She heaved out a sigh. It's inevitable, I've been stood up.

She stirred with her straw out of boredom, making the ice cubes swirl around in her drink. The Chinese family-owned restaurant, The Jade Magpie, was where they agreed to meet up. It was like any other day at the restaurant, having only a few customers, including her. Some of them were ordering or were already eating. They were families out for dinner or couples on a date. She gritted her teeth at the last part. Just from the position she was in, a lone person sitting in a two-seated booth was just sad.

To think that she got all dressed up on a Saturday night when she could be at home cracking open a good book or at least finishing her term paper. What she did know was that once she leaves, she'll be out to murder Amy, who made her come here in the first place.

Oh, you'll love him, she recalled Amy's words. He's a really nice guy, Owen said so himself.

As if she'll actually believe a word that comes out of Owen's mouth.

He's been Amy's boyfriend for six months so far, a new record. She never really liked any of Amy's boyfriends, knowing each one will break her heart like the last. What gets better is that when Amy has someone, she thinks everyone needs to have someone too. This isn't the first time she's been set up on a blind date, and it certainly won't be the last.

This however is the first time she's actually gone to a blind date, always coming up with lies to either Amy or the date. Sadly, Amy took her by surprise and she couldn't come up with a good lie in time, especially since Amy was well prepared. Outfit, hair, recording shows she'll miss during the date, and she even offered to work on her term paper for her. Obviously she doesn't want her to do that, not as a friend, but at the thought she'll mess it up.

She bit her lip at the thought. She knew Amy means well, but not everyone needs someone. She began to get up to leave, wanting to get a cab back home.

"You're Grace, right?"

Grace looked up, startled by the guy in front of her.

"Yes," she said at the question. "So that means you're Edwin?"

"It's Edmund, actually," he corrected, a bit irked at the common mistake.

She cringed at the mistake. Strike one there.

"Are you leaving already?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"No," she lied quickly, too quickly. "I was just going to go to the restroom."

"Well, you can go if you want," Edmund said as he sat down at the seat across from her. "You were probably here for a while, so you must've held it in for some time in your bladder. Which is bad, especially if you have a small bladder."

Why did he say that? Out of all of the things he could've said, why did he have to say that? Who actually tells a girl, a person really, that they must've held it in their bladder, a small bladder to be precise?

Even Grace couldn't help but look at him in confusion on how he can say that so bluntly.

"It's alright," she said, sitting back down. "I don't need to anymore."

The moment she said that, she wished that she really did though. At least then she could've have had time to herself and think over if she should stay or not. She knew it was rude to think of that, and that she needs to give him a chance, but she couldn't help but think that.

"Oh, okay," was all he could say.

It's decided then. He'll kill himself, get resurrected, kill Owen, and then kill himself again. He still couldn't believe how Owen got him to be here in the first place. His stupid roommate is head over heels with his new girlfriend, Ally or Amanda, something like that. Ever since they started dating, he wouldn't stop talking about her that made him sick just remembering Owen's date stories from date one.

She's just your type, he recalled Owen's words. She's cute and breathes oxygen, Amy said so herself.

Edmund knew that Owen didn't care whoever he was going out with as long as he took his ass off the couch. Edmund could be partying with some chick in Las Vegas, and Owen will still be happy. He rather have Edmund interact with other human beings rather than virtual ones or other human beings with virtual ones.

He felt the tense atmosphere between them, clouding their table only. Edmund wanted to kill it before it would spread to any of the other tables like a disease.

"Sorry for being late," he said.

"It's alright," she said curtly, though she wished that he notified her that he'll be late at least.

Edmund didn't want to tell her the reason why he was late. It wouldn't look good if he told her that he slept throughout the whole day. Not only that, Owen had to drag him out of bed and nearly dress him for the date. He really didn't want to be here, out eating food that of course he had to pay for being a man, with a girl he doesn't even know. If it weren't for Owen's threat to delete his high score of the game he played for days nonstop, he wouldn't even be here.

He cursed Owen under his breath for using his weakness for blackmail.

"Did you say something?" Grace asked him.

He shook his head. "No, I mean uh-" He cleared his throat. "Sorry for being late."

"You already said that."

"I did?" He asked both to her and to himself. To make up for his stupidity, he tried to use humor to get out of it. "Well it's pretty weird though, given it's usually girls who are fashionably late, huh?" He asked with a small chuckle.

Now why did he say that? Oh, he's on a roll now.

"That's a pretty sexist stereotype," Grace said, not amused by how he could say something so bluntly again.

He blinked, knowing he pressed a button. "Oh, I didn't mean to..." He faltered and looked down at the table.

Grace cringed, suddenly getting why he said it. He was only trying to be funny, not sexist. That's strike two then.

I wish she did go to the restroom, he thought weakly to himself. At least then you'll be giving me a chance to escape or kill myself in embarrassment, just so we can have an awkward silence.

Then the awkward silence began.

The first few minutes of awkward silence is part of a common tradition in a blind date. It's when either person will study and judge their date of the night, deciding then and there if it'll go well or not. Either if though, you'll both have to suffer through the date whether they like it or not.

So the two went through the tradition, screwing the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" by doing just that.

They reached for the same menu, having an awkward few seconds pass before Edmund grabbed the other one. They picked up the menus waiting in front of them, having been already set up at each table.

