‘Yes, I’m fine. Why do you ask?’

‘We can still go back home, you know. No need for excuses. We just…’

‘I don’t want to go home.’ The writer strongly emphasized the negative. ‘I was a coward, once. I won’t commit the same damnable mistake again.’

They seized each other for a long time. Jenny wanted her words to sink in, whereas Robin searched for some crack in her beloved’s new, flashy psychological armor. Finding nothing more than sheer, unabatable resolution, she nodded, said ‘As you wish.’ and let the matter drop.

They finished eating a little while later and got up. Bags were thrown over already aching shoulders, pushed by tiring arms. Only Dana, the sporty one, didn’t either act or feel uncomfortable about carring so much extra weight.

‘What? I’ve lifted worse things during workout.’ she explained, ran and hopped around like a little kid as the others gave her dirty looks.

‘So, where to now?’ Tonya asked the group, eyes darting around, seizing stores.

‘There!’ Everyone shouted at the same time and pointed into different directions.

They laughed, decided to split up and meet again later in front of a ritzy café.

Alice tagged along Dana and Tonya, more to stay close to her best friend than because of their choice of place to go.

An eletronics store had caught Tonya’s eye, she’d grabbed Dana’s hand and ran to it. They went inside, a puffing Alice behind.

‘Oh pookie, look at this! It’s a wonderful wedding gift!’

Dana and Alice both dropped their mouths when they saw what the other woman was talking about: A sleek tv set.

‘Ahn, To, why do we want a new tv? We barely turn that thing on…’

‘Oh, Dana, this is perfect! Don’t you see it? We don’t use yours because it’s old and rusty. This one is new, giant and is screaming for us to put it in the gift list!!!’

Tonya went on rambling non-stop. Alice turned to her friend and queried:

‘Does she know how much you dislike watching tv?’

‘Oh, never mind. She might have forgotten, what with the excitement of going to Italy…’

Alice rolled her eyes, went away as the soon-to-be-married couple started jumping in merriment. ‘Ah, whatever.’, she mumbled and headed out.