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ashketchumseleventhbirthday · 1 year

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Burst Dumplings

Summary: Arven and Juliana are cooking at his new home. She is not very proficient at the kitchen.

Rating: K+ - Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.

Words: 1300

Notes: Hawkish grandmothers gauging whether you’re a good match or not... War flashbacks coming on to me...

The smell of soy sauce, garlic and chilli spread in the air as Arven stirred the sauce with chopsticks and grabbed a spoon to taste it. It is the first time in many years that the space blooms to life, as he and his girlfriend had spend better part of the day cleaning the house and moving his stuff into it.

Director Clavell had arranged for all the research material, machines and notes of his parents’ moved into the Academy, as well as fixing any leakages or structural damages that may be entailed in its abandonment. While his guardian had helped a great deal, it still has spent almost five years completely shut, collecting dust and deteriorating, needing a good scrubbing to become liveable again.

For their first meal at his new home at the lighthouse, he picked a dumpling recipe he learnt from a gym trainer at Cascarrafa City that showed a lot of promise. He had tried it at the restaurant, but the filling was a bit of a novelty for him, as he had never made it himself. More importantly, it seemed so easy that, as long as one follows the steps correctly, there is no chance for it to go wrong.

As he searched for where they put his sesame oil on the kitchen island, his eyes landed on Juliana standing beside him and chewing on a nail whilst she stared at the bamboo steamer. He could not remember the last time he had seen someone who did not know how to cook so concerned about making dumplings.

Then again, his partner was not just anyone. She always exceeds expectations, even in being the worst cook ever.

“Juli?” He calls.

“Yeah?” She replied absentmindedly.

“Are you trying to cook the dumplings faster with the power of your mind or do you have laser eyes?”

Juliana looked back at him in confusion. The ingenuity in her eyes almost made him feel guilty for teasing her about it. Almost.

“What do you mean?” She asks.

He chuckles. “Why are you staring at the steamer?”

“Because you said it can’t be overcooked.”

“It’s not going to overcook. You set the timer, remember?” He picked up the Pidgey-shaped kitchen timer and lifted it to her ear. “It’s still ticking. There’s still eight minutes on them before they’re good.”

The girl smiled sheepishly. “Heh-heh. I forgot about that. Sorry.”

Arven, then, returned to his station, adding the sesame oil and stirring the sauce some more.

“Love?” She calls, suddenly, after a couple of minutes in silence.

He raises his eyes to her again. “Yes?”

“Do you think the dumplings will taste good?”

“Of course, they will.” He assured her.

She does not seem too convinced, though. “And you’re not saying it just to make me feel better, right?”

He put the small bowl down on the counter and turned to his partner. “Why are you fussing about dumplings?”

"I don’t know…” She shrugged her shoulders. “I think it reminded me of cooking with my grandmother. You’re a kinder teacher, of course, and you never said I’d be a lousy wife for not knowing how to cook.”

Ah. There are shuddering tales about Señora Franco, if what Arven heard from his mother-in-law, from Nemona’s parents and even Director Clavell, who seemed to have met the imperious woman in the social circles at Mesagoza City, were anything to go by. Though, they all concur with the notion that she has never touched a hot pan in her long, long life.

The blond stepped closer to his partner and took her hand in his. “Your grandmother had a different concept of what a good wife is. While she wanted you to be the perfect housewife, you became the best life partner I could ever wish for and it has nothing to do with any skills you have.”

She looked at him expectantly. "Really?”

He nodded. “I want you to cook with me because this is something we can do together to have fun. Regardless of how the dishes turn out, I want you here.”

She rose on her toes to kiss him softly. "Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He replied with a smile. “Besides, no one makes popcorn and ramen like you.”

The girl pursed her lips. “Please, I just dump stuff in a hot casserole pan.”

“Lots of recipes are just dumping stuff in a hot casserole pan. We can host thousands of dinners with a bunch of ‘dumped everything we found on the fridge’ dishes.”

Juliana chuckled softly.

“Can you promise me you won’t beat yourself over this?” He asks, earnestly.

“Okay…”

The couple was about to share another kiss when the kitchen timer rang.

“It’s ready!” She beamed.

He lets her go as he moves to the kitchen isle. “Let’s take a look.”

As they opened the lid of the steamer, she frowned pronouncedly at the mess that the thing had become.

“My dumplings…” She bemoaned, feeling as if she could cry.

“It happens, Juli.” He said, picking up the dumplings that burst with tongs.

She harumphed. “Then why only the ones I did burst? Yours look perfect.”

“I know. Don’t they look great?” He marvelled at his handiwork. “I think I should post these on the internet.”

He fished his phone from his back pocket, arranged the dumplings in the steamer and snapped a few pictures.

“Are you done yet?” She frowned, folding her arms.

“Hold on, I’m looking for a good filter.”

“Arven!”

“Oh, sorry…” He placed his phone back in his pocket and looked back the burst dumplings. “Maybe there was too much filling and when we put it in the steamer, the heat made them burst.”

Juliana slumped on a stool by the kitchen island and pouted as she reached for a bottle of wine. Arven sits down next to her, holding on to the bamboo steamer, as he tries to console her.

“That’s it. No more cooking for me.” She declared.

“But why? The dumplings won’t taste bad because they burst.”

He closed one of the burst dumplings with the chopsticks, dipped into the sauce bowl he prepared and laid by the counter, lifting it to his mouth as he was done.

“So good!” He said after a few bites. "The sauce needs more chilli though.”

“You’re lying,” she scowled.

“I’m telling you. They’re great. The burst dumplings just means that you were extra generous with the filling.” He took another of burst dumplings with a chopstick and fed her. “Here, try it.”

Juliana hummed in approval as the chicken and vegetables blended with the sauce. She had to give it to herself, the recipe Arven got for her to follow was pretty good.

“Okay, I admit. This is great. Do you still have teriyaki sauce?” She asked, cleaning the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

“I told you.” He grinned as he opened the fridge to search for the teriyaki sauce and placed it on the island. “If we keep cooking together, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.”

“Are you sure you don’t want another sous-chef?”

“Absolutely not. What’s a good and handsome chef to do without his beautiful and moody sous-chef? And who’s going to make popcorn while we wait for the main course to be ready? Besides…” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You know sous chef means under the chef, right? There’s one person I want under me.”

His lips dotted down to her neck, with her pushing him away.

“That’s a terrible pun, Arven.” She giggled in response.

“I still made you laugh.” He bragged, kissing her once more. “Now, let’s eat before you make me hungry for more than just food.”

With that, Arven took a seat across from Juliana and they continued to dig into their meal.

*_*_*_*_*

9th Gen Masterlist

#9th gen #herbamysticashipping #arven

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