Chapter 51 – Peaceful evening

"Don't worry, we have a lot of time to compensate for that from now on. I don't mind doing it for you anytime you want."

She nodded and smiled happily, agreeing.

"You're right. We have all the time in the world now."

Benjamin smiled back and concluded.

"Let's stop here for today, we need to get home now."

She agreed and they put their clothes back on, opened the door, and left the room. Since it was quite a while after the end of classes, the school was almost empty, with only a few students here and there. They headed for the exit and were soon on their way home, both keeping quiet, something that didn't change much from any other time they were alone together. The only difference was that she was now openly looking at him from time to time and every time she did that, he grinned at her, which pushed her to grin back in turn. She was obviously in a superb mood after resolving a problem that was gnawing at her for so long in such a perfect way. He also felt the same, happy to have gotten closer to her, and happy that she was happy.

Once they reached their house, Benjamin thought about something.

"Nova, what do you want to eat for dinner today? I will prepare whatever you want."

"Anything is fine if it's you making it."

"Thank you. So, what do you want?"

She laughed a bit at how casually he took her praise and thought about it for some time before answering.

"What about lasagna?"

"Hm, alright but I will need to go to the super to get some more ingredients. The fridge was getting empty anyway so it's not bad timing."

"I will go with you."

"Nice, that will speed up things a lot. Wait a second."

During the past two weeks, he has learned that his Mom had given him access to a debit card linked to an account with some money on it, which he could use for groceries or house-related supplies shopping. He was the only one in the family allowed to use it and, apparently, the one time Chloe had discretely stolen it from him to buy something for herself, she was met with very severe punishment after it was found out. In fact, she was exposed almost immediately since their mother was monitoring every transaction on the card, making Chloe's attempt a very stupid move.

Benjamin quickly went to get the card in his room before coming out again and they left for the supermarket together. Fortunately, there was one close to their place and they were back with bags of groceries in their hands within thirty minutes. They put everything inside the fridge and the kitchen and Benjamin started preparing lasagna after looking for a decent-looking recipe on his phone. Nova decided to sit on a chair and watch him work, a happy smile on her face. Benjamin, on the other hand, struggled hard to prepare the dish which was one level higher in difficulty than what he was usually cooking. In the end, after a long fight with the béchamel and the meat sauce, he managed to output something acceptable, putting everything in the oven and setting the timer for a good hour and a half. Since the time in the oven was so long, he and Nova went back to their rooms to relax in the meanwhile. He took that opportunity to change into a long-sleeved top to hide his bandaged arm and not alert the rest of his family.

When he came back down, he was met with six very hungry females. Since everything took longer than usual, it was way past their normal dinner time and his family members looked at the oven ravenously, the pleasant smell of lasagna exacerbating their feeling of hunger. Benjamin thought they were funny and asked them.

"How long have you all been waiting here?"

"Thirty minutes."

"Since it started smelling good in the whole house."

"Forty-five minutes."

"Same."

That made him laugh. He noticed that they didn't even set the table.

"You are funny. Were you just looking at the oven for that long without even setting the table? That's not going to help speed up things, you know."

They suddenly realized their mistake and hurried to set the table, in one rare moment of cooperation. Benjamin took the lasagna plate out of the oven, satisfied to see that the result seemed to be decent. He put it in the middle of the table, which was already magically set, and they finally started their late dinner. They devoured his dish, not forgetting to praise him exaggeratedly.

"Too good! It's too good, Ben!"

"It's delicious! Give me seconds!"

"Are you aiming to become a chef? I will support you!"

"I love you, Ben!"

The last one was from Chloe and he answered nonchalantly.

"Yes, yes, you mean your stomach loves me."

"How can you doubt my pure love? I am worried you are turning bad, these days!"

"Oh yeah? Talking about good and bad, when is your next test?"

"Ugh... It was yesterday."

"Interesting. And, when do you get the result?"

"...On Monday."

"Nice. Remember, you will receive punishment if you don't get a perfect score."

"What?! You didn't say anything about that!"

"I say it now. High risks, high rewards, right? That's only fair."

"Not fair at all, you can't add stuff like that after the facts!"

"Of course I can. But ok, let's be fair about this. What do you girls think about this? I promised Chloe a reward if she gets a perfect score. Don't you think it's fair to get punished if she doesn't get it?"

"Fair."

The five women agreed and the verdict was unanimous.

"You are all too much! My own family is betraying me!"

"Yeah, yeah, so anyway, be ready for it, Chloe."

"Ugh, I tried very hard for that one. I have a good feeling about it. I will get that perfect score, you will see!"

"I pray every day and night for your success."

"Huh, you're just saying whatever to make fun of me. Enough, I will show you on Monday!"

"I will think very hard about your punishment."

"Stop it!"

Benjamin stopped teasing her and laughed, the rest of the family members following him, except for Chloe. After their meal, they spend a nice evening watching the TV and chatting together, relaxing after a long week of work or school, forgetting about their worries in a moment of enjoyment in the family.