Accidentally become a father-Chapter 52: A Two-Square-Meter Battlefield

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The kitchen in Apartment 203 was barely two meters wide.

One counter.

One small stove.

One sink.

For an adult, the kitchen was already cramped.

For a nine-year-old...

it was like a rock-climbing wall.

Yuna stood on top of a small wooden chair.

Her legs wobbled slightly; the chair had not been made to stand on.

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In front of her was a glass bowl.

Two eggs.

And a bottle of soy sauce.

She stared at everything with utmost seriousness.

Like a scientist preparing for a crucial experiment.

"In the anime... this is how they do it..."

She picked up one egg.

Her hands were small.

Her fingers gripped the egg carefully.

Yuna raised it slightly.

Then tapped it against the edge of the bowl.

Tap.

It didn’t break.

She blinked.

"...Not hard enough."

She tried again.

A little harder this time.

CRACK!

The egg broke.

But it didn’t crack neatly like in the anime.

The shell shattered.

The egg white and yolk plummeted straight into the bowl—along with fragments of the shell.

A few drops splattered onto the counter.

One drop landed on Yuna’s cheek.

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She froze.

Stared at the bowl.

Inside was a messy mix of raw egg and jagged shell pieces.

"...Eh."

She grabbed a small spoon.

Tried to scoop out the broken shells.

But there were too many tiny fragments.

Her spoon ended up piercing the yolk instead.

The yellow liquid bled across the bowl.

Yuna began to panic.

"This... isn’t like the anime..."

She hurriedly snatched a small cloth from the kitchen hook.

Wiped the counter.

But her movements were frantic.

Her elbow bumped the soy sauce bottle.

The bottle wobbled.

Yuna saw it.

Her eyes widened.

"...Ah."

The bottle tipped over.

Thud.

The cap popped open.

Dark liquid spilled out.

The soy sauce spread rapidly across the counter.

Then reached the edge.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Dark drops fell onto the linoleum floor.

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Yuna went into a full panic.

"No, no, no—"

She tried to grab the bottle.

She moved too fast.

The chair beneath her feet shifted.

Yuna lost her balance.

She hopped down from the chair.

Her feet landed on the floor already slick with soy sauce.

Slippery.

Far too slippery.

Her feet slid out from under her.

"Ah—!"

Smack.

She fell hard on her bottom.

A small but loud noise in the cramped kitchen.

The soy sauce bottle rolled slowly.

The dark sauce now formed a thin puddle on the floor.

Yuna sat in the middle of the mess.

Her hand gripped the dirty cloth.

Her shirt was splattered with egg whites.

Her arms were sticky.

She stared at the floor.

The puddle of soy sauce.

The eggshells.

The dirty bowl.

The tilted chair.

The small kitchen now looked like the site of a completely failed experiment.

Yuna’s breathing quickened.

Her chest heaved.

Her hands trembled.

Old voices surfaced in her head.

Voices she had heard countless times before.

"Why do you always cause trouble?"

"You can’t do anything right."

"Just stay in your room."

"Don’t be a nuisance."

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Tears began to well up in her eyes.

She tried to wipe the floor with the cloth.

But the rag was already saturated with soy sauce.

The more she wiped...

the further the dark stain spread.

"I’m sorry..."

Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I’m sorry..."

Tears fell to the floor.

Small drops mixing into the soy sauce.

She stared at her dirty hands.

"Why do I... always fail..."

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Suddenly—

Thump.

The sound of something dropping came from the living room.

Yuna froze.

Heavy footsteps sounded.

Slow.

Approaching.

Thud.

Thud. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Thud.

The footsteps stopped right in front of the kitchen.

A shadow fell across the wet floor.

Yuna tensed.

Perlahan...

she turned her head toward the kitchen doorway.

Itsuki stood there.

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