“Shit!”
Owen, who had just come out of the bathroom, was taken aback by the scream from Isabella’s room. He waited a few seconds before knocking. “Is everything alright?”
“Sorry! I just…yeah, you can come in. Can you bring paper towels too?” Isabella said, her voice carrying over through the wall. Owen spun back into the bathroom and opened the cabinet to grab the paper towels. He knocked again, receiving a, “Come in.”
Isabella was cursing under her breath, her long, gray nightgown soaked at the knees and her crossed legs full of droplets of liquid. The brunette and her rolling her chair were a small distance from her desktop, avoiding the small droplets falling off.
“I spilled it all over my keyboard…” Isabella said, blowing air. “Shit…”
A can of Mountain Pew stood at the scene of the crime. Clearly, it had been spilled. Owen got to work, though not before picking the can up and cleaning it first.
Oh, also, taking a small sip of it.
“Hey.”
“Sorry,” he said.
Isabella leaned back. “Whatever. How long is it gonna take to clean up?”
As he cleaned with the paper towel, he eyeballed the keyboard. He then pressed a key with his index finger. “I think it's broken.”
“What!? But I…I was in the zone! I was…” A frustrated sigh left her. “Nevermind. Sorry for raising my voice.”
Bringing her knees to her face, she didn't speak after that. Her nightgown went down to her knees and was made of a soft, light and stretchy material. She pulled on it till it was bent over her knees and she was able to tuck her chin on top of it.
Put simply, she wanted to be left alone.
“Text if you need me,” Owen said, sending her a smile. Isabella's head shifted back and down. Her version of a nod.
An hour later, he was at the dinner table. Owen and Ophelia began eating a bowl of instant noodles. “Ah—!” Ophelia moaned in pain when she ate the noodles while they were too hot. “Ow, ow—!”
Owen calmly handed her his glass of water, which she drank without mercy. The blonde sighed, wiped the liquid off her mouth with her sleeve, and started throwing something of a tantrum. “Oweeeen! I hate this! I wanna eat real food!”
“This is real food.”
“I mean like takeout. Can't we get takeout?”
“We gotta manage our money. No unnecessary stuff,” Owen replied, patiently waiting for the noodles to cool before digging in.
“Awww, pleaseee!”
“He's right.” Isabella arrived and sat at her seat at the dinner table. The trio was back. “We should be smart with our money.
“Yeah, but…we can go a little into the negatives, right?”
“Well, it depends on when I get my cheque. If it's a week too long, there might be a fine,” Owen said, slurping on the noodles.
“Oh, that's how that works? Cool.” Ophelia turned to Isabella, excited. “Say, how's WuTubing going? Making cool videos?”
Isabella ate her noodles before responding. “We got super lucky with my first video. In two weeks, it reached a hundred thousand views. We have to keep building the momentum. Our previous video got ten thousand. A third of our original viral video. We need to do better.”
“Need any help?” Ophelia asked.
“I'm fine,” Isabella said.
“Really? There's nothing I can do?”
“There's a lot of computer-related stuff,” Owen said. “I can try and teach you though.”
“C-computers?” Ophelia laughed and looked away. “I, er, think I'm okay. Using computers always gives me headaches.”
“Phones and tablets don't?” Isabella questioned.
“Hey, my body is special! Unique! Uh, special!”
Isabella looked down and ate her noodles, silent. Meanwhile, Owen laughed and gave her a smile. “Of course, mi amor.”
“You know, you guys sure do stay in your rooms for a long time,” Ophelia remarked out of nowhere. “Aren't you, I dunno, taking this too seriously?”
It was the very first time Isabella glared at her. “Too seriously? You mean not seriously enough. We have a strong opportunity to turn things around and you think I'm being too serious?”
“I didn't say, I meant like…you know.”
“No, I don't. Explain.”
Ophelia played with her hair, laughing nervously. “Uh…you know…nevermind.”
Isabella stood up and took her bowl away. “That's what I thought.”
