13 CH13: Talks make me hungry

"Good food ends with good talk"

- Geoffrey Neighor

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Delilah was munching on a choco stick, while working on her report. The choco stick was dangling from her lips as she scrolled down lines of words, reading them quietly.

The September morning breeze felt cool with a light rain drizzling outside the office. Delilah had wore a light wool jacket over her pastel pink peter pan blouse, trying to keep warm in this air conditioned office.

As she scrolled down the page, there was a commotion at the entrance to the office. Despite the frantic murmurs around the office, Delilah was oblivious to it, her eyes on her computer screen.

A couple of minutes later, she heard something behind her. Delilah turned around in her seat and saw Matt, who had just placed a potted plant on the corner of her cubicle table. It looked like any normal plant, except it has a braided trunk. It was quite small, but a perfect size for a table decoration.

Delilah narrowed her eyes at the plant then looked up at Matt, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"What's this, sir?" she asked slowly, pointing at the plant as she hurriedly stood up. She placed her wool jacket over the back of her chair.

Matt rested his hands on his waist and began to laugh heartily. "This is a money tree plant!" he answered. He then patted Delilah on the shoulder and continued, "And I'm leaving this baby in your hands."

Delilah's eyes widened in disbelief. "W--what?" she stuttered. She then pointed a finger to herself and then to the plant. "You want me to take care of that plant?"

Matt nodded as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm counting on you."

"B--but... I don't know how to take care of the plant, sir! All plants will either die or don't even grow!" she exclaimed with disbelief.

Matt waved away her concern with a hand and a loud laugh. "Hahaha! You're a funny young lady, Delilah. I'm sure she will be in good hands. Taking care of it is quite easy. It doesn't need a lot of caring. Just some water and sunlight and you're good to go."

He then looked at his watch and said, "Oh right. I'd better get going. Take care of the little one." He then waved goodbye at Delilah and left the office, leaving her looking after him, mouth agape in shock.

A few minutes later, Delilah was still standing still, with her mouth opened. Aubree and Firah had just walked into the office. They had just came up from the ground floor, after buying some drinks from the vending machine.

Firah frowned, her brows furrowed in concern as she saw Delilah just standing outside her cubicle. She waved a hand in front of the dazed Delilah and said, "Yoohooo! Anyone there?"

Delilah blinked her eyes, going back to reality and turned to find Firah and Aubree looking at her in concern.

Delilah then grabbed both of Aubree's arms and began shaking her. "Aubreeeeee! You got to help meeee!"

Aubree got dizzy from the shaking and grabbed both of Delilah's wrists to stop her. "Wait, stop. You're making me dizzy. What happened?" She asked, putting her hand on her temple, trying to steadied herself.

Delilah dragged Aubree to her cubicle and pointed at the potted plant on her table, as if it would jumped up on her. "That... that... Just look at that! See that thing??" she asked loudly.

Aubree squinted her eyes and said, "Uhh... That's a plant."

"Exactly!" Delilah exclaimed. She hold up both of her hands and said, "And look at this! See this??"

Aubree stared at Delilah's hands and became even more confused. "Umm... OK? What's wrong with your hands?" she asked, looking confused.

Delilah waved her hands in front of Aubree and said, "This is not a green hand! This is a death hand! I do not have a green hand!"

Firah, who was standing beside Aubree, suddenly burst out in laughter, pointing at Delilah's hand. "Don't you mean green thumb?"

Delilah glared at Firah and said, "Close enough!" She turned back around to Aubree and said, "I can't take care of the plant!"

She grabbed the potted plant and tried to push it to Aubree.

Aubree immediately backed away, holding up both of her hands, indicating that she does not want to touch them. "No. Matt told you to take care of it and so, you should do it."

"B-b-but..." Delilah stammered.

Aubree patted Delilah on the shoulder and said, "Him giving you this plant to take care of it means he trust you with this."

"You can Google on how to take care of it," Firah piped in. "It should be okay."

Delilah sighed in defeat. "Ah... Alright," she said sadly, her shoulders dropped in a slump.

Just then, Howard came in, looking all smiles. He went straight towards them, pushing back his glasses up his nose. "Hellooooo ladies!" he greeted.

The three women turned at his voice.

Delilah inwardly cringed at look of his clothes. Aubree, who had worked with him for so long, was able to put on her poker face. Firah, this time, could only cocked an eyebrow at his clothes.

Howard brushed off some imaginary dust off his clothes and asked smugly, "What? Mesmerised by my clothes?"

The three women immediately said in unison, "Uh, yeah. Of course."

He was wearing a mustard yellow batik shirt with huge golden swirls all over the shirt. The golden thread of the swirls have some glitter on it, hence, making the golden swirl standout in the shirt. Howard was also wearing his golden rimmed glasses with diamond studs, making it sparkles in the light. So, from waist up, he looked really shiny. He only wore a brown pants for this fashion.

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Howard then turned to Aubree and Delilah. "Alright. Lets start with our little discussion. Come with me to the office."

He turned to Firah and said, "I'll get the reports from you later. The one that I asked of you via email."

Firah nodded and went to her cubicle.

Both Aubree and Delilah followed him from behind, towards the private office.

Inside the room, Aubree and Howard began to make themselves comfortable while Delilah get herself ready to present her findings.

A couple of weeks ago, Howard had given Delilah a task where she needs to collect every reviews made by the employees and write up a solution for their enquiries and problems.

Hence, for an hour, Delilah had presented her findings to Howard and Aubree. She also made her own suggestions for the improvements on the HR management system.

They had a very nice and calming discussion. The three of them exchanged useful suggestions and constructive opinions. There were a few laughs and jokes in-between. Overall, it was a nice meeting.

Then there was a knock on the door, just as Delilah was still presenting. The three of them fell silent, turning to look at the door. Howard said to come in.

The door revealed Firah peeking her head in. She said, "Hey Howie. Someone is here with the delivery."

Howard stood up and nodded. "Oh, I've just remembered. Yes, yes. I've ordered some foods. Bring the foods in, Firah. And come join us."

He turned to Delilah and said, "let's have a break for now. We can continue after we finish eating."

Delilah cheered, pumping both her fists in the air. "Yay, foods!" she shouted happily.

Howard laughed at Delilah's antics. "Now, hush you."

Firah walked in with a couple of plastic bags from a local fried chicken shop. The smell of the fried chicken can be smelled from Delilah, which made her drool.

Firah placed the plastic bags on the table and began to take the takeout from inside. She passed each of them a paper plate and some plastic dining utensils.

Delilah quickly grabbed one of the plates and help herself to one of the fried chickens. She loved drumsticks and thigh parts.

Once everyone had settled in with their foods, Delilah was happily biting in on one of the chickens. As she bit, the juices of the chicken meat dripped down her fingers. The meat tasted tender and juicy in her mouth. The chicken also had that crunchy and cripsy texture to it, which actually added more to the flavour of the chicken. Delilah loved how the crispy exterior of the fried chicken blended well with the juicy and well-seasoned interior.

While eating, the four of them continued to have small talk, laughing and joking.

Delilah finished off her chicken and took another piece.

Aubree laughed softly, looking at Delilah. "Are you that hungry?"

Delilah nodded, biting into her chicken. "All those talks make me hungry."

She then turned to Howard and said, "Thanks boss for the chickens!"

Howard laughed. "No problem. This fried chicken is one of the best foods to end this little talk of ours."

"DEE-finitely true!"