Chapter 1: Life As Usual

She held his hand firmly between hers, a bandage decorated her finger.

"Have I ever told you how incredibly fortunate I consider myself to have found you?" She spoke in a soft, gentle tone. A slight blush was visible on his face.

"Zephira!! Stop! I uhm... you know how easily I am embarrassed! I...m..me too!" He stuttered slightly out of embarrassment.

A soft playful chuckle escaped her lips as she parted them, leaning a little closer toward her man, but a kitchen timer buzzed, distracting her.

"Ohh, be back in a sec!"

He leaned back in his chair, relaxed. 'Wonder what she's got.' His mind recollected all of Zephira's fav recipes, she was a professional baker after all, no matter what she baked, it would always turn out to be quite exceptional.

A shout followed instantly by a metallic clatter made him jump up from his seat. He rushed to the kitchen to find Zephira on her knees, holding onto her hand. He gasped, jumped over the scorching hot tray on the floor, and the scattered cookies, and knelt beside her.

"Are you alright?"

Her small, frail body, trembled, she lifted her head up to glance at him, her eyes turned to waterfalls as she cried out

"no... the appetizer! I... I worked so hard to bake them!"

She clenched her left hand.

"Dawhh, darling! No, shh, it's alright!"

He wrapped his arms lovingly around her, holding her in his embrace, trying to soothe her, and it worked.

A few brief moments and some sobbing later, she nodded.

"I'll... make a new bat..." She paused halfway through her sentence when a crunch distracted her. She looked up, through her tears-blurred vision, she saw him munching on 1 of the cookies he picked up from the floor.

"It's fine."

He said with a confident smirk.

"What the hell are you doing you dumbo!? Absolute imbecile!" She jumped up to her feet, scolding him. Her frustration and sadness were replaced by a sudden outburst of feelings and affection for the idiot she loved so much.

"Valdrek! You're... ugh! Unbearable!" She said, bursting into lighthearted laughter.

"No, seriously. What a silly idiot..." She wiped the tears off her cheeks.

He got up and took her hands into his, another cookie in his mouth already,

"mh? Muh dunho mah mhean!" He mumbled, munching on the cookie while examining her hands. A burn mark on her left hand made him furrow his brows. He remained silent, looking at the burn, a hint of sadness was visible on his face. 'She works so hard for me... she tries so hard. She injures herself for me, and what do I do? I'll.. make it up for her.'

He squeezed her hands in his and then gave her a smile.

"Cnomnom lems noms mmmhh.." At first, she raised her eyebrow, then chuckled.

"Idiot, at least swallow before you try to talk!"

He picked the cookies off the floor and treated her injury. The rest of the night they spent in each other's embrace, gazing at the stars, and munching on the cookies. 'I wonder what the finished product will taste like' Zephira thought to herself, running her finger down his chest, digging her nail into his skin, gently enough to leave a trace, but hard enough to make him curious. She excused herself and headed in.

A few minutes later when Valdrek entered the house, he saw her hunched over a book in the kitchen, attentively reading something in it, murmuring to herself.

"Darling? Is everything alright?"

She didn't hear him enter, the sudden question made her jump, she hit the back of her head on the shelf above and whimpered, whimsically shutting the book closed and rubbing the back of her head.

"Ahhhmm! Mmh.. yea.. Uh, yes yes! Go, get ready for bed. I'll catch up in a moment, just taking some notes." He smiled at her warmly.

"Ouff! Careful! Youch... That looks like it hurt..." He recoiled.

She glanced at the book the title of which read 'Cooking sweets with your sweets.' Her lips curled up into a gentle smile, she carefully stashed the book away underneath a few other of her cooking tomes and headed to bed.

"Good night darling." Valdrek whispered to her.

"Sweet dreams, sweets" she replied to him.

They dozed off fast that night, Valdrek more so than Zephira.

She glided her finger down his neck whilst he was asleep, a thought lingered on her mind 'sweets from sweets, hehe.'