The fire crackled by the fireplace behind Rachel. Warmth seeped into her cozy loungewear, making the cold January evening feel almost pleasant after all the chaos that had happened over the past week. She sat cross-legged by the coffee table, pondering the choices put to her.
Gerard had given her two teapots, one of porcelain and one of celadon. The porcelain contained chamomile tea while the celadon contained green tea. Its floral and earthy scents swept through the room as she took a deep breath in to let out a long sigh.
The chamomile tea reminded her of her memories from high school, when those quiet nights were spent studying for exams and thinking about what she'd ask Gerard to make for her lunchbox. Not too many obligations existed during those times. A rush of nostalgia rushed through her body as she wished she could go back to those times of calm.
The green tea, on the other hand, reminded her of the sleepless nights during her time as a young strong willed woman about to do her first serious rifts. She'd spend many days, maybe even weeks, carefully making her way through the rift run with her squad and company. Every turn they made felt like it would be their last. She had to hold strong to come back to her grandmother.
Although she was overbearing and controlling, she still dearly loved her. Gerard and her grandmother were her only family. Thus, the green tea did make her feel some form of melancholy as she thought of her parents.
Neither option felt really quite right tonight. Gerard had clearly put thought into the tea. A quiet night of calming chamomile or green tea, either one to calm her nerves down.
Coffee would have been great, even if it was decaffeinated. It was a stronger taste, as the bitterness could have masked the lingering thoughts of chaos that grew in the back of her mind.
"Why did Gerard bring two teapots?" Isla asked from somewhere behind her. Her voice had a clear tone of annoyance and her signature eye-rolling accent at her antics. "You're probably thinking, ooh, which tea should I have? The chamomile or the green tea because tonight's a night where nothing happens."
"I am not." Rachel's smile twitched as she turned to look at her. "I'm seriously considering which one to drink. The green tea still has caffeine."
"Then drink the chamomile. Stop being an airhead." Isla tiptoed up to look at the upper bookshelves. "Or mix them together, I don't know. I'm not a tea lover. Where's the coffee?"
"It's already 6 PM."
"Ugh, fine."
Isla stood back down and turned to Rachel. "Where's volume 4 of High School Host Club?"
"Fourth column, middle shelf, third row."
Crouching slightly down, Isla swept her hands across the bookshelf, counting the columns until the fourth and then to the third row. "Got it! Also forgot the first three volumes. I'll bring them back next time."
"Sure." Rachel finally chose, reaching for the celadon pot. Pouring the green tea into the white porcelain cup that came with the tea set provided by Gerard. The steam curled upward as she gently waved the scent up to her nose. Sipping the tea, it did taste like the sleepless nights in the rift, and she smiled because of it.
Isla went over to the coffee table, manga tucked under her arm, and sat by the chair. Grabbing one of the teacups, she poured the closest one to her, the porcelain one. Pouring the chamomile tea into her cup, she took tiny sips of it while opening the manga she took in one hand. "By the way, you still want my notes from last semester? You did miss the last month of the semester."
"Yes, please." Rachel took another sip. "But I really want to avoid Professor Ly this semester. Somehow she always grades my papers worse than yours, and we literally worked on them together."
"Just put up with her." Isla turned another page without looking up. "It's either her or the sleazy professor, and rumours are he was seen with two students at night in Downtown a week ago."
Rachel set her cup down on the table. "Spill."
Isla's grin was immediate and wicked. She pulled out her phone and swiped through her photos until she found what she was looking for. "I screen recorded just in case. Look at this. See those two girls? They're holding onto some guy, and if you watch the 14 second mark where he turns his face toward the camera..." She held the phone out. "That's definitely Professor Wilson. The pot belly, the graying hair, everything. And those two blond girls are Stephanie and Alexandra from our Managerial Economics class."
Rachel leaned forward, squinting. The video was clearly taken from across the street between two guys blocking the view. It was hard to tell, but the Kuromi plushie on the left woman's bag was definitely Stephanie and the other one had a Tokyo Banana keychain dangling off her phone, which was clearly Alexandra. The man in the middle had the same brown leather jacket that clearly didn't fit him. Graying hair and the oily smug smile was the signature of Professor Wilson.
"Is the video still on Instagram?" Rachel asked. "What about the comments? Where are the comments?!"
Isla quickly tapped at her screen, navigating back to the original post. However, only an error screen displayed. "It's deleted. But apparently he's got a faculty hearing scheduled after the semester ends. They can't let him go until he finishes the classes."
