Chapter 5: Chapter 5

When I got to the mall, the first place I headed to was the food court. I was so hungry that I swear I could have collapsed and crawled my way there. So, I was happy when I ordered food and sat down to start eating it while observing my surrounding and who would be nice to be friends with.

I was tired of having to depend on either Leon or Brielle for companionship and I was hopelessly searching for that person that their heart would click with mine. I’d always wanted that experience.

I kept watching but no one struck me as exciting apart from the cute Asian girl fighting with one of the waiters. I sat up straight and watched with keen interest. That looked like my friendship target and after studying her face, I decided I liked her. There was just something about her beady brown eyes resembling discs of wood that drew my attention to her.

“Get out of this place, K-POP,” the waiter said rather rudely.

Weren’t waiters meant to be nice? I hoped the manager would sack him in the worst way possible.

She rolled her eyes. “So, you’re racist. I’m surprised I didn’t get that during the first meeting. First, I am Japanese not Korean so if you want to be racist, be more accurate with it. Second and most importantly, I am not bothered with your evident racism. What I want is a refund because clearly you have no sense of customer satisfaction.”

Go girl!

“There is a no refund policy.”

“I’m pretty sure there is when you spat on my freaking food,” she said glaring at me. “Where the hell is your manager anyway?”

“It’s none of your business,” he said, weakly arguing with her.

By this time, the rest of the people in the court were shouting for refund for the girl and themselves just in case he spat on their foods as well. I laughed at that and then it dawned on me that I was also eating in the same place. That was how I ended up carrying my food and throwing it at the guy until a food fight ensued.

When the manager came in, he didn’t look like a nice person and he studied everything going on with intensity. “What the hell is going on here?”

Japanese girl walked up to him. “I’m going to assume you’re the manager because of the tag saying manager on your cloth.” He nodded. “Well, this guy here spat on my food and instead of giving me a refund like I asked for, he insulted me and started acting all racist. I would like you to know that I am a food critic and I am going to give this place a bad review once I am out.”

“No please. I’m sorry. He’s sorry.” He kicked the waiter. “Tell her you’re sorry.” “I’m sorry,” he grumbled.

“Well, I think I can forgive his incompetence if I get my refund and all is forgotten,” she said.

Her face looked so serious that I found myself believing her even though I’d been convinced she was lying.

“Yes, yes, anything to get a good review,” he said hurriedly and turned to the waiter whose name was Clark. “Well, give her a refund.”

“Yes, sir,” he grumbled again and got the money before handing it over to her reluctantly.

“Thank you,” she said flashing him a smirk and she turned to the manager. “I’ll be sure to give this place a good review. I promise that.”

She spun on her heel and walked out of the food court. I didn’t know why but I hopped off my seat and headed in the same direction she went. I followed her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to me with a shocked look on her face.

“I’m not good with expressions but for some reason, I don’t think you are a food critic,” I said crossing my arms and raising my brow.

She laughed, her eyes closing as she did. “I’m not, yes but I’m a journalist so I think that counts.”

“My best friend is a journalist.”

“Really? What’s her name? I might know her.” “Brielle Cole?”

“Holy shit, she’s my boss,” she said bursting into laughter. “What a small world we live in.” I nodded. “My name is Hiromi but everyone just calls me Hiro.”

“Paris,” I said with a smile.

She raised a brow. “You like Paris? I do too but I haven’t seen anything related to Paris around here. Is it the store?”

I shook my head, laughing this time much to her confusion. “I’m not talking about the store or any of that. My name is Paris.”

“That is a beautiful name but if you don’t mind me asking, why did your parents name you Paris?” she asked joining in my laughter.

I waved it off with my right hand. “That is a long story.”

“I would like to hear it sometime,” she said with a smile and I nodded. At least, I had one other friend apart from Brielle. “So where are you headed now?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t even live here so I don’t even know where to go if I want to.”

“Where do you live then?”

“Westhaven but I came here for a vacation and also with Brielle’s upcoming wedding.” She nodded. “Oh yeah. Don’t you have friends?”

“Well, apart from Brielle, I know no one here and she got called in to work today,” I said with a sigh.

She raised a brow. “What work? I’m not aware of anything.” “Maybe it’s specifically for her?”

