Dinnertime in the Shafi household consisted of family conversation, loud laughter, and definitely some kind of unnecessary request. But today was different. Well, it had something to do with Ola being busy for the first time in two and a half weeks at work, and Freda not seeing her at the same spot for the first time in two and a half weeks.

Ola's day at the office had been a little bit pre-occupied since she had to sort through a ton of mail which had been regarded to the editor of the newspaper instead of the design department. She had to sort and collect them all before transporting them to the floor where the real work actually happened.

The floor which was completely different from the one she worked at. There was more action on floor 12 of the building. Ola couldn't pinpoint it but there was more hustle and bustle on the floor as she watched people walk over and back to their cubicles in quick strides.

It felt like an extreme sport, just working at that floor.

She wondered why the had such a chill environment while just two floors above them; everyone was practically moving at the speed of light.

As Ola had guided herself from the cubicle area to the mail room at the very back of the floor area, she raised her eyebrow at what she had witnessed.

There was a total of four men who were frantically working through heaps of letters, as they sorted them all wordlessly.

Ola's presence had certainly been a nuisance to them as she had knocked on the open door just to gain their attention.

"We got you guy's mail on floor 10." One of the men had widened his eyes in terror as the other three groaned loudly. Ola somehow thought that it was her fault that these poor four men were greatly overworked, so she did something very unexpected.

Something I hadn't written for her to do. Like, I wanted her to spend the whole day listening to Freda whine and watch the flowers shining behind the woman's head, but no, Ola just had to go against my wishes.

"I could help you guys out a little if you want."

It was as if all of the men had been rewarded a full paid vacation to some exotic country, as all of them smiled widely and wordlessly made room for Ola. She brought the letters and began sorting them onto a small space at the large desk, which was in the center of the room. And that was practically how she spent her whole day.

Working at the wrong department. Not to forget how she was two floors away from Freda the whole day, who had come to the mail room at their own floor just to spend some time with Ola.

But Ola wasn't there. Only Howard was there, sat in his chair playing some kind of horror game on his gaming computer.

Freda hadn't even bothered to ask Howard since she knew how zoned in the man was always, as she sighed disappointingly and made her way back to her desk. A feeling of longing made itself known inside of her heart.

But just as her heart had constricted with the fact that Ola wasn't there at her usual spot in the mail room – her heart suddenly sped up with the idea of her having a reason to visit her apartment instead.

They lived just next door to one another anyway, and what better way to make it up to Ola's mother as well who had given her cookies when she had first moved in just next door.

And that is how Ola's dinnertime with her parents had been taken over by a red head with a bright smile. The Shafi household had just sat down at their three-person dining table when the doorbell had gone off.

Ola had groaned and gotten up to check who it was while Mr. and Mrs. Shafi looked at each other with a confused expression. No one had ever come over to their place during dinnertime.

"Hi." Freda had smiled instantly as Ola opened the front door with a frown. "What are you doing here?" Her question was ignored as Freda held out a plate. "I brought Bratwurst to share with you guys."

Ola raised an eyebrow as she found herself repeating one single word from Freda's whole sentence. "Share?"

"Can I come in?" Freda ignored the brunette's question again as her smile didn't falter. The red head had also noticed how Ola wasn't sporting a scarf around her neck which gave her more opportunity to appreciate her neck.

Freda had a slight thing for necks and collarbones. And since she was an inch or two shorter than the other woman, she was definitely liking the show of skin.

The red-head had been brought out of her thoughts as Ola stepped aside so she could invite the red-head inside. There was still a frown on her face which didn't seem to leave as she watched Freda walk inside of the apartment.

Ola closed the front door with her frown still in place as she watched the flowers and rainbows following Freda further into the apartment.

"Hello." Freda had waved her hand at the couple sitting at the dinner table as Ola joined them, standing beside Freda with the same frown on her face.

Yes, yes, Ola frowned a lot. But it was her fault in the first place. She should've stuck with the story instead of doing useless work in the damn 12th floor mail room!

"I'm sorry for disturbing your dinner time." Freda's smile said otherwise as she held out the plate, she had brought with her. It featured four sausages.

"Is this pork?" Mrs. Shafi asked up with an uneasy smile which caused Mr. Shafi's eyes to go wide with alarm. Ola's frown deepened as she shook her head in disbelief before taking the plate away from the woman. "We don't eat pork."

"Oh. Its beef." Freda was the one frowning now as she looked at Ola, who didn't really care anymore. "What are you doing here, Freda?"

"Ola!" Her mother was there to scold the woman as she got up to slap her daughter's arm. "That's no way to talk to a guest." Ola frowned as she saw her mother quickly go to Freda's side and practically pushed her down on the seat that Ola had occupied only moments ago.

Freda sat down with a smile as she thanked the older woman. "I thought I should join you for dinner since I didn't have a chance to eat lunch with Ola today." It was as if everything was going wrong for the brunette who was now in the scrutiny of her mother's gaze.

"Why? Was Ola not at work today?" Mr. Shafi had asked up as he raised an eyebrow at the new addition to their dining table while Ola stood mindlessly with the plate of bratwurst still in her hands.

Freda glanced over at the older man before she shrugged innocently. "She wasn't in the mail room today." As the red-head's eyes turned to stare at the brunette, she waited for answers.

Yes, this was a bad way to find answers, but she had no other option since Ola didn't seem to care about these things anyway. Ola had no idea how horrible Freda's day had been without her. Freda had gotten all of her work done earlier than usual and then Mr. Ericson had come over to her and given her the rest of the day off since she had nothing else to do. Yes, that was the absolute worst for Freda.

"We accidently got the letters for the editor, so I went to go give it to them at the 12th floor. And then I just helped out the boys there since they were short on hands." Ola had answered coolly as she placed the plate of bratwurst on the dining table before going to her room to get herself a chair to sit on.

