When We Return

Chapter 6

“Butter, all-purpose flour…” I mumbled, checking my cart if ever I’ve managed to miss an ingredient before browsing my phone again for the recipe mix.

Tapping my finger on the handle of the shopping cart, I skim through the list of ingredients since I’m not quite satisfied. Somehow, it seems to feel like something’s missing.

“Aish, the eggs.” I said and pushed the cart all the way to the poultry section and grabbed a dozen eggs. “Complete.” I say in a singsong voice and made my way towards the cashier to pay.

While I was busy getting bored earlier, an idea struck my mind to keep me company that I decided to bake. So, I searched for easy dessert recipes on the internet. Unfortunately, it happens to be that the only thing I’m capable of baking (I guess) would be cookies. Given its easy procedure, and the ingredients which are quite easy to find.

Since we’ll be traveling to genchu? Kenchu? I don’t know, I think it’s nice if I can bring some snacks too.

I stopped on my tracks to cover my flushed cheeks and the smile on my face, I know it’s absurd but whenever my mind drifts off to what had transpired earlier inside his room, my lips instantly curve and I could feel my face burn too.

He’s so sweet and caring (though most of the time he’s still cold-hearted) and I shouldn’t be liking this feeling but I do.

I slap my cheek lightly to erase the giddiness visible in my face and continued to walk on the apartment building with the grocery bag on my hand. Skipping slightly before entering the building.

Making a run through on the tutorial video that I saved earlier while inside the lift, I smiled once more as I checked the contents of the grocery bag. 

Honestly speaking I’ve never done any house chores in my whole existence here on earth so it’s quite surprising on my part that I’ll be baking. That’s the sad thing about having a luxurious life, you won’t get to experience the things normal people get to do.

Maybe me being here is a blessing in disguise, that I got to be free from my prisoned life and just loosened up and had fun like other teenagers. So, I think doing the wrong thing is somehow not that bad at all.

“Okay, so what to do first?” I mumbled as I skim through the ingredients I prepared on the kitchen table. I already grabbed a bowl, big spoon, and also the manual whisk.

I performed the sequence of mixing according to the recipe I’ve had studied a million times this morning that I already memorized it. It somehow made me look like a veteran cook.

I was about to mix the the eggs when my doorbell rang. The first person that entered my head was ‘J’, as he is the only one who I got to know over this complex. I wasn’t mistaken when I opened the door and came face to face with the guy I had breakfast with earlier inside his room.

“Hi?” his tone sounded shy and unsure but his facial expression remained blank. Seriously, what’s up with him? He’s more like a cyborg than an actual human being.

“Hello, what are you doing here?” I asked, imitating his blank expression. But I guess I looked funny so I smiled awkwardly after saying that.

He scratched his nape and for a second, looked hesitant about something. Then I noticed his ears are turning bright red.

“I-I, umm, I’m going out for a walk.”

Silence.

I got confused with what he said and waited for him to continue but he didn’t. What does he want? If he wanted to go out and walk then should have just went. Why is he telling me this?

“And what am I supposed to do?”

He clicked his tongue and scratched his head, looking so done with the world. What is it now?

“Aish, never mind. I’ll get going.” He said before his eyes run down the length of my body and maybe, finally took notice of the apron I’m wearing and the plastic glove on my left hand.

“what are you doing?”

“I’m baking cookies.” I said with much enthusiasm.

“You know how to bake?”

“Umm, no. But now I’m trying to.”

He stared at me for a moment and again, I’m stuck with just standing awkwardly in front of him. What’s with him and his gazes?

Is he secretly the son of Medusa? Because I swear I’m petrified in my place.

“Do you need some help?” he asked and I was taken a back for a moment.

“I thought you’re going out for a walk?”

“I’m not going because obviously you’re not, so let me just help you.” I wasn’t able to comprehend what he had just said because good lord, he was rapping! Plus, he already pushed me aside and made his way to the kitchen without even caring that I hadn’t invited him in.

I shut the door first before following him to my kitchen. When I caught up to him, I grabbed his arm (heck the biceps though) to make him face me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I tried to be serious and matched his intense gaze with the same level of intensity he was giving me.

“And what did you say earlier? I didn’t understand.”

He shrugged his shoulders once and faced the ingredients on top of the counter.

“Wrong measurements, wrong procedure. You should’ve melted the butter first.” He said after he saw my work. I frowned and tried to stop him before he got to sabotage my cookie.

“How is this wrong? I read the instructions!”

“You didn’t use any measuring cups, I see.” And he eyed my equipment.

“I’m good at measuring with just the spoon and mug.” I defended.

“I see that.” And he held the bowl showing the gooey white mixture because of too much vanilla extract, olive oil and water.

Scratching the side of my head, I cringe with the amount of liquid I put in. I guess I applied too much of an effort. My cheeks heat up as blood rose to my face. I guess I became too excited about it that I added too much liquid mixtures. Talk about Rosenthal effect.

I tried to save myself from shame by laughing it off awkwardly but the guy just gave me a hard stare.

