My precious shop, the sweet café "Trancalm" would often be visited by familiar faces. They would always arrive after closing, during those times, the gentle sound of the bell would indicate that there was a visitor, it would loudly echo across the store.
Today, the sound of the bell reached my ears, along with the voice of my friend calling my name.
"Lia!"
I was washing and putting away the dishes in the kitchen, stopping for a bit, I turned towards the person who was in front of the display case, and shouted.
"I"m here! Enough, what if you break the door!?"
"I"m hungry!"
"There"s nothing left."
"I brought some ingredients!"
"Can"t you go home and make it… won"t Gray-san go hungry from waiting for you?"
Nearby the front of the doors just after entering, were gla.s.s displays lined up side-by-side. Although, I could no longer prepare enough cakes to fill it up, all the cakes that were served at the store were refrigerated there.
"I want to eat the dishes made by Lia!"
The kitchen where I was, and the displays were connected by a narrow pa.s.sage. Their voice had moved over to the side of the counter this time. They were seated by the ivory counter that was installed during the renovation. Undoubtedly, they leant over and made the usual sulking face.
"These days, I"ve been skipping out on meals-"
Next to the counter where guests could lineup and the tables, was the kitchen, to prevent the customers from seeing things like the kitchen counter, large refrigerator and ovens, a st.u.r.dy wall was made from wood. Of course, I had doors connecting to the kitchen made. A kitchen sink was also installed, the dishes cleared from the customers would be brought there for washing.
"It"s not good to skip!"
"I’m-saying. I"ve simply finished the leftover soup! Since Selena’s portion isn’t-!"
"You’re terrible! I also demand my share!"
I sighed at my close friend"s request. The reason for Selena"s bad temper was always the same. Surely, she had another fight with her husband.
"Heey, Lia. I"ll help you clean up afterwards."
"Geez… you fought with Gray-san again didn"t you…"
"I"ll have enough energy to leave after I eat the food made by Lia!"
It"s not about your energy, if I were to shout, it wouldn"t compare to Selena"s loud cry. Bang, bang a sound was being made that didn"t give off a good feeling, it was probably her fist. I"d like to ask you not to drill a hole into the counter please.
With the pink duster in the sink filled with water, I moved towards the counter. Looking down at Selena"s head who was prostrating on the ground, I gave a small sigh. I stroked her golden hair once and said, "Fine, I got it." She raised her face at once.
"Lia!"
Her green eyes were shining, beautiful curly golden hair swayed in delight.
"That change, you"ll help me clean up?"
"Obviously!"
As if she hadn"t cried out in grief, Selena displayed a cheerful smiling face. When I pulled at Selena"s cheeks, she exaggerated the pain and gave a ridiculous cry.
"Then, I should make dinner."
As I walked towards the kitchen, Selena also followed. In her hand, she was swinging a large basket with paper bags.
"You bought a lot…"
"I didn"t buy all of it. I dropped by various stores on the main street."
"Ah, I see. You received extras."
Selena is said to be the most beautiful woman in Arion, she had impressive large cat-like eyes, and distinct facial features. Although her beautiful golden hair was swaying at her chest today, she would braid it up high, it was very hard for me to memorize how to do said variation. Even when going out for a short while, she wouldn"t miss a single detail putting on makeup, clothing too, rather than emphasizing ease of movement, she was always dressed fashionably.
I put Selena"s beauty sense in high regard. Feeling something similar to respect. There were many points to learn from, my fault was that I couldn"t get into the habit. I could be considered catastrophic when it came to beauty. Because having to dress myself up wasn"t very enjoyable… if I looked as mature and beautiful as Selena, surely I would have grown a sense of beauty like a high-cla.s.s lady… Surely!
Precisely because it"s Selena, if you asked who the most beautiful woman in the town is, everyone would unanimously say her name, if she were to go shopping along main street, she would receive a lot of gifts.
"Lia, look! Wagner-san gave me such a nice fish."
"Hm, their ship is already back!?"
"Yup, they were ahead of schedule, I think they came back yesterday."
Everyone in this small rural town was acquainted to each other. The best fisherman in the town, Rayleigh Wagner-san had a close relationship with my family ever since I was a child, he was also a regular at the store. After he finished fishing, he would always show his face.
"Is that so, I see. Tomorrow, I"ll serve Rayleigh-san"s favourite white truffle! I"ll do my best to prepare-!"
"And just like that, doing your best for an old man."
"Because Rayleigh-san is cool."
"Right, right."
Selena threw off my words without any hesitation, taking out the ingredients from the large basket and paper bag, she arranged them on the cooking top one after the other.
"Wait… what are you trying to do."
"Taking out the remaining, please make it delicious."
Meat, eggs, fish, ham. Even fresh vegetables were lined up on the table.
"Amazing. Where did you buy from to receive so many gifts?"
"I don"t know which is which. But, I"d still lose to Lia."
"Huh? What?"
"The number of gifts. Doesn"t Lia get more?"
"No, I don"t get this much."
"Liar. Wouldn"t the town"s desire to protect the errand child get stirred up?"
"What"s that supposed to mean!?"
