Amidst The Stars

Red and Blue

  The sight of his first batch of mooncakes, glistening and intricate, was still fresh in Vicente's mind as he went to The Cove with Madeline that afternoon. They'd be spending nearly the entire day together — after they were done with their homework at the little cafe, there was dinner at Huang's and whatever Mid-Autumn's Festival celebrations his siblings had planned on while he was away.

  They sat down at their usual table with a plate of candy between them. Madeline was having a steaming cup of black coffee like she usually did, eyes on her laptop as she reached for a piece of ginger covered in dark chocolate. Vicente was supposed to be writing, too, but it was far too difficult to concentrate on his work with Madeline right across the table. She tapped away rapidly, fingers flying over the laptop's keyboard as though she were a skilled musician playing the piano. The relentless "click-clack" of her typing, to him, sounded better than any concerto ever could.

  "I added a few points in slide six." Madeline's voice cut through his reverie. "Can you take a look at it?"

  On his own laptop, he clicked into the slide Madeline just altered. "It looks good. Should I make a graph showing the change in the hotel's revenue and put it on slide ten?"

  "Sure." Madeline nibbled at her ginger, saying, "I'll make the text bigger, too. It'll be easier for people to read it that way."

  "Let's change the font, too. This one's a little unclear." Vicente took a piece of candied lemon peel from the plate, inadvertently brushing fingers with Madeline. She was about to take another piece of ginger.

  Madeline took her hand away first. "Our hands always seem to touch for no reason, huh?"

  The effect that came from her words was instantaneous. Vicente felt heat prickling at the back of his neck, and his ears were most likely red. There was nothing he could do to hide his blush, he could only hope Madeline didn't notice.

  Thankfully, she didn't say anything about how he suddenly fell silent and began trying to imitate a tomato. The typing continued.

  Half an hour later, their presentation was halfway done. They still had a week to finish up the report, so there was plenty of time to complete the second half and write out speaker's notes. Having finished his part of the slides, Vicente reached for another piece of the sour-sweet candy and washed it down with the cup of mild, yet aromatic jasmine tea the waiter had recommended he get.

  "It's getting late," Madeline spoke up for the first time since they accidentally touched. "Should we continue this another day?"

  Vicente nodded, closing his laptop. He drained his mug of tea and reached for his purse.

  He was stopped by Madeline, who was already counting notes. "Let me pay," she said.

  "But — "

  "You'll be treating me to dinner later, so it's only fair I pay now," she insisted.

  "All right, fine." He placed his wallet back into his bag and waited as Madeline paid for their drinks. "Do you want to go to Huang's now, or...?"

  Madeline closed her wallet. "Sounds good to me."

  They left The Cove for the bus station. As they waited, Vicente suddenly remembered that Kiku would be spending the evening with them, too. How will she act when she meets her?

  "There's something I forgot to tell you."

  She glanced at him. "Hm?"

  "My stepsister will be celebrating Mid-Autumn's Festival with us," he elaborated. "Er, I hope that's okay with you."