It was you all along

03

Gulf felt his stomach grumble just in time when Mew pulled over at a burger place that was so coincidentally, Gulf's favorite fast food restaurant. It looked pretty much the same, no major changes except for a few touch ups here and there but overall, it was still the way Gulf remembered it. Ever since he moved away, he has never stepped into this restaurant because it was just too far away. When he got his first job, he had wanted to visit this place because his office was comparatively nearer but then again he'd never seemed to have the time to since he was always drowning in stacks of work.

Gulf didn't question why Mew knew about this place. He'd reckoned the burger restaurant must've made it big over the years and it was a popular hangout place now unlike the one he used to visit and that was one of the reasons why he liked coming here anyways, because there were very few people and that oddly put him at ease. Not to mention, the burgers were superb, it was just very much underappreciated.

"Woah I can't believe even billionaires liked this place too. It was one of my favorite restaurants to go to when I was a kid." Gulf told Mew casually, as he trailed behind the brunette, not noticing the small smile forming on the other's face. As soon as they entered the restaurant, a lady (in her mid 50s Gulf presumed), clothed in a polka dot waist apron, bowed respectfully at the sight of Mew with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Welcome, Mr Suppasit!"

"No need for the formalities, Mrs Ann." Mew immediately said as he smiled brightly at her, and Gulf couldn't help but be taken aback slightly. To be honest, when he first heard that he was going to be wedded to a billionaire, he'd half expected Mew to be some spoiled rich kid who had no manners and was extremely arrogant. But so far, Mew has been nothing but polite and Gulf felt warmth surged up in his chest at the way Mew interacted with Mrs Ann, almost like a kid would with his mother.

Mrs Ann must've noticed Gulf staring as she directed her attention to him, a grin on her face, "Ah my apologies! I haven't noticed. You must be Gulf." to which the said man nodded courteously as Gulf smiled back at her.

"What a beauty. I can see why Mew likes you now." She said sweetly rendering Gulf slightly embarrassed from the compliment.

"Oh please. Take a seat anywhere you'd like." Mrs Ann gestured warmly. It was only then did Gulf let his eyes wander around his childhood restaurant - from the diner style table to the stripped pattern cushion chairs, it brought back so many memories and Gulf felt nostalgic. Mew wanted to sit by the window, and Gulf happily obliged. Window seats were his favorite too and he was thankful that there weren't many people at this hour so he could have them.

"So what can I get you two?" Mrs Ann asked, as she took out a notepad and pen from her back pocket.

Gulf couldn't decide as he flipped through the menu, and was overwhelmed by the amount of choices. They had new flavors too which weren't there before when Gulf was a regular patron, and it made Gulf drool at the sight of it. When Gulf didn't say anything, too busy sorting out his options, he heard Mew say, "We'll have each of everything."

"Huh!" Gulf snapped his head up from the menu, "We're not going to be able to finish it."said Gulf as he looked at Mew disapprovingly.

"We can always do takeaways." Mew replied, and before Gulf could even retort against Mew's reckless decision, the brunette had sent Mrs Ann off with a nod of his head leaving Gulf to roll his eyes as he muttered begrudgingly under his breath, "I know you're rich but you didn't have to spend your money so careless like that."

But Mew, an attentive listener he was, heard it anyways though the man didn't say anything but simply smiled which annoyed Gulf even more.

After a good 20 minutes of wait or so, Mrs Ann came out with a few trays, on top of which were the burgers they had ordered. Gulf swore there were at least 30 burgers and he'd take forever to finish them. As he scanned the burgers on the table, deciding on which to try first, his eyes zoomed in on one. It was the simplest of all but it was special to Gulf for it was the first and only burger Gulf had eaten at the restaurant back when he was a kid.

Turns out Gulf wasn't the only one who liked the classic cheese burger because before Gulf could pick up the burger, Mew did too. Their fingers brushed for a moment there, but Gulf quickly retracted and he settled his eyes on another burger instead in an attempt to avert the brunette's gaze.

"Huh. Seems like we've got the same taste in burgers." Gulf blurted as he tried to ease the awkwardness by livening the mode before he hastily grabbed for another burger, though his eyes were still lingering on the cheese burger.

"If you want it too, we can always order another one." Mew said, seeming to have noticed Gulf's longing eyes as he stared at the cheese burger that Mew was now holding but the latter quickly denied, "We still have so many burgers."

"Plus.." Gulf continued as he unwrapped another burger (chicken? Gulf supposed), "Some things are better shared." Gulf didn't mean anything when he said that absentmindedly, but Mew thought differently anyways.

"So you wanna share?"

Gulf nearly spat out the burger he was chewing on. "No!" Gulf squeaked, but when he saw Mew's disappointed look, Gulf frantically tried to explain himself. "I meant.." Gulf swallowed his burger before continuing, "Sometimes burgers taste nicer when they are shared like in general. Or at least for me it does."

Gulf was expecting Mew to scoff at his stupid logic especially since someone like himself probably never had to share food with anyone for the whole of his life, but surprisingly, Mew didn't. In fact, he seemed to agree with him for he was nodding solemnly, "Mhm. Me too." and Gulf saw Mew's eyes filled with sentiment as he said those words.

10 years ago.

//flashback starts//

"Tharn! Come here." A scrawny boy, aged 10 said as he pulled his friend into the restaurant. His friend, unlike him, was chubby and had a thick pair of glasses.

"This is my favorite restaurant a.k.a secret hangout!" The scrawny boy remarked smugly. "But..." The boy pouted, "I don't have enough money for two burgers. So will one burger do? We can share." The burgers weren't exactly expensive but to a boy who only gets a pathetic allowance of $3 per day, they were and the boy had saved up his lunch just so he could bring his friend over.

When Tharn didn't say anything, the boy simply assumed his friend was okay with it so he bought them the cheapest burger on the menu - classic cheese burger which was exactly $3. They took a seat by the window, and the petite boy ushered for him to eat first.

And so Tharn picked up the burger hesitantly before he bit into it. He felt the juices oozing out and it tasted amazing. He couldn't help but hum in content at the texture of the bread. It was Tharn's first burger and it was a good start.

The petite boy on the other hand, seemed pretty pleased with Tharn's reaction for he smiled proudly at him. "It's good, isn't it?"

"It's by far the best burger I've tasted and you should feel honored because I took only you here!" The boy exclaimed, before he dropped to a low whisper as he looked at Tharn sternly, "So don't tell anyone."

Tharn didn't know why but he was overjoyed knowing that he was special, that Gulf had taken only him to his secret hangout (even though the restaurant was literally right out in the open but still) and he felt a blush creep up his cheeks at the exclusiveness.

//flashback ends//

It was no surprise then that when Mew had the money, the first thing he did was to buy down the restaurant. It was about to close down as regular patrons started flocking to shopping malls, leaving the restaurant with no or little business making it hard for them to survive while shopping malls thrive.

And Mew was glad he did because this place meant so much to him. It was not only his memories, but theirs.