Chapter thirty two
For you .
"We need four cups of flour and two cups of sugar." Nancy said
Mera and the other wore their apron and even the chef cap on their head . The stood with their hands folded behind them like they were student learning from the great Michelin chef.
They each had their different set of equipment and ingredients to be used.
"Four cups as in four cups each ? Or just for the four of us ?? " Mera asked
"Four cups each would be great. Yeah four cups each ." Nancy replied and went ahead to get a large bowl .
"You guys too. Get a bowl " She pointed to them .
"I really can't wait to see how this will turn out " Hana says. All smiles and face lit up . One could easily tell that she was very happy with the experiment going on.
The one that's very likely to go wrong .
Emily got a bowl and so did the others ,they waited patiently for the next instruction from their 'master'.
"Now we'll proceed to heat up the oven "Nancy explained to them while simultaneously walking towards the oven leaving the three people to watch her back
"For the cookie , we'll need a temperature of about 350 degree F . " She faced them
"Now let's get into the real deal " Nancy poured four cups ofinto the bowl added the sugar .
"You guys do the same thing. " She waited for them to finish the measurements.
"You done ??" She asked them and they nodded negatively.
"Now there's something else you must know . Cooking is a very delicate job that deals with balance. If there's a little too much or too little of an ingredient it'll definitely affect the taste a whole lot . " She watched them closely to see if they're listening or not
"And it also deals with time. If you're supposed to bake something for ten minutes and then you do more than that, it'll definitely affect your food and I can assure you that you won't get your desired results"
"Didn't know cooking and be this tedious. " Emily whispered to no one in particular.
"Then here's the last thing . Do not be slow and always taste with every senses of yours. But since you're just learning , we'll leave that for now . " She smiled at them .
"So what I'm trying to say is that . Try to minimize your time . Don't take more than enough time."
"Now let's move to the next step . " She said
"Now , take two eggs and two table spoon of butter. " She paused and waited for them
"Done ? Great. Now you add a tea spoon of vanilla extract "
"Do you know what this is?? " She held a hand mixer up for them to see .
"Yes a hand mixer right? " Hana asked . She was the only one who knew much about cooking than the rest of them
"Now , let's start beating it ,untill fluffy . Keep beating it . Okay ? Watch me . " She rolled up her sleeve and start beating vigorously.
"Well I could surely eat the cookie but baking it is proving to be more difficult. " Emily groaned and stop beating the batter to rest her hands a little
"Don't !! " Nancy yelled
"Don't what ?? " Emily asked confusedly
"Don't stop . Do you want it to taste bad , huh??" Nancy asked as she continues to beat the batter like the poor thing had offend her in their past lives
"No one , I repeat no one could ever tell me to start baking ever again. This is tedious.!! " Emily groaned.
Mera and Hana laughed.
After a several hundred years of thorough beating, Nancy finally told them to stop and Emily did her burst not to burst into tears of joy. Until
" We'll add the cocoa powder and baking soda and salt to the batter that we have already. " She proceed to get the required ingredients without waiting for the others
"Now we'll resume the beating " the sight of the frown on Emily's head made Nancy smile
"But this time around it won't be as long as the first one . Just a little more to get the Cocoa powder to mix " She told them
" Now after that , let's get it into any shape you want . I'll just go for any random shape . " Nancy said grabbing a spoon to cut out any random shape
Emily didn't even bother with a shape ,she simply cut it into whatever wanting to be done and gone with the whole baking thing. Cooking is definitely not for her .
" Mera , Mera Mera . What is that ?? " Hana playfully nudged Mera who looked away and her face quickly burned scarlet.
Emily left her own and was quick to move to where Mera was to catch a glimpse of what she was making .
She Covered her mouth with her hand and her eyes grew wide from suprise.
"You're making a heart shaped cookies?? Woow. Isn't that cute. " She said with a dreamy voice.
"Stop ,....St..op trying to make it like a big deal. I mean it's just like any other shape . " Mera stuttered while trying to clear herself .
" Really ?? Isn't that cute . " Nancy said
" Who is it for ?? " Emily said trying to poke her nose.
" It's a secret . " Mera smiled.
"A secret that we all know. " Nancy winked
"Now let's go and put it in the oven" Nancy their master instructed .
"Wait wait wait ! I think you should inscribe on it. I mean the cookie. " Emily added mischievously.
"You think ? But what should I write ,?? " Mera asked shyly .
"I love you would be childish right ,?? " Nancy paced around a little in deep thought
" I know , I know !! I think you should just write, For you . In capital letter. " She folded her arms together and smiled dreamily.
"Be quick with it though. And don't forget to make it cute. " Nancy giggled. She went to put her own cookies into the oven .
Emily strodded to the oven and open it . She yelled a little and slammed it close again,almost spilling the content on her hands away .
" That hurts. " She whined , teary eyed.
"Ouch sorry . You should have worn a glove. It's part of the basic safety rules. " Nancy collected the cookies from Emily , placed them in the oven and held Emily hand in hers.
She led her to the sink ,turned on the tap and placed Emily's hand under the running water.
