28
Tahti kept staring at the hung out dress in her wardrobe, which Demir had gotten her as a birthday gift along with his handmade crescent moon with star jewelry, later that night. She had thought it was the worst birthday ever, until Demir had showed up and taken her out on a date.
His arms encircled her waist from behind behind and she leaned back into his arms, finding comfort as he dropped his chin on her shoulder.
"Do you like your gift?"
"Hmm." She smiled, her appreciation.
"Wear it to school tomorrow, okay?"
"I will..." She said and turned to face him, wanting nothing more than to show off the cloth he had gotten her. "I thought you were going to make me dinner.You were talking as if you were really going to cook, but you're yet to light up the gas."
"Hey, it's the heart that matters, you know. You shouldn't be looking forward to the meal, bit to the heart that's about to make it." He said. "Honestly, my mom never made me birthday meals."
She stared up at his face, deeply moved. His upbringing, even though he rarely talked about it, sounded like it had lacked love, just like her own and she guessed that was the reason he rarely spoke about it.
"What?" He asked, noticing she was staring up at him.
"I didn't know that. You don't talk much about yourself...and since I don't know anything about you, I...I was surprised when you said that." She replied, looking away before she added. "Honestly, you're still a mystery to me."
A firm finger turned her chin back to him and he was closing in on her, before she could think.
"It's because you already know me so well." He replied, huskily and she raised a hand to give him a smack on the chest.
"Stop fooling around and quickly make dinner."
He raised his hand to give hers a gentle squeeze as he slowly dipped his head towards hers.
He kissed her slowly, teasing her upper and lower lip first before slipping his tongue into her mouth, making her breath caught. Why did his kisses get good from time to time?
"Why can't you be my boyfriend?" She thought silently, as his tongue swept sensuously around the soft well of her mouth.
His phone rang, ruining the moment and he slowly pulled back to slip his phone out of his pocket.
The expression on his face changed, on looking at the ID and she raised her head for a glance, to see it was Stella.
"I need to take this call." He said, dropping his arms and Tahti tried to hide her disappointment as she watched him head towards the bathroom to answer the call.
She dragged herself to the living room before slumping into the sofa. What was his relationship with Stella? Was he, by any chance, sleeping with her too? Was he a double timer?
She shook the idea off. There was no way Demir could be that frivolous. She agreed there were a couple of things that were off about him, but there was no way he could be a two timer.
She frowned as her mind went back to the their second meeting at the bar. She recalled Ramiel had turned to throw a look to Demir after Chris had asked about the used condom in the trash can. Could it be...?
She hurriedly clasped a hand over her mouth, not wanting to believe what her head was telling her. No, that wasn't true. She was just assuming things. Demir wasn't that kind of person.
But he kept giving her reasons to doubt him, a part of her told her.
The bathroom door opened and she lowered her hand, not throwing him a glance until he walked over to slip on his pull over shirt, which was lying on one of the sofas.
"You're leaving?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Something urgent came up with a friend."
A friend? Stella was a friend? She wondered with a slow nod. He probably didn't know how to differentiate friends from girlfriends since he wasn't the relationship type.
"Okay. You should go then." She said, although she didn't want him to.
He walked over to her and bent to peck her on the forehead. "Make sure to eat and don't ignore your mom...You can't ignore her for much longer."
He was right though. Her mom had called while she was on a date with Demir and she had rejected every single one of her calls, wanting her to have a taste of her own medicine. So he had noticed that as well.
"I'll get going."
"Okay." She replied and tried hard, not to let her gaze follow his every move, as he walked out to no avail.
She stared at the door with a sad sigh, before her eyes moved to the spaghetti he'd wanted to make for her earlier.
"I'm hungry." She muttered and pulled herself to her feet, to head out. She would rather get some junks for the night as she felt rather lazy to cook that night.
She was close to the intersection on the next street, since stores on her street were closed, when she remembered Josh had told her his QSR was around there.
She turned round to see a QSR behind her and she walked towards it, on noticing the lights inside were still on.
Praying that she wasn't mistaken, she peeped through the glass door to see Josh, working his fist on a dough.
"Josh..." Her voice trailed off when she realized he wouldn't hear her, since he was working at the chef's corner.
She raised her hand and made to knock when he lifted his head to see her.
"Tahti." She read his lips and she smiled as he beckoned on her to enter.
"I'm sorry." She said, when she walked in. "I know you're closed..."
"We're not." He answered, with a smile as he neared, and she decided to explain the reason she was there at that time.
"I didn't plan on coming right now. I was just passing by..."
