ANIMA

22. Every moment

Tomas

We convince Mason to clean himself up while Aiden and I clean the kitchen.

After we are done with the cleanup, I try recreating Mason’s kimchi quesadillas. I overestimate my cooking skills and fail miserably.

Mason walks in as I wonder if any of the food is salvageable. Aiden is doing a poor job of trying not to laugh.

“And what happened here?” Mason asks.

“Tom happened. I would love to stay and see how you save this but Sierra is waiting. See you back on campus.” Aiden says with a chuckle.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence” I say to Aiden’s back.

“What were you trying to make?” Mason asks, doing a better job of trying not to laugh.

“Kimchi quesadillas” I reply.

“That’s way above your pay-grade kid.” he says giving into the laugh.

He scraps everything and makes kimchi fried rice and short rib.

“You are really good at this. Tell me again why you are not pursuing this?” I ask between bites.

His food is amazing, it’s almost as good as mom’s.

“Last time I brought up culinary school…let’s just say my parents were disappointed. My dad said he did not work so hard for our family just for me to throw it all away playing house in an apron. Mom did not speak to me for a week.” He says shrugging.

“There are a lot of things I am decent at but making food is the only thing am really good at and actually enjoy every moment of. Take rowing for example, I have done it for so long and I enjoy hanging with the team but it doesn’t come close to the joy I feel when I create something in the kitchen. I think a huge part of it is my grandmother. One summer when I was 13 I went to Seoul for the first time to visit her. Food was such a big part of every day, when we weren’t cooking or eating we were talking about what to make next. Even when she took me site seeing there were always a food stalls or restaurants around us. She would tell me the history behind every dish and the best ways to make it. Looking back that was the happiest time in my life. I guess that’s why I am happiest in the kitchen.” Mason says.

“You must be really close.”

“She was my favorite person.” he says fondly.

“Was?”

“She passed away two years ago.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to dredge up sad memories for you” I say.

“It’s okay. I like remembering her, we had a lot of good memories. I will always miss her though.”

Mason talks about growing up needing for nothing but having controlling parents. He talks about his relationship with his maternal grandparents and how they kept him levelheaded. He says that hanging out with the four of us has helped him gain more confidence in his cooking skills and he will apply to culinary schools when the time comes.

I talk about growing up in a supportive family with my twin Mack, losing Mack and how that changed our family. I talk about recently finding out that Kenzie is Mack and how that healed something in our family that we hadn’t realized needed healing. We talk for hours and it’s around midnight when we notice the time and decide to head back to school.

As we are walking to the dorms I see someone who looks vaguely familiar up ahead of us but before I can get a better look, he pulls his hood up and jogs away.

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