Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

9. First Ever Failure

Muria's face lit up in a state of joy that I never thought she was capable of as she sees Mura approaching. However, that look of joy immediately vanished when she saw me walking behind Mura.

"Hey," I greeted her out of politeness.

"..." She didn't respond to me. Rather, she eyed me with a look of disdain. "Why's he here..." She whispered to herself.

"I invited Alevian," Mura explained as she sat down in the seat opposite of Muria. Then, she patted the spot next to her, gesturing for me to sit down as well.

I did my best to subdue my urge to release a sigh as I sat down beside Mura. I knew that the atmosphere will be tense, but this level of unease is above what I can handle. In order to hide myself, I used the menu before me as a shield and hid behind it. However, I can still feel Muria's penetrating glare poking at me.

"Alevian," Mura said to me in a gentle voice, "just relax. Order whatever you want. It's on me."

"T-thanks." I awkwardly smiled as I looked up from the menu. However, upon meeting Muria's glare, I immediately shielded myself with the menu.

"Hello," a waitress walked over to us, carrying a tablet in hand. "May I take your order?"

"I'll have the Malaharan chicken rice.," Mura said to the waitress, who immediately started entering in Mura's order into the tablet.

"I'll have the Saroffian-style omelet," Muria ordered.

After entering in Muria's order as well, the waitress turned to face me.

"Ugh...I-I'll have this spaghetti." I picked out a reasonably priced dish on the menu.

"That's it? Order some more," Mura said to me as she began flipping through the menu. "You're still growing so you have to eat up. Add this Steak with Stelhied Sauce."

"Understood." The waitress then began entering in the order for my spaghetti and the steak that Mura ordered for me.

"N-no," I tried to stop the waitress. "I'm fine."

"It's okay, Alevian," Mura smiled as she rest her face on her right hand. "Don't worry about the money. I invited you out so don't worry."

"Ugh..." After a brief moment of struggle, I uneasily accepted her offer. God...I suck at dealing with kindness. I'm just so used to people not caring about me that I'm not used to it when people are suddenly kind to me.

"You want anything to drink, Alevian?" Mura then started flipping through the beverages section. "Soda fountain or anything else?"

"Water is fine," I replied.

"Muria, what do you want?" Mura then proceeded to question her younger sister.

"Lemon milk tea."

"Alright," Mura closed her menu and looked back over at the waitress. "Two lemon milk tea and one iced water."

"So your order is one Malaharan Chicken Rice, one Saroffian-style omelet, one meatball spaghetti, and one Steak with Stelhied Sauce. How would you like your steak done?"

"Ugh...medium," I said to the waitress.

"Alright." The waitress typed into her tablet. "And as for the drinks, two lemon milk tea and one iced water. Is that correct?"

"Yup." Mura gathered up the menus and handed them to the waitress.

"Thank you and your orders will be arriving shortly." The waitress lowered her head and accepted the menus before walking off.