Chapter 3

She pulled the lid off.

She froze.

The bento box was completely empty, save for a tiny smear of sauce on the inside of the lid.

She looked up at me. I was looking down, quietly eating my own lunch.

"Nora, where's my food?"

Her voice pitched up.

I picked up a rib, chewed it slowly, swallowed, and finally looked at her.

"From today on, buy your own. I’m done making a profit off you."

Her face flushed bright red, then turned incredibly pale. Her eyes widened. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means my food isn’t good enough for you."

I set my forks down.

"Didn't you say I was getting kickbacks? Didn't you say my food wasn't fresh? Didn't you say you were sick of it? I'm just saving you the trouble."

"When did I ever say that?!" she shrieked.

I just stared at her, silent.

Her eyes flickered with guilt, but she quickly turned defensive and self-righteous:

"Even if I said something, it was obviously just a joke! Do you have to be so dramatic? You threw my food away? I paid for that! That’s ten dollars!"

"Ten dollars."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. "Hold on."

I opened my PayPal app and pulled up the transaction history.

Every single payment of hers was ten dollars, filling the screen.

I did some quick math. Over three years, she had transferred me nearly three thousand dollars.

I found the most recent transaction and sent her back twenty dollars.

"That's for today and tomorrow. Refunded."

I put my phone down.

"Don't send me any more money."

"Nora, don't you think you're being way too dramatic?"

Her voice grew louder, drawing the attention of several nearby coworkers.

"We’ve been friends for three years, and you throw my food away over some gossip? Do you have any idea what I’m going to eat for lunch now?"

"Do you know what time I get up every morning?" I asked her.

She blinked, caught off guard.

"Six-thirty."

"I go to the market, buy the ingredients, cook them, pack the boxes, and take the subway to work."

"A single portion costs fifteen to sixteen dollars to make. You pay me ten."

I paused.

"I took that loss for three years and never said a word because I thought we were friends. I knew your stomach was bad, and I wanted to help."

I looked her dead in the eye.

"Today, I heard you in the breakroom. You said I was taking kickbacks, using stale ingredients, and that you only ate my food to give me face."

"I didn't say it like that..."

She began to step back.

"You said I was calculating, making money off both ends, and pocketing five dollars a day from you."

I repeated her words calmly.

"Chloe, I’ve been losing my own money for three years to feed you, and you think I'm exploiting you?"

The office was so quiet you could hear the hum of the air conditioner.

Chloe’s face turned the color of raw liver. She bit her lip, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Nora, I swear I was just talking trash. I didn't mean it. Please don't be like this. I know you've been good to me. I won't say things like that anymore, okay?"

She cried pitifully, her tears splashing onto the empty bento box.

If this were before, my heart would have softened.

In the past, whenever she cried, I would immediately back down.

She would complain about her family, her work, her relationships, and she would always end up crying. I would always listen patiently, offer advice, and try to help her.

For three years, I wasn't just her meal prep partner; I was her emotional trash can.

But now, watching her cry, I felt nothing but disgust.

"What are you crying for?"

My voice was dead calm.

"I’m the one who should be crying."

She looked up, sniffling.

"For three years, you never once asked me if cooking all this was exhausting, or if ten dollars even covered the ingredients."

"You just opened the box and ate every day. When you were done, you just left it on your desk without even rinsing it. I had to take two dirty boxes home every single night, wash them, and bring them back full the next day."

"If you were so sick of my food, why didn’t you say so earlier? I could have saved myself so much trouble."

"From today on, you don't have to do me any favors."