A Very Good Place To Start

Tres

She first hears the sizzling of a pan as she steps out of the elevator before the smell of aromatics being sauteed reaches her and guides her to the kitchen where the sight of Ian cooking while the baby is safely stowed in a carrier near the counter but far enough from the stoves to be safe. She smiles upon seeing the two, with Ian–ever the meticulous man in the kitchen despite his humongous size– making sure to check on the baby every once in a while to make sure he is alright.

"Hey," he greets her and she waves at him before making a beeline straight to the baby carrier where Mason immediately giggles at the sight of her.

She smiles at the little and coos, "hey Macy." Carefully, she unstraps him from the carrier and holds him in her arms where he immediately snuggles against her chest. "Tamy is here, love," she tells him and she walks to the stool across Ian.

"I'm cooking pork sinigang," he tells her and she grins. Every once in a while, when he actually decides to not be an asshole, he's actually a pretty decent human being... and pretty good cook too. And while Lea's favorite is simpler than most of the dishes he can whip up, he still makes it a point to cook sinigang for her every now and then— like today.

"OH!" she exclaims when she remembers something. The three-month old tries to look at her and she assists his head so she can kiss Mason's forehead. "Hey, baby boy," she says gently (and if someone asks Ian, he'd say so uncharacteristically of her). "Do you know who I met today? Mamu Bel!" she tells him and the baby giggles. "That's right! And do you know what she told me?" By this point, even Ian is looking at her, curious as to what Lea's mom said as well. "She wants to see you. That's right!" She blows a blueberry against the baby's stomach that has him giggling before pressing on, "Mamu Bel wants to see the one and only Mr. Mason." She then turns to look at Ian who is grinning already. "Mom is asking if we can go over sa bahay tomorrow for lunch. She's cooking daw." She never thought it would be possible for him to grin even wider.

"Siyempre! Si Ma pa ba? I miss Mama Bel's cooking."

She glares and scoffs at him, looking like she is about ready to fight him (as usual). "Bakit ka excited? You are a chef," she reminds him but as is typical of him, he shrugs and continues to season the stew he is cooking with pureed tamarind.

"Just in case you forgot, that is if you have also forgotten the resto's name, Ma is still the original cook. Her paella is to die for!" he declares and refuses any protest coming from her knowing that she isn't that much big of a fan of the Spanish dish.

...

"You're here again?!" Six-year-old Lea exclaims when she sees Ian arrive. No, she's not irritated. She's not mad either. She doesn't exactly despise his presence. Okay, so maybe she'd admit that he's her best friend and they have loads of fun together but she knows that he has a tendency to be a little arrogant so she's taken it upon herself to put him in line. Sometimes, that means being a bit rough.

"Princess, that's not very nice," her mother, Isabella, berates her and turns to welcome Ian with a hug. "Hi, sweetheart,"she greets as the boy clings to her in a bear hug.

Ian turns to look at Lea with a shit-eating grin that is so quintessential of him. She crosses her arms and harrumphs causing him to stick his tongue out at her.

"Alright, is anyone hungry?" Isabella interjects and Ian waits not another second to respond with a resounding me. "Alright, let's go to the kitchen."

Lea sighs visibly and pulls on Ian's hand as they trail after her mother who always entertains the two of them in the kitchen (never the dining because they are messy, messy kids). Lea leans towards Ian's ear and says, "it's a good thing you came. Mama won't keep on telling me to eat her food."