A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover Chapter 26: Behind the Times

A light breeze passed through the streets downtown, scattering leaves and refuse all around— not really that scenic of a view. The hustle and bustle downtown intensified as the day grew hotter, approaching the ti when the sun would be directly overhead. The shops which still had a few empty seats a mont ago were already getting filled, and the people were coming in by the droves. So of them window-shopping and so of them halting out of nowhere, causing the flow of the passers-by to slow down, needlessly causing traffic. This was why Haji never wanted to spend his ti downtown, especially during this ti. The people didn’t mind though, even gumi was going out about her day, unbothered by the growing crowd.

’Co to think of it... it’s been more than a year since I accompanied a girl downtown huh,’ Pushing through the crowd, Haji exerted his precious strength just to catch up to gumi, who seed to weave her way through the andering flow of people. She was an expert at it, almost enviable. As for Haji though, it was too much for him to handle, and the sun wasn’t helping in the least bit,

gumi’s eyes darted here and there, admiring trinkets, accessories, and such as she resud her window shopping. For her, there was no clear plan as to how they’d go about their day. Apparently, her invitation to Haji was given at the spur of the mont. As such she hasn’t really thought much about it.

Shortly, they arrived at a fast-food restaurant, one that Haji knew to be famous. The restaurant had been open for more than a few years now, earning its reputation and location downtown. gumi didn’t think twice about stepping inside, gesturing for Haji to co in.

Haji was a beat too late in noticing that gumi had already stepped inside the restaurant. Fortunately, he was able to catch himself, stopping right at the entrance. His gesture confused gumi since it was unnatural for a person to walk into a restaurant and stop right at the door. "Why aren’t you coming in?" She asked.

"Look, I don’t have money at the mont. If you want to buy sothing for lunch, then just do it yourself. I’ll wait outside." Haji jerked his thumb towards the back before turning around and heading nowhere.

With a puzzled look, gumi exited the restaurant and grabbed Haji by his forearm."What are you doing? I only asked you to accompany for today, al’s on ." She continued, lightly pulling Haji by the arm since he didn’t seem convinced.

"And how do I know you won’t ask for sothing in return later on? Just get it done, I can wait outside." Haji’s mind was fixed and gumi noticed it. There was no point in trying to convince her so she just gave up, uttering a soft ’fine’ before heading back inside the restaurant.

.....

anwhile, Franz was observing them a few ters away. He decided to roll up his sleeves since the sweltering heat bore down on him. Sweat continuously poured down his head, causing him to constantly wipe his face with a handkerchief. That didn’t impede his observation duty, however, since he was able to follow Haji and gumi despite the ever-growing crowd.

"What are they doing right now? Oh, I see, they are about to get so lunch." Franz half-expected the two to enter a fast-food restaurant for lunch and he was right on the money. Of course, Haji didn’t seem like the type to go to a fancy restaurant. As a working student, Franz knew just how hard it is to get by since had experienced it before.

’Wait, why did Haji stop? Don’t tell ... he didn’t want the restaurant? Did he want to treat young miss to sothing better?’ Franz rubbed his mustache as he pondered on Haji’s action. ’They didn’t seem to have any problems heading towards the fast-food restaurant but now Haji didn’t want to go inside? Did he change his mind? What was he thinking?’

Before Franz could co up with a set of different conclusions, Haji turned around. A voice in Franz’s head told him that Haji did that so gumi would feel cornered, and then they could go to a restaurant he wanted. However, as Franz would later find out, his thoughts are way out of mark.

Franz watched as the two of them seed to have a slight altercation, and then gumi turned around, leaving Haji by the sidewalk. ’Did young miss want to go to that particular fast-food restaurant? I see, so it was young miss and not Haji who wanted to eat there... but why does Haji seem content? Didn’t they just fight a mont ago?’

Hmmm

Sothing unseen was definitely going on and Franz was sure of it. Nonetheless, he can’t quite put a finger around it, seeing that their reactions contradicted their actions.

A couple of minutes later, gumi got out of the restaurant, carrying two paper bags in hand. To Franz’s amusent, she also wore a smile on her face, just like Haji when she left him outside. After gumi approached Haji with a light skip in her steps, she patted him on the shoulders and handed him one of the paper bags. Haji averted his gaze from gumi and it seed like he didn’t want to accept the paper bag. But after a few coaxes, Haji gave in. With drooping shoulders, he accepted the bag, and the two walked side by side, eating together as if nothing happened. But then again, Haji still seed uncomfortable walking side by side with gumi, so Franz assud that he hasn’t gotten over their disagreent a few monts ago.

"Well... that was... let’s just say, that was interesting. Never in my life have I seen young miss act like that. Sigh~ I guess I should start watching romantic codies nowadays, I can’t understand youthful romance at all. What just happened a mont ago?" With all the questions whirling in his head, Franz picked up his pace and continued his tail.