The Daily Life Of A Foodie In The Office - Volume 1 Chapter 82 Ch82

“The food you prepare for you and your family

can alter the course of your health and change your destiny.”

– Anonymous

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Delilah was lazing around inside the pantry, making a hot tea for herself. The weather was kind of cold with sounds of thunderstorms booming across the sky. Dark clouds blanketed high up in the air, making the surrounding area dim and slightly gloomy. Lights were switched on to brighten the room a bit.

She was about to take a sip of her drink when her mobile phone beeped, indicating that there was a message coming in. She glanced over and decided to check it out later. She wore her thick cardigan to keep warmth so it felt comfortable sitting there and she wanted to relax for a few minutes.

She brought her packet of dry biscuits as well, which she took one and dipped inside her tea. She was clearly enjoying her snack time, despite the dreary weather outside the office. Even if the biscuit tasted bland, it did not stop Delilah from savouring the peaceful and alone time. She was about to eat her fifth biscuit when the door to the pantry was slammed open.

Startled, the biscuit in her hand dropped in her cup of tea. Eyes widened, she could only watch her biscuit slowly become soggy and melted into small pieces.

Letting out an aggrieved sigh, she could only stand up and went to grab a small spoon.

Not noticing Aubree, who was standing in front of the pantry doorway, she grabbed a spoon from the cupboard and returned back to her seat.

Aubree frowned when she saw that the other woman clearly either did not notice her or just ignore her. She walked over and sat in front of Delilah, who was scooping out the soggy biscuit from her cup of tea.

Aubree continued to watch Delilah, who then ate the soggy biscuit with a spoon. With another sigh, the latter placed the spoon down and drank the whole cup of tea. She cringed when she could feel the taste of the remnants of the biscuit.

“Are you done now?” Aubree asked sarcastically after Delilah had put the cup down.

Delilah frowned, looking at Aubree. “When did you come here?” she asked, confused.

Aubree rolled her eyes. “A couple of minutes ago.”

“Was it you who slammed open the door?” Delilah asked again. “You startled me!”

Aubree glared at her. “If you knew it was me, why did you ignore me?” she asked back accusingly.

“One does not leave their food uneaten unless necessary,” Delilah answered, sounding philosophically.

Aubree just rolled her eyes.

The two of them went quiet as Delilah got up to wash her cup while Aubree just watched her. Once she was done washing, Delilah returned back to the table, propped her chin on her palm and lazily looked at Aubree. “So, what do you want?” she said rudely.

Aubree rolled her eyes again, seemingly not to be offended by the other woman’s rude tone. “Did you check your phone? she asked pointedly.

Delilah took a quick glance at her phone, which was lying on the table and back again at Aubree. “I haven’t. I did see a text message coming in”

She then picked up her phone and used her pointer finger to swipe open the screen. “And I’m going to read it now,” she ended.

Aubree rolled her eyes again. She felt like she’s going to have a crick in her eyes after so much rolling.

After a while, Delilah placed her phone down once she was done reading Aubree’s text. She then squinted her eyes at the latter suspiciously as she crossed her arms across her chest. “That’s it? That’s why you’re rushing here and interrupting my snacktime?”

The text message reads:

“Lunch later at Karate Noodle [1]?”

“Well, that kind of message needs a yes or no answer, to which you haven’t replied yet,” Aubree retorted sarcastically. “Hence why the rush.”

Delilah let out a sigh, as if she was disappointed with Aubree’s answer. “Such silly question,” she said softly.

“Of course!” she then exclaimed loudly.

Delilah leaned closer to Aubree, both of her arms on the table. “What’s the rush? Do you plan to go somewhere?”

Aubree grinned as she stood up. “Just in case Howard invites me to lunch, I got an excuse to reject him,” she said sneakily. “And I doubt he would want to join us.”

Delilah too stood up and nodded, chuckling. “True. He wouldn’t be able to gossip with you then,” she said.

Although Delilah was close with Howard, she was not that close with him as he was with Aubree. This is especially so when the latter two have similar mutual friends. So, there were probably some things Howard would like to share with Aubree, but not with Delilah.

The two walked out of the pantry and went to their perspective cubicles where they continued to do their work.

Hours had passed and when it was a few minutes to lunch, people had already begun packing their things to go out.

Delilah was waiting for Aubree at the lobby of the office when she saw Howard walking into the building. The both of them saw each other at the same time. Howard walked over to her and asked what she was doing.

She answered him, saying that she was waiting for someone to go to lunch. She did not mention Aubree, lest she actually did not want Howard to know that she was going with Delilah.

Delilah questioned him back, asking what he was doing at the office, to which he replied that he was having lunch with one of the officers from the Safety department.

After a short pleasantries with one another, the two parted ways, with Delilah continuing to wait for Aubree while Howard headed towards the elevator area.

It was unsure whether it was a coincidence but just as Howard entered the lift, Aubree had just arrived at the lobby area. She saw Delilah and walked over.

She tilted her head in confusion when she saw Delilah looking at her suspiciously. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“How did you know Howard just entered the lift, just as you came down?” Delilah asked back accusingly.

Aubree frowned, looking confused. “I don’t?” she answered, unsure whether she answered the other woman’s question correctly. She was still a bit baffled as to why Delilah looked so suspicious of her.

Delilah continued to look at her suspiciously and then she shrugged, turning around. “Whatever,” she said airily. “Lets go. I’m hungry!”

