As an elderly woman in her fifties walked into the store, Tavia immediately approached her. Trailing behind her is a young girl, no less than six years old. Tavia stood before the woman and greeted her with a slight bow. The woman nodded and turned her attention to the row of shoes on the shelves. Picking up a high heel, she inspected it.

 “May I help you with anything?” Tavia offered, as she observed the woman by her side.

“Size 7.” The woman said and plopped the pair of heels onto Tavia’s outstretched hands.

Tavia did as she was told and went into the back room in search of the size 7 heels. Shortly after she came out and the woman was already seated, with her feet up in the air, in position for Tavia to put the heels on for her.

Tavia knew that it was her job to satisfy customer needs, but she wondered to herself; what century is this? People can put on their own shoes themselves! It wasn’t like the woman was handicapped or anything. The egotistical woman waited for Tavia to kneel down and put on her shoe for her.

Sighing, Tavia knelt down and placed each shoe on her feet. In her peripheral view, she saw the young girl running around in the store in their heels, wearing their branded hat, and now applying on their luxurious makeup.

“Hey! Don’t touch that!”  Tavia said to the girl across the room, pointing her finger at her.

“Don’t talk to my daughter like that! How rude!” The woman snapped at Tavia.

“I…I didn’t mean to.” Tavia stuttered under the woman’s glare. “Your daughter…” Clearing , she spoke a little louder.

“Your daughter is messing around with our products. Please watch over her.” Tavia said, matter-of-factly.

“So what? My daughter isn’t a customer around here? She isn’t going to have the stuff purchased? And even if she does break something, what are you trying to say? That I don’t have enough money to pay for it?” The woman yelled, standing up.

“That’s not what I mean…” Tavia began.

“Tavia! What’s going on out there?”  Sharon Chan walked out of the storage room towards the scene.

Tavia gulped as she saw Sharon, her boss. As nice as her boss was, and even though they had become friends, she was still her boss and she didn’t want her to  witness the situation.

Sharon took one look at the customer and then at the young girl and frowned.

“Hello Mrs. Li. Lovely day isn’t it. I see you brought your precious daughter here again.”  Sharon greeted, with a grim smile on her face.

Mrs. Li glare turned from Tavia, then to Sharon. “Is this your new employee? You should fire her.”

Tavia gasped as she heard this. Her gaze turned to Sharon, whose expression was inscrutable.  Please don’t fire me! Tavia begged in her mind.

“I will hire and fire whoever I want. Don’t tell me what to do and how to run my business.” Sharonsnapped.

The woman’s eye’s widened in shock. Grabbing her daughter, she stomped out of the store and hissed, “Such bad service. I am not coming back!”

Tavia turned to Sharon and bowed down multiple times. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Sharon smiled.

“But…You just lost an old customer.”

“I can’t stand her. Customers like her, so rude and disrespectful, we don’t need people like her. Money isn’t everything.”  Sharonsaid.

Tavia nodded, relieved. Her boss was kind and understanding.

- - -

After work, Tavia stepped out of her store and walked across to the café shop down the street to meet up with Raymond. She was feeling excited for their date tonight. Raymond kept on mentioning that he had surprises for her and that this day would be memorable.

Skipping her way over to the shop, she halted to a stop when she saw a familiar face overhead. Studying her face up-close, Tavia was astonished by her beauty. She didn’t know her that well, but she understood why Raymond would have loved her so much. Her image is of an innocent, kind soul, and from what Raymond had told of her of Linda's personality, Tavia knew she must be very kind. She had on that worried and upset expression like on the day at the mall where Tavia had first seen her. Standing in front of her is a young, tall, built man. They looked as if they were having an argument of some sort.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Linda yelled, slapping the man’s hands away as he tried to reach for her.

“Bebe, what’s wrong with you these days? Listen to me; I love you and only you.” He man said.

“You lied to me! You said you would repay me my money back!”  Linda cried, tears streaming down her delicate face.

“So what are you trying to say b*tch? That you only got together with me because of the stupid money?”  He asked.

