Chapter Twelve

                                    

                                          
Riyaan takes a look around the place, as he sits in a restaurant in the shopping mall. He always liked places where they had shops on both sides, but this one huge mall has shops all around them. Two pairs of couples sit by his left, one seems married, waiting for the food while busy on the phone, while the other couple seems like teenagers, talking to each other and laughing. To his right, a practising lawyer sits talking to someone on her phone. Next to her seat, another couple, not the youngest looking, eating. And then there's the man in front of him, busy with his phone too.
'Are we on a date?' Riyaan asks as the waiter leaves after penning down their order. Ivan and he spend half their day shopping, and the first time doing something together in public. For him, it means something. But he has an idea - for Ivan, it means nothing. Ivan doesn't really care much about what people think. Despite their arrangement and his drawing lines about how far they can go, he doesn't really seem to care if someone sees them together. From what he knows, nobody gets the fun out of asking Ivan who he is dating or who's the guy with him — at this point it's him. 
'A date means someone asks someone out, at least for the first time.' 
'Okay, I ask you out. Will you have the coffee with me once the waiter brings it?'
'You think you're smart? I decline your date.'
'No phones on dates,' Riyaan says, putting a hand between Ivan's sight and his phone screen.
'It's not a date.' Ivan pushes his hand aside, glueing his eyes to the screen again.
Riyaan huffs, and leans back on his chair. 'At least you can pretend to date, I know it's not a date.'
'No. No pretending.' Ivan gets busy with his phone until two plates of chocolate cake and croissant are placed on the table. 
'Thank god we don't date. Otherwise, we would be a boring couple.'
Ivan's thumb seems to stop moving on his screen, and he takes a look at him— curious. 'Why'd you say that?'
Ha! That got his attention.
'Because you are on your phone, always, and I'm lonely looking at people here.' 
'It's work. Why are you feeling lonely anyway?' The chimes on the phone take back his attention.
'Because you are not giving me attention.'
Ivan takes too long to eat his croissant as he keeps tapping on his phone without break. And when it comes to chocolate cakes, Riyaan is shameless. And since they are not on a date, 'Can I eat your cake too, it's feeling lonely. It needs warmth.'
Ivan considers him, eyebrows raised. 'Never see you eating this enthusiastically at home? Go ahead.'
The two pieces of chocolate cake do nothing to Riyaan's craving for chocolate, so they end up buying ice cream.
'Is that the evergreen Ivan?' Someone says as they come out of the restaurant.
'Shirley, hi!' Ivan says as he walks faster towards a female. She wears a body-hugging dress and wears her hair in a high ponytail. 
She tips on her toes and quickly gives a peck on Ivan's cheeks but closer to the lips. The only thing that's more judgemental than the old woman sitting nearby is Riyaan's face that is featuring an open mouth in offence.
'We need to catch up sometime. I know you get so busy, and I do too, but please, call me.'
'Yeah, sure,' Ivan says, giving a side hug.
Poor ice cream. Riyaan's fuming and the fumes are melting the ice cream as they talk with families and friends with each other.
'She kissed you,' Riyaan says, glancing back at the woman who is now walking towards the restaurant they left, with five shopping bags in her hand.