Our Food-Filled Life Pt. 2

Henry Golding sat back in his office chair, though he considered spinning around to actually appreciate the fall leaves around him for once instead of going through all the marking and paperwork he had to put himself through. After looking at a particular essay that was easily the most horrendous thing he’s ever seen, he slumped against his desk, completely fed up with the day. He just wanted to go home and see Taron and hug him until it was all okay, but he would never admit something like that, not even to Taron himself. Someone had knocked on his office door, and he called out for them to enter. He looked up to see his graduate student, whom he had just met a few months ago. She was a shy girl, though was very good at what she did. She had long black hair and thick glasses, and was in her mid-20’s. So far, she had been very helpful with helping him with the undergrads. “Please, come in.” He said, loving that he had someone to distract him.

“Sorry to bother you.” She started, and he shook his head.

“No worries, I needed someone to pry me away from all this work.” He motioned to the paperwork that was littered atop his desk. She laughed, and nodded. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I…” She gulped, clearly feeling very nervous. “I need to take a year off.”

He gaped at her, not knowing what to say. She was the one person that helped him tremendously in the last few months, he would be lost without his grad student! “Why? Is something wrong?” He knew she wouldn’t be the type to want to leave without some urgent reason.

She sighed and said, “My grandpa was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Level 4. I need to take care of him.”

He shook his head. Bad things always happened to good people, and he found examples of this almost every day. “That’s very unfortunate… you were one of my favorites.”

The sadness in her eyes worsened, and he felt so incredibly terrible for her. “I’m sorry Professor. I really didn’t want to disappoint you. But my grandpa has no one else.”

He nodded. “I understand, I’m not disappointed, don’t worry about me. I’m perfectly fine with you taking the gap year, though it will be difficult for you to negotiate with the school. I’ll put in a word for you, tell them you’re one of my favorites.” He winked at her.

She laughed and said: “You’re my favorite, too, professor.”

“Good.” He stood up, and taking it as a sign that they were done with the discussion, she stood up as well. They shook hands, and he nodded at her before she left the room.

He slumped back into his seat as soon as she left. This was terrible news, and it just made his day even worse. Deciding he needed some more caffeine fuel, he entered the faculty lounge, and immediately headed to the coffee machine without glancing around to see if he knew any of the other professors. He had started the machine and turned around, spying Scarlett, Liz and Naomi sitting and giggling away at each other.

Scarlet was in her 50’s and was incredibly successful. She was an African American woman with a bright smile and thick bushy hair that she always kept immaculate. She lived with her husband in a suburban mansion and specialized in marketing psychology, something Henry had almost no interest in. Students seemed to be quite scared of her, though Henry had no idea why. Liz, or Elizabeth, was in her 40’s and still single. She had curly red hair that fell past her shoulders, and she was a bit clumsy at times, though still brilliant when it came to academic work. The women frequently discussed Liz’s failed attempts at dating men, and since they were all psychologists, the discussion became pretty deep at times. Henry found these discussions amusing, and usually loved to weigh in with some random comments based on his research.

Naomi was a shorter Pakistani woman in her late 20’s, and one of the youngest in the department. She was a fast thinker and speaker and didn’t seem to be interested in men at all, wanting to prioritize her career. Even Henry could tell she was attractive, and knew that she had to frequently tell men she wasn’t interested in their attempts at flattery. She didn’t seem as involved in the gossiping as the two other women, but frequently got pulled into it by Scarlett and Liz. Namoi had quite a strong opinion about day-to-day life, afterall.

While waiting for his coffee to be made, and secretly grumbling to himself about the shit coffee machine that they definitely need to get fixed, he approached the ladies, smiling at them as he sat down at the final chair at their table. “The way that she writes about how he looks at her… the way they touch each other. It kills me every time. I was sobbing in my room last night and Franky actually looked very concerned for the first time.” Liz said, her eyes shimmering as she nodded at Henry’s arrival at their table. Franky was Liz’s black cat, which she loved very much and talked about all the time. Henry had a slight feeling his possessiveness over Liz might be one of the reasons why guys were always so scared to go to her apartment. Okay, the only reason.

“What are you ladies talking about?” He asked, pushing the chair in as he watched them.

“Oh, this book that I’m obsessed with. Okay, the whole series.” Liz explained.

“Is it one of those books with a guy on the cover with 20 rows of abs?” He asked, teasing.

Liz blushed. “It’s not 20 rows…”

“You ever think this may be a reason why you haven’t found anyone yet?” He asked, then realized it sounded a little rude. “I mean, most guys don’t have bodies like that.”

Scarlett laughed, her loud voice echoing against the small staff room. “Henry, I always love your sense of humour. Very… British. Dry, you know?”

Henry nodded, agreeing with her. “It seems like something I haven’t been able to shake off no matter how hard I try, that cursed sense of humour.” He grinned slightly. Having these idle chats with the girls always made him feel much better.

“Speaking of British men, did you hear about Professor Holmes?” Liz said, leaning in to whisper in case someone in his faculty heard them.

Scarlett shook her head, her eyes wide, and Naomi just continued to ignore the two girl’s gossip session.”I heard that he’s been dating a girl in his glass.”

Scarlett gasped out loud, and Liz grinned, loving the reaction she received from the other woman. Henry only half listened, waiting for his machine to finish his coffee. When the conversation finally ended and shifted towards him, he couldn’t help but grimace. “We have another British bachelor that is in need of a lady to woo.”

He stood up at that, not wanting to dive into the fact that he was in fact not into women. “I’m afraid I’ll have to skip this conversation and head back to the mountains of paperwork in store for me.”

