Wings | Shang-chi

二

Friends and Family

By the time she arrived and pressed the buzzer, it was twenty five past eight, five minutes before she was considered 'late'. Enara always ate like a wolf, so finishing breakfast wasn't really a problem to her at all.

The buzzer cracked. "Hi Mrs. Chen! It's Enara ." The girl chirped before Mrs Chen could even speak. She swore she could hear the woman laugh before the door unlocked. She quickly made her way up the stairs, giving a triumphant huff when she reached the apartment. She knocked on the door. It opened with a soft creak.

"Welcome, everybody already started breakfast, as usual. Katy's still getting prepared."  Mrs. Chen said midway, before her eyes lit up upon seeing the paper bag that let off a yeasty aroma

"I uh, brought some pastries from the Lady A bakery." Enara said sheepishly. "Just a small gift to repay my thanks." She handed the pastries to Ms. Chen, who gratefully accepted it, and entered the house, remembering to remove her sneakers. Asian manners was still required within every household; that's what her stepmom had taught her.

"Yo Ruihua!" She waved to Katy's brother. He shot a wave back at her before he continued to listen to whatever music he was enjoying. Enara smiled, turning to the rest of the others.

"Hey Grandma Chen, how did you sleep?" Enara asked, plopping in her usual seat beside her. "Average, I hope you slept well too." Grandma Chen replied in Chinese. Anemone  chuckled, nodding her head before turning to Shaun.

"Hey Shaun."
"Hey."

Just then, a disarrayed Katy came running out of her room, throwing her bag on the sofa and making a beeline to Enara, giving her a big bear hug.

"Heyyyy Girl! 8:25, punctual as always!! Wanna do Karaoke tonight with Shaun and me again? Take a few shots?" She asked, pumped with excitement, her hair bouncing slightly as she pulled away from the hug. "Drive a few cars today?"

"Katy! You already had enough karaoke to rotten your brain. Get a decent job one day would you?" Her mother yelled from the kitchen.

Enara laughed. By this point in time, it would almost be impossible to persuade her. Not long after, all of them gathered and proceeded to stuff their faces with breakfast, and of course, she was the first to finish.

•••

Truth is, Shaun and Katy did finish their breakfast, and on a record time too. All three of them wanted to get out as quickly as possible to avoid listening to the same story Grandma Chen talked about ever so often, so often that even Enara could recite backwards. 

As Shaun and Katy were arguing about whether pizza in a square was better than pizza in a triangle, the trio made their way to the bus stop. Normally, Enara would have plunged into the conversation, but she couldn't help but wonder where the voice was. Things that were off-schedule was one of her many pet peeves. Maybe it stopped? Maybe it gave up on calling her name? In fact, Enara was so deep down the rabbit hole of thoughts, she not only lacked noticing that the argument had already died down, but also her friends' silence as they looked at her with concern. The girl was normally so bubbly and irksome in a humorous way. Katy couldn't take it.

"Yo! Are you still there Ena? What's been up with you for the past 3 weeks?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine. Did I uh, miss a scoop?" Enara laughed slightly as Shaun and Katy exchanged looks of doubt.

"No, but you did miss Shaun giving up on square pizzas." Katy laughed, breaking the ice as she blew a raspberry at Shaun, in which he responded with a 'pffft'.