♪♪ Don't you know, could it be

That we could be friends

We'll see the end of it

I've got to give you a chance to trust me

So we'll know how to be when everything ends ♪♪

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ [We could be friends] - [Matt Corby] 

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The burbling sound of the running water from the tap seized once Esmé turned it off. With her hands resting on the basin's edge, she looked up to the mirror right above it, staring at her reflection.

She had packed her raven black curly hair into a ponytail that showed off the features of her alabaster skinned face prominently. She took a deep breath in and raised her narrow, lush lips into a thin smile.

With the deal she made with Kian at the forefront of her mind the moment she got up from her bed, she hoped the day would feel a lot better than the previous ones. 

She rose on her full length and walked out of the bathroom to her room. The moment she walked into her room, a pleasant aroma that slipped through the under of her room door hit her nostrils. Her brows furrowed with curiosity. She sought the clock on her bedside table and saw the time was still 5:30 am. Lucija wasn't supposed to be around until an hour and a half later.

Esmé proceeded to leave the room when her eyes noted her crutches resting by the side. Sighing, she snatched it off the wall and placed them carefully under her arms in position. She had been practising without it and had become quite accustomed to it, but if Lucija got to know about the fact that Esmé had been walking without the crutches, she was sure the placement of her head would change since her physiotherapist hadn't cleared her.

On stepping out of her room, she fully perceived the aroma that seemed to have taken over the entire house. She wobbled with her crutches to the kitchen. Her brows furrowing even more, as she got closer to the entrance of the kitchen.

She froze at the door of the kitchen the moment she noticed the back view of a male, Kian. Their deal which had taken a temporary back seat flowed right back to the front. Despite the stiffness in her body from the vivid memory of the incident that had happened in the very same kitchen just the previous day, she took a deep breath and proceeded further into the room.

Esmé had taken his hand after all for the truce. That meant they weren't avoiding each other anymore, right?

Kian turned as she moved into the kitchen. His eyes widened a little at her presence. They both stood there watching each other with guarded eyes, waiting to see how the other was going to react. He cleared his throat awkwardly, breaking the stare. "Right, em, morning."

"Morning?" Esmé answered, her lips lifted with a half-smile.

"I thought I'll make breakfast. If you're up for it, you can have a seat." He informed her and turned around immediately. The whole concept was strange and new to him. 

"Oh," Esmé said, "That's... kind of you."

"Right," Kian murmured continuing with what he was preparing.

Esmé continued to the kitchen table to have a seat opposite where Kian stood. Silence followed and the atmosphere thickened with tension as neither of them knew exactly what to say.

"So..." They blurted out together. Kian turned around to face her. "You... you can go first."

Esmé nodded slightly. The whole thing was getting ridiculous to her. "Thanks? Actually, I, em, wanted to ask what you were doing here, not that I don't appreciate the fact that you're making breakfast. I'm just curious?"

"Here?" Kian's head jerked back in surprise at the question. "Cooking." The sizzling sound of the egg he was frying confirmed his answer.

Esmé laughed at his answer while Kian turned around to check on the scrambled eggs he was frying. The tension in the room eased a bit at the sound of her laughter filling the kitchen. "Ha, ha. I know you're cooking. I mean, what you're doing home by this time. You always left early..." To avoid me, she made sure not to add. "Aren't you going to be late?"

Kian's hand stilled, and he sighed, grabbing hold on to a plate to serve her breakfast. "Not really, no. I don't have to get to work that early. I left early because like you said because I might have been avoiding you."

Esmé's lips elevated in a full smile at the admission. Kian turned around and his face closed off into a frown. "What's funny?"

Esmé's smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Well, it's funny how you admitted you were avoiding me, when just yesterday you denied it. And although it wasn't a full acceptance, a girl can take what she gets, right?"

Kian rolled his eyes at her and placed her tray of breakfast in front of her. "Tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please," Esmé answered with a smile. She turned her attention to the tray that had an English breakfast set in front of her: Bacon, scrambled eggs, buttered toast, fried mushroom and banger. "A full breakfast, wow. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kian replied and placed her cup of tea down by her tray. "Enjoy your breakfast." He moved to leave the kitchen. 

Esmé's eyes furrowed at the move in confusion. Eating breakfast alone wasn't something that was going to be new but the fact that he had taken his time to make her breakfast urged her to  question his move. "Where are you going? Aren't you eating breakfast too?"

Kian stopped at turned to her, he raised his brows in shock at the question. "Staying to eat breakfast... with you?"

"Don't make it sound so terrible." Esmé groaned and pinched her lips together. "It's just that you made the breakfast and I know you're not in a hurry to go to work so why not eat. You made it because of the truce I'm guessing. So why not eat it with me?" She gauged his reaction.

Kian's eyebrows and lips pressed together in reluctance. He hadn't made the breakfast in thought that they would eat together. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with that yet.

"Don't worry, I don't bite," Esmé chipped with a full-blown smile and broke off Kian's reluctance.

"You don't say," he mumbled under his breath and walked back to the table to serve himself breakfast too. His posture was still very tense.

