“To love is nothing, to be loved is something but to love and to be love by the one you love, that is EVERYTHING…”

Afternoon crawled slowly as I watched Mom baked her delicious cheesecake with Chaerin. I was smiling ear to ear the entire time, as I stood behind the pillar in the kitchen, eyeing them silently. Mom was in her teacher mode from the first time Chaerin stepped her foot on the kitchen, nagging on the recipe and repeatedly correcting her baking form.

I left them quietly, before they noticed me and dragging me to join their cooking class. Baking was never my hidden skill.

I hid myself upstairs, playing with Ha Yi- feeding her, changing her diapers and rocked her to sleep. At four in the evening, I braced myself and went downstairs where the sweet aroma of newly baked cheesecake greeted me from the kitchen. Slowly, I walked to the kitchen and I saw Mom was admiring her creation. Two cakes decorated with strawberries and drizzled with cheesecakes placed on top of a rack. Simply mouth-watering.

“Looks good,” I commented.

“Just wait until you taste it,” she said excitedly. “It’s delectable.”

“I’m sure is,” I said as I looked around, finding another pastry chef for the day. “Where’s Chaerin?”

“Oh, she went upstairs. Checking up on the baby.” She grabbed a knife put it on the cake. “You want some?”

“Maybe later. I will…find her first.”

I ran to the stairs and skipped one or two steps before reaching the top floor. I knocked the gently and when I didn’t received any response I twisted the knob and stepped inside. I smiled as I saw Chaerin was lying on the bed, face down and her body sank down weakly.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked softly, kicking her legs to wake her up.

Chaerin grabbed a pillow and with her face still buried on the bed, she threw the pillow at me. Unfortunately, she missed.

“Wha-what?” I shrieked.

She sat up on the bed, her hair was messy and she was frowning.

“It’s all your fault,” she yelled. “You’re the one who told Mom to teach me to bake the cake. You know how much I detest all feminine activities, including cooking, baking, and knitting. And yet, you shoved me right into the glory of baking galore.”

Sighing, I sat next to her and whispered softly. “It’s not so much time until you quit being her daughter-in-law. Just bear with it. It will pass.”

“Urgh,” she groaned. “All I could hear was just, a tablespoon of baking powder, sieving the flour. You’re doing it wrong, Chaerin. It should be clockwise not counter clockwise,” she mimicked Mom’s orders dramatically and I couldn’t stop myself from bursting a theatrical laughter.

She slumped her back to the bed. “I’m completely exhausted. I’m not going to bake for my entire life.”

“Hey, what about going somewhere with me?” I whined. “You’ve promised.”

Groaning and shooting a glare at me, she moved to the bathroom, totally ignoring me and my little complains.

I glanced to Chaerin on the passenger seat. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes fixed on the road. Sometimes she let her gaze wandered to the panoramic view through the widow where a row of beautiful houses stood on the right and left of the road.

After a lot of persuading, push and pull act between me and her, she finally agreed after I shut her up with my dictator threat. Feeling dreaded as she dragged her feet into my car, her face was still full of murderous looks.

“Where are we going?” she voiced out, her face was still on the road.

“It’s a secret. You’ll know when we’re arriving.”