Pay For Your Own Food
“Are you sure you don’t want noodles or anything, Xavier?” Elaine raised her head from the bowl of hot noodles before her to stare at Xavier whose eyes were fixated on her.
“I’ve warned you to stop eating foods like this, doll. It’s not good for your health.”
“It’s not unhealthy. I’ve been eating noodles since kindergarten and as you can see, I’m not dead yet.”
“Then carry on. Don’t come crying when your stomach hurts.”
She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her food, taking out a fork from the table and digging into the hot spicy noodles that left her breathless at the first bite. Just as she wanted, he’d brought her to a local food shop in the city. Elaine’s cheek reddened when she recalled what Xavier had done when they first arrived. The man had rented the whole shop for them, just to eat noodles.
She’d stood at the side as he informed the owner of the restaurant, threatened him even to send his customers away just because she craved locally made noodles and no matter how she tried to make him see reasons, he was final in his decision to chase everyone out of the shop.
And so, they have the whole shop to themselves for just a bowl of noodles for her. From the corners of her eyes, she could see the owners of the shop trembling with each second that passed with Xavier in their shop. She didn’t blame them, because the man had threatened them and forced them to offer the place to them in the meantime.
“Can you fix your expression, dear husband?” She rasped her nails on the table, trying to get Xavier’s attention to her as he seemed lost in space. “You frown all the time. Fix your expression for you’re scaring the poor shop owners.”
He passed her a glare and did nothing about his appearance. Instead, he crossed his legs together, settled on the chair, and turned his head to pass the shop owners a warning look.
“Xavier.”
“The fuck you’re on about my appearance? I’m normal.”
“Then you should learn to smile and ask things nicely. They’re scared to their pants.”
“Just eat your damn noodles.”
Elaine scoffed and stuffed her mouth with food. Her head shot up, her eyes widening as a bulb lit up in her head. “Do you know who I met today?”
He let out a frustrated sigh and ignored her. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn’t one to sit in such a local place for more than a few minutes let alone eat there. But why was he to say no to Elaine’s requests? She’d asked and as a dutiful husband, he had to play his role and give her whatever she wanted. He would buy the place over and over again if she wanted and he wouldn’t mind prohibiting anybody from getting in except her.
“Your ex-girlfriends.”
“What?” His breath stopped.
“I’m sure that you know about them. One bears the name Monalisa, and the others, I can’t remember. They were quite a lot and they seemed to know you so much more than I thought. Perhaps even more than you know yourself? They had lots of information about you, you know,” she exaggerated. Adding a little bit of a lie wouldn’t do any harm, would it?
“What are you saying? What did they tell you.”
She took a forkful of noodles and brought it to her mouth, consuming it and letting the juicy spicy taste wash through her mouth. She took a sip of the cold water beside her.
“Quite a lot. Especially how good of a man-whore you are?”
“Man whore?”
“Yes. Not so gentlemanly, you know, to use and dump women like baggage. Too bad you can’t dump me because we’re stuck forever.”
“I’d rather drown to death. I dated none. What I had with them was merely a fling.”
“A fling, you say. I don’t think it seemed so to them. They sounded like there was a lot of love. I almost got jealous.”
“Can you just continue with your meal, Elaine?”
“What? I want to talk about them. They also sounded like you promised to marry them and then all of a sudden, dumped them. Such a sad story.”
Luckily for Xavier, the shop owner walked up to them with the printed copy of their bill which he placed at the center of the table and lowered his head. “That is the total of the bills, sir, madam.”
When Xavier didn’t make any attempt to pay the bill, Elaine raised her head from her food to stare at him in confusion, her brow curling upward in confusion.”
“They’re asking for the bill.” Just in case he hadn’t heard the man, she thought to inform him.
“I heard. That’s why I’m waiting for you to pay.”
Her eyes widened at his words. “Me?” Since when did she ever pay for her own food? He couldn’t remember the time that she single-handedly paid for meals after getting married to him. He took care of everything concerning her.
“Of course. You’re the one who ate the noodles.”
At the mischievous curl of his lips, she realized that he was trying to rile her up. And so, she picked up her purse, zipped it open and when he thought that she was going to bring out her card, she angled the bag to his side and showed him the content.
A lipstick, mirror, cooking book, charger, and a can of sun read, he counted. Not a single dollar or a single card. The realization made them laugh and finally, he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out his card, handing it over to the shop owner. The older woman swiped on the car and debited him, a smile riding up her face as she heard the sound of her phone, indicating to them that the money had gotten in.
“Thank you.” She disappeared to whatever hellhole she came from.
“God, this food is heaven. I should come here every day. Are you sure that you don’t want to have a taste?”
“I wouldn’t ask that if I were you.”
“Or perhaps, you want a taste of something else?”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
