French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 30: -Kazuya- Dancing in the Grocery Store

The sanctuary of the grocery store was comforting this morning. The familiar smells, of spices I had not yet tasted, rice, fresh greens. The small basket on my arm was nothing in the face of what I wanted to buy. Bok choy, an industrial pack of steaks, rice that was half the size of me, way too many peach juice cans. I'd take them all home and have a feast. I'd fry up the steaks and cut them up in strips, feeding them to any cat I saw in the neighborhood. But, my wallet was telling me good luck. 

Even so, I was smiling happily this morning. I wanted to twirl the basket on my arm. Waiting, because this morning was going to be a new one for Gyeong-Wan, too. Last night, the conversation had shifted dramatically. Everyone loved my idea. Gyeong-Wan wasn't an enemy, he was an ally in every sense of the word. He might help them instead of harm them. They'd aired their gripes with the guests, following my lead that the guests were the problem, not the hotel itself. It was a completely changed room. Suddenly, everyone was willing to listen and be open, even Nikki. I had my friend back.

 Above me, the sound system was playing a cute song sung in Hindi. I'd heard Yash speak in Hindi enough to know, heard him singing to himself a lot. He'd love that they were playing this. It made me dance, not pay attention to what I was doing. Too happy to be here, too happy in my mood after so long.

My body bumped into something unyielding, but warm. "Oh, I'm sorry-!" I gasped, spinning around.

The lovely, dimple showing face of Gyeong-Wan stared back at me. He was giggling, unabashed at me. I wanted to squeal in delight, hug him so tight. Instead, I chose to keep dancing, moving my legs. "What are you doing here?!" I asked, joyous as the sun. 

"Buying more snacks. Nguyen-san convinced me to buy a big bag of shrimp crackers the other day, and I'm ashamed to say I ate them all already." He was sheepish now, so cute. 

The thought that he'd told me he's gay the other day wandered into my head. It made my smile all the more brighter. He was being himself, telling me this. He was being himself doing everything in front of me now. Talking to me without shame, no matter what he expressed. It made me want to dance even more.

"Do you know where they are?" I asked, grabbing his arm without thinking. It shocked me, but I kept it there. His eyes went wide at this, but then relaxed. He grinned, laughing at me. 

"No, I don't know where he pulled them from. Do you know where they are?"

"No, I sure don't."

This got me even more giggles. "Okay, let's go find them together."

Together. I liked that idea. "Let's go!" I pulled his arm, and he laughed again, could not help himself. He was in a good mood, too. It made me so glad. I'd been so worried about him yesterday. Had he really only had a busy day at work, maybe? Why hadn't he visited French Cup? But, seeing him now, all of that went away.

We went around together, inspecting various things. He hadn't seen a lot of the items before, and we stopped together to look at them. He asked me if I knew what some of the things were. Some I knew, others I didn't. We were just as mystified sometimes. Through this, I learned he spoke Chinese. 

"What's this?" I asked, as we stopped in the sauce aisle. I held a large, glass container of blackish red sauce with seeds in it. It had a red label with an old woman's face on it. "I've always wanted to know. Nikki likes it a lot. He always has it in his cupboard. Have you ever seen it? Is it Korean?"

"Hmm, let me see." He took it from my hands, holding its weight easily. He looked at it for a few seconds, then smiled at me again, so warm. "It says 'Lao Gan Ma'. It means 'Old Grandma'. Probably the brand. The bottom says 'fried chili in oil'."