18: Fluttering Feelings part 2

It’s Asian Food Crawl date for today, which was Ashmille’s idea.

Out of curiosity, Drino spontaneously thought of an idea. He shut the door of his car and decided to commute for the first time. It would only take him one jeepney ride to reach their dating destination because he lives in a condominium near their school. Without prior internet research, he explored the city streets by asking the people he saw which jeepney to ride.

“That. That jeep, you should ride that, then tell the driver to drop you at the street I said.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Drino hopped onto the public vehicle called a jeepney.

“Sir, please drop me off at Garda Street.”

“Okay,” the driver replied.

“How much is the fare?”

“15 pesos”

“How do I pay?”

The jeepney driver stretched out his hand, and Drino handed his coins to him. Not long after, many passengers filled the jeep.

“Please pass my fare,” a woman reached out her coins to the man sitting beside Drino.

So, that’s how they pay when they couldn’t reach the driver, Drino thought.

The traffic is quite bad. The vehicle is full, has no air conditioning, and is not windy enough to ventilate the jeep. Drino wiped his forehead with the back of his right hand as the beads of sweat flowed. He fanned his neck by pulling the collar of his shirt multiple times. He thought he shouldn’t have worn a gray shirt for today’s date.

“Para po!” a passenger shouted, and the driver stopped the jeep.

The ride became fast when the traffic cleared. Drino almost bumped his head against the passenger’s head sitting on his left, but luckily, he grasped the handlebars above his head.

He checked his location on his phone and was surprised to see that he had passed the street he was supposed to drop off. He asked the passenger beside him, and she gave him instructions.

“Sir, para po!” He shouted at the driver to stop the vehicle. “Thank you!”

He ran and took a tricycle ride for five minutes.

“Here we are, Sir,” the tricycle driver told him.

Drino felt a sense of accomplishment when he finally arrived at the right destination.

“How much do I owe you?” he asked.

“150 pesos”

“What? Sorry, I misheard you.”

“150 pesos, Sir,” the tricycle driver repeated.

“Oh, I didn’t mishear you.” He took a 150 peso bill out of his wallet. “Here you go, thanks.”

The tricycle driver left Drino pondering if it was overpriced or not. He strolled down the alley and saw Ashmille.

“You’re late,” she greeted him. He was 27 minutes late.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“What happened to you?”

“Something came in, but I’m here, yohoo!” He became optimistic because, at least, he had made it, which was an achievement unlocked for him.

“You look sweaty, and your hair is a mess,” she’s concerned.

“Oh, must be because I forgot to freshen up.”

“Did you go here without taking a bath?”

“No, no, I showered. Am I that haggard?”

“Not really. But I noticed you might lose your car keys.”

“I didn’t. What do you mean?”

“It’s not hanging on your pants right now. Maybe you should secure it first.”

“Oh, yeah, that one. It’s in my pocket, no worries.”

“Okay”

Drino was nervous for a moment. He didn’t want her to know that he commuted.

“Are you familiar with this place?” she asked while they were walking.

“Yes, I’ve had great food here. We ate at Chinese restaurants. If I remember correctly, it was inside the mall.”

“Most probably, you had a luxury cuisine. But for now, we’re trying Asian food from the streets. Are you in?”

“Of course!”

“First stop, the classic steamed buns with fillings and fried radish cake.”

“The line is no joke. And there are cameras and GoPros,” he commented.

“They’re vlogging this whole place. And here,” she handed him some food. “Help yourself.”

“Where do we eat this?”

“Here, walking on the road while searching for the next stop.”

“Oh, okay.” He ate his share. “This is actually delish.”

“Next food stop is this. Veggie skewers and sugar cane juice.”

“I’m starving just by looking at those.”

“Do you like it?”

“Hmm, I approve,” he continued, chewing.

“We are here in the famous dumpling store.”

They both grasped their chopsticks and ate steamed dumplings while standing.

“It looks like a house, but they were selling food,” he observed.

“Be careful, it’s still hot,” she warned.

“Oh, still hot!” he drank some water to alleviate the pain in his tongue.

“The stall beside serves fresh spring rolls. Here.”

“I’m not into fresh spring rolls,” he munches, “But I’ll give this one 7/10.”

“Would you eat a fresh spring roll regularly if this is what they’re serving?”

“There’s a chance. How about you? How are you liking the food we’ve ordered so far?”

“No regrets. I’ll come back again.”

“Agreed”

“Tarts and hopia for dessert. I’ll be buying 2 boxes of each for my family.”

“I’ve seen this shop online, they’re famous for Asian goodies and sweets perfect for takeaway. They have lots of flavors and varieties. What can you recommend?”

