Morning Dew - 晓露

Chapter 3: Entanglement

After heading back to the office and clocking out, they headed to a hotpot restaurant she frequented. It was a little expensive, but the quality of the food was worth it.

"Have you ever had coconut chicken hotpot?" Xiaolu asked. It was the preferred style of hotpot in Hainan. "I know some westerners can't handle spicy."

Buck laughed, "I've had it before. It isn't bad, but I prefer Sichuan hotpot. And I'm ok with spicy food. My favorite type of candy is hot tamales."

"Never heard of it. What does it taste like?" She kept her eyes on the road, never looking over at him.

"Sweet and spicy. Cinnamon, sugar, and heat," he replied.

"Heat? Can heat really be considered a flavor?" She furrowed her brows, trying to imagine how 'heat' can be a flavor. Images of people eating fire popped into her head.

"Heat, as in spicy. Hot." He said, realizing she may have misunderstood what he meant.

"Oh, so like a generic spicy flavor?" She imagined a sweet wasabi-flavored candy. It didn't really sound appealing to her, but she wasn't going to openly criticize him.

"Yeah, yeah, exactly. No vegetable taste." He paused, "Does China have any spicy candy?"

"Yes, but I don't eat it." She nodded her head towards the restaurant up ahead, "we're here."

They parked and made their way inside. The hostess greeted them at the front desk, grabbed two paper menus, and escorted them to their table. As they walked, Buck looked around. The walls to the outside were made of glass panels, while the inside was quite open, save for the occasional support pillar. Rows of booths filled the restaurant. "This reminds me of a pizza buffet," he said as they were seated.

They sat at a faux marble table with a hole in the middle. There were already four dishware sets on the table, sealed inside plastic. The hostess gave them each a menu and placed two pencils on the table, grabbed the two extra dishware sets, then looked at Xiaolu and said in Chinese, "just write a number next to the food item so we know how many you want."

Xiaolu nodded, "thank you."

The hostess looked at the foreigner, smiled, and then left.

Xiaolu asked, "do you know how this works?"

"Yes. This isn't my first time eating hotpot. Don't worry." Buck said, picking up a pencil from the table.

They picked their dishes in relative silence, the only sound being that of the other patrons conversations. Xiaolu considered offering to help, but remembered his desire for immersion and decided to wait for him to ask. When she was done, she looked up to see if he was finished, only to be greeted by his deep blue eyes staring directly into hers. She wondered how long he had been staring at her, but didn't want to ask to avoid making the situation awkward if it had been for a while. She glanced down at his menu and saw some numbers on it. "Did you finish?"

"I believe so. I was wondering..." he pointed to an item on the menu. "What part of the sheep is this?"

"Sheep stomach," She smirked. "You should try it."

He sat back in his booth. "I've never been a fan of organ meat."

She glanced at his menu. "What about blood? You've ordered blood on here too."

His eyes grew wide, "are you serious!?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I'm just joking. Everything you marked is meat or vegetables."

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" He said, his face relaxing as he cracked a smile.

Xiaolu glanced at his salt and pepper hair. "At your age, that shouldn't be too difficult." She paused, double-checking her own choices, then asked, "shall we order?" He nodded.