“WHY DID you treat me for lunch? Do you want to talk about something?”

Tsa was about to go home after remitting the money to Dustin, but he asked her to join him for lunch. Now they sat on the table outside Coffee Leaf, near the parking area.

“I just don’t feel like eating alone,” he said and shrugged. “What about you? Do you want to talk about... anything?”

Tsa sighed and wiped the side of her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Some shameless monkeys who can read complained about my story again.”

“And that is why you took it out on those girls this morning.”

“Not really. Let’s just say...” her eyes narrowed, “I saw them as the opportunity to voice out something I’ve always wanted to. And I’m afraid my paid stories are illegally distributed somewhere and are feasted by people who do not have empathy for writers at all. Then I tried calculating when I can possibly earn from my royalties once the advance payment has been paid back. And it said... in twenty years’ time. Have you seen a plagiarist apologized for her crime? There’s someone who did, but it also turned out she’d been hiring ghostwriters. But ‘this’ plagiarist I’m talking about...” Tsa shook her head. “Dust, whenever I feel like stealing someone’s work, knock me out, okay?”

“Can I knock you out without any reason at all?”

Tsa stared at Dustin unenthusiastically.

“Do you hate me that much?” she whined.

Dustin chuckled.

“Do you need money?”

Tsa thought of the upcoming midnight sale at the bookshop. Then she shook her head.

“No. I’m not as broke as you think, you know.”

“Then what do you need?”

“A boyfriend?” Tsa clacked her tongue and stared at a distance.

“So, you like men after all,” Dustin remarked in a bland tone.

Tsa gave Dustin a deadly glare.

“How did I stand you all these years?” she said as she stuffed her mouth with rice.

“What happened to your dating apps? Did you not find a boyfriend there?”

“Well…” Tsa thought of all her matches from those dating apps and frowned. “I deleted all the apps. I got tired after a few months. I guess virtual dating is not for me.”

“You said you found someone smart and sensible. You shared the same love for Harry Potter, didn’t you?” Dustin said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, yeah. You remember.” Tsa smiled and tilted her head. “Nate is a nice guy, but I think he’s too much for me. At first, I was impressed because we share the same interests. But then, I realized I don’t want a guy who’s smarter than me.” Dustin grimaced but did not say a word. “Though I feel like sometimes he’s trying to impress me. Also, I hate that he’s asking me for unfiltered selfies every single time. You know filters are my lifesaver. He would share with me interesting trivia, but he did not know that bacon is made from pork belly. He’s weird.”

“And so are you,” he remarked casually.

“Since birth,” Tsa said matter-of-factly.

“He was obviously pretending not to be aware of the fact that bacon is made from pork belly because he wants to eat bacon even though he’s not supposed to eat bacon because he’s a... I don't know.”

“Woah.” Tsa stared at Dustin, looking genuinely impressed. “You have a point there, my friend. But I never liked bacon in the first place. Salted egg with tomatoes, onions, vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar is way, way better than bacon, in my opinion.” She waved her spoon as she spoke.

“So what happened to that Nate guy now?”

“I ghosted him, and he unmatched me. There are times when I feel a little guilty. But I just remembered that he once mentioned to me that he’s using Tinder Premium. I don’t think I’m a loss to him. He’s a good-looking guy, anyway.” Tsa smiled sheepishly. Of course, she was just placating herself.

“Of course, your fictional boyfriends are still the best.”

“You really know me so well,” Tsa said, amused.

The corner of Dustin’s lips curved into a smirk.

“You should try writing other genres aside from Romance, too,” he said after a while.

Tsa paused from putting food in her mouth. “Should I?”

“Hmm-mm.” Dustin nodded. “Or you can mix more than two genres together. Say, for example, Twilight saga is about a love story of a vampire, a human, and a werewolf, right?”

Tsa crinkled her nose.

“I have thought of doing that before, but that takes a lot of research, you know. I don’t mind the research, but it’s a different thing if you’re not ready to write something. I did not read the Twilight series. I only watched the movie for my school project. The books were popular, yes, but the reviews made me think about giving it a try.”

“But did you like the movie?”

Tsa scratched the side of her face.

“Taylor Lautner was hot.”

“You said you liked the Shadowhunters series despite the major changes.”

“I like everything about Magnus and Alec.” Tsa winked.

“And the Harry Potter movies.”

“They should have let Fred live, at least, in the movie. Writing romance is hard, but it’s what I’m good at, though not as good as everyone else.”

“You’re better than other writers out there.”

“Then why am I still not popular?”

“Because you don’t write about possessive and obsessive billionaire heroes with massive sexual organs like it’s the only thing that matters.” Dustin rolled his eyeballs heavenwards.

Tsa put a hand in her mouth and laughed in amusement.

“I can’t believe you just said that!”

“What?”

“I thought you only read mangas.”

“Students frequent this coffee shop, you know. So, I get to hear their conversations even if I don’t want to. They were even comparing it. Would you read a story someone recommended to you just because she said, ‘Hey, you should read this story. You’ll love it. The hero got nine inches—”

“Shut up.” Tsa put a hand in front. “I’ve heard enough.”

But she eventually burst into laughter. Dustin, looking red in the face, laughed along, too.