Chapter-4 Ramsay

"Oi! Reading time is over. " he called out.

"huh? Oh...yeah, yeah...It's just this handbook. It's very interesting. Never knew so much about what happened back then, you know?" She said as she placed back the book and turned towards him.

He had a towel around his neck, his hair was still wet as a few drops of water were visibly clinging to it. He had worn greyish cargo pants that had roughly the same number of pockets he had in his previous one. The eye-catching part was the design of the beige hoodie he was wearing. It had some floral patterns and a huge fish probably a carp that was swimming across a vertical Waterfall. On the right side, there were some letters written again in some language.

'Does this guy own some kind of designer fabric store? How does he end up with such really cool designs? We are in the middle of an apocalyptical world. It pisses me off that he's a show-off even now. 〳(✿ ᓀ ﹏ ᓂ 〵'

"Well let's go. You said you wanted to help. If it's the one where you sit and supervise me, I'll have to politely refuse. " he said as he placed his towel on a chair. He picked up his bag and removed a zip bag that had rice, another one that contained some veggies and two packed semi-frozen properly sealed cuts of meat.

"Ah...how'd you get those? I thought we were eating canned stuff. "

"This is the courtesy of my good friend, Robert. God, bless his soul (─ ‿ ─). He's the real reason why we have a meal otherwise we would have to push on an empty stomach. "

He said as he placed all the stuff on the kitchen counter and retrieved a pan from the utensils, placing it on the stove.

"Robert sounds like a very nice dude. I cannot imagine how'd he end up being friends with a hoodlum and a menace like you. Anyways, what are you planning to cook?" He merely smiled as she delivered a compliment to their now-dead associate.

"What plan to cook ( ̄■ ̄;)!? You just put both of these meats in the pan. You cook it. The vegetables you wash and eat and as for the rice, you give it to Joel. He'll make use of it whenever he cooks." He said as he placed both the meat cuts on the pan.

"Wa-wait..." she raised her palm slightly in a motion to stop him from proceeding.

"You're gonna cook that? "

"Huh? I literally told you that a second ago. What happened did you regress to 623 again? (눈_눈)"

"Shut up with your useless comments for a second and answer me, will you? Are you cooking them both together?"

"I believe I had not spoken Russian the first time around."

'Not that I even know how to speak Russian.'

" If I say I'll cook them on the pan, pretty sure that's what I intend to do. I won't toss them out of the window, ya know."

'This idiot. He has a cave-man brain or what?' she face-palmed.

"You can't. You can't cook them."

"What's wrong with you woman? I am starving already. Let's just get done with this and eat already."

"Yeah, like I said you can't cook them, you idiot. Just shut up and listen for once. (✿╬ Ò﹏Ó)"

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"Those are two different types of meat! "

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"And? Tomato ~ Toh-mahto. It's fuckin meat they cook the same."

'Bruh...(✿⊙ _ ⊙ ). I take it back, I did not mean to disrespect cavemen by comparing them to him. I understand now why he called his cooking edible. Heck, I doubt if he can even make edible food.'

"Look just step back, okay? I'll do the cooking if you want you can help me. Clearly, you have next to zero ideas on how to cook. Look you didn't even heat the pan properly." She said as she hinted to him to exchange places. She switched off the flame under the pan immediately.

"Let's see the vegetables we've got first. Let's see...let's see...two tomatoes, three onions, three garlic, one broccoli, one potato, one ginger and one lemon. Not bad at all. Hmm..."

She placed her fingers under her chin in a thinking posture, closing her eyes and evidently contemplating something. Immediately her fingers curled up into a fist as she lightly slammed it into her open palm. "Oh, I got it. Let's do that yup, yup. (✿˃ᆺ˂)."

'What a weird girl.'

"So since I have been reduced to a helper, what am I supposed to do?"

"Here, let me show you. So since we don't have another burner. Let's cook the rice first. So we star-"

"Sorry to cut you off, but we do have another burner. It's in Joel's bag. These portable gas stoves are easy to carry as they can be disassembled and all." He said as he removed another stove and started setting it up.

"Oh..that makes things even easier and a lot quicker. So like I was saying let's cook the rice first. So what I need you to do is wash the rice."

"How'd you wash it again?" he asked as he finished setting the stove up.

'Wow. Just wow, I got no words for his cluelessness.'

