When Emily got off Jiro's motorcycle, she stumbled as her head span with stars. 

"Why do you drive so fast?" she questioned in horror, bending over to catch her breath, "I want to hurl."
Jiro chuckled and lifted up his shirt slightly to expose his abdomen that was covered in dark purple marks left by her tight grip, "Why did you have to hold on so tight?" he questioned through light laughter.
Emily blushed and looked away in embarassment, "Sorry, not everyone gets the chance to ride on a motorbike with a speeding maniac," she replied. 
"Well that's one thing crossed off your bucket list - glad I could be of service," he remarked before walking towards the restaurant, "Come on, let's go in."

When the two walked into the restaurant, a waiter showed them to a table of two and then handed them a menu. Jiro's eyes searched the restaurant whilst Emily's scanned the menu. 

"Pick whatever you want," she said and Jiro responded with a small hum. Jiro stood up and looked as though he was searching for someone. Emily put down the menu and looked up at him, "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Jiro!"

The two looked the opposite way to see a man approach them - judging from the clothes he was wearing, he seemed to be the head chef of the restaurant. When Jiro saw him, he beamed, "Dylan! How's it going, bro?" 
The two shared a typical guy handshake which told Emily that they were friends. 

"Everything's going great," Dylan replied with a grin, "What brings you here to Mr Kuo's humble abode? You only come here once in a blue moon," he added.
"Your place is too far from my place," Jiro replied, "And I don't have time to be eating 5 star meals," he joked with a smile.
"Well I'm glad you decided to drop by," Dylan replied, "How's Cyndi doing with the pregnancy?"
"She's good for now, any struggles from pregnancy haven't really hit her yet," Jiro explained as Dylan nodded in understanding before looking over to see Emily seated there. 
"And who's this lovely lady?" he asked with a smile.

He held out his hand to Emily for a polite handshake, "Hi, I'm Dylan, the head chef and owner here," he introduced himself, "And Jiro's good friend."
Emily smiled politely and shook his head, "I'm Emily, Jiro's tea-"
"TEAM LEADER!" Jiro burst out suddenly before chuckling sheepishly, "She's my team leader at work, you know? We're here to have some dinner and discuss some work related things," he babbled before looking directly at his friend, "So don't flirt with her," he said in a lower tone. 

Dylan looked at Jiro for a second before turning back to Emily with a smile, "Dinner's on me, okay?" he said.
"No, no, you don't have to it's fine," Emily rejected.
"Listen to the lady," Jiro added with folded arms, "My team leader is treating me today, let me enjoy it," he joked.
"Jiro!" Dylan exclaimed, "I thought I taught you to never let a girl pay!"
"But she's not a girl," Jiro told him directly, and in a quieter voice. He leaned in closer to him before whispering, "She's a king kong."

A tick mark appeared on Emily's forehead as she heard what he'd said and her eyes widened, murderously. 

Dylan threw an arm around Jiro and turned him away so that both their backs were facing Emily, "Jiro, that is so disrespectful to a girl! She might be your team leader but she still deserves to be treated like a lady," he scolded, whispering. 
Jiro rolled his eyes and pushed him away with a chuckle, "Okay, hurry up and go back to the kitchen," he said, sitting down in his seat. 
"But I don't know what you'd like to eat," Dylan replied before Jiro shoved the menu in his face.
"Since it's on you just get two of this and this," Jiro said, pointing randomly at a dish. "No go, shoo!" he hissed, pushing him away.

Jiro looked back to Emily who stared at him questioningly. "Why did you do that?" she inquired.
"What? He would've bothered us," Jiro answered and Emily shook her head.
"I meant lie to him," she clarified, "I thought all your friends knew about you returning to school?"
Jiro shook his head, "The fewer people that know, the better," he answered.
"Keeping it a secret is going to be hard, you know," Emily pointed out but Jiro shrugged.
"They don't need to know," he responded casually.

Emily sighed, "Your friends seem nice, I'm sure they'd help you," she said, "Both Dylan and Calvin have been really kind."
"You've met Calvin?" Jiro asked in surprise and Emily nodded.
"He told me where you were when I followed you," she explained, "But he seems to know about it."
Jiro nodded, "It was his idea," he said, "Anyway, enough about my issues. Let's just have dinner, I'm hungry."
"The food isn't here yet though," she said, "We should talk some more to pass time."

Jiro yawned and leaned back in his chair, "You talk then, I'll listen King Kong Jie Jie," he suggested.
"King Kong Jie Jie," she repeated in a mutter before meeting his eyes, "Why do you call me Jie Jie when I'm younger than you?" she asked, curiously.
"King Kong Mei Mei sounds a bit intimate, don't you think?" Jiro asked with a small scoff, "We're not that close."
"We're not close at all," Emily corrected and Jiro nodded.
"Right," he said, "Also, I guess calling my teacher mei mei would be pretty weird as well."
Emily giggled, "You have a point," she admitted. 

The two then remained silent until their food came, not speaking even then. They weren't close and didn't have much to say to each other. They were also pretty tired and probably would've snapped into an argument if they kept chatting. Emily smiled to herself, amused that she was actually getting along with this stupid monkey. 

"You should smile and laugh more, it looks better than scowling and yelling all day," Jiro spoke up suddenly. Emily looked up to see him staring straight at her, causing a small tint of embarassment to dust over her cheeks. "You're the reason I scowl and yell all day," she retorted, "I'm sure I've aged atleast a decade just this past week because of you."
Jiro smirked, "No wonder I've been seeing some grey hairs on your head," he teased, causing Emily's eyes to widen in shock.

