Becca sniffs, wipes her nose with the tissue she's holding and bends down to pick up the newspaper. She straightens up and is shocked to see Freen standing there, staring at her. She quickly uses the newspaper to hide her face.
That makes Freen smile. "Are you okay? You look sick."
"Am bine."
"What?"
A long sniff. "I'm phine."
"You can't be fine. You can't even say the word 'fine'." She strangely finds this sick version of Becca very amusing. For once, Becca looks human. Approachable. Cute even.
Becca's too embarrassed to reply. She sniffs again.
"Do you have cold medicine?" Freen asks.
"Yes."
"Do you have anything to eat?"
"I dink so."
She chuckles. "You dink so, huh?"
Becca doesn't like being laughed at. She frowns. She takes the newspaper down and glares at Freen in spite of her appearance.
"What do you have to eat then?" Freen is undeterred by the glare.
"I dink... sniff... I habe cereal. What's it to you?"
"Well go eat your cereal then take the medicine." Freen looks at her watch. "I'm running late. Are you allergic to anything?"
"W-what?"
"Food allergies or major dislikes. Have any?"
Becca looks at Freen as if she was from outer space. "No."
"Major likes?"
She tries to take a deep breath through her stuffed nose. "Why are you so nosy today?"
It came out less eloquent than that but Freen understood every word. "Answer. Now. I'm late." She points at her watch.
"Unagi."
"Okay then." Freen starts to walk away. "Go inside. It's cold. Eat, meds, sleep."
"What the..." She has no chance to express her confusion or displeasure because Freen has stepped inside the elevator. She frowns as she slowly turns around and goes back inside.
Becca follows Freen's advice. She eats a little, takes cold medicine and lies down on the couch watching TV while drifting in and out of sleep.
The sound of the doorbell wakes her up with a start. She groans – hoping that whoever it is would just leave her alone.
It keeps ringing and she finally kicks the blanket aside before sitting up with one loud groan. She searches for her slippers and grabs a bunch of tissues on her way to the door. She blows her nose.
She opens the door and peeks through the crack. She pulls it when she sees Freen.
"Lunch." Freen shows Becca the plastic bag in her hand. "You need warm food so I got you stew in addition to the unagi. Don't eat them at the same time. Might taste weird."
Becca stares at the white plastic then at Freen.
"Go on. Take it." She gestures the bag forward. "It's going to get cold."
Becca hesitantly takes the plastic bag.
"Get well soon." Freen turns around, unlocks her apartment door and goes inside without another look at the baffled Becca.
—-
She stretches, turns off the music and goes to get the door. "Coming!"
Freen opens the door to see Becca smiling at her. She raises her eyebrows. "Why are you here?"
Chapter I
Start from the beginning
