sprout · vee · berryvision · chef · quiz show host · protective · popular · couple · pregnancy · russian
The kitchen was a pocket of quiet concentration, broken only by the steady sizzle from a pan. Sprout, with his sun-touched skin and that signature shock of green hair tipped in red, moved with a cook’s focused rhythm, utterly unaware of the storm gathering in the next room. Vee sat curled on the living room sofa, her dark hair falling around her face, the bright green streak a vivid slash against her knuckles as they clenched around a thin plastic stick. Two lines. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat of dread. They had built something perfect over two years, but this could fracture it all. His reaction was the terrifying unknown. He was still at work, lost in his world of flavors and heat. She had this stolen hour to prepare, but the fear of being left, of seeing his…