𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕄𝕖 || ℂ.𝕐𝕁

~3~

The whole walk home I had a silly grin on my face. I kept replaying Yeonjun and I's conversation in my head, over and over. My skin tingled just remembering.

"Alia, do you want to help me make dinner?" I suggested as we neared the door to our apartment. I unlocked it, heading inside.

"Sure!" She grinned. "When are you going to email Yeonjun?"

I rolled my eyes playfully. "What, you just left them! Give your old mom a break." At the look on her face, I smiled. "I'll email him after dinner, alright?"

"Thanks Mama. What are we making?" She headed to the kitchen, but I stopped her.

"Wash your hands, and then I'll tell you," I instructed.

Alia sighed. "Fine." She pumped the soap and washed her hands. When she was done, I washed mine, then turned the water off. I dried my hands and started getting things out of the cabinet.

She watched me, and when I had everything laid out, she studied it. Alia surveyed the butter, salt, tomato sauce, and noodles, then looked up at me. "Are we having spaghetti?" She asked, face lit up.

Her smile made my heart warm. "We are! Now, be careful, I don't want you to burn yourself."

She watched as I set up the boiling water for the pasta. I turned to her once it was boiling. "Okay, so I'm gonna help you pour in the pasta."

I opened the box, pulling up a chair so she was at a good height, and placed my hands over her smaller ones.

Together we tilted the box so all the pasta fell in, and I put Alia on the ground, high fiving her.

"Good job. Set a timer for ten minutes, okay?" I held her up so she could reach, her body snug in my arms.

She pressed each button, then hit start, and I set her down. "Tell me about your time at the park! What did you and Jiho play?"

Her eyes bright, Alia launched into a speech about the game they created. When the timer went off, I poured the red sauce into a pot and set another timer for five minutes.

Alia continued, getting caught up in the details, and the new timer went off. I pulled out a noodle, blew on it to cool it off, then ripped it in two and gave half to Alia. We both took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Another minute?" I suggested.

She nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

I smiled, letting it sit, then we tried it again.

"Perfect!" Alia exclaimed.

I strained the spaghetti, humming a song while I worked. I separated it into two containers, one significantly larger than the other. One was butter spaghetti for Alia, but I mixed the sauce from the pot into the other section.

I set the table, putting down forks and some leftover salad from the night before. Alia and I sat down to eat, and I served her and myself, taking a bite. "Delicious!" I appraised. "We did a good job."

After dinner, it was time to put Alia to bed. I left the mess in the kitchen. I'd clean it up later.

I helped her brush her teeth, got her dressed in her pajamas, and laid down in bed with her, grabbing her favorite book off the shelf. It was a story about a woman who went on many adventures in her youth, then planted flowers to make the world a little more beautiful once she got older.

When I finished, I tucked her in, kissing her forehead. "Goodnight, Lia."

"Goodnight Mom, I love you," she murmured, eyes closed.

"I love you more." I shut the lights off, about to leave the room, when she called me back in. "Yes?"

"Did you text Yeonjun yet?" Alia asked hopefully.