33 Coincidence, Once Again (2/2)

”Yeah,” I bitterly laughed. ”Me neither.”

”So I heard that you, Muria, and Loyd was out searching for new members today after school.”

”Yeah. That did happen.”

”So,” she paused for a brief second before continuing. ”Did you find enough members for a club?”

”We got one,” I answered. ”So we need one more.”

”Alevian,” Mura's voice then became serious. ”You wanna know a secret?”

”If it's not too personal,” I sighed.

”Actually, the club already exists,” she whispered.

It was at that moment that I realized that the Loyd, Muria, and I were played by her. She had probably created the club using her teacher privileges and were just trying to net herself some entertainment by having us search for members.

”I mean the three of you can already start your club activities without looking for more members,” she chuckled. ”But I can't believe you actually found another member. I'm surprised.”

”It was Loyd,” I said, attributing the credit to where it was due.

”I know,” she responded. ”Because you do not have the necessary socializing skills and Muria is not the type to actively take the initiative and talk to others unless she feels close to them.”

”So why're you telling me this?”

”Because I want you to tell the others.”

”Can't you just tell Muria now?” I sighed. ”She's literally right next to you.”

”But that won't help in your rehabilitation.”

”Can you not say it as if I'm recovering from a disease of some sort? Fine...I'll do it.” My voice had a hint of frustration mixed within it. ”Anything else?”

”That's all for now,” her cheerful voice said. ”See ya.”

She hung up the phone, leaving me just sitting there on my couch and staring at the screen on my phone. I maintained staring at my phone, wondering where the hell my old, peaceful life went before I sighed and tossed my phone onto the open spot on the couch beside me. However, after a short while, maybe only a few seconds, I picked up my phone once again so as to browse the internet while listening to the program being played on the television in the background.

Slowly, I got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. I checked the time on my phone and confirmed that it should be time that I start making food. Emilia has to eat as well, and she has to finish before Loriana gets home, which according to my past experiences should be sometime after 7:30. It was currently 6:45, so I should be fine.

I walked over to the closed refrigerator and opened the door, peering in and was glad that there were still ingredients within it. I looked around the refrigerator and took out the ingredients. I laid them all out on the kitchen counter by the sink, which was away from the electric stove (see the map layout of Alevian's house in 'Info About Palisia' to get better understanding of layout).

What I wanted to make for dinner was fried rice. I first decided to chop up some vegetables for use later on when I am cooking. Therefore, I washed the cabbage that was going to use and also peeled the onion and carrots.. diced the onion until they were small little cubic slices. Next, I proceeded to chop up the cabbages into medium sized cubic slices, and as for the carrots, I made them the around the same size as the onions. I then proceeded to slice a cut of beef into neat cubes and season them with salt and pepper after placing the beef into a bowl.

I placed a pan on the electric stove, pressed the on button, and allowed the pan to heat. I actually quite like this stove since it displays the temperature of the pan that is above it on the small monitor located against the wall. While I allowed it to heat up, I mixed some eggs with salt and sugar. When I saw that the temperature was high enough, I poured in some oil, allowed that to heat up, and then dumped in the onions, allowing the fragrance of the onions to be extracted. Then, I dump the eggs into the pan to make the scrambled eggs that will be used later in the fried rice. I didn't allow the eggs to be cooked all the way, since later on I will have to place them over the heat once again. Therefore, I scooped them out and poured more oil into the pan.

I dumped the seasoned pieces of beef into the pan and began frying the beef until its outer surface began to exhibit a brownish color. Then, I removed the meat from the pan while keeping all the oil inside the pan.

I then began to prepare the rice itself. I was using rice that I had cooked the day before and I dumped all of it into the pan along with the vegetables I had prepared earlier, allowing them to be coated with the oil that was used and produced by the beef. An advantage of this is that the rice and vegetables will absorb all the flavor of the seasoned beef, giving it an aromatic smell and extremely pleasant taste. Once the rice was heated and the vegetables was cooked, I dumped the half-cooked scrambled eggs over it, mixed it, and then dumped the beef over it as well. Finally, after mixing it around for a bit, I turned the stove off as the dish was done.

I went to the nearby kitchen cabinet to retrieve the bowl plates that I will be using to hold the fried rice, and I saw that Emilia had finished showering and was now leaning against the outer kitchen counter with her elbows as a support for her head.

”You're a pretty good cook,” she said with a smile on her face.

”I'd say I'm alright,” I humbly replied as I filled up two bowl plates for the two of us and set the pan down on the stove once again. There were still plenty of food in the pan, but it was for Loriana when she gets home.

I walked over to the kitchen drawer and retrieved two spoons from it, sticking them into the fried rice. I then walked over to the dining table with the two bowl plates in my hands and set the table.

”Thank you,” Emilia smiled as she sat down in the seat opposite to mine.

”No problem.”

I then proceeded to take spoonful of the fried rice I had just made and deliver it to my mouth. The flavor was just as I had expected, and it would appear that Emilia liked it quite a bit judging by how her eyes widened with pleasant surprise.