A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover Chapter 119: Crepe

Before gumi could get her wallet from her purse, Haji was already reaching his hands toward the lady, handing her the paynt.

Everything shifted as if gumi was watching a slowed-down movie. Her face, filled with shock, shifted towards Haji who expressionlessly handed money to the lady without even batting an eye. It’s as if he was expecting himself to pay, completely overlooking the immutable fact that it was gumi who went out of her way to invite him. For so odd reason, he took it upon himself to pay despite his financial situation, not even consulting gumi about it.

"Thank you so much, please wait for a couple of minutes. We do have so tables and chairs right here so feel free to take a seat while you wait." The lady warmly gestured, extending her hands towards the vacant tables and chairs that matched the atmosphere that the crepe stall radiated.

With his lips tightly sealed as if it was sewed shut, Haji walked towards one of the chairs and table set and offered gumi a seat, to which gumi obliged as she comfortably sat, brushing aside her skirt so it won’t wrinkle on her weight. "Why did you pay for that, it was supposed to be my treat." gumi pouted her lips, implying her displeased reaction towards Haji’s proactiveness. "I’m the one who invited you out on a date, I should be the one—"

gumi covered her mouth in embarrassnt, guiltily looking away as Haji smiled a mischievous smile in front of her. "Heh... so this is a date? That’s news to ." Haji called out. Honestly though, behind his facade of teasing gumi, he too felt great embarrassnt the more he stared at Haji. gumi’s admittance to it being a date was sothing that he wasn’t expecting at all— a surprise attack to his heart that pierced it without question. It took all of Haji’s being to keep his composure as the two of them eagerly waited for the crepe which was about to be served.

Trying to calm herself down, gumi grabbed the cup of water which was served to them by the lady as soon as they settled down. The lady didn’t want to disturb their mont so she waited for an opportune ti before she interrupted their light conversation. A smile was written on her face as she did so, she couldn’t contain the amount of sweetness that emanated from the presud couple who were her first custors of the day. "What a cute couple." She chuckled, muttering it just loud enough so Haji and gumi would be able to hear it.

Since there was a growing awkward silence between the two of them, gumi brought up the topic of the kidnappers. She was especially invested in how Haji managed to take the three kidnappers down. To her, it was simply impossible. Furthermore, there was no way Keiichi helped him out in anything. After all, she didn’t see Keiichi as soone who could put up his arms and fight. Even before they ran away, all he did was cower in fear with heavy reliance on his financial status.

"What do you an? Keiichi helped out a lot." Haji called her out since her assumptions were sowhat inaccurate. "He was the perfect bait... and also the perfect distraction. If it weren’t for him, I’d probably have an even harder ti dealing with the kidnappers."

"So you’re telling , even without Keiichi’s distraction, you’re more than capable of dealing with the kidnappers? But how? How did you do it?" gumi skeptically stared at Haji, curious as to why he was answering in general terms.

"Nope, I wouldn’t have stood a chance." Haji flat-out denied it, not because gumi said sothing ridiculous, but because he didn’t want the conversation about the kidnappers to drag on.

Based on where the conversation was heading, Haji could tell that he’d have to talk about his past and his family again if it dragged on. After all, it was his dad who trained him in basic self-defense, and thanks to that, he managed to survive multiple sticky situations during the past year after his parents died. Who’d have thought that those grueling training from his childhood would actually help him in the future?

And no, his dad didn’t personally train him since he was almost always not ho. Most of the ti, it was just Haji who’d stick with the training while his dad monitored him through his occasional calls. Even with such a laid-back approach when it cos to his physical training, Haji still took it seriously. As ntioned before, his mom and dad were almost always not ho. Because of that, Haji felt like the physical training his dad gave him was the only connection he had with his parents, and that’s why he clung to it no matter what as if he were clinging to the very essence of his life. It was a simple-minded approach but who could bla him, he was just a kid back then.

"Here’s your order," The lady ca up to Haji and gumi, giving the two of them two oversized crepes.

Haji was surprised at the sheer size of the crepe served to them. It could barely fit in his hands, and if he weren’t careful, the combined filling made up of fruits and cream would more or less slip at any ti. He imdiately took out a big bit, followed by licking the parts where it was about to leak cream. It had been so long since Haji had tasted a crepe, but he still could eat it without making a ss of himself.

"Why are you eating it so fast?" gumi casually called out, chuckling. Despite her slow pace, she managed to eat her crepe cleaner than how Haji did it. She was making relaxed work of the crepe and yet she too wasn’t making a ss of herself. Haji expected such an outco though since it was obvious that gumi is used to eating crepes.

The sudden question that gumi blurted out distracted Haji quite a bit, and before he knew it, cream got all over his nose. In return, gumi pointed at her nose before leaning in, wiping the cream on Haji’s nose before he could react. "There’s cream on your nose." gumi playfully said before letting out another bout of chuckles.