Turtle's Paradise opens exactly at 5pm, from Monday to Saturday.

In appearance, it's hardly different from the rows of other takeaways in the Wutaian enclave of Sector 6. It has all the takeaway décor must-haves.

Shoji doors. White and red paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A long bar counter with seats confining the food preparation area. Two four-seat tables, and three two-seat tables.

The only distinctive part about its design is the huge turtle logo on their signboard.

But people don't just come to places where they can eat for the décor. If the menu's dull and the food taste like shit, what's the whole point?

This is where Turtle's Paradise distinguishes itself the most.

Midgar locals flood this takeaway for its finger-licking food.

The takeaway takes the business of serving good quality food seriously. It's not dubbed as the 'takeaway heaven' for nothing.

Their page on Yip Yap is full of comments raving about how beautifully cut their meats are, how adequately seasoned their garnishes are, how their nicely steamed veggies make eating veggies bearable and blah blah blah, the list goes on and on.

Some reviews might possibly be fabricated to push the stars on their page higher, who knows.

But one thing's for sure: you have a greater chance of winning the lottery than getting a seat at Turtle's Paradise past 5.30pm.

Tifa's brown leather wristwatch shows the time to be 5:45pm.

30 minutes late to meet Aerith. 15 minutes late to secure two spots for them both.

She's sprinting through the streets just to get to the place and hasn't had the time to check on her phone to see if there's any text from Aerith.

When she arrives at the entrance doors of Turtle's Paradise, Yuffie, the young waitress who's been working there since forever, shakes her head.

"Sorry, Tifa. The place's full."

"What are you talking about, Yuf? Let her in!"

Yuffie spins around to look at the takeaway's sole proprietor, who's now taking a peek at the doorway from the food preparation area.

"Can't, Madam M. There are no more seats."

Madam M flings her arms into the air – just another one of her usual dramatic flairs.

"It doesn't matter! Let her queue. There will be an empty seat once someone leaves."

Yuffie clicks her tongue. "I'm not paid enough for this."

She looks back at Tifa and shrugs. "You heard her. You'll need to queue."

"Not necessary. Someone's probably already waiting for me inside."

Tifa isn't sure that Aerith's there.

In the best case scenario, she might be.

In the worst case scenario, the other woman's sick of waiting and has bailed out on her.

Tifa tries her luck anyway.

Yuffie smiles flatly, like she doesn't believe her. "Yeah, okay Tifa. Nice try."

"I'm serious! Maybe a woman with long wavy hair…?"

Yuffie frowns for a while, before her eyebrows shoot up when something seems to click in her head. "Oh, the woman with green eyes, is it?"

She nods.

Yuffie sighs. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? She definitely has one seat reserved for someone else."

Yuffie lets her in and points with her chin to the table where Aerith sits.

She reaches the table, and Aerith looks up to her with a smile. One of her hands is raised and holding a jug of beer. "Sorry, I've started without you."

"That's alright," Tifa says, taking off her coat and draping it around the rails of her chair.

Yuffie comes to their table, bringing two leaflets of the menu.

Tifa waves it away. She doesn't need one to know what the takeaway's serving. The menu list is latched onto her brain, courtesy of her frequent visits.

She eyes Aerith who does the same.

"So! What are you ladies having for this evening?"

Tifa orders her usual, "One rice bowl, and a beer for me."

"Fermented soybeans with rice for me," Aerith says, winking at Tifa to say yes, I remember what we're coming here for.

Yuffie's sceptical. "You sure? I won't kick it down for its taste but it's got a funny smell."

"One hundred percent sure."

Yuffie shrugs and leaves without saying anything more.

"Sorry, I was held up by some plates. The client needed them done by tomorrow," Tifa finds herself explaining.

"S'okay. You're here. That's all that matters."

Yuffie returns, giving Tifa her beer. She murmurs her thanks.

"How are things at your end?" she asks, fixing her eyes at Aerith as she takes a sip.

"Better than I expected! More people are signing up for our art classes now, all thanks to the exhibition."

"You still owe me a painting," she teases, thinking about their last conversation with Sephiroth at the gallery.

Aerith laughs inwardly. "Don't worry. I have something in the works already."

Tifa takes another sip, hiding her silly smile away behind the rim of her jug.

