Arriving at the nearby park sees a lone girl taking a swing from the playground and waiting for someone to pass the time with, she has something else to talk to that someone.
"Why you took so long?!"
"Sorry, it must be important for you to stick by late at this hour. So what was it?"
"I didn't mean to call you so late. I just... I just want to clarify with you about something."
"What is it?"
"Do you have a relationship with Alice? You both look good at each other."
"Not really, we're just middle-school friends."
"I see." Sofia's face was satisfied as Zane cleared up the misunderstanding. Starting soon, her face flushed from the thought of him being single. She has a way to get him and be his girlfriend.
"Uhmmm, Zane... when are you free?"
"During weekends. Why you ask suddenly?" Sofia walks from behind Zane and finally tells him.
"Would you mind going out with me on Saturdays?"
"You asked me that before."
"Yeah, like a long time ago, when we are in high school. You haven't answered me before."
"I see."
"So do you agree?" *Please just say yes* She thought while thinking it deeply on how Zane could answer it.
"Sure... what time?"
"Really?!"
"Why? Do you want me to come or not?"
"I would love to be with you, just for a day. Can we exchange phone numbers?"
"Sure."
After their discussion ended with their time and place told, "We meet at Suica's Penguin Park at noon, exactly 12:30 pm." Zane has a lot of thoughts about their first date. *wait is it their first date?* Zane first thought while walking along the sidewalk with Sofia, he can't let a girl run off free in the middle of the night.
So about that first thought, he remembered a specific memory where they were in a white room, meeting a female 15-meter-sized humanoid entity, maybe it's just another dream.
"I'll be right here, thank you for being with me today." Sofia gives his regards and thanks for ensuring her safety at night. Zane accepts her gratitude thus going home alone. While at Zane's house, there has been trouble in the backyard where the personal zoo was located. Zane quickly sees Alice weeping by the looks of things, one pet got lost and escape its habitat.
"It sure really is a rough start, Alice."
"I'm sowwyyy!!!" Alice wails in distress as Zane first tried to make Alice calm down for a moment, and begins to plan on a lookout by putting lost cat signs in the neighborhood. It has been 6 days since the caracal pet named Vanilla was missing. Alice really worked hard since the day she lost her. So it was Saturday, the weekends, which means it is today's date.
While Alice was asleep, Zane prepares casual clothes for the day and was done, but as soon as he notices, his clock was broken. He checked the phone's clock, and it was 15 minutes late already. He rushes from the stairs and immediately dashed through the front door and finally outside. He immediately used the bicycle but it had a flat tire so he left the bicycle outside in front of the gate.
*Curse it! I'm so late* He thought while running through the station. Almost at 1:30 pm, he has to give away a few minutes before he gets to Suica's Penguin Park. With little time he has, he sure does hope that she is still there.
While arriving at the landmark of a penguin statue near Suica's Penguin Park, she is nowhere to be seen. He texts Sofia where she has been as it was already 2 pm. He should've texted her earlier that he will be late but he was so dumb that he couldn't.
Walking aimlessly near the park was at first his composure to pass the time, and with the overtime he has, he finally sees Sofia.
"Can't you come a little bit earlier, you really are a hopeless case."
He hurriedly runs to her and tells, "I'm very sorry I got so late."
"Well in the meantime, I found your furry little friend." Sofia shows a paper of a lost caracal with a picture.
"It's Vanilla, so what about it?" As Zane wondered if that was the case, Sofia shows the furry friend at her side strangely behaved very well when Sofia took refuge in her.
"I see you found her, thank you very much. As for our date..."
"First, we have to get her back to your home first which will take time again."
"Forgive me." She slaps him with both of her hands at the same time on each left and right cheek of Zane.
"Enough excuse, we should go to the station to save some time." After all, that happened, they put Vanilla on a leash at a nearby pet shop and finally go back to Zane's home. They make sure that he goes somewhere so they put her in a new habitat and closed the hole that he got out of in the first place.
