Molly wasn't happy about Eric's reaction, and said,"It's more than enough. We can surely have a simple
but nice night snack with it. I know you're rich and I don't blame you if you don't know how to have a
nice meal with a few hundreds. You don't know how to enjoy life."
Eric was speechless by what Molly had said. But that was not true, he surely knew how to enjoy life.
"You mean someone like you would know?" Eric taunted Molly. He understood that Molly wouldn't want
to share what she's been going through at this moment, so he decided to just go along with her.
"Yes, of course!" Molly said without any hesitation, and continued,"Let me, the senior gourmet, show
you where to find the most delicious snacks in the city! Let's go!"
Eric was amused by Molly's enthusiasm. Raising his hand, he tapped Molly's forehead with his
forefinger and said,"You? A senior gourmet? People who don't know you definitely would think that you
are underaged. You're always acting like a child."
"Hey! Stop saying that I'm a child. We are of the same age," Molly glanced at Eric and said. "So? Do
you want to grab something to eat?"
"Yes, of course. Let's go," Eric spoke while he started the car. "Spending Brian's money, eating with
Brian's woman... It feels great!"
Molly held the bills tighter as she heard what Eric had said. She felt a little awkward when Eric put it
that way. Eric was aware of her reaction and turned to her in an attempt to change the subject. But
before he could say anything else, Molly had already put on a smile on her face, pursed her lips and
said,"I think that's great too!"
Looking at the awkward smile on Molly's face, Eric paused for a second and asked,"Where should we
go?"
"South Street Alley, please." answered Molly at once.
"The slum?" Eric asked with widened eyes.
"No, it's just an ordinary alley," Molly said, with a little discontent in her voice.
"So, we are going to a slum," Eric said firmly, arching an eyebrow.
"What's wrong with eating there? You're being a jerk," said Molly whose teeth clenched in rage.
Eric smirked at her angry look. He felt satisfied that Molly had stopped pretending she was happy.
"Okay, take me to the delicious food you're talking about. What are we going to eat?"
"There's too many to choose from. It would blow your mind. Let's go!" Molly said excitedly. It seemed
that arguing with Eric had somehow helped her put all her problems and unpleasant memories behind
her for the moment.
A shining red, limited edition sports car pulled over at the corner of South Street Alley. A charming man
with a light smile on his face got out of the car and attracted the attention of many people.
Frowning, Molly mumbled,"I was wrong. This was not a good decision." She was still wearing Brian's
suit and the obvious gaze from other people made her feel awkward and uncomfortable.
"Huh? What are you mumbling?" Since the alley was crowded and noisy, Eric wasn't able to hear what
Molly had said.
"Nothing," said Molly, pursing her lips. Then she waved the money in her hand and continued,"Let's go!
It's my treat. Feel free to try anything here."
"You're very generous," said Eric.
"Of course," replied Molly while managing to put on a light smile. "It feels really great to spend other
people's money."
Right after she finished speaking, Molly sauntered down the alley to find anything that interested her.
As she walked along, she started to feel so excited to be surrounded by the things she was familiar
with.
Eric followed her closely behind while listening to her carefully. Molly kept on recommending the
delicious food that he should try, and continued to explain the reasons why he should. Too excited with
everything she saw, Molly didn't even notice that the way Eric looked at her had changed.
After a while, Molly bought two strings of fish balls and put one into Eric's hand. He stared at the fish
balls in his hand and then looked at Molly who was eating them greedily. "These are just fish balls. You
told me that we were going to have something tasty," Eric wondered.
"They are tasty. Have a bite," said Molly, and then she was back to munching on the fish balls. Looking
straight at Eric's eyes sincerely, she added,"I mean it. They're really good. So good."
Maybe it was because of Molly's exaggerated comments and expressions that Eric decided to have a
bite. He put one fish ball in his mouth in disbelief and chewed carefully. Surprisingly, it was tasty with
tender texture, and great elasticity. It tasted good, but he wouldn't say that it was delicious. Just then,
Eric recalled something said by his Aunt Shirley. She once said that the taste of the food would be
affected by your mood and the people you were eating with.
Maybe he was influenced by Molly's enthusiasm and satisfied look that he started thinking that it tasted
really good.
"Am I right?" asked Molly, like a child who wanted to get a compliment after doing something right.
"It's okay," said Eric awkwardly.
Rolling her eyes, Molly said with a snort,"The look on your face is telling a different story." All of a
sudden, Molly shouted "Ah!" as somebody had hit her butt from behind.
It was followed shortly by somebody grabbing the money she held in her hand. Before she even
realized what was happening, the man who had stolen her money had already run off into the crowd.
"Hey! That's my money!" shouted Molly while jumping up to catch a glimpse of the thief.
Eric frowned and handed the fish balls to Molly and said,"Just wait here!" Before Molly could even
answer him, he had already run off to the crowd to chase the thief.
"Be careful!" shouted Molly from behind.
Her voice was drowned in the noise. People around her looked at her sympathetically, but since
incidents like this happened a lot in this area, they had become desensitized to it.
"Oh, look! I can't believe it! It's Park Shin Chun!"
A girl shouted in the crowd suddenly, and the mob started rushing in to have a look.
Molly had been worried about Eric. She was still in a daze when people started to push her forward.
Even though she tried hard to get out of the crowd, her attempts failed as the people around her kept
pushing her forward.
"Park Shin Chun... Ah! He is over there!"
Screams were all over the place, creating a loud mixed-up noise.
Someone had knocked off the fish balls from her hand, and her mobile phone in her pocket had fallen
to the ground without her noticing. She tried to go opposite the direction of the crowd to get out, but no
matter how hard she tried, she wasn't strong enough to counter it.
"Excuse me, please. Could you step aside a little? Please let me get through..." Molly said anxiously as
more and more people merged into the crowd. There wasn't even room for her to turn around. "Please,
let me get through!" she shouted helplessly.
"Hey! Get out of my way. I want to see Park Shin Chun in person,"
Shouted a girl pushing against Molly. Since she was going in the opposite direction, people around her
kept staring at her angrily. It was impossible for her to take a step farther as the crowd kept pushing her
forward.
"Ah!" shouted Molly. Someone had accidentally stepped so hard on her foot that her eyebrows wrinkled
deeply out of pain.
Molly was angry but helpless. She finally gave up and moved along with the crowd. Since the crowd
were walking forward slowly, Molly decided to walked her way through to the edge of the crowd to get
out.
All of a sudden, someone in the crowd let out a cry. Someone accidentally knocked a big stockpot of
hot soup from a food stall. Molly, who was nearest to the stall, seemed to be the most unfortunate of
the situation as the soup was about to pour in her direction.
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