TAO
A Date With Him
"Whoa! Tao look!"
I point at the elephant squirting water at his trainers.
Tao and I walk together along with the tourist group.
Tao smiles at me. He places his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to his side.
"It seems you're enjoying this."
"Of course I am," I lean close enough so he can only hear and whisper,
"It's because I have you with me and I'm in a zoo for the first time!"
He laughs.
Yes, that's right. I haven't gone to a zoo before.
Tao picked me up in the morning at my house and drove us here to the zoo.
The zoo is outside the city, so the media won't spot us easily.
It was actually funny how Tao picked me from home.
He came in through my window and woke me at dawn. I panicked and thought it was a burglar since he was wearing a mask.
A cute panda mask.
I attacked him but he dodges my punches and kicks easily. Tao kept on shouting my name and telling me to stop and once I realized it was him, I almost died laughing.
"Why are you laughing to yourself?" He asks, playing with my hair.
I shake my head, "I just remembered how you look like awhile ago."
Tao scratches his head, "I think you shouldn't."
I can't help but laugh. "But you look quite cute in that disguise of yours."
Tao pokes my waist and I jerk away. He grins and taunts,
"One more word about that incident and you'll get the tickle punishment."
I shrug. "Let's see."
We notice that our tour group has already gain distance between us. We catch up with them and find ourselves standing near a den.
"What's next? Penguin?" I joke.
Tao laughs but not at my joke but at me.
"You serious? Do penguins live in dens?" He points at the den.
"It was a—"
"Joke." His eyes look dead serious but you can feel him teasing you.
The tour guide keeps on talking but I don't seem to care at all what's happening until he shouts with all his might.
"Okay! If you please come near and take a look at our tiger, Jun woo!"
The tour guide points at the tiger inside the den.
He (the tiger's a male...I presume) is sleeping right now.
I had hope that he would wake and growl at us but apparently he's too lazy today to even blink an eye.
"Junwoo here is one of the first animals to be in this zoo." The tour guide says, "And he's also the oldest tiger we have ever had."
"So that's why he's sleeping..." Tao murmurs.
I roll my eyes at him and give Tao an obvious look. The same look he just gave me awhile ago.
He chuckles, "What?"
"You serious?" I try mimicking his tone.
Tao leans close giving off only a small space between us. His lips merely an inch away from mine, Tao's teasing can really drive me nuts.
My heart starts to beat unusual again.
"Very funny." He says, with his alluring voice.
I push him away and I hear Tao laughing. He's such a tease.
Tao takes a step ahead and looks back at me. "Come on. The group's having the tour without us."
I walk up to him and cling my arm on his.
"Let's go then."
We walked further in the zoo. We saw the different kinds of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
I think this zoo has every species known and unknown to man due to the animals' massive population in here.
I sometimes don't look at the animals but at Tao. He looks like a child when he sees something new or different.
One of the reasons why I fell in love with him. Instead of being afraid of something new, Tao embraces and enjoys the new.
Tao hasn't been this relaxed ever since they have become a hot topic in the media lately.
Tao's hand is on mine for awhile now, he hasn't let go and I don't mind at all.
"Okay, how about a break?" The tour guide says, "You guys must have been tired."
The tour guide leads us to the zoo's food area and says that we have a free time for 30 minutes before we move on.
Tao and I sit lifelessly on the bench.
I rest my head on his shoulder, I have never been so tired in my life.
"Do you want to eat something?" He asks.
I nod.
"What do you want then?"
I look at the booths and see an ice cream booth. I point at it and smile.
"Vanilla." I tell him.
"Alright, I'll be right back." Tao kisses my forehead and heads to the ice cream booth.
I take my phone out and find out that it's already late in the afternoon. Gosh. I guess time really does move fast when you're having fun.
"Hi."
I look up and see a guy standing in front of me. He pulls out his hand from his pocket and runs it through his hair.
