After eating her last bite of pastry, Rachel glanced at the wet wipe Shane held out to her, then quickly and furtively lowered her head. A faint glimmer of magic flashed and vanished, cleaning the grease from her lips.
Shane withdrew the wipe, unsure whether to laugh or cry, and wagged a finger at Rachel.
"You can't let magic do everything for you in everyday life."
Rachel swiftly looked around, then raised both hands toward Shane.
See? No one had even noticed her using magic.
"That's not what I meant."
Somewhat exasperated, Shane simply wiped his hands with the wet wipe, then stood to pay the bill.
Unexpectedly, Cassandra and Zhou Zhanxie shot to their feet at the same time. Each pressed down with one hand, pushing Shane back into his seat just as he had squeezed halfway out between the table and chairs.
"You don't make a guest who's come from so far away pay the bill."
Zhou Zhanxie made the point in all seriousness.
Even Cassandra, who struggled with words, nodded firmly in agreement.
Well, uh... Shane wanted to explain that him paying didn't really count as a guest picking up the tab, but the reasons were difficult to explain to these two. In the end, he could only nod slowly and sit back down.
Cassandra and Zhou Zhanxie then had a brief argument over who would pay. After Cassandra showed her account balance, Zhou Zhanxie lost.
Thanks to prolonged teaching and training, Cassandra could now say a word or two.
They watched that seemingly slight, frail figure squeeze through the stream of customers to the cashier, raise her wallet, and point at the table where Shane and the others had eaten. With considerable effort, she got two words out.
"Check, please."
In heavily accented Cantonese, no less.