Mời ăn cơm…
(Enjoy your meal…)
"Eh–Um… Enjoy your meal."
[ The two both sat down at the wooden table in the kitchen, on it, two dishes of steak frites were placed neatly facing on the side, with a carbon filament lamp hanging on the ceiling emitting its light, and an opened door to the parlour for the outside view.
Til this moment, Vaccine couldn't believe he had made it here. Through all their troubles from start to end, he finally sees the new beginning at the end of this tunnel. That warm sense of light right in front of him could be a hallucination or that old light bulb we've just mentioned.
No longer need to wait, Vaccine took a bite of the steak he and ■ prepared. The layer was effortlessly broken with just a bite, and the soft, tasty meat melted swiftly inside his mouth. It was so good that he missed the sauce drop on the white plate.
Noticing that, he leaned his head forward to avoid dripping on his clothes. This action accidentally made him see the opposite plate was missing a piece of steak. That was when he first saw–]
Focus on your food, Vaccine.
[ He immediately looked down according to ■, nervously bringing the food into his mouth. It wasn't a force that applied to him, it was his instinct.
It was as if what he was about to see was genuinely prohibited to him, a thing that was surrounded by the fog of missing information. ■'s face was never fully described nor appeared in Vaccine's memories, it has become a mystery to him.
( and to us.)
"But why…" He thought.
There must be a reason for him to hide his face to this extent. Is it confidential? Or perhaps it was something more sinister behind that blank face of his… ]
For the first time, this is good.
[ Just when his mind drifted away, ■ threw a compliment on their meal tonight. His voice brought him back to the old, rusty kitchen, where they were having a meal. He noticed the scenery had become more pleasing after the cleaning, yet the darkness hardly changed. ]
"Yeah, I didn't know I could do this."
[ Vaccine scratched his head and seemed to be unaware of his cooking talent, but that was just to make ■ thinks he had delicately made it for him, despite the disadvantage of being a newbie.
"I knew it was a good thing to secretly purchase that cooking book," he nodded to himself, "With this dinner, I had scored another good point in his eyes!"
Little did he know, we all understood how simple his plan was as ■ continued eating. Each time a fork stabbed the steak, the sound of it tapping on the plate echoed within the room. They silently crunched the food in this suffocated place and didn't know what to say during the meal. When the plate was half done, ■ voiced out his thoughts. ]
If there were rice, it would be better…
[ It was a simple yearning. Yearning for something familiar yet so far away. Yet Vaccine didn't understand this, he giggled at his unfortunate. ]
"Don't say your eating utensil is chopsticks too?
It is.
[ ■ calmly said, starting to finish the fries on the plate. Each time a fork poked the fries, several fries came with another. Some might fall back to where it was, but the way he does it is just like his attitude; ■ wasn't joking.
His straightforwardness always amazed him, their conversations had never gone off the topic or were long. However, the downside was it ended too quickly, making them unable to proceed to the next one. Even so, Vaccine wished that 'guy' could learn a thing or two from him. ]
"But where could we find those in a place like this?"
[ Who drinks will drink again. Vaccine merely asked ■, encouraging him to a new adventure for the both of them. Knowing this, ■ put his knife and fork on the empty dish lightly. ]
That's why it sucks to be here.
"…"
[ His patience has run out, with just one sentence, the atmosphere has turned to the worst. The light from the bulb was not enough to push the darkness away from ■. If he blinked once, he would lose him forever. ]
Even if this is one of my dreams of travelling to a foreign country, I must go home, Vaccine.
[ Vaccine could only look at him in fear, not frightened, just fear. They shouldn't be in an argument, it came so fast that he could not respond.
"No no no– Not now!!!"
His inner self is screaming right now. It's to be expected, that everything had gone smoothly in his favour before. He thought that it would not come to an end yet. He believed that he could find more about 'him' at the end of this novel. ]
"But…"
[ He tried to say something but he couldn't find a word. At the beginning of this situation, he never has the right to stop ■. If he had done more than this, he would look nothing more than a bad guy to us. ]
My arrival was not welcomed here, Vaccine.
[ The decision was already made, ■ isn't going to back down from this. No matter how many times we altered the whole world, it could not keep him here any longer.
I'm sorry, Vaccine. I cannot help you anymore.
Defeated, Vaccine quietly took their dishes to the sink while ■ was going to the parlour, at the end of their point, a missing bridge was nowhere to be seen.
But it didn't matter anymore.
Midnight without any clouds fell to this quiet city like a sluggish death, not a single wind blew by the sealed windows of those buildings.
The inside was no different, the two fell silent, and the water poured down on the dishes, filling their lack of communication.
Vaccine unconsciously wiped the nonexistent dust off his eyes, and the bubbles from the washing-up liquid, it's just like his efforts, were washed away, down to the drain. After putting those on the shelf, he shifted to ■, who was lying on the sofa, and asked, ]
"So… Are you going to leave after the meal?"
I don't think so, [ ■ looked outside the window, ] I have to stay overnight for the early departure.
[ An opportunity. His eyes immediately lit up when a chance appeared out of nowhere. However, the excitement couldn't be like the previous. He was forcing himself to invite ■ over. ]
"Use my bed then!"
No. I'll sleep on the sofa.
[ ■ refused to purge and sat fixing on the sofa, claiming it for himself. Since Vaccine had done more than enough, he wanted to let him have a sleep for once ( also as compensation for carrying the joke too far in Chapter 2 ).
It seemed he couldn't convince him by talking, so Vaccine picked him up from the spot and threw him into the bedroom. ]
"A guest should use the bed, I'm fine with the sofa."
Oi! With how small it is, do you think you can fit in that?
[ Got carrying without his consent, ■ was quite flustered at his disrespectful manner, but his anger quickly died down… ]
"Yes! Leave it to me!"
[ …After all, his selfish request was genuine so ■ took it as the last favour for his endeavour. Finally, they quickly settled down in their sleeping places, as the night had passed 12. am. ]