**Jingle!**
The door to the café swung open, the bell's sound echoing in the empty space. The first thing Viviana stepped on was a crunchy shard of glass. Her eyes narrowed, and her lip curled up in annoyance.
"What a mess," she muttered, kicking at the shards with her slipper. One piece pinched her slightly, causing her to wince.
The place was a disaster. Tables were wrecked into splinters, and debris littered the floor. "What happened here?" she continued to mutter, finding a seat in a corner where none of the splinters had reached. She exhaled deeply, swallowing to dampen her dry throat. "Gosh, I'm thirsty. That running really did drain everything out of me." She scratched her neck before getting up to search for a kitchen, hoping to find some water. It didn't take long to spot the kitchen door, and she entered, finding the place seemingly closed for the night.
"Hah! What kind of business closes this early? Are they hell-bent on running it into the ground?" She laughed at the café's sorry state, then opened one of the refrigerators holding soda cans and grabbed a water bottle. Just as she was about to shut it, she caught a glimpse of bright red hair again, making her heart leap into her throat. "D*mn it!" She clutched her chest, trying to calm her racing heart, and took a few steps back, hitting the wall. "Why do you keep popping out of nowhere?" Viviana spoke with desperation.
Autumn, who had seemingly recovered from the incident a few moments ago, clasped her hands in embarrassment. "Hah, I'm sorry," she said with blushing cheeks. "Are you hungry?"
"No!" Viviana replied stiffly.
"Then why were you in the kitchen? I bet you are hungry," Autumn pressed.
Viviana took a deep breath and closed her eyes in frustration. "I said, I am not hungry!" She emphasized each word, her tone harsh, but Autumn's smile remained unfazed.
"I have pasta ready," Autumn added cheerfully.
Viviana placed her hand over her eyes, pressing tightly. 'She must be hurt; that's why she's having a hard time understanding me. Yeah, traumatized, I would say. I was like that too,' she tried to justify Autumn's odd behavior. "Look, I am here for the money, like I said outside, and I am not going to eat anything because I am not hungry," she said firmly, but her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.
Autumn's smile widened even more. "Look, you are hungry! I can tell by the look on someone's face if they are hungry or not." She exclaimed and walked past Viviana, who was frozen in embarrassment.
'My stomach? In front of another person? That is so embarrassing,' Viviana felt like crying, her cheeks flushing instantly.
Autumn proceeded to heat up the pasta she had made while Viviana, still processing her embarrassment, stood to the side. After a while, Autumn served the table and invited Viviana to sit.
"Come on, have a seat," she said, pulling out a chair.
Viviana hesitated but eventually walked over. Her stomach had started to realize it was empty, and the adrenaline rush from earlier had masked her hunger. The food didn't look impressive, and Viviana lifted her fork to the pasta, immediately noticing something.
"This is overcooked," she pointed out to Autumn, who was already on her first bite.
"Huh? Is it?" Autumn tilted her head sideways, confused.
Viviana, despite her disappointment, took a bite of it. It wasn't savory at all. "And why is the sauce so bland?" she added, frowning.
"Is it that bad?" Autumn asked, feeling disheartened, her shoulders slouching.
"Yes, it is. Don't tell me you serve this at the café," Viviana retorted.
"Umm..." Autumn was nervous, unsure of how to respond.
"God!" Viviana dropped the cutlery in surprise, her eyes widening. "How are you running this place? How does anyone even come here?" She was baffled by the quality of the food, but Autumn quickly replied.
"No, I don't get many customers. Lately, after my dad passed away, I haven't had much business," Autumn admitted.
"Well, now you know why," Viviana added. "I can eat this because I'm starving and have no money to buy edible food, but there are plenty of better places for others. No one comes to this café."
Autumn lowered her head, feeling dejected. Viviana, after a few more bites, decided to stop torturing herself and let go of the fork, leaning back in her chair.
"If you don't like this, I can make you something else," Autumn offered, but Viviana shook her head.
"No need. I'd rather starve," she said but then noticed a look in Autumn's eyes. She fixed her posture and looked at Autumn, who was sitting like a puppy awaiting a command. Viviana couldn't help but find Autumn's behavior strange. Despite the traumatic experience, Autumn was more upset about the criticism of her pasta.
"I will get anything edible from the kitchen because this doesn't seem edible.," Viviana said. Autumn instantly nodded not feeling offended at all.
"Of course, you can take anything you want!! And I will get you your money until then," Autumn said.
"Well, great," Viviana replied, getting up, followed by Autumn, who quickly started collecting the plates from the table. Viviana entered the kitchen again, looking around in the cabinets, hoping to find anything that didn't require much effort to prepare. Surprisingly, she found instant noodles.
'I can't believe I will be eating this,' she thought, giving a heavy sigh. She rolled her eyes and picked up the packet. The hunger was getting on her nerves, and she had to eat something to calm herself down.
"Wow!" Autumn exclaimed, breaking Viviana's train of thought the moment she caught a whiff of the instant noodles.
Viviana looked over her shoulder and sighed. "Sir, you are so skilled. Before, you used your super strength to help me out, and now you can even cook?" Autumn clapped her hands, impressed.
"It's instant noodles. It has directions written on the back," Viviana said, her face contorted into a condescending look. Autumn, on the other hand, couldn't seem to get offended by anything Viviana said and continued to smile.
Viviana portioned the noodles into two bowls and handed one to Autumn before heading back to the table.
Autumn didn't wait a second before getting a mouthful of the noodles, which tasted like any normal noodles but felt so much more special to her.
"Wow! It tastes like it was made by a five-star chef," Autumn said, giving a thumbs up to Viviana.
Viviana nodded her head and didn't give her a reply as she had nothing to say to her.
"Oh! Here, this is all I had for now, but I promise I will pay you the rest as I get more money," Autumn said cheerfully, handing her an envelope. Viviana glanced at the envelope, then at Autumn, and nodded slightly. She checked the contents of the envelope—it was enough for her to travel around the city and have a few decent meals.
"This is enough," Viviana said.
"No!" Autumn grabbed her hand and insisted. "I will pay you more. Just leave your contact info with me."
Viviana pulled her hand away and shook her head. "No need. I won't need the money in the future. Plus, I didn't do that to save you. That man was a threat to me as well," she said.
"No!" Autumn was adamant, not listening to anything Viviana had to say.
"I don't have a phone, so you can't contact me," Viviana said, feeling slightly irritated. She picked up the envelope and decided to leave after finishing her meal.
"You don't seem like you have a place to stay. Stay at my place for the night, and you can leave after that," Autumn pressed, standing in Viviana's way.
"I will leave," Viviana said, continuing to walk, but Autumn was persistent.
"It is too late; you won't find a taxi or anything at this time. Plus, you never know what kind of people you come across at night," Autumn continued. Viviana grabbed her by the shoulder, now noticing how much taller and stronger she was compared to Autumn in the new body.
"You! Don't stand in my way again! I hate it when people do that." Viviana dragged her to the side and walked towards the door to leave.