Grace has already looked into the menu as she waited for Edmund to arrive. She looked at it for so long, she practically knows each recipe by heart. Just ask her a dish and she'll tell you the price. She already knew what she wanted, but she was just waiting for Edmund to pick choose something. Edmund on the other hand has been to this restaurant many times, that's why he wanted them to meet up here as their date. Even if the date goes bad, at least the food won't. He always picks the same thing every time he comes here, but he was just waiting for Grace to choose something already.

In the end, they were both just waiting for each other to pick something to eat, already having decided what they wanted. Of course, neither of them knew this, so they were left just sitting there, staring at pictures of food as their stomachs growled. Each of them took unknown turns looking over their menus to see the other, not wanting to be caught checking each other out. When I mean "checking each other out" I don't mean seeing how hot the other is on a scale of one to ten.

For Pete's sake, they only just met.

Is he picking his nose? Was the first thought Grace asked to herself, making her nose wrinkle in disgust.

It's not like every time she doesn't see someone's full face, she thinks they're picking their nose, given most people she knew are female. Yet she didn't mean to think that only males, not females, pick their nose. Just not in public. It was only because he was suspiciously hiding himself behind his menu, from the other customers nearby as well. He only had one hand holding the menu while the left wasn't. She didn't mean to think that, it was just a thought that popped into her head, and is now staying there.

She would've kept that thought if she didn't hear a sudden noise coming from his side of the table. It didn't come from him though. It sounded more like from his phone, something like gun shots or even a roar. The moment the sound was there, Edmund cursed to himself.

Edmund thought he mute his phone so no one can hear the game he was playing. He didn't want to stare at the pictures of the menu the whole time he was waiting for Grace to order, so he decided to play his video game to pass the time.

Grace's eyes widen when she saw the hint of his phone that came out from behind his menu. Just to be sure, she peeked under the table, and just like she suspected, his phone was resting on his lap. She glared at him through the menu, hoping he would lose his game. Then another curse came from Edmund, making her smile at the thought he did lose. Yet she was still annoyed by his rudeness, given they were in a date.

She harrumphed, looking back at her menu again and asked casually, "Did you beat your high score?"

Edmund stiffened at the question and suddenly pocketed his phone. He lowered his menu to look at Grace, giving her a forced smile.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he said innocently.

She rolled her eyes behind the menu, but didn't reply back. It was because of this, Edmund just went back to staring at the pictures that made him hungrier, though his thoughts were still on the game he just lost.

Is she filing her nails? Was the first thought Edmund asked to himself, making him raise an eyebrow.

It's not like every time he doesn't see someone's full face, he thinks they're filing their nails, given most people he knew are guys. Unless they roll that way, he'll be totally cool with that. Yet, he didn't mean to think of something so sexist (cough, again) it's just a mystery to him, and all men, of what lies inside the black hole of a girl's purse. It was only because she was suspiciously hiding herself behind the menu, from the other customers nearby as well. She had her folded laminated menu propped up to stand by itself, leaving her hands free. He didn't mean to think that, it was just a thought that popped into his head, and is now staying there.

He would've kept that thought if he didn't hear a sudden noise coming from her side of the table. It didn't come from her though. It sounded more like from his phone, something like an automatic typing sounds on a phone keyboard. The moment the sound was there, Grace cursed to herself.

Grace thought she put her phone on mute so no one can hear the message she was texting. She didn't want to stare at the pictures of the menu the whole time she was waiting for Edmund to order, so she decided to reply to Amy's text to pass the time. She actually got the text a couple minutes earlier, but didn't want to reply, making her look rude to rather be on her phone than talking to him. Anyway, he was on his phone anyway, so it seemed alright to him, as long as he doesn't find out for her.

Edmund's widened when he saw the hint of her phone that came out from behind her menu. Just to be sure, he casually dropped his napkin to the side of his table. He couldn't just look under the table, that's perverted and she was wearing a dress for the date. When he went to pick up his napkin and saw her, just like he suspected, her eyes on her phone. Only she didn't look like she was texting anyone, she was just merely looking at her screen, making him realize she was checking herself out the reflection of her phone.

Grace was waiting for Amy's reply, and was using her front face camera if she looked alright. Yes, quite vain of her, but she already made herself stupid in front of Edmund, she didn't want to look it as well.

He scoffed to himself and looked backed at his menu again to ask casually, "Got any likes for your selfie?"

Grace stiffened at the question, and at that moment accidentally clicked the button to take the picture. There was a loud click from her phone that took a picture of her surprise, "caught red-handed" face that was saved into her phone. Reminding herself to delete the picture later, she slipped her phone back into her purse. She lowered her menu to look at Edmund, giving him a forced smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said calmly and matter-of-fact.

"Uh-huh," he muttered, hiding the eye roll behind the menu.

Before things can get worse, the waiter came up to their table. He placed a pot of tea on the table and poured each of them a cup of the tea. Edmund glanced at it, hiding a frown of not wanting to drink hot water. Grace though took the cup tenderly and softly blew onto the tea to help cool it down.

"Welcome to the Jade Magpie. My name is James and I'll be your waiter this evening," he said with a big smile, something he must always wear to the customers as she had taught him. "May I start with drinks first?"

"Can I have a Sprite?" Edmund asked.