“I’m her PA. All those things go through me,” she said with a shrug. “Maybe she had somewhere important to be and didn’t want to tell you?”

“That could be it. Besides, I don’t think I’m even offended. We all have our moments.”

“True,” she said with a slight nod. “Do you want to hang out with my friends and I? I could introduce you to all of them and you could have a great time.”

“Where?”

“This new club downtown. It’s going to be a fun night,” she said with a bright smile. “I don’t think I brought clothes that are great for clubbing.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed me by the arm. “That, my friend, is why you are at a mall: the home of clothes.”

I groaned as she took me with her to go shopping. The honest truth was that as much as I loved fashion, I hated having to shop for clothes. Leon always shopped for me and occasionally he’d force me to go with him and I’d end up drowning my sorrows in food at the food court while he bought clothes for me. In the end, I never had to shop for myself. Well, that was until I met Hiro.

After taking me in and out of about five stores, she finally settled on one and made my day more miserable by tossing clothes for me to try on. She never liked one. She was always all “okay”, “needs more spunk”, “get that off”, “try something else”, or something even more annoying. It was more frustrating with each dress and I finally decided to stop trying on clothes.

“I’m not trying anything on again.”

She sighed and said, “Well, I’ll just go try on the one I picked.”

And she did. She looked gorgeous in the simplest piece of clothing I’d ever seen. It was a black mini dress with no design whatsoever. It was an off-shoulder dress with flare sleeves that barely reached her midthigh. Coupled with the white super high heeled belt buckle sandals she had on, I thought it beautiful.

How she managed to make such a simple dress work was beyond me. That was a skill I was praying to God I’d acquire.

“What do you think?” “Beautiful.”

“Great. I’ll pay for this… right after we get you into actual clothes,” she said with a mischievous smile.

I frowned but didn’t bother with arguing. I had been able to pick up on the fact that whenever she is set on doing something, she’d do it. I didn’t want to argue with that.

A couple of minutes later, she was back with a white dress and shoved it into me. She told me there was no need to try it on because I would look perfect in it. I followed after her and she offered to pay even when I told her that I could pay for it myself. She said it was her treat because she was forcing me in the first place. I couldn’t argue with that.

I was so happy once we were out of the store and out of the mall. The only good thing that had come out of this random decision of mine was that I had made a friend. I smiled as we walked to her car while I heard her rambling about how she was going to the club to get over her ex who had apparently been sleeping with one of her colleagues.

“Did you love him?” I asked interrupting her rambling about how perfect he was.

She stopped abruptly. “I guess so. I don’t know. I mean, does anyone really know what love is?”

“People who have seen it, yes.”

She chuckled. “I don’t know if I loved him. I mean, I enjoyed his company, anticipated it even, and it just hurts that I liked him enough in that moment and he broke my heart. It’s just…I gave him my heart and he did that.”

I sent her a sad smile. “You love him. I’m not asking, I’m saying it because I know you do.” I watched as she stared at her feet refusing to reply. “Would it make you feel better if I tell you that I came here to make a guy fall in love with me?”

“What?”

I laughed and told her everything. I obviously omitted Emrys’s name but I made sure I gave her enough details about the situation. Why I was pouring my heart to a stranger? I had no idea. I simply thought the best way to lift her mood would be to tell her my story and it worked.

By the time I was done talking, she was laughing so hard people who passed by stared at her like she was mad and needed urgent medical attention.

“That has to be the dumbest thing anyone has ever done,” she said after minutes of laughing at him.

I was beginning to rethink my kind gesture. “It’s for love.”

“How sure are you that you love him? I mean, come on, you don’t even know the guy.” I opened my mouth to counter it but she stopped me. “I know what you’re going to say but seeing him in school and him saving your life doesn’t count. What is he like really? Is he someone you actually see yourself being with?”

She was sounding so much like Leon. I thought it would be a great idea to set them up and have them fall in love. Maybe just play cupid for a while.

“I-I don’t know.”

“If you ask me, I don’t think you love him. You’re probably just excited by the idea of having someone like him love you.”

“Do you even know who he is?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m a lot of things but I am definitely not stupid. You’re living with Brielle and I know for sure that Brielle lives with Emrys. Hell, everyone in the world knows it.”

I frowned. “I didn’t.”

