“Oh, she’s not here.” Mark continued. “Hi, Sasha.”

  He looked up at the man and was surprised to find the three men together, smiling. Well, except for Lio; his expression was indifferent.

  “You went together?” Sasha mumbled. He was almost certain that they'd have parted ways. Had they become friends in his absence?

  Mark took an intake of breath as he wandered towards the table; the other men followed. “Smells good in here. What did you get?”

  “Nothing special.” Sasha downplayed. His eyes wandered to the bin where he’d placed the other orders. The men sat where they had earlier and set their meals on the table.

  Yue questioned the man on his right. “Why did you leave?”

  Sasha slowly rotated his head to face him. “I didn’t see the point wasting my time.”

  Lio swallowed his food before joining in. “I’m with Sasha here. We have a goal, and we should get there quickly. There is no time to waste.”

  “Is there something else you’re not telling us?” Mark eased in closer to him while pointing his plastic fork at Lio’s face.  In return, Lio scowled. Then, a second later, Mark pulled away, laughing.

  “I just meant that we should get a move on and get to the fun parts and the performances.” Lio provided the man with a truly beautiful smile.

  Mark stared at him, his face blank now. “That may work on our fans, but don’t do that to me.”

  “Isn’t the whole experience fun?” Yue wondered.

  “For you, maybe.” Lio’s smile abruptly disappeared. “Tell us, why did you give up long-jumping?”

  “I can’t wait to dig into this!” Chris happily announced, returning to the room. She carried a basic store-made sandwich.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Sasha watched Yue’s body relax.

  “So many secrets here.” He muttered, taking another bite of his food.

  As Chris sat in her place between Sasha and Mark, Lio interrogated.

  “Is that all you’re having?” Though his voice was cold, he was concerned that she wasn’t eating enough.

  “Yes. This is fine.” All four men could tell that her smile wasn’t real.

  Sasha felt bad about binning his other orders, but he couldn’t exactly give any to her now. While he tried to think of a solution, a chair was scraped back.

  “It’s your turn to leave?” Mark asked Lio’s back. He didn’t respond.

  “What is it with you guys, always walking out?” Mark’s tone was most unlike his usual. “You both say that you don’t want to waste time, but we can’t do anything when you leave.”

  “It’s okay, Mark. We’re still on a break anyway.” Chris did her best to ease the atmosphere again. After that, the group ate in awkward silence.

  Thankfully, Lio returned only five minutes later from the building’s kitchen. Placing himself at the table, he took his spoon and started separating some of his food onto the plate he’d brought with him.

  “Eat it.” He ordered, passing the plate and spoon across the table to Chris. She hesitantly took it. Having finished her simple sandwich while he was gone, she was able to start eating it straight away. After blowing lightly on the still hot dish, she slowly took a bite. Without missing a beat, Sasha grabbed his bottled water and slammed it in front of her. The woman couldn’t understand his action until after she’d had a couple more bites.

  Her mouth began to burn up with the spiciness of the dish. As this happened, Lio continued eating his own without so much as a little discomfort.

  “Water.” Sasha reminded her, bringing his own fork to his mouth. Chris quickly opened the bottled water and gulped half of it down.

  “What a waste.” Lio sighed.

  “Are you trying to kill her?” Mark raised his voice.

  Lio put his spoon down and tilted his head. “What’s your problem? Are you wanting to fight me? I’m ready when you are.”