Sweet Torture

Image taken from driscolls.com

It all started with the Korean drama I watched last night. There was nothing special about that episode, except for when the heroine was shown eating a strawberry shortcake. That scene wasn't even an important part of the story, but the way the cake looked, how soft and fluffy, made me want it in front of me right that second.

The way the main character sliced it with her fork, the way it crumbled, the way the cream kind of overflowed a little bit... and the way she brought it into her mouth, how she first bit into it, when she tasted the sweetness... It was almost as if I was the one eating it.

Almost! As the wise and almighty Ariana Grande once said, "Almost is never enough." So I turned off the TV, walked into my room, laid on my bed, and told myself that I would buy it the next day.

Which is today, and so far I have eight hours of work to go through and absolutely zero strawberry shortcake in my hands. It's fine, it's fine. My colleagues and I usually order Go-Food to our office for lunch, so I wonder if I can get a strawberry shortcake this time. I scroll and I scroll, spending each minute of my break time dedicated to searching for the one thing that will satiate my craving right now.

"Git!" I hear someone call my name from behind me. I turn around and find my boss standing near my desk. "I need your help translating this part, can you do it now?"

"But I haven't had lunch," I say.

To which he answers, "Oh, it's okay. I've already bought lunch for everyone in the translators' room. Nasi goreng!"

Ugh, great. I smile, and proceed to follow him to the other room. It's okay. I'll get my strawberry shortcake after work is done.

Five hours later, I find myself in front of the cake shop near my office. I walk in giddily, feeling like I'll finally get what I've always wanted for the whole day. There is only one person queueing in front of the cashier. Nice, I don't have to wait too long!

The cashier receives the cash and gives a white box to the customer. "Here's your strawberry shortcake. Thank you for your patronage, please come again!" After the customer in front of me leaves, she looks at me and smiles. "Good evening, Miss. How can I help you?"

"I'd like one strawberry shortcake, please," I say, pretending to be calm and not let my excitement show. This is it! I'll finally get my cake!!!

"I'm so sorry Miss, that was the last strawberry shortcake we had," says the dream-crushing cashier. "May I offer you something else? A cheesecake, maybe?"

'No, you may not!' is what I'm thinking, but instead I just shake my head and get out of the shop. It's fine. It's probably not my day.

I mean, I know it's just a random craving for a cake, but somehow it's getting me so down. I need someone to cheer me up. So I take my phone and dial my best friend's number. As soon as I hear her say hello, I ask her, "Are you home? I need an immediate mood booster."

"Oh, you call at the right time! Yeah, come here, I'm home. My brother just came back from work."

"So?" I see no relevance in her brother being home with her ability to cheer me up. But her next words prove me wrong. Dead wrong.

"Yeah, he just randomly brought home some strawberry shortcake."

I hang up and order a Gojek ride straight away. Strawberry shortcake, here I come!