The Name Struze - Part 2

Finishing up the three dishes, Feng shifted them to plates and carried them to the star-struck twins and grandpa. Handing the first plate to Julian, Feng brought the two plates to the twins.

"Here you go kiddos," Feng said with a smile.

Finally bringing the twins out of their stupor, both of them started to gush at him.

"WOW! So cool!" Emmia exclaimed. Icarth nodded his agreement furiously.

As the twins looked at him with stars in their eyes, Feng gave a hearty laugh and replied, "Take the plates kiddos, or else the food will get cold."

The twins grabbed the plates with vigor... and immediately burned themselves trying to eat the food.

"Ow!" Both of them cried out almost dropping their plates.

"Careful it's hot," Julian said with a chuckle. "You should wait until it cools."

Holding the plates gingerly, the twins felt tortured that they couldn't immediately eat that wonderful-smelling dish for fear of burning themselves. Seeing their predicament, Feng went behind the counter and grabbed three spoons. He handed the spoons to the twins, "Use these to cut the food so it cools faster."

Icarth and Emmia had never had the privilege to use a spoon before, so they took the spoon and turned to grandpa.

"Grandpa, how do we use these?" Emmia asked curiously.

"Well just watch," Julian grabbed his spoon and started eating the meal. Following his example, the twins cut out a piece. Excited by her success, Emmia opened her mouth and tried to eat before Julian could warn her.

"Wai-"

"Ow ow ow, ish burns," Emmia said tearfully.

Julian sighed, "I told you it's hot. Let it cool."

After seeing Mia's fate, Icarth silently placed the spoon back on the plate. Feng and the old man laughed jovially at Emmia's actions, as she sucked in air to cool her still-burning mouth.

A few excruciating minutes later, the old man had left and the food had finally cooled down. Without further ado, the twins started to stuff themselves. As flavor burst in their mouths, they continued to shovel food down ravenously. They had never tasted anything like this up until now. Emmia started to tear up again. Sniffling, she ate as tears of joy flowed from her eyes. Even Icarth had started to tear up. Seeing this, Julian and Feng just stayed silent and let the kids eat.

After finishing the food and wiping away their tears the twins expressed their joy.

"It was so good Mr. Feng," Emmia grinned brightly.

"It was very tasty Mr. Feng," Icarth smiled as well.

Feng smiled, "I'm glad you liked it kiddos."

Paying the bill of 510 relins, Julian and the kids resumed their leisurely journey towards the production district.

Half an hour later, they had arrived. Bustling streets, cars and trucks moving to and fro carrying various cargo, and the faint buzz of machinery in the distance. The tall buildings used for offices and the open warehouses were manned with heavy security where the cargo was unloaded and loaded. Emmia had reached a new peak of excitement at the prospect of showing grandpa the district.

"Grandpa over here," Emmia called eagerly. Julian just chuckled at the endless excitement of the young girl.

Leading Julian, who was carrying Ica once more, Emmia showed him one of the open warehouses which had a glass window to show their operating systems. Inside the warehouse, multiple heavy machinery were seen working in tandem to create an armored truck.

"This one is the coolest one, it has all those big ones that make an armored car!" Emmia explained. Then she started to prattle on about how she liked the way the machines move and how there are other cool things being made as she moved along the side of the road.

Half listening, Julian turned to Icarth who looked like he desperately just wanted to sleep through whatever was going on. "Is she always like this?"

"Mmm, only when it comes to machinery," Ica grumbled. "Gramps, you have no idea how bad it gets sometimes."

Julian just chuckled helplessly. 'I knew they were interesting, but this is on a whole another level.'

Finally, after an hour of sightseeing, Emmia finished her tour. It was turning mid-afternoon as all the workers were leaving for their lunch break.

Emmia turned to Julian and Icarth and asked cheerfully, "So, how was it?"

"It was certainly... an interesting experience Mia," Julian replied tactfully after seeing her hopeful face. Emmia broke into a grin.

"Hehe, thank you! Ica never likes it when I bring him here. He says it's too boring, which it's not!"

"I see," Julian nodded glancing at the half-dead Ica laying limply in his arms.

"What should we do now grandpa?" Emmia asked nervously. It had just hit her that their day plans only extended to touring the building district and that there was no other reason for grandpa to accompany them anymore. But she didn't want that, it was fun with grandpa. But she didn't want to over-extend by making him stay with them. So she just looked down nervously while fiddling with her arms behind her back. Ica wouldn't show it, but he too was nervous about the answer.

"Hmm, I suppose we should get lunch and just tour the rest of the districts," Julian replied, fully noticing Emmia's nervous actions.

"Really?" Emmia brightened up.

"Yes really," Julian laughed slightly, 'this girl really wears her heart on her sleeve. And this boy doesn't show most of it,' Julian thought catching Ica's slight smile.