Why is she still here anyway?

The last thing I remembered was losing my consciousness in front of the unit’s door. I assumed Hathaway brought me into the place but I didn’t expect her to still be here in the morning. I opened the door of my bedroom to be immediately hit by the fragrant smell of instant ramen—it’s the special kind I had been saving for special occasions.

The mismatch between my definitely unworn floral apron and her oversized hoodie were the ones catching my gaze immediately—Gentiana Hathaway was in my apartment, cutting little slices of chives to put into the bubbling hot ramen in the bowl. I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t help but stare at the whole scenery for a while.

The sound of TV was filling up the whole apartment. It was showing the early morning cartoon reruns, the ones that usually air on sundays. My eyes darted around and followed Hathaway who hurriedly brought the bowl of ramen to the coffee table in front of the TV. She crossed her legs and sat on the floor. Without a care in the world, her eyes focused on the TV while the chopsticks and spoon in her hands danced around from the food then into her mouth.

One. Two. Three mouthfuls. She stopped and turned her head to the left. Her innocent gaze was halfway blocked by the steam that fogged up her thick pair of glasses. Her hair that was tied up stood clumsily as she tilted her head up.

“You want some?”

“I’m amazed that’s the first thing you said. Go on, eat my special edition ramen.” I walked to the kitchen area and started to boil a jar of water.

“Do you have Earl Grey?”

“Really,” I turned to her, holding the box of tea bags I was going to brew. I shook my head in disbelief. “The audacity.”

“Do you?” She turned back to the TV.

“Matter of fact, I do. Geez.” I let the steam overflow through the spout of the kettle while I prepared a few bags of tea–Earl grey for Hathaway and Jasmine for me with a dash of milk. Quick breakfast was a couple of toast, a spoonful of marmalade, and a pair of sausages grilled to perfection. A sunny side egg was added to the whole thing as I was bored waiting for the unusually large amount of water to boil.

I caught Hathaway staring at me. Her hands stopped, letting her noodles get slightly soggy. A smirk formed around my lips—I shrugged.

“You want some?”

“Yup. Runny one.”

“God, you do realize this is the first time you’re even here, don’t you? Hesitate a little bit, damn.”

“We’ve been friends for years. In person or not, what’s the big deal?”

Disbelief. I threw a playful glare at her before actually making her the requested runny sunny side egg. I realized my fridge was full of ingredients. Dad, a bunch of frozen food is not enough nutrition, you know? 

“All this ingredients in the fridge and you picked instant ramen.”

“I don’t cook. Simple.” Hathaway just shrugged my comment away.

“Well, at least you can chop things up—” That moment I noticed the remains of clumsily chopped chives in the trash bin, such a waste. “Nevermind.”

“What? You expected me to be able to cook because I’m a woman?”

“Nope. Because you’re an adult.”

“Touché.”

Bubbles started to form, breaking the surface tension of the boiling water. I took the kettle off and poured its contents into a series of cups with floral patterns on it. Unmanly? So what? Earl grey, huh? I remembered that it was Aki’s favorite. In fact, the only reason I had this in my cupboard was the fact that he would whine every single time I ran out of the bags I usually stole from dr. Burke’s office. Even that annoying voice of his couldn’t be heard ringing in this very apartment anymore–

“Sota!”

“Huh? Ah!” The boiling water overflowed due to my spacing out. Taking a few steps back to avoid the hot water, I managed to let it douse only a part of my trousers. At the same time, smoke broke out from the gap between the egg’s edges and the pan’s surface. “Fuck! The Egg!”

I hurriedly saved it. It was crispy at the sides but at least it wasn’t burnt. The problem was just the fact that it’s far overcooked. I stood there for a long minute. What am I doing? Taking a deep breath, I regained my composure.

“Sorry, Vi- Hathaway, I’ll redo everything. What was it? Earl grey tea and sunny side egg and–”

“Stop.” Hathaway held my hand that was getting quite frantic. She took the creased paper towel from my grasp while grabbing my shoulder. “I’ll clean it up,” she said.

“But-”

“Eat!”

“The runny egg.”

“It’s just a sunny side up! I’m not gonna die just from overcooked eggs. Sit! And! Eat!”

