It felt good to be back at the apartment, but I also missed Mum. Even though I was awarded this scholarship at the perfect time, a huge part of me always dreaded whenever I had to leave mum behind.

For twelve years it's always been her and I against the world. We were each other's constant in this world. I knew mum was happy I was doing what I was passionate about, but it was hard letting me go.

But at least Mum wasn't crying when I left yesterday, which tells me she was getting used to me being away, or she was seeing someone.

April couldn't stop snickering whenever she saw Mum blushing as she read text messages. It was beautiful to watch, but also weird for me.

Pushing thoughts about Mum dating life aside, I blasted music and sang along to Taylor Swift's songs while I got ready for the day.

My awesome roommate deserved to be pampered after being alone for the entire weekend. She loved pancakes so that's what I was going to make for her.

I danced my way around the kitchen as I made batter from scratch instead of using a store bought mix. Remembering Soph liked her pancakes with berries, I went to the fridge in search of some, but found none.

Argh! We needed to buy groceries.

After setting the plates on the island, I filled two cups with freshly brewed coffee and then came face to face with a half-asleep Sophie, who scared the living shit out of me.

"Damnit Soph! Do you want to kill me or something?"

Her mouth moved as she responded, but I heard nothing. Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath and pointed at her ears.

Oh! I still had headphones in. As I took them out she rolled her eyes and sat down.

"What were you saying?"

"I'm going to kill you if you blare your music so loud again."

I placed her breakfast in front of her and asked if she wanted coffee or orange juice. "I will have coffee, thank,." She said politely.

Sometimes I forgot that Soph was not from a normal household, she was raised like royalty. Her world was very different from mine. She was well mannered and though it was clear when we first met that she wasn't used to doing things by herself, she was not lazy or afraid of trying new things.

Sophia was pampered and shielded her whole life, hence I was so unsure about leaving her alone this past weekend.

Even though we haven't talked about why her father disowned her or knew each other that well, I could tell the life she was living now was different from what she was used to.

Unlike me, Soph wore her feelings or emotions on her sleeve, but I was afraid to ask what transpired back at home to run all the way to London because she might expect me to also open up to her.

"Your pancakes are so fluffy and delicious Ara, why won't you tell me the secret ingredient."

"I told you it's love," I answered with a laugh.

"Speaking of love, have you ever been in love?

I was not ready to talk to anyone about love. It meant talking about Alex and that name left a sour taste in my mouth.

"Love is a stupid emotion, why would I waste my precious time on that." The cynical words came out more bitter than I intended.

Sophia's brows furrowed as she sipped her coffee. Though we've only known each other for a month, we understood each other in a weird way. Soph never pushed me to talk and I never invaded her space.

We're a perfect duo.

~~~~~~~~~~👩🏽‍🍳👩🏼‍🍳~~~~~~~~~~

When our classes ended Soph and I rushed home to get out of our sweaty clothes and freshen up so we could buy groceries. After showering, I pulled out my gray sweatpants and nude sweater with the words "I'm Comfy", and wore boot slippers to complete my look.

There were days I preferred to dress for comfort than style. And today was definitely one of those days.

"Ara, let's go." Soph called outside my bedroom door. She was always on time, sometimes ahead of time.

"I'm coming!"

When I walked out of my room she was in the living room texting on her phone with a smile on her face. "Who's got you smiling and blushing?"

"I'm not blushing!" She argued, but the color on her cheeks grew darker.

Sophia couldn't lie for shit; her ears turned red when she lied. "Okay..."

"You do know that supermarkets deliver groceries right?" Sophie asked for the hundredth time today.

"Yes, but I'll say it again, nothing beats fresh veggies and fruits and the only way to be assured of that, is by doing your own shopping. Stop complaining and let's go."

We drove to the nearest shopping center, while music played softly in the background. We didn't talk much, both of us were tired from the long day we had been studying for the sanitation test we had coming up this Friday.

"When did you write this list?" Soph asked, pushing the cart down the aisle.

"This morning."

"Smart, I like it. Now we don't have to wreck our brains for things we need,"

We walked up and down the aisles, picking up what we needed. "I think that's everything." Sophia scanned over the list again.

"Yes, except snacks," I said and rushed to the candy aisle with Soph hot on my heels. I picked up gummy bears, chocolate and potato chips.

"That's a lot of gummy bears right there." A voice came behind me, and I struggled to suppress a shiver.

I know that voice.

"Chef Jake!" Sophia exclaimed happily. .

"Ladies, good to see you. I'm sure your dentist will agree with me that you are inviting cavities with so much candy," Jacob said, looking at the assortment of gummy bears and chocolate in our cart.

Since the day of the bet, all he seemed to do was frown, call me annoying names or look down his nose at me, like he was doing now. It's not like these were mine alone, but the look he was giving me was downright judgemental.

"Those are for my niece and nephews." I smiled, lying through my teeth .

Jacob looked from me to Soph who was trying so hard not to laugh at the obvious lie.

"Jake, what are you doing?" A feminine voice questioned.

A tall woman, around our age, approached and smiled; showcasing her perfect white teeth. I noticed they were wearing matching outfits-black jeans with red sweaters. Must be his girlfriend.Yuk!

"Why are you bothering these poor girls?" The smiley woman asked, standing close to Chef Jacob. Too close and placed her hand on his back.

"They asked me to grab candy for them; I was simply helping them out," Jake said with a straight face.I snorted before covering it up with a cough as three sets of eyes watched me.

"Yeah, thank you so much, sir. We should go." I plastered a polite smile on my face and poked Sophia, telling her we should go.

But we didn't make it very far before Jake called out to us, or me rather. "Hey kitten, aren't you forgetting something?"

I took a deep breath before turning around to face him. And with baited breath, waited to hear what he had to say now. "Sour gummy bears. You know, just to balance it out?" He smirked and even had the nerve to wink at me.

Damn you, Jacob!

"He is right. Can't forget sour gummy bears," Soph chimed in, clearly enjoying the interaction . Jake smiled at her before handing me two packets of sour candy.

"Thank you. You two have a great evening." I yanked the bags out of his hands and chucked them in the cart, storming away.

By the time we got home, we were too tired to cook and ordered pizza instead.

Thirty minutes later, there was a knock at the door alerting me our food had arrived. "Soph, pizza is here!" I shouted and went to the door and greeted the delivery guy.

After I closed the door, Sophia Emerged from the hallway and joined me in the living room where I was watching Iron Chef.

Watching cooking shows had become my favorite hobby while Mum worked late at the hospital years ago. It distracted me from the fear of being home alone at night. Some nights I would stay over at our neighbor, Ms. Gena's house, before she moved to the countryside.

"What was that with Jake earlier?" Sophia plopped herself on the couch.

"Hell if I know. He acts like a 5 year old."

She took a few bites of pizza and quietly chewed. There was a look of contemplation on her face. I imagined a barrage of questions that brewed in her mind, and probably all had to do with the frustratingly handsome Chef I kept running into.

I felt her eyes on me before she asked, "Do you think she was his girlfriend?"

"Totally. Didn't you see how she was all over him." There was no hiding the bitterness from my voice and I could see her smile from the corner of my eye.

"If you say so, kitten."

I gave her a pointed look, but didn't bother responding to the nickname and kept eating. I don't understand why he always called me kitten. Did he have names for everyone in class, or was I just his special victim?

Argh! That man is so annoying.