"Of course they can't," Rachel said, completely focused. "What about Stephanie and Alexandra? What happened to them?"
"Completely expelled. No refunds given. That's what I heard from the faculty staff anyways. And guess what happened in the girls' washroom by Professor Wilson's office?"
"What! TELL ME!"
"Well first of all, during nights even in the last semester, students complained it was locked."
Rachel squealed. "SO THEN?"
"Let's just say, they are not very quiet about their business."
Rachel squealed even louder. The professor is about to get what he deserves and the girls that tried to take shortcuts. "I thought they had boyfriends, though. Any news on them?"
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Isla shook her head. "Hard to tell. The guys don't really say much."
"Typical."
Suddenly, Rachel's phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw Gale's text on the lock screen.
[Gale: are you busy?]
Isla grinned.
"Shut up," Rachel said, then unlocked her phone to text a reply.
[Rachel: Kind of. Whats wrong?]
[Gale: are you free on saturday?]
Oh. Gale was asking her out. But she was supposed to go shopping with Isla at that time. Looking at Isla, her grin grew even bigger.
"It's ok. We can go shopping some other time," Isla said.
"No, it's fine. I just saw him on Tuesday," Rachel said. And it was true. She wanted to spend some time with Isla who she hadn't seen in over 6 months. During the time while they were trapped by RAE, she was afraid of not being able to see Isla anymore after they got out of the rift.
Humans... they were so fragile and short lived. Time with her best friend would be a short time in the age span their families lived by.
[Rachel: A bit...]
[Gale: can you come with me and my friends to an abandoned bridge down at old finch bridge to hunt for ghosts?]
[Rachel: Sorry, Gale. you have the magic ghost powder now though. You can do this. I believe in you.]
Gale was an Aurian. He'd live way longer than Isla. Now's the time to spend some quality time with her best friend.
"You sure, Rachel?" Isla said.
"I'm sure. It's fine, and I've scheduled shopping with him later anyways," Rachel said, putting her phone back into her pocket. "You wanna come?"
Isla looked at her deadpan. "Hell no. I'm not going to be a light bulb on that date."
"It's not a date."
"Oh yes, it is."
"It's not."
"Airhead."
"Gossip idiot." Rachel said.
"Proud of it. At least I don't call dates as 'fun outing with a friend,'" Isla said.
"Because it is. Besides, Gale is a little..."
"Different? Heard that one before. You got any snacks around here?"
"I can ask Gerard."
"Go go go. Can you ask him for banana bread? Please please please?"
"Sure," Rachel said.
Standing up and walking to her computer desk, she took the bell beside the monitor. Ringing it once, a couple of seconds later, 3 knocks echoed from behind the door.
"Come in!"
Gerard opened the door and came in with a bow. "I'm assuming Ms. Isla is wanting snacks?"
"Yes! Gerard knows me sooo well." Isla turned around from her chair. "Can I have some banana bread pleaaaase?"
"Of course. And for the young miss?" Gerard said.
"Can I have buldak ramen with spam and an egg in it? Make it two packs!" Rachel said.
Isla turned to Rachel. "Seriously? Didn't we just eat an hour ago?"
"Tea goes well with spicy ramen."
"Fine." Isla turned back to Gerard. "Can I have one too? Except without the egg and with cheese instead?"
"Certainly Ms. Isla and young miss." Gerard said. "I'll also have a refill of both teas when I come back."
"Thank you, Gerard!" Isla and Rachel said.
Gerard bowed with a smile and closed the door behind him.
A couple of seconds after the door closed, Isla turned back to Rachel instead of the manga still in her hand. "Did you clean your bookshelve? The order's all messed up."
"Huh? What could you possibly mean by that?" Rachel asked avoidantly.
"What happened to the other books?"
"What books? There's no other book."
"Uh huh. Where's the Serpent and the Wings of Night? Plated Prisoner? Zodiac Academy?! You had like whole shelves of romantasy before."
"Oh, those books?" Rachel took a long sip of her green tea. Hopefully, she didn't forget about her question. However, from the gaze that bore through her forehead, it looked like Isla wasn't forgetting any time soon.
"You're hiding something. Spill!"
"I'm not..."
"Is it about those twins? They tease you too much about it?" Isla sighed, shaking her head, then sipping on her tea. "Didn't you say you'd stop doing missions with them? You even called them cockroaches."
