“It’s like eating clouds! it’s delicious!”

“I’m glad. Drink slowly, or else you might get a stomachache.”

However, in spite of her words, Asher hastily drank the hot chocolate. Hot chocolate marks from the rim of the cup could be seen on the corners of the child’s mouth as he set down the mug aloud. April wiped the marks with her handkerchief and then swept back the child’s sweaty hair.

“Now, close your eyes and go to sleep. When you’re sick, get a good night’s sleep so you can get well soon.”

“Yes.”

Still, contrary to his words, Asher could not sleep easily because of anxiety so April held the child’s hand until he fell asleep.

Was it because of her sincerity? Although it took some time, he soon fell into a deep sleep. On the other hand, April could not sleep since she was afraid that Asher’s condition would deteriorate while he was sleeping. Even as she dozed off, she kept checking the child’s condition from time to time.

Despite all of her worries, the next morning, Asher was fine as if he had never been ill at all. Not only that, his fever had subsided entirely, and the complexion returned to his face as well. In addition, his breathing was now at a normal pace, and it seemed that his swollen throat had subsided as well. Above all, the first words he said as soon as he woke up was that he was hungry, unlike last night.

‘…Is this possible? He hasn’t even taken any medicine.’

Seeing that it was strange to see Asher so energetic, April asked him several times.

“Are you really not sick anymore?”

“Yes! It really doesn’t hurt!”

…Maybe, he was lying because he was afraid she would worry about him being sick? Still, even if he said that, there way no sign of lying on Asher’s face.

Asher, who could not understand her troubled heart, jumped in his seat.

“I think it’s better, thanks to the hot chocolate!”

His eyes twinkled, and he swallowed his saliva. At his words, April seemed to know what the child was thinking. She then pinched his nose softly before releasing it.

“Do you want to drink hot chocolate again?”

Asher scratched the back of her head as if embarrassed at her question.

“Not necessarily, but…”

“Okay. I’ll give you hot chocolate instead of milk this morning.”

“…Really?”

“Can you help me cook as well?”

“Yes!”

“Shall we go buy some bread first?”

Holding Asher’s hand, they left the house. As if he was in a good mood, the arm of the child holding her hand swayed lightly like a fluttering butterfly in the spring breeze. Today’s menu was French toast, which would be dipped in milk mixed with egg, and smoked ham. Even though she could make her own bread, it was rather troublesome, so April was going to buy it in a bakery.

However, once the bakery owner glanced at Asher and her, she shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but the bread hasn’t come out yet.”

She was dumbfounded.

‘…Lie. I just saw a kid carrying a bag of bread a while ago.’

It was clear that there was discrimination between the two. Nonetheless, April could not quarrel here, fearing that Asher would be hurt, so she turned around with a smile.

“Sister.”

“It’s okay. Shall we go and make some bread?”

Asher, glancing over at the bakery owner’s shoulder, nodded and followed her.

‘…She has it.’

Even under the shadow of April’s carefulness not to hurt him, Asher seemed to have figured out the truth.

Returning to her cafe, April put on an apron and took out all-purpose flour. Bread was originally made with strong, gluten-rich flour, while low-gluten flour was usually used for making cookies… Then, why did April take out the all-purpose flour?

‘Let’s make scones instead of bread.’

Bread takes a long time to ferment. And, since Asher was hungry, he would not be able to wait that long. Because of that, she chose scones instead.

‘It’ll be delicious if you spread a lot of jam on a warm scone.’

After mixing baking powder, sugar, and salt together with the all-purpose flour, April took out cold butter from the refrigerator. Then, she cut it into pieces about the size of a fingernail before putting them in a bowl of flour and mashing the butter with a fork so that all the ingredients were mixed together to achieve a crumbly consistency.

Asher walked over with a curious face as he sniffed around April. His small, adorable nose wrinkled and frowned cutely.

“It smells savory.”

“Right? It’s because I use good quality butter.”

The next step was preparing the wet mixture, which was milk and eggs. Combining milk and eggs in a cup and mixing them into the dough, she roughly incorporated it with a fork.

‘I have to be careful not to knead too much.’

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