Chapter 14: Eating noodles for the first time

Krystal couldn't get herself together. She was still staring at the position where the delivery boy stood, though he was no longer there.

"Krystal." Carly called, jolting her out of her daze.

"Who... Who was that?" Krystal asked with her eyes flowing with interest.

"Oh, that was Justin. The delivery boy." Carly answered.

"He's the one who only shows up when there's a delivery?" Krystal asked and Carly nodded. "His looks are top notch, no wonder he's the delivery guy. Customers will call for more delivery just to see that face. I bet he gets a lot of tips too." She didn't seem to hold back on the praises and kept going. "His eyes, so pretty."

"Krystal, do you have a crush on Justin?" Carly asked, suspiciously

"No, not at all." She answered, smiling anxiously. "Well, I've got a lot of tables to clean so I better get back to work." She slipped away.

The little bell above the door rang and Quinella walked in with a few things in her hands.

"Oh, you're here." Krystal approached her and gave her a hug. "How was school?"

"The system was strange compared to the one in Britain but," she smiled. "It was fine."

"That's great to hear."

"I'll drop my things and come help." Quinella said, heading to the back to where staff lockers were.

Quinella took off her blouse and put on the shop's T-shirt and tied an apron around her waist. She walked out with a napkin, hoping to help Krystal with the cleaning but by the time she came out, Krystal was already done with the cleaning and was attending to customers.

She watched her keenly and noticed she was very polite and patient with the customers. Something you don't see in a princess who grew up with a lot of servants waiting on her.

Other customers arrived and Quinella also got busy. It was a long day and the sun had already set.

Krystal's eyes fell on the wall clock and noticed it was past nine.

"Gosh, where did the time go?" She exclaimed. "It seems dinner is a bit late today." She said and Felix, who walked up to her in silence, patted her head.

"Come on, let's hurry back home so that I can make dinner." He said and Krystal smiled in satisfaction.

'Good. He's treating me more casually.' she thought. "Why don't we eat out instead? I mean, it's too late to start cooking and I think I might die of hunger before you finish." She suggested and Quinella laughed.

"Okay. Since you're so hungry, why don't we eat some instant noodles?" He suggested and her face lit up.

"Like ramen?" She asked and he nodded. "Oh, I've heard about it and always wanted to try it but grandfather always said it was unhealthy and... " She paused and looked over at Carly talking to the manager. She probably shouldn't be talking about that. "Anyway, is it as delicious as they say?"

"Hm, think of it as spaghetti but lighter. Way lighter and the ingredients used to make it... Well, you'll find out for yourself." Quinella explained and she nodded. "But if you want, we can get something else. There's also dumplings and tofu and..."

"No." Krystal suddenly snapped. "I want to try this... Instant noodles."

She looked determined and to her, it was probably 'another step to being average'.

"Okay. Let's get instant noodles." Felix said and they all agreed before waving the rest of the staff goodbye.

They walked for a while before getting to the local market which was still buzzing at this time of the night.

There were a lot of food vendors advertising their meals with a sign board and boasting about their food's popularity with the amount of customers they had.

The view was all new to Krystal and she looked round. Who knew there was such a thing?

"This stall looks okay." Quinella said, pointing at the noodle stall. They approached the stall and sat on a bench while Felix went to order.

The bench was a bit hard and uncomfortable but Krystal did not voice out her discomfort.

Krystal watched as Felix made their order and her eyes darted to the rest of the market. It was really fascinating. Even at night, there were still a lot of people fearlessly roaming the streets and selling their stuff.

They must've been very confident in the security of that place. If not...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the steaming bowl of ramen that had been placed in front of her.

The bowl of ramen had different ingredients decorating it like carrots, leaves, and the two half sides of an egg.

It looked fascinating.

She looked at the shop stick that accompanied the meal and separated them but accidentally broke one.

"Ah, I didn't think it'd be so light." She said,

"Here, use mine. I'll go get another one." Felix said, stretching his to her and she took them.

She had used chopsticks a lot of times, especially when visiting Korea for political gatherings with the president and other political figures. But the chopsticks she used were either made of gold or silver. In all, they were quite the heavy set of tableware so using this, it felt like she was holding a piece of paper.

Still, it did not stop her. She separated this one more carefully and made to eat her ramen.