Chapter 2.B – “The Apology Attempt”
606 Words
Rated R (Emotional intimacy, shame kink undertones, sensory recall, mild dreamlash, tension-soaked consent, guilt logic turned culinary submission)
POV: Zehrin Veilhowl
Following his audit in Chapter 2
🕯️ Scene Setting: The Memory Shrine Kitchen
Zehrin didn’t wake.
He lingered—inside a post-audit fog, his hands still trembling, his lips stained with something sweet and bitter.
Her spoon had marked him.
Not with metal. With meaning.
He hadn’t just been tasted.
He’d been read.
Now, in a realm reconstructed from his guilt-logs and psychic echo recipes, he stood barefoot in a kitchen where the countertops were lined with every meal Amara ever made—and every lie he fed himself instead.
The walls pulsed with syllables.
Each recipe whispered:
“She trusted you with her flavors.”
And he had boiled them down to silence.
🧠 Self-Assigned Task: The Culinary Confession Ritual
He rolled up his sleeves.
No gloves.
No titles.
Just a man who once chose career over connection—and now, wanted to bake his way back into truth.
“She deserves more than an apology. She deserves a meal seasoned with sorrow, accountability, and self-ownership.”
He didn’t cook like a professional.
He cooked like a man who’d burned her and remembered every temperature.
🍲 Dish 1: Regret Roux
He melted butter with old texts—erased messages he should’ve sent.
He stirred in minced arrogance.
Dash of “I was just doing my job.”
Simmered until the air smelled like unspoken words.
🍇 Dish 2: Grapes of Guilt Tart
Crushed timelines and fresh betrayal.
Infused with fig—the one she left in his hand during the dream.
He didn’t sweeten it.
He let it ferment.
Truth has a sting.
🔥 Flashpoint: The Return of Her Voice
He placed the tart before the mirror.
Her voice echoed through it:
“This isn’t forgiveness.”
“I know.”
“Then what is it?”
“An application. For penance.”
Silence.
Then—
Steam curled from the mirror.
She was watching.
He looked up, desperate, disheveled, apron stained with fault and flour.
“If I served you now… would you eat it?”
“Only if you eat first.”
🥄 Dreamlash Scene: The Spoon Returns
She appeared not in person—but in scent.
Cardamom. Thyme. Burnt rose.
The spoon floated.
He opened his mouth without hesitation.
She fed him a bite from his own dish.
“Now swallow the version of yourself you refused to digest.”
He did.
His knees buckled.
Not from pain. From acceptance.
“You were never just the villain,” she whispered, bodiless.
“Then what was I?”
“The man who set the table but wouldn’t sit.”
🎓 Confession Ledger: Alpha File – Private Emotional Log
I want her forgiveness.
But I don’t deserve it.
I want her mouth, her mind, her knife skills, her storms.
But only if she still wants my apology after I serve it. Unseasoned. Raw. Mine.
No more Bureau-speak. No more erasure protocols.
This is my hunger. She made me taste it.
🧾 End-of-Chapter Receipt – Spiritual Inventory
Item: Ingredient Symbol; Karma Value
Regret: Roux Butter + Old Messages ; +5 Honesty
Grapes of Guilt Tart: Crushed timeline figs; +3 Depth
Mouth-first Confession: No fork or filter; +7 Clarity
Refusal to demand forgiveness Submission through flavor; +9 Growth 📌
Chapter Thread Notes:
This chapter builds toward a Reunion Dinner Ritual in Chapter 5.
Zehrin must undergo 1 more Trial of Taste to earn access to Amara’s physical realm.
Ms. Strange is still watching. She has plans for both of them.
- Writer