“Maybe I did the right thing and came here to help.” He said and worked on the cookie dough by adding more flour. “If I hadn’t, you might have, more or less, killed yourself from food poisoning.” Offended from his quip, I slapped his arm hard that made him snicker.

“I’m not that bad!” I defended with my lips puckered into a pout, but he just continued to laugh.

“Judging from the amount of liquid you put in, I’m sure you are.” he’s a tease I swear! But it’s not irritating at all. In fact, I kind of like him being here with me today. So, I tried to mask my happiness with an annoyed expression. Somehow, I think this mask will have to break off eventually.

“Aish, get your hands off my cookie then.” I said and went in front of him while my back is turned, outrightly blocking his way from the counter.

As soon as my face was away from his sight, the smile instantly spreads on my lips.

He’s here. In my apartment. And we’re making cookies.

How long has it been since I interacted with people other than my parents, teachers and father’s business partners? It’s been forever I guess. And this feeling that I’m feeling right now is so new that it’s hard to justify.

He held me on the shoulders and put me on his side so that we’re both facing the counter.

“I’m just kidding, I’m going to teach you how to bake this. But first, we need measuring cups.”

~*~

“Waaa!! It smells so good!” I instantly jump on my feet and clapped as soon as he retrieved the tray of freshly baked cookies from the oven and placed it on the counter.

“Want to do the honors?” he asked and held out a spatula. I was confused for a moment on what to do but he told me to scrape the cookies one by one and settle them on a plate. So, I did what I was told.

It’s been two hours ever since he raided my room and interrupted my baking session. But really, if you come to think of it, if he really didn’t come over, these cookies won’t be as perfect as it is now.

“Can we bring some for tomorrow?” he asked as we transfer the cookies.

“I purposely baked these for our trip.” I whispered shyly and let my hair fall to cover my face. I don’t know why I’m suddenly embarrassed by admitting it.

I risked a glance by his direction and caught him smiling while looking at me, it’s his most genuine smile since we first met so I don’t have any idea if it’s a good thing or not because I can feel him enjoying my embarrassed state.

“W-what are you looking at?” I asked as he continued to stare with that warm smile.

“Why are you so embarrassed?” his genuine smile suddenly turned into an evil grin.

“Stop teasing me.” I warned and made a slight pout that just gave him a fit of laughter.

“I’m serious!” I added, slapping his arm to let him know that I really am.

But his laughter didn’t die down, he pointed a finger to my face and said I’m turning red. The cookies are long forgotten and we just continued to banter; with him continuously teasing me and me trying to stop him by throwing punches on his arm.

“Ow! Stop—ow! Okay, okay!! Haha, I’ll stop! Ow!” this time, he held both of my hands to stop me from hitting him further. Though I’m a bit annoyed with his teasing, during the whole duration of our argument, I’m actually laughing along with him. So, the moment he held my hand, we’re both still smiling.

But not after a wall of awkward silence divided the both of us. We stared at each other for a few seconds before we knew that we actually don’t know what do right at this moment. I awkwardly retrieved my hands from his grasp and I instantly missed the warmth of his touch. He also turned away from me and acted busy with the cookies.

For the hundredth time since we’ve been together (not together, together. But—argh, you know what I mean) we fall in complete utter silence.

“So..” he started and I anticipated what he’ll say next.

“What do you think about having a tour?” he asked and still continued to scrape the cookies off the tray and transfer it to the plate. I thought for a while before I responded.

“Tour, where?” I dumbly asked that made him roll his eyes. The cold-hearted king is back, y’all.

“Here, obviously.”

“Here?” I raised my arms to let him know that what I meant was the room and made a mocking grin. He looked like he’s so close to smacking my head right now. Well, excuse him, he can’t be the only one who’s allowed to be sarcastic.

“okay! I’m just kidding.” I raised my hands up in surrender and let out a small giggle.

“As I was saying, why don’t we have a tour? Let’s have it, twice or thrice every week.” He announced that made me smile in excitement.

Why not, right? It’ll be my first time on a travel tour and it’s making me giddy all of a sudden. This is also a good thing since I don’t get to be stuck here all day, all week. And it’ll also divert my attention over whole duration of stay here.

“And! We’ll start tomorrow.” He continued.

“Eh? That’s the purpose why you’ll bring me there? I thought you’ll be visiting someone or what.”

“I’ll be visiting some people, yes. But I won’t be long so we’ll take the remaining time to explore.”

“I like your idea, good thing you thought of that.” I teased and he just waved it off with his small smile. At least now he’s playing his role as my tour guide properly. I wonder what made him caused him to have a change of heart these past few days.

We spend the rest of the time transferring the cookies. You can say that we took a lot of time just by transferring them, but since he added a lot of flour earlier due to my watery mixture, the cookie dough was a lot. I think we made over 70 and above.

As expected, the cookies tasted heavenly! I’m glad I thought of doing it today. But then, half of the work is credited to him of course.

After that, he also bid me goodbye since the sun has already set and he’s still going to pack his things, so do I. He also helped me clean up the kitchen and instructed me to transfer the cookies on a container before leaving.

I went inside my room to pack right after he left.

I hope father won’t mind if he finds my bank account empty every now and then.