"Come on, Luke! They are both soft, extra absorbent and if you get them in all white, it's easier to wash them because you can all throw them in one wash. It would be a pain in the ass to do the laundry if you got them in different colors."

"Is that the reason why all of your towels are in white?" he asked, still eyeing the purple towels.

"Yes. And also because they are aesthetically pleasing to the eyes."

She grabbed a couple of hand towels and face towels for him too. They have been arguing over towels and lines for about an hour now.

She hates shopping and Luke doesn't make it easier. She had no idea that Luke was so indecisive when it comes to shopping! How difficult it is to pick freaking towels?

And they had already spent an hour in just the bathroom section! They haven't been to the bed section to get him some more pillows because four pillows weren't enough for him.

Just thinking about how Luke would choose his bedding already gives her a migraine.

It also added to the time he was wasting because he would snap tons of photos of what he's buying and send them to Lucille. Every single item!

She can't complain about it since the excuse he gave was that he didn't want Lucille to feel left out. So he comes up with the brilliant idea of including her in everything — by sending her pictures of everything.

Before they moved to the bed section, she grabbed the towel set that he had been eyeing.

***

"Are you planning to serve different cuisine?" He asked as their server turned around after taking their order.

Jess, after more than two hours of shopping for towels and beddings, took him to this restaurant called Little China Town.

He watched Jess order them food even without looking at the menu. It is clear that this was not the first time she came here for a meal. The old woman sitting behind the cashier near the entrance of this small restaurant even greeted Jess with familiarity.

He knew she was pissed off at him with his shopping style. That's why he didn't bother to tell her what he wanted to eat and just followed her to a maze of small streets after they parked their car at a big office hardware store three or was it five blocks away from this restaurant.

They came in after lunch hour, hence, the ones who were eating were the employees of the restaurant having their late lunch break.

While they were waiting for their order a young man served them tea. The young guy greeted Jess in Mandarin, in which she replied in the same language and Luke observed that she spoke the words smoothly.

The young man left them with the promise to tell the cook to hurry up with their food.

"I didn't know you speak Chinese," he asked, pouring himself some hot tea.

"I don't. I just know some phrases because of Dana and Ellise. They both speak the language."

"Oh, because they live in China," he poured her some tea too.

"Ellise can learn a language if she wants to. She is naturally gifted with learning. Dana learned the language because she followed a guy she saw in a shrine," she chuckled with the memories.

Dana used to hear a lot of things from her because of her stupidity over a guy. She wondered what will she say now if she will know that after she told her adamantly that she won't ever go crazy over a guy — only to be crazy over a guy too!

She didn't just swallow back those words she spat but she licked them clean off the floor. She grimaced deeply inside. She would never have imagined losing her rationale that she was so proud of towards a guy who didn't even remember popping her cherry.

"Oh!" He was stunned to hear that Ellise can speak many languages.

The talk about Jess' friends came to a halt when food started piling on their table. It started with dumplings, sweet and sour fish, some tofu dishes, stir fry noodles, and he lost count.

None of them talk since the first dish was put in front of them. Their chopsticks were like predators zoning in on the prey and attacking in a blink of an eye.

They both stared at each other surprised by the number of empty plates on their table. They looked at each other as though they were asking each other how could the other person eat so much when in reality it was both of them who demolished all the food within an hour.

"I don't think I can stand up," he covered his mouth.

"We have to get up. The early diners would start coming in. They need the table, we will be on the way," she pushed herself up from her chair and Luke had no choice but to follow after her.

She was surprised that Jess handed the old woman a thick envelope when she picked up their bill. He noticed the old woman's eyes watered, cradling Jess' hands in her wrinkly hands. They exchanged some phrases he couldn't understand.

He didn't understand the language but he knew that what they were talking about was personal, thus, he stepped out of the restaurant first and just waited for Jess to finish up her conversation with the old woman.

As soon as he stepped outside, his sense of smell was assaulted by foreign smells that were also comforting. A sense of belongingness can be felt in the chaos of building, people, sounds, and smells in the air.

He was engrossed with people watching when Jess tapped his shoulder.

"Please walk slowly. I have a feeling that my stomach is going to burst if we walk too fast."

She chuckled, "Don't worry, I feel the same. There is a temple near here that has a nice garden. Let's go there and rest."

"How do you this area?" he asked.

She crossed the street and Luke was right on her tail. They entered a small coffee shop and got two orders of cold americano for takeaway and went to the temple Jess was talking about.

They were already entering the garden before Jess gave him an answer on why she knew her way around the area.

"Jace has family in this area."

"Jace, that fine-looking gentleman that Siena doesn't want to share?"

"Yes, that Jace." she chuckled as she sat down on a cement bench surrounding a tree in the middle of a garden.

It wasn't really much of a garden. It's just a small yard next to a temple. He has no idea what kind of temple it is, but some people enter a small Chinese-looking building to light an incense.

"Why do you hang out in this area? I don't see you in this kind of place."

"Because I don't have friends and I like good food."

"Well, I can't deny the good food. I mean, I can barely move with how much I ate.

They enjoy their coffee listening to the caged bird chirping accentuated by some shouting from the street.

Luke opened his phone and snapped another photo to send to Lucille.

"What do you two talk about?" she asked out of curiosity.

"I just send messages but my sweet pea hasn't answered any of my messages."

She glanced at Luke who was giggling while typing his message to Lucille.

"That's strange. Lucille was crying yesterday because we didn't reply to any of her messages, but now, she hasn't seen any of your messages?"

He shrugged his broad shoulder, "I don't know. Maybe you should ask Noah." he said casually.

She clicked her tongue and averted her eyes.

"Why? Didn't you two discuss Lucille yesterday?"

She pursed her lips and blew an air of irritation.

"I just answered Noah's phone call because of the kid. And no, we didn't discuss anything. I talked to Lucille for a few minutes. Assuring her that we didn't forget about her and if we didn't reply as fast as she expected it would be because of the time difference."

"But seriously Jess, you really aren't thinking of having a relationship with Noah?"

"The relationship we currently have is the only relationship I can give. Nothing more, nothing less."

He shook his head in disappointment, "You are mean, Little Miss Jessie. Lucille's daddy is head over heels in love with you."

"Does it matter though?" she stood up, and approached the caged bird, hanging on the tree branch. "You know why I can't commit to Noah. And no, don't tell me that I can just ask him the truth."

"I could suggest asking him and telling him the truth, but I won't."

She tapped the cage of the bird and the small bird inside flapped its wings and shrieked and began flying around the small cage.

"Truth is never black and white," she murmured under her breath, staring at the caged bird.