Outside, I could hear Callum speaking softly to Briar. Inside, the fish slime clung to my clothes and skin, and I sank weakly to the floor.
Fried carp fillet was my specialty dish. Ironically, I’ve always hated fish. Just the smell alone made me nauseous.
But Callum loved it. When he was young, a fish bone had injured him, and ever since, he could only crave fish but didn’t dare eat it.
After we got married, he told me the story, and I decided to learn the dish just for him. I searched through recipes and even asked the chef at a state-owned restaurant to teach me.
To make it, every tiny bone in the fish must be sliced open, requiring a lot of effort and patience.
Each time, my back would ache, and my stomach would churn for days.
Back then, he used to feel guilty about it, massaging my back and complaining that his greedy appetite caused me so much pain. He even refused to let me make the dish again.
But now, he seemed to have forgotten all of that. Forgotten that he used to rather go without it than let me suffer.
I was lost in thought when the kitchen door opened. Callum walked in and paused when he saw me.
Then he stepped forward and lifted me up. “Why aren’t you cooking? Are you mad at me?”
He chuckled lightly and pulled out bandages to wrap my wounds. “I already apologized to her for you. She’s not holding a grudge, okay? You’re overthinking. There’s nothing going on between us. I know you’ve had a hard time here. When we move to Washington, I’ll make it up to you.”
After saying that, he grabbed the dead fish and began cooking himself.
I stared at his back, my mouth opening and closing several times. He never used to step foot in the kitchen. He always said cooking would mess with his shooting precision.
So, how did he suddenly become so skilled after seven or eight years away?
In the end, I said nothing.
I had already made up my mind to leave him. There was no point in asking questions anymore.
Dinner tasted like sand in my mouth as Briar clung to Callum throughout the meal.
First, she claimed her arm hurt from when I pushed her earlier, so she needed him to feed her. Then, she brushed a grain of rice from the corner of his lips and popped it into her own mouth before gasping dramatically and apologizing to me, saying it was just a reflex, and I shouldn’t misunderstand.