Unable to refute, I took my breakfast to the dining table not far from the living room. Hathaway swiftly cleaned everything up. I could only be lost in my thoughts as the morning went.

“Sorry Hath- Violette.”

“Pick one,” she moved to the seat across from me with the bowl of ramen and the overcooked fried egg dumped in it nonchalantly. Her eyes casually darted back and forth between me and the television. “Now after everything is revealed, just pick one.”

“Really? I get to pick?”

“It’s easier that way.”

My feet shook with excitement, fidgeting with the prospect that I got to call her with any nickname I could come up with. The first thing in my head was “Ginny!”

She scowled at me with a questioning look. Her annoyed face was somehow comforting in the middle of the morning’s confusion. “What did you say?”

“It’s from Gentiana. Ginny!.”

“I didn’t ask where that came from.” Strongly, she shook her head. “Just no. That’s how my late grandmother called me.”

“What about Tiana?”

“The princess? Fuck no.”

“Hathie?”

“That just sounds like an old musical.”

“Gen-gen?”

“Oh my god! Just call me Anna, dimwit!” She slammed her hand onto the table, annoyed and embarrassed. It definitely wasn’t due to the ramen steam warming up her face but the red complexion around her cheeks and ears basically told me everything. They all contrasted with her pale purplish hair. “And stop masking everything by making jokes. You’re better than this.”

Those last words just immediately got to me like swords right to the chest. She was right and I couldn’t even deny it. I took a deep breath and sighed it out.

“I’m sorry — I didn’t mean to do that because everything this morning was — wait! That’s not even the problem here. Why are you still in my apartment?”

“You collapsed, why shouldn’t I be here?”

“You could just leave when I woke up.”

“True, but–”

“But?”

“My morning anime would look really good on that huge TV of yours. So I stayed.”

“Seriously?” All worries in my head just suddenly collapsed into a look of disbelief. “What happened with ‘I wanna make sure you’re safe?’” My voice mocked her a little.

“Well, that too, but Magical Minstrel Mederith-chan is definitely better in HDR.”

My hand just automatically smacked my own forehead in disappointment. She had always been like this, going around at her own pace but this was the first time I experienced it in person. Gentiana Hathaway, Violette, no, Anna was someone I met on Worlds of Fate, an MMORPG I used to play a lot back in the days. I believed our first encounter was a full on raid where she took first in the DPS leaderboard despite taking a healer class. She was wild that time.

“Anyway, I need to get ready for class.”

“You’re going?” Anna’s face fell into disapproval.

“I’ve been away for more than a month before and after three days of absence, I shouldn’t take anymore days off, don’t you think?”

“In this situation? You’re not fit to go back to class yet. Sota, you should really–”

“Please let me go. That’s the only way to get everything out of my mind.” I stood up. “The government is taking care of my family’s funeral and there’s nothing I can do for Maria. The least I should do is to go back to school.”

“Fine.” She put the chopstick on the bowl after finishing her breakfast. “I’ll still keep an eye on you, though.”

“So you’re going too.”

“Obviously. Not gonna miss a class over this. I need to keep my grades up.”

“Shouldn’t you go home then? It’s not like you can wear my clothes to school.”

“No need. I brought a change of clothes.”

“Oh, I see. No problem then,” I walked to the bathroom nonchalantly before all the questions rushed through my head. “What? You brought them?”

“Yes.”

“And supplies?”

“Obviously. You don’t have my usual hair products or make up, do you?”

“When?” My eyes darted around left and right, studying the situation. A bag that I didn’t recognize rested on the side of the couch with another tote bag that’s probably full of school supplies. “How? Why? When?”

“Well, I realized I needed to go to school today so I went back home around midnight while you were out cold.”

Once again, I was overwhelmed by the urge to massage my temple that was slowly succumbing to fatigue. “If you have the time to do that, just stay at your own home, dammit.”

“And let you spill boiling water all over yourself while burning your apartment?”

A pause. I couldn’t find any counter argument against that. I could barely say anything the past three days at the police station and the moment I reached here, I just collapsed. I could barely function this morning. If Anna wasn’t here then what would even happen? She was right and the only thing I should feel at that time was gratitude. I sighed.

“You’re an idiot, Anna.”

“Right back at you, stupid.”