A few minutes later, they were on the road, on their way to the restaurant that they planned to go. It took them several minutes to arrive and another couple of minutes to find an empty parking spot.

When they arrived at the restaurant, it was nearly full. With the help of the ceiling-to-floor clear windows, they were able to see the insides and they saw an empty table on the left side of the restaurant. The two women quickly entered and sat at the empty table that they saw earlier.

The restaurant was lively at almost full capacity. There were a lot of people dining there in groups; most probably colleagues and friends. The servers were constantly on the go, cleaning up the tables and serving the orders over.

The two women quickly placed their orders as they were hungry and worried that their food might arrive late. The two of them ordered the same dish and the same drinks.

While waiting for their orders to arrive, they fell into a comfortable and idle conversation, laughing and showing each other pictures from their phones.

After a few more minutes, their food still hadn’t arrived, making Delilah turn around in her seat to look at where the orders were coming in. She was worried that their food would arrive late and as a result, they might have to come to work late. Sending a worried look at Aubree, the latter immediately understood and texted Bella, informing her that they would be late coming in. And that if there was somebody who would like to see either of them, she asked Bella to take their names and numbers so that they can get back to them soon.

The table that they were sitting at was actually for a group of six people. But because it was the only table left empty, they had to take it.

Just as their food finally arrived, there was a couple who came in the restaurant. Seeing that the capacity in the restaurant was full, the couple was about to leave when one of them saw Delilah who looked happy that her meal had arrived.

The woman gently pulled the man, guiding him to where Delilah and Aubree were sitting. When they were standing near their table, both Delilah and Aubree looked up.

Delilah’s eyes widened when she recognized the couple. They were her ex lecturers from college. Although she had not had the opportunity to be taught by the man, the woman was her lecturer, who had taught her for two years.

“Delilah, is that you?” the woman asked, smiling.

Delilah awkwardly smiled back. “Hello Mrs. Nora and Mr. Shane,” she greeted politely.

“Do you mind us sitting here?”

Delilah shook her head. “Sure, go ahead.” She couldn’t exactly refuse when there were only two of them.

“Thank you,” Mrs. Nora said. She then nodded at Aubree, who nodded back. “Hello, I was Delilah’s lecturer back when she was in college.”

Aubree smiled politely. “I’m her supervisor at work, Aubree,” she introduced herself.

Mrs. Nora then c.o.c.ked an eyebrow in surprise. She swept a glance at Delilah and said, “Oh ho. You’ve been doing quite well, Delilah.”

Delilah smiled awkwardly again. In her mind, she was furiously thinking, ‘Gosh, just let me eat!’ “All thanks to your guidance and patience, Mrs. Nora,” she replied back.

Mrs. Nora chuckled. “Ho ho ho. Makes me wonder how much my teaching has helped you since you like to sleep in class, despite sitting at the front,” she said.

Delilah flushed red in embarrassment after she heard her ex lecturer’s words.

Aubree tilted her head in question. And then she smiled mischievously, looking at Delilah. “So, I guess she never changed, huh?” she commented.

Mrs. Nora looked at Aubree and asked in disbelief, “She’s still sleeping at work?” to which Aubree nodded. “Sometimes,” the latter replied.

Mrs. Nora then turned to Delilah with a disapproving frown on her face. “Delilah, that’s quite unprofessional of you,” she admonished. “You’re even working in a HR department. And you’re still sleeping? You’re no longer in school, my dear.”

“I was only sleeping during break,” Delilah mumbled but she did not dare voice out.

Mrs. Nora continued to air Delilah’s dirty laundry, making Aubree blushed but Delilah to be more embarrassed.

Having enough embarrassment for that day, Delilah told her ex lecturer that they will be eating their meals. Mrs. Nora nodded as she waved them away since she needed to place her orders as well.

Delilah had ordered Lamian beef noodles. The broth was clear with chili oil spread on the surface of the broth. Bits of scallions also laid out on the surface of the broth, on top of the lamian noodles. Delilah took a spoon and scooped out some broth. She took a sip and thought that it was really good. It doesn’t really have that strong beef taste, rather it was more savory and a bit of spicy. The beef was thinly sliced, fanned out on the side of the bowl. She took a piece, using her chopsticks and ate it. The beef was a bit juicy and with the broth, it added more flavor to the beef stripes. Then she tasted the noodles. The noodles were handmade, stretched long and were neatly rounded in the bowl. She used her chopsticks to eat the noodles. It was quite lengthy and it took a while for Delilah to reach the end. The noodles tasted fresh, soft and chewy.

She loved how it also mixed with the broth, bringing more taste to the noodles. Before she continued eating, she grabbed a bowl that contained the chili ‘sambal’ [2] and added a huge spoonful of it into her broth. She swiftly mixed them up, making the broth more red, due to the sambal and the chili oil. And she took another sip and thought it was more delicious because of the spiciness. And fortunately, it does not overwhelm the beef broth.

Delilah finally enjoyed her meal, without having to hear her ex lecturer ‘bashing’ her down. Though, it was quite entertaining for Aubree who had been holding back her laughter all this while, listening to Delilah’s antics from Mrs. Nora.

Nevertheless, it was still a pleasant lunch. Despite the embarrassment that she had from Mrs. Nora’s exposure of her, she too had a nice talk with the latter as well. It was nice to meet up with her once in a while.

But not too much!

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[1] name of noodles restaurant

[2] chili sauce or paste, popular in South East Asia