amsterdam ( central cee )

11

I dip my chopsticks in the soy sauce and swirled them around before sucking it off. I watch as the restaurant streams in with more people while adding a tinge of wasabi to the soy sauce, mixing it with the chopsticks before sucking them right off again.

"Can you stop!?" Marius frowns looking at me with his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Why?" I return the frown with the chopsticks still in my mouth.

"It's annoying, you'll be outta soy sauce by the time the food is here."

"You have to be like the most dramatic person I've ever met," I say, rolling my eyes.

"Look if you're gonna be like this to me, I'll take the first boat back to Amsterdam alright."

"Good. You would do us both a favor."

Marius sighs and drops the menu card on the table. When our eyes meet, his are carrying a tinge of agitation but it eases just as fast.

"Why are you here anyway?" I ask dipping my chopsticks in the spicy soy sauce. "Not that I mind though, I love your surprise visits."

"I've been sent on a mission?"

"By who?"

"Commander mom."

I roll my eyes at Marius's cringy way of using his stupid words. "I don't need a spy, okay? I'm doing fine. Matter of fact! I'm doing great!"

Marius smiles. "Good... You know. She told me to tell you that she misses you a lot at home."

"Did she really or do you just miss me?"

Marius looks away and laughs. "I do." He admits. "Sometimes, I guess, all I miss are your pancakes."

I smile. "My pancakes are really good, not gonna lie," I say smugly. Marius smiles but it waters just as fast.

"How's school?" He asked when the waiter placed our sushi on the table.

"I dunno," I sigh truthfully. "I've been thinking of coming back home and just applying at the University of Amsterdam." He looks up and the glint of hope in his eyes is unmissable.

"Why?" He asks while picking up a sushi roll, dipping it in soy sauce, and swallowing it. I shrug again and do the same.

"I feel like... I'd be a better student back home and not even that, English is a hard language 'specially with medicine and shit." He nods, showing me that he understood. "I feel like  being abroad is not really in my favor anymore."

"Are you making any friends?" The question somehow stings to hear.

I shake my head. "I've made one and she's my neighbor so that doesn't really count, does it?" Marius nods while he chews, I can see his race of thoughts in his eyes.

"Just try and finish the semester, if you're still struggling at the end of it, just come back home and you can enroll in the next year at the University of Amsterdam. Mom and Dad will be more than happy to have you back... and motivated."

Our identical eyes meet, his carrying a look that tells me to just shut up and keep my snarky remark to myself.

I inhale a large breath before speaking. "I could... but also... I feel like I haven't explored London enough yet. I feel like I haven't really made enough effort to... fit in with the rest."

Marius is talking but I'm too distracted by the ding my phone makes causing my heartbeat instantly elevate. I grasp for my phone with a sense of urgency and unlock it. Excitement flows in me so quick, I lose my breath.