Gratitude

“Do you want to meet up again sometime?” I asked. “Maybe to discuss a possible trip?”

We were still at the pho restaurant, wrapping up lunch after a lengthy conversation about her sisters and our potential summer plans. Seri had just finished her noodles, during which I’d downed my broth out of boredom. It was absolutely delicious, but the salt and MSG were taking its toll on my throat. I furiously chugged water whenever the waitress came by with a new jug.

Seri tilted her head to the side. “Aren’t we studying together for our maths final?”

“Well I thought we were studying on Saturday, but you never said anything.”

“You never said anything either!” she pouted. “You should make the first move too…”

“That’s exactly why I asked you out today, but you invited Anna.”

“You liked her too though! Maybe a little too much.”

“That’s your fault.”

Seri jerked away from me. “Please deny it. You’re making me uncomfortable.”

“I’m kidding,” I said.

“Thee deceives as easily as thee breatheth.”

I glanced at the time. It was three-thirty in the afternoon, and rush hour had started roaring in the roads outside.

“Let me pay,” I said.

“What? No!”

“You paid for hotpot last time.”

“It’s fine,” she insisted. “You’ve bought me coffees ever since then.”

“Come on, I asked you out today so I should pay.” Now I knew how my dad felt when he fought my uncles for dinner bills.

“But I brought Anna, so…”

“So what?” I asked.

“So it wasn’t even a date.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I didn’t intend for it to be a date… did I? I wanted to get to spend time with her. Isn’t that what a date is? But we weren’t dating… but I was still the one who asked… damn. What do I say?

“Ah, not that I thought it was-” Seri corrected. “I mean…”

“It’s fine. Let’s just go to the counter and pay. We’ve been here for a while.”

“Yeah, let’s.”

As we walked over, I eyed Seri’s hands — they rested in her pockets, presumably on her wallet. I did the same, sliding my credit card between two fingers. The woman at the counter made eye contact.

“How would you like to pay?” she asked.

“Together.”

“Together!”

What? I thought Seri wanted to pay for hers-

Then it hit me.

Seri wasn’t just trying to pay her own; she wanted to pay for mine too. It was the all-or-nothing gambit. My fingers twitched as the waitress punched in buttons on the card machine. It was a wild west showdown, and I was about to prove to Seri that I had the quickest draw in town.

The employee turned to us. “Alright here we- oop! Sorry, are you table ten?”

“Are we?” I asked Seri.

“Yeah… why?”

“It seems like it was already paid for.”

Our jaws dropped in realisation.

Anna had beat us to it.

~~~

“I’m coming to your lecture tomorrow,” I declared.

“No! Stay away from my prof, weirdo!”

“She paid for us!”

“I’ll thank her myself!”

We bickered over how we would pay Anna’s kindness on our way to the train station. The sidewalks were bustling with people in suits getting off their seven to three shifts. I occasionally felt a pang of shame when I saw a healthcare professional walking in their scrubs.

That could’ve been us.

As we passed by a gift shop, I saw our reflection in the window. We walked together, just as young and beautiful and burnt out as everyone else that carried a backpack. Yet as tired as we were from our strenuous summer studies, we also shared numerous late night runs and cheeseburgers and jokes. The student life was both stressful and carefree, and definitely something I took for granted since the scrubs I saw on the street affected me more than the Seri that dove headfirst into my life with her bucket list and study habits.

In our reflection, Seri made eye contact with me.

“Let’s go in,” she said.

“Where?”

“Are you not staring at the gift shop in front of us?”

Right… it was a gift shop.

“Why don’t we buy Anna a card?” she suggested.

“Oh, that’s a great idea. We could get her something cute too, like a keychain or-” I stopped when I noticed Seri eyeing me in disgust.

We walked in without another word. The store smelled of dark musk and old house, but in a made-for-perfume kind of manner. The dark brown wood interior was hardly noticeable with the abundance of colourful products like stuffed objects, trinkets, and souvenirs. Why was it such a nice store? Our city wasn’t even known for tourism.

Upon our entrance, my companion forgot their contempt towards me and immediately ran to point at random items like a toddler.

“Look! It’s a Christmas present plushy!”

It’s a gift shop.

“Ooh, playing cards!”

It’s a gift shop.

“They sell keychains with people’s names on it! Jerry, Josh, Jonas… wow! There’s knives too! Do you think they have ours?”

“It’s a gift shop,” I sighed. I found her antics cute, but a part of me felt incredibly compelled to reign in her behaviour. “That’s why they only have common Westernised names here.”

“But…”

“We’re here for Anna anyways. Let’s look for her name.”

“Anna this, Anna that…” Seri pouted.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, as usual. “This was your idea, Seri.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. I’ll find a gift. You go look for a cute card.”

“Roger.”

Seri turned back towards the objects of her affections. Her pleasures weren't waned at all. After all, that was who she was.

As I made my way towards the cards section, my gaze stopped upon a series of food-themed keychains. A pair of cheeseburger and fries chains were amongst those being sold, likely as a set for couples. I nabbed them without a second thought.

After all our antics these past six weeks, I couldn’t even say the word cheeseburger in my head without thinking of Seri. It wasn’t even my favourite fast food until I met her.

Speaking of which, we should grab cheeseburgers after finals.

At Seri’s insistence, we’d been eating fruits in place of fast foods in mental preparation for our final. The burger had become such a staple of our relationship, that things have felt empty recently without it. Like I didn’t know where we stood or what we meant to each other. Maybe it was more of a communication issue.

Guess I’ll talk to her now.

I snatched a noodle-themed card for Anna, confident that Seri’s penmanship would make it presentable as a thank you gift, and returned to the front. Seri was waiting in line already. When she saw me, her hands darted behind her back.

“What’re you hiding?”

“Nothing…”

“What did you get for Anna?”

Seri took out her left hand and showed me a raspberry plush keychain. It was a clever reference to Anna’s “Razzberry Reviews” channel.

“Love it. What’s in your other hand?”

“Mmm…” Seri hesitated.

“Nevermind. Here’s the card for Anna.”

“Oh, cute.”

“And here’s a gift for you- well, for us.” I pulled out the pair of keychains. “Since we grab cheeseburgers all the time, it reminded me of you.”

Seri’s eyes widened and her lips parted. “Ah.”

“What?” Did she not like it?

“No, it’s just that I actually got us something too,” she blushed. Her other hand slowly revealed a pair of keychains from the same brand. It was a coffee mug and a teacup.

I opened my mouth, but nothing substantial came out. “Thanks Seri,” was all I could say.

“Welcome! It’s because you always buy me coffee, and you get a black tea for yourself,” she said. It warmed my heart to know that Seri also paid attention to the time we spent together. The little habits we shared now felt special.

“Next!” the cashier called. We looked around. There was a large empty space between us and where the line had previously been.

“We should probably pay for our own items,” I said.

“Yeah,” Seri agreed. “I won’t fight you on the bill this time.”

“I won’t offer to pay either.”

“Yeah,” she smiled gently at the keychains in my hand. “Otherwise it wouldn’t be a gift.”