"Hey, Aya, do you want your eggs fried or scrambled?"
"It doesn't matter." Aya scowled as he took a sip of his coffee and rustled the newspaper. "I still don't see any sign of Esset."
"That's good, right? That means we can go back to business as usual."
"Stop being so stupid, Omi. Business as usual? We're killers. We're not florists. That was just our cover."
"But, Aya, if Esset is gone, we don't have to kill anymore. We can go back to Kitty House and help your sister run the shop."
"Aya is better off without me!"
"Good . . . morning?" Ken hesitated as he walked down the stairs of Yohji's mountain retreat house.
"Good morning, Ken." Omi sang. "You have good timing. Breakfast is almost ready."
Aya growled and buried his face back in the morning paper. Ken looked at Aya and then at Omi. Ken wondered if he'd have any time alone with Omi today. 'I really want to talk to Omi about last night. He's very smart. He can figure out what's happening. I'm sure he'll say it's nothing. Probably something I ate or knowing Omi, he'll blame the last bad movie I made him watch with me.' Ken grinned.
"Here you go." Omi said as he placed a plate of food in front of Ken. Ken glanced down at his mound of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. "Eat up before it gets cold."
Aya put the paper down and started to eat. Omi sighed in relief and began to eat too. Aya seemed to have calmed down some. Ken wondered what the argument was all about but he dared not ask. It was deadly silent at the table with the exception of forks scrapping their plates. No one seemed to want to risk their life to speak. Finally, Aya asked, "Do you still want a ride into town, Omi?"
"Yeah." Omi responded.
"Where are you going?" Ken questioned.
"Oh, you know, I have morning classes." Omi smiled.
"Oh. Yeah." Ken sighed. 'Looks like I won't be talking to Omi this morning.'
"Omi, let's go." Aya said coldly as he got up from the table.
"Hey, Ken! Do you mind cleaning up?" Omi asked sweetly.
"No, I got it."
"Thanks! See ya!" Omi chimed as he grabbed for his cup of coffee and raced out the door after Aya.
Ken watched sadly as Aya and Omi left. It looked like it was going to be a long boring day. Yohji was still sleeping so he had to keep quiet too. Ken looked around the kitchen and groaned. "Might as well get the dishes done now." He hurried to finish the dishes quickly. He hated doing housework. He walked over to the couch and plopped down in front of the tv. 'I wonder if there's anything good on.' Lazily, Ken flipped the channels. 'Sometimes I wish I hadn't dropped out of school. Omi's so smart. We might have been in some of the same classes since he takes advanced courses. Nah, he would never have been in any of my classes. I could just never grasp bookwork.' Ken let out a big sigh and snuggled a pillow on the couch continuing to flip channels.