CHAPTER 160: DO YOU KNOW WHY I LEARNED HOW TO COOK?

Do You Know Why I Learned How To Cook?

Eleanor stared at her freshly made and furnished room with a cat-like smile of satisfaction.

The room of her residence was already pretty nice. In fact, it was even larger than what she had back home and was expertly furnished with all sorts of stuff.

It had everything most people would want. However, it lacked the distinct touch of ’her’. So, as soon as she finished exploring the residence and letting Sugil stay in the Beast habitat–as the amphiptere liked the settings quite a bit–she immediately started to make the residence hers, starting with her room.

Luckily, she had foreseen needing to do something like this, so besides clothes, she packed a lot of stuff that would allow how to customize her room.

A purple rug sat in the center of the room, and on the bed which had its sheets replaced with one that was covered in all sorts of cute animals, several plushies sat tucked in the corner, and vine-like decorations had been placed by the windows. There were also several LEDs around the room that glowed with different colors. On one side near the wall was an entire PC setup as, yes, Ellie was a gamer girl.

Her wardrobe also had a bunch of different stickers to make them look extra appealing, and on the wall above where the bed rest sat, numerous posters had been plastered on the wall depicting things from famous movie characters to pictures of Osho that he had no idea were taken of him.

The bathroom was also in a similar state and cute rugs had been placed, with a crystal-shaped holder for her toothbrush and other toiletries. There was also a purple towel on the stand, and the mirror also had several stickers on it.

Now, one might ask, how did Ellie manage to pack so much stuff?

Well, her dad is rich. It wasn’t hard for him to hook her up with a spatial storage.

’It’s a start, I’ll slowly customize the rest of the house as time passes.’ She thought as she went over to her bed and flopped down on it, having already changed into more comfortable clothes consisting of a pair of dolphin shorts and a light shirt.

She lay there for a moment before her watch buzzed, and she brought it to her face and pulled up the message, and her eyes lit up when she saw that it was from Osho.

[Osho: I more or less figured out what’s wrong with the eggs.] He texted simply, and Ellie debated teasing him, but she decided not to do so. Not yet anyway.

[Oh? What is it?] She asked, a bit curious.

Osho then proceeded to send a long text detailing the issue with the eggs. Talking about how whatever Stellaris did to increase their potential hurt their ability to evolve in the long run.

[Osho: I doubt the negative part was intentional, and it probably wouldn’t be seen as an issue since no one knows how to effectively evolve beasts in the first place. Regardless it’s something that won’t do me well due to my ability. Luckily, I figured out how to fix this issue. Granted, I don’t fully understand the full details behind it, but I suspect it has something to do with concepts.] He finished, and Ellie looked thoughtful before replying.

[I’m guessing that means you managed to fix yours, and you want us to bring our eggs later to fix them too?] She offered.

[Osho: That’s right. Not now, though. I’m still resting.] The response made her feel a touch of worry.

[Are you okay? Was it stressful?] She asked quickly.

[Osho: Yeah, but nothing dangerous. It’s just that I can’t remove the same issue from multiple eggs consistently. I’ll have to rest after each one, which is what I’m doing right now.] He replied simply, and Ellie let out a relieved sigh.

[That’s good.] She then continued. [Speaking of. How is the lab? Is it good?] As soon as she asked the question, she knew she’d piqued his interest.

[Osho: It’s great! It has everything I need and more, and it’s stocked up with so many resources that I won’t need to ask for more in the short run. I knew they would be able to fulfill my request well, but the fact that they did this much in the span of when I made the request and now is great. I’d love to bring you to see it.] He replied, his joy palpable through his words.

[Hehe. You sound like an excited kid.] Ellie smiled and texted back.

[Osho: Of course I’m excited. I feel like I could stay in here for weeks on end and only come out when I need to sleep.] As soon as she read that, her face darkened.

[Oh really? So you’re saying you enjoy staying there more than you enjoy spending time with me? ( ￣-￣)]

[Osho: First of all, you know that’s not what I meant. Secondly, I’d actually like it if you could be here with me as I work.] Ellie paused, then she replied.

[Why? I don’t know jack about the course you’re doing. Talk less about evolving beasts.] She retorted.

[Osho: And? I just like it when you’re next to me. You don’t need to do anything before I’m satisfied with your presence. ( ﾟーﾟ)] Ellie blushed at that.

[You’re not slick.] She huffed.

[Osho: ?]

[Osho: Slick about what? I meant what I said.] Seeing his words, Ellie groaned.

’How does he go from speaking smartly to having the implications of his words fly over his head?’ She wondered and replied.

[You were flirting.]

[Osho: ???]

[You know what? Whatever. Thanks for letting me know you feel that way.] She sighed, deciding that trying to explain it to him would just give her an aneurysm.

[Osho: Not a problem.]

[Osho: BTW, how is your residence?]

[It’s pretty good. Not very different from yours. I’ve been slowly customizing everything to suit my tastes. Did you know there’s a training room underground?]

