Book One Chapter Five: Meeting Saja

Recalling his date with the mysterious Saja, Nick gets ready. He goes to the date location: An upper class Asian restaurant known as Kao's Cuisine. There is something not right about Saja...

 

Chapter Five Meeting Saja: I ran up to my room, the feelings of nervousness was in my gut again. I went to my room and opened up my closet. I found my dress shoes, my suit my dress pants and my tie hanging where I had hung them two years ago, I was now in grade ten, and my graduation was in grade eight. I tried my suit on, as well as the pants, shoes and tie. Sure enough, they still fit. I walked around in the shoes for a while to break them in. I came back to my room after a few minutes and found that I still had the revolver in the pocket of my jeans on the floor. I took the revolver and put it on the mantelpiece, and put my jeans and t-shirt in the dirty clothes.

It was now 9:10. I had just about enough time to comb my hair, put some deodorant on and get to Kao's Cuisine to meet Saja. I went to the bathroom and found my comb and my deodorant. I looked in the mirror and combed my hair back, so not one strand was protruding upwards from my scalp. I then applied deodorant and went downstairs. It was now 9:20. I had plenty of time to get to Kao's Cuisine. I went out the front door and shut it and locked it. I did not have a car or a bike, but town was within walking distance from here. I did not run, I didn't want to sweat in my suit. I just had a nice leisurely walk towards the downtown area. I passed cars with blaring headlights, houses and streetlights. Nothing strange happened on the walk to town, either. I half expected to see a figure beyond every streetlight, but I didn't. I was scared, but the giddy feeling boiling in my stomach blocked out any sensation of fear.

 

Finally, I saw the lights of the downtown area. I heard music blaring from a nearby night club, I heard people cheering at a casino across the road, and I saw people in fancy clothing all over the place. I had to walk a bit farther to get to Kao's Cuisine. I looked upwards, savoring the moment. The night sky was overhead, it was a perfect night, every star in the sky was visible, and the lights from all around me belonging to stores and restaurants gave the sky a certain magical glow. I felt so alive, I wanted to get to the restaurant now. I walked down the street, eager to start the evening with Saja. I finally came to the large light up sign that was on top of the restaurant. It read 'KAO'S CUISINE' in big block letters. I stood in the cobblestone entryway just outside of the restaurant, looking for Saja. Someone then tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and found Saja standing behind me.

 

Saja looked beautiful. She wore a magnificent red dress that stopped halfway down her legs. Dark purple eyeliner, red lipstick, her blonde hair fell down a little past her shoulders, the whole the ten yards. I noticed that her skin tone was very pale, like Kaleen's the last time I saw her. Saja greeted me with a wave.

"Hey, are you ready to eat?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded. I noticed that she was still wearing her sunglasses, did she ever take those off? Come to think of it, I had never seen her without her sunglasses on.

"Come on, let's go inside." Saja said, taking my hand and leading me towards the door.

Hand holding? So much for ‘just two acquaintances meeting to get to know each other better.’

We passed through a set of fancy revolving doors, they were made of mahogany, glass and brass.

 

The grand entryway was impressive. I heard a live band playing somewhere, it was smooth jazz. The grand entryway was a massive open space with people in dress clothes and fancy suits stood with goblets of wine in their hands, they chatted away, and all of their collective conversations blurred together and formed a humming sound. Saja and I walked up to an Asian man in a suit who was standing behind a wooden podium. He saw Saja and said

"Ah, Miss Saja, table for two, I presume?" He asked in a Chinese accent.

"Yes, Micheal, my friend and I would like a table near a window, with a view of the rearward water feature." Saja said formally.

She looked to me, silently asking my approval.

"Yes, that would be nice." I said, nodding to Micheal.

"Ah, very good. Right this way please." Micheal said, leading us around tables.

He took us to an empty table that had a perfect view of a river than must have ran behind the restaurant. Micheal handed us two menus. He then leaned over to me and said

"Might I recommend the har gow with our very own orange strawberry sauce?" Asked Micheal, indicating a picture of shrimp dumplings covered in a reddish orange sauce.

I nodded.

"Yes, that looks wonderful, I'd like to order the har gow with orange and strawberry sauce." I told Micheal.

"Ah, very good master...?" Micheal trailed off. I realized that he wanted my name.

"Nick." I answered him. Micheal snapped and said

"Right, of course. And for you, miss Saja?" Micheal asked.

Saja looked at the menu for a minute.

"I will have my usual, Micheal." Said Saja.

"Yes, very good. I will arrive shortly with your food, Master Nick and Miss Saja." Micheal said, backing away towards a pair of metal doors, probably leading to the kitchen.