Although I was on the short side, and my face didn"t currently look that mature, it"s not my fault! That"s rude to children doing errands!
"If you put in more effort, everyone would be astonished. I"m always telling you that. Since the material is good."
"Geez, if you"re going to talk about this then take these and go home."
"What, that was a compliment!"
Selena frowned as I held out the vegetable in my hand.
"Enough, I"m not sure cooking a meal is one of my strong points…"
"That"s not true! Of course, Lia"s chocolate tart and wine jelly are the most delicious, but your fish wrapped in omelette t is very good as well. I really like them."
"So those are the only things I can make…?"
That"s not what I meant! I laughed and apologized to Selena who puffed out her cheeks, and packed the ingredients on the table into the refrigerator.
Selena Gray is my precious friend. She was born in an extension of her mother"s parents" home which was located next to the store, from a long time ago, we were still the same. Where there were countless pleasant memories, there were just as many fights.
If Selena hadn"t stayed by my side when my mother died. It would have taken longer to accept the reality without my mother, I wouldn"t have chosen to continue running the store by myself.
Although we were the same age, I was able to surprisingly rely on her at that time, nowadays, she would behave like a spoiled child. For me, Selena was like a little sister. I liked Selena, so on days when she would up like this, "It can"t be helped" I would spoil her by saying that. In fact, her wanting to be pampered wasn"t that big a deal. Since forever, from a young age, the realization grew stronger after becoming an adult. Selena always supported me, when a heartbreaking event happened, I would still be able to get up. Although she was a little overbearing at times, she was truly a kind person.
Truthfully, I was enjoying our time together, it can"t be helped that my mouth said things without thinking. But, this was definitely a secret from Selena. Because, there was a possibility if she spent her life fully sticking to her husband, that she would stop coming around. Just briefly running away from home today, when I thought about that, it was terrible.
"Omelette, bread, soup, salad. Which one?"
"Hm?"
"For tonight"s menu."
"You"re okay with something so simple?"
"Anything is fine. I just want to eat what Lia makes."
Watching Selena cheerfully tearing up the lettuce, I ended up laughing."
"Then, let"s make Selena"s favourite tomato soup."
"Is Lia having her own share?"
"I"ll turn it into breakfast tomorrow morning. I"ll pick the basil."
"Fufufu- Because I bought dried basil, it"s not necessary."
"Squanderer!"
"Whatever you say~"
Saying "Such a paltry sum" Selena flipped her golden hair. Then, I realized that Selena was imitating a young lady in a romance novel she had recently gotten into, I immediately understood.
"My lady, please cut the cuc.u.mbers after tearing the lettuce."
What kind of malicious n.o.ble lady would live like this! If I said it, I would probably get torn apart. Don"t say anything unnecessary.
"May you-"
Perhaps, a genuine lady wouldn"t have a stupid way of speech like I thought. With that, I insisted out loud.
I"m going to get the seasoning, I said to Selena, and secretly went to the front of the store. Picking up the receiver that was mounted to the gla.s.s display, I called a number that I had long since memorized. Before the second dial was finished, it was connected to the other party, I explained the circ.u.mstances to the man who was on the verge of tears and asked him to meet. I"ll come right now, I was told in a hoa.r.s.e voice, but at this time coming now was like pouring oil into a fire. I managed to persuade him that he should come after he finished eating dinner and hung up.
Loving each other to the point of fighting… what a strange couple this is…
"Lia!?"
"Yes, ah!"
Then after the two of us finished cooking the meal, and rather than eating in the store, Selena proposed to go to my room instead.
On the south side of the kitchen was the store, and the north was the residential area. Half of the residential area was converted for guest seating after converting into a coffee shop, my room was just large enough to place a bed and a bookshelf. Nevertheless, Selena always like eating here. I pulled a small table from the gardening shed, and sat down facing Selena.
"Smells good…"
"Yup, let"s eat."
"Ah, well of course I meant the food, but I like the scent of this room too."
"The room? There"s a scent?"
"Yeah. It"s nostalgic. This house, it smells like when it was a cake shop."
"Oh, really? I have no idea."
"You don"t understand because it"s your own home. I also like the scent after it became a café."
"Hmm… it"s regrettable that I don"t get it."
When I furrowed my eyebrows, "You wouldn"t understand after all", Selena repeated the same words again.
"Well, whatever. Let"s eat before it gets cold."
"I guess. Weell~"
"Let"s eat."[1]
Tomato soup filled with turnips, omelette with demiglace sauce, salad, Roll bread. Everything was simple, but it tasted better than usual.
"Delicious! This demiglace sauce is the best!"
And so, they were pleased with what they did.
"The salad Selena made is delicious too."
"Cut it out. All I did was tear it."
Selena"s cheeks turned red while saying that. Just now, it was Selena who was trying to dispute it. Seriously, my best friend is cute.
"And?"
"What."
"You quarreled with Gray-san again."
"Ah…"
"What was it this time?"
"Who knows. I don"t understand Ian."
It"s been over thirty minutes since the secret call. I expected, he would be approaching the limit of his patience, he should be coming by to pick her up any time now. While looking up at the clock, I enjoyed the delicious meal time with Selena.
Spoken at the same time.