"I'll just keep the water, thank you," Grace told him.

James nodded and wrote it down on the notepad. He was sure to write it clearly, despite his bad handwriting. He didn't want another yelling from the cook on how he couldn't read James's handwriting, something only James himself could read.

"Now have you two decided on what you would like?" He asked them.

"Yes," the two of them said in unison, "but I don't know about-" They stopped and looked at each other.

"Okay..." James said awkwardly, stretching the word. "So what will you be having then?"

"I'll be having combo two with some egg rolls, please," Grace told the waiter.

So that's steamed rice and spicy Kung Pao chicken, with a side of egg rolls then, James thought to himself as he wrote it down on his notepad.

Edmund then said, "I want the house special one."

As he always does, James noted. He had already written it down on his notepad, but was just asking to be polite. He always saw the guy coming here either by himself or with a friend, always ordering the same thing. Some shrimp fried rice, Mongolian beef, and chow mein.

He shut the notepad closed and took their menus away to tuck it under his arm. "Thank you. Your orders will arrive shortly." Then without another word, he rushed to give the order to the cook before attending to the other tables.

The two of them awkwardly sat in front of each other, not having the menus to hide behind anymore. They didn't know where to look, not at each other or at their phones. Edmund looked at the painting on the wall next to them, not at all interested at the fact it was a cheap replica of the famous "One Hundred Horses" by Lang Shining in the Qing Dynasty.

Grace instead looked down at her cup of tea, which she hoped was safe to drink now that it was cooler. She always liked coming to drink the tea, always remembering was her mom told her when drinking the tea, that it "cleans the body of bad things". It's quite vague of what these "bad things" are, but it still kept her drinking the tea.

As she lifted the cup to her lips to take a sip, the still steaming water bit her tongue. She let out a squeak and set the cup quickly back down. Edmund snapped his head to her, catching his attention, and he figured out what just happened. He casually covered his mouth with his hand, biting back a chuckle. He found the whole thing cute it a childish-innocent way. Grace didn't know this however, and thought he was trying to hold back from laughing at her.

Edmund noticed Grace glancing at his own cup of tea, realizing she was probably wondering why he wasn't drinking it. He grimaced at the thought of having to drink that stuff, always thinking it was gross. He didn't want to leave it alone though, making Grace think he's some kind of jerk of some kind. He awkwardly grabbed the cup, looking down at it cautiously and saw a few tea leaves at the bottom of it. He took a deep breath and dipped the cup to drink it. Now he'll just repeat Grace's mistake, finding out the tea was too hot, too late.

He jerked the cup away from him, only to have it spill all over the table. The tea then quickly ran over to Grace's side of the table and onto Grace's lap. The hot tea burned her lap at contact and she abruptly stood up from the table, holding back a yell but merely biting her lip.

He kept on apologizing over and over again.

He quickly grabbed a bunch of tissues and set it on the table, having it soak up the tea. He handed some to Grace who took it quickly, but to Edmund, it felt as if she snatched it from him out of anger. She dabbed the napkin on the dress. Grace was just glad the dress was Amy's, not hers. Amy let her borrow it to her when she tried to lie that she didn't have anything to wear. The customers turned their heads to see what all the commotion was about. Those who didn't had already watched the whole thing and only gave silent sympathies to a drink spill incident.

"Are you al-"

He didn't get to finish because Grace suddenly grabbed her purse and walked away. His shoulders slumped. He can't believe he just ruined, destroyed his date. He watched as Grace walked away in the direction of the exit to the restaurant. Then she suddenly took a sharp left towards the restroom hall through a small door.

"I'll be right back," she called to him, giving him a little wave before going through the hall.

Edmund stood there, dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that he actually thought Grace would just leave like that. He was glad she didn't though. He let out a sigh and plopped back down on his seat. Then he suddenly jumped up, surprised that the tea had went over to his side of the table and was on his seat. He groaned and looked at the back of his pants, noting the water stain on it.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered.

At the women's restroom, it was one of those one-person restrooms, not the one with many stalls. Grace grabbed a couple of papers of the paper towel and soaked it with water. She then began to dab the dress with the wet paper towel. She was hoping that if she wet the tea stain with water, it won't be as sticky or smell as much as tea when she gave it back to Amy. Speaking of Amy...

"Hello?" Amy's groggy voice asked through the phone.

"Were you actually asleep?" Grace asked in disbelief.

There was a sudden thud of Amy falling off the couch. "N-no," Amy try to denied. "Okay fine, I kinda took a quick nap. Your term paper is hard to write," she whined.

"It's alright, you don't have to do it," Grace assured her.

"Thank you so much," Amy said in exasperation. "Wait, why are you calling me? Aren't you supposed to be with your date?"

Grace explained to her what just happened.

"Don't worry about the dress. I don't even like it, that's the reason why I lend it to you in the first-" She stopped herself.

"No, keep talking," Grace told her, now interested.

She quickly changed the subject. "Grace, go back to your date, he's probably worried."

Grace snorted. "About the date he isn't interested in? Yeah, sure."

"Don't you dare say that," she scolded her. "You're smart, pretty, and did I say smart? If he doesn't like you, something's wrong with him."

Grace merely rolled her eyes at that.

