Ship In A Bottle (A Monkie Kid Reader Insert)

Chapter 31: Food For Thought

It's been maybe a week since Queenie's takeover. Some buildings were still in the process of being repaired...again. Gods know how this city works anymore, especially considering the guy in charge of it. But right now? You could not care less. You've all been through a lot, and you all deserved a break.

So that's why you were having another sleepover at the Bai family's home.

Miss Xue has been kind enough to let all of you stay in for the night. Her reasoning? It would make the place feel less empty for a change. Rasmus didn't seem offended at all by that, even agreeing with what she's said.

It was clear to you that what happened to Lily, and apparently what happened to the Doc, heavily affected the woman. Rasmus has even expressed that it felt wrong of him to bond with her, feeling as if he was taking her daughter's place.

You were starting to see what he meant.

"Am I doing this right?" Xue asked, stirring the contents in the pot. With Gibby perched on your head and hungrily eyeing at the food, you just finished trimming unwanted fat from the chicken pieces and looked.

"Yep, let me just-" You added the pieces into the pot, letting her keep stirring while you did so. With that out of the way, you looked around the kitchen. "Uhh, where's the fish sauce?"

"Oh, it should be in there." She pointed at one of the cabinets, before resuming the stirring process while you swung the cabinet door open.

"Fish sauce, fish sauce..." You whispered under your breath, moving the vinegar bottle and a jar, the latter causing you to retract your hand. Looking at it, it was now coated in dust. You looked up to turn the jar with the green contents around to see the label. 

A half-full jar of kiwi jam...left untouched and collecting dust...You turned the jar again, and saw the expiration date.

"Huh..." Gibby tilted her head. "Isn't that five days later?"

'Yeah...' You internally murmured. Finally setting your eyes on the fish sauce, you took it and closed the cabinet.

But not before taking the jar with you.

Setting the jar somewhere else, you took a spoon and dumped two spoonfulls of the sauce into the pot. While Miss Xue continued to stir, you took the loaf of sliced bread and held it by the tied up plastic wrapper.

"Miss Xue, you don't mind if I made kiwi sandwiches too, right?" You asked, picking the jar up with your other hand. "The jam's gonna expire soon, and I thought we might as well not waste the food."

At the sight of the jam, Xue softened into a somber smile. "Help yourselves all you want. The goat cheese is in the fridge and-" She realized her mistake and shook her head. "Nevermind-"

"Thanks." You nodded with a raised hand, heading to the fridge. "I'll ask the others if they want some cheese in their sandwiches too." At the last sentence, you winked at Gibby. Getting the message, she nodded and got off of you, running up the stairs to meet up with the others where Rasmus was giving them a tour of the house.

Xue was left stunned, expecting you to question about the odd combination of spreads. Instead, she nodded gently, eyes focusing back on the contents of the pot. It wasn't like you were unaware either, knowing Lily's odd little food quirk after the amount of time you spent looking after her. You waited for Gibby to come back while you were already preparing the bread and spreading the jam, watching the kiwi seeds get smeared over each slice.

This was nice. Getting to slow down and not get uptight about elaborate schemes for once. It's what made you look forward to cooking for others in the first place, especially during your many sleepovers with the gang. Be it with only the M&Ms, or with the others too.