Cuddling against the immense trunk of the college’s angsana tree on a lazy afternoon, they tried to guess the shapes of the floating clouds against the sky’s blue canvas. A particular one caught their interest and a cheery debate ensued.
‘It’s a dog!’ Anna exclaimed. ‘Look, can’t you see its shaggy head on the left?’
‘If it’s a dog, then it’s a mutated one cause it has three hind legs,’ Gabriel retorted. ‘That’s its tail, dummy,’ she laughed out loud.
‘A tail that’s longer that its legs?’ he feigned ignorance and that earned him an elbow in the ribs. ‘Hate you’, Gabriel whispered as he planted a tender kiss at the side of her forehead. This is paradise, she thought.
.....
‘So what would you like?’ Steve asked as he nervously fidgeted on the one page laminated menu, dog eared on all corners.
‘Hmmm, I’m still undecided,’ Wei Yee replied, her fore finger twirling her fringe habitually. ‘What about you?’
‘I always go for Set A,’ he said, referring to the value meal consisting of toasted bread with butter and kaya (coconut jam), eggs and a glass of iced coffee.
‘Hmmm, I might as well go for the same. It looks good in the photo here,’ she said, still scanning the menu.
Steve signalled the waitress over and placed their orders. All week he had been looking forward to this weekend where Wei Yee had agreed to go out on a date with him. Although it might have seemed weird that she suggested they meet up for breakfast because she was planning to finish her assignments in the afternoon and then visit Anna’s mom in the hospital later that night, Steve thought it would be the best to grab at whatever Wei Yee is offering now.
When the waitress left, Wei Yee was starring at the traffic outside the café. The morning rays were resting beautifully on her face, radiating what seemed to Steve like the very essence of beauty itself. His mouth felt as dry as the desert while his palms were moist like the dews of dawn.
She turned to look at him and with a puzzled expression said ‘What?’
‘Oh nothing,’ he tried to recover. ‘So what do you usually do on Saturday mornings?’
‘Well, I usually sleep in. It’s the only day of the week I get to wake up late,’ she casually answered.
‘What ‘bout Sunday? Steve continued.
‘Oh, my parents do their weekly marketing then, so I’ll help out,’ she said, squinting this time as a passing car reflected the sun into her eyes.
She looked astonishingly adorable, his mind gushed. ‘So I guess I wrecked your beauty sleep huh,’ he said bashfully.
‘Nah, didn’t they say the early bird catches the worm,’ she chipped in.
The waitress came and placed their iced coffees at the center of the table and as they reached for their drinks, the tips of their fingers brushed against one another. Out of reflex, Wei Yee instantly pulled back and Steve caught the action, causing his heart to slump down a couple of beats.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered.
‘What for?’ he replied.
‘Umm, nothing,’ Wei Yee said, suddenly feeling awkward.
Both of them were rather relieved when their food was served and they ate in an uncomfortable silence.
‘You like it?’ Steve asked referring to the breakfast set.
‘Oh yea. It’s really good and the butter is especially rich,’ Wei Yee lied.
As they resumed eating without conversing, Wei Yee surprisingly noticed how they actually ate in a similar peculiar manner. Both of them would discard the skin of the bread before slathering the butter on one side and kaya on the other and they would eat both slices separately. The eggs would be consumed last. This eating habit of hers had bugged her ex-boyfriend to no end and they even once had a silly argument over it in a restaurant.
Just then, a meow brought Wei Yee back from her thoughts. A brown and white stray feline had parked itself next to Steve’s feet and was shamelessly begging for food. Steve took the leftover bread skin on his plate and tossed it lightly on the floor. The cat moved in and was immediately chewing on it hungrily. Wei Yee took hers and bent under the table to feed the stray as well. Their gazed locked and she felt her stomach flutter, a sensation she haven’t experienced in a long time. Before she could even try to digest this newly developed emotion, she felt something else, something not good.
‘Steve, I need your help,’ she said embarrassingly.
Someone had stuck a piece of gum under the table and now it’s lodged between the strands of her hair. Steve immediately came over and he knew as soon as he saw her predicament. He tried to remove the gum by tugging it but it seems the more he tried, the messier it got. When he eventually gave up, Wei Yee’s hair was in total chaos. Patrons from the other tables were looking, some chuckling.
‘I think we need professional help,’ Steve said seriously. ‘We need to get you to a salon’.
She stared back at him blankly and then they both burst out laughing, attracting even more attention from the other people.
‘If I still look okay after my hair is fixed, how ‘bout I treat you to a movie,’ she said. ‘If you’re available this afternoon of course’.
Steve beamed and said ‘Now let’s get you to the nearest saloon’, oblivious to the dog shaped cloud drifting above.
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