Morning Conversation

I woke up from a restless sleep. I stretched all my limbs to four directions before getting out of my bed. My head hurt but the thought of Arlan and Miras aga coming later made me shrug it off. They are a very welcome distraction to me today.

I gargled with warm water before going out of my room. I need a cup of coffee to fully wake me up.

I walked into Leila in the kitchen, brewing coffee.

"Good morning Leila," I greeted her with a good mood.

The aroma of coffee filling the kitchen is the game changer.

"Good morning," she responded without looking at me.

"You woke up earlier than usual."

"Really? Do you know what time it is?" I asked her while my eyes roamed around the kitchen looking for the wall clock.

"It's only a quarter to seven," she answered me.

Hm. I did wake up earlier than usual though I slept late last night. It was probably around 1 o'clock in the morning when I went back to my room.

Leila gave me a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I put cream in it but no sugar. I need the bitter kick of coffee.

Without meaning to, my mind wandered to her when I took the first sip. Does she wake up late too? How is she holding up with the jetlag?

"Good morning Leila."

My head whipped to her direction.

"Good morning Sir," she also greeted me.

"Good morning," Leila greeted her back.

I gave her a thin smile when she sat down two seats away from mine.

"Good morning," I greeted her.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Leila asked her.

"Yes please," she answered her with a sweet smile.

I also smiled without meaning to.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked her, hiding half of my face behind the cup of coffee as I took another sip.

"Not so well Sir. But I slept better last night than I usually do," she answered as she took the cup of coffee Leila handed her.

Really? She must be suffering from insomnia like me.

"Good," I said in response, not having anything more to say.

"Do you have anything you would like me to do today Sir?" she asked after a moment.

"Uh no. You work on whatever Senti tells you to do. I will be working on the studio all day."

She nodded and finally took a sip of her coffee.

Silence enveloped the kitchen with both of us concentrating on our cup of coffee.

"By the way Sir, I don't know if Miras had already reached you. He told me that he won't be coming here today. His son booked him a flight ticket to Russia and he is flying this afternoon. He won't be back to work until the holiday ends."

I stared at the coffee in my cup.

"How about Arlan? Will he come?"

"He can't come too Sir. He said his mother won't let him."

Inzhu taté must have nagged him incessantly about working on holidays.

I smiled.

Mothers.

I guess I will be working alone in the studio again.

"What time should I serve breakfast?" Leila addressed the two of us.

We looked at each other and I broke the eye contact first.

"We can eat at 7:30 Leila and we will eat here," I answered.

"7:30 it is," Leila said, turning to the stove again.

We sip our cup of coffee in silence as Leila busied herself with our breakfast.

A few minutes later, I stood up from my seat, my cup empty.

"I'll join you here for breakfast," I told Ms. McCrae.

She nodded at me without a word. I took my leave and headed back to my room.

I took a quick shower then put on a sweater and jeans. I looked over my phone to check the time. 7:20 am. I still have sometime before breakfast.

I pocketed my phone and walked down the stairs again, and strode towards the kitchen.

I felt somewhat disappointed for not seeing Ms. McCrae in her seat.

"Ms. Dionna also went up to shower," Leila said as I took my seat, answering my unsaid question.

"Ah."

I decided to look up my social media. It's been a week since my last Instagram post, I think. I better greet my arysers.

As I was scrolling through my phone to find an old picture, I heard someone enter. I looked up, expecting Ms. McCrae but it was Otto. He is carrying a few bottles of milk in both hands.

He placed the bottles on the kitchen island, a little farther to my right.

"These are the fresh milk of the day Sir. It's from the goats. You should recommend it to Ms. Dionna for tea," he said to me.

I nodded at him.

"Thank you Otto. I will," I responded, my eyes back on my phone.

I finally found an old, unposted picture. I posted it and not even a second later, my phone started to vibrate with the notifications. I forgot to set it on silent mode.

I read some of the comments but didn't reply to any of them. Someone entered the kitchen again and I looked up to see Ms. McCrae. Finally.

"You just posted a picture of yourself Sir. It is an old photo though," she said to me.

She sat herself down on the kitchen island, a seat away to my left.

I looked at her, uncomprehending.

"Ah, I was doing a little research on you since last night Sir," she said, as if to explain what she just said but I just raised my brows at her, still lost.

"I followed you on Instagram sir. Hence the comment about the photo," she went on, looking embarrassed now.

My mouth opened into an unattractive 'ah' as I nodded. I didn't see the notification from among the hundreds.

"As I said, I was doing a research on you Sir and I came across your Instagram. It's a good platform to communicate with your fans and it can also provide free advertisement for your future projects. Yeah. Instagram's a good marketing platform."

She nodded to herself as she scrolled on her phone, looking awkward. I mentally scolded myself. I didn't mean to embarrass her.

"Uhm, I would like to assist you in your research in any way that I can. You can ask me for any information that you can't find in the internet," I told her, hoping to redeem myself.

She looked at me and nodded.

"Thank you Sir. It's... I was just curious about you that's all. I actually never heard you sing until last night."

"Hm. And what do you think? About my singing… I mean."

She looked at me, unsure of what to say.

I chuckled at her.

"I'm just kidding. I don't mean to pressure you about your opinion," I said and went back to my phone.

"Uhm. My honest opinion Sir?"

I turned to look at her again, expectant.

"Breakfast is ready," Leila said as she placed two servings of oven-baked porridge in front of us.

"Uh.. let's have our breakfast Sir. We both have a long day ahead," Ms. McCrae said to me with a smile.

I returned her smile with a nod.

Darn breakfast!

*************************