After Yuki said those words, the air fell quiet for a moment.
Rin's finger paused on the handle of her teacup, her lips parting slightly. Usually so eloquent, she found herself completely at a loss for words.
Qiluo set her fork down beside her empty plate, raised her hand, and gave Yuki a gentle tap on the head.
“Silly! You don't need to say things like that to your sister; just say them to me. You have plenty of time to figure out what flavors your sister likes on your own. Saying it out loud now just makes her feel bad, doesn't it?”
Yuki shrank back slightly from the tap, but she didn't try to dodge.
She reached up and touched the spot where she had been tapped.
Her fingers lingered in her hair for a few seconds before she let her hand drop and picked up her fork again.
“...Mhm. I'll figure it out myself, slowly, over time.”
Watching her sister nod obediently instead of getting upset after being tapped on the head, Rin took a sip of her coffee.
She wanted to say to her sister: Since when did you learn how to act spoiled?
But she had a feeling that if she said it out loud, Yuki would probably flee back to her room in embarrassment.
The way Qiluo Tian Gong corrected Yuki in front of her was so natural.
It showed that this was how she normally treated Yuki.
Unreserved, unforced—like treating someone she was truly close to.
What Yuki needed was never delicate, overly cautious coddling; she needed someone who could pull her out of her shell.
Lunch was prepared by Yuki and Rin together, while Qiluo was ordered to sit still and not lift a finger.
The dishes were simple home-cooked fare, accompanied by bowls of appetizing white rice.
Qiluo took a proper bite from her rice bowl, chewed and swallowed, then looked up at Yuki and Rin and declared it delicious.
Yuki was in the middle of serving her some food. Hearing this, her chopsticks paused in midair before she nonchalantly placed another slice of stewed meat into Qiluo's bowl.
Rin watched her sister pile all the best pieces of meat into Qiluo's bowl while silently eating only half the rice in her own bowl. She sighed inwardly.
Do you even remember that your sister is sitting right across from you? Well, whatever. Looking at her, she's probably long forgotten.
Looking at them now, her feelings were a bit complicated.
As an older sister, she was happy that Yuki had finally made such a friend, yet she also felt a faint sense of loss, as if her sister were being stolen away.
And there were other thoughts, too.
She remembered keeping a hamster in her dorm. The first thing she did after class every day was run to its cage.
She would pick out sunflower seeds one by one, place them in her palm, and squat in front of the cage to watch the hamster stuff its cheeks full.
Now, Yuki sat across the dining table, placing slices of stewed meat into Qiluo's bowl one by one. The look in her eyes was exactly the same as the one Rin used to have when watching her hamster.
But Qiluo would gently block Yuki's chopsticks when she tried to serve more, saying, “You eat too.”
And she would transfer the slice from her own bowl back to Yuki's.
After lunch, Qiluo took the initiative to do the dishes. Yuki stood beside her holding an empty bowl, looking as if she wanted to say something.
Qiluo took the bowl from her hands and said, “Go spend time with your sister. It's rare for her to be home.” Only then did Yuki slowly step away.
Standing at the boundary between the living room and the kitchen, Rin watched Qiluo roll up her sleeves, her fingers covered in soap suds.
Suddenly, she understood why Yuki had told their mother, “I like her.”
Even though she was about the same age as Yuki, she was always looking out for everyone.
She must be like this at home too, doing everything by herself.
In the afternoon, Qiluo stood in the kitchen, holding a neatly folded light gray apron in her hands.
She shook out the apron, studied the path of the straps for a moment, and slipped the loop over her neck. However, she fumbled behind her back for quite a while without managing to tie the straps together.
Yuki, who had already tied her own apron, watched her for a moment before quietly stepping up behind her.
“Just keep your arms straight. You don't have to move.” As she spoke, her breath brushed against the back of Qiluo's neck. The straps looped twice through her fingers.
As she pulled the straps tight, she seemed to realize they were standing a bit too close, and she took a half-step back.
This was the part Yuki had been looking forward to the most. She had specially weighed out all the ingredients beforehand and taped the step-by-step checklist to the refrigerator so she wouldn't get flustered while teaching.
“Let's begin.” Yuki took the butter and eggs from the refrigerator, retrieved the cake flour, powdered sugar, and salt from the cabinet, and tared the digital scale to zero.
Qiluo leaned against the counter next to her, pointing from a distance at the new checklist taped to the refrigerator door. “You can just teach me directly this time. No need to write it down.”
Yuki transferred the butter into the mixing bowl and picked up the whisk. After a few stirs, she stopped and turned her head to look at Qiluo.
Her eyes reflected the light filtering through the kitchen window.
“...Do you want to try? Creaming the butter.”
Qiluo took the whisk and mimicked her movements, stirring a few times. Her wrist movements were a bit clumsy, and some of the butter splattered onto the rim of the bowl.
Yuki didn't laugh at her. Instead, she placed her hand over the back of Qiluo's hand and adjusted the angle of the whisk.
Her hand was just a tiny bit larger than Qiluo's. Her fingers closed gently around Qiluo's, guiding her wrist in a circular motion.
The butter made a soft, rustling sound against the bottom of the bowl.
“We need to cream it until it turns pale. Once it's pale, we add the powdered sugar and whisk until it's completely incorporated.” Yuki's gaze fell on their overlapping hands.
Qiluo could feel Yuki's nose right beside her shoulder. Her breath was light and even, causing a few stray strands of hair on Qiluo's shoulder to flutter gently.
If Yuki had a tail, it would probably be wagging slowly right now.
“Have you ever taught anyone else to make cookies before?”
“No. You're the first.”
“Then do you only want to teach me in the future, too?”
Yuki's hand trembled slightly, but she kept holding Qiluo's hand, slowly creaming the butter.
“...Mhm. Only you, from now on.”
The butter in the bowl gradually turned pale, but Yuki's fingers remained over the back of Qiluo's hand.
Qiluo's fingers were warm, and the skin on the back of her hand was smooth.
In this moment, time seemed to stand still. Yuki could hear nothing but her own heartbeat and the sound of the whisk rotating in the bowl.
It was time to add the sugar, she thought to herself, yet her fingers didn't let go.
Just one more stir... just one.
At this distance, she could clearly see the blue veins on the inside of Qiluo's wrist, and she could smell the scent on Qiluo that was like warm sunshine.
Let me hold on for just a little longer. Just a little.
The sugar wasn't going anywhere anyway, and in this moment, she didn't want anyone to disturb them.
“It's turned pale~”
Qiluo's voice drifted into her ear.
Yuki snapped back to reality, looking down to see that the butter in the bowl had already turned a creamy white.
She quickly released her grip and took a half-step back, curling her fingers slightly in the air before letting her hand fall to her side.
“...We can add the sugar now.”
She turned around to fetch the sugar jar, blinking rapidly during the few seconds her back was turned to Qiluo.
Rate on N.U.
