COOKING DISASTER

‎CLEOPATRA'S POV

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‎“How do I look Mr Dante?" I questioned, doing a 360° turn in the kitchen in a bit to flaunt my chef wear to the mansion's chef.

‎“You look totally devine Luna," He confessed, circling me with a confused frown, “Just one question, was it necessary to wear a fake moustache?"

‎“Totally! all the big chefs wear it," I said with a smile, rolling my hand over the fake moustache.

‎In all the Italian movies I have watched before I noticed that the chefs always have one thing in common, a fake moustache, implying there must be some secret in this moustaches, and I must find out.

‎“No, they don't" He tried lieing, but I saw right through those lies.

‎“But you're wearing one” I said, and he froze.

‎“I am not. These are my actual ones. your eyes must be deceiving you” He debunked my accusations, as he casually rubbed his beard. His tone firm underneath his lies.

‎“Ok, let's see how true that is" I voiced approaching him, in an attempt to rip off the moustache but he scrambles backwards.

‎“That would be highly unnecessary Luna. I suggest you begin cooking, queen mother would be here any minute now,” He reminded, and I nodded. A knot twisting in my stomach.

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‎To think I almost forgot about my predicament. Now back to the matter at hand, how to prepare Italian fried rice.

‎“Dante you are Italian, right?" I doubted, and he nodded.

‎“By chance, can you cook Italian fried rice?" I asked, my eyes roaming his face for answers.

‎Dante smiled, his face etched with pride,

‎“Of course, a first class chef of my caliber can cook anything, and everything," He boasted, his voice vibrating with arrogance.

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‎A smile immediately creeped to my face, an idea forming in my mind. Even if I couldn't cook the fried rice, I could make him do it for me.

‎“Dante please by chance could you help me cook this..." I beseeched him, fluttering my eyelids in an attempt to gain his favor, but all my efforts seemed abortive as he interrupted before I finished talking.

‎“Not a chance Luna. Queen mother commanded you cook it alone. I am only here for supervision” He dismissed quickly, his face void of emotions.

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‎Letting out a small sign, “Fine, I will cook, but if this kills the alpha. It's on you as well," I said as a last resort, but that didn't move him.

‎“I will take my chances Luna," He said nonchalantly.

‎I flashed an angry glance in his direction, then turned towards the cooker, made a sign of the cross and proceeded with boiling the rice.

‎I have heard that when preparing fried rice, one must first soften rice grains, I think it's call parboiling.

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‎To an empty pot I poured two glasses of rice and twenty glasses of water and let it boil on high heat for about 20 minutes.

‎Afterwards, I moved to the table where all the extravagant ingredients were placed and began selecting.

‎“If I were an Italian chef what would I probably add into a pot of fried rice?" I asked myself, caressing my fake moustache as I glazed through the ingredients on the table.

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‎“I would probably go for some parsley” I recalled, picking out some parsley. I remembered seeing a chef sprinkling some green veggies over a serving of rice once in a commercial.

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‎Then everything began running into my mind. I remember seeing some tomatoes, an onion, some bell peppers, chilly, some garlic, flour, milk, beef, vegetable oil, and red wine.

‎One by one I grabbed everything I recalled, except there wasn't any red wine, or milk.

‎

‎“Dante, I need some red wine and milk" I commanded, a sparkle of excitement in my chest.

‎“What for Luna?" He doubted with curved brows, his gaze narrowing on me.

‎“I'm going to cook the best Italian fried rice you will ever eat," I boasted with a contented smile.

‎He looks up at me, his eyes widening for a second, before he flashes a smile at me, and walked out.

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‎A few seconds later, he returned with the milk and wine, and I began cooking. I chopped the veggies into bite sizes. Heat up my pan and began my cooking. I fried the beef, minced tomatoes and veggies in one go.

‎Everything was going good. The veggies were shimmering in the vegetable oil but things took a turn for the worse when I added the wine, rice and milk.

