Chapter 41:

ODETTE'S POINT OF VIEW

The door opens, and we immediately wear our clothes and fix our hair like nothing happened. As the guests walked in, it was Mom and Dad. Shoot! I forgot today is their arrival. They look at us, and Dad raises an eyebrow and whispers at Mom. Oh, sh*t no, Dad, don't tell me what your thoughts are seeing in us. I clear my throat and look at the other side.

"What brings you here, Dad?"

"I thought you would fetch us at the airport, but it seems you have important things to do, which is why Kiel had messy hair in the middle of the late morning." Mom and Dad sit on the couch. The way Dad tapped the arm of the couch was unusual. Is there something in his mind?

"So Kiel is where we will expect our grandchildren from you guys."

"Dad!!!" My parents just laugh at me and point at the way we look.

"Look, honey, you're not kids anymore doing that kind of stuff; it's fine; there's nothing to be embarrassed about. At least we knew where we would expect our grandchildren; it wasn't only me or your mom; even Kiel's parents thought about having it sooner rather than later. So where will we expect it?" I look into Kiel's eyes, and we both scratch our naps. Mom tapped Dad's leg, widening her eyes at him.

"But if you guys think about the right timing of having a child, it's fine; we will understand. Of course, as your mom, the only thing I can tell you is that, as a woman, you will have the hardest thing to do as part of having a kid. You'll be the one who carries it for nine months. And the hardest thing was getting labor for that child. It was a life-or-death situation. You never know if you will have a chance to see them grow up. While having labor, some had complications by giving birth. You may come alive, but your child may not. You know that, right? That's why, you guys, I'm still thinking while the time is fresh for you. Think about it thousands of times before you do anything that changes your life forever." Kiel held my hand and smiled; it assured me after everything I heard from Mom.

"We will keep that in mind, Mrs. Lim. I'll respect your daughter no matter what happens; she will decide everything about our lives. She's the boss."

"She better be Kiel, or else I'll sneak in here and take your breath away until you say she was. Don't you ever dare land a hand on my daughter; that will hurt her. I can easily find you. I know all the possible places you will be hidden by your father."

"I will treat her like a queen; you don't need to worry about her safety. I'll make sure of that too."

"No, Dad, don't believe in him; earlier he was ignoring me, Dad." I pout my lips and see him scratching his nape.

"Is that true, Kiel? "You're ignoring my princess."

"Yes, sir, but I don't want us to get into a fight after seeing the photo that went viral. I want to think before we speak to each other. I didn't want to hurt her feelings with those words when I was angry. I just distance myself from self-love. Sorry if you think I'm ignoring you. I just don't want to see you crying if we fight against it."

"That's a good mindset." Dad stood up and went to the kitchen; sh*t for sure, he was checking if I was eating regularly. Mom just nodded at me; we both knew Dad was strict about what I was eating.

"So you're now cooking; that's good to see; at least you won't usually buy fast food; you know I want you to take care of yourself." I bitterly smiled at Dad, wondering if he just knew who was cooking.

"How about we stay for dinner? I want to taste the dishes you cook for Kiel." I look at Kiel. Please help me, love; I don't know how to cook.

"If you want, sir, I'll be the one who cooks for you since this is the first time I will cook for the others."

"Well, if you insist, sure. I want to taste the dishes you make; I heard from your dad that your cooking is amazing."

"Love, do you want to help?" Kiel said that and winked at me.

"Sure, love."

"Excuse us, sir, just sit back and relax while we are cooking."

When I took Kiel's shirt off, he just smiled at me.

"You can do this, love; just follow my lead, okay?" He kissed my forehead and put on my apron.

Kiel, look at the refrigerator and get everything we need. The first dish we made was mango-chutney chicken. I was washing the chicken when I saw him getting olive oil. He was serious about cooking; the way he looked at the ingredients in front of him was like he was taking an exam.

"Scanning me, love is a violation of the law of cooking." He smirked and came closer to me.

"Huh?"

"Nothing love." He kissed me and got the knife at my back. I knew at that moment I was blushing. I took serious care in washing the cauliflower and mango. Kiel got the chicken and marinated it while he was tossing the cauliflower in olive oil and salt.

While the chicken was marinating, I washed the pork for the hoisin-glazed pork chops. I do the washing while Kiel does the cooking; that's the best choice he's made in his life.

"Love, can you do the Banoffee Cream Pudding with White Chocolate Crumble?" I have my ingredients on my phone; you can use it as a reference."

"Okay, love, leave it to me; I can handle it." I get his phone out of his pocket and open it. Why was he not putting a code in his phone? What if he loses it?

