Redemption

chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

HOLLAND’S P.O.V

Saya geram!

Apa hal juga ni budak Tyler ni? sudahlah dia balik-balik panggil saya uncle, dia bilang saya ni daddy si Selena lagi… bikin panas betul…

Do I look like a father to a 17-year-old? kalau 7-year-old tu tidak hairanlah… ini 17 tahun… tidak bikin panas kah begitu?

Bayangkan sajalah perempuan yang boleh dipanggil kakak, tapi dipanggil makcik… apa perasaaan kamurang tu ah? ciss!

And I really didn’t expect my anger got the better of me… ugh, I’m always the Holland Robinson with the temper when triggered… nothing’s changed in my temperament, not even after the deaths of my loved ones…

“I’ll cook…” saya bilang…

Selena looked confused…
“I can coo…”

“I’ll cook…” I repeated myself…

I took off my coat, unbuttoned the top of my shirt and rolled up my sleeves…

Inilah pertama kali dalam bertahun-tahun saya memasak… the last time I cooked, it was breakfast saja masa kami sekeluarga masih tinggal di KL, tsk… di KK I never got the chance to cook sebab meals were either Thania’s cooking, mom’s or Bella’s… or sometimes our maids… then bila Kimmy sudah menjadi part of our family, we got the best of Italy served on our Sabahan dining table…

Rara… she likes to bake… jadi kalau bab desserts it’s always Rara…

I prepared my cooking blindly… blinded with anger and frustration…

Ter-prang-prung-preng semua benda dalam dapur gara-gara saya…

I’ll just cook Korean chicken… or more specific, chicken in spicy Korean sauce…

Mati kau, bawang!

Prang! Prang! Prang! saya hampas tu bawang…

The chicken wings saya kasi potong in two… imagining it’s Tyler’s arms and legs…

Prang! Prang! Prang!

“kau okay kah ni?” jiran saya menegur…

CHESTER.

Sipping with leisure what looks like liquor…

Chester held up his glass…
“Diamond Jubilee…”

“Johnnie Walker?” I’m impressed… banyak duit si adik ni tau boleh beli liquor that cost more than $150k… “gimme that!” I demanded…

Chester held out his glass from the kitchen window to mine…

He shrugged…
“take it… you look like you need it more than me…”

I gulped on the liquor…
“sssss… taste good…” it calmed me down a little… hati saya ada tenang sikit… sikit! bukan banyak…

“work issues?” Chester tanya saya… “kau mesti terlampau stress ni kan sampai kau masak?”

Stress, itu betul… work issues, nopes…

I wish it was work issues… lebih senang to handle daripada apa yang saya mengalami sekarang…

but I just shrugged, same like Chester tadi…
“can say that…”

Saya check on my cooking, lama lagi ni… another 25 minutes… at least I know not to burn my cooking…saya terkekeh geli… should I sengaja kasi over pedas kah ni? balas dendam sikit sama Selena… tsk tsk… jahat oh fikiran kau, Holland… you should have empathy for girls who can’t cook…