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‎I almost looked like human guts from the movie Zombie, with a touch of vomit. The mare sight of it, made my stomach crawl and I almost puked.

‎“Dante... I think there's a problem... Is it supposed to look like this?" I doubted, nervously scratching the back of my head.

‎My heart racing with uncontrollable fear.

‎Dante let out a deep breathe, shaking his head in disagreement, “No, that looks nothing like it" He informed and my heart sank to my stomach.

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‎“Dante you have to help me. What can I do to make it better?" I asked, my voice betraying me as it trembled fear.

‎“I'm afraid nothing could save this dish," I said with a straight face, and a sweat broke on my forehead.

‎I am done for, Lorenzo is going to kill me,  barely 24 hours after our wedding.

‎“Good bye world, Good bye pleasures of life. Good by Daisy. Good bye food, and most importantly good bye mouth, this is all your fault. God please forgive my trespasses," I silently prayed, as I thought about my obituary “Gone too soon," my eyes beginning to fill up with tears.

‎

‎“You know what move aside Luna. I will make something quick for the alpha" Dante offered and I praised.

‎“Thank you so much Dante. I truly appreciate this..." I gratified in tears, my heart heavy with ecstasy but before I could finish Mom's voice echoed from behind me, and my heart skipped a beat.

‎“What are you thanking him for, Caitlin?" She questioned, emerging from the shadows.

‎“Mom... oh you're here... I was...” I mumbled on my words, my voice trembling, before being cut off, once more.

‎“I see you are done preparing the meal" She said, her eyes roaming the meal, before her lips broke into a smile.

‎“It's perfect! I think we should take it to your husband right away, I would love for him to see what his adorable wife has made.”

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‎“Mom, the thing is... I don't think it's quite ready yet. I haven't prepared the chicken thing you told me to prepare,” I explained, as she tried grabbing the plated meal.

‎She smiled stepping back, “No need for the chicken casserole. This right here is enough. I am very sure Lorenzo will love it.”

‎“In any case, you could always add ginger, lots of it. Lorenzo loves ginger” she divulges and Dante's mouth fell open.

‎

‎“Ginger, queen mother, ginger?" He asked, his tone alarmed for some reason.

‎“Yes ginger. Do I have water in my mouth?" She asked, her tone venomous as she walked past Dante to the cupboard. She grabbed a bottle of ginger powder handing it over.

‎At first I hesitated for a while unsure of her true motives, but decided against it when I realized that she had no reason whatsoever to harm her own son.

‎

‎After incorporating the ginger into the meal, she smiled at me, and led the way to the dinning.

‎She even offered to take off my fake moustache and fix my hair, guess she finally decided to accept me as her daughter in law.

‎We waited at the dinning for a couple of minutes, before I spotted Lorenzo coming down the stairs.

‎“Caitlin dear, I think we forgot some bottled water. Could you please help me get them from the kitchen" Mom said almost immediately with a gigantic smile, and I was forced to oblige, as desperation for recognition got the better part of me.

‎

‎I walked into the kitchen, my heart racing like a beating drum from anticipation, but just as I was about to leave, Dante appeared out of nowhere.

‎“Luna you can't let the alpha eat that meal," He said alarmed, but his words only successfully sent angry shivers down my spine.

‎“Why? cause you are scared I am going to kill your alpha. Well don't worry cause my meal isn't bad enough to take a life," I said, my tone cocky.

‎

‎“Actually your meal could potentially kill him," He voiced and a sweat broke on my forehead, “The alpha is allergic to ginger."

‎My heart immediately sank to my stomach, she tricked me.

‎I immediately took to my heels, running to the dinning room like crazy, there was no way I was being a widow this soon.

‎

‎I entered the dinning room, hoping to get to him on time, but by the time I appeared, my husband was already dieing, his face was red like a tomato. He was coughing out, like his oxygen supply had depleted. I was done for, I will be killed for killing the alpha.

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