meet late in the evening over dinner, so we could talk about the problem that i had. i was more than happy to oblige, seeing that i owed both of them so much, and now he had offered to help me out yet again. i was late for the 8pm appointment (since i did not catch the mrt immediately and had to wait for another four minutes for the next train to come by), but onil still greeted me with a smile when we meet at 711 in simei. he asked if i had dinner (which he already asked when he called me up around 7:15pm, telling me that we could meet by 8pm at simei mrt station), and invited me to see the hawker centre at their part of singapore. i was blown away. why? the primary hawker center, which was dubbed “foodshare” (since it was, i would believe, a project of the fairprice enterprise in SG) was fullyairconditioned with selections of chinese, korean and japanese cuisine. i was more than delighted to see the smorgasbord that was before me. in the end, the filipino tummy took over my decisioning prowess, and so i ordered a japanese bento meal of chicken pâté and crispy-fried salmon with a heap of rice and pickled veggies (cabbage, mainly), which onil graciously paid for. he also bought two glasses of lemon iced-tea, and for his dinner, a bowl of noodles and dumplings on the side. all throughout dinner, he kept asking me if i needed anything else, and i was too shy (and too full) to oblige. afterwards, we waited for mythel (my wife’s cousin, remember) at starbucks, still just outside the mrt station. onil ordered a mocha frappe and a chocolate cream chip frappe for us.
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Inside the atrium of the Waterloo Centre.