“You knew I never loved you from the start.” Linda said her voice harsh and cold.

“You gold digger!” The man raised his hand, ready to slap Linda on the face.

Tavia couldn’t watch the sight any longer; she ran towards them and held onto his hand just as it was inches away from Linda’s face.

Shocked, both of them turned to look at Tavia. “Who the hell are you?” The man yelled, yanking his arm away from her grip.

Ignoring his question, Tavia yelled, “It’s not right to hit a girl!” 

The man snickered, “She’s MY girlfriend. This is none of your business!”

Linda’s eyes darted to his. “I have had enough of you! I’m not going to tolerate you anymore! I’m breaking up with you!”  She shouted, running away.

“Who the hell wants you anyway? You’ll regret this b*tch. You won’t get the money and don’t even think you’ll get your ex back either!”  The man smirked, before walking off.

Tavia stood there, stunned, as she watched them walk off in opposite directions. Many questions swirled in her mind. Does Linda still love Raymond like Raymond had guessed? But did she get together with the guy just for money? What’s the whole story behind this?

Tavia ran up to Linda and stepped up right in front her, causing Linda to stop as well. Linda looked into Tavia’s eyes, her face full of pain and sorrow.

“Th-Thank-you.”  She mumbled.

Taking out a tissue from her bag, Tavia handed it to Linda who sneezed into it.

“Are you alright- Lin..”  Tavia stopped, unsure of whether or not to go any further.

“It’s Linda.” She sniffed.

“Right…May I ask why-“  Tavia stopped, when she heard her ringtone. She picked it up. It was Raymond.

“Yeah, I’ll come right now.” Hanging up, Tavia glanced over to Linda.

“Thanks so much, but I should really go. Should we meet again, I would definitely treat you to some coffee.” 

Linda ran off, before Tavia could ask her any more questions regarding her relationship with Raymond.

- - -

Walking into the Café, Tavia caught Raymond waving over to her and she quickly approached his table, seating herself down in front of him.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting.” Tavia mumbled her head down.

“That’s fine, did something happen at work today?” Raymond asked, concerned.

“Oh no, well there was a rude customer, but my boss is really nice…” Tavia explained.

She then fell silent, as she was unsure whether or not to mention Linda to Raymond. Does he still love Linda? She wondered. Then she shook herself out of her thoughts, thinking that she shouldn’t doubt Raymond’s feelings for her, but she shouldn’t keep this from him either.

“Raymond…” Tavia began. She watched Raymond place  three cards facedown from a deck of cards.

“What are you doing Raymond?” Tavia asked.

“Pick a card.”  Raymond grinned, mysteriously.

“Are we playing cards here at the restaurant? Oh wow, this sure is one memorable date!” Tavia laughed.

“Shhh. Pick one.” Raymond repeated.

“Okay fine.”  Tavia said, picking up the card in the middle. “May I look at it?”

Raymond nodded.

Tavia looked at her card and questioned, “Huh? It says Food Festival.” 

Tavia placed the card down in front of Raymond. It was a blank card, with the black inked words 'Food Festival' scribbed on it.

Raymond grinned, “So I guess that’s what we’re going to do today! Go to the food festival!”

“Huh?” Tavia questioned.

“Allow me to explain. Today our date is unplanned. Our date will be a date of choices. I have a couple of choices for each event of today, but you decide where we go by picking up a card by chance. We’ll go wherever the card leads us to.”  Raymond grinned.

“Oh wow, interesting.” Tavia said.

“So let’s not eat here. Good thing we only ordered drinks.”  Raymond waved the waiter over to pay for the bills and then they both walked out to his car.

- - -

“So where exactly is this food festival and what kind of food do they offer?” Tavia asked.

“It’s not that far away. The festival is called ‘A Taste of the World.’ When we get there, we’ll get to eat a variety of foods from all over the world. There is a taste of Greek, Italy, Asia, and ton’s more!”  Raymond explains, while focusing on the road.

“Wow that sounds delicious! Is it held outside?” Tavia asked.

