Chapter 1

Waking up naturally is a lovely thing. The sun is already shining through a gap between the curtains and the wall. I wanted to fix it at first, but waking up to the gentle warmth of the sun creeping over my arm ever so slowly is too good to give up. The room is silent, safe for the little ray of sunshine snoring softly right beside me. It’s comforted me ever since the first time she fell asleep while we were on call. I remember vividly telling her those stories about me, like a father would read bedtime stories to his daughter at bedtime. My skin is usually naturally on the warmer side, her skin generally being cold, it’s perfect. I can’t sleep when it’s too warm after all and she? She would prefer to have so many blankets on top that it forms a cocoon, it looks darn cute too when she does that, a happy little girl, disguised as a burrito. It’s even better when I get to be the one to tuck her in like that, making sure every single blanket wraps around her body. There’s something about the way she smiles and looks at peace, like she is safe from all the bad in the world in that single moment.

It was still early, early enough that she didn’t need to wake up yet, but late enough for me to feel ready to get up and start my day. Today I’m free, no work, no homework or deadlines to worry about, not even chores to do around the house. Days like these used to be daunting, filling the void procrastinating on higher energy fun tasks and doing little, ultimately meaningless tasks around the house to not feel like all the free time was wasted. Ever since we started living together however something changed, funny how taking care of someone else’s needs can be so ... fulfilling. The slightly guilt filled need for rest, turned into resting so I could be of use to her, so I could keep doing the little things for her.

I got up out of the bed as quietly and slowly as I could, giving that cute little thing a peck on her forehead as I stood right next to the bed. I don’t wanna wake her up just yet, she has work today and I know for a fact it will be a tiresome but important day to her. She is going to be working as a make-up artist at a new gig. The gig is at a filmset and she will be in charge of making the protagonist look like a gothic lady that owns a shop for cursed items. Think tarot cards that make horrible and accurate predictions come to life and other such terrible objects. I put on my fluffy slippers and head downstairs to the kitchen, making sure not to step on the parts of the stairs that creak, I’d hate it if I’d accidentally wake her up too early, she needs all the sleep she can get today.

Once downstairs I got right to work, I had cut all the ingredients the day before and got straight to work. First I prepared her lunch box, a cute bento with 3 onigiris, filled with omelet, shrimp and gochujang chicken respectively. In another compartment I put stir fried broccoli, and an assortment of different kinds of stir fried mushrooms, making sure they’re only mushrooms she actually likes. As for breakfast, I stir fried some onion, bell peppers and tomato, adding scrambled eggs at the very end. While the veggies were getting soft in the pan I made her coffee. I mixed it with some frothed up milk and her favorite cocoa powder and put it in the fridge so she could drink it straight away after breakfast.