The Road to 40 Day 99/365: Department Store Drinking

Drinking in a department store was never in my bingo card of things I could possibly do in my lifetime.

We slept late the night before because of the Grab debacle at the airport and Che going home late. Naturally, we were getting up late today.

On this day, we were going to meet college friends for lunch, celebrating August birthday celebrants. It was set at around 12pm at Opus Mall, so we had a bit of time.

Che bought some bread for a quick breakfast and off we went. Saturday morning traffic was just nice, it took about 30 minutes to get there.

Che and I met through our college political party. Being one year ahead, I was on the team recruiting them to join. Our seniors took care of us well, and we have become good friends with them.

We don’t get together as much owing to different lives led, but we always have fun when we do meet.

Lunch was at Famous Country Waffles, and the adults talked while the kids played.

There wasn’t a lot of people at Opus, and the place was kinda big, so Josec brought his Beyblade Arena for the kids to play. Later, the kids decided to run around and chase each other.

We had our fill, the food was great. I think I tried at least a bite of everything that was served. Later, Sof and I had tea – which was very uncharacteristic.

Back then, there was always alcohol in our hands when Sof and I would meet. At this age, though, tea is acceptable.

I had the impression that everyone had something after so they set the lunch at 12-2pm. Around 3pm, Josec and I teased that we should drink at Shakey’s. Apparently, everyone else was good to go find drinks.

We got a snap of the birthday celebrants and we set off.

Che was looking for a gift for the birthday celebrants and thought a good wine bottle would be a good idea. In this process, she found out that there is a bar inside Opus Mall’s department store, Spatio.

The kids settled for a bit of screen time, but they found a way to still run around the department store for a bit.

For us, we ordered a bottle of wine. We saw that they were selling raw Japanese sausages, but they said they could cook it for us as well. It was a hit for the kids.

I saw that they had whiskeys, and I asked for a bottle. The price was closer to a supermarket than an actual bar, so I thought it was good. However, our wives would be angry if they knew that I bought a bottle. I told the bartender to just serve us refills from time to time.

By the end of it, Josec, Kuya Ags, and I almost finished the bottle. The wives were wondering why we kept on asking for refills like it’s free, and since the bottle was almost finished, I had to reveal to them the arrangement we had with the bartenders.

Upon learning the price, they agreed that it wasn’t that bad and it was good value for money.

We finished at around 8pm, and Josec was still game to drink more. We invited them over to our room in BGC. Kuya Jeff had dinner with family, as did Sof. Perk, Ate Joy (I think), and the Agodons had dinner at Opus.

Before we went our own ways, I learned that Teytey liked Lilo & Stitch 2. My lightbulb just glowed because I had a Stitch toy from the plane in my bag.

Tey has been messing with me since we played in Ali’s birthday around two years ago. At this point, I feel like she’s embracing this character already, and I’m just happy to be part of this long game she’s playing.

She normally doesn’t take anything from me, but I guess she really liked Stitch and she couldn’t hide her smile when I gave it to her. I even got a “thank you” but couldn’t get a fist bump.

We met up with Josec at the hotel lobby. We originally planned to eat out, but there were a lot of people, so we decided to just go up the room.

At some point, Che and Cla’s social batteries were off and they needed their rest. Josec and I finished our glasses before calling it a night.

It was a unique experience for the day, and I’m glad we got to experience it with the right people.

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