I turned my attention to Saja. Saja leaned forward.

"So, Nick. Tell me about yourself." She said. I thought about what I was going to say.

"Well, there isn't really much to tell, I grew up in the suburbs of town, but when I was sixteen I moved out of my parents' house and I'm renting a place just out of town." I told her.

Saja shook her head.

"Oh come on, Nick. There has to be more than that, what are your hobbies?" Saja asked.

 

I thought about what to say yet again. I didn't want to say the wrong thing and make things awkward.

"Well, I like to read and write." I said.

Saja laughed.

"Alright, what do you read?" She asked.

"I read fiction and fantasy mostly, I love books that involve fantasy the most, because they are the farthest genre from reality, and if you are going to read, it may as well be about something that isn't anything like your daily life, because if you are reading something that relates to your daily life, what's the point in reading?" I asked Saja.

Saja looked at me and said

"I feel the same way, Nick! Reading is by far my favorite hobby, although I think that what I like to read is a little before your time." Saja said.

"Oh, come on, what do you read?" I asked Saja.

"Well, I read William Shakespeare, and sometimes I like older works of writing." Saja said.

"To be honest, I've never really liked Shakespeare, and I can't imagine reading anything older than that, Shakespeare is hard enough to understand as it is." I told Saja.

"Oh, yes. But decoding Shakespearian English and translating it to modern English is all part of the fun." Saja said, giggling.

I heard the metal doors behind me swing open, and Micheal walked out, carrying two steaming trays of food.

 

Micheal arrived at our table.

"For Master Nick, the har gow with orange and strawberry sauce." He said, setting the tray down in front of me.

"And for Miss Saja, the eggrolls with sweet and sour sauce." Said Micheal, setting the tray down in front of Saja.

"If you need anything, just call. Enjoy your meal." Micheal said, disappearing back into the kitchen.

The steam from my har gow wafted up to my face, creating some condensation. I wiped my face with a napkin and grabbed my fork and knife.

"I'm starving." Said Saja, already starting on her eggrolls.

"Me, too." I said, realizing my own hunger.

I cut into the har gow dumplings and removed a section of the soft outer shell. A small steamed shrimp tumbled out.

 

I put the har gow into my mouth, it was delicious! It tastes like onions, and the sauce on it made it taste a little sweet and tangy, the onion had a sour taste to begin with, and the sauce canceled it out, almost diluted it, and made it sweet, almost honey like. I swallowed and took another bite. I swallowed, and the sweet taste flowed all the way down my throat to my stomach. Thinking of how good the food was made me think of how much it costed.

"Saja, how much will this cost?" I asked.

I was worried because I hadn't brought any money with me.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Kao and I have an... Understanding." Saja said.

I had no idea what she meant, but I wanted more of this delicious har gow, so I didn't ask. I took another bite. I chewed it up and swallowed. The sweet honey like taste stayed in my mouth for a while. I noticed that Saja was finished with her eggrolls. "Those were good, I have them every time I come here." Saja said, pointing to where the eggrolls were on her plate. In a few minutes, I finished my har gow, it was very tasty, and the honey like flavor stayed with me for a while.

Author's Note

This one will be a shorter chapter, but the other chapters are out! Please let me know what you think so far :)

Reviews

[Lizardo]

This is really good ! Again, I enjoy your style of writing a book, it's like one of those great authors like Rick riordan or james dashner, always keeping mistery behind. Perhaps one day you can become a great writer who writes really good books! which you do now

[Ryan Henderson]

I appreciate all of your kind words! Thanks so much!

[Laura Lynn]

isn't beforehand one word? I should be more worried about the spelling, but it's pretty good for the most part.

May I ask you what is a spiral death?

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review! And I don't know what a spiral death is, why?

[Laura Lynn]

well I'm not clear on the killing motif in general, but that is a coping mechanism how I deal, with the dynamite/or what were this geological mineral, I haven't picked up on what it is, the main character jumps about quite a bit in one paragraph, I love the part about "What is it and here's how I'm going to use it, it's quite mechanical. There's something about...there's just too much to respond to in here and I'm not sure what to say about it... it's jumbly, but I like the scattered unfinished quality to it

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review!

[John Mcnab]

My jaw dropped when I found out that Saja was alive. Then again, I did sort of expect it, I mean like you said, Saja is notoriously hard to kill, so I thought to myself, this great writer could never kill off such an evil enemy. I love the characters in the story, they have won a place in my heart, as has this story! I love this story so much, and I intend to read all three of these! Keep up the good work, Mr. Henderson!