“WHAT are you carrying?” the girl asked the guy when they met in the canteen one morning.

“You mentioned to me yesterday that you don’t use to eat breakfast so I brought you some food,” he said while showing her what was inside the lunchbox he was carrying.

“But you don’t have to do this, you know?”

“You have to eat, okay?” he insisted.

The girl shook her head. “I still don’t want to!”

He pouted his lips. And the girl frowned when she saw what he cooked. “Is that an omelet?”

“Yes!”

“Then why do I see something orange inside of it?”

He smiled. “I put some tomatoes inside because it’s too boring if it’s just a plain egg.”

The girl grimace when the bottom burns, turning brown and dehydrated, while the top remains runny.

“What happened?” she commented after checking it using a fork.

He was slightly disappointed by what she said so he immediately covered it up and took it away from her. “W-well, I don’t really know how to cook. I just tried to cook it for you.”

The guy took another container and gave it to her. “Here, try this chocolate bread pudding. I helped my mom to cook it for you.”

The girl tasted it.

“How was it? Is it delicious?” he asked.

She nodded. “Mmm! It’s delicious! But, I also want to taste your omelet with tomatoes.”

He shook his head. “You can’t eat this because it tastes bitter. It might affect your taste buds.”

“It’s okay! It doesn’t matter if it can affect my taste buds. What’s important is the effort you put into it,” she said, taking back the omelet and eating it with a smile.

“Mmm! Yummy! Next time you will cook this again and make sure to cook it better, okay?”

The man smiled and joined her.

_____________

RANDALL woke up smiling from his beautiful dream. He turned off the alarm on his phone and then got up but he wiped the tears that fell from his eyes, causing him to think in front of the mirror directly opposite his bed.

“Why like that? I had a good dream, but why am I crying? Who are you? When will I see you?” He asked, referring to the girl who ate the burned omelet. 

Thinking that he would be late for his class, he quickly put it out of his mind and washed up. 

When he arrived at the dining area, his breakfast was already on the table.

“Good morning, Sir Randall!” the maid greets him. 

“Good morning! Where’s Grandpa?” he asked as he sat down in front of the dining table.

“He still asleep, Sir,” the maid replied and turned around to continue some of her duties.

His attention was immediately drawn to the omelet in front of him so he took and tasted it. He was a bit disappointed that he didn’t see or taste any tomatoes.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was still early so he called the maid again.

“Yes, Sir? Do you need anything else?”

“Yes! I want you to cook another omelet. And this time, I want it with tomatoes,” he requested when he remembered his dream.  

He really wanted to taste that food.

“Right away, Sir!” 

The maid was about to turn back when he called her again.

“Wait! Make sure that the bottom part is a little bit burned.”

The maid frowned upon his request. However, she still followed it.

“HEY! Whose iPod is that?” Marylex asked Meredith when she arrived with Shanaia in their room.

“It’s Randalls.”

Her friends looked at the back where Randall was still slumped in his chair.

Shanaia narrowed her eyes at her. “And how did his iPod end up with you?” 

She took a deep breath first before she tell what happened to her and Randall in the meeting room last night.

“Oh my gosh! Is that all that happened?!”

She put her index finger to her lips to silence her from shrieking. “Hey! Keep your voice down! I don’t want anyone else to know about what happened.”

Shanaia folded her arms. “Did you really just sleep there?”

She narrowed her eyes at Shanaia. “Of course! Nothing happened, okay?!”

Marylex raised her right eyebrow, not convinced by what she said. “Then, why are you so defensive?”

She shook her head at the naughtiness of the two. “How many times do I have to tell you that nothing really happened? My cousin even caught us, just sleeping soundly.”

They just nodded. Fortunately, their professor had arrived so the two finally stopped teasing her.

“GO! We’ll take care of your order while he was alone,” Shanaia said when they lined up at the canteen for their lunch break. 

She nodded and approach him.

“Hi!” she greeted as she held out his iPod. “Thanks for allowing me to use your iPod. It really helped me a lot last night.”

He took it with a smile. “I’m glad that I helped you even in a small way.”

She nodded. “Oh, by the way, about your hoddie, it’s still at home. I’ll wash it first before I give it back to you.”

He waved his hand. “You don’t have to do that. It’s fine with me even if you don’t wash it.”

“But, it’s more embarrassing if I don’t wash it before I returned it.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if that’s what you want,” he surrendered. “Have you eaten?” he added. 

“Oh! Actually, my friends and I are about to eat, but I saw you here, so I approached you first.”

“Oh is that so?” She nodded. 

“Ahm. . . I’m going back to our table,” she said when she saw that her friends were already sitting on the other side of the table and signaling her to join them.

“Okay! Eat well!”

“You too,” she said then turned to her friends. 

She didn’t understand but as she walked away from him, her heart skipped a beat. It feels like she was short of breath while talking to him earlier and it’s just now that she can breathe freely.