Free Web NovelChapter 10: Food Wars
Rhea proved that she wasn’t any normal introvert, she avoided physical contact too!
But unfortunately for her, Fredrinn didn’t have enough time to look for a new target.
She tried to teach him how to hold the chopsticks from afar, giving pointers or just barely grazing his hand to correct the motion, but it never worked.
Fredrinn kept ruining it every time, acting as if he was trying his best.
Finally when Rhea was close to losing her patience, Fredrinn placed a gentle suggestion.
"Can you just do the action using my hand? I don’t really mind." He sighed in frustration like he didn’t have any ulterior motives.
Though Rhea didn’t see any other alternative either as she nodded.
"That may be true... so, curl a finger between them and hold them tight like this..." She leaned forward, her slender and soft fingers curling over him as she fixed his posture.
The moment the contact was established, Fredrinn began a mental stopwatch, counting down the seconds as he implemented her suggestions perfectly.
Even Rhea was surprised how quickly he got the motions down when she was teaching him.
’I must be a good teacher, eh? Too bad I never tried to get a career in it. Meh, maybe they would need good teachers in the apocalypse too?’ She was deep in her delusions, not realizing that her hand was still on his and still repeating the same basic grab and release gesture using chopsticks.
When she did realize, she moved away at the speed of lightning, blushing slightly as she murmured, "So you understand now?"
Fredrinn smiled, "Yes."
Right in front of his eyes, the quest completion notification had popped up.
100 LP has been deposited in his balance.
The quest wasn’t as difficult as he had made it to be, but Fredrinn felt accomplished regardless.
It was these little wins that mattered.
Rhea had returned back to her seat and was pretending to scroll her phone while looking around the basement.
She thought that Fredrinn would start a conversation himself, but the man appeared to be lost in his own mind to break the awkward silence.
"You don’t know about cup ramen, you don’t know about chopsticks, though the second part is pretty understandable." She pointed out.
"Is it?" Fredrinn smiled as he turned his attention to her, "I thought that I was the dumb one for not knowing a common thing."
"Ah! No no..." She waved her hands frantically, "Chopsticks aren’t as common here in America, so you’re fine. I am just a bit of a foodie so I know some stuff."
"Right." He nodded, "So like, how did this group form? Were you all in a nearby place and found this spot or something? I saw some people having blood splatters and wounds on them, so I can assume that you had a couple close calls."
"Yeah, we all were staying in the same hotel. I was in a room with my sister when it all happened, and after coming out, we saw some people running. So we just followed them and here we are." Rhea replied in a saddened tone, "That’s my sister there." she pointed at a short woman dressed in shorts and a tank top.
She was laughing without a care at something a guy said, acting chummy with the group and looking like she knew what she was doing.
It was obvious that she was the more extroverted sister.
"It’s a good thing you both are alright and together then." Fredrinn nodded.
"Yeah it is!" Rhea nodded firmly, "But, we saw so much blood and horror on the way... I am rather a scaredy cat, so I couldn’t even handle as much gore. But still, I am worried about our families back home."
The mention of the family suddenly awakened a memory in Fredrinn’s brain.
A grown up man, a lovely middle-aged woman, one tiny little bundle of cuteness, wrapped in baby sheets and finally a white coloured dog.
That was the image that his brain formed when hearing the word family.
But, unfortunately, Fredrinn didn’t remember any other details.
Hell, he couldn’t even remember what they looked like, just the outline.
"Where are you from?" He asked non commitally, just wanting to keep the conversation going but not paying much attention.
"I am from a small place near Kentucky." Rhea replied, checking the timer on her phone before clapping her hand excitedly.
"Okay! These are cooked now!" She picked up the chopsticks and peeled off the lid before taking the sauce.
She first emptied her cup of excess water, before sliding it to him and then emptying his cup.
"The sauce is spicy, so you should only add as much as you can handle. If you aren’t sure, then only add half or so." She warned. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"I can handle spice." Fredrinn replied confidently, remembering about the raw peppers that he had to eat in Apolasia just to improve his mana affinities.
Compared to that spiciness, this stuff should be child’s play.
Thinking that, he emptied the sauce pouch and mixed the noodles inside.
The noodles were thicker than the ones he just ate in cup noodles, and the sauce smelt kind of funny, as if the creator only wanted to make it spicy for no reason without actually trying to balance out the flavours.
Still, Rhea had claimed that this stuff was supposed to be tastier than the cup noodles.
Fredrinn decided to trust her advice as he raised a couple strands using a chopstick and placed them near his lips, slurping them down.
Just as he had expected, the flavour was spicy. Pretty hardcore at that, though not to the point that he couldn’t handle it.
He took another slurp, chewing it and swallowing as he sighed.
"I am sorry, I think I like cup noodles more." He said to Rhea, making her hands freeze in the air like she had just heard blasphemy.
She slowly turned to look at him, disbelief obvious on her face.
"You added too much spice, and now you can’t handle it. Of course it will taste bad to you. I already warned you." She replied coolly.
"No, it’s not about the spice. It’s about the flavours. They are pretty all over the place and the focus is on making the eater feel the chilli, not the elegant blend of spices." Fredrinn defended himself.
"..." Rhea didn’t believe him for a second, "You’re just saying all that to hide the fact that you actually CANNOT handle that much spiciness."
He narrowed his eyes, meeting hers in challenge, expecting her to back off like always.
But surprisingly, Rhea held the gaze.
"Alright, you added half sauce, no? Let me taste yours. I will prove your point." Fredrinn challenged.
