Absinthe novel Chapter 53

"Wow. What should I do to catch up to you?" Jiwoo said as soon as we arrived at the private parking area dedicated to penthouse owners, Faye and I.

"Errrr, so which one are we taking?" I asked.

"Which one's the cheapest?"

I had three cars parked – my BMW SUV, an uber expensive Benz from my boss that I rarely use, and an equally expensive Jaguar that I only bought when Faye and I were splurging on new clothes, thinking that I needed a sexy car to go with my new look. I regret that decision until now because there's practically no reason for me to use it. I'll probably try and sell it to Faye's husband.

"This one," I said, pointing at the BMW. "This is definitely the cheapest."

"Don't you have a Toyota Vios or something?" Jiwoo asked, scratching his head, a weird expression on his face.

"Uhm, no. Sorry." I said, worried about that weird expression still plastered on Jiwoo's face. "But if this makes you feel uncomfortable, we can stay at home and do other stuff..."

Jiwoo shook his head and surprisingly, he started grinning. "As much as I enjoy being naked and doing naughty things to you, I still want to do other things with you."

"..."

"Fully clothed, I mean." Jiwoo added. "And in broad daylight. Maybe sober, even. Those kind of things, you know?"

Jiwoo took my hand and locked his fingers with mine, before pulling it towards his lips for a slow kiss on each of my knuckles.

"I still want to do the less fun stuff," Jiwoo continued, winking.

I felt my cheeks getting hotter and I took my hand from him. "The keys are inside, you're driving."

We ended up taking the BMW because it looked the plainest and the least luxurious of the three. Despite not having driven one, Jiwoo didn't feel uncomfortable driving it as we wound our way towards Ortigas. I was thinking he might make comments about the interior of the car again, but then I remembered that he also used to work as a valet so he should be used to luxury cars in general.

Being a Sunday, there was barely any traffic on the road and we made it to ZM Megamall in no time. We did have some trouble finding a spot to park, though, and when Jiwoo finally spotted one, it was way too far from the elevators that would take us inside the mall.

ZM Megamall wasn't the mall Faye and I frequented and I had so many things against this mall, starting from their parking area, their layout, and their washrooms! But since this is Jiwoo and we're actually going out on a date, I kept my mouth shut and decided to just enjoy it.

As soon as we got past the body-frisking security guards at the entrance, Jiwoo held my hand and started swaying our now interlocked fingers and linked hands to the beat of the ZM Mall theme song playing loudly near the entrance.

Somehow, it wasn't as cringe-worthy as I thought it would be.

People stared at us openly. They weren't really pointing fingers at us but I swear I could feel people pointing at us with their heads and their lips and a gazillion other gestures they probably were thinking to be the subtler way of saying: look at that gay couple, HHWW in the mall!

"It's my first time doing this," Jiwoo said, suddenly.

"You mean like go out on dates?"

"No. I meant this," Jiwoo raised our interlocked hands to shoulder level. "Holding Hands While Walking."

"I see." I said, mustering all the seriousness I could on my face. "And it never crossed your mind that most of these people are ready to stab me with their knives just because I'm holding hands with you, right?"

Jiwoo stopped abruptly and turned to face me. "What do you mean?"