ᴇꜱᴄᴏʀᴛ ᴍᴇ

2.3

"What are we going to cook for today?" You asked eagerly, tilting your head towards your escort.

The said escort doesn't answer, his face is a mask of indifference as he went behind your back and properly tied up the white apron wrapped around you. You uttered a small thank you and scanned the ingredients laid on the table, trying to make a guess of what meals you're going to cook together with him.

Hmm, there is extra-virgin olive oil, sweet onions, garlic, baby red potatoes, parsnip, salt, rosemary and other ingredients you don't recognize. You tilted your head in confusion, still wondering as the man proceeded to tie your hair up. He then led you to the sink to wash your hands.

"I know you're excited, but you should at least remember that basic hygiene is a must when preparing a meal," he reminded you as his slender fingers properly lathered your hands with soap, rubbing those spaces between your fingers before you both took turns to wash the soap off under the falling water.

Usually, you would have feel awkward and nervous when someone touch you like how Hollis did, but true to what this Amorii once told you, he doesn't really enjoy physical contact and will only touch you when he deem it as necessary so what he does to you feel kinda similar to a father trying to teach his little girl how to cook.

ーin other words, it wasn't an intimate gesture and it wasn't done with a lustful intention either so you weren't flustered nor worried.

"What should I do?" You asked expectantly, standing in front of the ingredients.

Hollis started to tell you what to do, and you cautiously followed his instruction. Compared to the first time when the two of you cooked together, you have improved a lot. Although you can cook, anxiety can really ruin a person's skill. As a result, what the two of you ended up eating on the first time you two cooked together was mushy rice with salty chicken soup and shelled fried eggs.

You recalled how you felt like burying yourself in a hole when you realized there were tiny pieces of eggshells in your fried eggs. That sensation of biting down a crunchy fried egg was so uncomfortable that you nervously warn Hollis to stop eating and to order takeout instead, but the man ignored you and finished his food like a champ. He even helped you finished your portion, and such a manly gesture made you started to see Hollis in a different light; he reminded you of  Yohan's uncleーa single dad who took care of his only child meticulously.

You guessed this is how it felt to be platonically pampered.

"I'm done!" You exclaimed, putting the roasted vegetable medley on a plate before going to check on Hollis who's cutting a raw chicken into small pieces.

A few minutes later, all the meals were done and the two of you were prepared to eat. You stuffed the tiny piece of potato inside your mouth, smiling at the taste. Your eyes went to Hollis who was eating quietly, but although his expression was passive, you can see how his eyes subtly lighted up at the taste.

"Despite being an Amorii, you're truly fond of human food," you pointed it out. "Why is that?"

This question was purely out of curiosity and admiration. As a spirit, it doesn't matter if you eat or not since your source of food is the energy of the living beings around you, but you still eat because you wanted to understand your human more. In the end, eating was more like a chore to you, something that you have to do in order to keep up your pretense of being a human, but looking at Hollis, you learnt that one doesn't need to be a human to enjoy human food, one just need to have a taste bud.

And thanks to that, you started to enjoy eating.

The escort stared at you for a little while before answering. "Amorii can also feel slightly full by eating human food, but of course, that's only if the one who prepared the food made it with love."