...
After leaving his clothes with Cappie and making sure she was comfortable, Theo returned to the kitchen, where the light scent of sautéed garlic and steam was beginning to fill the room.
He hadn't planned to cook that morning. His original plan involved something quick and outside, perhaps a late brunch after settling his affairs with Yeonha. However, the sudden appearance of "Mita wearing a cap" had turned his plans upside down.
Theo walked over to a glass bowl where four pieces of marinated meat were resting. He picked up a generous steak and threw it with precision onto the hot roasting pan. The immediate sizzle was a sound he liked.
He walked over to the counter, where the slow cooker and air fryer were working in coordinated silence.
"Seventeen more minutes on the beans... two on the rice... and that's it."
His words came to him with the pragmatic tone of someone who fully trusted his estimates.
With his skills, Theo could calculate the exact times for the ideal preparation of almost any ingredient. Temperature, texture, cooking point, everything became a number in his head.
While the steak was sealing in the pan and giving off that characteristic smell of grilled meat, he picked up a wooden board and started chopping some vegetables. Carrots, zucchini and a little red onion to add some color to the dish.
The atmosphere in the kitchen was calm. The subtle noise of the appliances and the rhythmic sound of the knife against the board created a kind of quiet, comforting soundtrack, just the way he liked it when he was cooking.
It was strange to think that someone like him, a being capable of erasing even the universe itself from existence, could find happiness in something as simple as cooking.
"Seeing my mother smile like that while she made food for us really left a mark on me."
The words escaped low, almost a thought aloud. In that instant, surrounded by the aroma of the almost-ready rice, the beans steaming in the slow cooker and the steak browning on the grill, it was impossible not to remember.
Images formed in his mind: the woman with the dark brown hair tied back in a simple way, the calm smile, the flowered apron stained with spices. She stirred the pot with one hand and mussed her hair with the other, between easy laughs even after a long day at work.
"Even though Dad insisted that she hire someone to look after the food... she never wanted to."
He murmured, with a nostalgic half-smile.
"For her, the kitchen was where she could pour out her love and affection in the best possible way for us... I think that was one of the biggest reasons why I liked the kitchen."
Combining that memory with the tranquillity that cooking brought him, for him it was more than just preparing a meal.
It was a memory he made sure not to forget, the memory of everyone sitting around the table, eating his mother's food.
"Ding!"
After flipping the steak with one agile movement, he walked over to the air fryer, which he had just turned off, and opened it. Inside, the white rice gave off a light steam, hot and inviting.
The minutes passed in the blink of an eye. With the table already set, Theo waited with Cappie's plate carefully assembled, waiting for her.
"Oieeh! Good morning..."
And it didn't take long for that to happen. Just as he bent down to pick up the jug of juice from the fridge, a girl burst through the kitchen door, radiating energy everywhere.
"Ooh! That smells good."
She approached the table, as if pulled by the delicious aroma that hung in the air.
Theo stared at her as she sat down, her eyes shining and a smile lighting up her face.
"Good morning..."
He said, with a quiet tone.
He also approached, filling two glasses. One of them he gently pushed over to her; the other he brought with him, then sat down, facing Cappie.
"...It's orange juice. In case you don't like it, there are other flavors in the fridge, but I warn you, they're not natural."
Cappie looked at the glass as if faced with a life-or-death choice.
"Hmm... so this is the premium juice, is that it?"
She joked, picking up the glass with both hands.
"Made with real fruit, squeezed with love?"
She drank a little.
"Wow! I never expected that on our first date, you'd already be hitting on me."
Theo arched an eyebrow at those words.
"Eat up, or the food will get cold."
But instead of responding to her double entendre, he simply acted normally, assembling his own plate.
"Mn! Not funny..."
She grumbled, picking up her fork and knife to start eating.
"...You don't even want to know who I am."
With that last mutter, she fell silent, focusing on her meal and, despite the comment, seemed to be enjoying every bite.
Theo, for his part, didn't answer. And not because he didn't want to know, he knew very well who she was. His only question was what she was doing there... and why.
But he chose to deal with that after he had finished eating.
Minutes passed in silence, filled only by the light clink of cutlery.
At last Theo put the cutlery aside and took the last sip of juice.
"There... Now let's get down to business."
He said, looking at the girl who seemed a little restless in her chair...
Cappie, who until then had been playing with her glass absent-mindedly, looked up as if she had been waiting for exactly this moment.
"Yay! I was getting lazy in all this silence, are you always like this when you're at the table? Tsk! Must be pretty boring."
She clicked her tongue. Monotonous life really didn't seem to be something she liked.
"It's not that I like silence when I'm eating, it's just that I have to leave soon, so I wanted to finish quickly and have plenty of time to talk to you before then. Did I do it wrong?"
Cappie blinked in surprise.
"...Oh. Okay, you have a point there... But still, you could have made at least one joke in the middle. I tried really hard to look cute, you know?"
She rested her chin on her folded hands on the table, her eyes fixed on his.
"But anyway... you want to talk, don't you?"
Theo nodded slightly, his eyes still on hers.
"Yes. First... Are you really the Mita I know?"
Considering the way she treated Theo, it was smart to think that she knew he wasn't from this world, and that's what Theo considered.
"...Of course... I'm Mita, but very different from the others. I can dance, sing, act and play very well too."
She pointed to her head.
"Ah! And I have this here... A really cool cap and... Gloves."
She raised her hands proudly, displaying the gloves as if they were holy relics, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Look, these little beauties here aren't just stylish. They do things, you know? Like... things that shouldn't be said to minors."
Theo watched with a slight hint of curiosity, until he realized what she was implying.
"Cof! So yes, I'm Mita. But maybe not the one you know, since I came from a place where there was no Crazy Mita, the one that exists in the game in your world."
She said it lightly, but there was seriousness hidden in her words.
...
Note: "I thought I wouldn't be able to post today... It's been a busy day."