Island Dream

Chapter Three: Awkward Conversations

Chapter Three: Awkward Conversations

Lê was woken by some racket in the kitchen. Lê opened her eyes to see Lomri making breakfast.

"Good morning," she said.

"Morning. Want an omelette for breakfast?" Lomri asked, "I can make yours quickly."

"Uh sure, what is in it?" Lê asked.

"Green and red chili peppers with onion and coriander," Lomri answered.

"That sounds tasty," Lê said.

"It is," Lomri confirmed. He'd just finished cooking his omelette and set it aside on a plate. Before getting another egg, he quickly turned to Lê with a big smile, "Hey! Wanna see something cool?"

"Really? What is it?" Lê asked eagerly.

Lomri's sincere smile turned into a smug grin, "Wake up earlier, and I'll consider showing you." He turned back to the stove, cracked the egg into the pan, and started working on the other omelette.

"You could have waken me up earlier," Lê said.

"You looked so content sleeping, I couldn't bring myself to wake you," Lomri responded, "Maybe I'll have the heart to wake you tomorrow."

"I doubt you will," Lê said.

"You take me as such a cruel person!" Lomri said in mock offence.

"No. I just think there was nothing cool in the first place," Lê said.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! You are correct!" Lomri said, "Here, have an omelette as your prize for being correct!" He used his spatula to flip the fresh omelette onto a plate, and he handed it to her.

"Thank you," Lê accepted the plate with a grateful smile.

"Oh, by the way, I'm going to work today," Lomri said.

"Yeah, and?" Lê asked.

"I'll let you be in charge of the house key for today, so you can freely go in and out of the house. If you need me, I work at the Nuisan Bakery. Since you're sort of my maid, could you clean out the bathroom, if you don't mind? Also, there's a list of things I need you to buy. They all should be at the market square. I left enough money to buy all the stuff, if there's leftover give it back to me. If you want to buy stuff not on the list, then you can use your own money," Lomri said and added, "I'll be back by 1:30 and then leave again at 3. Then I'll finally be back at 9, does that all sound good?"

Lê nodded, "Yes. Do I need to prepare lunch and dinner?"

"You don't need to prepare lunch, I'll have already ate it. Dinner prepared by you sounds good though," Lomri said. He stood up and tossed the house key to her. Not in a rude manner, but the kind that was nonchalant.

"See you!" Lê said as Lomri left.

The bathroom wasn't very dirty, so it did not take a long time for her to clean it up. The items on Lomri's shopping list were: five persimmons, one mango, one cantaloupe, and two limes. Her roommate had left just the right amount of money. Lê was glad for this. She hadn't always been too sure of her moral compass, so she wouldn't have known whether to keep the change if there had been any left. She did not feel like having a moral crisis that day.

For lunch, she went to the City Bay Café, and thankfully, she got there just before it got extremely busy. It was still somewhat busy. There were only a few tables available, and all of them seated four or more people. So, Lê was forced to be the jerk who sat at a four person table despite only being one person.

She was in the middle of eating a very good sandwich when somebody asked, "Hey there, there's no other seats available. Can we sit here?"

Lê looked up from her very good sandwich to see who was talking to her. She identified the speaker as a short South East Asian woman, and her companion was a taller East Asian man with shoulder length hair held in a loose ponytail.