As for their date, it was surely ruined so Zane has to make up for it, feeling guilty he has to make sure that he does worth a while for her, "Don't worry about the reward, I'll immediately return the favor."
"How about we go to an ice cream diner? Your treat this time. C'mon now before it gets dark." It really took too long before we brought Vanilla back from his home. It's 4:34 pm already. Running with Sofia was a bit dreamy like it came from a fantasy romance.
While the sunset sinks at the horizon, night comes near and they stopped running and started walking on the sidewalk, talking about personal kinds of stuff like how they were in high school days and what they plan to do in the future.
Sofia has an issue with her family where her parents have high expectations of her career as a lawyer. But she just wants to chill and relax once in a while, that's how this date was going to cope with her stress. Eating ice cream with the love of her life, what more could she ask right?
As they entered the ice cream diner, it has a lot of dessert menus and a lot to eat. So Sofia ordered a banana split ice cream with Vanilla flavor on the top. While Zane ordered classic cookies and cream flavored ice cream medium sized portions.
They both enjoyed their time as the color of the lights was orange like from a bar, how calm and relaxing it was just by the atmosphere they bring to the customers. A clean establishment with the least customers at this hour, it was a perfect scenery for them to have a date.
Finally completely full from the food they ordered, they began strolling around the neighborhood to pass the time, and not long while they went to the station to say goodbyes.
"Let's go out sometimes. I mean it was only a few moments we have dated today but it was memorable." Suddenly, Sofia kisses Zane on the cheeks. "I love you, Zane." Zane was slightly flustered by the outcome of their date, it was ruined but somehow it turned out alright.
Going back to the house, he sees Alice at the gate waiting for him to come back. Looking a bit worried, Zane enters the gate and asks, "Why are you waiting outside, Alice?"
"Where were you all this time?"
"I'm with Sofia earlier, why you ask?" Alice immediately realized how the situation looks for her, she has a worried look but she just shrugs it off.
"So did you find Vanilla?"
"Yes, Sofia did, outside we brought her back here. So what dinner do you want?" Alice gives off a sigh.
"What's in store for us to eat? What do we have?"
"We can make curry, beef hot pot, ramen, fish cake, and dessert I got from the ice cream diner, the cheese flavor one."
"How about beef steak? I bought earlier some wine for just the two of us."
"Do you drink, Alice?"
"Not really, but I sure wanna try. We're already adults so."
"Alright then, I'll cook some beef steak right now." As the moonlight shines on the city, it was a beautiful scenery to gawk by. Eating their dinner like they were on a date outside, near the personal zoo in the spacious backyard.
"The moon is beautiful today."
"It sure is," Zane replies as he takes a bite of the beef steak.
"So how did the date go?" Alice asks about Zane's current situation from their date.
"It was a complete bust. I was late and got distracted by retrieving Vanilla back at home. But she did say it was memorable."
"I see, so you're gonna have a second date soon."
"Yes, if she agrees to a second date, might as well accept it since I ruined the first one. What's wrong Alice?"
"Nothing. I better double-check the pets if something goes wrong again."
"How about your dinner, don't you wanna finish it off?"
"No worries, I'm not hungry." Alice leaves the scene, making the food go cold and so Zane packs things up and saves them as leftovers in the fridge. While Zane stares at Alice from afar, organizing the pets stored in their habitat, it was a quick change. Before, Zane would give food so late at night due to his shift at work. But now there is a caregiver for the animals to take care of.
A photo was sent on the phone to Zane, as she sees it. It came from Kurt himself, a photo of a girl wearing a bunny outfit. Now that he takes a closer look, the girl kinda looks like Sofia. Now Zane remembers. He laughs at the memory remembered at that one time. He chats with Sofia about it and sends the picture as well.
"Who gave you that picture?!" Sofia chats back.
"An unknown source," Zane replies.