Fortunately, at that mont, Haley pushed open the kitchen door, breaking the atmosphere.
Haley glanced at Emily, who was leaning against the cabinet, and Leon, who was standing at the sink washing vegetables. She asked curiously, “What are you two doing?”
“Talking about what to have for lunch,” Emily replied, deliberately skipping over their earlier conversation.
“Is Leon cooking today?” Haley looked at Leon as she asked.
“I’m not sure. It depends on Gus,” Leon said casually. He didn’t mind taking the role of chef, but with Gus around, Leon figured Gus wouldn’t want to trouble him and would just take over all the kitchen work himself.
It wasn’t that Gus had any possessiveness over the kitchen—it was simply that Leon knew Gus was the kind of person who would rather tire himself out than inconvenience others.
“Emily, co back with . I can’t handle Jodi on my own,” Haley said, sticking out her tongue and asking for help. “Ever since you and Leon left, I’ve been Jodi’s main focus. I’m about to break down.”
“Then let’s head to the living room first,” Emily said helplessly. The two won left the kitchen together. Leon glanced at the ingredients Emily had prepared in advance, ntally calculating what could be made with them, then followed them out.
Even though he probably wouldn’t have to do much cooking, he still wanted to be prepared. In fact, Leon was quite eager to take this chance to learn a few cooking tricks from Gus.
After all, Gus’s dishes were delicious, and Leon’s greatest hobby in life was satisfying his stomach. Sure, his self-taught experints had yielded so decent results, but compared to a real chef, he still had a long way to go. If he could secretly pick up even a trick or two from Gus, he could make so nice improvents to his own cooking.
When Leon entered the living room, he found Emily, Jodi, and Haley already busy. Emily was weaving colorful ribbons, Haley was writing a celebratory sign, and Jodi was blowing up pink balloons.
Clearly, they were setting up party decorations. Without hesitation, Leon joined in to help.
He couldn’t do much, though—the three won had already divided the work. Leon’s main contribution was using his height to help stick balloons up near the ceiling.
As the decorating continued, the other guests began to arrive.
Robin ca first, bringing not only a birthday gift but also a large tray of freshly cut fruit. These ca from the small experintal greenhouse Detrius had set up for studying plant growth, so many of the fruits were out-of-season for spring.
Next to arrive were Lewis, Marnie, little Jas, and Vincent, making the once spacious living room suddenly lively.
Then Caroline and Abigail showed up. Caroline had two gifts in hand, while Abigail carried a two-tiered pink birthday cake, looking a little unwilling. However, when she spotted Leon hanging balloons, her expression imdiately lightened.
Gus was the last to arrive, and he brought the most things. Besides his gift, he was holding two large insulated boxes. It wasn’t hard to guess that they were filled with food he had prepared in advance.
“Haha, I knew there’d be a lot of people today, so I got up early to make so food. This way, it’ll take so of the burden off Emily,” Gus said with a smile as he looked at the group gathered for Haley’s birthday.
“Thanks for going to the trouble, Gus,” Emily said as she took one of the boxes from him. She and Gus opened them together, setting the steaming dishes on the dining table.
“Hey, Leon, I thought you’d be the last to arrive. Looks like you’ve been here for a while,” Gus said, noticing the balloon-filled ceiling.
“I didn’t have much going on today, so I ca early. I don’t like making people wait,” Leon replied, stepping down from the stool after sticking the last balloon.
“Well, now that you’re done, it’s my turn. I need to check what Emily’s prepared in the kitchen,” Gus said, confirming Leon’s earlier guess that he’d imdiately get to work.
Leon had just been about to suggest they cook together when Abigail suddenly stepped in his way.
“Didn’t expect you to be invited. Guess you’re on pretty good terms with Emily and Haley?” she teased.
“I didn’t expect you to be here either,” Leon shot back with a smile. “Aren’t you all close too?”
“Not really. Mostly it’s because my mom and Emily get along well, and Haley and I share so hobbies. As for , I’m just tagging along,” Abigail said. “If I hadn’t seen you here, I probably would’ve found an excuse to leave right after giving my gift.”
“But aren’t you all childhood friends? Shouldn’t you be pretty close?” Leon asked, curious.
“Then why do you think only this few people showed up? Maru, Penny, and the guys aren’t here at all. We all live in the sa town, but everyone has their own social circles. Not everyone’s friends,” Abigail explained. “Besides, Emily and Haley’s families are well-off. They spent most of their school years at fancy boarding schools, so we barely saw them. If they hadn’t decided to stay in Pelican Town after graduation, we probably wouldn’t even run into them.”
Leon didn’t comnt further—he didn’t know much about the past. As soone who had only moved to Pelican Town just over a month ago, most of what he knew about Stardew Valley ca from the ga, and reality could be quite different.
Still, Abigail’s information was useful. If the girls were all close, so of his plans might get exposed early.
“You still haven’t told when you got so close to them,” Abigail pressed when Leon stayed quiet.
“Well, what do you think? Are we close?” Leon asked her instead.
“Pretty close, I guess,” Abigail admitted without hesitation.
“So when did we get close?” Leon asked again.
“Uh… I don’t know. It just sort of happened,” Abigail said after thinking it over. She couldn’t recall how or when they’d suddenly beco good friends.
“Exactly. I don’t know when it happened either,” Leon said with a grin. “Maybe it’s because of my outstanding charisma.”
“Pfft, shaless,” Abigail said with a look of disdain. “I think it’s because you’re thick-skinned.”
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