"Oh, by the way, love, can you set your face-to-face recognition for my lock and your birthday as the passcode for my phone?" Don't worry, I'll set up my face recognition too. I just want you to get access to my phone easily."

"But, love, it's part of your privacy."

"Well, you're part of it, so please." Well, what can I say? My soon-to-be boyfriend was obsessed with me. I set my birthday as his passcode, along with my face recognition. I looked into the recipe he was talking about. I saw a note that some of his songs were for Sloan, even the song he sang for me last time. Oh, okay, I thought it was for me. I just finished reading the ingredients and started preparing the banoffee.

I preheat the oven to 140 °C while I am blending the maple syrup and banana until it is smooth in puree form. When it's finally in puree form, I strain it through a sieve into a large bowl and add the egg, vanilla, and sugar. I gently whisked it together.

I place the cream in the large saucepan over medium heat and bring it to just below the boiling point. I even gradually pour hot cream over the mixture while whisking continuously but gently so the mixture will not break. I spread the dulce de leche over the base of a 1.8-liter baking dish before pouring the egg mixture on top. While waiting to get baked for 1 hour and 40 minutes. I want to assist him or talk to him, but I feel jealous seeing those songs for her.

"Are you done, love?"

"Yeah, but I will prepare the chocolate crumble."

"You can do it, love. Trust me."

I ignore him and start making the chocolate crumble. I scatter the chocolate and prepare the tray before I bake it. I baked it in the other oven, stirring halfway, for 10–12 minutes until it was golden brown, and let it cool for five minutes.

Time passed, and the egg mixture was done. I get it and let it cool before I put it in the refrigerator for 3 hours. While waiting for it, I took a rest and sat on the couch. I pretend to be sleeping when I hear him calling me.

"Love?"

"Love"

"Oh, your sleeping love." I hear him sigh and sit beside me.

"Love, stop pretending you're sleeping." I can see your eyes moving. Tell me, what's the problem? You can tell it to me." He hugged me from the back and kept tapping my cheeks with his index finger.

"Aish! Fine, you got me there." I look at him and see him pouting his lips. Fuck, I can't resist it. I rolled my eyes and crossed my hands.

"So why is my queen mad at me?"

"Why were those songs you sang at me in the folder named Sloan? Is that song for her? Did you still love her? Do you still want to come back to her? If you want to go back to her, I will understand, so go and go to him. ----" He kisses me and pinches my cheeks.

"I do that on purpose. I know how long you've been patient. I just want to see you get jealous. Don't take it seriously, love. It's only you, no one else, and I'm sure about it."

"Tsk! Fine!" He was about to kiss me when we smelled something and went running to the kitchen. It was the chicken he was cooking; it was starting to get burned. We're lucky it wasn't burned.

I heard the door open; for sure, it was Mom and Dad, who just came back from buying alcohol.

"Are you guys fine?" I heard Mom's voice going this way.

"Yes, Mom, we are fine." Kiel put everything on a big plate for the servings. I serve everything he cooks at the table. And I even prepare the dessert.

We are eating in the dining room. When Dad looked at Kiel, he looked like a judge who was giving his opinion to the contestant. I held his hand when Dad opened his mouth.

"Just like Carter said, you didn't disappoint me; tasting this was like a professional cooking this dish. If I didn't know you, I would think you were a professional chef cooking a special dish for a normal night."

"Thank you, sir, for appreciating my cook."

"Did I tell you to call me Dad, if I remember it correctly?"

"Sorry, Dad."

"If you can call me dad, then why not call me mom?" I pretend I didn't hear them and take it seriously with what I'm eating.

"You won't say anything, love?" He whispers in my ears.

"I like the dessert."

"Of course, you will like it; you're the one who made that." They laugh at me; I just roll my eyes and appreciate what I made. Tsk, at least now I know something I could eat when I was bored.

"Just have a lot of patience with my daughter; she was just like that," Mom said and held Kiel's hand.

"Promise to us that no matter what happens, you won't leave my daughter."

"I will, Mom." Wow! Mom, do you think I will be the one who gives problems to this guy? If you just know what he just did earlier, Tsk, I'm the girlfriend, but those songs were for her.

After we ate, Dad gave Kiel a glass of whisky.

"We should drink after a feast. Cheers!" They cheered while me and mom went to the kitchen to wash the plates.

"Kiel was a nice guy; now I know why your dad chose to arrange marriage with him. Seeing him treat you, honey, makes me wonder what more if you guys are married." Yeah, what if we are married? What will happen when that comes? Are we still the same? Did he still love me the same way he does now?