"𝑪𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐?"
↷✦; welcome ❞
Here they were, in a cafe popular with both young and old. At table three, five men and two women sat. One of the women seemed to be resting her head on a man's chest, while the other was busy with her smartphone.
Meanwhile, the other four young men were busy with their own affairs.
"Hey, order some food! I'm starving," Ale said, starting the conversation.
"Oh come on, Ale-Ale. Eating is all you think about," Yunus replied, rolling his eyes lazily.
Ale snorted, "Of course, you idiot! We came here to eat, not to swim," Ale replied lazily.
"This idiot. Obviously we want to eat, but who said we were going to swim?" Yunus asked again.
"Whatever... I'm tired. If you're sane, just give in," Ale said, giving in.
"Tsk! Am I crazy? What do you want?!" Yunus retorted defiantly.
"You dog! You're Yunus in the belly of a fish! Come here, let me twist your neck!" Ale shouted angrily. He tried to grab Yunus's neck, who was sitting right next to him.
Not remaining silent, Yunus moved swiftly to avoid Ale's wrath. "What? Come here if you dare!" Yunus challenged, rolling up the sleeves of his short-sleeved shirt.
"Bastard! Come here!" Ale managed to pounce, his hands now wrapped sweetly—yet tightly—around Yunus's neck.
Feeling suffocated, Yunus groaned. "Damn it! Fuck, Ale-Ale!" With his remaining strength, Yunus retaliated by pinching Ale's nose with two fingers, blocking the young man's airway.
"I can't breathe, man! Yunus! This hurts!" Ale screamed loudly right into Yunus' ear.
"Ouch... my ear!" Yunus screamed in pain. Reflexively, he removed his fingers from Ale's nose to cover his ringing ears.
As the argument escalated, table number three officially became the center of attention. Customers at surrounding tables began to turn their heads, some whispering and shaking their heads.
"Good! More brutal, then!" Kevin chimed in casually. He was engrossed in munching on French fries while watching the two friends bicker as if they were watching a free show.
"Can you guys shut up? It's embarrassing, you know, being seen!" said the woman who had been leaning against her boyfriend's chest. She finally lifted her head and looked around, grimacing in embarrassment at her friends' strange behavior.
"Just leave it alone, what's wrong, Mor?" Kevin chimed in, still engrossed in watching Ale and Yunus as if watching a wrestling match.
Amora, the woman who had leaned her head back, looked at Kevin with an annoyed expression. She then turned to look at the man beside her. "Honey..." she whined coquettishly, pursing her lips.
Mathius, hearing his girlfriend start to sulk, gently stroked Amora's long hair to calm her down. His eyes then darted sharply to Yunus and Ale, who still refused to stop fighting.
"Let go, man! Yunus, you're crazy! I really can't breathe!" Ale said hoarsely, but his own hands were still tightly wrapped around Yunus's neck.
"No, I won't!" Yunus replied arrogantly.
His once-white neck was now bright red, but Yunus wasn't about to give up. He still wanted to tease Ale to death.
"Fuck! Yunus is a fish's stomach! I'll die!" Ale shouted in frustration. He then put on a fake, sad expression. "And if I die, the earth will lose the only handsome man in the world!" he added dramatically.
Yunus, hearing Ale's overconfident tone, immediately chuckled lazily.
"Fine, just die now. Then I'll get a lunch box. It's not bad, right, free food?" Yunus said innocently.
"Damn it! Yunus is a fish's stomach! No wonder you were eaten by fish; people act like ghosts!" Ale cursed furiously.
A ghost who had been sitting quietly beside Ale gasped in surprise. It turned its head and stared at him with a disapproving look.
"Huh... why me?" the ghost muttered with a straight face. "You're a human. My people didn't do anything, and yet they're being dragged around."
The ghost sighed, then suddenly remembered something and slapped its forehead dramatically. "Oh, I just remembered. I'm a ghost, not a person anymore!"
Meanwhile, Ale's friends could only stare blankly as Ale cursed at the empty chair beside him. They, of course, couldn't see the additional "occupant" at table number three.
Amora, unable to hold it in any longer, finally exploded. She slammed her fist on the table—THUD!—making the spoons and glasses clink loudly. All the eyes in the cafe, which had initially been staring at Ale and Yunus, now turned to Amora with blank, shocked expressions.
"You guys are embarrassed, you know that?!" Amora snapped. She stared at Ale and Yunus in turn with a razor-sharp gaze. "It's as if you weren't taught not to embarrass yourself in public!"
The atmosphere fell silent. Ale and Yunus froze in their positions. However, amidst the tension, Kevin responded without hesitation.
"What the hell? You're so pretentious," Kevin said dryly, continuing to chew his fries without the slightest hint of guilt.
Zevanya, who had been sitting relaxed and focused solely on her phone, ignoring the commotion, finally looked up. She looked away from the smart screen and stared at Amora with an unreadable look in her eyes—cold, yet assessing something.
Not far away, Juanda was also disturbed. With his book still firmly in hand, he stared at Amora with a flat gaze, as if Amora's disturbance was far more annoying than Ale and Yunus's argument earlier.
Amora's outburst of anger forced Ale and Yunus to stop their gripping. However, instead of feeling guilty, they both glared back at Amora with equally annoyed expressions.
"You're so talkative, you dog," Yunus hissed sharply, his voice low but full of emphasis.
Amora, hearing Yunus's sharp hiss, suddenly became nervous. Her courage immediately gave out. She immediately looked at her lover with pleading eyes, begging for protection.
Mathius, noticing Amora's nervousness, pulled his lover into his embrace. His gaze shifted to Yunus; sharp and level, delivering a stern warning without uttering a word.
Yunus, facing Mathius' intimidating glare, simply acted indifferent. Ignoring Mathius's irritated glare, he leaned his head against Zevanya's shoulder, who was sitting casually to his left.
"Damn it..." Yunus hissed again, still annoyed despite his attempts to ignore it.
Zevanya herself didn't mind Yunus leaning on her shoulder at all. Her focus was locked on the scene before her: a couple still deeply embracing. Mathius was kissing the top of Amora's head repeatedly, while the woman responded with gentle strokes on his chest.
Watching the intimacy, Zevanya clenched her fists tightly under the table until her knuckles turned white and red. She desperately held back a surge of emotion before finally looking away, shifting her gaze to Yunus, who was still content to lean against her.