“C’mon Henry! We know you’re hiding something from us!” Liz said, moaning a little.

“Ah, would love to chat more, got to go!” He rushed over to his mug, poured the coffee in, and rushed back to his office without another word. He left the ladies confused about his relationship status as usual, and they started to speculate once more in hushed whispers, wondering what could possibly be going on in Henry’s personal life.

----

On the other side of the city, Taron was covered in sweat as danced away while working, blasting Elton John from the speaker that Henry had bought from him a few Christmases ago. The words “Kingsman Furniture Repair and Refinishing” hung in a beautiful wood carved sign outside the store, attracting customers from all over to the fine establishment that was practically Taron’s baby. He was in the middle of fixing a table that was part of a long vintage heritage, and was trying to be careful to not mess it up for the woman that clearly adored it. His office phone started to ring, and he turned off the speaker, walking up to it to say, “Hello, Taron speaking from Kingman Furniture Repair.”

He recognized the voice on the other line. It was from his wood supplier about an upcoming price raise. He groaned, unable to believe it was happening again. “If this happens one more time in the next few months I’m going to switch to someone else!” He said before hanging the phone. Before he could turn the music back up and swear at the table he was starting to get frustrated with, the door opened and a customer entered, a lady clearly in her 70’s or 80’s with a cane, walking slowly into the store as she glanced around. She had white spectacles and curly white hair, and Taron adored her immediately as she reminded him of his late grandmother.

“Hello, my name’s Taron. How can I help you?” He asked, wiping his hand on the towel in his pocket.

“Ah. I have an old tea table that needs to be repaired and refinished, my son had loaded it in the car for me. I’ve heard some good things about this store.” He nodded, grinning at her.

“Let’s head back to your car and see what we’re working with here.” He walked slowly with her as they headed to an old Volkswagen beetle and she opened the trunk for him. He studied it for a few seconds, and knew he would be able to do a wonderful job with it.

Despite being a little upset at the supplier, Taron still decided to give the old lady a low price, and she looked at him happily before he waved goodbye to her, feeling much better already.

----

Henry arrived early after work, knowing that one more second of being there would drive him crazy. Besides, no one complained about reduced hours as long as he did his job right. And he always did. He was surprised to find a package in front of the apartment door, knowing that both he and Taron were both not the type to order anything online. He set his briefcase down and took his jacket off, still spying the package in his hand, which had no sender’s address.

He opened it immediately, and saw that it was ground wagyu beef shipped from his sister, who was currently studying in Japan for the semester. He would have to text her soon, expressing his thanks at such an amazing gift. He decided to use it for some spaghetti and meatballs that evening. Though it seemed like a waste to use meat this good for something so simple, he knew he would be able to make it amazing with this kind of meat.

Taron got home right when he expected him, all dirty and sweaty after work. Henry was about to hug him when he realized how stinky he was. He moved back and fanned his nose dramatically. Taron was approaching him though, his arms wide like he was going to bounce. Henry practically started to run away, and at the end, when Taron had him cornered against the fridge he yelled, “Go wash your hands you disgusting man!”

Taron laughed out loud, unable to stop himself. “And hello to you, too.” He started to wash his hands at the sink in compliance, and looked back at his boyfriend, still grinning from ear to ear, “I can’t help it if I want to hug you too badly when I see you.”

Henry rolled his eyes but grinned back at him, “Gods, I’ve had such a hard day at work I’ve just been thinking about giving you a hug, too. Though I’ve completely changed my mind now after smelling…” He pointed to Taron’s entire body, “this.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll go shower.” Taron said, still smiling away. He practically ran to the bathroom, clearly wanting to touch Henry as soon as possible. Henry continued to cook, and the smell of the wagyu beef wafted into the air as he breathed in, his stomach growling in complaint.

He was finished just as Taron walked into the room, still drying his hair with a towel. Henry approached him and wrapped his arms around the slightly shorter man, breathing in dramatically. “Ah… see? Much better.”

Taron couldn’t help but blush at those words. “Why are you so hot?” He asked.

Henry only chuckled, loving the affectionate male currently nuzzled in his arms. “You always make me feel better after a hard day.”

Taron only said, breathing in deeply as well, “well, your food always makes me feel better after a hard day.” Henry, taking the hint, let Taron go and started to spoon the food into big bowls, knowing both men were starved for it. Taron helped set the table, and they began to have a nice dinner together, with Taron practically moaning from how good the food tasted. Henry laughed and informed him that he should be thanking Katie, the woman that had provided the amazing meat all the way across the world. They discussed their days as they always did with their shared dinner, and both were feeling better from just being able to vent about how dumb people were at work. Later, they moved to the couch in front of the TV, cuddling close together as they did.

Henry’s favourite show was on: Antoni Porowski’s cooking show. Taron loved to watch the spark in Henry’s eyes as he wrote down recipes, and just purred as Henry petted him while focusing on the television screen.

----

The next day, Taron returned to his job with renewed vigor. He was in the middle of eating when the old lady from the day before returned with her son and the tea table, and explained to him how important it was to her. It was built by her late husband 40 years ago, and she couldn’t help but want to see it in its full glory again. People had told her over and over again to get rid of it and find something better suited for her needs, but she had refused all of their offers. Taron smiled gently and promised to make to and new, feeling a soft feeling in his heart as he studied her.

He felt slightly amused as she commented on Taron’s lunch, which he had laid on the table half-eaten when he heard the door open. He was upset about the interruption but perked up when he saw her.

“The person who made this for you must love you very much.” She had said, her voice sounding like she was remembering decades after decades of passionate never-ending love.

Her words had made his entire week.