Chapter 365 Chef Lee Seng + Liz

Lee Seng, Ritsuka and Olivia stepped out of the car. They had just returned from Benny's Food Market and we're all in high spirits.

"Man, I can't believe the inside of that store." Ritsuka commented. They all wandered to the back of the car. Lee Seng opened the trunk and started to grab the grocery bags.

"It's so nice inside. Not your run of the mill grocery store." Olivia added. "I would definitely want to go there for the prices they're selling these at."

"I can't believe they got a Benny's here. It's apparently really hard to sustain one in the Midwest." Lee Seng told them.

"Why?" Ritsuka asked. They all moved to the front door of the home as Olivia set her stuff down and fiddled for the key.

"Benny's is an adventurer turned grocery store. Started out as a weird theory to see if the monsters and new life stuff could sustain and create better, healthier and loads of crops." Lee Seng explained as Olivia got the door opened. She pulled the key out and stuffed it in her coat pocket before grabbing the bags and moving inside.

"And it worked, obviously. But why do you say it isn't sustainable in the Midwest?" Ritsuka asked as they set the food at the edge of the foyer and moved back out to grab the rest.

"It's too cold here and the things you need to keep the crop fields going aren't located in the Midwest. It's only found in places where it's warmer for longer in the year." Lee Seng answered.

"So how did a Benny's appear here then?" Olivia asked. They grabbed the rest of the bags of food and Ritsuka shut the trunk. They all shuffled inside and pulled their shoes off as Lee Seng shut the door with his leg.

"Greenhouses. They managed to figure out a way to get a hold of the ingredients and sustained them in the greenhouses."

They all shuffled into the kitchen and set the bags on the empty island.

"Well, it's cool to know about that and I shouldn't be so surprised with the amount of knowledge you have on this, but we need to answer a more pressing question." Olivia stuck her finger up. The boys looked at her and the sound of a stomach growling cut through. "I'm starving. Let's make something!" She smiled.

The boys laughed and nodded. They set the rest of the bags from the foyer on the counter-tops and stood the sea of grocery filled bags.

"I'll whip something up." Lee Seng told them. "Just need to put all of this away first. We do have kitchen tools and stuff already right?"

"Yup. It's all there." Olivia pointed. Lee Seng pulled the drawer open and checked out the large amount of knives and cutting boards. He checked the storage doors and noticed they had everything they needed.

"Plates, pans, bowls, silverware. We got 'em all." Ritsuka told him.

"Okay, I can make do with this. Help me put things away, first before y'all go unpack." Lee Seng requested. The three worked fast to put things away neatly. Lee Seng started the process of taking some large packs of ground sausage pork and setting it off to the side as he cut green onions and cilantro.

"I hope none of you have the cilantro that tastes like soap gene." Lee Seng quickly and carefully cut the green onions and moved them off to the side in a large bowl.

"Nope." Ritsuka shook his head. He finished wrapping the last plastic bag and putting it iwth the rest he and Olivia were working on.

"Nope." Olivia answered. "Do you need anything else before I dip?"

"Oh!" Lee Seng looked up. He turned around and eventually found the rice cooker in a corner. He pointed at it with the knife in his hand. "Make some rice. I haven't had rice in ages."

"I got you." Ritsuka moved over and started the process of making rice. He moved over to the pantry door that they stuffed the rice bag in. Ritsuka set the pot aside and cut the bag and fished for the cup inside.

"Well, looks like you boys know what you're doing." Liz commented as she stepped into the kitchen. "What're you making?"

"Stir fried sausages with cilantro and green onion." Lee Seng answered.

"Well I'm gonna unpack. I'll be back." Olivia waved. Ritsuka scooped up six cups of rice and pushed the bag back in it's place before moving to the sink to wash the rice.

"Anything else you need help with?" Liz asked.

"Can you make an omelet to go with this?" Lee Seng asked.

"Any preferences?" Liz moved over to the fridge and opened it. She grabbed the carton of eggs and set it on the counter-top.

"Whatever you want." Lee Seng answered.

"Okay." She grabbed two tomatoes, a bag of spinach and shut the fridge.

"Alright, rice is in. I'm gonna unpack now." Ritsuka waved.

"Okay." Lee Seng nodded. Liz started to crack the eggs as Lee Seng set the cilantro in bowl with the green onions and set his knife and cutting board in the sink.

"Feeling better?" Liz asked. Lee Seng nodded and gave her an 'mmm' in response. "Don't you need to go to your doctor visit tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Lee Seng nodded. He moved over and grabbed the bowl and packages of ground sausage and moved over to the electric stove. He ducked down and opened one of the kitchen storage doors and pulled out a big pan. He set it on top and pulled a pan for the omelet and set it off to the side. "Manny's insistent he takes me tomorrow so I'll just let him do whatever. I should take it easy."

"It'll be just for awhile longer, right?" Liz asked. Lee Seng nodded and turned the stove on. "You'll be back to normal in another month, month and a half."

"Yeah, I know." Lee Seng sighed. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a wooden spoon. "I just feel like I'm not myself with everyone helping me. It feels strange. I don't feel like I can do anything."

"Guess even the toughest guy has his moments." Liz smiled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lee Seng looked at her. She shook her head as he turned to peel the plastic covering off the ground pork sausage packages and start cooking.

"I didn't mean it offensively. I just meant you seem like a tough guy. The articles about your mischievous life made you look like this guy who likes to live his life on the edge. Now that you're recovering from surgery, it's odd to see you so bruised and busted. I know the toughest people tend to be the softest and what not, but I didn't think I'd see this side of you." Liz explained. Lee Seng nodded and broke the meat into tiny pieces.

"Yeah," Lee Seng sighed. "I'm not as strong as everyone thinks I am. I panic. I worry. I doubt myself a lot… Recently with the surgery and having to go through physical therapy, I feel like I'm not what I used to be." He had a lot of time to think while he was sitting in his dorm room, not attending any classes for the remainder of the week. He thought about the strange nightmare he had. It felt so real. An exact copy of him taking him to this strange place where a no-faced, pale corpse man seemed to know him.

'Eleven.' He thought. 'The Protocol… I feel like it wasn't this hard to control… What does he want to do to me? What did he say to those Lords and Ladies? I feel like—'

"Lee Seng…! Lee Seng!" Liz's voice called. He snapped out of it and looked at her. "Your food's gonna burn. You spaced out for too long! Look!" He glanced down and noticed his food was already starting to get burnt. He made a small panic noise as he lowered the heat and instantly dumped the greens in.

"Ahh, I forgot I was cooking!" Lee Seng shouted as he stirred the sausages and green furiously together.

"You need to rest? I can take it from here. What do I have to do with that?" Liz pointed at the dish he was cooking.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. I just… I just spaced out. Sorry. Thanks for snapping me outta thought." Lee Seng apologized.

"It's fine, Lee Seng. You don't have to act like you did anything wrong, okay? I just didn't want you to burn our main course." Liz chuckled as she poured the eggs into the pan. The sizzle of the eggs grew loud and Lee Seng nodded. Cooking dinner was finished within minutes. He set the stir fry dish off in the back and wandered over to the rice cooker and looked at it.

'This one's a fancy one. It's one of quick ones that cook rice in like ten to fifteen minutes… I still don't understand how that works.' Lee Seng thought as he listened ot the rice cooker chime. He pulled it out and grabbed the rice spoon next to it. He opened it and stirred the rice.

"Mmm, fresh rice." He smiled.

"Alright, I'm done too. I'll call everyone to grab some dinner." Liz informed Lee Seng.