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"Hmm.. ok I guess? Where ?" I asked with hesitation.
"I know a pretty good food truck near this building that sells philly cheesesteaks, we can walk from here" He answered.
"K then... I'll just follow ur lead, U! GO!," I said while pushing him in a joking manner....I truly don't know why I did that, but shock alert we all know it's because I'm socially awkward.
He was shocked when I pushed him, obviously? "You truly are a weird person, aren't you," he said with a small laugh at the end.
"Oh shut up, please just WALK!" I demanded."As you wish coffee shirt," he said while going to the elevator and laughing at me.
We finally arrived to the food truck, and believe me I was exhausted, the distance between the office with the food truck is sure near, but I have to keep up my pace with Mr.Zhong, cause he walks so fast. It's because of those darn long legs of his.
"Hey Alfonso, two of the regulars please," he said to the owner. Alfonso is Italian, in his 40's, wears overalls and has a thick accent.
"Well well well, now who's this skinny limpy girl?" he said while pointing at me.
As a normal human being should, I was offended so I said "Excuse me?" while I tried walking up towards him.
But then Mr.Assface stopped me, "Ey, he's just brutally honest, hey Alfonso! if she's skinny, give extra fillings to her sandwich then," He said to Alfonso.
I quickly refused, "Oh no you don't have to-" then Alfonso interrupted me, "Shush skinny lady, just eat what I give". Well I can't do anything about that.
It was so awkward while we waited for our order, it was literally just silence...
I was brainstorming ideas for convo starters, so I just asked him "Yo Mr, what do you think about dogs?"
He looked at me back with confusion, well I'm not surprised, I'm confused with myself, why did I say that?
But at the end he answered, "I'm not good at them, and I don't think they like me."
I kinda laughed when I heard that, "Haha well I can see that, then who's mochi?" I asked him back.
"Mochi is my cousin's dog, I was doing a favor," he answered.
"Oh wow, the man that didn't even want to learn my name can do a favor for someone," I said that while squinting and a sarcastic tone.
Then Mr.Zhong smirked at me. I was in awe, he was supposed to be annoyed, why is he smirking?
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, coffee shirt," then he continued, "So what actually is your judgement of me? I'm asking this nicely, Athena."
Well he rarely calls me by my name, so I had to answer him THIS time. "I think you are a sarcastic, brutally honest and overly serious person, that drinks extra shots of espresso everyday and think that arctic monkeys is overrated"
He was shocked because of my detailed answer, "They are kinda overrated tho.." , He said nervously
"HUH! I was right! BUT NO THEY AREN'T, and if you think AM is their only good album, then you're wrong" I argued.
"Ok then I'll just shut up," he said.
"Good, as you should," after a long awkward silence, I compiled my guts and asked him, "How about me.. what do you think of me?"
He never answered a question this quickly, "I think you are a stiff person that goes what the rules tell you and you are too afraid to get out of your comfort zone, even in how you dress you play safe, cause u don't wanna be the center of attention but u don't wanna be seen as horrible too".
I looked away for a little while then I said, "Nothing wrong with staying in your comfort zone."
"Well I guess both of us are right, aren't we?" he smiled a bit while looking at me.
Then I realized... he's not such an ass face anymore, he used to be 100% ass, now it's just 25% I guess. And his looks are a little above average...
"Finally, cheese steaks, thankyou Al," Mr Zhong said while Alfonso hands it out to us.
"The fatter sandwich is for skinny girl." Alfonso said in a teasing tone. Mr.Zhong laughed with him. "Ok, enjoy your meal," said Al.
Mr.Zhong then told me, "But seriously, you should eat, the only time I've seen you eat in the office was you eating a protein bar."
I then glared at him, "So you've been paying attention to me? Aw I'm flattered"
He denied immediately, "Hey the only reason why I was,is because I was worried you wouldn't get the job done" .
"hUH,WELL that was rude, and by the way I DO eat, I'm Chinese, my life growing up and my life now is filled with my parents urging me to constantly eat, even now when I don't live with them anymore, they call me everyday just to reassure that I eat at least 3 times a day, you have Asian parents, I'm sure you can relate," I said.
"Honestly no, I can't.. my mom and dad constantly traveled for work, so all I had was my butlers, and I don't really eat Chinese food that often, the cook at my house makes American foods," he replied.
"Oh well I'm sorry.. I mean? Not specifically sorry, I don't know that's a bad thing or not for you?" I asked.
"I myself don't know if it's good or bad, ok enough about me, how about you? Tell me what is it like growing up with Chinese parents," he asked me.
"Well I'm ethnically Chinese but I grew up in Singapore, we lived in a medium sized apartment, as soon as I got home I have to do my homework and Kumon, then you'll hear Singaporean aunties shouting at their sons to go back and study instead of playing football outside the apartment, my mom cooks for us everyday, Hainan rice, mapo tofu, the usuals, and she'll get mad if we didn't finish her cooking, it was pretty chaotic, but on every Lunar New Year, me and my parents would sit together on our dining table and fold jiaozi together, after we boiled or pan fried them, we ate them while looking at the fireworks from the living room window in a big cozy blanket," I said.
Mr.Zhong actually looked kinda sad, "Wow, that.. hmm actually sounds nice.. you know what else is nice? This cheese steak," I knew he wanted to change the topic.
"It actually IS really good wow, no offense, but I thought you would take me to a boujee place and eat caviars with duck livers or something, not because I was expecting it, I just thought you only eat at boujee restaurants," I said in a joking tone so he'll know that I'm not serious.
"Told you there's a lot you don't know about me," he said while smirking AGAIN. "And I have a new judgement about you, since you said you grew up in Singapore, I assume you got into NYU through scholarship," he said to me.
"You're right, and you know how did I got that? it's because I followed the rules, HA! Who's laughing now?" I joked.
We continued to chat until we finished our meal, we talked about my childhood in Singapore, his childhood with 12 butlers and many more. We didn't talk an ounce about work, that 's pretty impressive.
I decided to say bye after I finished my sandwich, "Mr.Zhong, thanks for the treat, I better get going now, it's kinda late," I said while smiling at him for the first time.
"No wait, let me take you home, please," he insisted.
"No please Mr.Zhong, I'm good, bye," I turned back and start walking.
Then he shouted, "Wait Athena!" I stopped.
"Yes?"
"From now on.. just call me James..
YOU ARE READING
Money, Love, Power
Romance"Who ever said love worths more than power, has never been in a position of power" He replied "And who ever said money worths more than love, has never been in love"
