After finishing her dessert, Ririko pulled out her phone again and said to Victor:
"There's a new French restaurant that's been insanely popular. I managed to snag the last table, and it's nearby. Their pan-seared foie gras with port sauce is ranked among the top three in the city..."
Victor caught her hand, forcing her to stuff her phone back into her bag.
"What are you doing? I want to go..."
"No, you don't."
Victor's voice was icy. "Oswald's assets have been frozen. The credit card you linked to your account won't work anymore."
The moment he had seen those two ice creams cost eighty-eight dollars, he had known something was wrong.
She had completely forgotten their current situation.
Ririko paused.
She had gotten so used to spending on Oswald's card that, for a while, she had even started thinking of it as her own.
Now Oswald was on trial, all his assets had been frozen, and even the Iceberg Lounge had temporarily closed.
"Well, we still have to eat something for dinner." Ririko followed him out of the dessert shop.
Victor gave her a look, hoping she would learn to save some money instead of sinking so low that he had to earn a living to support her.
He dragged her home and went into the kitchen to start cooking.
Twenty minutes later, two steaming bowls of ramen sat on the dining table.
The broth was a simple soy sauce base, topped with a soft-boiled egg, a few slices of beef, and chopped scallions.
"Since when did we have all this at home?"
Ririko stared curiously at the two bowls of ramen he had conjured out of nowhere, every bit as good as anything from a restaurant.
"I stocked up on emergency food ages ago. I also buy groceries