‘Baby~’

‘Hmm..’

‘Babe, wake up,’ he called as he blew air in her right ear. She scrunched up her nose in dislike as she shifter her body to face the left side. He chuckled as he tried to tickle her. Such a sleepyhead.

‘Babe, wake up or we’re going to be late for lunch,’ he whispered. She opened her eyes slightly.

Lunch? She took a peek at the clock on the side table and to her horror, it was already 11:30 am.

‘I slept that long?’ she croaked as she stood up. Jongdae did too, and held her hand before kissing the back of it.

‘Yeah, babe, you seemed tired,’ he said. She pried her hand off of his and stood up to go to the bathroom. He stood up to follow her. She got her toothbrush and began brushing her teeth. He leaned in on the door frame and watched her as she combed her hair, her toothbrush hanging out of .

‘A ‘good morning babe’ won’t hurt, Kat,’ he said as he pouted. She glared at him, ‘and a ‘wake up, Kat’ in seven in the morning would’ve been nice too,’ she said while holding the toothbrush out of . He back hugged her, ‘I’m sorry, babe. I figured you must be tired from the trip that’s why I didn’t wake you up.’

‘Still, Jongdae, you should’ve at least tried to wake me up. Suho must think I’m a heavy sleeper,’ she said as she tied her hair in a bun. Jongdae’s pout grew deeper, ‘why do you care what Suho thinks anyway?’ he crossed his arms across his chest. She turned to face him and would’ve rebutted if she just didn’t find him utterly cute at the moment.

‘Because,’ she tugged on his arms as she smiled, ‘this is is house and of course, it would be rude if I woke up late. You must’ve eaten breakfast without me.’

‘I already explained to Suho, Kat. He’s fine with it,’ he pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek, ‘now go on and change so that I could take you out on a date now.’ He exited the room and only then did she realize that he was already dressed up.

She took a shower and changed into a white summer dress. Jongdae said he was going to take her out to the places he used to go to so she decided to bring her camera at least.

‘Let’s go?’ he asked her as he held his hand out to her.

‘Yah, Jongdae, you look like a pig,’ she laughed at him as he stuffed pandesal bread in his mouth. She was taking bites herself but since Jongdae seemed to want it much than she did, she gave her part to him instead. She wasn’t hungry after all. Seeing him it like that was enough.

‘Don’t you like the food?’ he looked at her worriedly. ‘I’m just not hungry, babe. That’s all. But can we buy ice cream later on?’ she asked instead. He nodded, ‘sure.’

‘Babe, here you go,’ he handed her treat and she looked at it weirdly.

‘What’s this?’

‘That’s sorbetes pan de monay, Kat,’ he explained, ‘sorbetes is the term Filipinos use for ice cream. Monay is a Filipino bread, just like pandesal, but sweeter. Try it, babe.’ He smiled cheekily at her and waited as she took a bite. Her face brightened up immediately, ‘this is yummy!’ He grinned at her as he ate his ice cream which was in a plastic cup. After they were done, Jongdae asked, ‘what else do you want to eat? You haven’t eaten much.’ She thought for a while before answering, ‘you tell me, babe, what am I supposed to eat here?’

He broke into a smug grin immediately and it made her feel like she was going to regret what she just said. ‘I know some food you’d enjoy, babe.’

For almost an hour, they kept strolling and strolling around, eating foods she has never seen before.

‘What’s that?’ she asked as he got a stick of some orange balls.

She looked at it weirdly before grabbing the stick. He chuckled at her reaction, ‘that’s called kwek kwek, Kat. Those are quail eggs wrapped in flour with orange coloring.’ She looked at him, then back to the eggs. It sounded weird when he said it but even so, she took one bite. She seemed to like the taste, though, since she finished up two sticks. He was more than glad she liked the street foods.

How cute, he thought. He decided to pull a prank on her and led her to the busy streets of Manila.

‘Babe, try this,’ he handed her a stick of something brown that spiraled around the stick. She looked at it with equal weirdness but was determined to taste it anyway.

When the one who was cooking handed her the stick, she took one bite and nodded her head, ‘it feels weird but it tastes good.’ Jongdae was trying his best to hold in his laughter and just decided to eat his own stick.

