15 My bucket list! (Part 3) - Steak Day

Maria dialled Emilia's number through her smartphone and quickly handed it to Bless as she pressed the 'Call' button. He took the phone politely and set it close to his ear as he can hear the sound of ringing started to play from it. As the ringing goes by, he gets a little nervous. He never talks to Emilia through a phone and imagining how close her voice will be to his ear is quite an embarrassing thoughts.

While he was lost in his thoughts, Emilia picked up the call and said,

"Hi, Emilia's speaking. Aunt Maria? Why did you call?"

The gentle yet soothing voice of hers melodically travels into Bless's ear and quickly shooked him up. It was something unexplainable by Bless at that time. His heart was thumping so hard and his face was turning cherry red. He wasn't able to let out his voice until a few moments later.

"Th- this is not Maria. It's me, Bless."

The phone turns silent when he briefly explains who's speaking. Emilia wasn't expecting the person behind the call was Bless. Her voice cracked and slowly turns awkward when she speaks to him.

"Uh-Oh! Hey, why- did you call me? aha... and where is Maria?" She muttered awkwardly.

"Maria is standing right beside me at the moment. Uh- she told me to ask you what cut of meat do you like to try..?" Bless replied as he slowly breathes in and out to calm himself down.

"Oh?- Um... I see. But why aren't you using your own phone?" She asked.

"It was destroyed remember? aha- ha..."

'Gosh, was her voice really this cute before? Stay calm, Bless. Stay calm.' said Bless to himself as he talks to Emilia through the phone.

"Right right."

"So, about the meat...?"

"Oh! Yeah. Umm... About that, I think I would go for tenderloin and rib eye! Or! Maybe the classic fillet mignon sounds amazing too. But, New York Strip would be the best one to grill."

Eventually, her awkwardness seems to fade away as she was able to talk smoothly through the phone. Bless was smiling on the other side of the call when he listens to how excited Emilia's talk about the meat. He had to stop her from talking though, or it will burn his wallet down to buy all the meat cuts she asked for.

"Hold on now, I know you're excited to try out all sorts of a new taste. But remember, we need to stick to our budget right now. We can't just buy every single meat we want."

"Aww... that's a bummer," she replied.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Maria budge into their conversation and said,

"Wait a minute, who said we can't buy every single meat we want to?"

"M-Maria? You're not thinking about that aren't you?" asked Bless as he turns around and facing her worriedly.

"I told you to call Emilia and ask her what kind of cut did she want. If she said she wants to try it all, means we have to buy it all." Her sudden grins quickly give a shudder towards Bless.

"But Maria, who's gonna pay for all these?" said Bless as he stopped Maria from putting all kinds of meat into the trolley.

She turns around and gazed deadly at Bless while gripping the meat on his hand tightly and said, "Of course, I will. For my baby Emilia, her smile is enough to bring me happiness." and her mood suddenly lit up as she reminded herself of Emilia's smiles.

He was trembling when Maria was giving him a killer vibe. Yet, he still pushes himself to speak what comes to his mind at the moment.

"But her smile doesn't pay your bills!"

"I- don't- care" Her eyes were scary enough to keep Bless from saying another word to stop her. He gave up eventually and said,

"You heard her, Emilia? Seems like you'll get to eat all kind of meat that you want."

"Yay! Aunt Maria is the best!" she shouted happily through the phone.

"Maria, you really have to keep your fetish in control. This is getting absurd," said Bless as he sighs at her whilst scratching his head.

"Huh?!"

"N-Nothing."

For the next few hours, they spent their time searching for other ingredients to use with the steak as well as the grill to cook the steak. They chose to buy the smallest portable grill so that they can easily sneak it up in the hospital without grabbing too much attention from other people around.

As for Adam, he kept on filling his own trolley with all loads of diet cokes and snacks. Maria was furious with him and decided not to let him buy any of it. He kept begging on his knees but Maria ignored every single one of them and told him to pay for himself using his own allowance. Adam had no other choice but to comply with it.

They soon reached the cashier and paid for all the stuff they have bought. Despite being so obsessed to help Emilia with the steak day, Maria expression soon turned sour when she realized how much all of the meat she's been filling her trolley with costs.

"Told you, Ms Maria. Should have eased up with your fetish" said Bless with a deep poker face while scratching his nose.

"Shut... up, Bless..." she replied.

When they finally stored all the items in the car, They drove back to the hospital straight away. Bless, while holding Maria's phone in the car were having a video call with Emilia. They were both excited that their journey in buying those things went smoothly. Emilia was smiling so brightly as she can't wait to have meat for dinner.

The car slowly travels back into the hospital parking lot and as they get off the car, Maria said to Bless and Adam,

"You guys go back to your room for now. Leave this stuff here. I'll have the cafeteria members marinate all these meats suitable for Emilia's pallet and health. I can't trust you all on doing it especially Emilia. She won't control herself if she got to marinate the meat herself,"

"Okay, Maria. Instead of heading to my room. I'll go to Emilia's for a while if that's okay with you?" Bless replied to her.

"I'll go back to my room and eat up these bunch of snacks, Bye~," said Adam as he waves his hand and walks away with a sugary snack in his mouth.

"Sure, let me know when do you want to start grilling the meat. I'll be prepping the stuff for now."

