Free Web NovelChapter 9: Rhea and Chopsticks
Rhea appeared like a trapped mouse under the clutches of a big cat.
She hadn’t gotten much interaction with males all her life because of her shyness, and after the apocalypse, getting trapped in an underground storage room with a bunch of dangerous looking men... she didn’t know what to do.
She thought getting close to Jacob would protect her, as it was obvious that he was the leader, but now, the same leader was crushing on this mysterious awakened as if he was a little fangirl.
Without a second thought, he had sent her walking next to the lying newcomer.
Still, she knew better than to deny the orders. Especially for something as harmless as assisting with food.
In addition, she was actually relieved from her food restriction! Jacob had told them to get whatever they wanted! This was huge!
Near her, Fredrinn, the scary yet young looking newcomer, was walking silently.
Every once in a while he glanced at her, sometimes causing their eyes to meet but Rhea averted hers every time.
She was too shy to hold direct eye contact.
"Uhm... so what do you want to eat...?" She asked when Fredrinn refused to break the silence between them.
"I don’t know. I liked the cup noodles." Fredrinn tapped his chin thoughtfully, and for once, he wasn’t being dishonest.
He really didn’t remember much about the food, only the famous dishes like pizza or burgers that would probably be too difficult to cook with their current appliances in this basement.
"Ah." Rhea nodded, her medium lengthened brunette hair bobbing along the motion of her head. Then she turned to look at him, her oceanic blue eyes meeting his out of pure accident before she lowered them again.
She was short, only around 5’2 or 5’3 in height with a slim waist and perfect curves. There were little freckles along her nose, but in Fredrinn’s opinion, they only made her appear cute.
"How about cup ramen...?" Rhea suggested meekly.
"Cup ramen?" Fredrinn tilted his head, "What’s that?"
’Sounds similar to cup noodles... I have heard it before but why can’t I remember this ramen thing?’
On the other hand, Rhea stopped walking.
Her shyness aside, she stared up at him, unafraid of the height difference or the direct eye contact as currently she was too shocked.
"You... don’t know what cup ramen is? Have you been living under a rock or something?"
Fredrinn blinked and looked up at the sky as he remembered the 4 moons that always used to circle Apolasia’s skies.
He nodded.
"I guess so?"
But Rhea didn’t share the same thought process as him, as she thought he was mocking her.
"You seriously don’t know what cup ramen is?"
"I do not. Is it good? It sounds like cup noodles that I just had."
"Yes. It’s better than the cup noodles that you just had." Rhea said as a matter of fact.
And that was all it took to snatch Fredrinn’s attention.
He thought that cup noodles were the peak of mankind’s culinary evolution as it was delicious, but this woman was telling him there was something better? freeweɓnøvel.com
How could he not get distracted? ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Though, he was still going along with his plan... Which was quite simple.
Rhea on the other hand, was clueless about the calculations in Fredrinn’s mind and the ticking timer of his quest.
She was more focused on reading his expressions and body language, noting how he was actually excited and not just faking it.
Together, they reached the cardboard boxes that were meant to store the instant foods such as cup noodles and packs of instant noodles.
Among them, there was a separate box that contained the different kinds of ramens.
Rhea pulled out two, also grabbing two pairs of disposable chopsticks before walking backwards.
"Should I hold them?" Fredrinn leaned towards her naturally, pretending not to be a creep as he allowed his hands to brush against her slender skin while he tried to grab the two cups from her hands.
But with surprising ease, Rhea slid herself out of his grubby hands, smiling politely, "It’s alright. I got it. Thank you for the offer, though."
"You sit here and I will come back in a jiffy, yes?" She pointed at the same table and chair he was sitting on last time.
Fredrinn nodded and waited patiently till Rhea returned later with two cups and chopsticks.
"Now we wait 5 minutes for them to cook." She said.
Fredrinn panicked.
5 minutes? That was much more than the time limit of his quest.
He had picked the food topic since he thought that making physical contact during it would be a lot easier, but now he was going to lose his chance due to the cooking time?!
Did he really have to drop all the mental gymnastics and just grab her hands without any excuse?
He could go like ’I find you very beautiful and I like you’ or something similar.
Of course, he would be rejected by her and would probably lose out on some of his charisma, but 100 LPs were worth it... no?
[ <LUST> suggests that the host’s current idea is foolish. A gentleman’s reputation is worth more than the gold itself. ]
’Gold ain’t worth shit in this apocalypse, you know.’
[ <LUST> suggests that the host should focus on the intent behind the words, not their actual meaning.
<LUST> also gives a reminder that only 3 minutes are left in the quest and they would be better spent brainstorming the plan to complete the quest instead of bickering. ]
’Tsk.’ Fredrinn clicked his tongue, but agreed to Lust’s words.
And then his eyes finally fell over the paper covered long objects that Rhea was carrying.
"What are those?" He asked with a tilt.
"They are chopsticks. Don’t tell me... you don’t know how to use a chopstick... Oh right... Makes sense. You didn’t even know what the ramen was, forget chopsticks..."
Fredrinn’s curiosity was piqued and more importantly, this sounded like an awesome cover to complete the quest first and foremost.
So he widened his eyes and asked, "How do you use them? Can you teach me?"
Rhea’s bravado evaporated faster than flash.
But she didn’t have the guts to deny his hopeful and excited look as she reluctantly got off her chair and peeled open a pair of chopsticks.
She held them between her fingers and made a snapping motion as if she was picking something straight out of air and eating.
"Now you try it." She handed the chopsticks to him, expecting him to learn just by seeing it once.
And frankly, Fredrinn could’ve done it if he tried to, but that would’ve defeated the purpose of this... question.
He failed intentionally, groaning as he looked up and extended his hands towards Rhea.
"I don’t understand, can you show me how to do it?"
This was going to be a guaranteed quest completion... no?