‘Babe, I want more of these,’ she said as she ate her second stick. He nodded while chewing, obviously pleased that she liked the food.

‘Wait babe, you still haven’t tried these yet,’ he took other sticks of weird looking food, but even so, she wanted to try them.

‘What are these called?’

‘The one you’re eating is called isaw, then this one,’ he said while raising up a stick of weird black squares,

‘is called betamax, and this one right here,’ while raising a stick of brown balls,

‘is called fishball, Kat.’

She just nodded her head while taking a bite of the betamax thing and her nose scrunched up cutely.

‘It tastes weird, babe,’ she called. He looked at her, ‘you don’t like it?’

She chewed and nodded, ‘it’s quite good.’ He smiled brightly. He didn’t know his girlfriend would like Filipino street foods. Moreover, he was planning on making her eat balot later on.

‘Dip it here,’ Jongdae said as she held the stick of fishballs in her hand. He pointed at the brown sauce. She dipped one piece before plopping it in . The fishball was still hot, so he immediately fanned as she chewed. Jongdae chuckled, ‘easy, babe.’

‘This is good too,’ she said as she chewed happily. She didn’t know why but she seemed to like the street foods better than the ones in the restaurant. ‘Are there other food like these somewhere else?’ she as she chewed on her last piece of fishball. Jongdae nodded, ‘yes, babe, I’m going to take you to banchetto later on.’

‘Where’s that?’

‘It’s not far, but they open at twelve in the morning. Are you sure you still want to go?’ he asked he held her hand and paid the man who was cooking.

She hummed a ‘yes’. He smiled at her, ‘okay then. Get ready to eat all the way.’ He tugged on her hand and led her to a woman who was sitting next to what seemed like a big steamer with eggs on top.

‘Ale, dalawa pong balot,’ (‘Miss, two balots please’)

The lady handed him a plastic bag of two of the eggs in it and he handed one to Katherine after he made sure it wasn’t hot anymore.

‘There you go, babe,’ he said as he cracked the top of the egg open. She looked at the egg. Some sort of juice was spilling.

‘Drink the juice, babe, and take some salt,’ he said as he showed her how it was done. She mirrored his actions and scrunched her nose cutely.

‘I don’t like the taste of it,’ she said as she handed the egg back to him.

‘No, babe, taste the yolk, it’s good,’ he started to peel the shell of and handed her the yellow part of the egg. She dipped it in salt and took a bite.

‘It’s yummy,’ she said. He smiled at her brightly. When she was about to finish the balut, she saw something inside the remaining egg shell.

‘What’s this, babe?’ she asked as he peeked in, acting like he didn’t know what was inside. She looked closely and to her dismay, she saw a beak.

‘What the!’ she let go of the shell and looked at Jongdae in horror. He couldn’t hold his laughter anymore, ‘that was a chick, babe.’ He was laughing at her glaring figure in front of him.

‘How can you make me eat that! I hate you!’ she was hitting his arm repeatedly. He couldn’t help but laugh. She watched in horror once more as he chugged down the thing that was inside the shell and then taking some salt. He chewed in front of her, making her almost gag.

‘Ew, that’s gross!’

‘It’s not, babe. It tastes good.’ Before she could hit him again, ‘fine, I’m sorry. I’ll just buy you ice cream again, okay?’

‘No. You tell me what you’ve been feeding me all day, Kim Jongdae,’ she was serious and he knew he couldn’t get out of the trouble anymore. It was worth it, though.

‘Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘Tell me now!’

‘The isaw was chicken’s intestine,’ he said plainly. She gawked at him. How could he feed her that?

‘The betamax was chicken’s blood, and I think you know what the balot is, Kat,’ he explained. Her eyes went wide and she could feel her insides turn upside down. She felt like throwing up.

‘Oh my god-‘ she hurriedly went into a nearby comfort room which she had to pay up first before she could use it. She threw up at the thought of all those food that he made her eat. Meanwhile, Jongdae stood outside the comfort room in worry. He felt bad for feeding her those food, but he thought that she would like it. He knew what he did was wrong.

When she went out, she immediately glared at him.

‘I hate you.’

‘Babe, I’m sorry. Come, let’s get you some ice cream.’

