His Little Heir

Sorrows With Soup

     Daya leaned against the kitchen cabinet, and let her eyes roam the counters and shelves alike. What did she want for breakfast? Some toast? Eggs? Ham?

     She sat down in front of the soup cabinet, pulled the compartment open, and examined the paper labels. Having soup for breakfast was nothing less than a crime, not one worthy of capital punishment, sure, but one just criminal enough for your neighbors to question your sanity. Daya rolled her eyes. She reigned in her wild thoughts and turned back to the lables. So what if it was a crime? No one's ever drowned their sorrows in grits, have they?

     She eyed a can of chicken noodle and wrapped her hand around it, attempting to yank it free. It didn't budge. Daya let loose an exasperated breath, and began to take down the cans around it one by one.

     Soon, the foundation for a small castle of cans began to form at her feet. Her body stiffened in an effort not to awaken gravity's sleeping dragon, but with the knight's prize in hand, it is often that very moment that even the best of men fall from grace.

     And boy did they fall.

     The beast's startled roar echoed in every cylinder of tin scrambling to explore the world beyond their darkened prison. Daya struggled to gather the escapees in her outstretched arms, but it was too late. Desperately, she looked for the one reason she was in this position, and frowned when that search came up empty.

     She got up to get a better view of the mess; at least twenty cans snarky reflected the kitchen's light, and those were just the ones she could see. Daya  sandwiched her lips together and shut her eyes resigning herself to her fate. She couldn't help but picture Leon's reaction, his deep, chocolate laugh, his warm hands brushing against the tin, and the cheerful teasing that always followed her clumsiness.

      Something in her heart ached- something new. It wasn't the pain that she had endured over the last two days, no, this somehow stung worse. Its name rested at the tip of her tounge, but refused to leave it. Was it her own stubbornness, or the lack of the ability to recognize it holding the emotion there?

     Daya shoved the question away and went to work on a can that had rolled underneath the fridge. She knew the answer. She knew that she missed him, but could she let him see her that way again?

     She grabbed a broom from the corner and turned it on its head, red faced from lying on the floor for so long. Daya took a swing at it, and then another, but it was no use.

     "Really?!" She clawed against the tile for an extra inch on the can, "I have much better things to do, mind you! I swear, if you have the 'audacity' to be 'my' can of chicken noodle soup, I'll-"

     "You'll what?"

     The broom dropped from her hands. Her heart nearly hammered out of her chest at the sound of his voice, and the rest of her body tensed as the smug smoothness dripped from his lips. Daya blinked until her focus was again returned to her; which, raised another question: what to do?

     "Please... please look at me." Leon whispered.

     Slowly, she turned her head to find him kneeling beside her with an outstretched hand. She stared into his eyes, searching them, not knowing if she be afraid of what she found there. Their green flecks reflected a warm light into her soul; Daya relaxed. The wild, jagged gems that surfaced within them two nights ago had been mined and cut into calming saucers- calming, yet.. exhilarating.

      Leon tucked his hands in his pockets "I-I won't touch you if you don't want me to. I just.. wanna talk, that's all."

     "Okay, um, don't get me wrong I'm down, but-" Daya hoisted herself up from the floor, using the broom for support, and gestured to the rest of the kitchen, "A little help?"

     His eyes brightened as the tension between them shrunk, and let a signature smirk slide from beneath his serious gate. He busied himself with grappling with the can under the fridge. Daya, on the other hand, snatched the containers from the most obscure places, from sitting merrily underneath cabinets, to lying crossley behind the door, until she had amassed more than her arms could hold.

    She separated the soups; the vegetable fell in line with the vegetable, the tomato with tomato, and the roast with the roast, but one thing crowded the back of her mind. Where was the chicken noodle?

     "Hey, Leon?"

     "Yeah?"

     "You didn't grab any chicken noodle did you?"

      "No, why?" He appeared beside her with his hands behind his back, "Did you, I don't know, want some?"

     He pressed the can into her hand with particular ease. Her heart fluttered at the sudden warmth, his touch, and really, just him. God, why was it so easy to fall right back into place? Were the peices always meant to rest that way?

     Daya cleared her throat, "O-Oh, uh, thank you."

      "You're upset."

      "Huh?"

      "Don't 'huh' me. What happy person would say 'You know what? I'm mentally sound! Soup for breakfast it is!"' He pulled a bowl from its shelf, "Look, Daya, I-I just wanna make sure you're okay."

      She raised an eyebrow in his direction, only warranting a mirrored expression from her fiancee'. He had a point, an adorable, excruciatingly accurate, one, but a point.

      She cracked the tin's lid and slid the container to him, "Warm this up for me?"

     "Stop changing the subject."

      "I'm not changing the subject, I'm just hungry."

     Leon rolled his eyes and emptied the soup into the bowl, muttering to himself. He took a step back from the microwave after pressing start, and fixated an unwavering gaze on Daya.

     "Really? So you're not changing the subject?" He raised a dumbfounded smile to the ceiling.

     "Nope!"

     "Not at all?"

      Daya put her hands on her hips, "Nada... try me!"

      He pulled the soup out of the microwave, sat it in front of her, and pulled himself a chair. Daya eyed him with heightening suspicion until her heart could bear it no longer; he had an ace up his sleeve.

     "When were you going to tell me that you were still in love with Austin?"

     And there it was.

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     Okay guys, listen, I'm not abandoning this story, quarantine just has me bummed out! I hope you're all doing okay and that this takes your mind off of things. Thank you for reading and you're all in my prayers 💜