The first course arrived, and Hugo, determined to keep his cool, reached for what he thought was his spoon. Instead, he grabbed Lily's hand.
"Uh, Hugo… that's my hand," Lily said, stifling a laugh.
"Oh! Sorry, just making sure you're still there," Hugo joked, trying to save face as he fumbled for his actual spoon.
Finally, he found it and managed to scoop up some soup. Feeling proud of himself, he confidently brought the spoon to his mouth—or at least, he thought he did.
Instead, he poured the entire spoonful of hot soup down the front of his dope jacket.
His only dope jacket!
"Ah! Hot, hot, hot!" Hugo yelped, frantically wiping at the mess, which only made it worse. The blindfold wasn't doing him any favours, and the more he wiped, the more the soup seemed to spread across his jacket.
Lily, trying to hold back her laughter, asked, "Are you okay? Do you need help?"
"No, no, I've got this!" Hugo insisted, though the situation was quickly spiralling out of control.
He decided to try his luck with the next dish. He felt around before picking up a plate that contained what felt like soggy tissues...
'This must be salad', he thought, after taking a whiff of one of the tissues.
He figured there was no way he could mess this one up. All he had to do was spear some lettuce and maybe a crouton—simple enough, right?
Unfortunately, things were never that simple for Hugo.
As he carefully navigated his fork toward the salad, he accidentally knocked over the small dish of dressing, sending it cascading across the table. The oily vinaigrette quickly pooled around the base of the candle, causing the flame to flicker ominously.
"Uh, did something just spill?" Lily asked, her tone a mix of concern and amusement.
"Nothing to worry about!" Hugo lied, desperately trying to mop up the mess with his napkin. But in his blind panic, he somehow managed to dip the corner of the napkin into the flame, setting it alight.
"Holy—!" Hugo yelped, quickly tossing the flaming napkin onto his plate, where it sizzled for a moment before fizzling out.
The smell of singed fabric filled the air, mingling with the scent of vinaigrette.
"What was that noise?" Lily asked, now genuinely concerned. She had been comfortably eating the food like she had a third eye or something.
It appeared being blindfolded had no effect on her.
"Just, uh, adding a bit of flair to the evening," Hugo replied weakly, praying she couldn't smell the burnt napkin.
He hadn't eaten a single bite of food! He wanted to cry!
After realizing that eating salad would be too difficult for his current dexterity stats, he decided to go for the easiest option: a basket of what seemed like warm rolls—a surefire win.
But when Hugo reached for one, he misjudged the distance and knocked the entire basket over. The rolls tumbled across the table and onto the floor, bouncing off his shoes and rolling out of reach.
"Oops! My bad," Hugo muttered, reaching down to retrieve the runaway rolls. He tried to feel around him like a blind monk, but in doing so, he forgot to mind his drink, which he had placed precariously close to the edge of the table.
The glass tipped over, sending a wave of iced tea cascading into his lap.
Hugo gasped as the cold liquid soaked through his trousers, causing him to jump up from his chair in shock. In his haste, he knocked the chair over, which clattered loudly to the floor.
Lily, still blindfolded and now completely bewildered by the commotion, asked, "Hugo, what's going on? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a minor ice bath," Hugo said through gritted teeth, shivering slightly as he tried to steady himself.
He was soaked cold... 'HE' was soaked cold!
Lily decided to take matters into her own hands. "How about we feed each other? That might be easier."
Hugo, grateful for the suggestion, agreed. "Good idea, Lily!"
He was joyous. 'This is a good sign! She's definitely in love with me!'
He reached across the table with a forkful of something—he wasn't quite sure what—and aimed for where he thought Lily's mouth was. Unfortunately, he missed by a mile and ended up sticking the fork into her hair instead.
"Oops, I think I got your hair…" Hugo winced as Lily burst into laughter.
"Well, I hope it's something tasty!" she teased, pulling the food out of her hair.
Now it was Lily's turn to feed Hugo. She carefully scooped up some dessert and reached across the table. Hugo, eager to taste it, leaned in too quickly. The dessert collided with his nose, smearing whipped cream all over his face.
"Did I get it in your mouth?" Lily asked, trying not to laugh too hard.
"Not exactly," Hugo mumbled, wiping cream off his nose, now looking like a blindfolded clown.
The rest of the meal was a series of similar disasters—spilled drinks, food everywhere but their mouths, and more than a few near-misses with their utensils.
By the time they finished, the table looked like a war zone, and Hugo's dope jacket was ruined beyond repair.
Finally, the waiter came to remove their blindfolds.
Hugo blinked as the light returned, revealing the carnage that was their dinner table. He looked down at his jacket, now a tie-dye of various sauces, and then over at Lily, who was smiling gleefully, her hair still slightly sticky from the earlier pasta incident.
"I, uh, guess I'm not the smoothest guy around," Hugo admitted, scratching his head and grinning sheepishly.
Lily laughed, "No, but this was definitely the most fun date I've ever had!"
Clack Clack Clack!
Suddenly, Hugo felt his hair stand on end. His body shivered and he felt the urge to run overtake him.
He could feel it with his soul...
'Financial Murder!'
His head whipped to the side to see a waiter walking towards him with a smile on her face. Her small hands were clutching the evil weapon that she would no doubt be using to take the life of Hugo's meagre wealth.
Hugo gulped. He stared at Lily beside him and felt the urge to run.
'It would be fine if I disappeared right? Lily should be able to pay right? Where's the toilet?!'
Alas, the waiter had been too fast. Before Hugo could carry out a second prison break right at Shrouded Delights, the waiter had arrived by using a forbidden movement technique.
"Your bill, sir."
Hugo's face turned black. He could already see a frightening number of zeros on the small piece of paper from a distance.
He didn't want to touch that cursed material!
He screamed internally, "Somebody help me!"