Onikuma Boyfriend: Emery (special preview)

I scoff and set my hands to my hips. “Maybe for you two, but I rarely stay in one place. He isn’t going to want someone who is in and out all the time.”

“Yasa, hush!” Anoop teases as he covers Bebe’s ears. “There is a child present.”

I point a finger in his face. “Be glad you are holding that baby or I would have punched you by now.”

I bid them goodnight then head off to bed, catches a few hours of restful sleep before I have to get up and head to the living kitchen. Once I get there, I see a surprising sight. Emery is sitting out front waiting.

He looks up and sees me, a great big smile spreading across his face. He stands as I approach and waves. “Good morning, Yasa.”

“It’s so early!” I exclaim. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d help in the kitchen, I’d love to see how you work.” He chuckles shyly. “I mean, if you don’t mind having me around. I’m very curious to see how you handle a kitchen.”

My cheeks burn as his sweet expression and kind words grip onto my soul. “I can always use help here. I don’t mind the help at all. But you said you had shopping to do today.”

“I can do that later.” Emery follows me into the kitchen. “Where do I begin?”

Already there are a couple of volunteers who are prepping vegetables and meat for the day. I lead Emery over to my station where I make the marinade for the meat skewers. “Chop all this garlic for me.” I tell him.

“You got it.”

I’m getting the liquids ready when I turn to see Emery chopping. He goes so fast but he’s so precise at the same time. The way his knife moves is like a waterfall gliding down and slicing into the water below. I consider myself pretty handy with a knife, but I feel like I’m standing before a master.

“How do you do that?” I gasp.

“Practice,” Emery chuckles. “My dad was a butcher, so I learned about knives very early.” He grins proudly. 

I chuckle and nod my head. “Well, you’re on chopping duty for the rest of prep. Think you can handle that for me?”

His eyes widen and light up like the sunrise. As he grins, his long sharp teeth peer out and make the fur on the back of my neck stand on end. “I’d love to!” He exclaims. 

“Be careful, don’t make yourself too useful to me,” I tease.

Emery sets to work while I continue to get the rest of the kitchen operational. I turn to glance at him from time to time, seeing him make quick work of his chopping task. He seems so happy to do it too, he even shows the rest of the volunteers his techniques and how he works. He sharpens all the knives in the kitchen as well, showing his personal flare for that too.

“You’re a natural,” I say to him. “Everything you do looks so effortless.”

“You make flavor seem the same way,” he says brightly. “I kept trying to peep your methods, but it seemed like you were a goddess creating the earth. It both looked so natural and supernatural at the same time.”

My heart is hammering against my ribs as if trying to break through them to hug Emery. “Like you said,” I murmur shyly, “just practice.” I then clear my throat and take off my head wrap. “I can take you on a tour of the spice vault now. I think the kitchen as everything it needs.”

“I’m excited,” Emery says. He then holds his arm out for me. “I’ve never seen a spice vault before.”

I take his arm, hoping my pounding pulse doesn’t give me away. “I can show you the royal cinnamon grove to,” I say shyly. “My family runs it for King Amit.”

“That’d be great! I’ve always been curious about how cinnamon was grown.” His tongue sticks out between his lips again. It’s so cute, I wonder how cute he was as a cub.

I’ve given tours of the spice vault many times before, it was nothing special to me. The spice vault was just something that existed in our backyard, I had forgotten the true wonder and beauty of it until I saw it through Emery’s eyes. He had questions about how we processed everything, how we dried and cured certain plants to get our spices, what wood we used to smoke others. His knowledge was astounding, and his theory on blends and how they can be used in cooking, baking, grilling, were all fascinating.

“You said your father was a butcher, but how did you stumble upon cooking as a passion?” I ask him. We’ve been sitting out behind the spice vault together for a long time, talking, laughing, trading cooking techniques and our favorite meals. I’ve lost complete track of time, but I suppose it doesn’t matter.

“I told you, I enjoyed cooking for my family. I started to want to give them new things, different things. My dad built me my first barbecue pit one year for my birthday, and ever since I knew that was my goal in life.” He smiles down at me with that cute smile. “My siblings grew up, started their own families, I didn’t need to cook for them anymore, so I started my little restaurant before I met Kaboom and Loker. I wanted to make sure other people ate well, had good food. And since Kaboom traveled just about everywhere, I could learn from people like you how to do that.”

I decide to be bold in that split second. No sense is dancing around what I wanted and being shy. “Do you have a partner, Emery?”

He tilts his head to the side as his expression goes blank.

“Romantically, I mean.” I pull my knees up to my chest, hugging them. 

Emery blinks and his tongue appears between his lips again. He’s so cute I can’t stand it. “Do you?” He asks. “Because I could get really romantic with a girl like you, Yasa.”

How dare he? My heart is basically running wild in my chest. “Aside from my girls, I’m not linked romantically to anyone.”

His smile grows, showing off those lovely teeth. “Then I’ll have to cook for you once we’re both in Obresh.” He gets a thoughtful expression on his face then turns to gaze up at the sky. “Let me think. What would be a good romantic meal to make you”

I cough, nearly choking on my own breath, “You’re serious?” 

“Well that’s what you were asking right?” Emery tilts his head towards me. “If I said ‘no’ weren’t you going to ask me out anyways?”

He was playing such a cute, innocent part I took it for granted, he saw right through me and beat me to the punch. “Of course.”

“Then let me be the first to cook. I got a sample of what you can do, but I really want to show off for you.” He smiles shyly and looks down at his hands. “I’ll make you something really good, something really impressive, I promise.”

“I have no doubts there,” I giggle. “I’m sure you’ll sweep me off my feet.”

“I would go ahead and do it now, but I don’t have all my equipment, and I don’t have somewhere private either.” He starts drawing in the dirt with his claw. “I want to go about this the right way, you know?”

I scoot myself closer to him, leaning into his side so that we’re snuggled together. “Its ok. I’d want that too,” I giggle.