" Better now ?? You really should be careful. " She chided gently.
" Kudos to you. Imagine making all those things while suffering like this. First it was the beating part . Now my hands is sore . And then this. There's no telling that this cooking of a thing isn't meant for me. "
"It Should have been your mouth instead. " Hana said from behind
"So that you'll talk less. " Mera added walking to the oven to place hers.
"Till when. ?? I mean when is it going to be done ?? " Emily asked Nancy who was busy applying ointment on Emily's wound.
" Ten to fifteen minutes should be okay. " She replied without looking up.
That should be great . At least she'll know what she was suffering for. She'll be able to eat the fruit of her tedious labour soon enough.
"So how have you been coping ?? " Emily being her talkative self as usual spoke out loud not wanting the place to be silent and dull
"Coping with what ?? " Nancy asked not clearly getting where Emily was coming from.
" With the online war between ARMYs and BLINK?? "
Nancy winced ,then sighed and laugh. She grabbed a sitting stool and sat down .
" Honestly, it's been hard to cope. Much more harder when I just got into kpop . I got into kpop through blackpink,when I heard sour candy. But later I fell in love with BTS more ,without knowing what lay ahead in front of me with the path I'm embarking on . Both fandoms were always at loggerheads with each other. Trying to claim supremacy. It affected me for a while and then I stopped caring. I stopped participating in fanwars. "
They all stare at Nancy as she narrated her story . Wide mouth.
" That's such a great feat , I would say . I've been trying to stop getting into fanwars but all my efforts has been going down the drain. Especially when the new blackpink pre release came out . It was war everywhere. " Emily couldn't help but laugh.
Everywhere include all social media.
"Me too. Been trying to no avail. "
"Let's check on the cookie . It should be done by now . " Nancy stood up and went to check on the cookies.
"It done !! " She called out excitedly.
They flew to the place to take a look at how it turned out.
Emily took one and chewed on it .
"How's it,?? " Both Mera and Hana said simultaneously.
"Not bad ? But could have been better ? " She shrugged
Mera and Hana shook their head .
"Take a joke. It actually turned out well . Even more than I was expecting it to . So I guess my hard work paid off. " She grinned as she took another cookie .
**************
Mera stared at the ceiling, nervous and impatient.
"When is he going to come ?? " She wondered loudly .
She stared at the wrapped foil paper and the pink ribbon on it. She fervently thought about removing the darn ribbon that Emily had insisted she put on it.
"Even the wrappings look childish" she added worriedly.
The sound of the door creaking, broke into her train of thought and sent her heart leaping all the way to outside her chest.
Gabriel came inside ,with his outer suit on his hand and his suitcase on the other. The sleeve of his shirt was rolled Midway revealing the masculine,veiny arms that almost sent Mera into a spinning frenzy.
"I'm back. How's your day?? Not utterly boring I hope ? " He said to her as soon as he got into the room.
He maintained a direct eye contact with her for a minute or so and Mera thought she saw something dancing in his eyes. As he glued his eyes to her face , she saw a spark of something that she wasn't quite familiar with..
Give the time they had been spending with each other they were getting along pretty well.
He'll ask about her day and she'll do the same.
Sometimes when he came home with lot of work to do , Mera helps him and they both chat over the huge pile of papers.
But tonight something was different. The atmosphere was kinda somehow.
The atmosphere thickened as both wouldn't take their eyes off each other. That sometimes was always there , had always been there but both of them had been suppressing it. Trying to minimize it effects on them .
"You should get changed... " Mera averted her gaze and spoke loudly trying to dispense the sudden atmosphere change.
"Ahhh, yes. I should . I should get changed. " He hurried off into the bathroom.
Minutes later , he came out wearing a sweat pants and a sleeve less shirt.
He walked towards his table and Mera's heart did some funny moves.
Thousands of butterflies settled down on her lower belly and they decided to turned it to their temporary house.
He touched the foiled wrappings on the table and Mera totally forgot how to breathe.
He examined it and tried to open it but he just didn't get the hang of it.
" What is this ?? " He held out the wrapped package to her view .
"Aasshh, that ...t . Err, Nancy tried teaching us how to bake a simple chocolate....cookie today...so I uhhmm, ..left some for you. " She totally turned red down to her root.
"Open...it." she told him
As each wrapping came off , so did her sense and her breathing . She was almost gasping by the time he got to the last one.
He held it loosely in his palm , gently squinting his eyes trying to read the words' on it .
"You can go.. ..give me back if you aren't interested...I'll just eat it." Mera quickly stood up wanting to snatch it away from him to prevent herself from further embarrassment.
Gabriel stood on his tippy toes, making Mera lose her footing and she ended up so close to him that she was just a little bit away from hugging him .
" I'll enjoy it . Since it says ' for me ' ." He whispered seductively into her ears while putting the cookie in his mouth.
"Thank you. Very much. I... appreciate it. " He told her and smiled.
Mera slept soundly and dreamt of butterflies and a kiss.
***"*********
Steps in making a chocolate cookie.
reheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Beat sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in another bowl; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. ...
Bake in the preheated oven just until set, 8 to 10 minutes