"What?!" she burst out, touching her hair, "Are you serious? Where?! Can you pluck them out for me?!" she exclaimed, quickly leaning in forwards, shoving her head right in front of Jiro, who was taken aback by her abrupt movement.

Jiro stared at Emily's face which was less than inches away from his own. It was so sudden that he seemed to have froze and the closeness of their faces caused his heart beat to quicken in a slight flutter. Slowly, Emily lifted her head to see Jiro's orbs locked on her. 

"You're a bit too close, aren't you?" Jiro stuttered quietly, his breath being felt by Emily. 
Instantly, Emily jolted backwards, blushing and knocking over her drink onto her shirt and jacket. She cursed quietly whilst Jiro to stand up.
"Are you okay?" he asked and Emily nodded. 
"I'm going to go to the bathroom to try to dry my clothes," she then informed him, turning away from him to go to the restroom.
"Need help?" Jiro asked until Emily shot him a weird are-you-stupid glance with an eye brow raised. "Oh," Jiro chuckled, "Right."

The moment Emily entered the bathroom, she rushed over to the sink, turned the taps on and splashed her face with cold water. She then stared at her reflection in the mirror. "Emily... what is wrong with you?" she whispered, "Why are you acting so weird around him?" she asked herself before shaking her head and walking over to a cubicle and pulling some tissue out of the dispenser. As she wiped her face dry with it, she sighed again. 'Why am I being so out of character and nice to Jiro just because I was wrong about him? Just being on better terms is enough - why did I have to go and accept his offer to have dinner? He's my student as well!'

"Being wrong about him doesn't mean you have to like him, Emily," she said to herself aloud, staring right into her own eyes in the mirror, "You can still dislike him," she reassured herself, "Then why are you embarassing yourself like this? You've embarassed yourself too many times already!" she groaned loudly, feeling confused and conflicted. Why was she suddenly so out of character?

One of the doors of the cubicles opened behind her and Emily's eyes widened as she realised the person must have heard her talking to herself like a crazy person. A little old woman waddled out and when she met Emily's eyes, she laughed to herself. She walked over to the sink beside Emily and washed her hands, however, she had her eyes locked on Emily as she continued to laugh, making her feel uncomfortable.

"Those symptoms tell me your sick," she said finally.
"Sick?" Emily echoed, "Really? Ma'am, are you a doctor?"
The woman nodded her head with the same smile she walked out of the cubicle with.
"Then what are these symptoms?" Emily further inquired, "Can you tell me what sickness I have? I have time to get a checkup at the doctor's tomorrow," she added.
The woman laughed again, "Oh there's no need for a checkup," she said, "You just have the first few early symptoms of love sickness, that's all," she told her as she then went to the hand dryer to dry her hands.
Emily's eyes widened, "Love sickness?!" she exclaimed in horror, "Love? Are you saying I'm falling in love with that stupid golden monkey?! You must be kidding me!" 

The woman then turned to her, "It's still too early to be sure, but I'm never wrong when it comes to love," she replied before handing her a small card, "Here's my card, if you need any help or advice just call me, okay dear?" 
Emily looked at the card and read out the big pink letters, "'Love Aunty'? 'The best Dr. Love around'?" she read aloud but when she looked up, the lady had vanished. Spinning on her heel in search of the lady, Emily's blinked continuously in surprise. "Where did she go?" she muttered before sighing, "Forget it, it doesn't matter. It's probably a scam," she said, "Being in love with that idiot is ridiculous. You can't fall in love in the space of a 8 hours." She shook her head in disbelief, "Ridiculous. It's nonsense," she mumbled. 'Besides, Jiro has Cyndi so I definitely cannot like him at all.'

After what felt like forever, Emily left the bathroom and returned to Jiro. However, what she said to Jiro then surprised him.

"Jiro, take me home," she said, picking up her bag and slipping Love Aunty's business card inside.
Jiro titled his head slightly, "But you've barely eaten anything," he said, confused.
"I..." she stared at him, suddenly feeling tongue tied as Love Aunty's words floated around in her mind, "I don't feel so well," she admitted and Jiro nodded in understanding. "Sorry," she added.
Despite being confused by her sudden change in mood, Jiro brushed it off and showed her a small friendly smile. "Don't worry about it. You can take it home with you," he suggested and she just nodded.

On the journey to her house, Emily remained silent and although Jiro drove at his usual fast speed, she held on loosely this time. When they arrived at her house, she got off his bike quietly. Jiro, however, wasn't so silent. 

"Woah, King Kong Jie Jie, you live in such a big house," he commented, "Do you live with anyone?"
She shook her head, "I used to live here with my parents and sister but they moved out a few years ago so I live with my lizard," she explained. Before Jiro could comment any further, she unlocked her door, "See you on Monday, bye Jiro," she entered and then shut the door quickly. Jiro classed her weirdness under girl things and then drove off with a shrug.

When Emily got into her room, she sighed and slumped down onto her bed. She reached into her bag and brought out Love Aunty's business card and the unopened drinks can Jiro had given her earlier that day. She stared at both of them and then walked over to her drawers where Jiro's folded shirt lay on top. Placing the can beside it and tucking the card under one of the layers of the shirt, she sighed and muttered, "Jie... I admit I was wrong about Jiro..." she began, "But Love Aunty was wrong: I was only being nice out of sympathy... right?"