TOTCF content because my brain go brr

Cale and Korean duo

Cale woke up with a startle. He felt a weight jump on him. He lost his breath as little knees crushed his lungs. He sat up quickly, buckling over and coughed into his elbow. He could feel a little girl pat his head. 

His eyes blurred before he focused. Taking in deep breaths he looked up to the criminal. She smiled a full grin despite her missing tooth. She had a short bob cut that ended above her shoulders.

A bob cut was perfect for the little rice ball. Bob cut... Cale snickered at his own inside joke. 

"Hello Ae-Il," Cale smiled at the girl, although internally he was cursing. His stomach was still hurting. She pulled him up from the couch, tugging on his hands. 

"Cutie uncle, I need help with homework. Ahjussi never has time." She pointed over to the dinner table where pages and books were strewn over. The fatigue he felt from transmigrating without the cintami dragged him down. He was hoping to nap for a few minutes, even if to help him feel less exhausted from the work at His Majesty's study. 

"Yeah sure." Kids needed to satiate their curiousity.

"I wasn't asking." Kim Ae-Il turned around and poked her tounge out at Cale who rolled his eyes. Snotty nose brats were always the most demanding ones. Nevertheless, at least she acted her age. Cale hummed as he played with her hair. His hand flicked the back of her hair up with no rhythm or thought to it. Her hair wasn't as thick as the Ohn or Hong's, but it was coarse. It was cut not too long before.

"Stop that. And don't laugh at me." She ordered him as she sat down at the table. Cale nodded with his hands up, a surrender to the bossy kid. He sat down next to her at the dinner table and immediately assumed his teaching mode.

——

Ae-Il kicked her feet back and forth. Her tall seat let her see what Cale did in the kitchen. She enjoyed watching him cook. Cale was breaking the clumps on the rice in bowl with a wooden spatula and listened to the sizzling of the Spam in the pan. The little cubes of pink canned meat, the crushed garlic, the butter. All of the food was browning, the spam with a crunchy crust, and the kitchen smelt like a meal made with love.

"Wow." Kim Ae-Il exclaimed. She laid down on the table with a hungry look. "You're doing way better than Ahjussi usually does." 

"Haha." Cale laughed simply. He knew Kim Rok Soo struggled to cook. He had seen the burnt sardines and the mushy rice. Cale thought that since he had his records, Kim Rok Soo would be doing a little better, but it was clear he and Choi Han had spent a lot of time together. He was rubbing off on him.

He let the rice sizzle in the pan, stirring it around and watching it cook. He watched Ae-Il start to lose some of her patience as she started slapping her hands on the table. She groaned as Cale took his time plating the meal. An accusing stare that melted at the sight of food.

"It's hot."

"Yum yum." She said looking down at the steaming fried rice and leaned in close. The steam was hot, and she started to eat off the plate like a cat. Biting the fried spam, regretting, and blowing the steam out of her mouth desperately. She flapped her hands as she chewed in pain, annoyed by Cale's snickering. He put his hand out and she spat the spam out on his hand. 

He threw it out and washed his hands still snickering to himself. He went to the cutlery drawer and sifted through the mess, looking for a spoon small enough for a child. But there was none. He looked at the cutlery as if it had wronged him. This was a house he had bought for himself, an adult. Now it was used to home a niece and uncle. 

He picked out a spoon. He flattened out the rice, ruined with his presentation to help cool down the fried rice before giving her the spoon. Ae-Il immediately tapped her spoon on the plate and gave the quickest prayer a child could.