special brew. | BrightWin

14.

B

I was sitting on the sofa, sipping on a smoothie that I made when a notification popped up on my phone. I opened them to see a photo of two admission tickets to the zoo, with texts that said:

winmetawin: Morning! Just wanted to ask you if you'd like to go to the zoo with me today?
winmetawin: I got two free tickets from a friend, so i thought of asking you. Don't worry if you've already got plans, i know this is very sudden.

I did not have to give it a second thought. I did not have any plans today either, which was perfect.

bbrightvc: Hi! Yes i'd love to :)

bbrightvc: What time should we meet?

I quickly finished up my smoothie and went to get ready. I fumbled around my closet, not knowing what to wear - I wasn't sure what would make a good outfit for a zoo date.

I eventually settled on a pair of khaki slacks with a white t-shirt, and wore an oversized yellow shirt over it. I put a little gel in my hair to make it neater, checked myself in the mirror one more time and headed out the door.

"Hi!!" Win waved his arm excitedly when he saw me coming. I wave back happily and ran up to him.

"Hey, we have the same slippers!" He points to the pair of black slippers I was wearing, then pointed to his. It was the exact same pair. Our clothes also had the same colors.

I looked up at his face and wanted to pinch his cheeks so bad, but I kept my hands to myself.

We entered the zoo, and proceeded to view various animals in their enclosures. Win seemed a little afraid of some of them, especially the lions and tigers. He stayed behind me when we went up to take a closer look, peering over my shoulder curiously. We also bought some carrots and vegetables to feed the giraffes, which he was utterly terrified by.

"Eek! Go away, you're too close!" He shrieks and scurries to hide behind me when one of the giraffes pokes its neck over the barrier to reach for the carrot I was holding. He gripped onto my shirt tightly and refused to let go, and I secretly smiled to myself at this adorable sight while trying to assure him that the animals are harmless.

"Tired yet?" I ask as we strolled along the path, munching on some ice popsicles. The zoo is pretty big, and we only covered about half the exhibits.

"Yeah, my feet are getting sore."

"Shall we take the boat ride? We can sit and rest for a bit." I suggested, pointing to a spot on the map that I had taken at the entrance. He nodded, and we got in line to take the ride.

When our turn came, the staff member gave us some safety instructions, made sure everything was okay and we set off. The boat started floating along a narrow path, with trees and various statues of wild animals surrounding us. There were audio recordings coming from speakers around explaining some fun animal facts as we went downstream.

"Ahem, P'Bright..." Win clenched his fists nervously and was looking down at his feet. "I...I have something to tell you."

"What's the matter?" I asked worriedly.

"Don't! Don't...look at me. T-turn the other way or I won't be able to say it."

It was a strange request, but I complied. I turned my body slightly away from him and looked at the bushes.

"I don't know how you will take this, and maybe you may even hate me and want to stay away from me. But please just listen to what I have to say."

But...it's impossible to hate you.