“Come on, you should be glad! And it was a good thing that we got tested, because it means…” He trailed off, grinning suspiciously.
“Means what?!” I demanded.
“I can fuck you raw,” he whispered against my ear. I whipped my head to glare at him and kicked his shin—hard.
“In your dreams, you bastard!” I yelled, shoving him off me and walking away. This pervert and his one-track mind!
I was still pissed at Kinn for being so annoying, but I was also relieved at the results. When we returned to the car, I got in and didn’t say anything.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his eyes flickering between me and the road. “I was only joking with you.”
“It wasn’t funny!” I snapped. He probably thought I was angry at him for joking about the test results. I was angry at him about everything!
“I didn’t know you could pout so much,” he chuckled.
“I’m not pouting!” I yelled back. I wasn’t pouting—I was furious, and Kinn’s stupid teasing smile pissed me off even more.
“Whatever you say. Anyway, are you hungry yet?” he asked. “What should we eat? You can pick the place.”
I pondered over it for a moment. It was dinnertime—maybe the reason I was so angry was because I was hungry. We’d also worked up quite a sweat earlier. I chuckled to myself. Do you want me to choose? I’ll pick the most expensive place, and you’re paying!
“I want to go to that Japanese restaurant,” I said. Kinn’s smile immediately faltered. So, that place was expensive as hell, huh? He probably paid more than ten thousand baht last time. This time, I intended to break the record and order whatever I wanted!
“Can we go to another place?” he asked, his voice sincere.
“I want to eat uni sushi,” I declared, turning to glare at him.
“We can go to a different restaurant. It’s just as good.”
I wondered if there was something about that place—his demeanor had changed the moment I mentioned it. But he was the one who took me there first!
“No! I want to go to the same place,” I insisted. I wasn’t going to let him be the only annoying one. It was my turn to piss him off, and I wanted to know why that restaurant made him so nervous!
“Come on, let’s go to a different place,” he said.
“No. If you don’t want to go, we can go home. I won’t eat anywhere else!” I insisted, smirking at how irritated Kinn had become.
“Fine! Fuck it,” he agreed reluctantly, turning the car into the alley that led to the restaurant.
Riling him up delighted me. He was the one who introduced me to this place, so he didn’t have the right to get mad.
The car stopped in front of the traditional Japanese restaurant. Like last time, everyone greeted Kinn very politely when we entered. They were so eager to serve us that they’d probably spoon-feed us if we asked.
“Ten uni sushi, please,” I said. Kinn glanced at me, but he sat sulking at our table for a while without saying anything. I didn’t care, though; I intended to drain him dry today. I was so mad about the broken condom and the way he messed with me at the hospital. Now it was my turn to fuck with him!
“Yes, sir,” the waitress said. I didn’t hold back, ordering almost every dish on the menu—even the ones I didn’t know.
Then, the waitress turned to Kinn and asked, “Would you like your usual order, Mr. Kinn?”
“Yes,” Kinn replied before turning to me. “Order only what you can eat, will you?” he warned me when I didn’t stop ordering.
I glared at him, knowing I wouldn’t be nervous like the last time I was here. Now I knew exactly what to do!
“You’re paying, right?” I asked.
“Yes! Are you planning to bankrupt me or what?”
I grinned in satisfaction. Once our food was served, I started shoveling it in. Kinn also ate, complaining that I’d ordered too much food. I feigned ignorance and continued enjoying my meal.
“Try this,” I said, sliding over one of the ten plates of uni sushi. There were two pieces per plate. He silently stared at it and shook his head.
“You don’t like it?” I asked curiously. “Or are you allergic to it?”
“No…” He looked contemplative for a moment before letting out a sigh. His strange behavior baffled me, but the fancy food in front of me was far more interesting.
I’d ordered a cook-your-own-takoyaki dish, because it reminded me of an old computer game where you owned a takoyaki shop and had to cook before a timer ran out. I thought it’d be fun, and I wanted to try something new.
“Fuck!” I swore after I fumbled adding the batter to the mold. Had I gotten myself into trouble? This was supposed to be fun, but I’d screwed up big time.
I kept cooking, but nothing seemed to be edible. Kinn chuckled and tried to help me shape the batter into a ball with skewers, but he didn’t have any success either.
“I should have ordered the ready-to-eat ones,” I grumbled.
“This one is almost ready,” he said.
“Which one?” I asked, and he pointed at one of the strange-looking pieces of takoyaki. I frowned at the ridiculous ball and flipped it several times until I figured it was fully cooked. I poked it with my skewer, took it out of the pan, and blew on it. When it seemed cool enough, I held it in front of Kinn’s mouth. “Here.”
“You want me to be your guinea pig?” he chuckled, opening his mouth to take a bite.
“How is it?” I asked expectantly. He was right that I was making him my guinea pig. Although I wasn’t afraid it’d taste bad, its peculiar shape weirded me out.
“It’s all right,” he said, sipping his tea.
“This one is about to burn,” the waitress pointed out pleasantly. “Please let me help cook the rest.” She expertly used the skewers to flip the batter into a nicely shaped ball.
“Thank you,” I said politely, relieved to finally have some normal-looking takoyaki.
“I remember when Mr. Kinn ordered this takoyaki set for Mr. Tawan to try, and he couldn’t do it either,” the waitress remarked.
Kinn tensed up, his smile disappearing. I looked between him and the waitress, wondering what was going on.
“Ah, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said that,” apologized the waitress profusely. She quickly finished cooking the rest of the takoyaki batter before she left.
Kinn straightened up and didn’t speak. His face looked so grave that I didn’t dare ask who Mr. Tawan was.
Kinn put down his chopsticks and got out his phone. The atmosphere had turned sour, and Kinn’s serious persona was back. He no longer showed any sign of the cheerful personality that emerged when we were alone.