"No, no, no! Call me Zen, drop the honorifics Seira-chan." Zen Li said hastily while scratching the back of his head.
"Okay po, sir Zen." Seira answered immediately, not even dropping the honorifics as what she was told.
"Pft." Zen couldn't help but laugh at Seira's reaction. He didn't expect Seira to be quite stiff in person. "Why don't we go in first? Have you had lunch already? I brought food, kaso they're not good for lunch. These are only rice cakes that I bought from the newly opened store near my apartment." He started talking as he opened the gate for the both of them to enter. Seira offered to close the gate right after as Zen followed suitably as she proceeds to enter the passcode for the front door.
"Please, come in." She said and made way for him to enter the house. "I'll take care of those. Please wait for a while, ihahanda ko lang yung pagkain. I'm glad I made enough food for two people for lunch." Zen handed her the paper bag and started walking all over the place, scanning every nook and cranny as if trying to find something unusual from the surroundings.
He slid a finger on top of one of the shelves only to find out that not even a speck of dust was left on the area. "Wow, Seira-chan! I didn't know you could actually clean so well. You even made it possible for this place to be inhabited by a human being. Sugoi!" He exclaimed loudly and even started clapping out of amazement. Every time kasi na pumupunta siya dito sa bahay ni Maiko, everything is in a mess na akala mo parang tambakan.
"Shut up, Zen." A husky voice called out from the stairs, it was Maiko. Halatadong kakagising lang nito dahil nag uunat pa at medyo magulo ang mahaba nitong buhok. "Why are you here?" Tanong nito sabay hatak ng isang upuan upang umupo.
"Is it hard to welcome me nicely, Maiko? Of course I'm here to officially welcome Seira-chan." Sagot nito, dahilan para bahagyang mamula ang pisnge ng dalaga sa hiya. Lingid naman sa kaalaman niya na nagloloko lang ito.
Maiko sneered in contempt and poured himself a glass of water. "Quit playing around. Ba't ka nga andito?" Tanong ulit nito as he helped himself finish the glass of water in one go.
"What else? Of course, work-related. Anyway, it can wait. As for now, let me have a taste of Seria-chan's cooking." Sabik na sagot nito at umupo sa tapat ni Maiko. The table was enough for four people to be seated.
Dahan dahang nilapag ni Seira ang mga nakahaing pagkain sa mesa and made her way back to get some orange juice from the fridge. Matapos niyang maghain, akmang aalis na sana siya pero bigla siyang pinigilan ni Zen. "Seria-chan why don't you join us here? Tapos ka na mag lunch? Ayaw mo tikman yung rice cakes na dala ko?" She hesitated for a while and even looked at Maiko to ask for his permission. He just nod at her, wala naman siyang nagawa kundi ang sumunod. She sat beside Zen and shyly grabbed a rice cake for herself.
Without delay, Zen started eating the curry Seira reheated for them. His eyes twinkled at napatingin ito sa gawi ng dalaga. He swallowed a mouthful saka nagsalita ito. "Oishii! You know what? Why don't you work for me instead Seira-chan?" He muttered as he swallowed another mouthful of food. Seira laughed awkwardly and just continued to eat her share of rice cakes.
Lunch in Yu's residence was quite lively due to Zen's bright presence. When Seira was done eating, she finally excused herself and made way for them to talk about business. She went upstairs to grab a change of clothes and to find something she can momentarily do.
Matapos niyang labhan ang kanyang uniform, she went back to the hallway to throw the discarded papers and empty cans. She also collected the books and wiped the dust that accumulated over them. She went on to one of the empty bookshelves and organized the books she collected. As she was busy putting away the books on the shelf, one particular book caught her attention. It had a sophisticated cover and was quite eye-catchy because of its art. A man and a woman were mirroring each other and had their palms together. It looked like both of the characters were from different places, hence the title 'Into Your World'.
She flipped the book open out of curiosity and started reading the first chapter. Little did she know, she was already so engrossed in reading it that she didn't even notice it was already dark outside. Tears started pooling in her eyes as she kept flipping page after page. Soon enough, she was already crying as her chest wretched in pain for the main characters of the novel.
Her focus was cut off sooner when her phone broke the silence. It was her alarm, reminding her to make dinner. Her eyes widened as she checks the time on her phone, it was already a quarter to seven in the evening. If not for her alarm going off she wouldn't notice it!
She was about to stand up when her legs gave away halfway due to sitting for too long and not even slightly moving. Buti nalang at agad nahawakan ni Maiko ang magkabila niyang braso. "Careful, kid." He muttered under his breath as he steadies her. Agad namang namula ang pisnge ni Seira sa hiya kaya agad agad siyang tumayo ng maayos at umalis sa kinatatayuan. Di naman ito binigyan ng gaanong pansin ni Maiko and just went on to ask her a question. "You like this one?" Tanong niya saka tinuro ang libro na hawak hawak ni Seira na sinagot naman ng dalaga ng tango bilang tugon.
"I wrote that 2 years ago." Sabi niya na nagpagulat sa dalaga. She quickly looked at the book cover and her eyes dawned at the author's name printed on the lower part of the cover in capital letters.
MAIKO YU
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[1] Sugoi - Amazing, terrific, incredible, etc.
[2] Oishii - Delicious or tasty.