"Will do," said Bless as he smiled.

A few minutes later, Bless arrived at Emilia's room and knocked on the door as he walks himself into it. Emilia smiled at him as he walked close to her bed and sit right next to it.

"Welcome back, Bless," said Emilia with such a prosperous smile on her face.

"Ahhh~ I'm back. It's so tiring. I never thought that going shopping could be this tiring." He slammed his head on Emilia's bed face first.

"Hehehe, there there. I wish I could go shopping one day. Maybe I'll put it on my bucket list soon" Emilia gently patted Bless's head without even realizing it.

Bless was shocked when he felt such a soft touch on his head and he flinched upward straight away. He was blushing indefinitely.

After realizing what she's done. Emilia pretended to stay calm and quickly change the topic.

"Let's eat the steak for dinner, shall we? We still have few hours left before sunset. You can rest for a bit if you want to, Bless."

"Mhm, that's a great idea. I'll just take a quick nap later."

"No no, there's no time for later. Just nap now. I don't want you to be sleepy when we enjoy the steak!" she suddenly hyped up and insist Bless to take a rest.

"E-Eh??"

She patted her bed and said, "Lay your head here and nap for a while." while her eyes gazed upon Bless seriously.

"O-Okay then..." He followed the instruction and slowly landed his head sideways to Emilia's bed.

Suddenly he felt a brief touch on his cheek before the movement starts stroking onto his hair. He blushed quite a bit but instead of lifting his head up, he enjoyed the feeling. He softly said to Emilia,

"What's this for?"

"I know it's not much. Just assume that it's as thanks from me. You did quite a lot for my first bucket list despite it being just a small and absurd request." she replied, her hand gently stroking Bless's hair and at the same time, he slowly closes his eyes.

"It's a promise that I made with you. I'll gladly help you in any way around," he said as he eases himself up.

"Mhm... Thank you, Bless."

Bless finally falls asleep a few minutes later. Emilia on the other hand texted Maria and told her that she wanted to eat the steak for dinner. Maria gladly agreed with it. Not long after, she also fell asleep while having her hand stroking Bless's hair for few more minutes. They both look happy and tired at the same time. As we all know, time quickly passed and they both wake up about 45 minutes before dinner.

Having Emilia's hand resting on Bless's cheek when he woke up really shocked him. But he tried to remain postured and wakes Emilia up gently after moving her hand away from him.

"Hey, Emilia. It's about to start"

"Hm... wh- oh is it...?"

"Go wash your face and let's head to the roof when you're done."

"Okay..." she replied while being half asleep.

Emilia gently gets off her bed and walk straight to the bathroom while Bless just staring at her to make sure she didn't hit any wall whilst on her way.

When they both finally up and ready, they went straight to the roof together, walking side by side with each other. They climbed up the staircase one at a time and as they open the rooftop door, they were greeted by Maria and Adam grilling some of the meat that has been marinated. They both waves at Bless and Emilia as soon as they saw them.

"What took you so long? come on now, choose your meat and start grilling it," said Maria.

"Hey, love birds! come on and eat! We ain't waiting for nobody." said Adam while chomping on some meat he grilled.

Emilia's expression at the time was priceless. She was astonished by all kind of cuts of meat in front of her. Not being able to choose which to cook first, she asked Bless for an opinion

"Bless! Which one should I try first! I can't choose by myself! They all look equally yummy~!"

"Hahahaha, how about we cook the fillet mignon first? It was considered the classic cut for a steak." Bless replied while picking the meat with a tong.

"Ohoo! You're right! Let's head to the grill and cook it now!" Emilia was jumping happily.

After taking the fillet mignon into their plate, they both headed straight to the grill. The grill is ready to be used and Emilia was fairly excited to cook the steak by herself. She gently placed the meat onto the grill and the smell accompanied by the sizzling sound of the meat being cook started to filled their surrounding.

"Woah! It smells amazing! Bless, look! I cook my very own first steak!"

She is really happy right now, Bless didn't say a word but only smiles at her softly.

'Maybe helping her with the request was really the right thing to do.' Bless said to himself.

His hands suddenly pulled by Emilia. She told him to grill the meat he has with him together with hers.

"Come on now, there's still some space to put your steak on the grill"

As both of their steaks finally cooked, they both took a bite out of it. Unshockingly, Emilia as per usual was overly happy. That was her first ever steak and she fell in love with the taste. As for Bless though, he didn't look quite happy with his steak. He quietly walks towards Maria and asked,

"Why are the steak tasted quite stale?! Didn't you said you'll marinate it??"

"What do you expect? I marinated the meat suitable for Emilia's consumption. She never had a steak in her life before. Even as stale or lack tasting the steak is for us, it's still a game-changing taste for Emilia. Just enjoy it will you?" Maria replied to him

"Ugh... fine"

"Bless, Bless! Come cook another steak!" Emilia shouted as she pulls his hand.

"Okay, okay. I'm coming."

They spend hours and hours on the rooftop. Grilling all kinds of meat and let Emilia enjoy every bit that she can. Every cut that she tasted brightens her smile ever so slightly. They took several photos on their phone to cherish this moment and as for Maria, she changed her wallpaper with a picture of Emilia chomping on a steak sloppily. Either way, it was a successful steak day they could ever ask for.

'I want to eat a steak [✓]'