His Muffin

Chapter 24: One step at a time

Tristan POV

Due to my restless heart, I followed her to the kitchen in my bathrobe. I couldn't help but cover my nose as I spotted smoke coming out from the kitchen. The burnt smell pierced my nostrils as I descended the stairs.

"I shouldn't trust you in cooking."

She nervously looking for something to end the disaster. Spontaneously, she grabbed a bowl and filled it with tap water. She was panicking and accidentally turned the tap water to the max, and it splashed all over the floor.

"Oh, no, no, no. Tristan, help!" She closed her eyes to avoid the water whilst splashing some water from the bowl to the burnt pan. Even though it was too late to save anything, but I still lent her a hand. She shoved me to the front of the sink to shield her from getting soaked. Grabbing the tap, I hurriedly turned it off.

"What a mess!" She sat on the floor, blowing out a relieved breath.

"Yeah, what a mess." I teased her jokingly. Looking at my bathrobe, I knew I didn't make the wrong decision to remain in my bathrobe before following her.

"I told you not to burn my kitchen." I watched her sitting on the floor helplessly.

"This is not my fault. You should blame Manuel for this."

"I don't think we would have our proper breakfast for today. Forget about that first, let's think about it later. Stand up; we need to clean the kitchen."

"But I'm hungry. I don't have the energy to do anything now. My stomach needs to be fed." She whined, with no intention of moving from her spot.

"Excuse me, Muffin. Am I supposed to take care of you, or it should be the other way round?" I crossed both arms over my chest.

"Muffin!" She repeated that word energetically. Out of so many words, that was the only word that successfully caught her attention. She quickly glanced at me, causing me to chuckle at her unbelievable reaction.

"You will get muffins for me? I need muffin to recharge now." She feigned a stern face.

I shook my head before lowering my body and picked her up with my arms. My sudden move surprised her, which caused her to scream.

"Let me down!" She kicked her legs and slapped my chest several times.

I halted, glancing over at her face, which was close to my chest. "Do you want to get hurt?" I gawked at her, throwing the question at her with a serious face.

"No." Her voice softened, defeated by the serious look on my face.

I went to the kitchen island, making her sitting there. Letting go of my hands, I lowered my face at her level and standing there studying her face for a moment. Her crimson red face is my favourite thing at the moment. A slight curve at the edge of my lips appeared as I saw she was struggling to avoid having any eye contact with me.

"Call this number and get something for breakfast. They are selling muffins and provide delivery service." I handed her my phone with a cafe's number, which belonged to one of my friends. The cafe was near to our place.

"But I really want to eat noodles." She said that in a low tone, but I still heard her clearly.

"Is that what you're trying to cook?" She nodded, looking at the mess behind us. I suddenly got an idea to change her mood.

"Where are you going? Help me to get down first." She pulled my arm, refused to let me leave her on the kitchen island.

"Clearing the mess before you could have the noodle."

"Are you saying you're going to cook it for me?"

"Should I change my mind?" I tilted my head.

"Please no, keep going with that great thought." The satisfaction was evident on her face.

"Just sit there. I don't want you to cause another trouble."

"So mean." She complained.

"I'm what?" I pretended not to hear her.

She grinned, showing off her toothy smile. "Oh, nothing. I said you're so kind."

I walked away with a smirk on my face. It was a weird satisfaction to see her like that. Wasting no time, I quickly cleaned the kitchen before taking the role to prepare the noodles.

***

After a while of preparation, the Chinese noodles she was craving for almost ready to be served. She was busy indulging her muffins while waiting for me.

"Trisha, can you pass me the bowls?" I was busy adding the last ingredients to the noodles. She jumped from the kitchen island and running towards me.

"Let me wash my hands first."

"Come back here," I ordered her when she was about to walk past me to wash her hands. She looked confused but still walking towards me.

"Show me your hand." Showing off her right hand that was stained with chocolate, she looked at me without blinking. As her hand was reachable, I licked her fingers. My eyes lingered on her face, observing her expression.

"The taste is not bad. Now you're ready to go." I tried not to laugh as I saw her shocked face.

"What are you waiting for? Bowls, please."

"Oh, yeah, right." Her expression was priceless. For sure, she didn't expect I would do that. I'm going to show her I don't want to be treated as her brother anymore. I wanted more than that.

We ate our food in comfortable silence. In a short time, she emptied a bowl of noodles, and I could see how much she was craving that.

"Hmm.."

"Like it?" I asked.

"Superb, and I wish this is not the first and last time I will have this." Her hands were on her tummy. She flashed me a big grin. Feeling satisfied with her comment, I picked up the empty bowls and brought them to the sink.

"Do you want a muffin?"

"No, just keep that for yourself later."

Obviously, the noise of the chair being pushed shows she ignored my words. Soon, she appeared in front of me with her muffins. I got used to her behaviour.

"Well, I insist."

"I'm washing the dishes." I quickly glanced at her, noticing her both hands that were occupied by the muffins. She was eating the muffin while standing next to my side.

"This is my payment for the noodles. We should practice give and take in a relationship. So, open your mouth." She insisted, reaching her hand to my mouth. I know if I refuse, she is going to stare at me with her pouted mouth.

Finished washing the dirty dishes, I moved a few steps closer to her. Standing in front of her, I placed my wet hands on both of her sides, making her expression turned nervous. She spontaneously moving her face from me, but it was helpless since she was trapped in the corner whilst my hands caged her on both sides. I lowered my face and tasted the stains of muffin at the edge of her lips.

"Don't blame me. You insisted." I whispered.

"I-I-no- that's not what I meant."

"What relationship are we in, Trisha?"

"Brother and sister?"

"Question mark. So you're not sure about that."

"I'm sure about that." I tried to find the confirmation from her statement but still doubt it.

"Have you ever thought about my question in the hotel room?"

"What question?"

"If there's no pool incident and I have a fever, would you come and take care of me willingly?"

"Of course, you're my brother."

I sighed, hearing her referring to me as brother. "I'm not, and I don't want to be your brother." I spitted the truth through my gritted teeth, pulling her closer to me. She accidentally dropped the muffin from her hands.

"You're supposed to be my brother."

"I want more than that, Muffin." I rested my forehead on hers. Her breath hitched.

I couldn't restrain myself anymore as I placed a kiss on her lips, this time not to taste the muffin but to open up to her about my actual feeling.

"This is so wrong." I heard her mumbled in between the kiss. She didn't push away. Instead, I noticed she closed her eyes.

"Your heart and your mind are not in sync."

As she heard my statement, she pushed me away, and before I could catch her, she escaped from my sight. The sound of the door being closed was heard, but I didn't intend to stop her. I realized she needed some time to accept the truth, and I decided to give her time to consider my feeling,

One step at a time.

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