Technicolor Daze [Currently Being Edited]

twenty-five.

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

"Out of data for the month. What are you having for lunch?" Theo read Noah's message as he rode the shuttle bus to Macau. He was on his way to Noah's shop to surprise him.

"Not sure yet. I'll probably eat at the food court today," Theo lied before sending another message, "What time's your lunch break?"

"At 1:30," Theo checked the time and noticed that it was 12:45. He'd left the office at 12. Luckily for him, it hadn't been a busy day at work.

"Oh cool, where are you having lunch?" The shuttle bus was almost done crossing the bridge so he would be at the shop in about fifteen minutes.

"Maybe at a restaurant near that noodle place or the char siu fan place."

Theo and Noah had been texting since Noah got up. Noah was feeling particularly tired after a busy week, but he still worked out. Theo admired his persistence and wished he had half as much energy as Noah.

"I love char siu fan. I might have some at the food court. Thank you for the idea ;)" Theo played along. The bus stopped near the Sintra square and Theo got off.

Noah didn't reply to his message straight away, so Theo assumed that a customer had stepped into the shop and Noah was busy. He took the shortest route to the book shop. He was used to cutting through the slow-walking crowds one could find in that part of the city during the day, so it didn't take him long to get to the book shop.

A customer had just left the store when he was climbing up the stairs, so he made may for the other lady to go down. Almost as if on cue, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and saw a message from Noah.

"Sorry was busy just now. We had a customer."

Theo decided to send Noah a message to leave him confused before surprising him, "I know. I saw her leave the shop."

He then climbed up the remainder of the flights of stairs. He stepped into the shop and saw Noah standing behind the cashier, typing on his phone with a puzzled expression on his face. He looked up from his phone and was surprised to see Theo standing in front of him.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a good book. Do you have any recommendations?" Theo asked innocently in a low voice to avoid making a lot of noise in the quiet book store.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were at work!" Noah whispered back.

"I asked my boss for the afternoon off as I have to head to the bank later on, so I decided to drop by to see you and maybe join you for lunch?" Theo offered with a bright grin.

Noah couldn't help but smile at Theo's small gesture, "You're quite cheeky, aren't you? But yes, I'd love it if you joined me. You just have to wait," Noah checked the time, "twenty-five minutes before we can go."

"That's fine with me," Theo smiled back before noticing that Noah was alone behind the counter. He asked the brunette, "Are you working here alone?"

"No, one of my colleagues is stacking a few books back there," he pointed at a woman stacking a few books in the Chinese section, "I can speak enough Cantonese to talk to customers, but I can't read Chinese so I usually take care of the international section, magazines, and the cashier."

"Oh, I see," Theo glanced around the bookstore quickly before turning his gaze back onto Noah and giving the man a teasing smirk, "And I was serious about the book recommendation a moment ago."

"Oh," Noah smiled before walking around the counter and heading towards the bookshelf where the international books were displayed, "Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?"