“Ah, Miss Juana and Miss Yeoh, welcome to the Chapter House. Sit down and join me for this humble dinner tonight.”

Mateo guided them to the dining room, where a large rectangular table was fully set. Aron sat on the host seat, greeting them while they entered the room. He was always properly dressed up in an Edwardian style shirt, with a blue bow tie matching his eyes. The suspenders kept his trousers higher over his waistline, an old fashion way of wearing such accessories in contrast to the modern style.

“But it’s a pleasant surprise that you’re here tonight, Miss Yeoh..”

Original Post: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/51152/tales-of-teleios

“Oh, It’s Clara! She told me she’s scared to come here alone at night, so I just accompanied her. ” 😅

Jayda turned to Clara and gave an eye signal… At that moment, they were able to communicate with their minds, through slight facial expressions and minimal gestures.

[Don’t you try to ruin my reputation, Clara!] 😠

[Yes, ma’am!] 😰

The sound of the piano started to play. Frédéric Chopin’s Grande Polonaise brillante, perfectly played by Penn, the sound came from a pure white Steinway grand piano. He was well dressed compared to his attire during the morning. He had a white formal shirt, but with three buttons undone and a cummberbund on his waist. He flipped his hair and sparkles ✨ appeared surrounding his perfectly beautiful face. Oh god, he looks like an angel, Clara was intoxicated.

Suddenly a small plate of oyster 🦪 on shavings of ice and a slice of lemon were placed in front of her.

“The Coffin Bay oyster, fresh from the sea.”

That was Gabe in an unusual white chef uniform. Clara was puzzled. It seemed like all of them were actually hired by Aron and disguised as students. The oyster slowly moved as it struggled, and it did not look appetizing to Clara. 🤢

But she was hungry and did not want to request more. She grabbed the largest fork 🍴 on the table, thinking of stabbing the creature to end its life before swallowing it.

“Ahem!” Jayda made a sound to caught Clara’s attention.

[Idiot! Use the smallest fork! Didn’t you learn table manners? Don’t you embarrass me in front of Aron!] 😠

[So many forks on table, how the hell do I know which one is for what?!] 😫

Clara immediately changed to the smallest fork and followed Jayda’s way to eat that oyster. The slimy and mucus-like creature slid into her mouth. It was like drowning in the sea 😖 and she really dislike the texture and the taste of it. She never understood why people actually eat such disgusting things.

“Miss Juana, I must thank you for delivering the special atropine pens all the way. I have to apologize for switching your luggage.”

“Hey, so it’s your fault! Do you know those are some really really hard to get limited edition Indomee? They were only available in my country! And that’s my 3 month supply of noodles!” 😠

“Atropine? Those are not illegal, they are eye drops right? Why do you have to be so secretive?” 🤨 Jayda asked.

“You’re right, Miss Yeoh…” 🙂

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“But it would trigger some gossip if I imported them in a form of injectable vials.”

“My cousin just got attacked few months ago, so it is best to stock up some antidote in case of emergency”

Aron took out a piece of that special pen, he pressed the top of it with his thumb. The other end of the pen triggered a fine needle and injected out the liquid in the vial.

“This is a custom design pen that works like an insulin pen and is less invasive compared to the conventional atropine injector that has large needles and goes to the thigh.”

“You mean, there might be someone out there trying to attack you with a nerve agent?” 😐 Jayda asked again, but the question created a strange atmosphere. Clara was confused, she was unaware of what they were talking about. She wanted to know where her noodles were, but she felt such a question might not be an intelligent question to divert the topic between Aron and Jayda.

Pop! 🍾

Mateo popped open a bottle of champagne and poured it into their glasses. The sound did interrupted the conversation and lighten up the atmosphere.

“Well, let us not worry about that and enjoy our dinner.”

“Hors d’oeuvre Asparagus Salad with Champagne-Saffron Vinaigrette.”

Gabe served a large plate of salad. The plate was large, but the tiny size of the food covers only 20% of the space of that plate. The portion was as little as the size of a coin, decorated by small colorful flowers and greenish foam that looked like vomit.

[Oh God, I’m starving! I need my noodles now! And which utensil should I use now?] 😭

[Idiot! There will be more dishes! Don’t gobble the food like a hungry ghost! Keep your composure!] 😠

[It doesn’t even taste good!] 😭

😱 [How could you!? I was trained to cook better than the 3 Michelin stars chef!]

[Wait! Gabe? How were you able to get into our mind conversation?!] 🤯

[Ugh! It’s obvious, both of you are making those strange facial expressions!] 🙄

“Soups Duet of Consommé Olga.” 😒

The next dish was served with another glass of white wine, again it was in a small portion of clear soup with some vegetables.

“It is best that you move to my place here, Miss Juana.” 🧐

“What?” 😵

“Yes! Agree! We should! Some thugs just broke into our room and cut down the electricity! The whole place was ruined and we have no where to stay!” 😩 Jayda immediately interrupted Clara by exaggerating the event.

“I’m sure it is safer for me and Clara to stay at your place.”

“But we only have one guest room left in the chapter house, Miss, Yeoh…” 😅

“Don’t worry, we will be sharing a room so that we may watch out for each other!” 😙

“Miss Juana?”

“Ye… Yes…” 😵‍💫 Clara was confused and hungry, her mind was not on the right state to evaluate the situation. Stay in the chapter house full of men? Jayda, was physically a man! 😵 How could she share a room with her?

******************************

After another twelve dishes were served, Clara was still hungry. She was devastated by the horribly taste food served by Gabe. Especially the one with fluffy dark cheese mould on it. It was Gorgonzola, a veined blue cheese, from Piedmont, made from unskimmed cow's milk. All Clara can think of, was that it taste like wet socks and the texture was not pleasant at all. Jayda and Aron both enjoyed the dinner without complaint though.

It was midnight at 12am. Jayda already fell asleep 😴 on the only king size bed in the guest room, taking over the whole bed all by herself. 🛌

Clara was not able to squeeze onto the bed, since she felt strange about doing that. She walked out of the room and tried to find a couch for her to lay down. A strong familiar scent hit her nose, 😳 that was the scent of Indomee! She was so sure about it since it was her favourite instant noodle! She followed the trace of that scent and came to a door. She slammed open the door and found that Gabe, Penn and Mateo were sitting and squatting on the floor, cooking packets of the instant noodles 🍜 using an electric pot and they slurping the cooked noodles like drug addicts.

“MY INDOMEE!” 😫