Chapter 57 - Spicy!

Raymond gulped once the plate is served on the table. They are now currently seating at the small-cabin like, right near the main road and it's full of people standing outside of the restaurant waiting for the available table inside.

Right in front of him right now is a plate, full portion of aromatic rice, small fry fish which he doesn't know the name is, two slices of raw cucumber, a few crunchy peanuts, a boiled egg and on top of the rice is a red, hot which he assumes is a spicy sauce..which is…he never eats it before.

He starts sweating just thinking how spicy that meal is from the look. He then turns to his sides, where the boy sits there and already digging his meal.

There's no sauce at all! He then looks at the small girl who sits right next to Luna and Brian. Same as the boy, their meals have no sauce at all. On top of that, their meals look much more delicious than his.

"Geez.." Alex murmurs and scoops out the sauce from Raymond's plate and put it on the other plate.

"If you don't eat sambal (1) 1 , why did you order it?" He then resuming to eat his meals.

"Huh?" Raymond dumbfounded by Alex's action. Not sure what is the meaning of 'sambal' he refers to.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You don't eat spicy, Mr. Ray?" Jamal immediately put down his fork and spoon.

"Ah..no..I'm not used to eat it," Raymond said with a little bit embarrassed. Well, looks like Brian eats spicy food and so with Luna.

They both eat their meals casually even though their ear and nose a bit red. Probably because of the spiciness. He squinted his eyes, a bit intrigued. 'How come that man is good at eating something like this?' He knows both of them are been born with a silver spoon in their mouth and Brian is the precious heir of Lawrance house. But, right now, he just looks like an ordinary people.

"Ah, do you want me to order you something that is not spicy?" Asked Jamal. He feels a bit guilty for not asking the man's preference first before he put an order before. That's because he thought all of them eat spicy food.

Shakes his head, Raymond picks up his fork and spoon. "No..I'll give it a try." He smiles a little to the man.

Alex at his side pours a glass of water, slowly puts it near to Raymond before he continues to eat again.

At the opposite of that little boy, Luna squinted her eyes a bit. Feeling a bit curious about why her boy seems so nice to that man? Does he know?

"Mama.." Alex takes a small portion of his chicken rendang to Luna's plate. "Here.. you like this, right?"

He smiles innocently. Looking so adorable that makes Luna remembering someone who had a similar smile years ago.

Chuckles, she said her thanks to her beloved son. "Then, here's to you." She put different dishes on Alex's plate.

First scoop and Raymond almost chocked because of the spiciness. He grabs a glass of water and drinks it in one chug.

Thud!

He put down the glass and pat on Alex's head. "Haa~.Thanks, kid." He knew it was Alex who put the glass near him and he was so grateful for that. That was so..spicy! Even though Alex already removes most of the sambal from his rice.

Alex shoves his hand from his head. "Don't touch me." He said and resuming to eat while glancing at Raymond's plate.

Raymond also looks at his plate, wondering whether he should continue to eat or not. His tongue still feels hot after one scoop and to see how Luna and Brian eat the meals so casually, he feels a bit irritated.

That makes Brian slightly smirked at the man who looked irked. "Why aren't you eating, Mr. Wayne?"

"Well.." Raymond scoff a bit. "I'm full." Obviously, it was just his excuse to not torture his tongue anymore.

'That's okay...I'll just carefully put my own order over the dinner later.'

"Is one scoop enough?" Brian still wants to annoy him by asking the question.

Raymond did not reply as he only smiles at him. Not wanting to continue the conversation that will lead them both arguing more.

Looking at the poor man, Luna wants to order something that less spicy and he able to eat his lunch, but under the table, Brian already holds her hand.

Signaling her not to do any reckless move. She had to admit, Brian does the right thing right now. He just wants to protect her identity. If she shows Raymond that she cares about him, she'll lose.

Alex slowly gets down from the chair and went to the counter, he took out a few cash and brings back two paper cups of ice cream. One is for him and one is for Lily.

When he put the cup in front of Lily, her eyes brighten and she smiles to her ears. "Oh…thank you." Lily thanked Alex.

Alex did not say anything as he then sits back on the chair. Slowly, he shoves the cup to Raymond. "It's good after eating something spicy." He said and propped his head with his right hand, looking at his mother, lovingly. That is actually to distract her mother from being suspicious.

All of them turned silent by his action. Luna looked at Alex with a surprising look. Her heart couldn't stop beating hard. 'Please, don't let him know his identity.'

"Alex, that's so nice of you." Brian took an action while putting a smile on his face. He really adores this kid. He has good sense. A very good boy.

"Aren't we supposed to do a good deed to everyone? Right, mama? The teacher always reminds us of that." Alex also put a gleefully smile on his face. He intentionally brings up his teacher's lesson in his word.

Well, that's because of Alex's still four years old. So, he needs to act like a spoiled kid. Only Lily knew what he capable of, and of course, he also held Lily's secret. They both are pretty similar.

"That's my boy." Brian gives him a fist bump.

Raymond at sides lift up his eyebrow a little bit. 'You must be mine, aren't you?' He smirks a bit before he scoops the ice cream from the paper cup. Enjoying a little treat that Alex gives him.

…

Thirty minutes later, they continue their journey. They take a countryside road rather than a highway which will take up more hours to reach the first destination.

All along the way, Jamal is the talkative one, chatting with Luna at the front seat while the others relaxing, enjoying the view at the back. It's quite nice to see the countryside view which is so different from their origin country.

Alex at his booster seat took out his iPad Air and search all about that man who is supposedly his biological father in the net. While he was searching, there are a few encrypted codes that cover his father's identity.

He then slowly turns his head around the back seat. "Lily.." He called her name.

Looked at the boy in front of her, she lifts up his eyebrow. "What?" She is currently watching his favorite cartoon on her new phone that's her daddy's bought but then disrupts by Alex's voice.

"Help me, will ya?" He handed her his iPad. Of course, he already turns off the screen before he handed the tablet to his sister. That's for ensuring that his Daddy didn't figure out what he was doing.

It is a traditional sauce that is using (a lot of) chili as the main ingredient, It can be found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand which is very common with these dishes. Some country makes it very hot and spicy, but at certain places it just mild.