A family restaurant — somewhere in Tokyo — the air-filled by children’s laughter and lively discussions.
Everybody seems to just enjoy their Sunday before Monday strikes again.
Everybody?
When they get in, you can already see who is in control.
He walking confidently ahead, she behind him. Careful not to look anybody in the eyes. They sit down. He, with legs spread wideout on one side, she on the opposite, legs crossed — holding her bag in front of her tummy like a shield.
The waitress brings them their water.
She looks down, ignoring the other woman while he asks for a beer.
They have a look at the menu. He, ushering some words about how much he loves the dish here, that she is not able to cook. She fumbles insecurely in her bag.
As she glances at the menu, you can feel how much she would love to have the pasta.
In low voice, she says: “I think I will do pasta today.”
He looks at her, and he doesn’t even have to say it. She knows what he thinks. She knows that he doesn’t want her to eat the pasta. She knows, he will say that she has to lose weight. She suspects, that he knows that it is also stress that has made her this way. Stress that is caused by him. But she cannot help it.
She doesn’t have anyone else and she’s already 34.
So she decides to take a Salad.
The waitress takes the order. He orders a big plate with a lot of tempura “and a salad for her”. She forces a smile when the waitress looks at her and asks “anything else?”
In her head she imagines herself enjoying some ice cream.
“No, thank you”
The waitress walks off. Now it is just the two.
At the table on the right, a kid starts screaming.
He rolls his eyes. She, trying to cover the sadness.
He “thank god, we don’t have to deal with that”.
She reacts with a small “yes.” You can feel she doesn’t mean it.
But she doesn’t have anyone else and she’s already 34.
She starts taking documents out of her bag. Laying them out on the table. It is not an ordinary Sunday. They want to move. They are just taking a break between looking at different apartments. They plan to move together. She is anxious. Until now she still had her apartment. Yes, it wasn’t very luxurious and by far not in any popular area but, it made her feel safe and welcome. She could hide from the world when she was there. But he wants her to move in with him. On one side she feels happy. Never has anyone wanted to live with her. On the other side, fear is blinding her so much that some days she just wants to run, far far away.
She hasn’t told anyone. Not even her closest friend. They think she is living a great life. She has a good job, a boyfriend and now he wants to move in. Maybe he will even propose.
She is working hard to keep that facade up.
He looks at some of the layouts of apartments. He doesn’t seem happy. She had chosen most of the places they went to visit taking into consideration their budget and commute to work.
“What do you think?”
He asks. She knows, he does not want to know her thoughts. He just wants her to speak out what he thinks. So she does.
She is 34 and doesn’t have anyone else.
“I think, these places are not the right choice for us. They are not central and most of them are pretty basic. Some of them don’t even have an elevator.”
He looks at her.
First, it seems that her answer has satisfied him.
Then he whispers:” If you knew that, why did you still decide to”.
“Here is your tempura and the salad. Anything else?” — the waitress interrupts him.
She thanks God for that timing.
He, perplex, thanks to her briefly and states that they are fine.
She, simply knows that as soon as that waitress would get to her co-workers, they would start whispering. But he could be so wonderful. What did they know? Just sometimes he would get very angry.
He:” Anyway, so let’s enjoy our meal first. Bon, appétit my dear.” with a smile that melted her knees.
She: “Thank you darling”
The salad leaves in their shiny green seemed to look at her reproachfully. Should she be more excited about having salad all the time? She couldn’t stand it. Whenever she saw an advertisement with women happily eating salad, it gave her an impulse to scream. She knew that as soon as she arrived home, she would get herself some chicken wings.
Yet, it made him happy so she had salad whenever they went out together.
Occasionally, she caught herself looking at the pamphlets of plastic surgery clinics. Apparently, in Korea, they were cheap and good. Maybe, if she went there. All would get better.
He seemingly enjoys his tempura. He even calls the waitress to get some more.
“So where are we going next?” — he asks.
Now she was happy that she had chosen something totally out of their budget range but in a great neighbourhood.
After she presented it to him he said, “See, that is what I wanted. So you get it after all.”
She craves nothing more than his approval.
She doesn’t have anyone else and she’s already 34…
