Chapter 22: CH22: Is this highschool romance?
"Never be a food snob. Learn from everyone you meet:
the fish guy at your market, the lady at the local diner, farmers, cheese markets,
Ask questions, try everything and eat up!"
- Racheal Ray
===========================
Stretching her arms up, Delilah gave a grunt as she looked around her. It was half past one and Delilah had just finished her lunch early. She was now back in her cubicle, continuing her work, relishing the quiet silence in the office. It was a bit empty in the office, with only a few who worked through lunch.
Both Firah and Deegan were still out for lunch, so both cubicles on her sides were empty.
She tried to not think too much of the note Deegan had left her, together with the doughnuts. But wow, the doughnuts were good. After she had read the note, she had set it aside and opened the box. She found six little pieces of doughnuts; three of them glazed and the other three were drizzled with chocolate.
Delilah had tasted the chocolate coated doughnut first. The doughnut felt soft and sweet in her mouth when she bit into it. The chocolate was also rich and creamy. And when she ate it together with the doughnut, the sweetness of the pastry exploded in her mouth. The chocolate had coated her lips, making a little mess around her mouth. Sort of making it looked like a chocolate lipstick.
She then tasted the glazed doughnut, which was basically a doughnut covered with icing sugar. The doughnut was also sweet and soft. As Delilah bit into it, the doughnut felt light and fluffy like air. It felt soft in her mouth, like pillows. It was sinfully addictive. It was a bit chewy but it kind of melt in your mouth.
Delilah had peeked at the top cover of the box to looked at the name of the shop. It has quite name; aDoughable shop. Apparently, it was from a local baker, who had sell them in a food cube shop. Delilah always admired those who made baking as part of their hobbies and source of income. At least, they loved what they do.
Delilah was still lost in thoughts, drooling over the doughnuts she had ate the day before when Deegan had arrived.
Delilah looked over at his cubicle, watching as he took off his light jacket and placed it at the back of his chair.
Feeling like someone was watching him, he turned to look at Delilah, catching her watching him. He smiled and nodded hello and sat down. He then began to work.
Delilah frowned. Seems like he either pretends nothing had happened or he does not want to talk about it. She inwardly shrugged. Oh well. This was fine with her. She can act oblivious about it, as well.
Since she felt too lazy to continue work now, she decided to go on Discordance. Discordance is a digital distribution platform that was designed specifically for gaming. It's a free software where you can chat with anyone from all over the world. Delilah first download the app when she found out that an author of the book she was reading, had shared her invitation link to her server. Delilah thought it would be interesting to talk and share her thoughts about the novel. So, she had installed the app and joined in.
For her first week in Discordance, she had joined several servers. All of them were servers that catered to the novels she had read. Currently, she has joined more than five servers. But she was more active in a couple of them. One of them were a server where the other members of the servers had dubbed her the 'Shameless Queen'.
She loved to talk and chat with her friends in the server. Yes, she regarded them as a friends, even if they have not met each other in real life. Delilah usually talked about foods and some girly stuffs. She also loved to tease the younger ones in the server. Hence, that was one of the reason why she was called 'shameless'. Due to the jokes she had always made.
Delilah had always felt it was weird that her friends would call her 'shameless' because she does not believe the things she had done or say were shameless. They were all unDEE-niably true.
Moving on, she was currently chatting with her friends, moaning about what to eat for lunch tomorrow. They all laughed because Delilah was thinking too far ahead when she does not have dinner nor breakfast yet. Yet, here she was, already thinking about tomorrow's lunch.
Many suggestions were made and recipes were shared among them. Delilah had read and looked through the recipes one by one, contemplating which one seems the easiest to make. Well, not really easiest. But something that she herself can make, since she was not an expert in cooking. And also, she had to think about the time taken to make the meal because she does not want to spend hours cooking.
Then, one of her friends suggested to make one of his country's local dishes called Ash Reshteh, which was a vegetable and noodle soup from Persia.
Looking at the picture of the food and the ingredients needed, Delilah decided. "Yes, I will try to make this." She immediately take note of the ingredients needed and proceed to watch on how to cook ash reshteh.
Every now and then, Deegan had secretly peeked in her cubicle but Delilah was too absorbed in watching the video, with her earpiece on.
When the clock hits five o'clock on the dot, Delilah swiftly packed her things and switched off her computer. She then quickly went out of the office, without realizing that Deegan was actually waiting to talk to her.
He could only watched her ran off, feeling dejected.