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"Ok, come here. So what you do is you take about 3 cups of it in a cooking pot and you fill it with running tap water. Like this, see...

After that, lightly massage the rice. Don't mash them, you pick a fistful of them and gently rub them in your palms. You repeat it a few times and then tightly press your palm on the surface and let the water drain out by inverting it. See, like this...

You got it from here? I just need you to do it twice more."

"Yeah, I got it. Never knew washing rice was so easy. How'd you even end up learning to cook? It's definitely not knowing 'a little' by how accustomed you seem to be."

'Haha... in front of you, even a novice like me looks pro. (✿ -_-)'

"I am more surprised how you couldn't pick it over the years. Whether it's the preparatory academy where you have to be an army cook and really the miscellaneous errands worker as long as you're a trainee. Or even before that, whether it's a church-run orphanage or govt. aided one, you pretty much end up picking it up."She said as she was deftly dicing onions and garlic.

"There, done. What do you need me to do now?" he handed the pot back to her.

"Now you fill it with water again. You can measure the quantity of water using this neat little trick of finger depth." She added water to the pot while simply eyeballing it. She stopped at a point and then showed the logic of the trick again.

'She's really proficient in it. She simply roughly added the water and it came up to be exactly as per the trick she later demonstrated. It's quite scary how precise she was with it. '

She placed the pot on the burner and turned the flame on high heat.

"Hey, pass me the cooking oil. Look, this is the secret ingredient of making tasty rice." she lightly sprinkled a few drops of the oil in the pot.

"After the rice is fully cooked it will have a nice glossy look to it. You'll see what I mean by it. For now, we need to simply bring it to a boil and then place the lid on it and let it cook on low heat for about 15 to 20 min. You'll know the rice is cooked perfectly when you see these air pockets form when you check on it." he simply nodded as he carefully listened to her words.

'At least now I know how to cook rice. She's a good teacher.'

"Hey, grab that pestle and mortar. I need you to pound this tomato here and some of this broccoli after, just make a rough puree of them."

"Puree?"

"Right, just pound it until they're more in a liquid form." She separated the stalk of the broccoli and handed it to him and then started peeling the potatoes, followed by dicing it and then the tomato.

"Pass me the Salt and Pepper. You wouldn't happen to have any other spice on you, would you?". He shook his head in a refuting manner.

"Ok. Let's cook the steak now, it takes slightly longer than the chicken. I am surprised you didn't even know both were different proteins. One's a steak and the other are the chicken thighs." she added some oil to the pan and started seasoning the steak with Salt and Pepper. She rubbed the seasoning in and washed her hands.

She gently laid the steak in the pan away from herself in a swerving motion. Immediately soft sizzling noises emerged from the pan. She added in the cloves. She diced the ginger very thinly almost making a shred and introduced a small quantity of it into the pan.

"No butter or herbs I suppose ?" she briefly flicked her eyes to look at him, only to receive an indifferent stare. She switched her focus back to the pan.

'While the pan side starts getting a sear, Let's look at the chicken. Chicken thighs, Nice. '

"Oh, it's not de-boned. "

"What? "

"Ah, I meant the chicken. Got to take out the bone and some of the cartilage before we can cook it."

"Here give me. I'll de-bone it for you. You focus on the pan and the rice. I don't want you to burn them up. After all, you're putting in so much effort. Would suck to see it get ruined for nothing."

"Huh? You know how to de-bone it (✿⊙ _ ⊙ )? How'd you know that, you didn't even know that they were different types of proteins." she commented as she subconsciously brought the wrapped chicken close to her almost shielding it from a demon.

"Oi, that's absolute slander. I knew what they were. I just didn't know you have to cook them individually. As for de-boning it. Let me tell you I might not much be a cooking master but I am a carving guy. I got mad knife skills, woman. Give me that." he added in a slightly braggadocious tone as he extended his palm out.

"O-Okay. Just be careful, that's our dinner." she handed the meat to him as if she was handing in ransom money, her eyes had an inexplicable glimmer, the glimmer of a mother expecting the safe return of her child.

'Jeez, what an over-dramatic woman.'

"Just focus on everything else. I got this. " She simply nodded and then turned back around.

'Three minutes more before I should flip it. It should have a nice sear to the surface.'

"Hey, Do I keep the skin on or just take it off ?"

"Off. It'll cook faster. "

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"There I am done."

'That was fuckin' fast. Let's see how the chicken fared. Hope it's not damaged.' She received the now boneless skinless chicken. It looked in pristine condition. The cut had been clear. The sort of icky cartilage and some fat had been removed as well.

"I am sort of amazed at how decent you're at it. I was half expecting for you to give me a chicken that has PTSD. " he simply grunted at her comment.

"I'll handle the rest, you can sit now. The rest of the stuff is quite advanced, at least advanced for your standards. " she lightly smirked before she genuinely thanked him for helping her out.

He simply dragged a chair and sat up close to where he could observe her and her actions. She had flipped the steak and was now seasoning the chicken thighs. She checked up on the rice by removing the lid and then she turned the flame off.

She brought the pot nearer to him and slightly tilted it. "See these small depressions in the surface that's what I was calling air pockets. See how... the grains are literally raised up that's how you know the rice is cooked perfectly and it's not too moist."

'It indeed looks glossy like she said it would.'

"Yeah, I can tell it looks good just from the looks of it. It'll taste okay. You have a knack for this. " She gave a small smile and went back to her work. She started searing the sides of the steak as well, making sure to render the fat at the sides as well. She squeezed some of the lemon and let the juice fall into the pan.

"You never answered me earlier. So how come you never picked this up? You seem like a fast learner judging by what you were doing some hours ago. You seemed to do well with a knife as well. It doesn't make sense you know the harder part but you suck at the basic one?" she curiously asked.

"I do not suck at it. I told you I can make-"

"Edible food. Yeah, yeah...I know." he looked at her, her eyes still holding the question and her face supported the thought as she held a quizzical expression.

*sigh* "I didn't pick it up much because...

'You're the first one to show me how it's done.'

I didn't require it until this point. I never landed up with cooking duty in my orphanage

'I lived off canned stuff before it and after that, it was basically MREs most of the time.'

and after I was in the organisation. My unit member cooked for us. He was the one who showed me how to gut wild game and some animals. I got decent at it because he liked cooking more, said he liked animals and he felt fuckin awful carving them up. Since according to him I was the guy who did not give a fuck about most of the stuff I would be better at handling it. "

She was listening to him as she placed the steak aside on an empty plate, allowing it to rest. She had already added garlic and onions to the pan and was sweating them.

'Unit huh? Well, I guess batch and unit are interchangeable. He didn't work as an army cook while being a trainee so he must not be from here. I wonder what other preparatory schools make the trainees work as?'

"So why didn't you ask your classmate to teach you how to cook?". She added some potatoes to the pan.

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"The fucker said he wasn't my mother. (¬_¬)"

" (✿ㆁ△ㆁ). " *pfft..* "Hahaha...haha...oh my god...haha...I need to meet this guy. Haha..."

'I feel avenged. Whoever the dude is great job (✿ ˃ᆺ˂).'

"Hey...he do you have some alcohol laying around here preferably vodka?" She asked as she tried to muffle her laughter as best as she could.

"Yeah, laughing at my expense is bearable but drinking at my expense isn't. What do you need it for?"

"No, no ... you're misunderstanding. I need just a little to Flambé this. It's a cooking style. Just hurry will you? before this gets burnt. A small cap is fine."

He nodded and picked it up from the kitchen shelf and added a cap of it to the pan.

"Ok, quick stand back. stand back." She herself stood back as well as she slightly tilted the pan and to his surprise it caught flames.

"Oi, WATCH OUT!" before he could get his words out in their entirety she had already reset the pan's position and had tossed it a couple of times making the flame die out as soon as it had emerged.

*phew* she released a breath of relief.

"Are you fuckin nuts? What the hell was that for? Are you hurt ?" he had come up right beside her.

"No, I am not mad.

That is called Flambé and

No, I am not hurt." she said as she added some seasoning, the puree and then some water to the pan.

"Yeah, not sure of the first one. You nearly burned yourself for some fuckin vegetables. Jeez, just be careful. I think we had enough of your Flambé for today."

'What a lunatic. Never thought she was asking for alcohol so she could burn it up. Cooking is fuckin dangerous. ' he went back to his seat as he saw her transferring the rice into three bowls and an empty plate. She cleaned the pot with water and placed it back on the stove turning the burner on.

"So where were we ?" she asked.

"We were at burning the house down." he commented dryly.

"haha..." she gave him a sarcastic laugh as she added some oil to the pot and started to cut the chicken into large cube-sized portions.

"So I noticed you found reading quite interesting. Which one caught your eye?" he made some small talk, his gaze still very evidently fixed on her work.

"Yeah, It was the handbook one. The Handbook of the Dead. I assume you would have read all four of them which one do you like?" she gently tossed the cubes into the cooking pot.

"I don't have a favourite but if you're asking me about which one can be read over and over. It's Three Men in a Boat by Jerome." he replied in the presence of a satisfying sizzling hiss that was emitting from the pot and the content inside of it.

'Whoever the dude was he would have been a really creative guy. The book is so hilarious. '

"I thought you would have liked the New World more. The one describing events from the perspective of the church." she slyly said as she turned down the heat of the pan and placed a lid on it.

'Good all that's left is for it to simmer. After that, we can have it with the steak. The other one will still take time.'

"Do you take me as a Psychopath?" One of his eyebrows raised up while there was no particular change in his expression.

"Nope. I thought you were a church kind of guy."

*tch* 'This girl is rotten to the core.

Nice cover-up. You obviously definitely tried to imply that I am a psychopath. Well, I hope you know two can play this game. '

"In this world, everyone is a church kind of person unless they're a heretic or a rebel like you Miss tiny butterfly in training. " he attacked back in a very calm manner.

*tch* 'This guy is rotten to the core.'

"Anyways, The preface talked about what happened and how our world went to shit. I never knew the exact details. Hell, most of our generation doesn't know what truly happened. So I wanted to you know, read more." Her focus was on searing the chicken.

"Pretty depressing if you ask me but the guy who wrote it does add in some humour. Only the relevant part is the history lesson. I do like the anecdotes and the part where he gives the rules at the end. You'll definitely be amazed. "

"Hey, why don't you briefly tell me what happens next in it? I'll never have the time to finish reading it considering we'll be on the move."

'Oi, I am a smuggler, not a storyteller! '

"Infected - Kill humans -big tragedy. Infected more powerful - more kill - human sad - natural disasters + other pandemics - RIP humanity - something happens codenamed Ortus- human gain blessing - human survives - new problems.

There, the brief version."

'It's too brief you dumb-fuck. (✿╬ Ò﹏Ó)' the ladle in her grip trembled slightly.

"You could have simply refused." he grunted hearing her comment.

'God, he infuriates me so much and I just met him a few hours ago. I can't wait to get to the destination and be rid of him. Marlene, why did you leave me with these assholes? (✿ ╥﹏╥ )'

"Okay, so I read some of it. I still don't get what exactly is the blessing and how did all of us get them. Was it due to the event that was described in the speech of the UCND chief?" she took out the now beautiful looking light golden brown chicken cubes and added onions and garlic cloves to the pot.

"I am gonna make some tea. Would you like some? As for your question, you don't know about the rise of the church?" he proceeded to fill some water in a kettle and moved to his bag to remove something.

"Hey, I didn't know you had tea on you. Sure, I'd like some as well. It will still take a good enough time before everything is finished. I mean the rice is ready, but the pan still needs a few minutes. I don't want to burn it instead of reducing it. After it's done we can have the steak but the cook of the other dish requires around half an hour. "

She saw him nod while still crouched and rummaging for something in his bag. She added diced potato, broccoli, tomato and some ginger to the pot.

"As for you what you asked. No, I don't exactly know about it. I have a rough idea but that's it."

*whistle*

"What is it that weird?" she briefly glanced at him who was holding two tea bags and a small white sachet, and now making his way next to her.

"It is but it isn't weird simultaneously. I thought it was common knowledge but it does make sense that everyone might have an unequal level of understanding. Not that I carry much authority regarding this subject myself.

Hey, can I use this gas? I just need it for 3 minutes." he asked her as he pointed to the pan.

"Yeah, go ahead just place the pan back on once you're done and make sure it is on low flame. I don't-"

"want to burn it. I got you the first time. Don't worry." he switched the pan for the kettle and twisted the knob for high heat. He opened the sachet and emptied the white powder into the kettle. He added in some shredded ginger as well, a courteous gift from the little chef.

'Gotta conserve sugar. If only I could use two sachets instead of one, the tea would have been perfect. (✪^✪)'

"As for what you asked, you already figured out most of it. Your assumption is correct the event you read about is considered the primary trigger for the emergence of what is termed a 'blessing'. Now, there is a theological theory provided by the Great Seven and a pseudo-scientific theory by the WHO. Both try to explain the incongruency of the outcomes that emerged after the event and changed the very fundamental truths about humanity."

"Are you even speaking English right now? What incongru-incongruency? What Great seven?" she looked perplexedly at the guy who was sitting on the kitchen counter.

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"You don't know? like you seriously DON'T KNOW? (⊙ _ ⊙ )" he had a completely bewildered look on his face.

She tilted her head slightly witnessing a more energetic response than usual from him. She only shook her head in refusal indicating she indeed had no idea about it.

'Bruh...

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How is this even possible? she even went to the preparatory school.'

"Just for my understanding which rock did you live under for not knowing the Great Seven?"

"Shut up, you idiot. Did I make useless comments when you displayed you knew jack-shit about cooking." she shot back in a very defensive tone while still working.

She had thrown the chicken back in and had filled the cooking pot slightly less than three-quarters with water.

She heavily seasoned it and squeezed the remaining lime juice into the pot as well. She then turned the heat to the lowest and placed a lid on the pot.

"Alright, we're gonna have to start from-"

"What's with this aroma? "

*yawn* " J, did you get better at cooking?" Joel had stumbled in while still massaging his eyes, his voice pretty lethargic.

As soon as he had gained enough lucidity he was astonished by the sight of the girl standing in front of the stove while J sat on the counter. It was evident who had taken charge of the cooking situation.

"Uh, what's this? " he asked while looking at him.

"I am letting the expert take the lead in her field of expertise. " he pointed toward her.

She just rolled her eyes in frustration deciding not to comment on anything.

"Anyways, Grab a seat. She says food is almost ready". He nodded in response and collapsed on the couch.

'That SHE has a name. SHE is not your maid, you bastard. Neither it is her field of expertise. I was being considerate when I offered to help.'

J replaced the kettle back with the pan and turned the heat to low. He submerged the tea bags in the kettle and dropped the lid of the kettle back keeping them suspended in the hot water inside it.

"Yo, Joel now that you're awake give her a crash course on the rise of the church."

*grunt*

"And why exactly do I have to do that? Where did this subject even randomly pop up from? Also, you explain it to the kid I ain't got no interest."

"1. It didn't come up randomly it was the topic of discussion before you came in tumbling. 2. Show some gratitude to the special cook and sate her curiosity. 3. While I did the work you slept like a log. You're fresh you're bound to explain it better than I would."

'My shift of watching over her is done. Your shift starts now. ' he made eye contact with Joel and cued him to answer her.

*sigh*

"Fine, fine! I get it. So what do you want to know kid?"

She did not answer him immediately instead she turned off the flame of the pan and turned towards J.

"Hey, could you set the table? Food is ready. Could you bring these rice bowls out as well? " he simply acknowledged and started setting the table placing the rice bowls on the upper left portion on the table mat.

He brought out the empty plates and placed them inverted on the mat in the centre. He filled three glasses with water and placed them adjacent to the table mat. He placed a steel water bottle in the middle of the table and finally, he moved to his last task.

He was standing in front of the guy who had claimed the entire couch for himself after already taking a nap on the bed in the inner room. His hands were inside his pockets in his usual manner as he was staring down at Joel who had closed his eyes.

"Oi, Get up. You heard her. Let's eat."

He cracked one of his eyes open. " Yeah, I know. Don't give me that death glare I had no intentions of sleeping again. Let's go."

As Joel seated himself, Ellie had already served the piping hot gravy from the pan, over the rice. She had placed the pan on a stand near the centre of the table.

She went back and brought the steak on a chopping board. Joel was silently observing her work gracefully. She started sharpening the knife to slice the steak but before she could go any further Joel intervened.

"Here, Let me handle this. You sit, you've already done most of the work." She was left confused as he decided to take over and started slicing the steak against the grain in decent-width slices.

'Huh? What's up with him so suddenly?

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who cares? Whatever.'

She sat on the adjacent chair.

Meanwhile, J poured the tea into cups and brought it over as well. Finally taking a seat for himself. He sat directly opposite Joel, on the left-hand side of Ellie. Joel had swiftly joined them as well.

"May the Lord almighty bless the meal present before us. For it is Ye, who makes the harvest bloom. It is Ye, who summons the angels and culls the blight. Let your grace be always upon us. " She recited in a low and gentle tone her eyes were closed and her hands crossed.

Joel had his eyes open but his hands were in a similar manner as he heard her recite the prayer. J simply looked at his food as he waited patiently for the two to complete their thanks.

"What? You don't pray ?" she asked him as she opened her eyes realising she neither heard his voice nor she saw him unclasp his hands as Joel had done.

"Like cooking, praying is another habit I never picked up. I am more surprised you pray, considering you're the future boss lady of fireflies."

'When did I rank up to a boss lady? This guy is beyond hope.'

"Yeah, it's a habit thanks to the orphanage. Everybody used to do it. It practically got ingrained in me. When I grew up I realised it's not so bad at all. "

"Let's eat before it goes cold." Joel reminded them.

All of them took a bite anticipating the taste.

'The steak is juicy but I wish I had some herbs and butter to work with. It would have had an even better flavour. The gravy with that rice is just delicious. The sauteed vegetables are so good and that faint bitter taste from the broccoli is a nice little addition. It's still missing a few things and isn't exactly gravy but overall I think it's good considering there weren't any spices or other ingredients.

Taking a bite of the steak and then the rice with gravy is so satisfying. (✿ ✪^✪)'. She was happily chewing more or less satisfied with what she had pulled off when Joel had complimented her.

'This...This is amazing. She cooks definitely better than me. The dishes speak for themselves they are simple but meticulously done with care. It is genuinely delicious. This girl is full of surprises.' he tore into the food, concentrating on enjoying the flavours.

After a couple of bites, she regained her senses. She was curious about what the guy to her left thought about it. The elder one had already given out a couple of compliments on her cooking, which she felt was rare considering he seemed more of a disgruntled and closed-off type.

Unlike him, the younger one who was more approachable but considerably more irritating as well had remained silent. She glanced sideways looking at him.

He was looking down at the bowl, the spoon gripped in his hand but still resting atop the bowl. She could not read him as he was looking down but it was evident either he was distracted or he was thinking of something specific.

'He took a bite. His bowl looks like he took a bite, right?'

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He observed the two of them as they were merrily eating.

'Joel seems to love it. Must be really good. Never heard him throw compliments that are not sarcastic.

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As for her, her expressions *pfft...haha...* what is she reviewing her own food? '

He decided to taste it as well. The reviews were already in, and he wouldn't mind it if it didn't taste that good.

'It would still beat canned food any given day. I am sure of it.' as he tasted it something happened he went awfully quiet. The taste was familiar. It was nostalgic in a weird way. He looked down as he placed the spoon back in the bowl.

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"J, how does it taste? " a gentle and melodious voice called out.

"Hmmm...you know it tastes..."

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"Hey, how does it taste?" she called out to him.

"Huh? " he broke out of his reverie as he traced the sound back and looked at Ellie.

"I am asking whether you liked it or not?" she struggled to keep expectations out of her tone. The last thing she required was a teasing comment about self-validation.

"Yeah. " he looked back at the bowl.

'Yeah? YEAH? YEAH! That's all he has to say. I mean I wasn't fishing out for elaborate compliments. Heck, if he had said it tasted bad I wouldn't have minded. I can take criticism but just 'yeah'. What am I supposed to make of it?

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that he does not care?' her train of thought was disrupted as she heard him.

"Hmmm...you know it tastes better than it looks. " there was a small smile playing on his face as he spoke and it refused to leave even after his back-handed compliment to her.

She was mildly surprised. It wasn't that snarky sinister smile, it wasn't that sarcastic smile that she had seen a couple of times by now. It was a genuine one.

'I can live with that.' she went back to eating as he joined them.

"Hey, kid. Is your surname by any coincidence Ramsay?" Joel asked her.

"Uh, what?"

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Additional Reading Navigation:

1. 1. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx – a) stream of 'x' indicates scene break (Narration or Flashback.)

b) Indicates a major lapse in time from a few minutes to hours. It's a dynamic allocation of time. I trust the readers are sensible enough to create practical time frames. As 'within 5 min, within 2 min, within 20 min' every few lines would be just ugly writing (Previously it was ' = ' sign)

2. Words in Italics- third person narration (for emphasis that it is a scene break)

3. "Words in double quotes that are bold and in Italics "- denotes actual quotes in flashback or Narration

4." Words in doubles quotes and in Italics" - first-person speech.

