The soup was the best thing I had eaten since the steak.
I told Marlene this when she came to check on our table. She did not smile, but her eyes did something warm. She refilled my bowl without asking and added an extra slice of bread. Sophie watched this exchange with wide eyes.
"She never gives extra bread," Sophie whispered. "She likes you. She really likes you."
"I like her too."
"Everyone likes Marlene. That is not special. What is special is Marlene liking you. She is very selective. She once banned a customer for three months because he said her soup was adequate."
"Adequate."
"Adequate. Can you imagine."
I finished the soup. Every last drop. I ate the bread. I drank the tea. And when I was done, I felt contentment. Real, warm, belly-full contentment.
"I should pay," I said, reaching for the cash in my pocket. "How much do I owe you."
Sophie waved her hand dismissively. "Marlene will just say it is free again. She is like that with people she adopts. But I will get the bill. Hold on."
She disappeared behind the counter and returned with a small piece of paper. "Soup, bread, tea. Total is eighty-five thousand rupiah."
I stared at the number. Eighty-five thousand. I had no idea if that was expensive or cheap. I had no frame of reference for what things cost. The old Vivian probably never looked at prices. She probably just handed over a black credit card and signed whatever receipt appeared in front of her.
But I was not the old Vivian. I was someone who wanted to tip.
Sophie had been kind. Marlene had been kind. They had fed me and welcomed me and made me feel like I belonged somewhere for the first time since I woke up in that hospital bed. I wanted to thank them properly.
I pulled out the cash I had found in the study drawer. There were several bills. I did not recognize the denominations. They all looked similar. I picked one that seemed reasonable. It had a lot of zeros, but maybe that was normal. Maybe everything had a lot of zeros.
"Here," I said, handing Sophie the cash. "For the soup. And keep the change. As a tip."
Sophie took the money. She looked at the bill. Her face went pale.
"Vivian."
"Yes."
"This is a hundred thousand rupiah."
"Is that too much. I can give more."
"No. No, that is not. The soup was eighty-five thousand. This is a hundred thousand. That is a fifteen thousand rupiah tip. Which is generous. Very generous. But that is not." She was staring at the bill like it had personally offended her. "Vivian. Did you mean to tip me one million rupiah."
I blinked. "What."
"This bill. It is not a hundred thousand. It is a million. One million rupiah. You just tipped me more than ten times the cost of the soup."
I stared at the bill. It looked exactly like all the others. I had no idea how to tell them apart. The old Vivian probably knew. The old Vivian probably had a whole system for understanding money. I had nothing.
"I thought it was fifty thousand," I admitted.
"Fifty thousand." Sophie's voice went very high. "You thought you were tipping me fifty thousand, which is still generous by the way, but instead you tipped me one million."
"Is that bad."
Sophie opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. No sound came out. She looked at the payment terminal on the counter, then at the bill, then at me.
And then she fainted.
Just collapsed. Dramatically. Like a Victorian heroine who had received shocking news. She crumpled to the floor behind the counter and disappeared from view.
"Sophie."
I jumped up and rushed behind the counter. Sophie was on the floor with her eyes closed and her body completely still. Marlene appeared in the kitchen doorway, took one look at the scene, and sighed heavily.
"Again," she said.
A lanky guy with glasses burst out from the back room. He was clutching a laptop to his chest like it was a lifeline. His eyes were wide with panic.
"What happened. I heard screaming. Is everyone okay. Sophie. Sophie."
He spotted Sophie on the floor and rushed over. He knelt beside her and checked her pulse with surprising competence.
"She fainted," I said. "I think. I tipped her and she looked at the bill and then she fainted."
The guy looked at the payment terminal. His eyes went even wider, which I had not thought possible.
"That is a million rupiah tip," he said.
"I know. I did not mean to. I thought it was fifty thousand."
"You thought." He stared at me, then at Sophie, then at the payment terminal. Then he sat down very slowly on the floor next to Sophie.
"I need a moment," he said.
We sat there, the three of us, on the floor behind the counter of Marlene's Corner. Sophie was unconscious. The lanky guy was processing. And I was a billionaire who had accidentally tipped a waitress one million rupiah because I could not read my own currency.
Marlene stepped over us and continued wiping down the counter.
"First time she fainted was when a customer proposed to her," Marlene said calmly. "Second time was when she won a year's supply of free coffee. This is the third time. You are in good company."
"This happens often," I asked.
"Often enough." Marlene looked down at Sophie, who was starting to stir. "She will be fine. She always is. Just dramatic."
Sophie's eyes fluttered open. She looked up at me, then at the lanky guy, then at Marlene.
"Did I dream it," she whispered, "or did Vivian just tip me a million rupiah."
"Not a dream," the lanky guy said.
Sophie closed her eyes again. "I need another moment."
I helped her sit up. She leaned against the counter and fanned herself with her apron. The lanky guy was still sitting on the floor, clutching his laptop and staring into the middle distance.
"I am Kevin, by the way," he said. "I work here. Part time IT. Full time anxious mess."
"Vivian."
"I know. Everyone knows. You are kind of famous. Rich. Amnesiac. Tips a million rupiah by accident. You are going to be a legend."
Sophie finally opened her eyes and looked at me. "You really did not know it was a million."
"I really did not know."
She stared at me for a long moment. Then she started laughing. Bright, loud, uncontrollable laughter that filled the entire café.
"This is the most Vivian thing that has ever happened," she gasped. "The old Vivian would have calculated the exact appropriate tip based on service quality and inflation rates. You just guessed. And accidentally made me rich."
"I am sorry."
"Do not be sorry. This is the best day of my life." She looked at the payment terminal again. "I cannot keep this. It is too much."
"Keep it," I said. "Consider it back pay. For all the emergency cuddles."
Sophie's eyes filled with tears again. "You are going to make me cry. Again. I have cried three times today. This is a record."
Kevin, still on the floor, opened his laptop. "I am documenting this. For posterity."
"You are documenting my crying."
"I document everything. It is what I do."
I looked at Sophie, at Kevin, at Marlene who was pretending not to watch us. This strange, wonderful, chaotic little family I had stumbled into.
"I forgot I am a billionaire," I said. "Again."
Sophie laughed. Kevin typed. Marlene slid a slice of cake across the counter toward me.
"Eat," she said. "You will need your strength. These two are exhausting."
I picked up the fork. The cake was chocolate. Rich and dark and perfect. I took a bite and smiled.
I had found my people. Even if I had to pay a million rupiah to do it.