Burnt But Not Destroyed

- 3 years ago -

"Let's have Boeuf Bourguignon for dinner tonight! We deserve the celebration," Lust opened a bottle of red wine.

"What's that?" Wrath fiddled with a bag of carrots.

"You've never had them before? It's basically slow-cooked beef stew cooked in wine sauce and a bunch of veggie topped with mushrooms. It's one of my favorite dishes."

"How long does it take to prepare?"

"Roughly 3 to 4 hours."

"What?! We'll be starving by then!"

"Then we better start cooking now. Help me with the vegetables, will you?" He poured himself a cup of wine and prepared the recipe.

"What do you want me to do with them?" she held up a cleaver.

"Woah, woah," he set the knife aside and gave her a peeler. "Here, peel the carrots and cut them into chunks."

Wrath sat on the kitchen floor as she peeled off chunks of carrots over a bin. She started out by peeling too thin of a skin, and then applied more pressure but took out more than needed. Her new roommate was chopping onions and searing the bacon simultaneously. It was their first-time cooking together in the kitchen since moving into the apartment. They had been busy with the moving process that they barely had any time to cook a proper meal.

Gluttony had been the one preparing food for them ever since they moved in. He was in the same class as Lust and decided to lend some helping hand in his field of expertise. He even dragged his nerdy friend along to clean up the apartment. It was their first-time meeting and interacting with Sloth; the intellectual outsider. He had always sat at the back of the class to avoid eye contact and communication.

It was the start of The Sins recruitment. Pride had been helping his brother with transporting and moving furniture into the rooms. Envy and Greed had been tagging along to help with the décor and interior design of the apartment as a way to get closer to the popular and good-looking brothers. Upon seeing the unlikely friendship and synergy that the group had with each other, Pride brewed an idea of getting everyone together and forming The Sins; making use of their unique skills and personalities.

Lust finally got his hands on his collection of kitchen tools. He had given Wrath a spare chopping board and entrusted her with a small vegetable knife for the carrots. He looked over at her station expecting to see a considerable amount of mess as it was her first-time contributing to the cooking scene in the house. But it was much worse than he had prepared himself to bear witness to.

"Why are there so much blood on the carrots?" he exclaimed; alarmed at the scene.

"I sorta cut myself by accident," she lifted her bloodied hand.

Her friend rushed to grab her hand ran water over it on the sink. The product of the rinsed water steadily grew clearer as her wound stopped oozing. He stared at her in bewilderment. It was a mixed confusion of how she was acting fine and how did she get the cut in the first place. He grabbed the first aid kit and wrapped a bandage over her hand.

"You know what, just sit there and watch me cook this time. You can help me with stirring the pots. I'll do the cutting."

"It's just a small cut," she frowned.

"I'll let you do the cutting after some more practice, okay? For now, just don't let the food burn. I'm gonna make us a small snack while we wait for the stew to cook."

Wrath watched over the pot as its content bubbled and simmered. She stirred and scraped the bottom of the stew from time to time as her friend was whisking away his secret grub. He popped it into the preheated oven and told her to rest and watch him cook. Lust cleaned up the counter and managed his file of intricate recipes. The purple haired girl sat on a kitchen counter as she stared down at her bandaged hand.

"You should be more careful next time," Eros advised.

"Shut up, what do you know about cooking anyway?" she retorted.

"I know that self-mutilation is not a part of it," he mocked and vanished to the balcony.

She groaned and balled up her fist in exasperation. Lust covered the stew pot and put it in the oven. He took two ramekins out and sprinkled sugar on its surface before bringing out a butane torch. He blasted the top layer of the small dish for a couple of seconds each. Wrath jumped down from the counter to admire the process from up close.

Her eyes were fixated on the individual sugar crystals melting and burning concurrently as the flame kissed them gently in short strokes. The fire's reflection on her dark pupils danced vivaciously as the sweet caramel smell drifted and lingered around her nose.

"Here you go," Lust scooted one of the ramekin to her side.

"For me? This is the snack?"

"Yeah, are you not a fan of sweets?"

"I love sweet stuff, but aren't you supposed to have them after the main dish?"

"Well, sure that's the common norm. But we don't have to go by the rules in our own house. It's okay if you don't wanna have it now though," he reached to move it away.

Wrath grabbed her dessert aggressively and cracked the thick layer of caramelized sugar with a small silver spoon. Her eyes sparkled in amazement. She took a bite and squirmed in excitement as the sweet and soft custard touched her tongue gently with crunchy bits of the caramel. Lust had never seen his friend so elated by anything; more less by food.

"I didn't know you're allowed to burn food intentionally. And it tasted so good too. It's soft and crunchy at the same time!"

"Hahaha… You'll be surprised by how many things you can burn to make tasty meals."

"Hey! Don't belittle me just because I'm not well-informed enough with all these posh dishes," she sulked and crossed her arms.

"Trust me, I'll be delighted to show you how. I'm sure you'll love them," he smiled and spooned another bite of the Crème Brulee.