Chapter 63

Viktor grimaced. "Wow, that sounds harsh."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Hitomi said and drank through the straw of her orange juice pack. They both were currently sitting on the steps of one of the campus buildings.

"And here I thought my old man was bad." Viktor shook his head. "How's she doing?"

"It was pretty bad on the day she came back, but it's gotten better now." two weeks had passed since that day and while Leifang wasn't in her highest spirits she could at least say that she was 'fine'. "Even got a job."

"Never thought I would ever hear 'job' and 'Leifang' together."

"What else can she do?" Hitomi emptied her drink and threw the package into the nearest trash bin.

Like Leifang had said she had lost access to her trust fund. At least the apartment belonged to her and was already fully paid, so she wouldn't have to worry about rent, but there were still other expenses as well as the tuition fees, so she was glad that her girlfriend found something in that regard.

"Where's she working anyway?" he asked.

"All I know is that she's working in a Chinese restaurant. She told me the name of the place the other day," she snapped her finger trying to remember the name. "Fu Yüan! But I don't really know anything else about it."

"Ah! I heard about it, some dude in one of my classes talked about it once, saying he wanted to take his girlfriend there for a date. But I wonder what they would want a girl like Leifang for..."

"She's a waitress."

"You gotta be shitting me."

"Nope. She was all proud of it too, said that it might be an 'educational experience' and asked me for some pointers." Hitomi chuckled.

"Well if that's the case she might earn more money that way than with the job she's studying for. After all you are like the empress of getting tips." he said.

Hitomi frowned. "The way you're saying that sounds like I act like a slut."

"Heh, sorry. Though your, uh, attributes might still help you." he laughed as he dodged a punch aimed at his shoulder.

Hitomi grumbled. "Does your girlfriend know about you being a pervert around other girls?"

"She isn't my-"

"Yeah yeah, can it." Hitomi interrupted him and they both didn't say anything else, just looked at the people passing by. After a few minutes of silence the German let out a heavy sigh.

"Don't worry, I forgive you." Viktor said.

"I didn't sigh because of you." Hitomi rolled her eyes.

"What's the matter then?"

Hitomi looked down at her shoes. "Leifang's birthday is coming up and I really don't know what to give her as a present."

"Just make her something. I'm sure she won't be picky if it's from you, Miss Model-Girlfriend."

The brunette shook her head. "No, I more or less did that on Christmas. This time it needs to be something special. Especially with her situation right now. I want to make her forget it, even if it's just for a day."

"'fraid I can't help you there." he said.

"Yeah I know. It's something I need to figure out on my own."

"Seriously though," he leaned over a little. "I really think anything will be fine for her. She choose you over her family, so she loves you a whole lot regardless of birthday present or not."

"You know Vik, for being such a goof most of the time, you really have your deep moments." Hitomi grinned. "That's like the second time now."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" he fumbled in his pocket for a cigarette. "'Goof' my ass. I can be perfectly serious when I want to, I just choose to take it all in stride."

"Are you done nagging?"

Viktor paused for a second, seriously contemplating it. "Yeah."

"Alright. So any plans right now?" Hitomi asked, earning herself a questioning look from her friend.

"No?" he said, put a cigarette between his lips and lit it.

"You hungry?"

"A bit. What are you getting at?"

"Well I was thinking we could go an eat some Chinese." Hitomi watched as realization slowly dawned on his face.

"Ah. So you wanna do a little check up on your girl?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"You got it!" Hitomi winked and stood up. "Well I'm done here, so wanna go or what?."

Stubbing out his cigarette without really having smoked it he got up. "Sure, I'm game."

With that they headed out of the campus and towards the next bus stop.

"Okay okay, so I was wrong and we shouldn't have switched buses." Hitomi admitted. Because of a little mistake on her part they wasted a good hour to get to the restaurant and Viktor wasn't letting her hear the end of it because of that.

"Ha, finally she admitted it." he shook his head and chuckled, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I'd love to record this one and post it on the Internet. Hitomi Buchfink admits that she done goofed."

"You know, I was thinking of paying for your meal, but I guess you're fine paying by yourself."

"Oh come on now!"

"Hehe, gotcha." Hitomi said and playfully punched him in the shoulder. They stopped in front of the restaurant. While it looked quite unimpressive from the outside the inside, as they could see it through the windows, more than made up for it.

The decor was definitely Chinese, no doubt about that, with dragon carvings on some of the seats and oil lamps on the, nicely adorned with table cloths, tables.

"Wow. And that place really doesn't need any reservation?" Hitomi asked.

"Not that I know of. And they sure have no lack of costumers." he commented and pointed at the people that were eating and talking with each other. "Can you see Leifang?"

"No. She's probably busy in the back or something. Come on, let's go in."

They entered the restaurant and were promptly greeted by an older woman that guided them to a table for four people, since all the two people ones were already taken, then handed them the menu before walking into the kitchen.

"Well let's see what I'll order." Viktor said and opened up the menu. "Gotta admit, the place is pretty classy."

"Hmm that fried octopus sound really good right now..." Hitomi mumbled and let her eyes wander across the menu. A person approached them.

