Amber could smell the burning halfway down the hallway, but she continued on anyway until she reached Apartment 209. Shifting her heavy book bag to hang behind her hip, she dug the key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Pushing it open only allowed the smoke to come drifting out, and she wrinkled her nose due to the scent of burnt food. Stepping inside she closed the door behind her and pulled the bag off over her head before crossing the small living room to enter the kitchen. Leaning against the doorjamb she watched as her boyfriend ran water over a flaming pot in the sink, glancing frantically at the smaller pot that was threatening to boil over on the stove and completely ignoring the smoke pouring from the oven.

With a laugh Amber stepped over to the stove and turned off the boiling pot, and he gave her a half guilty half grateful look. “Thank you,” he said before coughing due to the smoke, and Amber reached past him to push open the small kitchen window and allow the fresh cool air to help dispel the smoke. She glanced with a raised brow at the oven, and he shook his head in warning. 

“Don’t look in there. Please. Just don’t.”

She laughed again at his pleading look, then crossed to give him a light kiss. “LuHan, what were you doing? You don’t know how to cook… obviously.” She motioned to the wrecked kitchen, and his face simply fell.

“I just… you always cook, and you’re always tired from your school that I wanted to make you dinner for once!” 

She glanced around the kitchen, then back at his forlorn face. “Aww, that’s really sweet of you.” She placed her arms around his neck and gave him a light kiss. “But babe? Just… leave the cooking to me.”

***

Since that had been her last day of the fall semester for her college, Amber took advantage of that fact and slept in the next morning. When she woke, LuHan was gone at his job already and when she entered the kitchen to clean the mess they’d left the night before, she was pleasantly surprised