WOUNDED

CHAPTER 11

"Afi, we aren't done. Round two tomorrow."

"I'll still win." She brags and I chuckle.

"Let's clean up this mess." mom says

"It's his mess!" Afi yells. "He should clean it himself."

"If you don't help me, I won't make dinner." I threaten and get off the floor.

"Well, if you don't she will. Won't you?" She asks looking at mom.

"Um... I don't know how to cook." Mom says lowly.
"You can't cook?" She asks in surprise. "Didn't aunty Myriam say all women should know how to cook?" She asks innocently, looking at me and I see the unease on mom's face.

"Yes but, there are a lot of women who don't know how to cook. Not everyone has the opportunity to learn" I defend, trying to switch the attention from mom. "Besides, I can teach her."

Mom smiles at me in gratitude.

"That's weird." Afi comments and takes another bite of her chocolate. Mom doesn't say anything, she just looks at me.

"No, it's not. We'll cook together. All of us"

"All of us? Even me?"

"Yes na, are you not a woman?" I ask.

"Yes but I'm only six, I'm still small."

"You're not small. There are children on Master Chef Junior who are your age yet win trophies."

"Weh, but I have to watch Garfield at six."

"Afi, its weekend. You'll watch it tomorrow." I say, picking up the onions. We even squashed a few tomatoes.

"Fine." She answers grumpily. "What should I do?"

"Get a bowl and pick up the tomatoes. Then you can peel the garlic."

"OK..." She sighs.

"I'll go get changed." Mom says and heads upstairs.

I pick up the bag with my uniforms and take them upstairs . I get changed and on my way back downstairs I remember I still haven't called Ara. I'll endeavor to do that later.

When I get downstairs, Afi's peeling the garlic. She still went ahead to watch Garfield even though I told her not to. She's so stubborn.
Mom on the other hand is literally crying while slicing the onion on the chopping board. I can't help but laugh.

"I'll do that." I say.

"Thank you." She tells me, handing it over as quick as possible. "I look like a girl who was crying because she got cheated on.' Mom remarks.

It's funny, till I remember that that's how Ara will look if she finds out what I did on New Year's Eve. Guilt is the worst feeling in the world. But then again... she doesn't have to know, right?

I snap out as soon as I see mom putting the spaghetti in a pot of freshly carried cold water.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I ask laughing, stopping her a little too late.

"Don't we have to boil this first?"

"Yes but not like that!" I laugh harder and walk towards her.

"I really suck at this, don't I?"

"You do actually." I confess and transfer the spaghetti into a colander to drain. "You have to boil the water first, then put it in."

"My bad." She smiles. It's hard to believe that at her age, she doesn't know such a basic thing.

"I'm done with the garlic." Afi announces, placing the plate on the counter.

We succeed to make an eatable meal and mom insists that we eat on the dining table, together. Afi calls her out when she tries to serve herself without praying and we both laugh.
That's something Aunty Myriam would do. I give Afi a bath and mom tugs her to sleep. I hope she warms up to her soon enough, because she really is trying. When I take a bath myself, I pick up my phone to call Ara but it's already 11pm and she was last seen more than an hour ago.