Family Comes First

B9

Thank God for small mercies.

"Okay..." he said slowly, "But I still don't understand."

Never mind.

I swear, my brothers are so nosy. Not that I'm not as well.

~

"I never thought that periods would be this painful." I groaned, facing Ophelia with a pained look on my face. "I don't want this."

It's been a few days, and at the moment, I was hanging out in her room, holding my lower abdomen.

"You can say that again." Ophelia agreed. "I'm sure none of us want periods."

"Definitely." I muttered, shaking my head. "Why do we go through this again?"

"Because we give birth to kids." she answered simply, letting out a sigh of annoyance.

"Why do we even give birth to kids though?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

I just wanted her to tell me differently to make me feel better. Is that bad?

"No idea." she told me, doing exactly what I wanted her to do.

"This sucks." I mumbled. "And I'm bored."

"Well I'm going to go make dinner in a few minutes." she said out loud. "You can join if you want."

"When do periods end?" I asked instead.

"Usually takes about three to seven days." she shrugged.

"So I technically don't even need to have it anymore." I stated.

"No, it varies depending on the girl." she sighed. "I have it for four days, and from what I'm seeing, your period is going to last for last least six days. It seems like you are heavy."

"That sucks."

She nodded empathetically. "It truly does." she commented as if it helped. "I'm going to go now. Wanna come?"

"Sure." I grumbled. "Why not. It's not like it would hurt."

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Then let's go."

With that, she was dragging my fourteen year-old body towards the kitchen, her rambling on and on about what she was going to cook for us today.

"You do know it's only five in the evening, right?" I raised a brow, and she gave me a nod.

"Don't worry." she assured. "I know. I just need to start preparing. Prepping takes up the longest amount of time as you have to wash the food, cut them, marinate the meat if needed, get out the ingredients, and more." she explained while towing me to the kitchen.

"It's also probably the most crucial step when cooking." she continued, "If you don't have the ingredients prepared, how are you going to cook? You can't expect me to cook a full cow, can you?"

"So is this 'prepping' the most important part of cooking?" I questioned, genuinely curious.

She shook her head. "No, all steps are as equally important as the other, but... How do I explain this?" she muttered to herself.

I waited patiently for an answer even as my feet stumbled over one another.

"Alright. So, prepping for the meal you are about to serve takes the longest amount of time. If we prepare the ingredients ahead of time, it will help us speed up the process when we start making the actual food."

She looked at me, raising a brow, silently asking me if I understand. I gave a nod.

"Furthermore, it makes it easier for us to cook because you already have the ingredients ready. Makes the process so much faster, and helps keep the food warm." she added. "The entire preparation process takes about an hour for your family cause I do it myself. Stella helps out from time to time."