Touché (Complete)

Wish # 2

Carl realized how far he was from being a human, and from feeling like one.

It was as if the thought only struck him now as he looked at Flor, who sat across from him, doing her best attempt to hide her watery eyes.

Should he hold her? Wipe her tears away? He had observed how humans comforted each other. He never had to do it, of course. Angel didn't have anything to find misery on.

"I was being stupid. Since I was younger, I romanticized the idea of us. I thought it happened like that, you know, like destiny. I thought we were like those childhood sweethearts who were meant to end up together."

Flor laughed, but Carl remained observing her. There was a crack in her voice, her hair all tangled. She sounded tired as though she didn't sleep all night.

"There's a lot out there," he told her.

"You don't get it. You're not a human."

Ouch.

Flor ended up spending the whole day sleeping in her room, and Carl struggled with boredom because the only thing he could hear was the sound of AC.

And it's driving him mad.

He decided to leave and walk around the place. A street near the hotel was bustling with colors and drums. There was a small parade of people, old people, and children.

As Carl passed by, an old woman gave him a brochure.

It was the festival, and part of the information was the Pilgrim. Carl didn't know that it was known within the locals. He felt so excited that he rushed back to the hotel to inform Flor.

"Let's just go tomorrow," Flor mumbled. She didn't feel like going out and the idea of festivals didn't sound enticing. She hated the crowd.

"Come on, please," Carl pleaded.

Flor rolled her eyes and pushed Carl's hand away. She yielded and followed him outside, but not before reminding Carl that she still had to make her second wish.

What she didn't expect, of course, was how mundane that wish would be.

It was when they stopped at a bakery when the rain suddenly poured again, and they forgot to bring an umbrella.

Carl noticed that Flor was staring at one of the cheesecakes.

"You like it?" he asked her.

"Yeah. You ever tasted one before?"

Carl shook his head. But it did look appetizing.

Flor explained that it was one of the best cakes in the world and that she used to eat a lot of it when she was a child. She had to stop as she grew older. The real reason was she developed some kind of eating disorder, but she didn't tell him that. Instead, she just told him that she needed to follow a diet.

"Eh, what's the harm in eating it now? Just once?" he asked.

Flor thought about it, and realized that maybe she was being too harsh with herself. Maybe it wasn't that sweets were bad for her body, but more like she felt she didn't deserve to treat herself. Carl urged her to buy it and she was about to be convinced when she found that her bag was nothing but empty.

Flor blamed Carl. If it wasn't for his overexcitement, she wouldn't have mistaken her other purse for her wallet.

"You can wish for it, you know," he winked.

Flor frowned at him. Why would she waste her wish on a cheesecake? She could buy it later.

"You could," Carl said, his voice turning a little serious.

"But what's the one thing you want at this moment? If you buy it later, it spoils the moment. Part of the best experience is about timing, you know. You only get one chance at everything. You think time is linear, but I think time is a set of individual bubbles, like moments. You can never repeat it."

"Wow, big words," Flor laughed. "Where did you get that?"

He grinned at her. "I liked reading books, you know."

Flor was amused. She didn't know he was that kind of person or kind of spirit. She paused for a while as if to consider what he just said.

She didn't know what she'd wish for, anyway. She didn't want a lot of things. She just wanted to live a simple life. She always felt like she had no purpose in life, like she was just some machine that's useful in the present, but would eventually rust and disintegrate someday.

"Fine," she said, hiding a smile.

"Alright! Your wish is my command."

The cheesecake was somehow worth the wish.