One Last Chance

The Hiatus

Engfa stepped into the 5 star Thai restaurant and immediately the manager came to welcome her personally. She smiled as the party was led into a private room with a long rectangular table.
The entire journey she only had a polite smile and replied as needed, however her eyes were sharp and observant as ever.

In the room, she was about to pull Charlotte’s chair when Grayson did it before her. As an Englishman, it was in his upbringing to be chivalrous. Charlotte, attuned to her lover’s mood, casually avoided his gesture and sat opposite him. Her hand grazed and hooked onto Engfa’s pinkie as she passed, pulling her girlfriend to sit beside her.

“This restaurant is so beautiful, but Fa has never brought me here before.” Charlotte said playfully, giving her girlfriend a sweet smile.  Engfa’s heart fluttered stupidly at the tender attention, she replied with a slight tug at the corner of her lips.

“I initially planned to bring you here for your birthday, Char.”

“Au? Then are we coming here again?”

“No, Fa will plan another surprise for you.” Engfa replied softly, their eyes conveyed sweetness that only existed between the two of them. Charlotte blushed and could only smile very happily, even shyer in front of her friends.

“Are they always this sweet?” Grayson asked Heidi who was sitting next to him. The couple spoke in Thai so he didn’t understand but their love language was extremely intimate.

“Not always.” Heidi winced as she thought about Englot’s ups and downs. She glanced at the couple browsing through the same menu even though there was another copy nearby. She grinned, “But that’s just how Englot is.”

Grayson looked at the radiance surrounding the couple, a small smile appeared and his eyes shone with mixed feelings.

“Grayson, can you eat spicy food?” Engfa suddenly raised her head to ask and realized Grayson was already looking at them. His eyes were meaningful, they were intrigued, happy and maybe a little sad. Engfa wondered briefly if she was reading too much into it.

“Define spicy, as in pepper?” Grayson cleared his mind and joked easily, Engfa flashed him a smile with a row of pearl white teeth in response.

“Your taste is still bland as ever, Gray?” Charlotte shook her head with a chuckle, “I think we’ll order some signature dishes and simply lower the spiciness?”

“I still remember the first time I tasted the soup you made, I had to down 3 cups of milk!” Grayson laughed as he reminisced about the past, Charlotte laughed along. 

Beside Charlotte, Engfa froze. Her smile remained on her face but her hands unintentionally clenched under the table.

“Charlotte cooked for you before?” Engfa let slipped. Charlotte hardly cooked, only doing it with close friends and family on very rare occasions. Her cooking skills weren’t the best, but every time Charlotte cooked for her, she felt very warm and loved eating her food.

“Living expenses are high in London, it’s cheaper to eat at home sometimes.” Grayson replied naturally, not noticing that he might have said something to upset the other woman.

Under the table, Charlotte secretly reached out to caress Engfa’s tense hands. She replied, “It’s true na, Fa. I cooked a lot in the UK.”

Engfa’s heart felt uncomfortable but she reminded herself to calm down. She regained her composure and asked again, she spoke perfect English with Grayson,  “So how did the two of you meet each other?”

“We were both studying Masters in Business, weren’t we, Charlotte?” Grayson grinned, “I was late on the first day though, and the only vacant seat was next to her in the front row.”