“I’ll be back in a few hours,” Yifan says, kissing Tao’s forehead before he leaves the house.

 

Tao sighs as he waves good-bye and closes the door. For the past week, Tao’s husband Yifan has been working overtime and coming home really late. Tao notices from the forced smiles and frequent sighs that his husband is overworking himself. So he decides to do something nice, like maybe cook him a warm meal. The problem is, Tao has never cooked anything in his life. (Excluding instant noodles). He grabs his phone and dials Kyungsoo’s number.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Is this Kyungsoo?”

 

“Yeah why’d you call?”

 

“I need help.”

 

“With what?”

 

“I want to cook something nice for my husband but I’ve never cooked anything in my entire life and well I just want you to give me instructions?”  Tao says in one breath.

 

“Calm down. Get some paper and I’ll tell you exactly what to do.”

 

-

 

Tao makes a grocery list with all the ingredients that he needs and heads for the nearest grocery store. He plans on making spaghetti (since Kyungsoo recommended that) and maybe baking a cake if he has extra time. When he comes back with all of the ingredients needed, he gets started right away.

 

‘How much water am I supposed to put in the pot...’ Tao ponders as he lets the water run, nearly filling the whole pot. He sets the pot on the stove and turns on the fire. Then, Tao carefully puts the spaghetti noodles in the pot. In a different pot, he begins to cook the spaghetti sauce according to Kyungsoo’s instructions, dumping in various vegetables that he chopped up.

 

‘I guess I can start baking the cake now,’ Tao starts gathering the ingredients for the cake. He starts measuring the flour and pours it into a mixing bowl. When he’s cracking the eggs, he feels something wet touch his feet and turns around. Tao starts to panic because water is flowing out of one pot while in the other pot, the spaghetti sauce is bubbling and splattering everywhere, creating a big mess on the stove and counter.

 

‘Yifan is going to kill me if he sees this..’

 

Tao takes a step and screams because he stepped in the puddle of boiling water that collected on the kitchen floor. He jumps around frantically and slips, accidentally hitting the mixing bowl on his way down. Tao tries to catch his fall but unfortunately lands hard against the kitchen tiles. When he gets up, his clothes are soaked and he’s covered in flour and raw egg. When Tao begins to look for a mop, a voice startles him.

 

“Tao, what are you doing?” Yifan asks in a stern voice.

 

‘Shoot! Why is he back so early!’ Tao curses as he turns around.

 

“I said, what are you doing?”

 

“Trying to cook,” Tao mumbles, hoping his husband isn’t too angry with him.

 

“What?”

 

“I was trying to cook..” Tao repeats. ‘Please don’t yell. Please don’t yell. Please don’t yell.’

 

“I leave you for a few hours and you create a disaster in the kitchen. I even decided to come home early today and this is what I get! I should have just stayed at work!” Yifan angrily spits out before he goes upstairs.

 

“I’m sorry,” Tao whispers but his husband is already upstairs. He starts to clean up the mess he made, but walking with the burn made it harder. Tao starts crying, not because of the burn on his foot, but because his husband is already really tired from work and he didn’t do anything but agitate him further. Plus, his plans didn’t work out and Yifan is probably going to be angry at him forever.

 

-

 

Yifan lets the hot water hit his back and sighs. He left work early because he felt like he wasn’t spending enough time with his precious husband but now all of that is ruined — and it’s all his fault. He runs a hand through his hair in frustration and lets the water run down his face. ‘Why am I such an idiot.’

 

When Yifan steps out of the bathroom, he sees Tao limping up the stairs, wincing at every step he takes. He rushes down to Tao’s side.

 

“What’s wrong?” Yifan asks, genuinely concerned.

 

“It-It really hurts”

 

Yifan sweeped him up and carried him into the bathroom. He carefully placed the smaller boy on the toilet seat.

 

“Where does it hurt?”

 

“M-my foot. I burned my foot.”

 

“Hold on. I’ll be back,” Yifan leaves the bathroom in search of the first aid kid. When he comes back, he places the first aid kit on the bathroom counter.

 

“Let’s get you cleaned up first,” Yifan says as he prepares a bath. He helps Tao out of his clothes and throws them in the laundry basket. Tao winces when he accidentally applies pressure to his foot. Yifan helps him into the tub and starts shampooing his hair, feeling the guilt eat him alive when he sees the tear stains on his husband’s face. ‘Great. I not only yelled at him, but made him cry. Nice one, Yifan.’  

 

They stayed in silence as Yifan cleaned Tao. When he was finished, he helped Tao into his clothes and sat him on the toilet seat. He began examining Tao’s burn and sighed in relief when he sees that it’s only a minor burn. He begins treating it, applying cream and bandaging it. Tao sat silently and stared at his husband treating his burn, wondering why he was being too nice to him, especially after he made a big mess in the kitchen. When Yifan is done treating the burn, he gives it a kiss.

 

“There, all better now! And I kissed it so it’ll heal faster,” Yifan smiles brightly. “Don’t worry, you get a kiss too,” he kisses Tao’s forehead.

 

“Th-thank you,” Tao stutters as he gives Yifan a quick kiss on the lips, blushing profoundly. “And I’m s-sorry.”

 

“It’s okay. I’m more sorry. You didn’t eat right? Let’s go eat,” Yifan says, helping Tao into the kitchen.

 

-

 

“When did you learn how to make spaghetti? It tastes good,” Yifan says as he devours the food.

 

“I called Kyungsoo hyung and asked for some help. I was going to bake you a cake too but..”

 

“It’s okay. But what’s the occasion? You never cook,” Yifan raised an eyebrow.

 

“About that..” Tao blushes. “You’re always at work these days and you come home really late. You look really tired and I don’t even know if you eat properly and it worries me so I wanted to do something nice for you..”

 

“Aww. Little Taozi is really sweet,” Yifan pinches Tao’s cheeks.

 

“But why did you come home early today?”

 

“I felt sorry that I haven’t been spending much time with you these days and I wanted to surprise you and take you out on a date,” Kris rubs the back of his neck. “And uh.. I’m sorry. For yelling at you. Really sorry.”

 

“It’s okay. I’m sorry we couldn’t go on a date like you planned.”

 

“Don’t feel too bad. I decided to take a break from work for a week. We can go on as much dates as you want!” Yifan smiles.

 

Tao brightens up and gives his husband a hug, “I love you!”

 

“I love you too.”

 

-

 

After the two finish their dinner, they go to bed. Tao snuggles up to Yifan and buries his head in the crook of his husband’s neck.

 

“Yifan?” Tao whispers.  

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Will you stay with me forever?”

 

“Forever Taozi.”

Forever.