Raymond nodded, scanning the sky quickly.  “It’s a great day for this event.”

Raymond parked along the street down from the festival, and then they walked their way to the festival. The streets were completed packed with many people. It was also a lot more multicultural, as there were some western people there as well. Lining the streets are stores on both sides and outside stood many food stalls, with food displaying in the open.

Far in the distance, Tavia can see that the street is long, there is even a couple of carnival rides and games set up, and even a small stage held in the back with a band playing music.

“This is amazing.” Tavia admitted, rushing off to the side as she smelled of some delicious foods.

Raymond chuckled, running after her. “So what do you want to eat today?”

“Everything!” Tavia laughed. “I want to try new things!”   Tavia walked over to a stall with the sign that says, ‘Greek Food’.  She glanced down at the food, and sniffed it.

 “Mmm. May I have two please?” Tavia said to the owner, pointing at the food in front of her.

The owner who was western, nodded. “This is a very popular Greek Food. It is called Spanakopita also known as Spinash Pie.”  The woman said, in fluent Cantonese.

Tavia gasped, as she learned that the woman could speak Chinese. The woman laughed in response to Tavia’s reaction. “A lot of us know how to speak Cantonese.” The woman winked.

Beside Tavia, Raymond also chuckled and then paid the woman. “Thank you” He said, then handing Tavia her piece of Spinash Pie.

“Yum! It tastes really good!”  Tavia said, after taking a huge bite. Raymond nodded.

“Try some Souvlaki as well! There’s lamb, pork, and chicken!” The woman said, waving to them.

While Raymond purchased each Souvlaki on a stick, Tavia got out her camera from her purse.

“We have to take a picture of everything we eat today!” Tavia grinned.

Raymond smiled to the camera, while he held onto all the food. Tavia took the picture and then ran off to the next stall.

“What’s this? Crepe? Looks good! I want the seafood Crepe please!” Tavia said.

Behind him, Raymond chuckled at Tavia who was acting like an overly excited little girl.

“Oh look Raymond! Stinky Tofu!”  Tavia purchased one, and handed it to Raymond.

“For you!” Tavia grinned.

Raymond smiled, “I’m holding on quite a lot of food right now. I think we should eat it all before we purchase too much stuff!”

Smiling sheepishly, Tavia fed the tofu to Raymond, while he tried to feed Tavia one of the souvlaki that he was holding on to.

Soon, they walked along the entire couple of streets where more food were being sold and they ate more than they could digest for the night. They also ate dipping dots ice cream, fish balls, beaver tail, and tons more. Raymond brought Tavia and himself  a matching Domo-kun cell phone accessory.

 It was now night time, and they were still there after so long. Tavia bent down to stare at the adorable turtles staring back at her in a small tank.

“They are so adorable!” Tavia squealed. They were standing at the stall for over five minutes now and Raymond knew what to do.

“Two turtles please.” Raymond said, handing the man his bill.

“You’re buying them?” Tavia asked, surprised.

“Which ones?” The man asked.

Tavia glanced up at Raymond, who lifted his chin to the direction of the turtles.

“I want this one and this one.” Tavia pointed, grinning from ear to ear. She then questioned the man if she had a female and a male turtle. The man nodded.

Walking hand in hand with Raymond, Tavia was skipping and holding onto the tank of turtles in her other hand.

Chuckling by her side, Raymond whispered into her ear, “Sweetie, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to skip like that. Look at the poor turtles.”

Tavia halted to a stop as soon as she heard this. “You’re right!” She yelled, loud enough for the people around to hear her.  She mouthed a quick sorry and then whispered to Raymond, “What should we name the turtles?”

Raymond shrugged.

“This one reminds me of you. How about we name him Ray and we name her Tavy.” Tavia giggled.

“Oh, where are we going now?” Tavia asked, as the festival was coming to a close, and people were packing up.

Raymond reached into his pants pocket and reached for the deck of cards. He took out three cards. “Pick one.”

Tavia picked the one at the end and read it. “Beach!” She grinned.

“Just perfect.” Raymond grinned in return.

---

27/08/10