I stared at her for hours as she was cooking, standing from afar to wrap layers of her nose crunches, her giggles to those customers, and her frowns when the heat from the wok tried to catch her face, and I made them a complete set of the lovely Chae Richards as a gift.
I had sold my soul to a freaking demon; Lucifer, or whatever his name was, took sleeping pill and travelled to the other universe just to be able to see and touch her again. That complete set of Chae Richards costed me fifteen thousand British Pound that I struggled to save over the years but then I thought I deserved a self reward too.
Buying that gift was indeed, the best gift I ever gave to myself.
As I was waiting for business hour of Tsukiko Food Stall to end, I did some calculation in my mind about how the time in this universe worked.
If two hours here were equivalent to 5 minutes of sleep in my universe, I would have more than enough time to spend with Chae since I could sleep up to 7 hours without any help from a sleeping pill before. I was certain that I would sleep even longer if nobody in the house woke me, which I also had given warnings to The Kims to not to.
The view of Chae cleaning her station snapped me out from my thoughts, so I walked to the stall instantly to lend a hand.
"Lisa!" Chae called, pressing her voice at the back of her throat a little. "What are you doing?!"
Looking at how surprised her face was, I chuckled as I continued to collect empty plastic containers from the tables. People really didn't clean up after they ate.
"I'm helping you closing down?"
"You don't have to," She sighed with guilt smothered all over her face. "Lisa please, my boss would get mad at me if she-"
"She's not here, right?"
"Your hands will get dirty"
"And?" I smirked. "I can wash them later, right?"
Speaking of that, she had no idea what I had done to get my hands dirty for helping her at the moment. If selling my soul to a demon was really a huge sin, then nobody here had dirtier hands than mine.
"Why are you like this?" She shook her head, pushing her two eyebrows together. "I'm serious, Lisa. Please don't touch anything"
I ignored her niggle towards my stubbornness when I just walked to a garbage bin next to her stall to throw the rubbish like nobody's business.
"Don't make me go out" She warned me one last time as she was separated from me only by the frame of the station while her hand gripping the top of it.
I was actually surprised to see this side of Chae Richards that I never seen in 9 months of our relationship before. She was really going to get mad at me, showing how intimidating she could be if I did something she didn't approve on, while my Chae who I had lost would only whine at me until I gave up.
"Just come here then," I replied her objection with the softest voice I could make, taking a step closer to the wooden frame in between us. "Come here and hug me..."
Her face changed completely, brushing those frown lines away as the stresses inside her eyes vanished. Even her cheeks were painted with evanescible red, which were definitely good gestures to me.
She moved away to widen the space between us and I took it as a sign of defeat; she lost.
Did you see that, culprit Lisa? If you ever going to fight Chae again, do it like I did, you fuck.
"Chae, could you please give me the cleaning cloth?" I asked after I threw the rubbish away. "I will wipe the tables for you"
"Lisa, I will do it later"
"Let me help you"
"For what?"
"Well, the more I help the faster we can go out, right?"
She looked at me back when she was no longer blushing.
"Do you need to go somewhere else after we hang out later?"
"No, I don't" I shook my head while she came close to the wooden frame again.
"Why are you rushing then?"
I swallowed my throat, unaware of my own action when I was busy reading hers. I guessed Chae caught me already.
"B-because I can't wait any longer"
"Going for dinner?" She asked. "Are you hungry? I can cook something for you"
"The date, Chae..." I whispered as our eyes locked to each other. "I can't wait to have a date with you"
I gave her another round of surprise again that almost pushed her eyes out. She really looked like she couldn't believe what I just said to her. What a cutie!
"What? You said we are just going out?" She gave me a confused look while her hand was gripping on the frame again.
"Oh really? I didn't finish my sentence?" I laughed a little. "I want to take you out for a date, Chae"
"Are you serious?"
I placed my hand on top of hers, pushing my head even close until my front met the wooden partition.
"Yeah, I'm dead serious right now" I smiled, eyes looking at her lips that were so near for a kiss if only she was my girlfriend. "Or you don't want to?"
Natalie's voice interrupted in time as I was expecting Chae to respond.
"What are you guys whispering about?"
"Nothing!" Chae said when she turned her head towards the other woman. "Are you done at the back?"
"Yes, just waiting for you to clean up the front-" Natalie paused as she looked at the outside tables. "...that already cleaned?"
"Nat, you can go home first" Chae suggested, still keeping her hand on the frame as if she wanted me to keep holding it. "You don't have to wait for me"
"Are you sure? You haven't even cleaned your station-"
"I will go out with Lisa after this" She sounded so nervous talking to her housemate about our plans and I just couldn't help to smile because of it. "I will close the stall by myself"
Natalie's eyes took a quick ran towards me and I showed her what my grin looked like.
