‘Kind of …’ He spotted a sleeping man in an empty rickshaw across the road. ‘Hey!’ Jacob ran over and woke him from his slumber. ‘You free, buddy?’
‘Well, Iwassleeping, but I guess now you’ve woken me up, I’m free. Where are you going?’
‘The Evergreen Hotel and then on to the Red Town hostel.’
‘I’ll do Red Town hostel first as it’s closest, and then Evergreen.’
Jacob could feel Olivia’s eyes boring into him from across the street. He lowered his voice, making sure it couldn’t be carried on the breeze.
‘No. Can you do Evergreen first? I want to drop off my friend before me.’
‘It will cost you double.’
‘Double!’ he cried, at which point he heard Olivia’s footsteps racing up behind him.
‘Is everything OK?’
‘Yes, it’s fine, I’m just trying to negotiate.’
‘Negotiate?’ The driver snorted, still horizontal in his seat. ‘He’s trying to get me to go out of my way and not pay for the inconvenience.’
‘Jacob, if your hotel is near by, I’ll go by myself.’
He went to protest, but she cut him off. ‘Honestly. It’s fine.’
‘Are you sure?’
But before he’d even finished the sentence, Olivia had climbed inside the back of the rickshaw.
‘I’m sure. I let you pay for dinner; I’m not letting you do this too. I can look after myself you know.’
And we don’t have time to look after anyone else…
The thought tugged on his conscience.
‘All right, fine.’
‘Good.’ She adjusted herself in her seat. ‘Just one stop – to the Evergreen Hotel, please.’
‘At last, someone talking sense.’ The driver kicked the tuk-tuk into life, arranging himself into a slightly more upright position.
‘Well, Miss Olivia, thank you for a wonderful evening.’
‘Thankyouagain for dinner.’
‘My pleasure.’ The tuk-tuk was about to pull away when Jacob was struck with a thought. ‘Wait!’
‘What now?’ the driver grunted.
Jacob crouched down so that he was at eye level with Olivia. ‘You don’t happen to have a pen on you, do you?’
‘I think so.’ She looked at him in confusion. ‘Why?’
‘Can I borrow it?’
‘Are we going or not?’ the grumpy driver shot back. ‘You woke me up and now you don’t want to go?’
‘Hold on, buddy, two seconds.’ Jacob held his hand out. ‘Pen?’