It was not that Delilah was ignoring him but whenever Delilah was excited about something, she tends to tune off everything else in her mind. And at that moment, she was hurrying to get to the supermarket to buy the ingredients.
She drove to the nearest supermarket and bought all the ingredients that were missing in her kitchen pantry.
At home, she first started off by soaking the beans overnight. She then checked all her ingredients and placed them on the kitchen table. She continued on by cutting all the herbs and vegetables. She placed them on a plastic container and put it inside the fridge. This was because she would begin her cooking early tomorrow morning. Once all of the ingredients were done prepping, she cleaned up the mess she had made in the kitchen, took a quick shower and went inside her room. (Not to sleep but rather, to wait for dinner, of course!).
----
The next morning.
Delilah had woken up, feeling energized and ready to cook. She quickly shot Aubree a message, texting that she might be coming in late. She will make up the time by adding more hours to her time today.
Aubree replied with a sticker emoji 'Okay!'.
It was nearly half past eight o'clock in the morning when Delilah finally arrived at the office. She was carrying a tureen, with her work bag slung at one shoulder. She placed it in the pantry and called out to anyone who wants to give it a try.
Almost everyone at the HR department went to the pantry.
Delilah had also brought some plastic bowls and sporks for them to use. She poured each of them a bowl.
Once everyone had their share, Delilah poured some for herself. The smell of the strong and aromatic herbs hit her nose. It felt warmth and soothing, it was a nice feeling for a cold morning like this. She then drink some of the soup, which tasted intensely rich and wholesome. Added with the herbs, the soup has that mild woodsy flavour, which was also smoky. She could not help drinking more of it. She then scooped some beans and noodles and ate them. The chickpeas and the lima beans were soft when chewed. It left a grainy texture in her mouth and tasted a bit nutty. But with the noodles, it made the feeling become more smooth. The noodles tasted full, especially when eaten together with the beans.
There were sounds of chewing and slurping all around inside the pantry. Some of them opted to return back to their cubicles with their bowls because there were not much space inside the pantry.
Delilah opted to stay inside and eat since she does not want to dirtied her cubicle. (She can be a very messy eater).
While she was eating, she did not realized that Deegan had moved to stand next to her. Once he saw Delilah was finished with her food, he cleared his throat nervously.
Delilah jumped, startled by the sudden noise. She whirled around to see Deegan standing just next to her. "You scared me there!"
Deegan laughed awkwardly. "Sorry..." he said nervously. "But is it possible if I can talk with you privately later after work?"
Delilah frowned. He could have asked her later at their cubicle. Why does he have to ask her here, in front of so many people?
"Sure," she answered, instead.
Deegan nodded. He then went off to his cubicle.
Aubree and Firah, who were eating near Delilah, also heard the conversation. They both raised their eyebrows and looked at Delilah suspiciously. Their eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Delilah ignored them and went to throw her rubbish.
Soon after, working hours have ended. Many people at the office have already went back home, leaving Delilah and a few other people who were working overtime.
Delilah was rereading her report in the computer when Deegan knocked on the wall of Delilah's cubicle softly.
Delilah turned around on her seat and gestured Deegan to come closer. "Hey, what's up?" she asked, looking all confused.
Deegan immediately passed her a box and said, "Uh, this is for you. As thank you. OK, I'll leave you to your work. Hope you have a safe journey back home. Don't forget to eat your dinner!"
He said all that very quickly and left the office before Delilah could say a word. She sat there, surprise and confusion written all over her face. She was dumbfounded, her hand still holding the box that he had given her.
She looked down at her hand and saw it was a box of perfume.
Delilah frowned as she looked closely at the box. She was confused as to why he would give her this.
She groaned. What is this? Highschool romance? This was getting out-of-hand. Now, she has a weird intern in her hands and she wonder how she would deal with this.
Placing the box on her table, she turned back to her computer and continue working. 'I'll leave this tomorrow,' she thought.
She just hoped this will not make things awkward or she will have to do something before DEE-saster strikes.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheTalkingCupcake
TheTalkingCupcake I wonder what she will do next? Let's wait for the next chapter. Hehe.
Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to my friends at Discord, who I see as family, as well. Its thanks to them that I get to experiment with different sorts of dishes. Even if it's not the genuine dish but it was fun making the dishes.
So this is the recipe a friend had shared to make the Ash Reshteh. Hope you all give it a try too!
http://www.thepersianpot.com/recipe/ash-reshteh-vegetable-and-noodle-soup/
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone