Sweet and Bitter

Theme – Poison

Holiday challenge

Pairing - Len and Kahoko

Word count - 1508

"Can you pass me the sugar Len" Kahoko said as she was busy breaking the egg.

"Me?" he asked surprisingly.

"Only you and I are present here in this kitchen, so isn't it obvious that I would be asking you?" she said absent mindedly while working on her task.

After few minutes when she didn't get what she asked she turned around to see her Boyfriend standing on the edge of the dining table looking at her.

"What?" Len asked.

"Why are you standing there?" she asked as she saw Len casually leaning on the chair "Didn't I ask you to pass me sugar?"

He hesitated for a second, which was clearly seen on his face and before he could say anything Kahoko burst in laughter

"Oh God seriously!" she said in between her laughter.

A vein popped on his forehead "You don't have to laugh so hard Kahoko"

"I totally forgot for you Kitchen is an alien place. Sorry Len" she said still laughing.

"You are totally ignoring my point Kahoko" he said totally irritated.

"Wahh! Len you made me laugh so hard that my stomach is hurting" she continued laughing while Len tried to hide his irritation.

"Okay! Fine I will be leaving then. I hope you do well alone and have a great time on Valentine's Day with yourself"

The sentence immediately made Kahoko's laughter to die and she grabbed Len's hand as he was making his way towards the living room.

"Okay! Okay! I won't laugh or say anything just stay"

"You better apologize" Len said in a stern voice.

"Mou! Len you are acting all bitter" she said pouting.

"If you don't want to say then I'm leaving" Len said as he watched how Kahoko was panicking.

"Fine. I'm sorry. Now can you stay" she looked at him.

"If you say so" he smiled, the smile only meant for Kahoko.

'But didn't you said you will help me with my task?" she complained.

"I'm helping" he paused "Myself" and completed the sentence.

"Huh!" Kahoko was puzzled with what Len said.

Looking at her bewildered expression Len understood that his girlfriend didn't understand what exactly he mean. "For your knowledge I must tell you I never said I wanted to help you so you can't complain to me on that part, other than that I wanted to be with you whole day on Valentine's Day and you wanted to bake a cake. As my parents were leaving for the day I find it a really good opportunity to spend some time with you and here at my house you can easily bake the cake that you wanted to bake so much. In the end satisfying our needs"

"Neh! Len you are so mean"

"Do your work Kahoko I thought you were making cake for today and not for tomorrow" he teased her.

"Meanie" saying this she again got back to her cake, totally focusing on it.

"For Kahoko she was enjoying Baking cake as she wanted Len to eat it. On the other hand Len was too amused to see how Kahoko was totally focused on her cake not caring about anything. She was making cute faces when something was going wrong. Len was enjoying Kahoko's strolling here and there in his very own kitchen. He planned to spend time with Kahoko on his first Valentine Day that he was celebrating which was a really tough decision for him but he survived asking Kahoko to be with him on the very day. She herself came with the idea to bake a cake for him and he liked it since it involved her staying at his place.

"Len can you pass me the Vanilla essence both my hands are occupies" she asked making me jolt out from his thoughts.

"I don't know Kahoko"

"Please Len just help me this once it's on the cabinet to your left"

Len hesitated for a second before he reached towards the cabinet after a few seconds of searching in the cabinet he finally got what Kahoko asked for. As soon as he found it he handed it to Kahoko.

"Thanks Len" she smiled at him.

After half an hour of baking the cake she started pouring chocolate syrup over the cake.

"Man! I needed a coffee" she said to herself.

Hearing her wish Len immediately stand up from the chair and stand behind her.

"Do you need coffee?" he asked her without any expression.

"Yes! Why do you ask?"

"I can bring you some from the Café"

"No Len I don't want from Café I wanted homemade" she replied as she searched for the coffee powder in the kitchen cabinets.

"I can help you with that". The words escaping from Len's mouth caught her attention as she totally turned towards Len looking at him with the bewildered expression.

"What are you saying Len? You don't even know how to boil a water how can you make a coffee?"

"You can tell me. It's just that I wanted to make something for you and I won't take no for an answer. So better tell me how to make" he said firmly stating his point.

"Okay! First mix coffee and sugar together and mix it well in a cup. Since there are only two people who will be drinking coffee add one spoon of coffee powder and two spoon of sugar" she said as Len listened attentively. "After that boil water one cup and add the mixture to it followed by a cup of milk. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes and your coffee is ready" she smiled as she looked happy on teaching Len 'How to Make Coffee'

"Okay! I'll go to work now. Your coffee will be ready in 10 minutes you can wait outside" Len said as he pushed Kahoko outside the kitchen despite of her cry to help him in the kitchen.

"Are you sure Len you can make it?" she asked in a concern voice.

"Yes I can. Believe in me" he replied so honestly that made Kahoko's stomach flutter.

After 10 minutes of waiting Len finally entered the Living room with two mugs of coffee in his hand.

He seemed both nervous and excited and so was Kahoko as it was the first time Len was making something for her.

As he handed over a mug to Kahoko she looked at him.

"You won't die drinking it. It's not bad."

"But it smells so strong Len and I don't drink strong Coffee" She seemed to be nervous.

"It's just the aroma Kahoko, taste it and you will find it appropriate"

No matter how Len said it Kahoko was still having her thoughts whether to drink the said coffee or leave it that ways but at the same time Len's anxious face made her go for the sip.

That one sip of the hot coffee made by the Perfect Len Tsukimori made Kahoko Hino's mind blank. For an instant Kahoko's world stopped spinning around her. She immediately put the cup down on the table and made the weirdest face that Len has ever seen or even she made.

"What's with the expression Kahoko" Len asked as she saw a change of expression on her face.

"What did you made me drink Len? It's so bitter" she complained as she still made faces.

"Why?" he asked so innocently.

"This is coffee? To me it is more like a poison" she said not thinking once "It's like a poison to me, you should taste it yourself"

As soon as the words escaped Kahoko's mouth she regretted because she could see hurt in the Lad's eyes.

Instead of replying he quietly took a sip from his mug and same as Kahoko his eyes widen.

Without thinking twice he took both of the cups and rushed to the kitchen.

"What are you doing Len?" Kahoko asked as she rushed to kitchen behind him

"I'm throwing the coffee. Can't you see?"

"But why?"

"Because you don't like it and you yourself said it's like a poison to you" hearing such an honest reply she immediately took the coffee mugs from his hand.

"What are you doing Kahoko?" he asked all surprised by her actions.

"You made it for me and it's the first time that you made something, so I'm going to drink it"

"But it's bitter. Didn't you say it yourself?"

"No! It's not bitter as long as it has your love mixed in it" she said smiling "So C'mon and lets finish this coffee".

"Happy Valentine's Day Kahoko" Len said as he hugged Kahoko from behind.

She turned around and give him a sweet kiss on the cheeks "Happy Valentine's Day to you too Len"

They drank the so called sweet coffee which was poison a moment ago dissolving all their life's sorrow and happiness with the sweetness of the cake that filled their life.

For first and the last time on Valentine's Day Len made something for Kahoko and she loved it for the rest of her life.

Author's note – I'm sorry for the mistakes made by me in this chapter since I wrote this last minute. And it's been awhile since I have written LenXkaho pairing.

It's a Holiday Challenge story.

Thanks for reading it and Do review

! Tani!