Finding Tine Teepakorn

Chapter 7: Friends, Lovers or Nothing

Sarawat closes the door of the store and starts locking it. "Lets go."

"Where?"

"Dinner. I am hungry. I don't want to eat alone."

Tine's POV 

"You—you want to have dinner with me?" I tilted my head, still confused about whether I heard the right words.

"I don't want to eat alone and Phukong took my car again. You seem to be the only one here with a car. So, give me company?"

"O—okay"

"Where's your car parked?"

"Umm.. that way." I fixed my clothes and hairs a bit so I wouldn't look as miserable as I have been the entire day.

"Lead the way then.." Sarawat smiled at me, probably for the first time since the accident, and it confused me even more. But at this point, I wasn't going to question anything. I was just glad he wanted to have dinner with me, or even talk to me.

We walked up to the car and I put the flowers I had been holding all day in the backseat before getting on the driver's seat.

"Did you seriously buy those flowers for me, Tine?" Sarawat asked right when he got on the seat next to mine.

I sighed. "Who else would I buy roses for Wat? You are the only one"

Sarawat looked outside, ignoring my very honest confession. "Where do you want to eat?"

"Wherever you want to eat, Wat. I'll go with you wherever you want me to go."

Ignoring me again, Sarawat just put a location into the car's navigation system instead. "Let's go then."

We drove mostly in silence. I was too scared to ask him anything and he.. I had no idea why he would even want to eat with me after I everything I had done. But I would take all the little crumbs that I could get if that meant spending more time with my Sarawat.

When I turned the corner to reach the restaurant, I realised I had been to this area before.

"Wait, isn't this the street which had that bakery you took me to once? The one that had super delicious pastries? Do you think its still open this late? God, I ate their red velvet pastries last month and they were so amazing."

"Do you mean the Lagoona bakery?"

"Yes!! Remember you got me a cake from that bakery too?"

"Of course I remember that Tine, but how did you eat red velvet pastries their last month?"

"What... what do you mean?"

"The bakery closed down more than a year ago because the owner passed away. Look.." Sarawat signaled to the side of the road. "There is now a clothing store in its place"

"Oh yeah... I guess I forgot about it. Maybe I ate the pastries at some other bakery around here"

"That's weird" Sarawat looked outside. "There aren't really any other bakeries in this area."

"Is it? Maybe I ate somewhere else. I think I just forgot. How far is the restaurant?"

"It's about 5 minutes from here. Turn left"

Just as Sarawat said, we arrived five minutes later at a nice, cozy bar with dim lights and a sparse crowd. He led me to a table right at the corner, and it seemed like the staff recognized him. I couldn't help but wonder how many times had he been here before. Who did you come here with? How many more places did he visit and memories he made that I'll never get to share with him? Did he just bring me here for dinner to get some closure that he never got?