The Experience Buddy [Completed]

Chapter 23

"Hey, Hero..."

"Yes, Emily..."

"I..."

"You..."

"I'm ready..."

"Are you...?"

"I'M READY TO RECEIVE FEEDBACK!"

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME WITH THESE CHOCOLATES?"

"I'm not sure if I could even call them chocolate." Hero shook his head after he returned from spitting the contents in his mouth into the kitchen sink.

Today is the day when romance fills the air even more than usual. This is the day when you see couples everywhere, even more so than Christmas or any other festive season. The pink aura glows around any one who is in love.

Yes, and that is Valentine's Day.

And it's the first that I am celebrating not as a single person.

It's the first time that I will be celebrating with Hero.

Instead of paying for overpriced meal combos and squeezing with other couples in popular dating spots, Hero and I have decided to have a home cooked meal at his place. Since he is the better cook, he will be in-charge of our dinner.

To my pleasant surprise when I arrived, he had the dining table nicely decorated with candles and a vase of colourful baby's-breath, my favourite plant apart from sunflowers.

And of course, I wouldn't show up empty handed. So I spent hours after class yesterday trying to make heart-shaped, dark chocolate in the dormitory's common area. Nat tried to help me but it seems that our skills are either on the same level or I might just be a teeny weeny bit better. They say 'practice makes perfect', in my case, I made batches and batches so that hopefully, the last batch would just be slightly less imperfect.

"You made steak?" I exclaimed as I stared at the mouth watering dish placed in front of me.

"Suits the occasion, no?" He shrugged.

"How is my boyfriend so talented?" My words, but I still cringe at the word 'boyfriend'.

Everyday, I wondered how did I get so lucky.

Hero has enviable appearance and a great personality. Not the best but not rotten either, and it's not like I have the best character in the world anyway. He possesses multiple talents and is probably smarter than I am but he just doesn't want to admit it.

The more a person has, the more that person stands to lose.

What if one day he finally gets tired of me and leaves me?

I don't have distinctive features, a normal personality and no talent. All I know is to study, read and write. And it's not like I'm the best in those fields either. There's nothing about me that is outstanding.

The more I receive from this relationship, the more my heart will break if it ends.

-----

Fast forward a couple of weeks since, I have become comfortable working at the cafe now. It has been close to a month ever since I started. Anne, the owner of the cafe, is a very nice and generous lady. She treats me and my co-worker, Jack, like her kids. Could be because she loves children but never got to conceive one before her husband passed away in a car accident years ago. Although she shared with us that adoption did cross her mind a few times.

Jack is two years older than I am. Currently, he is taking a gap year from school. His father's business went bankrupt recently so Jack's college tuition fees will take a toll on their family's finances even further. But the outlook for them isn't that bad, so Jack requested for a leave of absence instead of withdrawal, according to Jack himself.

"This is turning into a 'bad boy meets nice girl' kind of story..." I said openly as the three of us were closing the cafe for the day. Recently, I've been discussing my story with Anne and Jack, hoping to gain more suggestions. Anne had several stories of her own to share, she would always tell them to us when the cafe is less busy or at closing.

Just then, the bell at the entrance of the cafe rang, signalling that someone had entered or were exiting. In this case, it was Hero who came in.

"The boyfriend is here." Anne smiled warmly.

"Take a seat, my dear. She's almost done." Anne told Hero as he scratched the back of his head, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Are you sure the male lead is a 'bad boy'?" Jack whispered to me as he took the tablecloth away from my hand.

"Shoo! Off you go! You're done." Jack nudged me from the back.

"Are you sure?" I turned around to ask.

"Yeah, it's just this table left."

"See you tomorrow, dearies." Anne waved, the corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled.

I thanked the both of them and left the shop with Hero. Ever since I started working, Hero has been picking me up at the end of my shifts, unless he can't make it due to basketball practices. I did tell him before that he is not obliged to pick me up at the end of every single shift, but he thought otherwise and attributed the reason for his actions as "boyfriend duties".

Whoever came up with this term ought to get slapped.

"Why was that guy whispering so close to you earlier?" Hero frowned.

"That guy has a name, his name is Jack." I sighed.

"Look at you, getting jealous." I teased.

"According to the Cambridge dictionary, "jealous" is defined as "upset and angry because someone that you love seems interested in another person". I am neither upset nor angry." Hero ranted.

"Sure, sure." I tiptoed to peck his cheek before getting into the passenger seat of his car. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed the smile forming on his face.

-----

A/N: So a couple of years back I tried to make chocolate coated apples for my friends for Valentine's Day, but I didn't know moisture content from the apple will cause the chocolate to not stick on the apple. (I learned the hard way now why whole apples are always used...🤦🏻‍♀️)

Few years down the road, they still remind me of what they dubbed as poison apples.