The wedding ceremony would start at five pm, so Emily’s family went back to prepare. Emily didn’t have anything to do, though, nor did I. I was just lying on the bed, enjoying my stay in this five-star hotel, making the best of the experience when I received a Fine message from Emily. I glanced at Emily who stood beside me, looking down at me. I opened the message.
“Wanna go somewhere? Just the two of us?”
“Date?”
I asked her directly. She looked flustered for a moment but regained control of herself fairly quickly. She took her phone and started typing something. Since I couldn’t see her phone, I could only see the movements of her fingers, but I couldn’t tell where they landed and what they typed.
A new text box appeared at the bottom.
“Yes.”
I found it a bit surprising how straightforward she was.
“Where?”
“I don’t know, you choose. Oh, but not too far. And if possible, not too crowded.”
Not too crowded?
I didn’t remember Emily having an issue with crowds. I wonder if she wanted to talk about something serious. I opened my map and started searching for a place that suited our needs. I chose a shopping mall ten minutes away by car and showed it to her. She approached my screen but tilted her head.
“Oh yeah, my bad.”
I took a screenshot and sent it to her. She received the photo and nodded.
“Wait for me, I’ll get changed.”
My parents hadn’t packed much for me, granted I would be meeting them by tonight. I chose a navy-blue T-shirt along with black shorts. I wasn’t the most stylish person, nor did I care too much. Emily, meanwhile, had changed into a casual dress colored in white with black lines near the waist. I met her in the lobby, and she handed me the car keys that I returned to her parents the night before.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
She followed behind me as we went to the parking lot. We hopped into Emily’s white sedan and drove off toward the shopping mall. There was slight traffic that day, but nothing too much. After fifteen minutes, we arrived safe and sound.
We parked our car at the parking lot and made our way through an entrance right beside a toilet. We moved inward toward the shopping mall before pausing.
“So, where do you want to go?”
I asked. While it was true that Emily was the one who invited me, all she did was ask if I wanted to go somewhere, with an extra note of it being not too crowded. It was around eleven, and the shopping mall wasn’t particularly crowded. Some shoppers made their way past us, but not to the point where every way we looked there were people. Emily looked around and started taking steps toward the mall’s central court.
I followed after her. She realized that I was behind her and slowed down, matching her pace with mine.
“Anything you want to look for?”
Emily asked me, despite me being the one who asked first. I thought about it, but nothing came to mind.
“Nothing.”
“You’re fine with following me for today?”
“Sure.”
Emily made her way toward the main court with me walking beside her. We checked out a cooking event that was held that day. Emily looked around the cookware with interest, while I watched the chef on the stage demonstrate how to bake a cake. Several people sat on chairs placed in front of the stage. Not finding anything, Emily came back to me and we went to the department store.
Emily looked through the rows of clothing with me accompanying her. This really made it feel like a date. She took a set of clothing and brought it to the changing room. She dragged me along with her and made me wait in front of it. She closed the door, her shadow appearing on my left. I turned away. As I looked around the women’s clothing surrounding me, I heard the door squeaking back open. It opened in such a slow motion that I felt my world slowing down.
“What… what do you think?”
Emily asked, showing herself to me. She wore an oversized sweater colored in cream, with long blue jeans. It looked cozy and more importantly, cute. She noticed that I was examining her and tugged on my sleeve.
“... So?”
She averted her gaze.
“It looks really cute, and fits well with you.”
“Thanks.”
A timid smile crept onto her face. She let go of my sleeve and returned inside. I turned around again, facing the other way. She opened the door once more, this time wearing a different set of clothes.
“How about this one?”
She asked with a slight fidget. She wore a red sleeveless dress. The dress gave an air of maturity around her.
“You look… how do I say this?”
“It looks bad on me, doesn’t it?”
She shifted her eyes down to the dress she wore.
“Not at all.”
I answered. I pushed my mind to search for a word that could perfectly describe her.
“Refined?”
That was the closest my mind could think of at the moment. Refined, mature, a true adult.
“Refined…?”
“As in, you know, an adult. Official, cool? Mature?”
“Ah, I get it.”
