CHAPTER 55: EGGS

"So, where’s the disaster? You said you were on the floor."

"I got up," I mumbled, moving aside to let her in. My whole body ached, and I was suddenly very aware of how messy my apartment probably was.

She stepped inside, her eyes scanning everything. The small entryway, the single couch, the neatly lined-up grocery bags against the wall. She closed the door behind her.

"You cleaned up," she said. It sounded like an accusation. "I told you not to."

"It wasn’t a big deal."

"Liar." She took off her light jacket and tossed it onto the back of my desk chair.

And then my brain just... stopped.

I’d only ever seen her in her school uniform. Under the jacket, she was just wearing a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of shorts. That was it. But it was... a lot. My eyes kind of went wide and I had to force myself to look away before I got caught staring. I stared at the wall instead. The wall was safe.

"So," she said, putting her hands on her hips and turning to face the grocery bags. "Let’s see the ridiculous amount of food that almost took you out."

She knelt down and started pulling things out of the bags. The milk, the eggs, the broccoli.

"This is it?" she asked, looking back at me. "This is what you almost died for?"

"The frying pan was heavy," I said defensively.

She pulled out the pan, then the knife, then the cookbook. She just looked at the pile on the floor, then back at me, and sighed. It was a long, tired sigh, but all the anger was gone.

"You’re such an idiot," she said, but her voice was soft. She stood up. "Go sit down. You look like you’re about to fall over."

"I can help."

"No," she said, pointing a finger at my couch. "You’re going to sit. You’re injured. I’m the pillar. I’ll handle the groceries."

There was no arguing with her. I limped over to the couch and sank into it. It felt so good to just sit, I didn’t even realize how much my legs were shaking.

I watched her put everything away. She was quick and efficient, like she actually knew where things were supposed to go in a kitchen. She put the milk and eggs in my sad, empty fridge. She lined up the spices on my counter. It took her all of five minutes.

Then she held up the frying pan. "Alright," she announced. "Lesson one: Scrambled eggs. You’re going to watch me, and you’re not allowed to touch anything."

She washed the new pan in the sink, found a bowl, and cracked a few eggs into it. Her movements were easy and confident.

"You didn’t have to come all this way," I said quietly.

She didn’t turn around, just started whisking the eggs with a fork. "Yeah, I did."

"Why?"

She stopped whisking for a second. "Because you sounded like you were hurt," she said, her back still to me. "And you were alone. And... I was worried, dumbass." She started whisking again, a little faster this time. "Plus, I was curious if you’d actually burn down your apartment making eggs."

A small smile spread across my face. "I wouldn’t have."

"Mhm, sure," she said, adding a splash of milk to the bowl. "Now, the key is low heat. You don’t want to cook them too fast."

She turned on my stove, put the pan on the burner, and added a little butter. I just watched her, the sound of the sizzling butter filling the air. It was a nice sound.

"Thanks, Nina."

She glanced over her shoulder at me, a small, genuine smile on her face. "Shut up. Just watch and learn."

She poured the eggs into the pan and started stirring them slowly with the spatula. "See? Easy."

She placed one plate on the small table next to me and kept the other on her lap, sitting on the floor by the couch. She started eating.

I just looked at the plate. The eggs were fluffy, not a single brown spot on them. They looked like something from a commercial.

I took a bite.

"Wow," I said. "These are... actually good."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "What, you thought I was gonna poison you? It’s just eggs, Kofi."

"The ones I make usually look like a sad, yellow sponge."

"That’s because you’re an idiot who uses high heat," she said, but there was no bite to it.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked, her voice softer.

I glanced down at my side. "It just aches. It was stupid."

"Yeah, it was," she agreed, "But... I get it."

I looked at her. "Get what?"

"Wanting to do something yourself," she said, looking down at her plate. "Figuring it out. That’s... cool. You just have the survival instincts of a lemming."

I couldn’t help but smile. "Thanks."

"I’m serious," she said, looking back at me. "It’s just... you could have called me. Before you tried to carry a whole supermarket home by yourself. I would’ve helped."

"I know," I said. And the weird part was, I think I did know that. The thought just hadn’t occurred to me. Asking for help wasn’t in my programming.

She finished her last bite and put the plate on the floor. "So, you never answered my question."

"What question?"

"Why the sudden ’I’m going to learn to cook’ thing? You said you were tired of instant noodles, but this is a lot of effort to go through just for a change of food."

I shrugged, pushing the last of the eggs around my plate. "I don’t know. It just felt like... something I should know how to do. Like, be a person who can feed himself without a microwave."

It sounded dumb when I said it out loud.

But she just nodded, like it made perfect sense. "Yeah. I get that."

She stood up and took my empty plate from the table. "You’re done. Go lie down or something. You still look like you’re about to fall over."

"I can help clean up." I started to push myself up off the couch.

"No," she said, pointing a finger at me. It wasn’t aggressive, just firm. There was no point arguing. I just watched as she took our plates to the sink and turned on the water.

"You are pretty relaxed, having a girl over and all," she said, her back to me.

Oh yeah, I guess this would be the moment when those male MCs start freaking out, lol, I’m not that naive. "It’s not that—" I started, then stopped myself. Nope, that was the wrong thing to say.

"Don’t be fooled by my composure," I said instead.

She glanced over her shoulder, a small smile on her face. "Oh yeah? What’s going on in that big brain of yours?"

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