Tomato is a Fruit

“So what do you think of the movie?” Sui asks, holding a box of unfinished popcorn in her left hand.

“Eh, it was aight, not bad, not too good,” Leesol answers with the hand gesture of an Italian expression to a mediocre dish.

“Right?! The multiple jumpscares were so unnecessary. In fact, it ruined the whole vibe! I think it would be better if-” and Sui fills the empty hallway with her chattering all the way back towards their car in the basement. “-don’t you think?!”

Leesol nods. Her eyelids looked rather heavy for any other reaction.

Sigh “Oh well, no movies are bad movies if the goal is to experience…I guess,” Sui looks at Leesol. “Erm, I’ll drive.”

Life briefly filled Leesol’s cheeks, exhaling a slight chuckle with it. “Yeah, please,” if her voice was a powerbank, then it would approximately be in the charging range of 5%.

Sui and Leesol are roommates. They have long been so since their uni days. Everyone knows the saying of “If you’re friends with someone for more than 7 years then that’s no longer just a friend, that’s TWICE. The girl group.” With that said, it has been a little over 10 for Sui and Leesol. Suisol. 

In hindsight, it was inevitable for them to eventually be bonded as such. Always flunking their classes. Always missing their papers, assignments and the likes. Almost always disregarding the suggestion from their professors. It was basically a destiny for their kind to be together eventually. Or maybe it is just due to the simple law of elimination. Failures. After all, apes - together - strong.

It wasn’t until the end of their seventh year on campus that they finally graduated. Out of pity too, for that matter. And in the typical Suisol fashion, they didn’t attend the graduation ceremony. Not that it mattered, they thought.

“So we have bachelor’s degrees now. Huh,” Sui said in the midst of her calibrating the bean quality for the day. Coffee’s been hitting lately. Not that it ever didn’t.

“Yep. Chemical Engineering…in a sense it did help us in this career,” Leesol tinkered with the espresso machine. Is that why the coffee’s hitting suspiciously hard today? Perchance.

Sui’s lips curve in a slight smirk. “Yeah yeah sure. Those pesky professors did a LOT in helping us build this cafe, sure,” the initial smirk turned into a small laugh as she finished her sentence.

The small cafe brightened up with their laughter. Filling those empty corners with a bit of earnest happiness. Perhaps a relief from finally achieving freedom. Or so they thought.

“Kiiimical Cafe”

Their grand project. The thing they spent their entire allowances for the past however many months on. The thing they thought would finally become the answer for their questions. Has finally seen its last day of service.

Conceptually it’s great–if you just ignore the cringey ass name–. Integrating the world of Chemical Engineering and coffee brewery to produce a cup of uniqueness and authenticity. The taste of their coffee supposedly could change depending on how you drink them. Surely that would attract customers. The world needs something new, something unique, something special. However, it never really goes along the plan.

They spent their focus entirely on producing concepts. Those creativities, while good, never really made an impact on their sales. Which would soon prove to come and bite right back in their asses. Not having done any marketing, the cafe failed pretty soon, and pretty ugly. All that fancy equipment, the special beans, ended up in the bin. High risk, zero return. Who would’ve thought, all that advice on learning about marketing might have turned out to be useful. Well, no use crying over spilled milk–in this case, let’s say coffee.

And so, restart it is. That’s just how life goes, no? You try, you fail, you learn, you go back up. In repeating order.

Sui gambled her luck on learning marketing and sales, while Leesol decided to take on multiple courses on becoming a novice bio-engineer in this electric car company. To which, miraculously worked out. Suisol spent only a little less than a year in unemployment before finally getting a steady source of income.

Now with the added knowledge of past failure, and the slowly recharging funding, their dream of building that cafe slowly rekindled.

A deep sigh of relief surges through Leesol’s throat as she throws her body onto her designated bean bag in the living room. The bag gladly welcomes its owner as it instantly shapeshifts to that of a comfortable cocoon of a cloud. Her face is no longer visible to the world outside that cloud.

“I’ve been curious, is that even comfortable? It looks like it could smother you to death in your sleep,” Sui asks, a half yawn escapes her mouth unintentionally.

“Why don’t you try it yourself~” a muffled answer comes out.

“I’ll pass. I prefer the bed. Bye-”

“Oi!” Leesol hands straighten up. It’s poking out of the cloud. “Don’t - turn - off - the - light.”

Pfft “What? You’re telling me you’re scared of it? Didn’t we literally just establish that the movie was ass?” Sui presses her mouth and her stomach simultaneously. A devilish grin hiding behind her covering hand, ready to burst at any moment.

Leesol wiggles, no, she’s fighting the pull of that cloud she’s in. Quite a bit of a struggle later, her head finally resurfaces. “Uhm, I, I mean it is bad, but still.”

“Hmmm?” The hand covering Sui’s mouth slowly unlatches as she steps towards the light switch. Her evil grin peeks through the gaps of her fingers as she cocks an eyebrow–not to be confused with eyebrows a cock, she doesn’t have one.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

“Hmmm?”

“S-sorry, okay? Sorry! I wasn’t listening to what you said…I was sleepy…”

“Lastonetoenterthebedroomloses!” Sui blurts the words then blitzes away, after turning off the light.

“Hey!!!”

Beep 

Bop

Badabingbadabi-clack!

Sui splits her crusty eyelids open. Never a fun time waking up to Leesol’s alarm when the intended person is completely sleeping through it all.

“Hey,” Sui nudges the shoulder of the snoring girl to her side, to no avail. Well, a pinch to the cheek it is.

“Hah?” one of Leesol’s eyes reacts to the stimulus. Her brain can barely register the situation before she opens her mouth. “Whuh taym izid?”

“Eight.”

Leesol’s eyes snap open. Her body springs forward, like a trebuchet with her head as the projectile–it does not fly away, needless to say.

“What?”

“Fuck.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“No, nonono,” Leesol palms her forehead. “I have an appointment at, well, right now.”

“Then, go…? What are you waiting for?”

Slowly, Leesol turns her head. Her lips curve, subtle and somewhat dangerous. She looks at Sui straightly. Expression unclear. “We have an appointment, dumbass. It’s the cafe.”

“Holyshit. Car. Now!”

Leesol laughs a little. Gone were the initial mysteriousness. What a goof.

“What’s the smell?” Leesol asks, looking around the car.