She looked up at me with a giggle. She then turned around and closed the door again. I turned myself as well. After a few seconds, she finished changing back to her casual dress, the clothes she tried folded tidily on her arms.
“You’re going to get those?”
“Yeah, I like them.”
I offered my hand to carry them for her, but she shook her head.
“I can handle this.”
I accompanied her as we made our way to the cashier. I waited beside the cashier, looking at the small trinkets displayed on the side. Despite being cheap jewelry, they still look nice regardless. I picked a bracelet up, decorated with pink and red beads, and walked toward an empty cashier right beside Emily. Emily saw me put the accessory on the table.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“Is this all?”
The clerk asked kindly.
“Yes.”
The clerk took the item and scanned it with a machine separate from Emily’s. Its cheap price appeared on the flat screen and I paid with cash.
“I don’t know if you liked those kinds of things…”
Emily, who finished paying for her stuff, muttered as she stood behind me, peeking through my shoulder.
“Thank you for your purchase.”
“Thanks.”
I took the item along with the receipt and walked to the side, Emily following behind me, her hands holding a cartoon bag behind her back. I stuffed the receipt into my pocket and showed the bracelet to her. She brought her face closer to my hand.
“It’s quite nice. Still, I guess there are some things I don’t know about you.”
“Your hand.”
“Hmm?”
Without question, she extended her right hand toward me. I opened the packaging and carefully slid it onto her hand.
“As thanks.”
“For?”
“Everything.”
“That’s one way to flirt.”
Emily brought her right hand up to her face, the cheap bracelet reflecting the light that came from the ceiling lights. Emily examined it as it glowed.
“Thanks.”
She said with a smile, not taking the bracelet off her hand.
“You really do know what I like.”
“Of course. How long do we spend time together, again?”
“A really long time.”
She giggled, a playful smile on her lips.
“Where to next?”
We then continued walking, heading out of the department store.
“Well, what do you want to do, princess?”
She heard it and trusted her items toward me, a playful smile on her lips. I was about to take it from her when she pulled them back. She started skipping ahead and I matched my pace with her.
“How about the arcade?”
“Confident you can beat my basketball skills?”
“Why that out of all things?”
“Because that’s the one where I absolutely destroy you.”
“Hmm? How about the racing games, then? Bowling? Air hockey? Claw machines?”
“Well, I did say basketball being the only one I’m better than you at.”
“Not fair, I’m shorter than you.”
“You’re not that short, are you?”
Emily was indeed shorter than me, but only by seven centimeters. I knew because I, for some reason, still remember us comparing our heights back in middle school. It felt weird that out of all the memories my brain could save, it thought that height was something important enough to be registered in the archive, like some sacred ancient texts or something. She didn’t seem to grow that much, although I did grow a bit, so maybe the height difference grew.
“Still, it puts me at a significant disadvantage.”
She pouted and turned away. Emily had a better time with games that involve reaction time, so things like air hockey and racing games were more her type. I didn’t know what the heavily rigged claw machine got with that, though, nor did I remember losing bowling to her.
We arrived in front of the arcade. As if to show superiority over me, she chose air hockey as the first game. I concentrated, trying to put my all into the game, my brain thinking of possible attack patterns and defense-
And with that, the first puck entered my goal. A score was added to her numbers. She let out a smug look and teased me.
“That’s all you can do, huh?”
I wasn’t about to lose, however, so I took the puck, let it down on the table, and prepared to fire.
I ended up losing a devastating seven to two. Not satisfied enough, Emily brought me to the racing game. Like before, despite trying my best, I was too slow. I lost to her, but I couldn’t let my losing streak continue. I was destined to beat her in her own game. Not basketball, nor bowling, but claw machines.
Yes, the one game that was rigged, and I would use that to my advantage. The thing about the claw machine was that no matter how much skill you had, if the machine decided against it, then you wouldn’t be able to pick up anything. Middle school Emily was just lucky, after all.
“Are you sure you want to challenge me to this?”