"I know you just rolled your eyes at me. And c'mon, don't you find him cute at all?" Amy asked her. "Owen showed me some photos of him before I told you about him. He's Amy-approved."

"I don't know..." Grace said uneasily. "He's somewhat... decent."

"Decent? He's Amy-Approved!" Amy exclaimed. "I ship you guys already! Edmace, no, Gremund!"

"First of all, those are terrible ship names," Grace told her. "And a bad ship name means a bad ship. Second of all, Gremund sounds like Gremlin."

"Hey, I worked hard on that ship name," she whined.

"You just made them up a few seconds ago," she said bluntly.

"Whatever, just stop talking to me and go back to Edmund. Besides, you already told him, and I quote, "I'll be right back", so you better go back to him."

"Damn you and my thorough storytelling skills," Grace muttered.

Amy only laughed at that.

"Hey, what's up?" Owen's voiced asked through the phone.

"I-" Edmund paused and listened closely to the phone. "Are you playing video games right now?"

"Yeah, what 'bout it?" Owen challenged.

"Zombie at three o'clock."

There were a few gunshots that followed with a dying groan of a zombie. The sounds abruptly stopped, meaning Owen had paused the game.

"Nice save," he told Edmund. "I thank you for your keen wisdom, comrade, but do you know how sad it is for you to know that through the phone? You play way too many video games."

"And you don't play enough," Edmund retorted back. "I just saved your life."

"Touché," Owen said. "Now what are you doing calling me? Aren't you supposed to be on your date with Grace?"

"Yeah, if you can call it a date," Edmund said before telling him what happened so far.

Owen grimaced once he heard everything, making sure not to let Edmund know he did. "You know first dates don't always go well. That's why there's this thing called second-"

"Really?" Edmund asked in disbelief. "You really think there will be a second date after this?"

"Yes I think, no, I know there will be a second date."

"Do I need to repeat that story again? There won't be a second date after-"

"Twenty bucks."

"Fine," Edmund spat. "I'll be twenty bucks richer after this date, and won't need to spend it on some girl because there won't be a second date."

"Don't be like that," Owen said in exasperation. "Is she really that bad?"

"No, I-"

"I was sure to check her out for you with Amy's pictures of her, and she certainly looks cute enough for you. Not as cute as my Amy of course. But really, to actually not want to go on a second date with-"

"I do," he cut off, looking down at the ground embarrassment.

"I know you do," Owen said, in which you can hear the smile in his voice.

"Wait, did you say all of that just to make me say that?"

"You got it."

"You're a jerk."

"Well you'll be one too if you don't continue with that date."

"Fine," Edmund said again, "I'm going to, don't worry."

"Good."

"Watch your back," Edmund told him.

"Hopefully you're not threatening me-"

"I mean in the game, idiot. The only flaw in the game is that you can turn around quickly enough. It's a huge disadvantage that the zombies know."

"Alright, alright, thanks man. Now have fun with your date."

Grace left the restroom and went back to her table only to not find Edmund there. She saw the table was practically covered in tea-wet napkins all pushed into the side of the table. The table was poorly cleaned though. You can still see traces of the tea droplets as well as a puddle of tea under the mountain of napkins. Grace felt sad for some reason. Not about the tea though, she meant about Edmund. When she left to the restroom, he must've used that as a chance to bolt out of here. She really did want to continue with the date, despite what happened so far. She thought to might as well clean up the mess before leav-

"No, I'll clean this, you don't have to," Edmund said as he came up behind her, carrying paper towels from the men's restroom.

Grace blinked. "Did you-"

"The napkins were pretty useless," Edmund explained, motioning to the small napkins, "So I went to the bathroom for the bigger ones at the sink." Of course, he didn't want to tell her the other reason, finding a new use for the automatic hand dryer when having to dry the tea stain on his ass.

She couldn't believe that she actually thought he would leave her like that. She felt like a total idiot right then and there. She didn't want to leave Edmund cleaning by himself, so she grabbed a couple of paper towels from him and helped him clean the rest of the mess up.

James walked up to the table carrying their orders fresh off the frying pan. When he saw the two cleaning up his mess, he held back the urge to dramatically drop the tray in surprise.

"Whoa, what happened here?" He asked them.

"We made a little mess," Edmund said awkwardly.

"Little?" James and Grace said together in disbelief.

James suddenly realized the earful he'll get if she found out customers were cleaning, not him.

"It's alright, leave it alone. I'll clean it, it's my job anyway," he told them, waving them off to sit back down. Edmund was glad he cleaned both of their seats before they sat down again.

James set their food off the tray and onto a table next to theirs for a moment. He grabbed a paper towel and slid all of the wet paper towels onto the empty tray. Then with a last paper towel, knowing how mad the manager will be when she saw all of this paper put to waste for a single mess, he cleaned the table down to its last drop. After that, he set Grace and Edmund's food before them.

"I hope you enjoy," he said before walking off with a tray of a mountain of tea-wet napkins.

As soon as the waiter left, things could've gone awkward for them again. It was thanks to the food however that it didn't. They fight back the drools for the food before them, not wanting to waste a second longer to dig in.

Grace was first to grab a pair of ready chopsticks in a container of the table. She pulled them out of its paper slip and then snapped the wooden chopsticks in half. She picked up an egg roll and happily began to munch on it. She always loved using chopsticks. It was always a challenge at first. It was because of her college diet of cheap ramen noodles that the she had the practice she wanted to become pretty good at eating with them.

