"Well!" Em replied after a long pause, offering nothing more.
I put my phone away and walked into McDonald's. I ordered a sundae. I ate it while waiting for Em.
I finished the sundae and waited a bit longer. Em finally showed up.
"I'm dying," Em said, slightly out of breath.
"It's fine. Take your time. It's not like we're in a hurry!" I said with a smile. "What do you want to drink? I'll order it!"
"Just a Coke!" Em said.
I ordered a combo meal and brought it over.
"I only wanted a Coke. Why did you order so much?"
"It's okay. I haven't had this in a while anyway." I smiled and sat down, placing my bag on my lap.
While eating fries, I asked Em, "Why didn't Stella come?"
"Don't even get me started. I didn't agree with her before. Today we planned to go shopping together. She agreed. Then, right before we left at noon, she said she was too tired and suddenly didn't want to go out! She totally stood us up. How can she do that? If she wasn't coming, she could have said so earlier. I waited for her until now, and she couldn't even tell me!" Em said angrily.
"It's okay. Maybe she's really tired from work." I smiled.
"She said she was tired yesterday too. She had the whole day off yesterday, and she still said she was tired!" Em rolled her eyes.
I smiled and said nothing.
Em was angry now, so her words were bound to be a bit heated.
"Forget about her, or I'll lose it." Em sighed.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it. You know Stella is more of a loner!" I comforted Em.
"Well!" Em nodded and said nothing more.
As we ate, we talked about where to go first.
"What do you want to buy?" Em asked.
"I don't have anything specific to buy. Just want to look around. I'll follow you wherever you want to go!" I said with a smile.
"You sound like a wife following her husband!" Em said with a laugh.
"You're not a husband!" I covered my mouth and laughed.
"Stop it!" Em shot me a look.
I laughed even more.
After we finished eating, we started shopping.
Em didn't have anything specific to buy either, so we just wandered aimlessly.
When we got tired of shopping, we went to Elmwood Lane to eat some snacks.
We ate our way down the street.
We ordered one thing for two people and shared it.
"Do you think if we eat like this, we'll get as fat as pigs?" Em couldn't help sighing.
"It's okay. You can only lose weight if you're fat!" I said optimistically.
Em suddenly burst out laughing. "Come on, you're not the type to get fat no matter how much you eat!"
"No, I went back yesterday, and my mom told my sister that I was fat!"
"Really? Your mom and sister see you every day, and they can tell you're fat?" Em said in surprise.
"…Yeah!" I was embarrassed for a long time.
I almost let it slip!
But when I went back yesterday, my mom and sister did say I was fat. I'm not fat at all!
Well, maybe the scale was broken!
Em looked at me for a while, then said, "But I can't see it. You're almost the same as you've always been!"
"It doesn't matter. Eat first, get fat later, then eat again!"
"What a foodie!" Em sighed.
"Aren't you?" I asked.
"Me too, so we're perfect for each other!" Em said, laughing.
I laughed too.
We were both real foodies. We kept eating like that, pushing ourselves to the limit.
Later, we couldn't eat anymore, so we found a quiet place to sit and rest.
"If we keep eating like this, it'll be a miracle if we don't get fat!" Em muttered.
"It's okay. How often do we do this?" I comforted Em.
Em replied and said nothing more.
After a while, Em suddenly poked me excitedly.
I was startled. I turned my head and looked at Em. "What's wrong?"
"Do you think that person over there looks like Stella?" Em asked in a low voice.
I followed Em's gaze and saw a girl in a grass-green dress, holding a man's arm. They were walking and laughing together.
"A bit, but it shouldn't be her. Isn't she in the dorm?" I hesitated for a moment.
"I don't know. Let's go see!" Em urged.
"That's not a good idea!" I hesitated.
"Let's get closer and not let them see us!" Em said, pulling me along.
We stopped in front of a green potted plant that was a bit closer to them.
"It really is Stella!" Em said in dismay.
I followed and nodded.
From this angle, I could see Stella's profile. It was definitely her.
But who was the man next to her?
He looked like he was in his thirties.
A bit too young to be her father, and a bit too old to be her boyfriend!
I turned to look at Em.
"Should we go say hi?" Em asked in a low voice.
"No, Stella would be embarrassed. Let's pretend we didn't see anything!" I said, gesturing for us to leave. Otherwise, it would be awkward if Stella saw us later.
Em looked at me, didn't say anything, but walked away with me.
"She said she was too tired to go shopping. Turns out she was on a date!" Em said angrily.
"Maybe it was a last-minute thing. Stella was too embarrassed to say!" I defended Stella.
"We're about to graduate. It's normal to find a boyfriend now. But why did she find such an old man?" Em turned to me and asked.
I was embarrassed for a long time!
How could I answer that question?
Because, in fact, Alexander is several years older than me!
"Maybe… maybe he just looks a bit older!" I replied awkwardly.
"That's too old. He looks like a man in his thirties!"
"Stella likes mature guys. Sometimes love can't be measured by age!"
"That's true, but—"
"No buts. Stella likes him!"
"I'm afraid she'll get cheated!"
"No way." I widened my eyes and looked at Em.
"How likely is it that a man in his thirties isn't married? If he has issues, he's not that great. The guy just now didn't look particularly special!" Em muttered.
"You can't judge a book by its cover!"
"That's true. The richest man doesn't look good either!" Em nodded.
"We'd better not ask Stella about this. If she wants to talk to us, she will. If she doesn't want to tell us, it'll be awkward if we ask!" I reminded her.
"Forget it. I didn't see anything. It's just that some people are angry because they got stood up!" Em said gloomily.