Sheng Xiao Legends: The Green Dragon

四 / 4. Burning Passion

"With love water is enough; without love food doesn't satisfy."

~ Chinese Proverb

Click, click, click, click!

My heels pummel the floor as I run into the kitchen. 

"No-no-no-no—"

—POOF!

During my haste, I knock a bag of flour off the counter. I trip onto it, causing white powder to explode from the bag. "Dumb klutz." Blowing the bitter dust away from my face, I get back on my feet and brace myself for the damage. 

The dumpling soup has started to boil over, the buns are burnt to a crisp, and the fried rice has caught on fire. Stupidly, I grab the handle.

"Ouch!" 

Immediately, I drop it into the sink and turn the faucet on to soothe my scorched flesh. The steaming pan hisses at me angrily as cold water falls onto it. Panicking, I abandon the sink and grab a towel to chase the smoke away from the fire alarms—but it is too late. They've signaled everyone in the building to rush outside. 

Soon, the fire trucks arrive with their sirens blaring down on the street. The rescue team races inside, but instead of finding a fire upstairs, they find me sitting on the kitchen floor—a hopeless housewife-wannabe covered in flour with black mascara tears running down her cheeks.

Realizing that there's no imminent danger or threat of a blaze engulfing the apartment, the firefighters remove their helmets and start asking questions. I am afraid that they are going to be angry at me for causing such a nuisance, but they don't. One of them even chuckles when I explain that I was just trying to make dinner. 

The sole female firefighter in the group pats my shoulder and offers comfort while the others disable the alarm. Once they make sure that the kitchen is all clear, they leave me to clean up my mess. I hear them laugh all the way down the hall. They're on their way to tell the neighbors waiting outside that it was just a false alarm.

I am beyond embarrassed.

To make things worse, Cheng walks through the door. He sets a bouquet of roses onto the table and kneels in front of me. "Jade, what happened?"

I hate crying, but I can't stop the tears from escaping my eyes. "I just wanted to make tonight special." I sound pitiful as I squawk, "I don't know what happened. I was doing so well and then... the kitchen exploded!" I throw my hands into the air, feeling totally defeated. "I can't do anything right!"

"Aw, my love." He scoops me up into his arms. "You didn't have to do anything special. You're already special to me," he says, staring into my teary eyes. "I have you, and that is all I need."

"But dinner is ruined!" I let out one last sob and wipe the tears from my cheek.

Cheng can't help himself now. He starts laughing at me, which makes me feel even worse. But then... I start laughing, too.

"Why don't you get cleaned up so that we can go to our favorite restaurant? How does that sound?" he asks.

"Okay." I nod, feeling better.

He sets my feet back on the floor, and I kick my shoes off. Blisters are already starting to form on the back of my heels, so I am happy to get rid of them. Laughing, I brush the flour off of my dress.