Project: Socialize

I turned the lights on with the remote on my phone and slowly got myself up from the ground. With a sigh, I relaxed my body, allowing my school bag to slip down my left shoulder until it fell. I effortlessly caught the falling bag before it hit the ground and walked past the living room to the hallway in the house and headed towards my room.

As I walked by, I casually glanced over towards the living room couch and then over to the kitchen counter. Nothing seemed to have moved, so I concluded that Loriana must not have returned home yet. However, most likely she will return home tonight. Therefore, I sighed as I thought about the troubles I would have to go through to conceal Emilia from Loriana when the two of them get home.

Come to think of it, I thought as I unbuttoned my school uniform and change into my indoor clothing, where has Emilia been the whole day? I did not see her anywhere around after school, and she's not in the house.

With those concerns, I slowly strolled back to the living room, adjusting the collar of the comfortable indoor t-shirt with one hand and my phone in the other. I then allowed my body to fall onto the comfortable living room couch. I leaned my head back on the back rest of the couch, looking over at the beautiful Vilheim skyline that existed on the other side of the Helliger River.

I heard the doorbell ring, and knowing that Loriana would've just unlocked the door, I knew that it would be someone that does not have the keys to the house. Therefore, I slowly approached the door, cautious that it might be a complete stranger that might mean ill. Even though there exists a high level of security in the building, you can never be too careful.

I walked over to the smart screen by the door and activated the small camera that acted similar to a peephole on the door. I discovered that it was Emilia who was outside so I unlocked the door and opened it for her to enter. She entered without saying much, and being the type of person I am, I didn't have much to say either. However, in my house, the one place where I yearn to feel the most comfortable, the awkward atmosphere made me quite uneasy. Therefore, with a sigh, I did my best in order to resolve the awkwardness with the use of a small talk.

"Where were you?" I asked as I followed her back to the living room. Both of us had taken a seat on the couch, although sitting adjacent to each other on the large couch.

"I was house-hunting," she explained. "I found a pretty nice spot that's quite close to here."

"That's nice. Where is it?"

Upon hearing my question, that mysterious smile became a teasing one. "Are you trying to know where I live?"

I sensed that what I had asked might've not been the best thing to ask a single woman. Therefore, with a slight panic, I began to explain.

"No," I said, looking away out of embarrassment. "I'm just curious."

What?

I turned to look at her with a dazed look in my eyes, unsure that I had heard correctly what she had just said.

"It's actually on the lower levels of the building," Emilia continued to explain. "I don't know if you know, but from the thirtieth floor and down, each floor houses multiple independent houses available for rent. The upper floors are for families."

"Well...I heard about it before from Loriana," I said, doing my best to recall what Loriana had said to me in the past while introducing me to our new home. "But because I only go to the first and this floor, I'm not really sure."

"I know," she said. "I live on the thirtieth floor, 3003."

"But um...don't you need to monitor me?" I asked. "How will you do that now?"

"I trust that you will manage yourself quite well," she smiled mysteriously. "However, I hope you won't mind coming occasionally to visit or for me to visit."

"Well...it depends." I looked to the side so as to avoid giving a direct answer to her question. "So when will you start living there?"

"The furniture will not be delivered until tomorrow, so I will have to spend one more night here."

"It's fine," I sighed. "But I would suggest you shower soon." I checked the time on my phone. "Loriana is going to come home tonight."

***

The sound of running water hitting the tiled floor in the bathroom was somewhat audible in the living room, but I masked it with the sound of the television program playing on the television. I was laying back on the couch, enjoying the cool wind that blew in from the opened sliding glass door as I watched the program that was being played. It was a popular game show that was currently on, and to be honest, it was actually quite funny.

Suddenly, I was surprised by my phone ringing. My phone...ringing. It was a sound that I rarely hear since I have no one on my contact lists that would call me except for the occasional phone call made by Loriana. However, for Loriana and I, we usually use a popular messaging app to contact each other. Therefore, I was quite surprised to even hear my phone ring to indicate an incoming call.

I picked up my phone from the couch and checked the caller ID. I was surprised to see the name Mura on it, and I thought to myself when did I ever add her number. My efforts to rediscover that memory led me to that day I spent with her at the karaoke spot...

Why is she calling me though? I answered the call and brought my phone closer to my ears.

"Hello?" I said into the speaker. My hands were shaking somewhat as I was unsure if that was how normal people answered phones.

"Good afternoon, Alevian," Mura's voice sounded quite energetic as it greeted me. "I heard from Muria that apparently you live next door."

"Yeah..." I glanced over towards the front door, knowing that past that door and a small hallway as well as another door was Mura, who was talking on her phone to me.

"What a coincidence," she exclaimed. "I didn't expect us to be neighbors."

"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."