“If you’re into sweets, get this. If you want a chewy texture, you can have this.”

“Oh, this one might taste yummy. Alright, I’ll get one of each of these.”

“That’s a lot. Who are you giving it to?”

“My parents and my friend group. I might as well make up for the times I was absent by giving these to them.”

“Good choice. I’ll go to the counter first. You can proceed after you’ve finished.”

She brought out her umbrella because the sun was starting to prick their skin.

He grabbed a tissue and wiped his forehead. “It’s getting steamy here.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even ask you if you have food restrictions.”

“I apologize for not telling you. As far as I know, I’m certainly not allergic to eating street food. I’m not used to it, but no allergies. And maybe I need some stomach training so that it won’t be too sensitive.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nah, I’ll finish this food as you did with yours. I’m not wasting any food here.”

“Don’t do that. Hey-”

He finished gobbling up his food.

“You’re naughty. We ate a lot of different food, so maybe that’s why your stomach is upset. Do you feel like pooping?”

“Poo-no… I don’t have to. It’s rumbling but not to the point of releasing it.”

“Vomiting?”

“Oh, please, I’ve remembered how I ruined our date at the park. Not again,” he groaned.

“This seems worse.”

“This is plain stomach cramps and abdominal pain,” he insisted.

“Which is indeed worse than vomiting because your entrails are flipped from the rides… You’re sweating a lot.”

“I’ll grab some medicine. I’ll be right back.”

“Wai-”

He rushed to a nearby pharmacy to get some medication.

“How are you feeling?” she asked. “Where did you go?”

He sighed. “I feel better. The medicine worked.”

“You sure? You will be driving later. You should be in good condition.”

“We haven’t talked much during the leisure park outing. Aside from me being sick at that time, the thrill was too much for me to handle. We didn’t have enough intimate talking time. I’m sorry for ruining our date again.”

“Unforeseen circumstances must be expected. Besides, we don’t know much about each other yet as prototype couples, so it makes sense. We must make some adjustments to execute this study successfully.”

“We’re dating, but you’re still about research and such. I can see how dedicated you are to your study.”

“I’d say I am not fully dedicated to it. I just want to make this into something I won’t regret in the future. If I’m going to sacrifice something to gain greater things, then might as well do it passionately.”

“And I admire you for that.”

“Is this date some sort of role-playing? Because I’m not sure if I’m being myself,” she pondered.

“We’re supposed to date each other as Ashmille and Drino. No, we’re dating our real selves here. Do you feel like this is a role-playing date?”

“I don’t know how real-world dating works, so I cannot answer that. But what I’m certain of is that this is a prototype dating only.”

“A prototype dating doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be our true selves. These dates might not be real, but we are real.”

“How do you not confuse those two? How can you date someone pretentiously? I know we’re doing this for our thesis, but I think our data would not be fully reliable by having the real us but not having a real relationship.”

“Are you saying that my idea of prototype dating won’t work?”

“I think it was a better idea to find real couples who matched well in the Love Algorithm, not us.”

“I get where you’re going. How about we continue doing this as much as we can? We won’t know where this will lead us, but I am confident that we’ll make it through… for our thesis. Don't you enjoy dating with me?”

“That’s not it. If I’m having fun or not dating you, it’s my opinion and must be put to the study. We shouldn’t be biased and not resort to being subjective.”

“Yeah, logically.”

“Logically,” she repeated. “Never mind what I said. Let’s finish this fake dating till the end.”

“Are you sure you still want to do this? You don’t have to force yourself. I don’t want you to be troubled doing this with me. Your comfort is a priority.”

“No, the thesis is my priority. Since we’re already here, I shouldn’t ruin what we’ve started. Let’s do this and complete the ten dates we’ve originally planned.”

“That’s the Ashmille I've known,” he smirked happily.

They’re done with their Asian Food Crawl.

“I’ll ride a bus from here,” she said. “Thank you”

“Thank you for the day,” he beamed.

They smiled at each other before parting ways. Another commuting challenge awaits Drino. This time, how could he go back to his condo?

With Drino’s personality being 80% close to Ashmille’s preference for a boyfriend, he started changing himself by about 10%. He couldn’t achieve the remaining 20% overnight. This is the best he can do so far as a college student. It wasn’t much of an effort for him, but she appreciated his effort to do so for the sake of their academic requirement.

Ashmille is seeing him as a guy who’s no longer goofy, but someone who is taking his studies seriously, which motivated her to agree with his initiatives. It’s not like it will be easy to find someone who matches your preferences and personality to pretend and act like you two are real lovers. Not many people would accept this project for free, and not everyone has the time for it. They were glad to meet each other with the same goals and objectives to execute a successful study.