As I slowly wrapped my fork with noodles, I took a circular view of the table we were sitting at. Lucy is halfway through the noodles she was eating, while Rika has already finished her share. She was just holding a glass cup full of red wine and slowly sipping it at random intervals.

To my left, Maya's short brown hair danced up and down as she dug into the hot shrimp in front of her. The elegance with which she cut the shrimp into pieces using a table knife before swallowing was truly amazing.

The silence that existed between us as we ate our dinner made my mind have all different sorts of thoughts. 

The one that stood out to me is the fact that we only have one year left in college before we all graduate.

Will we still be friends after we graduate?

Thoughts like that began to dominate my thinking before Lucy paused mid-bite with a nonchalant gesture. She then stretched both hands above her head, fingers reaching into the air—creating a playful halo over her tousled short blonde hair.

"I am full."—She sighed—"The oysters I ate early took a lot of space in my stomach, now I can't even finish my Lazania."

"What a waste," Rika stated, turning her vision towards Lucy with an intense glare.

"Unlike someone, my stomach is not a bottomless pit," Lucy whispered, turning her vision away from Rika.

"What did you just say!" Rika yelled while pulling Lucy's shirt from her shoulder.

"Nothing," 

"I swear I heard you said something,"

"Maybe it's just your imagination,"

"Good then, I thought for a second that you were talking about my apatite,"

"What if I was?" Lucy added, returning her vision towards Rika with a devious smile.

 I watched as the two of them glared at each other without even blinking, Rika is a heavy eater while Lucy's stomach can't handle much food, and for some reason, they both can't stand each other's preference.

Scenes like the one in front of me are a recurring theme whenever we are eating together, I don't mind the passion in the way they are both representing their views but I could already see that the people sitting next to us were taking notice of what is going on.

From their view, a big fight is about to break out between Rika and Lucy. Even though I knew they would never reach that stage, I still struggled looking for a way to distract them from their little argument. 

While I was hesitating on the best way to interrupt them, Maya that have been silently sitting all this time caught a glimpse of how intensely Rika and Lucy were staring at each other. 

To break the tension that was growing between them— she asked Rika a random question.

"What project would you be working on for the final year art exhibition," Maya asked with an uncomfortable smile on her face. 

Rika shifted her vision towards Maya along with her wine glass.

"It's called 'City of Gold'"

Maya's face lit up with curiosity when she heard Rika's reply. Finishing her last bite of the shrimp, she inquired further.

"What is the project about."

"It is a painting collection that intends to capture the melancholy and imagination of what (El Dorado) the lost city of gold would look like," Rika responded with a gentle grin on her face.

Maya's goal to reduce the heat level between Rika and Lucy was short-lived due to the next move made by Rika.

Rika leaned back in her chair, her long red hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, she then took three sips of red wine before casually uttering words aimed at making Lucy angry.

"Unlike someone, I do not just splash different paints on the canvas and call it art, I use a paintbrush to bring my artworks to life."

Lucy giggled after hearing Rika's remarks, she then took the wine bottle located at the center of the table, using it, she filled up a glass cup she was holding with her right hand.

Without even turning her vision towards Rika's fiery shade of amber eyes, she drank all the wine in her glass cup in one go. 

Lucy then smirked before opening her mouth to speak.

"It must be hard when you have a brain similar to that of a fish, not being able to appreciate the hidden beauty found in abstract painting is just too sad. It seems like my final year project would be beyond the reach of certain someone"

I chuckled when I saw Rika's mood swing when she heard Lucy comparing her brain to that of a fish, unlike Maya, I seemed to be adding more tension to their unending drama.

While I was holding my lips together to prevent myself from having a full-blown laugh, Maya started talking again not giving up on her mission to calm the situation down.

She is my roommate, and besides me, she finds it difficult to talk to other people, even my two other friends, Rika and Lucy.

With a shy voice, Maya opened her mouth and we were immediately drawn to her innocent smile.

"My final year project is a painting collection inspired by nature," she gasped, "I intend to capture the beauty that could be found in nature like that of a moonflower."

As the spotlight turned towards Maya, with both Lucy and Rika suddenly staring at her. Blushes started to form on her face and she immediately tilted her head down.

When I looked towards her over my shoulder, she was just nervously playing with her hands that were resting on her thighs, while keeping her vision away from all of us.