Before she could object, she felt his hands tugging on her arms, leading her towards the ice cream vendor. When she got her ice cream, she on it eagerly, wanting badly to remove the taste of what she had eaten.

‘I’m sorry, babe,’ he said as he kissed the top of her head.

She felt tired. She felt tired and hungry. She practically threw up everything she had just eaten.

‘I’m going to treat you to real food now, baby,’ he said as he led her to the almost opening banchetto.

Her eyes brightened up at the sight of delicious foods. She didn’t know what to eat first. She looked left and right and saw a lot of foods. To her left were desserts of every kind. She could smell the delicious aroma in the air and it brought back her appetite.

‘Come babe, sit here. I’ll get our food,’ Jongdae said as he managed to get a table for the two of them. He made his way to the food stalls. She waited as he brought back their food after a few minuntes. She stared at the food – thankfully, none of them looked weird.

‘Eat, babe,’ he said as he handed her the spoon and fork.

The two of them talked while eating. She was telling him how the food tasted great. He was more than glad to see her enjoying the food. Somehow, it was a step closer for them to adjust in their new environment.

When she asked for dessert, he bought her two slices of cake. One was a red velvet slice,

and one was a blueberry cheesecake slice.

Her eyes twinkled in delight. Those were two of her favorite cakes.

‘Babe, I want some~’ Jongdae opened up his mouth but she just stuck her tongue out to him, ‘nope. You’re a meanie.’ He pouted cutely. She giggled, ‘fine, come here.’ She fed him a spoonful of both cakes and he happily obliged.

‘Did you enjoy?’ he asked as she was finishing off her dessert. She nodded eagerly, ‘I liked the dynamite most, babe.’

He nodded since he liked that snack too. When they were done, he held her hand and led her to their car.

It was already two in the morning when they arrived at Suho’s house. Jongdae opened the door with the key, trying his best to be quiet as not to wake Suho up.

They went inside their room and Katherine slumped down on the bed immediately. Jongdae took a shower and changed into his pajamas. After he went out of the bathroom, he sat beside her on the bed. He poked her thigh, ‘babe, move.’ She didn’t seem to feel it though, since she didn’t budge.

‘Babe?’ he inched his face closer to hers and heard her light snoring. He chuckled. This sleepyhead.

He removed her coat, trying hard not to wake her up. She didn’t, to his relief. When he was done, he moved her to the side of the bed so he could climb up beside her and cuddle with her.

‘I love you, baby,’ he whispered as he kissed her forehead. He turned the lamps off and snuggled closer to her. He wrapped his arm around her small body and sighed.

He felt tired and sleepy, but he had to at least enjoy the moment. Though he knew that they would have the rest of their lives together now, he still couldn’t let go of each passing moment.

He inhaled her scent as she squirmed a bit and adjusted to the embrace. She was not hugging him back.

‘I love you so so much, Katherine,’ he whispered before closing his eyes and drifting off to dreamland with her.

Chapter twenty-one, done :)

WHEW there you go, readers~ Jongdae and Katherine's date :)

I immediately felt hungry from all the food I included here -___- *sigh*

So let me explain some things:

Sorbetes pan de monay is actually just ice cream in a bun hehehe but it's so yummy!!! :9

Kwek kwek, isaw, and betamax are sooo good, if you might ask. They may sound gross, but THEY. ARE. NOT.

Balot may sound gross, and it is the first time you try it, but once you taste it, it's really really good!! I love balot ^^ actually, foreigners always hesitate trying balot when they visit here, but it's good. You have my word on that. ^^

Banchetto, as seen in the picture, is an overnight food fiesta here in the Philippines. We went to banchetto last January to celebrate the new year and all the foods are good! :9 I included some pictures here so that you'll have an idea of what Jongdae and Katherine ate :)

I want to show you all of the food there, but these ones are the best looking ones I found on the internet :)

Dynamite is chili stuffed with ground pork, or beef, or chicken, and cheese! It's fried and dipped in mayonnaise and it really really good! :9

Ugh, I'm hungry. -____-

Anyway, thoughts and and comments are welcomed!

*pictures are not mine. Credits to the owners!

**also, I might not be able to update tomorrow since my head's hurting again :( but I'll see. SO SORRY 3

Stay tuned, yes? ♥