"Good day, what can I get you?" the familiar voice, but way over the top accentuated compared to usual, said and made the two look up. Leifang was standing there, looking at the small notepad in her hand. She was dressed in a nice blue Chinese dress, but nothing as extravagant as some of the ones in her wardrobe. Her long hair was pulled into twin-tails which just made her look incredibly adorable to Hitomi.

Viktor made a small sound, causing Leifang to look up at them. Her jaw dropped and no one said anything for a few seconds.

Hitomi was the first one to give in into laughter and Viktor soon followed. At least they had the decency to keep it down so that no one would look over to them.

"Ha ha, very funny you two." Leifang said, her accent going back to its usual tone. "What are you doing here?"

"I had the urge to eat some Chinese, well and I thought might as well use that as an excuse to check up on you, sweetie." Hitomi explained.

"And I was bullied into accompanying her." Viktor said. "Really, she threatened to beat me up in front of the whole Uni if I wouldn't go with her."

"Asshat." Hitomi threw in.

Taking that all in Leifang let out a sigh. "Well are you going to order something?"

"Yep. I'd like the fried octopus and Viktor..." she looked over to him.

"Viktor takes the sweet and sour pork." he said.

"Ok, anything to drink?" Leifang asked, writing down their order.

"Cola, is that alright with you?" Hitomi asked Vik.

"Yeah."

"Two colas." Leifang nodded. "Be back soon."

With that she left towards the kitchen.

"Well she seems to be doing fine." he commented as they watched her enter the kitchen.

"But what was up with that over-the-top accent?" Hitomi wondered.

"Beats me, really." Viktor shrugged.

They talked about this and that until the Chinese returned with their orders.

"Fried octopus and sweet sour pork." she said and placed the dishes in front of them, followed by their glasses of cola. "And two colas."

"Thanks."

"Thank you."

"I'll be back in a sec." Leifang said and returned to the kitchen, opening the door and saying something in Mandarin.

"She said that she would take her break now." Hitomi explained and earned herself a look from Viktor. She held her pointer-finger in front of her lips. "Shh. A little pet project of mine."

They both grabbed the chopsticks instead of the standard cutlery lying on the table and started to eat. Leifang returned not a minute later and sat down besides Hitomi, pulling off her shoes and letting out a sigh.

"You alright?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah, just a little beat from the running around. Today's one of the busier days so I've been constantly on my feet after getting here. Just need to sit down for a minute." Leifang told her. A smile formed on her lips as she felt Hitomi brushing her fingers lovingly across her hand. "I hope you enjoy the food."

"It's great, really." Viktor said and put another piece of pork into his mouth with an amazing show of dexterity.

"I never knew you were good at eating with chopsticks." Leifang commented.

"When in Rome do it like the Romans. And if I eat Chinese a lot I might as well learn how to eat like them. Seriously, who eats Chinese with a fork?"

"Now now." Hitomi said. "Some people just can't use them. Like my father for example. Of all the things."

She then turned to Leifang. "Now what I'm curious about, what was up with that accent?"

"Oh that?" Leifang chuckled. "Well remember how you told me to be creative?"

"Yeah."

"Since this is a Chinese restaurant I figured the customers wanted to have someone stereotypical Chinese serve their food, so I laid on the accent pretty thick and," she pointed to her twin-tails. "added a good dose of cuteness."

"And that actually works?" Viktor asked.

"I made twenty-five euros in tips today already." Leifang said proudly, making his jaw drop. He looked over to Hitomi, who simply shrugged and continued to eat her food.

"Dammit Hit-girl, your tip-earning techniques are godlike."

"Now you're exaggerating, it was her idea after all. Good work." Hitomi complimented her girlfriend, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Ah ah ah, careful with that." Leifang grinned. "Or the people will think I'm so strapped for cash that I'll sell my body here."

"Just tell them I'm your girlfriend then and that I get to call you 'sweetie' for free. Maybe they'll grow jealous and ask if they could pay you for calling you that." Hitomi joked.

"I think I'll pass on that, love." Leifang said and patted her on the arm.

"God, could you two cut it with the pet-names?" Viktor asked. "I'm trying to eat here."

The only answer he got was the two girls sticking out their tongues, making him roll his eyes as they immediately burst into a giggle fit.

"When is your shift over?" Hitomi asked after they had calmed down.

"I still have a few hours to go. So around four."

"Want me to wait for you?"

"No, just wait for me at home."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. To be honest I'd feel bad for making you wait. But you can compensate by giving me a foot rub." Leifang winked, put on her shoes and got back to her feet. "Well I better get back to work. Enjoy the meal and if you want anything else just call me."

"So if I'd like to order me some waitress-"

"No." Leifang shoot her down with a smile, then walked away, but not without making a playful sway with her hips. The German returned to eating her food and looked at Viktor who was halfway done with his.

"Guess she's doing just fine." He said.

"Yeah..." Hitomi said absentmindedly, turning to watch her girlfriend as she did her job, smiling friendly at one of the customers.

And she finally had the perfect idea for Leifang's birthday.

Not much to say this week, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter and we'll see each other next week!