Chapter 6: Chapter 5
If there was one thing to keep in mind when going on dates with MJ, it was that she has a preference for nice, expensive food. The kind of food that was undoubtedly delicious, but also, with a cost that would make the average person (like me) cry.
She could go along with me whenever I wanted to eat something a bit more affordable, sure, but given a choice?
She'd rather treat me than deliberately choose to go somewhere a little below her usual tastes.
With all that being said...
I couldn't help my inevitable surprise when the place she took me to for breakfast was a hole in the wall restaurant I'd sooner recommend than she would.
It was amazingly homey, with its wooden everything (chairs, counters, tables, walls, you name it) and sparse decorations. The space was small, just enough to hold only five tables and a few chairs at the counter, but it didn't feel cramped as it did feel deliberate. The kind of place that you'd imagine yourself calling the owner "auntie" or "uncle", and they'd offer you extras whenever you try to leave too soon.
It was also empty save for the two of us, but then, it was only eight in the morning.
I pulled my sleeve down over my wristwatch. "Did Roy ask for us to get breakfast here?" I asked MJ.
MJ looked at me with wide, sparkling eyes as if I'd just tried to hand her the moon. "How did you know?"
"...you'd rather die than suggest going to such a small space like this one."
She pouted at me. "Oh."
"Oh?"
That wasn't me.
I turned at the sound of the new voice, only to find a stout, short-haired older woman watching us from behind the counter. She was wearing an apron, like she'd just come out from the kitchen, and she had a smile that reminded me of a nice auntie down the road who liked to offer her cooking to the neighbors, just because she could.
"To have customers this early," the woman began to say, "you must be Roy's friends?"
If this were a little more cliché, then this woman would be the owner who not only knows Roy, but has a familial relationship with him extending from either childhood, or adolescence.
Haha, surely not.
"Not me," I said affably, smiling as I walked over. I took the corner seat at the counter, ensuring that no one could sit at my left as MJ took up the space to my right. "MJ is. I just got dragged into their little date."
"Excuse me?" she scoffed. "I wouldn't date him even if you paid me."
"Oh, but why not?" the woman asked, looking genuinely curious. She helpfully handed me a menu, which I took with a smile and a nod. "He's a dear boy. Even now, he visits and eats here when he could eat at much better places."
Okay, that's hitting a little too close to the cliché remark…
I cut in before MJ could make any more arguments against Roy's very existence. "Auntie, how long have you known Roy?"
"Why, I've known him since he was a teenager," the auntie said, looking all too happy that I'd asked. "He's grown up well, hasn't he? He always told me he dreamed of being a successful actor, and look at him now! He's doing so much, this old heart of mine can't help from worrying if he's resting enough."
Wow.
Okay then. Maybe I'm living in a web novel after all, and the author has a weird sense of humor.
…nah, there's no way. Maybe this one thing was just a coincidence.
As was MJ knowing Roy personally.
And the fact that she insisted we meet, regardless of my initial wishes.
Alright, I'm not going to think about that anymore.
"Well, you're not alone there," I said, smiling a little more sincerely up at the auntie. If there was one thing that would always help me ease up in a social situation, it was talking about Roy. And what better time to talk about him than with this person who's known him for a long while already? "He does a lot, doesn't he? He could've settled with just acting, but he's dabbling in so many things at once. Singing, dancing…"
"Oh, but he has an angel's voice," auntie gushed. Her enthusiasm was infectious, because I started grinning with her. "It would be a shame if he didn't go into singing. Why, sometimes I'd get him to sing before, right here in my shop, so he could build his confidence! That boy was so shy even when he wanted to be an actor, could you believe that?"
I laughed. Just imagining a younger Roy being shy…that was too cute. Suddenly, I'm thankful that I chose to come here just so I could meet this like-minded auntie. "That sounds cute. Did you have any pictures?"
"Pictures!" Auntie immediately started patting at her pockets, front and back, before finally pulling out a smartphone from her pants' pocket. "My dear, I even have videos. Let's see, it's been a while, and I had to get my daughter to set a separate folder for them so I could find them easily..."
Oh my god. Videos of a younger Roy? Unpublicized ones? Maybe I shouldn't…
"Here they are!"
