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.

"Oh! Of course!" Lê said, and gestured for them to sit down.

They bowed their heads slightly, said thank you and sat down on the other side of the table.

After Lê finished her very good sandwich, another voice asked, "There's nowhere else to sit, can I sit here?"

Lê was pretty sure she recognised this voice; she looked up and recognised the person behind the voice. It was Yukiko from yesterday.

Yukiko also recognised Lê and said, "Oh, hey there! So, can I sit down here? Or...?"

Lê nodded, "Sure! Are you two okay with that?"

The pair was okay with it, and Yukiko sat down next to Lê. It was fairly awkward to be sitting at this table. The pair kept to themselves, and Lê didn't know too much about Yukiko to make conversation.

Then the miraculous happened. All four of them were enraptured in a conversation with each other. It had started when the pair was talking about the morals of a book character. Lê had read that book and decided to take a jump into the conversation. The pair just looked at her at first, but the woman broke the silence and started to debate Lê on her opinion.

Yukiko had not read the book, but she liked to assert her opinion so she joined in the debate. The debate had two people on each side. Yukiko and the woman, Lily, were on one side, and Lê and the man, Junli, were on the other.

Later, when they started to leave, the four of them decided to exchange phone numbers so they could meet up at the café again. Perhaps have another interesting conversation.

Lomri was waiting outside the door when Lê got back to the house. He said, "It's 1:43."

"It is," Lê agreed.

"You're thirteen minutes late," Lomri pointed out as Lê unlocked the door.

"Mhm, yes I am. I hope thirteen minutes did not kill your feet," Lê said.

"Geez Cynthia, do you have to be late all the time?" Lomri said in an exasperated tone.

"You should learn to be less early." Lê opened the door. She added, "I still do not know what is with you calling me Cynthia though."

Lomri stared at her for a moment, then he blinked slowly and looked away. "So, how was having control of the keys today?"

Lê raised an eyebrow but responded as if nothing weird was said, "Not particularly exciting. I did everything you asked me to."

"I see," Lomri said and went inside the house, "So, what do you plan on making for dinner?"

"Hmm, probably pâté chaud," Lê said. She followed him inside and closed the door behind her.

"Huh? What's that?" Lomri asked, and he sat at his desk.

"It is a meat pastry with pâté, and another type of meat," Lê said, "How does that sound? We do not have to have pâté in it if you do not want it."

"Yeah, I don't really like pâté, so I'll pass," Lomri said.

"Perfect. I am not very good at making pâté, so it works out," Lê said and asked, "Do you mind if I look through your kitchen and pantry for ingredients?"

"Not at all," Lomri said.

So, Lê started looking for ingredients. "Is it okay if I use this ground pork?"

"Yeah!"

"How about this shallot?"

"Yep!"

"I can use the eggs too, right?"

"Yes."

"And the onions?"

"How about let's say that you have full access to the kitchen now, okay?"

"Okay. That means I have almost everything!" Lê said, "I will just buy the puff pastry sheets at the store."

"Sounds great," Lomri said.

"So... what kind of things do you like to eat?" Lê asked.

"Anything. I'm not a picky eater," Lomri said.

"I see," Lê nodded her head slowly, "but is there anything you particularly like?"

"Hm. Well, I do like salted eggs," Lomri said. "Tell me what kind of food you like."

"I like rice porridge. It is... comforting," Lê said.

"I see," Lomri said.

Lê wasn't sure how to respond after that, so there was a silence for a minute or so. She sat down where her bedding was.

Then Lomri asked, "What brings you here to Cartlet?"

"Um, I came here to go to this one culinary school. I heard it was really good," she said, "but by the time I was already here, I realised that my calculations were wrong. I didn't have enough money to afford school and living places."

"Wait, which culinary school?" Lomri asked.

"The Song Institute of Culinary Arts," Lê said.

"What a coincidence. That's the same one I want to go to," Lomri said, "But I can't afford it yet."

"Oh really? That is cool! The school part, not the cannot afford part," Lê said, "Also, I decided that I am going to find a job soon. Even though I do some work, I feel that is not enough. I will help pay your bills and such!"

"You really don't have to, but if you insist, I guess you can," Lomri said.

"I will. I think I'll go job hunting tomorrow," Lê said.

"Sounds great," Lomri said. "So, what'd you do all day?"

"Well, I did the shopping and I went out for lunch. I ended up meeting a few new people, and we became conversation friends!" Lê said.

"Interesting. What did you guys talk about?" Lomri asked and fiddled with a photo on his desk.

"We talked about the morals of this character from a book. The book is titled The Last Free Man's Testament. It is a really good book. Have you read it?" Lê asked.

"No, but I did watch the movie," Lomri said.

Lê gasped, "That movie is absolute trash! The book is way better! I cannot believe I am associating with someone like you!"

"Aren't you being a little bit overdramatic?" Lomri rolled his eyes.

"I most certainly am not. If you had read the book, you would be wholeheartedly agreeing with me!" Lê said.

"Maybe," Lomri said.

"For example, the movie completely forgets that Carrie exists even though she is literally the best character! They even changed the main character! He is not supposed to be cool! Plus, when was George old? He's supposed to be young and attractive!" Lê ranted.

"I hear ya. I'll read the book sometime, okay?" Lomri asked.

"Thank you! I don't think I could handle being around someone who's only watched the movie!" Lê said.

"Satisfied?" Lomri asked. He put the photo in one of his desk drawers.

"Yes! Yes, I am! I am not Angelica from that American musical. I am satisfied," Lê said. She started humming the show tune she was referencing.

"I don't understand what you were referencing, but cool," Lomri said.

Lê let out an exasperated sigh, "I swear, I have so much to show you."

Author's Note: Good god, I wrote the last three chapters in 7th and 8th grade and really shows that I have no idea how worldbuilding and immigration works.