"It's okay." He quickly replied and she nodded slowly in response.
"I'm trying out a new menu. Do you want to try it?" He asked, after a moment of awkwardness and Tahti was grateful he had offered first. She was freaking hungry.
"Well...okay."
"Alright... You can have a seat there." He said, gesturing to one of one of the stools. "If you're not so busy..." He asked as saying when she raised her head to look at him. "You can look up some of my videos on YouTube while I cook."
"YouTube videos?" She asked.
"Just search Josh Daniels QSR chef."
She drew in a sharp breath as she took out her phone. "Josh Daniels QSR chef?...I think I've watched a video like that before."
"You have?" He asked, surprised and she angled her head.
"I'm not sure if it's the one, though." She replied as she looked up the video's name.
The internet brought up the videos in a flash and she clicked on one of them before turning the screen of the phone to him.
"Is it this one?" She asked and he nodded before she turned to watch the video again. "I've watched it before though, along with a couple of other videos." She paused to take a closer look at the chef in the video. "Is this you in the video?"
"Yeah." He replied.
"I see...I didn't recognize you because the video was recorded without showing your face in it." She said, scrolling to look at more details and her jaw dropped on seeing the number of subscribers he had. "You have over three thousand subscribers in just three months?"
"It just happened." He shrugged.
"You're really cool, you know...Did you edit the videos yourself?"
"I did." He replied.
"Honestly, the channel name reminded me of you." She said and he raised his eyes from the shrimps he was seasoning.
"You thought of me?" He asked and she nodded.
"Yeah. I can't believe it was really you." She replied and lowered her head to look up on the details. "A culinary student? The Josh Daniels I know..." She was saying as she raised her head. "...always plays with his food."
He laughed. "Honestly, I knew you'd major in art though." He said as he walked over to stir fry the shrimps and carrots. "You were always good at drawing."
Tahti thinned her lips as she pondered on what he had said. She didn't really see herself to be good at drawing every time she drew her piece, but she kept drawing because she liked it.
He walked over to serve her once the meal was ready and her surprised expression gave away the fact, that the served shrimps and carrot filled pancake with honey wasn't what she had been expecting.
"It's okay. It's for your birthday."
"My birthday?" She blinked as she repeated.
"Isn't today your birthday?" He asked and she nodded. "Then, it's my gift to you."
She lowered her eyes to the inviting meal again. "But...it looks grand."
"Not really. I feel it's the least I can do." He said and she shook her head as she raised it in protest.
"It's not." That birthday was the best she'd ever had in a long while. "Thanks Josh...It's amazing you still remember my birthday."
"Of course, I remember every single..." His voice faded and she blinked, wondering what he was going to say.
He quickly cleared his throat and smiled. "It's because I have a very good memory...By the way, do you still love chocolates? I made a quick cake."
She nodded and leaned closer to look at the chocolate cake on the saucer, next to the pancake. "Woah, it looks delicious, Josh. You sure have got skills."
He took out a lighter from his pocket and she pulled back to watch him light up the candle on the cake.
"Make a wish.* He said as he dropped the lighter on the counter and she clasped her hands together before closing her eyes to make a wish.
She blew out the light after she was done and Josh applauded her. "Happy birthday, Tahti Lee."
"Thanks...I can't believe I'm like this with you on my birthday. I guess life is full of surprises." She said and he nodded, slowly.
"I know. I never thought this could happen."
She picked up the fork to cut out a bite and she gasped on how incredibly good it tasted, after she'd had a bite. "It's delicious."
"Really?...That's good."
She twirled the fork as she dropped her elbows on the counter. "Honestly, I didn't feel awkward on meeting you again on the bus the other day. Could it be because we're childhood friends?"
"Do you think so?" He stuttered. "I feel kinda nervous though."
"Nervous?" She asked, wondering why he said that
"Oh, remember we once had a birthday party for you at the beach?" He asked and her mind went back to the last birthday she'd celebrated with her friends, back at her hometown.
She'd run away from home that night, after a heated argument with her mother, who'd scolded her for keeping bad company. Tahti had angrily retorted that she'd gotten all of her habits from her since she was the one who slept around like a bitch.
Her mother had gotten enraged and had hit her angrily, for the first time and she'd stormed out only to walk into a surprise party her friends had thrown.
"Yeah, I remember. We set up tents and made noodles."
He nodded as he reminisced the past. "Yeah, we played with fireworks too."
"It was fun...I want to go back to those moments." She said, with a sigh. But she knew it was impossible to go back to moments like that. Things weren't the way they were ten years back.
