Rewrite The Stars - 5 Cooking Fail

Adeline awoke to the sun shining directly into her eyes. Sleepily, she dragged a pillow onto her face and laid there until she could muster up the energy to get up.

On her way to the bathroom, she bumped into Leo.

“Oh sorry,” Adeline held a hand in front her her mouth and yawned, “I didn’t see you.”

Leo looked at her strangely for a moment, “No it was my fault for not paying attention.” He couldn’t shake off the weird feeling that dream gave him and he was still confused on how he should deal with Adeline.

They stood in the hallway with silence and the atmosphere quickly grew tense.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll be using the bathroom first.” Adeline quickly ducked into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Leo jumped when he heard the loud bang. Seeing as the bathroom was occupied, he went to use the downstairs bathroom. Brushing his teeth, he looked at himself in the mirror and wondered once again, how should he deal with Adeline.

Give her another chance?

But they had already been together for five years at this point and even longer for Leo when he counted the future. Was it worth trying to make it work still? Thinking about it all night still didn’t give him a good answer and Leo was at a impasse.

Leo huffed in frustration. He decided to just let life flow the way it was and see what happens.

Rinsing his mouth, he walked out and saw Adeline sitting at the kitchen counter. She turned to look at him when he walked in.

“Alright. Cooking time.” She rolled up her sleeves, “Lesson One: How to crack an egg.”

“Alright.”

Adeline groaned when they finished the first dozen eggs. This is going to take forever, she thought.

Why would evolution make eggs so fragile? Leo thought, I just pick them up and it breaks.

After the second carton, Adeline wanted to cry. The trash was filled with eggshells. “Okay.” she said, “This isn’t working. Let’s see how you are at cutting vegetables.”

Five minutes later, Leo had unevenly chopped up a cucumber and he had cut his finger. Wrapping a band-aid around the cut, he said, “I don’t think cutting is for me. In fact, cooking in general is not my forte.”

Adeline had her head on the cool counter top. She couldn’t look at the mess they made without getting a headache. “Yeah it really isn’t. You should just hire a chef or something to cook for you.”

Leo blinked, “Couldn’t you just cook for me?”

Adeline was taking a spit of water and almost choked. “Ah, about that..” She rubbed her palms nervously against her thighs, “I couldn’t find the right time to ask before, but I want a divorce.”

Leo thought he heard wrong, “A divorce?” he asked.

Adeline nodded. “I don’t want to make this a messy fight so I won’t be taking any of your shares for your company or anything. I just don’t want to be married anymore.”

Leo didn’t know what to make of this sudden statement. He thought that she loved him and would go through hell and back. It did not make sense why she would ask for a divorce now. “Uh…” he said. It might actually be a good opportunity, he thought. He was wondering what he should do about her and now she offered her own solution. “Fine.”

Adeline breathed a sigh of relief. “Great! I already have the papers upstairs so all you have to do is sign it so we can send it off to be approved.”

This is a divorce, Leo thought, so why do you have to sound so excited, I thought you liked me? His ego was slightly wounded but he agreed. “I’ll sign them after breakfast though.” he said as his stomach grumbled.

“I think the trashcan ate all the food in the fridge.” Adeline said. “Going to have to order.” She pulled open a drawer of takeout menus. “What do you want?”

Leo was glad that she was still acting polite to him at least. “Whatever is fine.”

Fifteen minutes and the doorbell rang, causing both Leo and Adeline to sprint for the food.

“I love food.” Adeline said through a mouthful of hash browns.

“Agree.” Leo said and burped.

Adeline was tempted to laugh but held it in, “Okay papers now?”

Leo sighed. “Alright.”

She quickly ran upstairs to fetch them and came down to Leo holding a pen. She watched anxiously as he read through all the papers, one by one.

Leowas actually startled that she truly didn’t want anything from him. The dream was still lingering on his mind though. “I think I have to at least give you a bit of my shares.” he said guiltily.

“I don’t want them.”

“Then I won’t sign until you agree.”

Adeline was torn. On one hand, she wanted to be free of him asap, but if she accepted, then she would still be tied to him sort of with the shares. Oh well, since when has more money hurt anyone? “One percent.” she said firmly.

Leo amended the papers and then signed on the dotted line. “I’ll send this off later.”

“Alright then.” Adeline got up and walked to the door. “Bye.” she said.

“Wait what about your stuff?” Leo asked, confused.

Adeline shrugged, “You bought it so they weren’t really mine. You could probably donate them. I hardly wore the clothes and most still have the tags.”

“Oh..bye then.” Leo didn’t know what he should be feeling as he watched her leave. He was used to her presence after so many years, although he was extremely annoyed by it at first. Well he didn’t have to worry about Adeline now anyways, he could focus all of his attention on ruining Carina’s life.