Their Parallel Universe ✓

Chapter 38

His eyes burn, and tears start to form, no matter how hard he fights them back. Gripping the knife, Poll glares at the culprit that dares to make him cry, and starts slicing them. These damn onions.

"Don't do it like that, baby," Eujae speaks beside him on the kitchen island. He then stands behind Poll, putting his hands above the male twin's to guide him on how to properly chop the vegetable. Over the smaller man's shoulder, he continues to explain, "You have to curl your fingers under. This way, you can avoid cutting your fingers."

Poll focuses his eyes on the cutting board, ignoring the way Eujae's voice tickles his ear, as he attentively listens to his boyfriend's instructions. He sighs in appreciation when the perfume of the man behind him offsets the pungent smell of the onion.

"And be careful. A painter like you can't afford to have an injured hand, after all," Eujae says before letting go of the male twin to return to his task of peeling the carrots and potatoes.

A shot of disappointment rises through Poll as soon as the warm feeling in his back disappears, but he plays indifferent about it.

"I use my right hand to draw though," he mumbles. He resumes slowly dicing the onions and realizes that it's indeed easier if he does it the way Eujae taught him.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't give the same care to your left hand. You still use it a lot when you're making art, right?"

Despite Poll agreeing in his mind, only the sound of the knife against the stainless steel chopping board answers Eujae's statements. Through the corner of his eyes, Poll notices the other man smirk and shake his head. His boyfriend must have been amused to watch him concentrate on mincing the onions.

He can't help it. This is his first time helping in the kitchen, and he finds himself actually enjoying it, although the memories of accidentally wounding himself with knives as a kid make him very cautious. Those past experiences caused him to be very wary of handling any sharp objects; he's only ever been comfortable using cutter blades since that's what he uses to sharpen his pencils.

Without pushing the conversation, Eujae rounds the kitchen island and goes to the other side, where the built-in sink is located, to wash the peeled carrots and potatoes.

Poll finishes cutting the onions into fine pieces. He puts the knife down on the white quartz countertop and admires his work, pride swelling inside him as if he had just completed another painting. Eujae told him that the smaller the chops of the onions, the better, so he's satisfied to see that he did a good job at it.

Feeling motivated, Poll gets a whole bulb of garlic from the storage basket under the kitchen island and starts to work on it. He frowns, growing a bit impatient, as he runs into trouble of removing the garlic's skin with his hand and separating the individual cloves.

Eujae comes back with the washed vegetables and a bowl of chuck beef. Upon seeing his boyfriend struggling with the garlic, he chuckles.

The male twin turns to him with a pout and gives him a pleading look like he's calling for help.

"Here. Let me show you a trick on how to quickly peel them," Eujae offers, smiling, as he takes the garlic from the smaller man's hand.

Poll observes Eujae intently as the latter pushes the garlic against the countertop using the heel of his palm, breaking the whole bulb. Eujae then throws the separated cloves into a glass jar, puts the lid on, and shakes it. After more or less twenty seconds, he opens the container and tips it over to let the contents out. The male twin picks a clove and stares in awe when its paper skin comes off with ease.

"If it's only for a single clove or two, you can use the flat surface of a knife to crush it, and the garlic will pop out of its skin," Eujae tells Poll before he squats down to look for something under the kitchen island. Taking out a red, flashy-looking, rectangular container, he stands up and puts it on the countertop.