12:17 pm
I knew he'd freak over the arcade. We spent what felt like hours playing games over and over. Luckily, I still had my game card after those guys stole my wallet.
And the arcade was noisy. So, Russell screamed so much.
We tried shooting some shots on the basketball game, but we failed equally. I did decently at the racing game, and for some reason, Russell found himself home at claw games.
I watched him operate the claw machine as if he wasn't new to it at all. He was pretty focused on getting the prize stuff toy.
Out of the four attempts he did, he succeeded in two.
"You can have this one," he told me as he gave me a cute mouse plushie.
I gave it a little squeeze. He clamped his cute cat plushie in his armpit as he played the ticket raffle game. I watched as he slid my game card into the slot and pressed the button that spun the wheel.
I bit my lip as the wheel slowed to a stop. The raffle game screamed that we won as its mouth dispensed the biggest group of tickets.
He looked at me with twinkling eyes. "We won! Do you. . .want to have them?"
"Nah," I answered. "Maybe the family that came before us would want them."
He looked at his left, where I was looking. The dad and their little son were playing a combat game on the console. Their mom was standing up, watching them.
We tapped her shoulder and gave the tickets to her. "Hi! Inyoha na ni," I said. These are yours now.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed. She turned to her son. "Mark, say 'thank you' to these kind people."
He beamed. "Thank youh."
She turned to us. "Are you sure you don't need this?"
"Don't worry," Russell replied before I did. "We're dy--"
"Deckers," I interjected, thinking of little Mark. "We're Deckers."
She made a solemn face. "I see. Well, thank you and. . .good luck."
I managed a smile. "You too."
As we walked away from them, we both exchanged looks and decided that it was time to leave.
-
"Are you usually this kind?" Russell asked me as we continued riding our e-bike. He was sitting on my lap, so he couldn't look at me while we talked.
I shrugged, even if he couldn't see it. "No. . .not really. We just don't have the time to, y'know. . ."
"I get it," he replied.
We were both silent for a while. Even now I still couldn't wrap my head around the idea that I was going to die. And yet, instead of doing nothing, I was doing. . .something. Time was moving and so was I.
Why?
"I'm hungry," he announced, interrupting my thoughts.
"There's a food court up ahead," I said. "How much do you have?"
"About two hundred pesos."
I breathed through my teeth. "The dress sure did cost a lot."
"We should've asked the parents for money," he said.
"I'm sure our status as Deckers will be enough to beg off other people."
"Tch." I imagined him making a face. "Fair enough. To the food court then, driver."
-
Food courts were always crowded. But at this time of day, it was the most populated. People were now scrambling to get lunch and a seat amidst the loud noise. Not to mention that the food court in this mall was close to the skating rink, which was just as crowded.
We were on a bike, so it was hard to navigate through the crowd. We managed to score a seat close to the entrance, so we didn't have to bring the bike deeper into the court.
"I should be the one who should beg for money," I told him. "People usually don't believe boys dressed in dresses."
He seemed a bit disappointed still. That's society for you, I wanted to add. Instead, I nodded to him and went off to get money.
My heart was beating wildly as I approached the first random table. "E--excuse me. . .do you have any money to spare? A. . ." I hesitated. "a thief stole everything I have and--"
"Do you need to call your parents, sweetie?" I asked.
"I--I'd rather be not w--with my parents right now. I--"
A look of understanding flashed through her face. "Oh, I see. We can take you home and--"
"No, I just need some money," I replied hastily.
She didn't say anything for a while, before she slowly reached into her wallet and pulled out her wallet. She gave me two purple bills, each one worth one hundred pesos. "This should be enough to get you lunch. I'm sorry, I can't get you anything more."
I beamed. "Thank you. This is enough."
I returned to Russell and showed him the money. "We can buy ourselves some food."
He stood up. "Let me order this time. It's my turn to do something."
I smirked. "Wow. I think the ladies should be doing the sitting for this one."
He blushed deep red. "Just. . .let me, okay? I want to do something."
I handed him the money. "Okay, sure. Don't lose it, okay?"
He playfully rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know."
Then, he blended into the crowd and disappered into it. I was a bit stressed that he might be ridiculed for his dress. This feeling didn't disappear until he arrived with a tray of food. He carefully set it down on the table, before turning to me and wiping the sweat off his forehead.
"I didn't ask you what you want," he asaid as he sat down. "Sorry 'bout that."
"It's fine," I replied. "I just eat whatever. Or more specifically, I try to eat whatever. I'll just power through. . ." I looked at the dishes. ". . .that."
In front of the both of us were sizzling dishes. There was an assortment of vayands on top, with a visible rice base at the bottom. To be honest, I never tried this before. The only food I had eaten in this fooc court were just some dimsum and flavored French fries.
"I never tried this," Russell told me as he unwrapped the given utensils.
I took off the tissue in mine. "Do you pray before you eat?"
"Yeah," he said. A few seconds later, he added, "I guess that's another thing we haave in common."
We prayed and then began eating. I mixed all the components together and immediately took two spoons of the result. It tasted really good.
"Do you. . .believe in God?" I asked him after I swallowed a mouthful of food.
"I don't," he replied harshly. "Also, can I have your hot sauce?"
"Yeah, sure."
He took the packets and began drizzling his food in it. I took a few more spoonfuls as I watched him consume his meal with gleaming eyes.
"How about you?" he asked me.
"Not really. Which is ironic because I go to a Catholic school."
"They shouldn't dictate your beliefs. They're yours to made."
"I know. . ." I was almost done with my sizzling plate. It had already cooled down a bit. "How about you? Why did you stop believing in God?"
"I stopped when he didn't save us from our misery. Then, my family stopped too."
There was some awkward silence. I remembered their family story.
"You know. . .your dad told me about it," I said.
He looked at me. "He did?"
"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry that you ended up like this."
He finished his meal and politely placed the plate and utensils on top of the tray. He didn't have the heart to look at me straight. "It. . .doesn't matter. But thank you."
I managed a thin smile. "You're welcome."
It took me several minutes to finish the meal. We didn't talk about anything else. I was busy thinking about his reaction. He definitely didn't want to talk about his family, I thought.
I placed my plate on the tray and the janitor piccked it up. I smiled at him, but he was already wheeling the cart away.
"Do you want to go ice skating?" I asked Russell.
"No," he replied. "I want to go somewhere else."
"Oh."
"Any. . .ideas?"
I racked my head for some. "No, not really." I breathed slowly. "But. . .the mall has a bus terminal. We can check for destinations there."
"All right." He stood up. "Let's get going."
I gestured to the e-bike. "We have to return the bike first."
"Oh, okay." Then, he sat on the seat. "But I'm driving this time." He smirked.
I sat on his lap. "Okay."
"Okay."