5. Hint of Honey
Chapter five
Hint of Honey
A sharp, aromatic smell stirs me from my sleep and I open my eyes to sunlight streaming through the glass doors that lead to the balcony.
I roll out of bed, and instead of making a dash to the smell, I beeline towards the bathroom.
Only after I emerge from my shower, am I ready to hunt down the delicious smell.
I find Nyari waiting for me; she’s sitting at a table eyeing a newly stacked tower of macarons.
“You can have them.” I chuckle at the fact that she reaches for one before I can properly give the go-ahead.
“Coffee and pastries are on the counter.” She points me to the kitchen, too engrossed with her macarons to move. “You can drink the coffee alone, or add sugar, or creamer—or both. Humans add so many things now; you can basically do whatever you want.”
When I pick the pot up, I know it’s the smell of the coffee that woke me up. I pour myself a cup and cringe when I take the first sip.
“Do humans like this? It tastes like crap .” I’m glad I didn’t drink enough to have to spit it out.
“It’s an acquired taste . Did you drink it black? Try adding some stuff.”
Nyari is still shoveling macarons into her mouth but I follow her vague directions.
I know sugar makes things sweet so I add some of that.
Then I add flavoured syrup from the bottles sitting on the counter: marshmallow and toasted coconut.
Lastly, I put some vanilla creamer in the coffee cup, because why not? I close my eyes and take another sip.
“Wait? This is perfect!” I wrap both hands around the warm mug as I taste it again.
“And just like that, you’re a coffee lover! Well, kinda.” Nyari laughs. “Grab something to eat and come over here. Let’s go over your day.”
“My day?” I’m already walking over to her with at least five different things stacked on a plate. “I didn’t know I had official plans.” I plop down on the couch next to her.
“You don’t. But do you just want to stay here?” Nyari gestures to the room and waits for my reaction.
“Absolutely not, I—”
“That’s what I thought!” She pulls a bunch of papers out and slides them across the table. “These are all the things you can do.”
It is extremely overwhelming, but as she’s shuffling the papers around, my eyes catch the pamphlet with a giant glass triangle on it.
“What’s this?” I pick it up and wave it at her.
“It’s a museum. And one of my favourite places to go, even when there are way too many people—which happens to be always .”
I’m eager to see it, but Nyari convinces me to go later since we’ve already missed her other preferred tour time. So, I have to choose something else to do. Shopping is pointless since I can’t take anything back with me.
“You could just do it for the experience. Plus, anything you leave gets to stay with me.” Nyari is campaigning hard to swing a shopping trip in her favour.
“I’d rather just….” I stop talking, as I search through all the activities still on the table.
“Well, while you figure that out, I have a surprise for you.” I look up at her with piqued interest.