As she sat there and drank her tea after the meal she watched as her boyfriend sitting across from her tried to scrape the last of the rice from the side of the bowl. He had been quiet all day. They went to the city to get away from their grandparents in the country for the day. They took the train in the morning and it was only now early evening.
The city was crowded. Apparently there was a festival of lights that evening. This was a tradition across the country that once the darkness came over all the land all the people would light candles. Many people gathered in the cities for a greater effect. Many of the old timers in the country still practiced this. It was only the young people in the city that embraced this, and the only reason they did was more as a social gathering than a tribute to the tradition.
The waitress came by the table and asked if there was anything else they needed. She shook her head and the waitress left the check on the table. He slid it to his end, and she reprimanded him saying, "You always do that. Why don't you ever let me at least pay my part?" He didn't say anything, but just sat there and sipped on his tea. He set the cup down and pulled some money out of his pocket and counted it. He set the money on the table and when the waitress walked by he picked up the check with the money on it and handed it to her. He whispered to the waitress to keep the change.
He stood up and looked at her. "Come on, let's go." He sounded so heartless saying that, but she knew that he still loved her though. She couldn't understand why he was so stubborn sometimes. It really wore her out trying to get through to him, but she also understood that he had the old world sensibility and old fashioned manners that she admired.
"Well I don't have anywhere else I want to go and I'm perfectly happy just spending time the two of us together. If you'd like we could try to find a cafe by the river to wait for the fesitval of lights to begin." She thought that was a very romantic idea and said, "That would be lovely." They walked down the street and she reached out to find his hand. Once she brushed up against it she slid her hand right into his and they walked. When she looked over to him she saw he began to smile. Moments like this warmed her heart and she could see how much he really cared.
She pointed, "Oh look honey, there's a great little place over there with umbrella'd tables." They turned and walked towards it. The sun had already began to set and the cafe was relatively empty. They stepped through the door and waited. When the hostess finally came they asked if they would be able to take a seat out on the river patio. The hostess replied, "you can sit wherever you like, we're not expecting a crowd tonight." They walked through and came to the steps to go down to the patio. They went straight to a table at the edge near the railing. It was a small round table with an umbrella pole in the middle and a candle on each side. The hostess followed them and after they seated placed two menus in front of them and informed them a waitress would be with them shortly.