"They're cockroaches because they'd come out alive no matter what," Rachel chuckled a bit.
"Rachel Ann."
"Alright, calm down."
Rachel downed her tea. The memories of the rift came back as the green tea washed through her palate. Days and nights rewound every day in the agriculture sector. Yet the most fruitful experience of the whole thing was the puzzle room. After that, as much as she didn't want to tell those two idiots, they just kind of grew on her.
"This rift... we were thrown into it and like, you know, we had to work together for the whole time, just the 6 of us and we all kind of... just became friends, I guess."
"Sure," Isla said immediately. "But you let their teasing get to you. Why'd you leave ACOTAR on the shelf if you were planning to hide everything?"
"No reason," Rachel said. That book was the first romantasy book she'd ever read, one that was gifted to her by Isla. And she dug deeply into that hole ever since then. It was at the point in time where Isla and Leah comforted her the most during the 5 years of guilt.
Isla shifted into a smirk that could only mean trouble. Reaching for her purse beside her chair, she pulled out a book. The cover had a minotaur and a woman sitting on its lap.
Rachel's mouth gaped. The hairs on her skin stood up. Fire in the fireplace crackled even more. "What is that?!"
Isla ignored her question. Her smirk only grew snarkier as she cracked open the book to the first chapter and held it out toward Rachel on the coffee table.
"It's ok. Shhh.... Just read," Isla whispered.
Rachel knelt onto the carpet to read the first paragraph of the book. The first few lines were already something that caught her by the neck. The second and third came fast.
"Where did you even find this?" she whispered as she turned the page.
"Keep going. It gets better."
Suddenly, her phone buzzed again in her pocket. Pulling it out, it was Gale again.
[Gale: hey, i saw you use your phone at restaurant to pay. how do i do that?]
Rachel smiled at this cute trait of his. Of course, he didn't know how to use NFC payment on his phone. He was probably out of cash too.
"It's so cute seeing you smile at a text," Isla said.
"I-t-it-I-its just—" Rachel stammered then just sighed and typed in her reply.
[Rachel: Double tap the side button. Your card should show up. Then put your phone near the card reader thing.]
[Gale: thank you. this debt has been recorded.]
[Rachel: Gale... please don't do what erin does, please.]
[Gale: lol]
[Rachel: What you buying anyways?]
[Gale: quarter pounders. lets go to McDs sometime too! ill buy you quarter pounders.]
Her heart did a little flutter at the invitation. Making plans always created anticipation for the day of. It'd be fun to watch him devour the burgers just as he devoured the Big Breakfast at Fran's. However, she did like something else other than burgers.
[Rachel: I like the nuggets more. How about we share?]
[Gale: ok. youll give me your leftovers right?]
[Rachel: Sure, lmao.]
She set the phone down on the table and returned to read the book that was just given to her. "You're blushing," Isla said.
"It's the book."
"It's not the book."
"Fine, it's not the book."
Isla squealed while smiling at Rachel. "So, didn't you say we'd hike up a mountain some day with him?"
"Maybe in the spring or summer?"
"Summer, seriously? It's too hot."
"I'll give you a coin. It should keep you cool," Rachel said.
"Yay! Thank you!" Isla said.
Three knocks on the door interrupted their conversation. The door opened, and Gerard came in with a food trolley.
"Young miss, Ms. Isla. One loaf of banana bread, Buldak with spam and egg, and another buldak with spam and cheese." Gerard pushed the trolley near the coffee table. "Please clear the coffee table, and I'll set the dishes down."
The first thing Gerard set were the placemats for the bowls. Then, he set down the bowls along with the loaf of banana bread in the middle between Rachel and Isla.
"Enjoy your 'snacks'," Gerard said teasingly. "By the way, young miss, there is a scheduled visitor later this evening at 9 pm. William Elisworth would like to have a meeting with you."
"Who?" Rachel said. She seriously didn't know who that was, but the name did ring a bell.
Isla laughed. "Remember Will? The annoying guy?"
"Oh! Why is he coming here?" Rachel asked.
"He said, due to your sudden disappearance last month, he wishes to see you."
Isla grinned, side-eyeing Rachel.
Rachel put a hand on her face and shook her head.
"Oh poor guy, come on, Rachel. Just have a small talk with him. It'll be fine," Isla said clearly, egging her on.
"Isn't there a way to send him back?" Rachel asked.
"Lady Esther had already approved of it. It would be rude to send him back without a meeting, young miss."
"UGH, fine."
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