Edmund watched as Grace began to eat with her chopsticks. He can't believe it, the time has come.

"Y'know," Owen said, with his mouth full of fried rice, "One of these days, you're going to regret it."

"No, I'm not," Edmund told him, taking a sip of his Sprite.

"Dude, you need to learn how to use chopsticks," Owen said, pointing his own at his friend.

"No, I don't," he said confidently.

"Do you know how lame it'll look if your date is using chopsticks and you're eating with a fork?"

"Well, there's no need to worry," Edmund assured him.

Owen took a sip of his tea. "And why's that?"

"Be real here. I'm not going on a date with anyone anytime soon."

Now look where he is now. Edmund never got the hang of using chopsticks, despite the fact he came to this restaurant more times than he can count (and he can count a lot, thank you very much). He didn't get how people can actually eat with two wooden sticks. So he gave up on chopsticks and decided to always use American-style of eating.

Until now.

He slowly grabbed himself some chopsticks and pulled them out of its paper slip. He tried to pull them apart, but wasn't too sure how he could without messing it up. He finally had enough and just used his strength (which he has a lot of, thank you very much) to break them in half. Only it didn't break in half. You can see the noticeable difference between the two chopsticks making him shake his head at himself.

Edmund did his best to read the instructions on the chopstick paper slip on how to actually use chopsticks. It was useless though, he couldn't understand the pictures. That saying of "a picture is worth a thousand words" was worthless. He rather have words to tell him how to do it. The only wording here says to hold it like a pencil. He tried holding it like a pencil, but he wanted to eat, not write. He couldn't look it up on the internet with his phone, he'll look both stupid and rude, rather using his phone than talk with Grace or eating, and he much rather eat.

Oh, and talk to Grace of course.

He then tried to watch Grace as she used her chopsticks. She easily picked up some chicken and bit it off her chopsticks before having some rice to follow it. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous on how she can do it so easily. Grace suddenly paused mid-chew and looked up at Edmund, in which they instantly met eyes before he looked down at his food. Grace looked down at her plate with her cheeks turning warm. Only it wasn't the chicken's spiciness that was causing her to do so.

Edmund tried to remember Grace's movements when she used her chopsticks. He tried the pencil position again with the chopsticks to pick up some rice only to have it fall through the two sticks. No one can possibly do this, it's impossible. Well, except for Grace, people raised to eat with chopsticks and- He stopped and saw a whole family eating with chopsticks- and little kids. Yes, and little kids can use chopsticks too, of course they can.

After a couple of more pathetic attempts to pick up rice, noodles and even beef, which should've been the easiest one, he gave up. So he had no choice but to stab his beef with the chopstick.

It was a quick jab towards the meat before he lifted it and ate it in one bite. He did his best to look like he was using his chopsticks and wasn't cheating it. He didn't know how he'll eat the noodles or rice, but he'll figure something out sometime. All he wanted to do right now though was eat what he can. Though as his beef's numbers began to die down, he didn't know how he'll eat anything else.

"Here," Grace suddenly said.

Edmund paused from mid chew as he almost stabbed another beef. He suddenly thought of Grace realizing his weakness of chopsticks and will actually offer to help him. They'll touch hands, being awkward at first, but will then make them want to hold hands after dinner later. She'll hold his hand in place, being calm and sweet as she'll teach him how to use the chopsticks. No, maybe she'll find it pointless and will instead feed him, not spoon-feeding, chopstick-feeding. She'll even tell him to say "Ah" and open wide as the airplane comes in. He then looked up, not being able to wait for the lesson he'll be given from his teacher-

Who was holding out a plastic fork to him.

Grace figured out Edmund's struggle with the chopsticks when she saw him mercilessly stabbed his beef with a chopstick. The poor cow was already dead. She didn't see why he had to kill it again with a wooden stick. She still didn't get why he used chopsticks when he could have easily grabbed a plastic fork ready in a separate container. Maybe it was just too far from his reach and he just thought to try the chopsticks instead. Now wasn't the time to learn how to use chopsticks though.

"If you wanted a fork, you could've just asked," she told him.

"Thanks," Edmund said, feeling like a total idiot for not being able to use chopsticks and that whole chopstick fantasy lesson he just had. Death by chopsticks, that's how it's going to be for Edmund here.

He set the stupid sticks down and began to eat with the fork instead. The two were just eating their food, not even bothering to talk to each other. They really just let the food do the talking. They closed their mouths as they chew and eating slowly, not like they were waiting for a pretty long time to them for their food. Of course, they couldn't keep on doing this. If they did, it was just two strangers having to share a table because of the small restaurant. They're in a date, so they must talk.

"So, how's your food?" Edmund asked her between bites.

Grace didn't answer yet, having to swallow her food before replying, "Its fine, thank you."

"Oh okay... cool."

A few more seconds of awkward silence and chewing later...

"How's your food, Edmund?" Grace asked, using his name to extend the sentence.

"It's good," he answered. "I come here a lot and I always choose this."

"You don't try anything else? Anything new?" She asked.

He shrugged. "If it's not broken, why fix it?"

She nodded, kind of getting it. "Well I've never really been here before. I've past it a few times, but never got the chance. Amy said it's quite good though, having come here with Owen a lot."

