𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 - squid game

chapter 8: "goodnight, love you."

8 ----------------------------------- ◯ △ ▢

She slid the tray into the oven and set it for 350 F. I laid on the bed as she waited for the oven to preheat for another twenty minutes. Baking was like working out, it's a process to get results. I stared at my screen, trying to look occupied even though I was bored. But I wasn't going to spend twenty awkward minutes talking about how I can't identify a whisk from a spoon. Out of curiosity, I went on Safari and searched for anything about the games I was playing. By the time the oven was done preheating, my search history was filled with things from red light, green light to games where you have to run across a field. Nothing came up and I figured that something would have to come up this week. Someone would have to bring this to the cops.

A faint noise echoed in my head, I could almost swear that gas did something to my mind. Saebyeok took me from my thoughts and nearly made me drop my phone when she came up to me and grabbed my hand. She pulled me to the counter where she stared at the mess we made.

"Let's clean this up." She said, pulling out some wipes.

I took some out of the container and wistfully wiped all the flour off of the counter. It looked better than it did before and I was actually proud of myself for once. Saebyeok lifted herself on top of the counter, holding out her hand to pull me up too. I grabbed on and lifted myself up, feeling a bit guilty for ruining the wiped-down counter. We sat cross-legged and stared at each other. The room felt silent even with the music playing.

"Are you planning on going back to the games?" She asked.

My mind went blank as I tried to pluck an answer from the back of my throat. I didn't know though.

"I don't want to." I smiled, smugly.

"Promise me you won't." She said, grabbing onto my hands. "I don't want you to risk anything."

"I promise." I didn't know if I meant it. It was too early to know if I was ready to make that decision yet. My life is at risk to save another.

"Good." She smiled. A sour smell swarmed the air, probably the gas finding its way out of my system. I stared at her in awkward silence, wondering if she could smell it too. She leaned in closer to me and for a moment I felt a ton of emotions. Mostly confused. Our little staring contest was interrupted by the blaring noise of the fire alarm. My ears hurt from how loud that thing was, probably almost as loud as a train for god's sake. Saebyeok stood high on the counter, her head nearly touching the ceiling. She hit the alarm and the annoying noises stopped. I wanted to thank her for stopping my ears from popping but she quickly interrupted me.

"Hurry! Take the cookies out!" She yelled, waving her hands. Smoke filled the apartment, the stench was unbearable.

I opened the oven and grabbed the glove that hung over the handle. I pulled the tray out, staring at the dark brown clumps of dust. Saebyeok opened the door and carried a fan out to get rid of the gross smell that filled the room. She came running back to the kitchen and giggled on her way.

"Well, there's our cookies." She laughed.

"I love them burnt, ear-piercing," I said, grabbing one of the clumps and taking a small bite out of it. Sae stared at me like I was insane, which I was. I spit it out into the garbage can, it tasted like the ashes of a burnt object.

She grabbed me a cup of water and we sat down in the bed, questioning what happened in the last ten minutes.

"Today was the most fun I've had in such a long time." I smiled.

"Just you wait till tomorrow, I have something special planned." She grinned.

She stood up and grabbed the fan from out of the hallway and brought it over by us. She shut off the lamps and laid down next to me.

"I'm glad you came to the games." She said, warmly.

"Are you saying your glad that I'm broke?" I giggled.

"What, no." She smiled.

"Really that's what I thought you meant." I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn't see in the pitch dark room.

"Go to bed." She said, tossing a pillow at my face.

"Goodnight," I said, closing my eyes.

"Goodnight, love you."