5. ...- stream of vertical dots indicates a lapse in time or shift to a concurrent view of a different character within the same time-lapse.

Author's response to imaginary questions since he does not get any reviews (T ^ T):

"Why did you start writing like a cooking novel? You know how painful it was read through?"

"Yeah, That's because I did not want to write 'Ellie cooked food'. I want to display that the characters know what they are doing at least to some extent. That is why I tried to explain the gun cleaning procedure in the previous chapter. Because I want them to have the credit of knowing what they're doing."

"There's hardly any Joel. Joel is the star of TLOU. Your story barely has him."

"I know, I know which is why the next chapter is dominated by Professor Joel. You guys better be ready he will give a minor lecture about blessing. I set up this chapter that way. *hehe...*

Also, the reason Joel is not given so much screen time is that

1. He has a legit video game after him

2. My story is still in the infant stage

3. If you read the summary it says 'perspective of an OC on the post-apocalyptic world.' so I try to be consistent with J's perspective because you guys already know Ellie and Joel. I try to keep their personality close to authentic only doing minor changes."

"Fine. We get it what sort of minor changes are you planning? We really don't like that Ellie isn't representing LGBTQ here. She likes girls you fool, you can't change that."

"I wouldn't dream of doing that. Ellie will still represent LGBTQ. I just turned her into a Bi because I can't write about a love relationship between two girls. I am a straight guy so please show me some mercy (T ^ T). I can't imagine what a relationship between two girls is like. Of course, it would be similar to a normal relationship but I don't know the dynamics therefore I would not dare write it.

Also, remain assured Ellie's first preference is still girls. Current Ellie does not have a single iota of feelings (romantic feelings) for J. Their relationship is a very very distant thing in future. Don't concern yourself with it for now. Simply because one of the core messages of the community was that it takes a long time for them to accept their identities.

Ellie being a girl who likes other girls will take a lot of time and a lot of doubt and self-introspection that she might like the other gender as well. Since there isn't much awareness of this in the TMOU world.

Remember Outbreak happens in 2013. The LGBTQ movement started in the 1970s and many reforms were passed throughout the course of time. But the real acceptance and general awareness among the society came after 2010.

There's also another reason why the TMOU world does not have exposure to this subject as much but that I cannot say for now. Smart people would have already guessed it though.

As for Joel you know the minor changes, he sounds lazier (it's for a reason trust me), he sounds a little bit more lively and he shares sarcastic humour."

"Why does all the humour is either sarcastic or slap-stick? Try something else."

"I can't. I am not a comedian. I would die trying but I would still not be able to grasp narrational humour like some actual authors like 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K Jerome. I can't write like that. I have watched anime so slap-stick and sarcasm are like default. Everyone uses sarcasm whether it's the real world or TMOU world, sarcasm is something everyone has.

In fact in the previous chapter when J unknowingly hurls that metal pipe towards Ellie it's slap-stick humour. He was weighing the performance of the melee weapon and when he realises that the metal pipe was so bad he ends up throwing it while his back was turned to her. So he never realises how close it went past Ellie. (^_^)"

Meta-data about the story:

1. Remember, J is a slightly unreliable narrator. I added a minor sequence of dialogue for you to realise what he was thinking and in actuality the answers he gave to Ellie. He excluded something or changed the answers. Sometimes he even agrees to a wrong pre-text or lets a misunderstanding play out. It is intentional because that is linked to a character trait of his.

2. It should be understood that I will not always describe the cooking process not unless I am setting up a dialogue or it is a special sort of event.

3. Another reason why the cooking montage was important is that it influenced their perspective on her. If you noticed J went from mentioning her as a girl to a woman when he saw her take charge and how proficient she was at it.

Special Notice:

Guys, I really need your help here:

1. Please give me a link to recipes that are often eaten in the US. I struggled so much with the cooking part because I don't cook, I don't even eat meat and I restricted myself to limited ingredients. It's the apocalyptic world it's not like they will have everything.

2. Please tell me what you feel about Tess. SHOULD SHE DIE OR SHOULD SHE LIVE?

I don't know what to do both are important choices and carry different weights in the storyline. (Don't worry if she lives she still won't join their journey. I will make it so. But killing her has an impact and leaving her alive has an equal impact.

Trust me it is a very important choice and I leave it up to you guys. 10 Votes for either of the decision and I follow through with that. You can vote either by simpling adding in a review or through the Poll I created.)