Yuffie returns again, this time with a tray of their orders. "Alright, ladies. Here's your rice bowl, and fermented soy beans with rice."

Aerith starts fiddling the hill of soybeans with her chopsticks. She grimaces when one rolls down, leaving a trail of stickiness.

"It's so… slimy."

She ducks her head down to sniff. The dents on her forehead deepen. "And it really stinks."

Tifa can't hide her smile. "Stop complaining!" she playfully scolds. "Eat. You'll love it."

Aerith rolls her eyes. "Okay whatever, your highness."

She scoops a morsel and crams it quickly into her mouth.

Tifa watches with anticipation as she chews.

Her face relaxes after some time. "Not bad… The taste's pretty mild. Not sure if I would order it again though."

"See? It isn't as bad as you expected."

Aerith narrows her eyes at Tifa. "Why didn't you order the same thing? Isn't this your usual go-to order here?"

"My usual breakfast," Tifa corrects her. "I eat them only for breakfast."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aerith whines. "We could have gone some other day for breakfast!"

She eyes Tifa's rice bowl – full of rice, served with a sunny side-up fried egg, cuts of marinated beef, mixed range of seasoned sautéed veggies – all topped with a spicy miso sauce.

She pouts. "This is unfair. You get to eat that whole load of bowl while I have to make do with this."

"We can share, if you don't mind."

Aerith's smiling from one ear to another. "Really?"

"Of course," Tifa nods, transferring two cuts of meat to Aerith's bowl. "You can have more if you want."

"Oh, I will!"

For the next several minutes, they're just gobbling down their food in silence, more focused on filling in their hungry bellies.

Aerith helps herself to the ingredients in Tifa's bowl generously, but she doesn't complain.

It's been a while since she's shared food with anyone else and it feels good to do it again.

"Why are you putting those mushrooms aside?"

It's a sudden question from Aerith but it catches her off-guard.

She looks at the group of mushrooms she's bundled on one side of her bowl. It makes her remember about things that she would rather not be reminded of.

"I just don't like them," is what she settles with.

"Why?" Aerith probes again. "They're good," she adds, hauling all the mushrooms into her bowl.

She keeps her quiet, hoping that Aerith would let it go.

But of course, Aerith doesn't.

"I feel like you're… keeping something from me."

"I don't think you'll like my story."

The excuse is more to save her ass than to cater to what Aerith likes or doesn't like.

She's not sure if she's ready to talk. She's never talked about it with anyone else, not even Cloud.

"Try me," Aerith insists.

Aerith's gaze makes her feel like she's being surgically torn open to reveal her guts by force.

Tifa looks down on her bowl. "My dad used to make me pick mushrooms in the woods during our summer getaways… so he could fuck his mistresses in our cabin."

An uncomfortable silence briefly passes between them.

"That's… kind of fucked up," Aerith says, putting another morsel of rice and mushrooms into her mouth.

Tifa resumes eating but she can no longer taste the food on her tongue.

She's swallowing food… and the urge to cry her heavy chest out.

"Hey, since you're a regular here… have you tried everything on their menu?"

Another sudden question from Aerith, clearly an attempt to move their conversation away from the previously depressing subject.

Tifa tries to maintain her cool. "Not all but I would love to."

Aerith's phone buzzes. She checks but doesn't answer. The buzzing stops.

"What should we try the next time we come here?"

Tifa thinks of the strangest food that Turtle Paradise has on their menu list. "Maybe… their signature dish?"

Aerith's phone buzzes again. She ignores it. "And that is?"

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"No, it's fine," she counters, smiling.

She's smiling but her eyes tell otherwise.

Tifa pretends like she doesn't notice.

"Their main dish is turtle soup."

"Oh boy… I don't like the sound of that already…"

Her phone's buzzing again.

"They said it's good."

"They said the same thing about these fermented soybeans…"

"Hey, you don't know 'til you have a taste."

Aerith's phone hasn't stopped buzzing and it finally strikes a nerve on her.

She turns it completely off, before shoving it aggressively into her bag.

Then she's back to talking to Tifa, smiling like nothing happened. "Fair enough. Let's try the turtle soup next time."

Tifa has a hunch about who's calling but she's just going to keep her mouth zipped.

It's enjoy now, worry later.