Want and Need

Next week, everything was going as usual. Everyone was working, the head chef was still being a jerk sometimes — though everyone still had to listen to him, since he was the boss. Overall a typical, boring work week.
That day, Ishigami was cooking, while Yukito was making sauces.

'Booooored,' Yukito thought. 'If only something fun would happen-'
"HEY, AKIYAMA!!" the head chef screamed. "PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING!! YOU'RE GOING TO BURN THE SAUCE!!"

'Geez, you can't burn  sauce,' Yukito thought as the head chef somewhat stomped away ー most likely to yell at someone else, or just to be salty about him. 'Or wait. Can  you burn sauce?'

(A while later...)

"Finally!!" Ling said. "It's lunch time for us!"
Yukito grabbed his lunch, a slice of pizza and a can of pop, and sat down to eat. He saw that Quinn brought a sandwich, Ling brought a box of dumplings, and Ishigami brought a burger. They all brought a different thing, and it matched their personalities. Or maybe not. Yukito wasn't really paying attention to that.
"Hey, Ishigami," Ling said. "Why are you always angry?"
"I'm not angry," Ishigami answered. "I'm just thinking."
Ling giggled. "But are you always making that face?"
"That's just my face," Ishigami said as matter-of-factly as before.
Ling made a pouting face, copying Ishigami's resting face, and giggled again.

***

At the end of the day, Yukito was cleaning up his area, when he heard Quinn talking to Ling.
'I probably shouldn't listen in,' Yukito thought, but he couldn't help it. He just heard them and his brain focused on what they said.
"Just curious," Quinn asked, "but what made you want to get this job anyways? I know for me it's because I love cooking, heh."
"Well," Ling said, "partially because I like cooking, and partially cuz like... would it be TMI if I talked about my family?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Quinn said.
"Well like, my grandparents live in Hong Kong, so I send them some money every now and then," Ling said.
"Ohh," Quinn said, a bit of a confused look on their face.
"Was it TMI?" Ling said with an awkward giggle.
"Ehh, not to me, no worries," Quinn said.

***

After everyone left the cafe, Ling stayed behind for a bit.
She looked at her phone; it was 5PM.
"Welp, time to go home now," she said to herself before going to the bus station.

When she got to her apartment, which was a small place with white walls and carpet, she changed and sat down on the couch to watch TV while having supper.
≪"I have no idea why he did that,"≫ a character in the movie Ling was watching said.
"Real," Ling said before continuing her food. She was watching a comedy, and one if the characters did something kinda dumb, but funny.

"*yaaawn*  That was good food and a good movie~" Ling said with a grin when she finished. "Now, time toー oh, someone's calling me!"
Ling went to grab her phone from the table.
"Who is it- oh, it's Ā Mā(grandma)!" Ling said excitedly.
"Hi, Ā Mā!" Ling said. "How're you guys doing? How's Lee?"
"Hello, Ling," Ling's grandma said over the phone. "Lee's been very busy, and so has your grandfather. Otherwise we've been doing well, though; how about you, Ling?"
"The cafe is great!" Ling said. "Everyone is really nice, andー"
"How's the money situation, though?" Ling's grandma asked.

'Oh, right...' Ling thought. 'Everyone's still in Hong Kong, and they're really poor over there right now.'
"I just got a paycheck yesterday," Ling said, trying to sound happy. "And my next one will be this weekend!"
"That's good, Ling," Ling's grandma said, sounding something like relieved or happy. "Keep up the good work."
"OK!" Ling said. "Tell grandpa and Lee I said 'hi'!"

After she hung up, Ling sat down on the couch again.
"I just wanna cook because I like it... but whatever, my family needs it, so I can't complain," she said.
"Well," she said, standing up. "I can't let them down. Gotta work hard!"

And thus is the daily thoughts of Xian Fei Ling.

<Family first, but take time off when possible.>