“Have another..!!”, my friend Jooni told me. “My stomach is already full”, I said leaning on the back of sofa.

I waved my hand to indicate a ‘No’ to have the next piece of sandwich. “It is just one bite, take half!”, she urged. We both had sandwich at her house. It is vacation time so our books were watching us from the bookshelf.

Jooni stayed almost just 2 miles from my house. Our final exams were over so we were spending our time trying out new recipes and eating them. We both loved to cook. Jooni has even thought to go for having a career as a Chef. We both have already decided on the name of our food cafe as ‘JooniMoni Eats’.We had this as an activity in our middle school last year. They had taught us about flameless cooking. Since then I and Jooni have grown an interest in cooking. The pleasure of grating, cutting, and preparing the ingredients gives an immense pleasure. Having had juice after sandwich, we left her house. “I will come to see you off till the corner of the road”, Jooni said to me as we stepped out of her house. We kept talking on our way back to my house. We didn’t get to know when we reached. “Jooni you have come till here, please come in”, I insisted.”I will read you the new story I am writing”, I continued as I did not get any reply from her. She nodded with a smile as she heard about my next story. I am into writing and Jooni is my support.

She sure is my soulmate to help me grow in writing. She listens to my every story with so much patience.” It is excellent Moni!”, was her acclamation.

My mother brought juice for us then we realized we were hungry. The sandwich was long back we ate! So I said,” Mom, we are hungry bring us food”. With agreement, my mother gave us a smile. She was such a sweetheart who loved to prepare food. Surely I got this interest in cooking from my mother.

We continued reading my story and discussing each stage in it, taking a sip of our juice in between. Time skipped, we had lunch while reading through my stories, and then it struck us to see the time when it started to thunder. We both ran towards my room window, to take a look at the climate.” Moni, it’s Jooni’s mom asking for her”, my mother held ahead of her hand with her mobile phone. I handed the phone to Jooni,”Mom, can I come?”.” No Jooni, it may start to rain. I will come to pick you so stay there till I come”, and she disconnected the call.

” Eomma is coming ajumma” Jooni said as she hands over the phone to my mother. My mom took the phone from her and while leaving “I will prepare some snacks then”.

We both looked at each other, a silent stare for a minute. Then we burst out laughing, for we realized that we were spending our vacation eating and drinking. We winked “Really ??”.