"Yeah, they probably ate every single thing on their menu from who knows how many times they came here on a date," Edmund said.

"How do you know Owen?" Grace asked him.

"Oh, he's my roommate," Edmund told her. "He's pretty cool, I guess. He doesn't snore and pays the rent. How do you know Amy?"

"She's my best friend," she said. "We've known each other since high school."

"They're a pretty cute couple, huh?" Edmund asked, though he didn't know why.

"Yeah, I guess," Grace tried to agree.

"It was them who got us here in the first place though," he said, though he had no idea what he was getting at. "Maybe they were trying out to be matchmakers."

"Well, you probably weren't forced to come here anyway," Grace tried to joke. "You probably had better stuff to do. It wasn't like you were staying at home in a Saturday night by yourself or something."

Edmund could've laugh, he should've laughed. He didn't though because of how true that was. He just didn't say anything as Grace smiled. When Edmund didn't chuckle like Grace wanted, it dawned on her what she just said.

"No, I didn't know- I mean, I did too..." She faltered, not knowing what to say.

And that's strike three, she thought sadly. I'm out.

Grace suddenly got up from her seat. "We both know we didn't want to come here in the first place. It was our friends who made us come here. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

She grabbed her purse, gripping the handle tightly. She was just wasting time, energy, a pretty-decent dress, hair, make-up. It was all pointless, dating is stupid. Who knows how many times women, no anyone really, went to such extremes to find their "perfect one" to the point of blind dates of making yourself look like an absolute idiot.

"Hey, wait," Edmund said, grabbing her wrist to stop her.

Grace turned to him. "What?" She then realized the problem and dug into her purse. "Oh right, I have to pay my share."

"No, it's not that," Edmund told her, pushing the purse away. "Look, we both stayed this long, went through this date this far. We already got our food anyway, so we might as well eat the rest of it. So just... stay, okay?"

She paused then slowly nodded. "Okay."

The rest of the date they just ate and talked. As they ate, they started 21 questions, asking each other back and forth different things. Nothing too personal, just the obvious like favorite music, movies, colors, and so on. After that they tried "Would You Rather?" game. It got a few chuckles at both the questions and answers.

James came back to their table. He asked if they wanted any dessert, doing his best to hint and persuade them to buy something, in which they both refused. Sure, eating dessert would mean they could have more time together. It also meant that Edmund had to pay more and Grace had her own dessert back at home which happened to be free.

Once they paid the meal, they'll go their separate ways and never have to see each other again. They'll only keep the faint memory of a blind date gone wrong.

James got it and cleared their table before giving them their complementary fortune cookies. He promised them to give them their receipt shortly and went away to do so. They both got one of the two fortune cookies set for them. The fortune cookie was "introduced by the Japanese, popularized by the Chinese, but ultimately consumed by Americans" as Jennifer Lee had put it bluntly, it's a folded cookie that has a small slip of paper wedged inside. In this slip of paper (which you don't eat, mind you) is a small fortune. The fortune isn't really money, sadly. It's really a phrase that's like a broad "prophecy" or any message that doesn't mean anything in particular to those who aren't that gullible or superstitious.

They took the cookies out of its plastic cover, but this is where they go their separate directions. Some people, alright, all people eat their fortune cookies in a normal fashion. They break the cookie, eat the cookie, read the fortune and throw the fortune away. Sometimes they would read the fortune first before eating the cookie, but other than that, they would still throw away the fortune unless it's better than most fortunes, so then they keep it. These two however do something a bit differently.

Grace broke her cookie in half and quickly pulled out the slip of paper to put it face down on her table before eating the cookie itself. Edmund watched the whole thing in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm?" Grace looked up at him. "What?"

"Your fortune," he motioned towards it. "How come you're not reading it?"

"This?" She asked before letting out a chuckle as she shook her head. "Oh, no, it's stupid."

"Try me," he said as he began to open his own.

"Well since I was little, I ate my fortune cookies in this way, like a tradition," she explained, feeling really embarrassed now. "I would first eat my cookie before reading my fortune. If I read my fortune before eating the cookie, it won't come true. When I read it after eating the cookie, I'll accept it whether it's good or not."

Edmund let out a snort.

Grace raised an eyebrow. "What? What is it?"

He shook his head. "No, it's nothing."

"C'mon, say it," she pressed, feeling a bit annoyed now.

"Well I don't eat my fortune cookies like that," he told her as he cracked the cookie in half. "First I read the fortune-" Edmund said as he pulled the paper slip out of the cookie "-If I like it, I eat the cookie. If I don't, I tear it up, and still eat the cookie."

Grace frowned. "I don't know why you'll do that. Your fortune won't come true either way."

Edmund scoffed. "Are you serious? It won't come true in the first place. Your little fortune cookie tradition isn't even true."

Grace's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "Well it's still nice to think of it like that, like when you throw a coin in a fountain to make a wish. At least I won't be so... barbaric as to do that to a fortune cookie."

"Barbaric?" Edmund repeated. "You're making the cookie sound sacred or something. For Pete's sake, it's just a cookie!"

"So what if it is?" Grace demanded through gritted teeth. "At least I don't mercilessly tear the paper like that, you're wasting paper!"

"As if you keep the paper," he doubted.

Grace didn't say anything.

