PART I

Someone knocks my door, “ Otto, Otto?” I turn off the television but
keep the PlayStation 2 on. I stop most of my every movement, pull back my
ears, and puff up my tail. I am trying to make her believe I am still
sleeping. A few seconds pass, and Karna, who stands out side my door
says, “ Otto, I know you’re playing the game the whole night again. It’s
time to help us have breakfast, or do you want me to turn your room’s
electric power off?” Damn! Why this girl is so smart and so cruel! How can
I forget what she did to my game record about two months ago? She just
pressed one click, and my records were all doomed. What I could do? Yell at
her? Beat her? She’s just a 16- year-old girl. And I am a catman. It is
incorrect for a man, even a catman, doing those terrible things to a girl. I
think she probably knows I can’t do anything to her.

“Otto,” She doesn’t wait for my response, “I would like two pancakes
with strawberries, two sausages, two strips of bacon…”

“And two eggs, sunny side up, right?” I open the door and interrupt her.

“No,” She glares me, “Scrambled, today.”

“Doubleshot Sumatra espresso?”

“Triple.”

“Hun?”

“The noise from your room was annoying me all night!”

“…”



I put milk and cream on a pot on the middle fire. I shave some dark
chocolate and wait for the milk to boil. After pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon
apple sauce, and Haagen-Dazs pure vanilla topping, a smooth, rich, hot
chocolate is the only one choice for me. “A perfect day begins with a cup of
perfect hot chocolate.” I’ve always told this to my customers who buy
coffee in the morning. As the milk bubbles, I put in the chocolate and cocoa
powder right away, reduce the fire, use a long wood spoon, and stir slowly.

“Otto,” I turn my head towards the restaurant, but my hand keeps stirring;

Karna sits there. She just finished her dish. Like usual, she takes out the
fat of bacon on her plate. “What did you do last night?”

“Uh…Huh?” I pause for a while. Why does she ask this? My eyes gaze on
her. She holds her mug; drinks a sip of the super dark and sour black water.

“Last night, you went to Elsa’s place, didn’t you?” Her blue eyes look
over the mug. She looks like she is watching something in front of her, but
nothing is there.

“Hmm…Yap.” I say, ”I think you’ve known that.”

She nods, “Mmm…I mean, what did you do there?”

“Ah…you know. I’m helping her to fix the banner. I designed a new
graphic for her, and…that’s it.” I don’t want to say too much; such as I
was treated with two delicious cheesecakes and had a good talk with her.

“You came back after ten, you know.”

“I couldn’t help it. I went too late, you know? I promised her I would
go to her flower store at four but …” I picked you up from school, drove
to the mall and carried your clothes and shoes and purses while you were
shopping. I don’t speak those out, either.

“‘Cause me, right?” Her eyes turn towards where I’m standing.

“Mmm…not…really.”

“Hun~~” She changes her static face; squints her eyes, and furrows her
brow; I say, this is the normal face I am used to seeing everyday.

“I think you should have finished the store work before you left to
Elsa’s place, or, any other place. I turned the sign from ‘open’ to
‘closed.’ It would be very bad if anyone came in that time….”

“Okay, okay, I know.” I’ve heard those words a hundred times.

“No, you don’t.” She says, “Priority, yes, you’ve always not known
what your priorities are and not kept your shifts on your schedule.
Think, what’s more important? My shopping? You could put that aside. I could
have called Feng if I knew you would help Elsa. That banner will help her
business, won’t it?”

Ha Ha, I’m sure what the priority is between your shopping and Elsa’s
banner. If I went to Elsa’s Florist instead of your shopping, the situation
this time would be even worse than losing the game record! I keep looking at
her, but say nothing. Karna stops speaking, and looks at me, too. In this
moment, I feel everything between Karna and I is frozen.

Bang! Suddenly, she puts her mug down on the table, stands up, and walks to
the stairs.

“Your coffee…”

“Keep it.”

“But…”

“I’m going to wake Feng and Asta up.”

“Karna, I…”

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong. I can’t see her anymore.

“Yo, Otto!”

“Asta?!”

I turn back, and a young lady is standing against the opposite side of
the counter with a white cat. She is wearing all pink - pink kitty pattern
pajamas, pink furry kitty head slippers, pink kitty paw gloves, a pink
sleeping hat with a white ball on top, and even pink hair. Her green eyes are
twinkling and look around me, like something interesting happened to me.

“When did you get here?” I say, “What will you have?”

“A while,” she says, “Chocolate.”

“Ah?” This is not what she usually wants; especially because she is
dieting in this week. ”You want a cup of chocolate for breakfast?”

“No, just salad as usual.” she says.

“Ah?” This is not what she usually wants; especially because she is
dieting in this week. ”You want a cup of chocolate for breakfast?”

“No, just salad as usual.” she says.

“So…what chocolate are you talking about?”

Her chin moves several times toward my right hand side. “THAT chocolate.”

And I look there, “No!!!!!!”

My chocolate has boiled over.