[Osho: I’m assuming my lab replaced it. But I’ll look some more to see if that’s a thing. Even if it isn’t, I’ll just use Gale’s habitat as an alternative.]

[...]

Ellie hesitated before asking.

[Also, I was curious. What is your ultimate goal with your ability?] When she sent this, she held her breath slightly as she knew she was crossing some sort of boundary.

Osho didn’t immediately answer, and she waited patiently.

[Osho: Can you elaborate?] He finally replied, and Ellie sighed.

Whenever he reverted to formal speech during texts, it meant that his mind was spinning.

[You don’t need to respond. It’s just... you have this awesome ability that allows you to perform feats none have managed to accomplish in history as long as you have the necessary resources. Naturally, you intend to elevate our potential as much as possible and allow us to get stronger. But what next? When you become strong enough to defend yourself even with the knowledge of your ability being released, will you start helping humanity as a whole? Ensure that every generation of beast tamers hatches a beast with great potential? Not that it’s a bad goal. It’s just...] She trailed off with her message.

[Osho: You want to know if I have any selfish goals?] He offered, and she sighed. He hit the nail on the head.

[More or less. I love and trust you, but I don’t see you sitting in one place, constantly evolving beasts for who knows how long. Maybe you might do it for a while, but you’d get bored eventually. I want to know what you want to do. And... where I fit in such an equation.] She slowly texted, her expression becoming a bit downcast.

She wasn’t under any illusions. She knew that, were it not for Osho, she wouldn’t have even made it into Stellaris. Sure, Sugil’s original potential would have still been at the Elite rank which is considered high-level, but she wouldn’t have gotten any higher than that. But due to Osho, her future was far brighter than what was originally intended.

However, what happens if Osho stops supporting her? What if he has ambitions too lofty for her to comprehend? Let alone follow him to accomplish?

She asked what his goals were. But in reality, she was asking if there would be a point where he still valued her enough to keep her around. After all, everything she was, and would be capable of, was due to his ability increasing her potential. She wasn’t giving him much other than some emotional fulfilment. If she wasn’t able to do that, then why keep her around?

[Osho: Eleanor.] Ellie was snapped out of her spiraling thoughts when Osho texted back, the use of her full name surprising her.

[Osho: Do you know why I’m good at cooking?] She blinked, the question catching her off guard.

[Huh?]

[Osho: Do you know why I’m good at cooking?] He repeated the question, and Ellie hesitated before replying.

[I want to say because you enjoy it. But I guess I somehow fit into the equation since you decided to bring it up now.] She replied tentatively.

[Osho: Both are correct, just one more than the other.]

[Osho: When we were younger, I always felt a strong sense of inadequacy when I was next to you. I’m an orphan, I had no money, no connections, and quite frankly, nothing that should have attracted me to you. And yet you were. Even if I was too dense to know you liked me, I still knew you were interested in me, and I won’t lie, I felt like crap. You were the one who invited me to events I had no business attending, or sending me money when I was struggling, even when I refused vehemently. Most importantly, you were there for me in a LOT of dark moments in my life, and I had no way to repay you.] Ellie’s gaze softened at this, and she moved to reply, but Osho wasn’t done.

[Osho: So, when I learned you enjoyed food, I thought "Why not cook for you? That’s one way I can help repay you." And the first time I did, well, you told me it was trash. And to be fair, it was. So I learned, and I improved, and every time I gave you something I made to eat, and I watched you exclaim with enjoyment, I felt like a burden was slowly lifting off my shoulders. However, as I got older, I realized that doing what I did was no longer to pay you back, as I didn’t want our relationship to be transactional. Instead, I wanted to take care of you. If you did something stressful and got hungry, I’d cook for you. If you were feeling needy, I’d cuddle with you. I can go on, but you catch my drift.] This made Osho blush even harder, but she didn’t interrupt.

[Osho: If I’m being honest, a small, selfish part of me doesn’t want you to get THAT much stronger. That way, you wouldn’t need to be in danger, and you’d be safe. But I can’t ask that of you, since that’s not what you want. However, what I can ensure is that I can keep being there for you no matter what. So you wanna know what my ultimate goal is? Well, I wanna explore. I wanna visit other worlds, experience new and strange things, and I want to do it with people I care about, and when I think of people I care about, you enter my mind first. So that’s what I want, Ellie. I wanna explore the universe, and I wanna do it with you.]

Ellie stared at the screen for a few seconds, and she felt a faint stinging in her eyes.

[Osho: Oh, one more thing. Please don’t make me the focal point of your desires. I love you, but you are your own person. If there’s something you wanna do where I’m not included, go for it. I don’t want you to think you’re bound to me in any way. I help you because I wanna, you shouldn’t feel obligated to do anything. Alright? Not that I’m saying I don’t enjoy you clinging. Just don’t force yourself to do anything you don’t want to.] Ellie wiped at her eyes.

[Okay. I’ll do that.] She replied simply, happy the words gave no indication to how she appeared.

Because despite looking like a mess, those words made her very, very happy.