"You do," he accused. "Wow, you actually do."

"And what if I do?" She challenged.

"Well, well-" He paused to think of a comeback before saying the most childish thing to say at this moment, "Well that's just stupid!"

She gasped and countered, "Well... you're stupid!"

Things got pretty heated after that, like two kids bickering over a toy. They were at the point that they were standing up from their seats, yelling at each other. If you didn't know better, you'd think it's just any other couple having a fight on someone being disloyal to the other or forgetting the other's anniversary gift. This wasn't the case though. For one thing, they weren't even a couple, and the other is that they were fighting over a fortune cookie.

The other customers couldn't take it anymore. The couples on their date couldn't continue with exchanging love-dovey words. Families had to cover their children's ears, who were getting scared by the awful yelling from the table. Customers began to complain, some wanting to leave just to get away from it.

James clutched the receipt tightly, not knowing what to do. He never had to face something like this before. It wasn't even in his job description. He didn't want to over to their table with them yelling, especially with a receipt expecting them to pay. Before he could figure out what to do next, someone suddenly snatched the receipt out of his hands.

"I'll handle this," she said sharply in which he translated from his native tongue.

James slowly backed away to hide in the kitchen. He didn't want to be here if she was going to handle it.

Mei-Zhen Jiǎng can also be called by her English name of Meredith Jiǎng, if she lets you of course. Daughter of Chinese immigrants, she was raised strictly to keep their cultural traditions, despite being surrounded by westernization. Though she took an English name of Meredith connected to her original name, she rarely uses it, only wanting as many people as possible to use her given birth name.

She held the position as manager of her own restaurant she built from the ground up. She worked hard to start this restaurant and keep it, having to bring family to work here, not trusting anyone else. Though she would sometimes doubt taking her nephew, Jin, or as how he introduces himself to his customers, James, it was his easygoing personality that helped his job as a waiter. At first she didn't like her whitewash -when embracing American culture rather than original culture- nephew for his American accent and barely knowing any Mandarin except for a few common phrases, she had to take him in since he needed a job.

She only wished he can be more professional at times, being able to deal with a mere argument at table three. She was going through the monthly bills of the restaurant when she heard that awful shouting from her restaurant. When she came out of her office, she saw her dumbfounded nephew not knowing what to do. She never really did teach him how to handle this type of customers, but it's best to watch and learn.

Mei-Zhen walked up to table three where a couple were practically at each other's throats now.

A lover's quarrel? Was her first thought when she saw the scene.

They were already done eating, given James had cleared their table, so they must've been waiting for a heck. She thought it was an argument of who will pay the dinner, which is a tradition that it's usually the men who do it, for pride obviously. She wanted to wait until they calmed down to then politely cut into their conversation. It wasn't until she saw customers waiting for their orders to be taken suddenly leave the restaurant, and people who were supposed to order dessert asking for the check already. She felt a sense of panic now, losing customers because of a couple's argument.

Now, things have changed.

"Killing trees? What are you? The Lorax?"

"Oh, how mature, actually bringing Dr. Seuss into this," she mocked.

"Yeah, more mature than you and your little cookie tradition."

"Not unlike you-"

"Is everything alright?" Mei-Zhen cut in with the noticeable Chinese accent in her English, wearing a very forced smile at the customers. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes," Grace told her. "It's him."

"Me?" Edmund looked at the manager and pointed at Grace. "It's her."

"It's rude to point," Grace said to him.

"What are you? My mother?" Then he childishly began to point at her in different directions.

"I'm sorry for whatever argument a couple like you two are-"

"Oh, we're not together," Edmund assured her.

Grace laughed. "As if I'll ever date someone like him the first place."

"And what do you mean by that?" Edmund demanded.

"All I'm saying is that I don't say any sexist remarks of girls always being fashionably late!"

"Well it's not my fault the stereotype is usually right!" He exclaimed back. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"I don't know, how about actually forgetting your date's name? Like seriously, why are you even here to begin with?"

"I don't even want to be here! I was forced here!"

"Do I look like I want to be here? I can be at home playing video games right now!"

"Yeah, grow old and die with your video games, I bet you made your parents proud!"

"Unlike your parents for raising a prissy princess, then yes, my parents are crying in joy!"

A bamboo hand-held fan suddenly opened up between them, right in front of their faces. It made them jump back in surprise when they were shouting at each other's faces. The bright red fan with its decoration of cherry blossoms was a family heirloom that Mei-Zhen used to catch their attention. She quickly snapped the fan closed and held it close to her.

"Enough!" Mei-Zhen told the harshly, had officially given up in being polite now. "I'm losing customers because of you two. I have welcomed you into my restaurant and I wish you act like how guests should be. Now about your argument, is it something we may be able to solve here, or must you take it outside and leave my restaurant immediately?"

The two were quite for a moment until Grace thought about of it.

"May you settle our argument?" She asked her. "You of all people must be."

Edmund nodded. "Yeah, prove this girl wrong." That remark earned a glare from Grace.

"Alright," she said, a bit calmer now. She was sure she'll be able to solve the argument quickly. "What is it then?"

"Fortune cookies."

She paused. "Pardon me?"

"Fortune cookies."

"Wǒ bú míng bái," she suddenly said, and was startled by accidentally changing to Mandarin. "I don't understand. Do you want fortune cookies? Do you not like them?" She was utterly confused by this.

