how long since she ate with someone.

“Orel, are you a catholic?”

“Where did that come from?”

“Anyway, just answer it,” she said excitedly.

“Well, yes.”

“Then, lead the prayer."

“Huh?” I reacted with a surprised face.

“Yup. Aren’t you doing this at home?” she answered cheerfully.

“Well, my little sister is the one who always do that thing. My father and I only say ‘amen’ at the end.”

She then chuckled and said, “Then, say what your sister always says. You can do it,” she said with a smile.

Well, I can’t let her down. This is a rare request after all. Wait…what is it again? I can’t fully remember that prayer. I think it goes like this.

“Lord, bless our food so it can become our strength in body, mind and spirit…amen.”

Darn, that is just a quarter of her prayer. Forgive me, Sylph. It looks like I am not praying with my heart all this time.

“Amen,” she followed and gave me a smile.

After we ate, Meryl washed the dishes in the kitchen while I am watching the TV at the corner of the house. Well, I am more comfortable in the corner after all. After Meryl finished, she went to the living room and sat down on the floor.

“Why are you at the corner?” Meryl asked curiously.

“Don’t mind me,” I replied with an unusual relaxed expression.

“Then...” she whispered and sat down in front of me with a smile.

Uhmm…I’m watching, you know. You’re blocking the television. Well, I think she wants to talk so I might as well start gathering information about her.

“Is it hard to live alone?” I asked with a serious face.

“Well, the only sad part is that there is no one to talk to when I want to,” she replied with a smile.

So that explains why she is so friendly towards others.

“Where are your parents?”

“…”

Because of my question, she bowed her head for a couple of seconds and gave me a sad smile.

“If you don’t want to answer, it’s fine,” I followed, trying to be considerate as much as possible.

“It’s okay. You see, my mother already passed away. She died after giving birth to me. That is why only my father and I are left here in this world.”

“Sorry.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because of my question...”

“It’s no big deal. And…I want you to know more about me anyway,” she continued with slight red cheeks.

“I…see,” I replied and averted my gaze out of embarrassment.

“My father is currently working as a musician in Europe so he sends all the money I need. Thanks to that, I can somehow survive here even if I am not working.”

“Then, where are your relatives? Why don’t you live with them?”

“My father said that they are quite far from here and also, he got disowned by them but I don’t know why.”

“How about the relatives of your mother?”

“According to my father, he started living alone in this apartment after he got disowned by his parents. He studied for college while working as a part-timer. One night after he finished working, he saw a girl walking with a very sad expression. He got surprised when she suddenly crossed the pedestrian lane even though the stop light is still green. Luckily, he somehow grabbed her hand and saved her from getting hit by a truck. That is their fateful meeting. According to my mother, she doesn’t have any place to go to because all of the debt collectors confiscated all of her parents’ belongings after they both died from an accident. Because of that, my father decided to let my mother live together with him...here. That is why this place is the starting place of their love. This place is very important to us so we can’t afford to leave this place and let someone live here once again. This place...is very precious to us.”

“You are sad because you are always eating here alone, right?”

“…”

“Next time, let’s have a dinner at my house...together with my father and sister.”

She then crawled towards me and stopped when our faces are extremely closed to each other.

“Really?” she asked with sparkling eyes.

Is she that excited? Anyway you’re too close!

Fearing that our lips may collide accidentally, I backed down to make a distance but suddenly, my back felt a sharp pointed object. Out of surprise, I accidentally tackled Meryl, strong enough to knock her down on the floor. Realizing that I am now falling towards her, I somehow managed to stop before our lips touched using both of my arms as a support. I managed to not fall on top of her but my elbows are now aching because of the impact when it collided to the floor.

“Are you al--”

Wait a minute…

“…”

“…”

Finally, I realized that I am now on top of my girlfriend with at least three inches distance between our lips. Meryl’s face is so close to mine. Because of this, I noticed that her cheeks are now blushing.

“O…rel?” she whispered while looking at my eyes.

I have to kiss her now. This is the perfect opportunity. My father said that kissing the target out of a whim will not be the end of this. I have to make her fall for me completely after all. Did I already develop our relationship in the short amount of time that I’ve dated her? I am now her boyfriend so kissing her because of this situation is not that bad as an option. If she got angry, I will just apologize sincerely after this. Now…I will do it!

“Meryl…” I muttered with a serious expression.

I don’t know if it is because of my serious face or my aggressiveness but Meryl decided to shut her eyes, a sign that kissing her is okay.

“…”

“…”

Suddenly, someone knocked the door. After hearing it, we immediately stood up nervously.

“S-sorry about that. I didn’t mean to tackle you so strongly,” I said and forced a laugh. “Anyway, why is there a small nail on that side of the wall?”

“I...I don’t know. It’s also my fault so sorry,” Meryl replied with a bow.

After that, Meryl opened the door and an old lady entered. According to Meryl, that neighbor of her always drops by to give her some extra food. After the old lady left, I decided to take my leave.

“Well then, I’m going home now. See you at school on Monday,” I said and went towards the door.

“Wait...I’ll send you off.”

“I’m fine and it’s already late so just stay here.”

“I see. Then, bye,” she said with a somewhat sad smile and waved her hand.

“Bye,” I said and closed the door after I got outside.

“…”

I am really unlucky when it comes to this. I guess titles do lie sometimes.