Sinnamon Rolls part 1: Backstory

Ch. 11 - Baking by the Book

Milo's daily routine on school days became the following: wake up, eat whatever delicious breakfast Kari brought him, school, hopefully getting to eat food from Kari's cooking class, go home, eat dinner whether in his room or at Kari's house, sleep. Repeat. On weekends, it was different but fundamentally the same. So long as he wasn't kept from leaving his room or if his mother was home, he would spend as much time as he could with Kari, eating whatever he was offered.

Over the days and weeks, Milo's condition improved inside and out. His somewhat stringy hair became full and shiny, his skin tone became healthier, and from getting sound sleep almost each night, his eye bags vanished. Mentally, no longer being occupied by the stress of when his next meal was going to be allowed him to improve his academic performance. Not only was he too tired and hungry to focus before, but he simply lacked the capacity to care beyond doing just well enough to not have the school contact home. The only class he didn't do much better in was gym, of course. The only palpable improvement was that exercise no longer made him lightheaded.

However, despite the improvements, food remained his number one priority. He'd try to complete all homework during school hours so that all he needed to care about after school was eating. Once it was time to go home every day, or time for Kari to go home, Milo would go straight to bed and hit life's natural fast-forward button so that tomorrow would come sooner. As in, so more meals would come sooner. He usually slept soundly, but he'd sometimes suffer severe bouts of anxiety. He'd worry about how he would be punished if his mother found out about the arrangement he has with Kari. He suffered from existential dread, and he feared the future, as it was still uncertain.

He'd also thought about a concern he had about Kari's promise to him, but didn't want to bring up.

Sure... Kari's parents seem way more well-off than his mother is. Kari has so much awesome merchandise, and she has all those DVDs and Blu-rays, new game consoles, nice TV. Not to mention all those cooking implements, gadgets, and so many tasty ingredients. Not that they're rich, or even close to it.

But what he worried about is, before 'the ban', he was eating his mother out of house and home — no hyperbole there. The Neven household's kitchen is much better stocked than his, but surely the amount he consumes adds up. Are Kari's parents cool with this...? He's met them. They seem nice, no wonder Kari is so sweet. But he couldn't not worry about it. He'd tried to limit his eating, but it was difficult.

Little did he know, Kari had the same fear. She increasingly feared her parents catching on to her letting Milo do what was essentially mooching. She didn't want to voice the concern to Milo, because she didn't want to make him feel bad about his appetite. Well, feel worse!

She realized that the only thing to do was fill out working papers and get a job, so that she could use her own money to feed Milo. At least it would be easier to justify that way. Plus, if she was buying food to cook for Milo herself, her parents would be less likely to notice how much was disappearing. And there were other benefits to a job too, of course. She can buy herself whatever she wants in general, and more freedom would be nice.

Touting her ambitions in the culinary arts, she was able to get hired as a waitress at a restaurant. At least, she believes that was what got her in. It was pretty rough, even for the few hours she was able to work at her age. Pay leaned on how generous customers were with tips, and many customers are not nice people. But it was a job. And she was sometimes able to bring leftovers home, which she would give to Milo.

Kari didn't tell Milo about the main reason she got a job, since she worried he would feel bad about it. And she worried right. Because Milo had a feeling that was the reason Kari got a job and felt bad indeed. But he didn't say anything about it because there was no way he could go on if she didn't keep providing him food. He did not have the will to live that life a second longer.