Esmé smiled at the achievement and took a sip from her cup of tea. Her eyes closed shut, and a moan escaped her lips at the sweet and appeasing taste of the tea. Esmé froze, a pink flush crept across her cheeks in embarrassment as she cracked her eyes to face Kian, whose obsidian eyes twinkled as they squinted at her.

"Shut up." The tint on her cheeks increased by the moment.

"I said nothing."

"Your face says it all." Esmé pointed out and Kian schooled his features. "Sue me for appreciating the soothing taste of a perfectly made cup of tea. I haven't had the chance because as you already know I moved from the hospital; where you don't expect that to happen, to the house where Lucija was making my food."

Kian's facial expression dropped a bit at the reminder of his previous act and nodded. "Fine then. No judging. You can eat your breakfast now. And not make the same sound," he murmured the last part, tilting his head away from her.

Esmé sent him a scowl in the lead of picking up her set of cutlery. She took a bite of the eggs she cut and chewed on it, savouring the taste in her mouth. She made sure she was very conscious of her actions and didn't moan again. "Wow, this tastes really amazing." She nodded to further buttress her point.

"Thanks..."

"I mean..." she interrupted fully engrossed in the food's taste and took another bite from her meal. "They have this extra crispy taste to them, the eggs have that delightful light texture with a slight crunch and together with the chewy bacon that's really succulent. The mushroom tastes honeyed, did you coat them with honey?"

Kian's head jerked back as he looked at her with an incredulous stare in surprise. He opened his mouth to answer, but she interrupted him again, going on and on.

"And you buttered the toast just right. With the banger..." she paused as though she just realized she was rambling. She looked up at Kian, her cheeks and the tip of her ear tinting pink again. She seemed to do a real deal of embarrassing herself that morning.

"What?" She squirmed under his surprised stare.

Kian cleared his throat. "Sorry, it's just..."

"You haven't seen a girl go on about food before?"

"It's quite surprising for someone with no memories to talk about food in such intricate details.  You sounded like my mother." He mentioned, his deep voice sounding warmer than before, the little crease around his eyes from their previous tensed position easing into a relaxed look along with his body.

Her evaluation of the food gave him a sense of ease he always felt around his mother.

Esmé's brows lifted, not at all expecting the comparison. Her lips parted as she thought of a befitting response. After a short moment of thinking, she went with the first thing that popped into her mind that could keep the relaxed flow Kian seemed to have adapted. "She's the one who taught you how to cook, right?"

A small smile graced Kian's lips, his eyes lifting along with it. "Yeah, she's the one. She's a chef who wanted a girl, but since she didn't get that, she made do with what she had and that's me."

Esmé chuckled at the thought. She relaxed back into her seat and crossed her arms. "Don't tell me she dressed you up as a girl when you were young."

Kian chocked on his meal at her question and groaned. "My goodness, please do not even mention that ever again."

This further lit up Esmé's lips at the light turn of their conversation. "But she did, huh?"

"The most embarrassing time of my childhood." He shook his head at the memory to ward it off. "But she stopped when she realized she could still cook and enjoy it with me as a boy. So we had culinary lessons on the weekends and sometimes still do."

"Aww, that must have been very nice. She seems charming and ambitious. Sounds like someone I'd definitely like to meet." Esmé froze the moment the words left her mouth. Why would she say she wanted to meet his mother? She held her breath watching Kian who shrugged in response.

"She'd like you too if she meets you."

Esmé released her breath as she gazed at Kian dazed. "Me? Why?"

Kian picked up his cup of tea to sip from it resting back onto his chair. "Well I mean even with your memory loss, you know your way around the kitchen and you note little details in food. Like I told you before, you reminded me of my mother. So she'll definitely appreciate that talent."

Esmé couldn't help the smile that made its way to her lips. She definitely had her doubts about the whole friendship thing at the beginning, but it seemed like they were doing just fine conversing like normal human beings without walls. Although, she still felt she had to walk on tip of her toes around Kian. The light beating of her heart made her know,she preferred being able to talk with him like they were doing.

Taking the rails to keep the conversation going, she rested her elbow onto the table and placed her head on the top of her hand. "What about your dad? Does he join your culinary sessions?" she asked, her eyes glittering with curiosity. He met her question with silence.

A tensed silence.

Kian's hold on his tea mug grew tighter and his features darkened. His entire body tensed up, and he lowered his cup slowly.

Esmé noticed the fight to keep the emotions in check and walls he built back up instantly. She opened her mouth to say something that could stop the walls from building back up but the scraping of Kian's chair on the floor stopped her.

"He's dead," Kian responded with a monotone. He stood and made his way towards the door, leaving Esmé with her eyes widened in shock as she suddenly felt a heaviness in her core.

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Well damn.😬

Peak-a-boo

Well, looks like Kian and Esmé had a nice flowing conversation without shouting and whatnot. That was before Esmé had to ask that question. Do you think it was right for Kian to just close up?

So sorry about the late chapter but the plan is to have a lot of chapters down so that I can update twice a week! 

With that being said. We know the routine, tell me what you thought about the whole chapter! Did Kian making breakfast surprise you the most or was it Esmé's rambling about the food, whatever it is go on and tell me? I'd love to hear them! 😊💭

Till next time💕