“You probably don’t stalk him as much as you think because that would have been the first thing you’d find out,” she said laughing at me. “Anyway, put your number in my phone. I’ll come over to Brielle’s by 8 to pick you up.”

I took her phone from her and put in my number then gave it back to her. “That’s it there. If you can, call me before time to remind me. I might sleep off and forget all about it.”

“Will do,” she said with a wide grin and pulled me into a quick hug. “It was nice meeting you today, Paris.”

“Right back at you, Hiro.”

I stood and watched her drive off with a smile on my face. She made sure to wave before she left and once, I was sure she was gone, I walked to my own car. The day had turned out better than I expected it. It seemed finally things were working on my side and all I needed was Emrys to complete it and make me a truly happy woman.

The drive back to Brielle’s house was smooth and less stressful than it had been when I was going to the mall. I was happier so that could have been the reason. Either that or there was no traffic jam.

I was dancing to my favorite song by my all-time favorite band, Why Don’t We. I was so happy I madly sang out the lyrics knowing that since the windows were up, no one could hear my horrible singing.

While singing, I realized how much I missed Leon. The whole singing in the car was our thing. The only difference was that his voice was beautiful and I sounded like a dying walrus giving birth at the same time. I don’t know what that sounds like but my guess would be one word: horrible.

Finally, I was at Brielle’s house and packed my car in the garage happily skipping my way to the house. I thought nothing could possibly dampen my mood. That was, of course, until I saw Brielle crying on the floor. I don’t mean ‘oh I broke a nail’ crying. I mean, ‘my parents just died’ crying.

I dropped my things and rushed to her side immediately. I wondered where Emrys was because a crying Brielle wasn’t what I could manage to handle on my own. We had one thing in common and it was that we never lost control. Whenever we did, it was going to be a mess.

“What happened, Brie?” I asked trying to put how much concern I felt in my tone so she could speak.

You call it emotional blackmail. I call it getting answers.

She sighed and wiped her tears away probably trying to act strong. “Kosara and I had a fight.”

“That bad?” “Yes.”

I knew it was going to be a long time so I sat beside her. “What happened?” “I think he’s cheating on me.”

“Why would you think that? He’s a good person and everyone can see it.”

“I know, I know but it would explain a lot of things that have been going on between us,” she said with another sigh. “I just confronted him about it and he exploded. He has never raised his voice at me, PB, and he did that today. He didn’t even apologize.”

I nodded though I wasn’t sure I was getting it. “What did he say?”

“He said a lot of things about how he didn’t like how selfish I was, always thinking about myself when he was going through a hard time. How was I mean to know if he didn’t tell me?”

“Then what did you say?”

“Exactly that and he said something stupid about me having eyes to see them and I was like, I don’t know if he had changed in any way that should stand out.” She took a deep breath like she was trying not to start crying again. “And then he said that maybe we should call off the wedding since we aren’t ready for it.”

I gasped. “Why would he say something like that?”

“I don’t know and I’ve been here for an hour thinking of where I went wrong and I keep coming up with nothing.” She placed her head on my shoulder. “I don’t want to lose him. I love him too much for that.”

“Did you say anything after that?”

“He just said he didn’t want to see me again and sent me out. He kicked me out of his house and his parents were there. You needed to see how happy they looked knowing we were fighting.”

“Maybe they caused it?”

She shook her head. “They also looked surprised. It’s not them. I think he has found someone else and he wants nothing to do with me.”

“Don’t say that. It’s stupid of you to assume that. I know he loves you. Just give him time to come around. Like you said, the two of you haven’t really fought so just let this be a test in your relationship.”

“I don’t know…”

I turned so I could look at her. “Okay, let’s go out tonight. I’m having a girl’s night out with a friend I just made. We’re going to the club and I think you should come out to get your mind off things.”

She shook her head. “I just want to stay in and sleep. I’ll just be a Debby downer if I go with you.”

“Then I’ll stay with you.”

“No. You made a new friend and you can’t just cancel your appointment because of me.” I tried to argue but she cut me off. “Listen, I’ll be fine. Just go do whatever you want to do tonight. You came to have fun and not to bother yourself with my relationship problems.”

I thought about it. “Fine but I still need to do something to help. Anything.” “Just sit with me for a while let’s forget everything.”

And that was what we did. We laughed, we joked, we cried, and I was there with her for as long as I could to make sure she was okay.