A Step Closer to Love

“What are you doing here?” Kieran asked standing at the kitchen door frame to see Arabella going back and forth in the kitchen.

“Errm Good morning” she said turning to face him.

“Good morning” he walked into the kitchen awkwardly.

“I am trying to make breakfast for us but it does not seem to be going well” Arabella said letting out a little chuckle.

“Here let me help,” Kieran said stepping forward.

“Can you cook?” Arabella asked confused as he took over the bowl from her hand.

“Of course”

“Well, that’s one thing I am bad at. I can’t cook to save my life” she said with laughter as she popped a berry in her mouth.

“You don’t need to be good at it since I am already good”

She did not understand the correlation between her cooking skills and his. If he was good then shouldn’t she learn as well? Maybe she would be able to prepare a proper meal for herself in the future.

“What do you mean?” she asked voicing her thoughts.

“I will cook for you any day you don’t need to lift a finger” he said without missing a heartbeat.

She was taken aback by his words. She searched his face and it was too serious to have let out that statement. One should only say things like that if they want to propose their love for the other.

“What are you saying?” she tried to steady her voice as she felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter their wings and start a war.

“I am saying you don’t have to be good at cooking, I will do all the cooking” he said again. His face was not tallying with what he was saying and she was tempted to think he was only saying it in a joking manner.

The little she knew about him made her know that he never said what he did not mean. She gulped down the knot in her throat as she pushed herself off the counter she had rested her back on earlier.

“Why would you cook for me?” she asked trying to carry on the conversation.

“Because you are my girlfriend” She wished he would elaborate and not give short answers that could mean anything.

“I know I am living here for now but I will be moving out soon” Arabella let out.

She had been considering it for a while even though she had not put in any work to see it to the end but it was still something she wanted to work towards.

Kieran’s hand stopped midway mixing the pancake mix in the bowl. He turned to her with a confused expression on his face.

“You are thinking of moving out?”

“Yeah”

“But… But… But we just started dating” he said forcing himself to say. He wanted to act nonchalant about the situation even though his heart was literally beating out of his chest.

“That’s the reason why I need to do so” she said hoping he would reason with her.

“So you are moving out because we are dating?”

“Not because we are dating, I’m just saying it would be a good reason to” she clarified. She had been considering it even before they became a thing.

“Then why?” Kieran felt his jaw tense up. Of all the things to discuss with her he had not considered the possibility of this coming up.

“I just wanted to move out to be out of you and your family’s hair” she confessed. There was a point when she felt uncomfortable because of everything that went on in the house.

“Out of our hair? Did anyone say anything?”

“No it’s quite the contrary, everyone was welcoming in their own way, I just felt bad for mooching off you and your family”

“I don’t mind” he shrugged going back to his pancake mix.

“But now that we are dating I would be looking into apartment choices. At least the ones I can afford”

“Wait are you serious?” he was confused. He thought that telling her that he was fine with it all solved the moving-out issue.

“Yeah, I mean it would be quite awkward if we are dating and your parents know about it and we are still living together” She shuddered as she spoke.

“I don’t mind, that way we can spend more time together and not be worried about having to be apart”

Arabella raised her eyebrow in confusion. Those words were not something she expected from his mouth and he had been shocking her all day. She mustered her courage and stepped closer to him.

She saw him gulp as his eyes widened, she could not tell the reason his eyes opened so much whether it was in confusion or shock. She stretched her hand and felt the temperature on his forehead.

“You seem fine” she murmured to herself.

“What?”

“I thought there was something wrong” she said looking up into his eyes. The pool of green drew her in. She had to admit he had pretty eyes she had never had the chance to look at it this up close. “You have pretty eyes” she blurted before pressing her lips together to stop herself from saying more.

“I do” he said taking her pressed hand against his forehead. She could not believe how proud he was being at that time. He took her hand to his mouth and planted a short kiss on it catching her off guard.

“What’s that for?” she said wiggling her hand from his grip.

“Do I have to have a reason to show affection?”

“Yeah, you need to return to the Kieran I know, I don’t know you” she said causing a playful smile to dance on his lips.

“I can show you more where that came from” he replied. She saw the look in his eyes and took her hand away to herself.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

“Can we just focus on breakfast?” she asked pointing to the bowl.

“I would do so if you don’t talk about moving out again” he said pointing out his pinky for a pinky swear.

“A pinky swear?”

He nodded wiggling his hand waiting for her to take it. “I would not talk about it for now,” she said taking her pinky to his.

“Don’t think or talk about it again”