ANMELDEN[Maria]
“I absolutely don’t want you helping me shower.”
“Why?”
“Because... because...” He looked away. “I just can’t do that.”
Was being helped by his wife really that humiliating to him?
[Maria]“You’re right. I should have said thank you,” I said while reaching for his arm.Right now, all I could think about was that I needed to calm him down and reassure him first.Besides, Damian was right. Thinking about it, I hadn’t really thanked him since he got injured. For some reason, I don’t know why that sentence never really occurred to me.Maybe it’s because “thank you” is something I say when I get what I want, and clearly, his injury wasn’t something I wanted at all.“About my hand, I’ll tell you someday, not now,” I said softly. “But you really don’t need to worry about it. It’s a completely different situation. I just
[Hannah]Somehow, the anime turned out to be so good that Hannah ended up binge-watching nonstop with Kevin until episode six.She sat on the couch with one leg tucked beneath her, sipping from a can of soda she had helped herself to from Kevin’s refrigerator.The dryer had finished a long time ago, but she found herself strangely comfortable staying there. She was still wearing Kevin’s sweater along with the slacks she had worn to work that day.The ending song for episode six played. Kevin pressed pause and turned toward her.“You’re not sleepy?”Hannah checked her phone. It was 11:24 PM.
[Hannah]“Oh no, Hannah...” Liz winced, covering her mouth.“Sorry, sorry. It wasn’t on purpose.” Kevin quickly grabbed some napkins and held them out to Hannah.But Hannah didn’t take them.Her brain froze for a moment as she looked down at her white blouse stained with coffee.Her house was only ten minutes away, but walking around in a dirty, wet, sticky blouse would be both embarrassing and uncomfortable.Trying to clean it in the bakery restroom wasn’t really an option either. She knew they didn’t have proper soap for washing clothes. And she didn’t want to walk around
[Hannah]Hannah held out her hand.“Deal?”“It’s ridiculous,” Kevin said with a sigh, but eventually gave in. “But okay. Deal.”He immediately went back to what he had been doing, putting his headphones back on and resuming the anime on his phone, as if giving Hannah no opportunity to interact with him.They got off at the bus stop in front of Briarwood Prep, the stop that was supposed to be closest to Kevin’s house.Kevin didn’t ask many questions. He simply followed behind Hannah as she led the way to the place with the supposedly great food.Eventually, they arrived at a bakery.
[Hannah]“Where do you think you’re going?”Kevin nearly stepped back on instinct when Hannah’s voice startled him at the bus stop.His eyes, which had been focused on the phone in his hand, shifted to Hannah’s arm stretched across the support pole, blocking his path.She looked like she was about to rob someone.Kevin took off his headphones and let them dangle around his neck.“What do you want?” he asked, slipping his phone into his pocket. Then he crossed his arms over his chest as if protecting himself.Hannah grabbed his arms and straightened them.
[Maria]I had underestimated chopping.Not underestimated exactly. I just hadn’t known my very first class would already be this advanced.There were several cutting techniques with names like brunoise, julienne, and batonnet. But this time we were practicing dice cuts.“Focus, Maria. You can do it,” said Steph, who was in charge of prepping the meat.Her knife was bigger, sharper, and much more intimidating for a newbie. The meat looked slippery and hard to cut. I was glad I only got to cut the vegetables.We were making stew, so I needed to cut everything into cubes. The potatoes and carrots were cut into larger cubes, while the onions needed to be smaller.
[Maria]Auntie Imani’s house was just a tiny little home behind the bookstore, accessible only through an alleyway. At first glance from the outside, it even looked smaller than the bookstore its
[Maria]It was unusual for me to volunteer to go with Ana to the gourmet market, the place where she usually shops for groceries. I hadn’t made any plans about what to buy, nor did I really want to buy anything.
[Maria]Ana lowered her head in shame, both hands locked together in front of her apron.“It’s okay. I won’t tell Damian that you slipped up.”Ana lifted her head. “Really? Thank you, Ma’am.” She quickly added, “And I’m sorry, Ma’am. I really am.”I nodded with a faint smile. My steps were unsteady
[Hannah]Hannah had wasted so much time because of Ethan that she had to rush back to the office. She ran toward the elevator lobby, asking the people already inside to hold the l







