At night time, a Japanese traveler named Yoshi moved into the bed across a bedtable beside Daniel, whom greeted him in Spanish. He was from Nagasawa and was on a backpacking trip same as the two. He was in Seattle for a year as an exchange student from Japan studying English education. He wore a Hawaiian collar shirt, his photos of Egypt showed the exact same top, and jeans.
Judas was in the kitchen making spaghetti, of course. Cay went there to see if he could earn some share of the tagliatelle in red sauce, the only minor thing he hated was the fact there was carne contained in the sauce (“I’m trying to cut out meat, just for the sake of health”, Cay told Judas as he inhaled more smoke and nicotine through the cigarette bud stationing on his left hand.). Complaining was futile, as Cay was not known to have woman-like qualities, he just starred at Judas preparing the meal.
Judas instinctively offered him some of his portions, saying that he overly increased the portion. Cay did not hesitate for a second and agreed, taking his plate and moved to the table. Daniel and a girl from the same country were chatting while having ready-made meals bought from a convenience store. They both introduced themselves to her, whose name was Melinda, looking more like Daniel’s young mum than in the same age category as the rest of them. Her level of English was similar to Daniel, it made Cay more at ease to focus on conversing with Judas instead.
“I asked Daniel if he would like to grab a drink with us, he said ok.”, said Judas, Daniel turning his head slightly towards the two at the sound of his name mentioned, then turned back to Melinda.
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know, he said he probably knew somewhere cheaper than the bars near here. It’s like an all-you-can-cash-out-on-visitor’s eatery here.”
“I can imagine, this isn’t my first time travelling, though it is my second time with friends.”
“New Zealand?”, Judas remembered him mentioning his trip with a girl to the Oceania four years ago.
“Yeah, saved me from a lot of hassle in finding places to eat”, implying his family dinners while on foreign lands.
“So where are we heading tomorrow?”, Judas left most of the planning to Cay since the latter insisted everything would go according to his schedule.
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Cay brought up a few places: Largo di Torre Argentina (they somehow missed it, despite the fact that it was close to the Pantheon), the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum. Plans for the night will have to wait until the mentioned ones have been crossed. When Judas seemed satisfied, Cay continued finishing his pasta. It tastes delicious, thought Cay, and washed both of their empty plates stained with only red sauce and some hardened carne bits. Daniel was still speaking to Melinda about places he missed in Mexico, from what Cay could only acknowledged.
We all lust for nostalgic moments, Cay muttered, to escape to this temporal event, relive it and suspend time, even if the latter is still running normally. However, it is these occurrences that are the most destructive, because Jenna suddenly appeared in his mind, speaking incoherent but soft words, like a lullaby.
*
Caynius Choy was not as physically adequate as he was during his primary school years. Yes, he had been through “thick” and thin before, but the former had always been haunting him even after he threw off the extra pounds, up until university.
Classmates used to laugh at him for he was the fat quit kid sitting in the corner of his 5th grade classroom. “You know, you can lose weight faster if you don’t wear your jacket in this air-conditioned room” was what one of his teachers told him. Cay did try losing weight before starting middle-school by not eating enough and instead consume only a red apple. I don’t like the sour ones, said him to his mother one day when she confronted his, not knowing her son was literally starving himself.
The children in the same class took noticed one by one and asked occasionally sometimes asked the reason for his motive, and why he was so motivated. His answers differ but always led back to the same conclusion of how much he liked he juciness of apples.
“But, won’t you go hungry?”, asked the boy with the almost- bold head, which Cay classified as a friend.
“No, I usually have heavy breakfasts before starting class.”, replied Cay.
“Before 7:30 in the morning?”, questioned with a tone of skepticism.
“Yes, my grandmother does the cooking, I just eat and leave.”
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Cay’s last line did not sound as convincing as the times he practiced at home, in front of a mirror, as the boy with the half-bold head turned away after saying that they would talk later. He swore he heard the words “fatty” “eats lot” and snorts. In between the conversation with the girl in front of his table. He likes her, Cay had always known his half-bald classmates’ interest in Cheryl. All the boys in his class had a crush on her, which her close female friends noticed and told her, the pretty girls whom was the centre of attention.
The pretty and handsome ones get the best attentions.
As Cay finished speculating about what his half-friend was saying, he continued devouring his Fuji apple that his mother brought back from Japan a week ago, with a silent hunger no one in the class would understood.
Just you all wait and see, I will show you all what I am capable of, thought Cay with ferocity in his eyes as he peered through the whole classroom. The promised to himself was to provoke a higher level of tolerance to his rumbling stomach, silencing its’ cries for more food. An apple was his favorite meal of the day.
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