Okay, maybe I could. She was offering, and it would be infinitely more impolite to say no now.
"...oh, he's so cute," I muttered.
The video was grainy and distant from where Roy was standing, but the little I could see was enough to prove to me that he was cute. He was at the front of the shop, just outside the clear glass window, and he had a microphone to his mouth as he sang softly to an R&B song. His hands on the microphone were clasped together to his chest as if in prayer, and the way he stood made him look so much smaller than he actually was.
He really was shy before, wasn't he?
"He was so shy," auntie said, as if reading my thoughts. There was a fond smile on her face when I glanced over at her. "I'm glad he overcame that eventually. When he got used to it enough, he started singing outside of the shop to try and get people to come over, and," she laughed, "wouldn't you know it? Some agencies found him through those clips."
Oh? This was news to me.
She seemed to understand that I was her captive audience when she started eagerly telling me her stories. "He auditioned, that's the story. And that's true, but the clips of him singing helped him along since some agencies were considering singing parts for some of the cast. That boy wouldn't talk of his own singing unless pushed, back when he was younger. Imagine what a waste that would've been if no one knew!"
I smiled at her. "I really like your enthusiasm, auntie."
"Oh, you're so sweet. Just for that, I'll treat you to anything you want off the menu, okay?"
A surprised laugh escaped me when I heard that sudden offer. She'd already given me a lot as a fan of Roy, and now she was trying to treat me? That was unfair for her, wasn't it? "No, there's no need for something like that," I insisted. I looked to MJ, expecting her to support me. "Right, MJ?"
"While I'm very much in agreement with spoiling my friend—"
"Oi."
"—we really wouldn't mind paying for the food, since we came here to eat." Then she smiled that smile she often wore whenever she was going to do something crazy, and added, "If you really want to treat us though, maybe you could send the video of Roy to her instead?"
"MJ! What the—" I immediately shook my head at the intrigued smile on the auntie's face. "Don't mind her, she's just being silly. You don't have to do anything."
"Oh, but it's not often that I can find someone who appreciates our Roy this sincerely," auntie said. "How would you like me to send it? Email?"
I fervently waved my hands to decline her offer. "Oh, no no, it's really okay, you don't have to do that. Getting to watch it once is enough."
"I'm sure Roy won't mind if I sent something like this to a friend of his."
"We're really not friends, though."
"Nonsense," auntie huffed. "You're a sweet child, and I happen to know his type."
I choked.
"His type? Do tell," MJ said, grinning as she leaned closer over the counter to hear what auntie had to say. "What's his type, auntie?"
"Well—"
The tinkling sound of wind chimes and the opening door interrupted auntie before she could finish answering.
Of course, I couldn't help from glancing over at whoever my savior was. Though I didn't know just what it was I was panicking about, I just knew I didn't want to hear any more teasing from either my friend or this auntie; I'd already experienced enough of that everywhere else, from everyone else.
In my eagerness to look over, I had forgotten—
It was too early for the restaurant to open, and there was only one other person we were waiting for who would come at a similarly early hour as us.
In all his handsome glory—with his short auburn hair under a dark cap, his elegantly thick brows, his fair and sun-flushed skin, his turquoise eyes, and his softly curved jaw hidden behind a black face mask—was Roy Hirsch, standing at the entrance of the restaurant.
My mouth hung open in disbelief, before I quickly tried to close it again.
Then.
"...you."
Those turquoise eyes of his were opened wide as he came closer to us. The urge to run, to leave this place, was strong within me; unfortunately(?), the competitive part of me that refused to be a coward won and chose to stay.
I'd barely processed the fact that he spoke at all when he stopped right in front of us to say, "Could you do something for me?"
Anything you want.
Of course, I didn't actually say that.
"What is it?" I asked, hoping against hope that I didn't sound at all winded like how I felt in my heart.
He tugged his crossbody bag over his shoulder and to his chest, unzipped it open, then pulled out a black face mask. It was with sheer will and effort that I managed not to stare and gawp at him like a fool.
Inexplicably enough, he held his hand out with the face mask to me.
I looked down at the face mask in his hand, then looked up to his face with what I hoped was confusion.
With dazzlingly distracting eyes, he said, "Could you wear this for a moment?"
"...what?"
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