My Neighbor Is A Freeloader

Chapter 8 [Big, Big, Big!!! Eat, Eat, Eat!!!]

One week later.
Today is  Sana’s off day  again. She is enjoying her beauty sleep when she is woken up by a rhythmic knocking on her door.

Tok-tok-tok. Tok-tok-tok.

Arishhhh, who the hell is destroying my beauty sleep.
Sana wants to ignore the sound but her caller is not so easily dismissed.

“Sana, open the door.” Tok-tok-tok.

His voice is not loud but oh why can’t she block it out? At his incessant knocking and calling, Sana gets out of bed and yanks open the door. “What are you doing!”

Tzuyu ignores her bed/bad temper and says evenly. “Come with me to the market. You promised yesterday that you will do the marketing with me today.”

“I did not know then that you intend to leave so early! For goodness sake, do you know what time it is now?”

Tzuyu checks his watch seriously. “It is ten minutes past seven.”

Sana musses her own hair. “I don’t care, I want to sleep!”

“Ok, go ahead. I’ll just continue to knock on your door.”

“……” Unscrupulous man!

Sana leans against her door and tries another approach.

“Handsome, I have not even had breakfast yet. Why not you go to the market first and I will join you later? Go on, be a good boy.”

“Ok, I will fix breakfast for you. Wash up an come over in 15 minutes.”

Sana has absolutely no doubt that if she ignores him, he will only knock on her door again. Oh why did she agree to accompany him today? It is the guilt she feels for free-loading on him(almost every night), and his unhappiness over her last marketing attempt which was a completely failure has caused this! Why has she brought this upon herself?

However, she decides to wash up and do as she is told. As it is her off day, she did not brother to put on any make-up and is at his doorstep in 15 minutes flat. Tzuyu is as good as his word and has breakfast ready for her, which consists of one glass of orange juice, 2 slices of toasts, 1 fried egg, and some fresh greens on the side. This guy is nothing if not efficient.

“These are all scrambled together from whatever (ingredients) I have left so don’t be fussy.”

Sana picks up a slice of toast and looks at the….fermented bean curd? next to it.

“Are you sure you can eat fermented bean curd with toast?”

Of course not! Reaching past her, Tzuyu spreads some fermented bean curd on the toast and makes a sandwich by adding some lettuce and egg. “Try it.”

Sana takes one tentative bit and… my god! It tastes good!

She finishes her food within minutes.

After breakfast, Sana follows Tzuyu to the market. Perhaps their pairing is too eye-catching but just about everyone is looking their way. Even though she is used to people praising her looks, this level of scrutiny is too much even for her.  In contrast, Tzuyu behaves as if nothing is out of the ordinary and starts explaining on how to choose a vegetable.

To Tzuyu, the only thing worth his attention is how dumb Sana is. Her idea of what is good vegetable has no relation to freshness, ripeness or smell. She only has one yardstick – big.  The bigger the tomato, the better it is. The bigger the cucumber, the better it is. The bigger the leaves of the lettuce, the better it is.

As if this is not bad enough, she can unlearn the names of vegetables the moment she learns them, and she seems more interested in haggling over prices with the seller.   Listening to her calling flathead mushroom as “shitake mushroom” and shitake mushroom as “fat mushroom” for the umpteenth time, Tzuyu can nearly feel his balls ache.

Big, big, big. Eat, eat, eat – she even has to cheek to request for steam crystal prawns and herbal ribs – is she capable of anything else besides eating?

When they are finally done, Tzuyu loads everything into his shopping cart and pushes it home with Sana following empty-handed besides him. They pass by a kindergarten and stopped at a stall selling cotton candy.

Sana: “I don’t eat this stuff.”

“It is not meant for you.”

“You mean it is for Schrödinger? I have never seen a cat eating candy before… or wait, is this for yourself?”

Silence......

“Hahahaha… Tzuyu, you are so childish! Are you Five!? Hahaha”

Apparently, Tzuyu thinks that it doesn’t look good for him to be holding such a big ball of fluff too which is why Sana suddenly finds herself holding a stick of cotton fluff as big as her head. On their way back home, Tzuyu walks in front and Sana follow behind him holding his Cotton Candy which looks very pretty like a fluffy cloud. While walking, Sana can’t resist the temptation to takes a nibble.

One nibble won't kill anything, right!? I will make it looks like a new one after taking a nibble and he won't probably know. She thinks while looking at Tzuyu back.
However, after the first attempt, there is always second. So, she took another nibble.
And another nibble, and another one.

When they finally reach home, Tzuyu realizes that all that is left of his cotton candy is just a stick. Looking at her as if she is his blood enemy, he manages to sound sincere nonetheless.

“I think there is something wrong with your character.”

“Oh, come on. I will buy you a cotton candy next time.”

Sana shamelessly tries to pat his shoulder but he turns away so that she does not touch him. Taking her chance to grab his push cart, she marches inside his apartment and starts to put away their purchase.

“I am wrong, I am wrong. Let me wash the vegetables ok? Hehe”

Tzuyu follows right behind her. “Not only are you dumb, your character is flawed. I suggest that you start your life all over again.”

The statement gets Sana riled. “What do you mean? Do you want me to crawl back into my mom’s tummy?”

Tzuyu shakes his head. “That is not what I mean. What I mean is – you should go back to school and get re-educated. Come to think of it, you can attend my class.”

One, she gets to improve her knowledge. Two, she gets a good tutor like him to guide her along the path of life. She should be thankful to him. Tzuyu thinks.

But Sana shrugs off his suggestion. “There is nothing wrong with my brain. Also, I am busy with my work already...”

Before finishing her excuse,

“If you do not attend my class, you can forget about eating my dinner.”

Tzuyu has decided that his suggestion is the best solution for her and does not plan let her off so easily.

Sana: "What!??"

"Since you are busy, then starting from tommorow, you can take care of your dinner yourself"

No attending classes, No dinner!?? Wow, Chou Tzuyu, You really know my weakness.
Sana knows that freedom is precious and that one should not bend to threats. One can be killed but not humiliated….
Do you think you can threat me just like that!?? Humph... If you thinks so, ....
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You are absolutely right.... 😭😭😭😭

"Hey, wait wait, what I mean is even though I am busy with my work, I can manage some times to attend your lecture. Hehe"

"Is that so!? I thought you are going to decline my offer ...."

"Ohh, of course not. Why should I!? I know you are doing this for my own good. HahaHow can I refuse your goodwill. Haha"

How can I say goodbye to my precious super delicious free meals.... 😭😭😭

XxxxxX

To be continued>>>