"This must be weird for you," He chuckles weakly, I smile at him as friendly as I can.
And yes. It is weird for me.
"I'm—" he's about to introduce himself to me when I see Tao standing behind him, holding my ice cream and is looking at the guy dead straight.
"Leaving." Tao finishes the guy's sentence. I smile as Tao walks pass the guy and sits next to me.
He hands me my ice cream and kisses me briefly on the lips. "Sorry for making you wait. The line was long."
Tao glares at the guy, giving him the death stare.
The guy gulps and bows at us. "Mianhe." He takes a look at me for the last time and leaves.
"Weren't you a bit rude?" I say nicely.
Tao crosses his arms and leans back on the bench and scoffs.
"I am rude. I don't like anyone hitting on my girl."
I the running ice cream on the cone. "He was only introducing himself."
Tao shakes his head in disbelief, "I highly doubt that."
He points at my lips, "You have some ice cream on your lips and don't think I'd give you a kiss and that off of that lips of yours because I won't...not yet."
My face turns red. Completely red.
"OF COURSE NOT!" I cover my lips with my hand and wipe it off myself.
Tao laughs. There goes Tao's teasing again.
We sit like that for a few more minutes. I already finished my ice cream after taking in more of Tao's flirty teases.
The tour guide comes back and we continue with our tour. We head this time to the zoo's aquarium. It was full of...fish. Duh.
The tour guide leads us to the last place of our tour. The pandas. I look at Tao and see him looking at me as well.
"What?" He asks.
I shake my head. I can't tell him that I'm remembering the panda mask or else I'll be tickled to death.
We enter a special place where the pandas are.
The pandas are not in a cage, nor in a den. They're in something that similars their natural habitat. Bamboos are everywhere and there I see the pandas playing with each other.
"So cute!" I squeeze Tao's hand.
"I'm cuter." Tao says boldly.
Everyone with us in the tour begin to make the aww~ and the ooohh~ sounds.
The tour guide gives us a few pointers and facts about the pandas.
I try as hard as I can to listen but I'm too taken aback by their cuteness.
"Okay. Who wants to feed the panda?"He asks.
Kids from the group raise their hands and even some elderly.
"My girlfriend over here wants to try."
I glance and see Tao pointing at me.
He has that revenge smirk I always see when he plays around with me and the boys.
A dangerous thing to see.
"Alright then," the tour guide beams with happiness.
I turn to Tao and ask him rudely. "What was that for?"
Tao shrugs and takes my hand. "It's called revenge, baby."
Revenge?! Revenge for what??
He kisses my cheek and the next thing I know is that the tour guide is already in front of me.
The tour guide hands me the leaves and leads me with the kids to the pandas.
I know that I should be excited in doing this but I'm still having that anxiety of hurting the panda or the other way around.
"Just hand it out to them and they'll freely come to you."
I nod and did as he tells me to do.
The kids and I hold the leaves in their reach. It didn't take long before one of the panda cubs approach and start eating the leaves I'm holding.
I smile and turn to Tao who's already beside me. He smiles at me and I hand him the other leaves.
"No." He shakes his head.
"Come on. Don't be such a baby." I say.
Tao sighs and takes the spare leaves I have and mirrors what I did. The panda cubs didn't approach him at all.
"I guess I'm not holding out a delicious food for them."
Tao mutters.
Just then the mama panda approaches the cubs and sees the leaves Tao is holding. It crawls slowly to and eats the whole leaves in one bite.
I laugh as I see Tao's expressionless face.
"Whoa." He exclaims.
"I guess that panda is attracted to you," I laugh. "You're a panda right?"
Tao nods in agreement, "You're right. I'm attractive but not to the panda...to you."
I smack him on the arm but Tao dodges it again for the nth time.
"Too slow." Tao winks.
Someday I'll definitely get to hit Tao but right now I'm enjoying this moment with Tao and his pandas.
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