Something about babies and candies

Even after everything she’d revealed about the building he lived in, it still came as a surprise when she came to the conclusion that they were neighbors. “What? No, that’s pretty insane.” How small the world was for them to meet at a place like this. “I would say I haven’t seen you around but—” he started his sorry excuse of a joke. Míngzé swallowed his words before he could finish it and forever regret it. “Anyway— I just moved in, third floor. Any more places you know of that I should avoid? Or people?” There were a lot of shady people living there, but so far they’ve left him alone.

Míngzé did not mind that she paid, it was easier that way. They had to wait a bit while their order was being prepared, which was no problem at all. Yet, there was one small problem. Mindo still was convinced those disgusting fries were better. “How can you know without even tasting them first?” Míngzé asked in return, his eyebrows raised in a challenge. Even without having tried these, he already knew they were superior compared to fries.

After receiving their order, Míngzé softly pulled her arm so that they could step out of the way before turning towards her. “Although, if you don’t want it, you can give it back.” Momentarily he let go of her arm only to be able to hold out his hand so that she could give her crêpe back. He could eat both and if it was too much, then Qiān would not complain either.

Who’d have thought that he would meet a neighbor here of all places. The chances were slim, but given that it was a huge apartment with many people, not impossible. But then came the big surprise, they were also from the same floor. “This is getting rather— scary.” This was too much of a coincidence. “I also only recently moved in, apartment 3C. The only one I’ve met — except for you now, is the old lady down the hall. She brought me an extremely burned apple pie.” It had smelled burned, but still he’d tried it, but he ended up throwing the whole pie away. If he thought back on it, he could still taste the disgusting taste on his mouth. When she informed him about some failed rockstar, Míngzé couldn’t help but sigh deeply. “That’s not going to keep me awake at night at all,” he said sarcastically.  

She would not give up on the fries and Míngzé rolled his eyes. “It’s called having taste,” Míngzé countered. If he did not need to put those foul things in his mouth, he would not do it. As they would now go back, he grabbed her arm, but she immediately pulled back. “Sorry,” he said, thinking he’d only startled her.

When Míngzé sat back down, he could immediately hear Qiān’s soft plea. “No, you had your fries.” Maybe if he’d behaved himself before, he would’ve given him a piece, but he would not praise this behavior. One corner of his mouth was slightly raised when Mindo refused to give the food back. Thought so. “I’ll keep you to your word.” Meanwhile, he took a bite from his food, happy to finally have something to eat. “You have to agree this is better than fries.” He would not take no for an answer.

Having a neighbor down the hall that could not cook and burned everything was not the worst. So far their whole floor did not seem that bad, even though he only met two of the residents. What worried him slightly was the next person she talked about. “So far he hasn’t bothered me” Hopefully Míngzé lived too far away to actually be bothered by it.

Now that he finally had something in his stomach, Míngzé felt like he could make it home again. He was glad he did not settle for the fries Mindo offered him numerous times. This was far better. At the mention of Qiān, the two of them gave each other a look and Míngzé raised one shoulder. “Not at all, but he better behaves otherwise this was the last time he had fries,” he said, more to his pokémon than to Mindo. It did the trick. Qiān stood up and threw away their trash.

Meanwhile, Míngzé also got up from his seat. “Until next time, I guess. It was nice meeting you,” he said honestly.