75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhUAro4oar
---
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWO3k13BS9
I was sitting at my friend’s house, chatting with her, when her brother kept walking into the room, asking things like, “Should I help you find your comb?” or “Where are the keys to your bike?” or “If you need anything, just tell me — I’ll get it.”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaQ51LwfZL
He was clearly trying to act like a hero, but all of it just annoyed me. I didn’t hate such people — but they really got on my nerves.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTx4oS5Bbf
Anyway, I had to tolerate all his nonsense for two whole hours. On the other hand, my friend’s mother kept giving me looks, wondering when I would leave — it had gotten really late, and I was still sitting in her house.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKVYzsfR3j
To be honest, she wasn’t wrong. It was their dinner time, and I was still there like an uninvited guest. What could I do? I just kept sitting silently, like a statue. Somehow, I managed to survive those two hours there.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRjGLBx0kE
Then I called my cousins, and they told me they were back home. As soon as I heard that, I said goodbye to my friend and left.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaLJBYEFmv
When I reached home, all three siblings — my cousins — were sitting together, chatting. Ali was also there. But I went straight inside. They were saying that our parents were going to stay the night at the relatives’ place, so who’s going to prepare dinner now?
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ciU5XCjbk
This created another round of tension in my head. None of us knew how to cook! But out of nowhere, I said, “Let me try today.”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4V9RfO6ct3
Everyone was surprised, but happy too.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQIz3aIXtU
We couldn’t buy food from outside because we didn’t have money, and if we had asked the neighbors, they would’ve mocked us by saying, “Such grown-up girls and still can’t cook their own food?”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUSmffsApw
So, I started. I chopped onions, tomatoes, and prepared everything. But then, suddenly, my brain clicked — I remembered the noodles, tea, biscuits, and pastry I had made earlier for myself.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnt5HlMlbOA
I searched the entire kitchen, hoping to find them, but nothing was there. I was still looking when Ali walked in and asked, “What are you searching for?”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4mvSTJDgF
How could I tell him that I had secretly made food for myself earlier?
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfxdzy1k86
I stayed quiet. He then said, “You won’t find those things — because I ate them.”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDuK1s6fmL
Hearing that, I felt deeply upset. And he, right in front of me, casually admitted it with a smirk, saying he really enjoyed eating it all. He was teasing me at that point.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzWJ3dX84B
I walked straight from the kitchen to my room. When I reached, one of my cousin-sisters was already there, studying with her books. She said, “Tonight, we’ll sleep with you!”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sSSHX2WCJ
That would’ve been fine on a normal day — but today, I had come to my room to share my pain with myself. But now I couldn’t even do that.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOq54elujcF
I just sat silently with them on the bed. I was still sitting there, thinking, “Maybe I should just explode and tell them everything” — when suddenly she said, “You were making rice, right? So what did you end up making?”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfghln8qec
Hearing that, I felt like screaming. Since morning, I hadn’t had a single moment of peace, and now all they cared about was rice!
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uGbFWAqtx
Anyway, already half-burnt and irritated, I made it to the kitchen again — my brain was still stuck on everything that had happened today. I wasn’t even paying attention to how I was cooking. Only when the rice went on the dum (steam) did I finally realize — what did I even do?
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09hpU1gwgg
But now, what could I even fix? I would only know what mess I made once the dum was opened.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6raFU58YDZ
When I came out of the kitchen, everyone started asking, “How is it? How does it taste? How’s the salt, the spice?”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeksEWiUpd
How would I know? I hadn’t even tasted it myself.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwmuejTY1v
Still, I said, “Yeah, yeah — they turned out great! You’ll all love them! You’ll never forget that Alia once made rice for you!”
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOMTeByQZe
Everyone was starving, so they had no choice...
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyvosqMT3t
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTm1m7s8gC
