“I’m actually craving for pizza”

“Pizza?” I glanced outside through the windshield as I tried to recall a store selling pizza around here. “Pizza…” I whispered to myself until I remembered something. “There’s a restaurant here, Yongsun-unnie! Byulyi-unnie and I went there before. I barely remember it now but I know they have pizza!”

She chuckled softly, lips lifted on one side in an amused smirk. “Okay… I hear you, Whee”

“Sorry, unnie.” I shyly giggled, keeping myself in check. “I just got excited”

She squeezed my hand as she said, “So where is it?”

The way she’s looking at me right now is making me blush. It used to scare me away. Makes me want to look away. But after spending a lot of time with her and now that we’re dating, it’s making me shy now. Enough to make me look away not because I was intimidated, but because she makes my heart flutter.

I cleared my throat. “I’ll put it on your GPS, unnie”

She must’ve sensed my nerves when I heard her giggling under her breath.

Since we started dating, she never missed a day of taking me out. If she’d be going out with Miss Ahn, she’d still pick me up and then drop me at the shelter, promising that she’ll pick me up again. Like a personal driver. But a beautiful one indeed.

She never let me feel that I wasn’t taken care of. I feel safe around her. Always feel safe around her.

At the restaurant, she parked the car and I told her how the place looked exactly the same when Byulyi-unnie first came here. She took out her phone and I already predicted what would happen next.

“Hey, Whee,” she called while pointing at the wooden swing the restaurant has, “sit here, will you?”

And so, her cravings for pizza had to wait as she took a lot of pictures of me.

“That’s enough, unnie. Aren’t you hungry already?”

She only smiled while she nodded at me.

I grabbed her hand and dragged her inside. It had to be like that or else she’ll find a new place to take pictures of me.

We found a table and guess what? She took pictures of me once again. This time, with the display hung on the wall behind me. A waiter placed our menus but ordering had to wait because of Miss Kim.

“Alright…” She inspected the pictures on her phone, smiling down at them.

I really can’t be mad at her. I really can’t complain either. She makes me happy and this is just one of the things she asked from me. Most of the time, she’s always the one providing and giving. It’s one of the few things I can give to her. If I can see that smile she had on right now, I’ll shut my mouth and give this to her.

“Shall we order, unnie?”

She dragged her eyes away from her phone screen, directing her smile to me now. “I’m sorry for making you wait”

“It’s okay…”

She placed her phone down and grabbed the menu. “Pick whatever you want. I’ll go look at their pizza menu”

“I’ll just have what you have, unnie”

“You sure?”

“Yup”

“Hmm…” Her eyebrows creased, skin drawing in the middle.

“Something wrong?”

“You said there’s pizza here, right?”

“Yes. Why?” I hurriedly flicked the menu open. “There’s none?” I asked.

“Yeah… There’s none”

I flipped and scanned the menu and flipped again before scanning the words and the pictures. There’s no pizza.

A waiter was approaching us and I made sure that I didn’t miss anything before he arrived at our table.

“Good morning, mam. Are you ready to order?”

“You don’t serve pizza anymore?” I asked, frowning when I saw him shake his head.

“We have taken the pizza off our menu, mam. Our old oven broke down and the owner hasn’t replaced it yet”

“So no pizza?”

Miss Kim reached over the table to tap my arm. “It’s fine, Wheein. Let’s just eat whatever you want”

I’d have to reject that idea. It’s the least I could do; to get her what she wants.

“No, we’re getting you that pizza, unnie.” I turned to the waiter and said, “We really came here for the pizza. I’m sorry for bothering you”

"Whe..."

I shook my head at Miss Kim and urged her to stand up.

The waiter gathered the menu and gave us a bow. “It’s alright, mam. Thank you for still coming”

Miss Kim was still sitting on her chair but upon the look of determination in my face, she sighed heavily and gave in. She pushed back her chair and went to hold my hand as we walked together back to her car.

“Let’s head somewhere further down the road, unnie. I think there’s another restaurant ahead. Hopefully, there’s pizza”

“We’re really getting that pizza, huh?”

I smiled as I nodded at her. “Of course!”

She shook her head in disbelief, chuckling under her breath. “Okay, then”

We drove to the nearest restaurant. We couldn’t see what’s inside yet because we still had to get out of the car and walk deeper into the place to get to the restaurant. It’s a vacation spot, which looks like they would serve pizza.

“Do you want to check it out?” I asked Miss Kim.

She only shrugged and parked the car. “Why not? Maybe they got pizza”

So we met at the back of her car with Miss Kim automatically going for my hand, interlocking our fingers. We passed the reception area with the receptionist directing us to their restaurant.

When we got there, the place is buzzing with people. There’s a lot more foreigners, probably tourists, than the locals. There’s a pool table and a bunch of European men are crowding around it with pool sticks in hand. Miss Kim said their British based on their accent. Some are drinking beer at this time of the day. Some are eating while chatting.

Miss Kim and I approached the receptionist at the restaurant.

“Do you serve pizza here?” Miss Kim asked.

She shook her head. “We don’t serve pizza, mam. I’m sorry”

We both sighed heavily and thanked the receptionist before walking back to the car. We drove off to the next restaurant in search of pizza.

“Unnie, just wait inside the car and I’ll go ask if they have pizza so you don’t trouble yourself parking the car”

“Okay. Sounds like a good plan, Wheein-ah”

My chest puffed with pride. “Of course”

She just laughed at me, definitely entertained.

She parked on the side of the road and flashed the hazard lights while I hurriedly unbuckled my seatbelt to jump off the car. Miss Kim is hungry already so better find that pizza she’s craving for.

I dashed inside the restaurant and asked if they served pizza.

“Yes, mam,” the waitress answered with a smile.

“Table for two please. Let me just call my company”

I ran out of the restaurant with a triumphant smile. I waved Miss Kim over, telling her to come down.

The car’s blinkers turned off before Miss Kim climbed out of the car. She let Raven park the car at the parking lot across the road. We stayed to make sure it crossed the road fine before heading inside and leaving Raven to do its work.

“This way for table for two, mam”

The moment we sat down and were handed with the menu, we both checked their menu for pizza. The sigh we let out at seeing lots of pictures of pizza was so loud, we giggled at ourselves.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I’ll have what you want, unnie. Don’t mind me”

She started pointing at the menu and suggesting flavors. I was just smiling while listening to her. I’ll nod and respond to let her know that I was still listening. But other than that, I just took this moment to watch her.

A different waitress approached our table and Miss Kim was very much ready to place our order.

“Excuse me, mam,” the waitress said, “but uhm… we ran out of dough for the pizza”

“What!?” It wasn’t my intention to say it out loud. “But didn’t you have pizza on your menu?”

“We did but we ran out of dough for today”

“Can’t you make one? We can wait”

“Our baker already went home for the day”

Miss Kim across from me looked so deflated. And it was that sight that made me so determined.

I closed the menu, handed it back to the waitress, and smiled at her as I said, “It’s okay. We’ll just take our leave. We just wanted pizza”

I held Miss Kim’s hand and walked us out of the restaurant back to her car again.

“You know… we can just stay there and eat,” she said.

As I finished fastening my seatbelt, I glanced towards her and noticed that she hasn’t done her seatbelt yet. And so I reached over and did hers. “Didn’t you say you want pizza, unnie?”

“I do but aren’t you hungry yet?”

I shook my head and said, “We’ll get you that pizza, unnie”

She sighed defeatedly before moving the car. Her hand would always reach out to mine like it’s the most natural thing to do.

I held her hand with both of mine this time. “Are you tire