"Okay," She reponded to Chae as she walked away. "Just make sure you don't come home crying again"
"Nat!"
"Have a great night later," She nodded at me who was still standing outside of the station. "See you again, detective"
My eyes followed the figure of Natalie until that woman was gone among the crowds, taking them back towards Chae only to realise she was already staring at me from this limited space between us. None of us wanted to move just yet.
"Lisa, I would need to at least change"
"What's wrong with your clothes?"
"I can't go out for a date wearing my uniform"
I smiled again when I just remembered something about her. She was the same Chae who wore a knee length dress only for a movie hang out. It wasn't a wonder if she would want to wear something nicer than that dress for a real date with me. But I wouldn't let clothing issues made our date less meaningful.
If it was with Chae, I wouldn't care much about what clothes she would be wearing. She could just not wearing anything at all, which I had been dying to see before, and it would still be a beautiful view to me.
"Don't worry about your clothes, we can just go out"
"I'm not comfortable, Lisa. I look like a chef having dinner at a restaurant"
"What's wrong with looking like a chef? I look like a detective myself"
"I could have at least put something pretty on"
I stared into her eyes for seconds when her sentence kind of disturbed me.
"A woman like you don't need pretty clothes to make you look pretty" It was me who was being serious this time. "You are already pretty, Chae..."
She sighed, looking at my hand that was gripping hers.
"You think so?"
"Of course. I mean, look at you!"
She smiled when her inner shyness started to poke her.
"Lisa-"
"You are so beautiful, Chae" I cut her sentence off as she cupped her mouth to restrain those giggles from coming out.
"I will wash these woks first and then we can go" She changed the subject but still standing at the same spot, probably because I still hadn't let her hand go. "Sit down first, Lisa"
"But I need a cleaning cloth"
"Why are you stubborn?"
"Because I want your attention," I teased her just like how I used to do to my Chae especially on Sunday morning before going to church. "And I need to clean those tables"
Sighing, she finally handed me what I had been asking for.
The eating area looked cleaned after I made sure it was. I even swept the ground and arranged the chairs back on top of the tables, stealing glances at the pretty woman once in a while as she was cleaning her station. This really felt like home, as she was, when my Chae would cook dinner for the two of us on Saturday night and I would do the clean up in return.
I just missed helping her with anything; buying groceries or cleaning the kitchen. I missed our times that were spent by doing things together. I just missed everything about my Chae and she completed half of my heart again; beating, alive.
"Can I use the sink?" I asked her from behind the station.
Smiling, she opened the latch for me. "Yeah, just come in"
I entered the station that had 'employee only' sign for the very first time, getting a chance to have a close up experience of my girlfriend's workplace.
It only took a few steps to reach the sink, making me realised about how narrow this working space was. I only saw Chae and Natalie working back and forth with their cooking from the outside before, and by putting myself in there triggered the claustrophobia in me within seconds.
"Baby? Chae! Chae?" I corrected myself as quick as I could. "Umm, which one to use?" I asked, standing and staring at two liquid handwashes with different colours next to the sink.
Chae didn't respond to me the way I expected her to; by her soft voice. But she came to stand beside me instead, pushing the tap opened and water started to flow out.
She grabbed both of my hands gently as she placed them under the faucet, giving me the feel of her hands with the water wetting our skin together.
"The orange one is a normal handwash," She pressed the pump of the other bottle. "This blue one is antibacterial"
I didn't even try to let my voice out again as I stared at her washing my hands for me, having her arm pressed against mine that sent the warmth of care that I couldn't explain.
Chae was so passionate in doing stuffs, let it be the things she loved; cooking, I would always get mesmerised by how gentle she treated and prepared the food. It was almost looked like she poured all the love she had inside her into the food and it got obvious by its taste. Let it be the things she did on regular basis; making the bed or folding my clothes, I felt a different comfort whenever I slept in or wore a formal top to work that she ironed for me the night before.
Her essence of touch was one of the things that made me believed about true love; she touched with love, just like how she was touching my hands at the moment to clean them. She made me unbothered of the hanging tears in my eyes when the delicate feel of her fingers caressing in between mine, weighed my heart down.
What makes you love so hard, Chae? Is it because the Lisa you love, doesn't love you back?
What makes you still care for someone who puts you as her last choice? Is it because you still hope to be with her in the next life?
I'm here now, Chae, and I will love you even more than I did in the past.
*Advanced birthday gift for alMANDSs ⚘