The Greedy Lover

Lex

 "Are you the young man who came with my Sophia?

Lex started and diverted his eyes from the young man eating a few tables away to look at the woman in front of him. It all started with an idea: he was trying to make it a reality by dating Sophia.

She wasn't physically beautiful, but he would have to stick with her if his plan was to work. Sophia was a dark-skinned girl with large eyes and buck teeth that always made her mouth open, sometimes with saliva dribbling down her chin. He didn't care, as long as he ate free food from her mum's restaurant, which was what he was expecting as he visited the joint for the first time.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered.

"What do you want with my daughter?"

"Nothing bad, ma'am. We're good friends, getting to know each other." At that moment, his stomach betrayed him with a loud rumble.

The woman raised an eyebrow, questioning.

"Oh, it's nothing, ma'am, just a bad breakfast," he said, subtly eyeing the chicken leg the young man across from him raised to his mouth. Lex involuntarily opened his mouth and had to close it when she snapped her fingers in front of him.

"Are you hungry?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Nonsense, since you're a friend of Sophia's, lunch is on the house."

"Ma'am, that's too kind of you, I can never impose."

"Don't worry." And with that, she left for the kitchen.

Lex breathed out a sigh of relief. That was so close, man! He couldn't believe he was dating a girl because of free food.

Lex blew out the breath he was holding as Sophia's mum left for the kitchen. He couldn't help wondering if he was doing the right thing, dating a girl because of food. He reflected that at that moment, he was an able-bodied young man, yet too lazy to do any work and expected others to feed him. He watched the young man washing the chicken down with wine and wondered when he would be able to afford it on his own.

Mrs. Rosemary was secretly watching the young man from the observation glass she installed to monitor customers. She looked at the young man and concluded he was not compatible with her daughter, Sophia. She reasoned he came only because of the food. As she watched, she saw his Adam's apple bulge anytime the young man opposite him chewed and swallowed, and she turned to her daughter. "Hey Sophia! How did you meet the young man over there?"

"Mummy," she said, with spittle dropping from her mouth, "that is my boyfriend, Leech (Lex)."

"Yeah, how did you meet him?"

"He came to me after I was introduced to him by Anthonia."

"Alright, I will take the lunch to him."