Chapter 11
With Shanon at my side, I tried my best to enjoy the festival atmosphere which has always been one of the things I hated since I came to the same festival a few years ago by visiting the various booths there (except the cooking school booth, which I quickly avoided before Shanon knew it). I didn't want to ruin our time together by taking one of my students to the cooking school booth and end up with the two of us not being able to enjoy the festival atmosphere because we were busy talking about another cooking school which would surely remind me of the bitter memories I wanted to forget forever, so I purposely distracted Shanon. from the cooking school booths I could see.
Plus it's the first time I've held hands with a woman other than Beth, so I wanted to give Shanon the best side of me and I've been doing well so far, although every now and then I'd see Shanon seem to be avoiding me when I grabbed her hand or turned to look at her. Anyway, after visiting various booths at the festival, we decided to rest our tired legs by resting on one of the benches provided by the festival committee this year.
Maybe this is just my personal opinion, but I feel that this year's festival is more lively than the last time I came here a few years ago. Whatever it is, I'm slowly starting to enjoy the atmosphere at this year's festival, especially since there's a cute and sweet girl accompanying me this time.
"You tired?" I asked when I saw Shanon who seemed exhausted after visiting one by one the booths we came to.
He answered my question with a small nod. "No. How about the teacher himself?"
I brought my face closer to the little girl. His eyes were trying to go the other way, but I didn't care.
"Shanon, I have one request." I asked with a serious face.
"W-w-what?"
I smiled gently, "Other than in class, can you just call me by my name?"
He looked surprised at my question. I tried to look him in the eye, to show that I was serious about my question.
"Marleen..." He said in a low voice.
"Less hard. Try one more time, Shanon."
He seemed to be trying to muster up the courage to call my name. My name is really that difficult, isn't it, that he looks really hard to pronounce?
"Marleen!" he shouted in a loud voice, making me nod in satisfaction.
"Well, that's how it is. You don't feel like you're in class..."
I pulled my face away from Shanon, and leaned back in the chair I was sitting in with one of my students. I glanced briefly at Shanon, who was lowering his head. His hands gripped her dress tightly.
Even though when he was in class he looked normal… Cute…
Then I turned my gaze to the sky. There were so many stars shining in the sky, with a full moon that made this night view perfect.
At least for a while, before someone interrupts Shanon and I's the moment of togetherness.
"Marlene?"
A beautiful woman came up to me with a look of disbelief. I raised an eyebrow, looking at him in surprise. Does he recognize me? I don't think I remember ever meeting him.
I immediately stood up from the chair, "Excuse me, who are you?" I asked trying to look polite.
Actually, I have the right to be rude to this woman, but I can't do it. It's better to be polite than to make a fuss. It's not good to be noisy in a place like this.
"Oh, sorry for my impudence. My name is Rosie," he said, handing her his business card.
I received the business card.
Rosie Laurencia. Laurencia cooking school owner. Oh… if I'm not mistaken, Laurencia's cooking school is the third-best cooking school in the city. Hmm… Doesn't seem like a good thing...
"So, Miss Laurencia. What made you come to me?"
"I heard from my friend Beth that you were coming here. I've always wanted to see you."
Huh? I didn't hear wrong? There's someone I've been wanting to meet for a long time, and he's one of Beth's friends? Since when did Beth have a friend as beautiful as this girl? That gorilla really has a pretty friend huh?
"Beth's friend, huh?" I asked, repeating what he just said. Just wanted to make sure he was really Beth's friend or just my hallucination.
The woman nodded her head, "He often tells me about you. I thought you were a girl, because your name sounds like a girl's name. I didn't think you were a boy..."
Again, someone thought I was a girl. Should I consider changing my name to a more masculine-sounding name? Like, Richard, or Theo? But considering that I'm going to be dealing with a tedious bureaucracy, it makes me lose my mind to do it.
"Well… that's how…"
Rosie then peeked next to me, "Is that your sister over there?"
I shook my head, thinking of a good reason, "No, he's one of my students. He came to the festival with his brother earlier. It's just that, being busy, he's with me at the moment."
The woman named Rosie nodded her head, then continued her words.
"I still couldn't believe that you would come here. I've heard the name of your cooking school a lot, but I've never seen your school's booth here. Are you opening your school's booth this year?"
Bingo! I had expected him to ask this. Since he owns a cooking school, he definitely wants to know which school will be his potential rival. Don't worry, that will never happen.
"No. Too much trouble. And I have no interest in doing it."
The woman looked surprised by my statement earlier.
"Why? Isn't this a good opportunity to promote your cooking school, so that more people know about your cooking school. If your school is not known, then it closes, what will happen later? You might end up being unemployed, it's not clear..."
As I thought she said something I hadn't heard in a long time. I take my word that she is beautiful. I found this woman very annoying, far more annoying than Beth. I wanted to scold him, but I held back because he was Beth's friend. I tried to restrain myself from getting angry in front of this woman, forcing myself to smile at her very hurtful words.
As if satisfied to see me still remaining silent, he started chattering again.
"After all, your school is not up to par with mine. And I'm grateful you know yourself not to open your school's booth at this year's festival."
I can't stand hearing his chatter anymore which makes me want to punch him. If I see Beth again, I'll make sure she doesn't hang out with this annoying woman anymore.
"Tell me you're worried that you'll have a new rival. You're actually afraid that someone will compete with your school, right?"
Shanon, who had been sitting quietly listening to us talk (to be more precise, this annoying girl who chatted too much), now stood up and replied.
"But don't worry, because you are too busy with your pride. That won't happen! The teacher's cooking school is a great school! It won't close! Teacher's cooking school is much better than Auntie's!
I looked at Shanon with admiration. His face looked so annoyed with what Beth's friend said that I don't even want to mention her name.
Shannon's words clearly provoked the anger of the woman who had disrupted my rest time with Shanon.
"He's so presumptuous! Are all of your students like this? Truly no manners!"
You're way more impolite than Shanon, you know!
"Sorry, he's not usually like this. Maybe because he was tired after walking around earlier..." I replied in the politest tone possible.
Shanon tugged at my sleeve as if to signal to leave Beth's friend whom I was about to make sure Beth would no longer hang out with.
"Let's go? Let's just get out of here. It can hurt my eyes to see ugly aunties like her. He likes to slander other people, as if his own is much better."
I got the point, but I motioned for Shanon to wait a bit while I thought of the right words to end this conversation that was really wasting my precious time.
"This disciple of mine is indeed impolite..."
"Right. Please correct your student's behavior first. It's really outrageous."
"But what she said was true," I stepped forward towards the girl with a scornful look but kept a polite smile on my face. "At least this disciple of mine doesn't say bad things to others for no reason like what you just did. We are leaving now."
Then I let Shanon pull me away leaving Rosie Laurencia, who now looks irritated and angry with me and Shanon's words earlier.