The only chair they had spare in their apartment, was the one that had all of Ola's clothing haphazardly placed on.

She didn't take much time as she had lifted all of her clothing items and discarded them down by her study table before taking the chair out to the dining area, where Freda had acquainted herself well with Mr. and Mrs. Shafi.

"We're so grateful you got our daughter a job." Ola had caught her father speak as she silently brought her chair to set it down beside her father's. She sat down wordlessly as Freda replied. "Oh, we needed someone in the mail room anyway."

Freda's smile was effortless and shiny as Ola had noticed multiple times before. She would always see some kind of flowers blooming whenever Freda gave any hint of a smile. It was strange for her to even believe.

"Do you see flowers behind her head?" Ola had whispered next to her father as she grabbed a sausage from the plate Freda had brought with her.

The Shafi household had easily added Freda to their dining table as she had been handed a plate and had both dishes of food pushed towards her.

"Are you okay, child?" Mr. Shafi had frowned over at his daughter, who shook her head dismissively.

"It must be lonely, right?" Ola's ears twitched as she heard her mother, who looked pitifully at the new addition to their dinner time. Freda, at first, didn't really understand what the older woman meant as she glanced over at Ola before turning back to Mrs. Shafi. "Pardon?"

"Living alone in such a huge apartment." Mrs. Shafi clarified as her daughter rolled her eyes.

"Her apartment is the same size as ours."

Mr. Shafi had smiled a little at his daughter's response as Freda nodded her head in agreement. "Oh yeah, it's literally the same as yours." Her smile was genuine as she looked over at the older woman. Mrs. Shafi wasn't done yet though, as she placed her hand on top of Freda's idle one.

"I can only imagine what type of misery you must go through each day, having no one to talk to at home." Freda didn't really know what was happening anymore as Ola frowned as well. Mr. Shafi was still eating his dinner heartily though, since he knew what this was all about.

His wife was apparently seeing herself in the red head, when she used to be her age. They had married at a young age and since Mr. Shafi had to go to work, Mrs. Shafi spent most of her day all alone at home, other than the times when her mother-in-law would come along to visit. She had no hobbies other than cooking which was sometimes burdensome since she had no one to feed her cooking to.

"Uh – I have a dog." Freda spoke up dumbly and the brunette nodded this time, remembering the slobbering mess of a dog the red head had.

Mrs. Shafi frowned as she let her disgust be visibly known. "Dogs have too much saliva."

Well, she wasn't wrong as Ola agreed with her mother. Their whole family disliked dogs since they always had their tongues out to salivate and they were also a bit ditzy. But Freda didn't mind as she smiled at the older woman. "He keeps me happy a lot of times."

"Oh, my poor child."

Ola had no idea what her mother was about to do next as she brought her attention back to her food and away from the red-head, the flowers in full bloom behind the said red-head, and her own mother.

"You can just come over for dinner every night." Ola didn't seem to care much about her mother's request or statement, or whatever the hell it could be. But Freda. Oh, she was a whole other story as she blushed wildly and looked over at Ola for help.

There was a part of her which was delighted by this proposition since it would mean being nearer to Ola but it also meant spending time with her family, which was almost very domestic.

Ola, seeing Freda's face almost match her hair-color, looked taken aback before she cleared her throat and looked at her own mother. "Mama, let her breathe."

Mr. Shafi laughed as he saw his wife frown over at their daughter.

"I appreciate the offer, but I just can't impose." Freda spoke up after a while as she gave her best smile to the older woman, who had suddenly wished for a son, so she could've asked this woman's hand in marriage for him. But since she didn't have a son, she just settled for her daughter having this woman as the closest friend she could have.

Sure, mom.

"Nonsense! We would enjoy having dinner with you." Ola raised an eyebrow at her overexcited mother before she and her father shared a glance.

Now, they were both being vary of this current situation. Freda glanced at Ola once again, as if asking for permission. She felt like she needed to know how the brunette felt about this before giving the older woman a response.

Ola shrugged in response since she wasn't even sure what this meant for them. It wasn't such a surprise for the father-daughter to see the older woman become so friendly with a complete stranger. 

Mrs. Shafi waited for Freda's response as she took a bite of one of the sausages the Freda had brought over. She took a bite of it before she herself steered their conversation into a different direction. 

"Did you make this yourself?" Now this was a question Freda was more than happy to answer as she nodded her head. "From scratch."

It was as if Ola had seen her mother's irises turn into little hearts as she chuckled at how her mother looked absolutely pleased with Freda somehow.

And I felt like I had to tone down Mrs. Shafi's delight for Freda a little. I wasn't here to have the mom fall for the red head. Down girl, down!

"You have to join us for dinner from now on." It wasn't forceful as Mrs. Shafi smiled at the other woman, wanting nothing more than to provide company for the red head. There was no doubt that the woman had seen a little bit of herself in the younger woman which had made her want to be nicer to her.

"I'll have to buy a dining table chair then." Ola smirked which didn't go unnoticed by Freda, who blushed a little at her. It wasn't a bad proposition and as Freda let her answer out into the open, Ola wondered why her chest had felt so warm.

Maybe it was acidity, she concluded, as she looked down at the almost eaten sausage. Beef never really set right with the woman in the first place, but she had to admit that the bratwurst was delicious.

Maybe she could ask Freda to make some more for her, but she thought against it as she scolded herself for thinking that the red head would have time to fulfill her wishes even.

If only Ola wasn't so oblivious.

The brunette smacked her ear out of nowhere getting surprised expressions from the three persons sitting with her at the dining table. Smiling dismissively at them, Ola spoke up. "Just a fly."

Sure.

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