One afternoon, at exactly 6:21 p.m., Arcane had just returned from school because he had to attend a teachers' meeting. He had told Julian that he would be home late, but he made sure it would be before dinner.
He felt a little tired because earlier he had taken care of some matters related to the teachers' meeting since there would be a small exam at school soon.
"When I get home, I still have to cook dinner and make exam questions. It turns out that teaching at school is not as easy as I thought."
He sighed and walked towards his house and unlocked the door. "I'm home—"
However, as soon as he opened the door, he was surprised by smoke coming out of the house. He thought there was a fire in his house.
"Don't tell me—"
Panicked, he ran into the house toward the smoke, which was coming from the kitchen.
"JULIAN!"
In the kitchen, he saw a young man sitting in the corner of the kitchen, hugging his knees. The young man looked gloomy and turned to look at his husband who had just come home.
"Hiks Arcane, my cooking is burnt."
He frowned and looked up at the pot that was emitting smoke. Upon closer inspection, the smoke was coming from a brown spice that had burnt.
Arcane breathed a sigh of relief because it turned out that it wasn't a fire. He looked back at Julian, who was still sitting on the floor, staring at him with a pleading look.
"Can you explain what you're doing?" he asked, trying to fight off his fatigue after a long day at work.
Wiping his tears, Julian stood up from where he was sitting and explained that he was trying to make dinner.
In the pan, he was trying to make barbeque sauce so he could grill some meat. But the ham he had prepared was also burnt, along with the sauce, because he was too absorbed in playing his game.
Hearing this, Arcane massaged his temples because his head hurt after finding out what had happened.
"Now you've made that pot very difficult to wash. The same goes for the mini grill pan," said Arcane, scolding him.
He continued to scold Julian for leaving the stove on while he was busy playing games. He said Julian was lucky that there wasn't a big fire and that only the food he made was burnt.
"What if my house burned down because of your carelessness? I still have two years until I can pay off this house! And you want to destroy this house before I can even pay it off?"
Julian could only bow his head, feeling guilty for what he had done. He didn't dare to respond, because he knew he had made a mistake that could have been fatal.
He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling that his workload had increased with having to deal with all the mess Julian had created.
However, he noticed that the young man kept his head down. Clutching the apron he was wearing, Arcane realized that Julian deeply regretted what he had done.
This made him sigh softly and turn his attention to the pots and pans on the stove.
"Forget it. Getting angry won't change anything," he said. "You'd better clean up the mess you made. I'll take care of the rest."
"Okay." Julian began picking up the meat wrappers, leftover vegetable pieces he had cut, and other trash he hadn't had time to clean up yet.
Meanwhile, Arcane cleaned the pot that had been burnt with barbecue sauce and the grilled meat that had stuck to the grill.
After almost 30 minutes, Arcane placed a plate of meat omelet and mashed potatoes on the table.
"Eat," he said.
With his head still bowed, Julian ate the omelet with mashed potatoes. He could taste the barbecue flavor in the omelet he was eating.
"Arcane, this is..."
"Yes, the barbecue sauce you made. I threw away the inedible parts, along with the meat. So I crushed the remaining good meat and mixed it with the sauce and eggs," Arcane replied.
"So no food goes to waste," he continued.
Julian was amazed by this explanation. He never imagined that the ruined food he had made could still be turned into something delicious in this man's hands.
"You don't need to keep feeling sad. You did make a very fatal mistake that could have been very risky not only for my house but also for our neighbors' houses. But I admit, it's normal when you're trying to cook for the first time," said Arcane.
He was indeed angry after what happened. But seeing how remorseful Julian was made him see himself in the past. When he first tried to cook like his mother did to help out.
Patiently, his mother guided Arcane to clean up his own mess and rework what had been ruined. Turning it into a new dish that could be eaten.
That's why he couldn't stay angry at Julian for too long.
After dinner, Arcane went to wash the dishes and the items Julian had used for cooking earlier.
"It's already 7:35 PM. I'd better finish everything quickly and then focus on making exam questions," he muttered at the time.
Just as he finished washing the dishes and wiping his hands, Julian came back into the kitchen and stood near him.
He turned his head and saw the young man who seemed to want to say something.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you trouble because of the mess I made. I was just thinking of helping you," he explained.
Julian felt that he had been living with Arcane for almost half a year and saw him working hard on many things. Meanwhile, he just stood by and didn't help him much.
Seeing Arcane busy working, he wanted to make dinner so that the man could come home and eat without having to cook first.
Knowing the real reason, Arcane felt something from him. It was rare for someone to think about him like that. Usually, they just wanted to take advantage of his kindness and then leave.
Because of that, he became cold and kept his distance from some people.
"I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay. I'm not angry anymore," said Arcane, patting his head gently.
Julian still had his head down, feeling guilty. He finally pulled him into his embrace, letting him bury his face in his shoulder.
"You crybaby."