It was then the two of them explained to her the reason of their disagreement. Grace finds the fortune important or "sacred" as Edmund put it, being sure to eat the cookie first before reading the fortune. Even if the fortune is good or not, you have to accept it, like fate. Edmund on the other hand would always read the fortune. Whether he likes the fortune of not, he's still eat the cookie, ripping it apart the fortune if he doesn't like it.

"So, who's right?" Grace and Edmund asked her in unison.

Mei-Zhen's eye twitched. She let out a deep breath and looked at them. "Are you telling me," she started, her voice slowly rising, "that the whole point of your argument, the reason I'm wasting my time here, the reason you disrupted the peace of my restaurant is because of a fortune cookie?" She exclaimed.

They both slowly backed away from the petite aging woman who was scarier now that her true nature was revealed.

"They're only cookies!" Mei-Zhen told them. "Bought and shipped last week! You just eat, read, and go, that's it! Why do you make such a big deal out of them?"

The two were trembling in fear now. James from the distance was shaking just from the scolding their getting from his aunt, only giving his sympathies to them.

Suddenly she started shouting at them in Mandarin, happy that they don't know a single word she's telling to them. It was a few seconds later that she calmed down did she held their check out to them with the price clearly on it.

Edmund blinked and began dig into his pocket for his wallet. Only, he didn't feel it. He began to urgently search for it, patting down his pockets both from his jeans and his jacket. He then suddenly remembered how he ran out of his apartment with Owen's force to catch up to his date, probably forgetting his wallet in the rush. He looked back at the manager with a weak smile.

"I-I don't have any money," he forced out.

Mei-Zhen let out a low growl as she shot him a glare, a glare Grace gave him too. Grace then dug into her purse, muttering something under her breath about men, Edmund especially. She was just glad she brought money, despite Amy's protest of her not having to since it's the guys who always pay. A stupid sexist stereotype, something most girls would like, but still sexist. She handed the money to Mei-Zhen, more than its original price for the tax and mostly forgiveness of their rudeness.

The manager suddenly used the fan to point at the direction of the exit.

Grace and Edmund mumbled out their apologies and quickly walked towards the direction Mei-Zhen was pointing at. They could feel the many stares of everyone in the restaurant. They felt nothing but shame and embarrassment of the whole scene they made.

"H-Hey..." Edmund began slowly.

"What?" Grace asked, with a little harshness in her voice still.

"Let's start over," Edmund offered before clearing his throat. "Hi, my name is Edmund, not Edwin, and sometimes I can be fashionably late."

Grace chuckled at that and gave a small smile. "Hi, my name is Grace, and I can actually hold it in for quite some time, despite having a small bladder.

"Do you want to catch a movie?" Edmund asked her. "There's a good one coming out tonight." He actually planned to see it after the date if it didn't go well, which he was sure then it wouldn't.

"How about another time?" Grace said.

Edmund frowned. Was that a lie just so she wouldn't go with him? A fake rain check as an excuse to not go?

"How about next Saturday?" She told him. "I have a term paper I need to finish tonight."

His frown vanished to a smile. "Yeah, sure. Saturday."

Much to Mei-Zhen's relief, the restaurant went back to normal after they left. James made the right decision to avoid his aunt the rest of the day, knowing he'll get a huge lecture from her after the restaurant closed at the end of the day for not being able to "man up". It was because of his childish avoiding however that she decided to clean up table three when she noticed some sticky parts of it, like someone accidentally spilled tea. It was such a waste of good tea, her favorite one.

She was humming a small tune to herself as she cleaned the table with a clean rag. She noticed the fortune cookies that the two had left behind. One fortune cookie was just broke in half with its slip of paper next to it. The other was only the fortune itself but it was face down to not be read, the cookie must've been eaten already. Mei-Zhen wondered if they have ever got to even read their fortunes.

She grabbed both of the papers and read them to see they were the same fortune. The company who makes these cookies are getting lazy, actually creating the same fortune and putting them in the same box. She cleaned up the table and tossed the slips of paper into the busboy cart, the busboy being her grandson, who was having his break right now.

If you're wondering what the paper read, it said this:

Stop looking at this. Just eat the cookie and look at your date instead.

I was inspired to write this story on how I eat my fortune cookie just like Grace does. I don't really remember how or why I started doing it. Maybe I'm just weirdly superstitious like that to come up with this weird tradition when eating the cookie. Anyway, I thought of writing a little story revolving around the cookie then came up with the "blind date" and "opposite way of eating the cookie" things later to create this short story. All of the characters were fun to make, from the couple to the workers of the restaurant, James (actually originally named Kevin) and Mei-Zhen. Grace and Edmund both mean "fortune" and I got to learn a bit more of Chinese (Mandarin) culture, especially on names. I got the magpie from the restaurant's name "Jade Magpie" from the Chinese story, I really like about the cowherd and the weaver girl, in which they can meet each other once in a while by a magpie bridge.

I wanted to write this story for a long time, especially right after finishing my other book "The Good Girl's Bad Boys". If a lot of people like it, I might make a spin-off of this, since I enjoyed writing this. I hope you enjoy it and the video I put at the side of Good Mythical Morning with Rhett and Link about the fortune cookie.

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