I nodded, my eyes on the claw, while my hand on the joystick. I moved it right, putting it above a green dinosaur. It had been three years, but my luck must have improved somewhat. I adjusted the position so that the claw would scoop it up from under. I had learned some techniques as well, like pressing the button again before it scooped automatically would make the claw stronger… I think? I only heard about those things, but never tried it. Regardless, if it made me look better when I succeeded, then I didn’t mind doing it.
After making sure everything was in check, I pushed the button. The claw descended on the dinosaur. I tapped the button again at the perfect moment, only to see my chances slipping away right before me. It was slightly off, pushing the plushie away.
“Damn it.”
Emily held her laughter beside me.
“And you’re so serious as well.”
She pushed me aside. She swiped the card on the reader. The claw followed her commands as he brought it upon the plushie that I had failed to gain. She pressed the button, and the claw once again descended on it. Her placement was spot on, and with a second tap, scooped up the dinosaur.
“Ah…”
“See?”
It brought the dinosaur and let it go above the prize bin. Emily kneeled down and took it. She turned to me and pushed it toward me.
“Here you go!”
She said with a wide grin. I was hoping to be the one giving her this, not the one receiving it. I let out a sigh and took it nonetheless.
“Thank you. But this time, it really is my turn.”
I dragged Emily to the basketball area, where I committed to getting revenge on her.
“Guess three years isn’t enough, is it?”
She let out a dejected sigh as we left the arcade. I had my gift chilling inside a plastic bag that I brought, while Emily held her new clothes in her right hand.
“It’s not like you practiced that every day.”
“Yeah, but I went to arcades with friends as well, you know? It frustrated me to know that even after the countless basketball games we had, I still lost to you.”
“You’ll need to be a pro to defeat me.”
I puffed my chest.
“Eh… By the way, you want to eat?”
I checked the clock. Some time had passed and it was now already one o’clock. It had been a while since we ate breakfast, so I wasn’t against the idea.
“Where?”
“I think the appropriate question should be what?”
“Well, some restaurants had multiple offerings.”
“And wouldn’t it be better to choose a place that specializes in that menu instead?”
“True, true. So, what do you want?”
I asked. I didn’t really have anything in mind. Emily stopped near a directory map and checked for the restaurants. Her eyes went through the list of names at the bottom. Seeing her reminded me of something. She did mention something about not wanting much crowd. By this hour, there would surely be a lot of people eating around.
I wasn’t well versed in this area, so I didn’t know any good places outside the large restaurants that I found in malls, but those places were almost guaranteed to be full.
“Let’s go here.”
Emily pointed toward a name in the directory. I took a closer look, finding her finger on a rather well-known restaurant. It served Indonesian cuisine. I decided to trust her choice.
“Lead the way.”
Emily turned and we headed for the restaurant.
Angklung music played in the background as we waited for our order. We both decided to go for the same meal, black beef soup. Looking around the restaurant, We found it to be fairly empty when compared to the other places surrounding it. We only see one other family with us and a separate couple eating together. Checking the prices, however, it made sense. While the restaurant didn’t have five-star-level prices, it still cost more compared to the restaurants that surrounded it.
“So… what do you want to talk about?”
I asked. My words caught Emily by surprise.
“I mean, you specifically said a… empty place.”
Hearing that, anyone would be suspicious. What kind of serious conversation was serious enough to the point bystanders could not hear? She looked surprised for a moment, making me wonder if this place was too crowded for her. She averted her gaze, looking down at the menu left before her.
“Is something wrong?”
“Nothing…”
She said, her eyes jumped from place to place.
“Emily?”
The calling of her name brought her attention back toward me. She opened her mouth, about to speak, but suddenly closed it again. Her hands played with the menu on the table, sliding it from place to place. She then let out a sigh.
“It’s… I just didn’t expect you to take that seriously.”
“Huh?”
Emily looked back up. She giggled then shook her head. Despite that, there was a shade of regret in her eyes.
“I just wanted to spend some time with you, that’s all.”
“I see…”
Although I didn’t really see why the specific ‘not crowded’ was ordered. I guess this place must be too crowded for her to talk, either that or the events in the last few days had made me think about things I shouldn’t. I didn’t push the matter any further and talked about other things instead.