I washed my hands and dried them, watching him as he took a few things out of the fridge. “We do not have much left since we need to get more food. A stir-fry or a scramble would do, right?” he muttered to himself. “Any dietary restrictions, Little Stray?”

“No. My name is Zedikai by the way,” I told him, looking at the ingredients he placed on the counter. There were things he took out that I didn’t recognize. Damn, I really was pitiful.

“I am aware. What? You don’t like my nickname for you?” Mr S asked, kicking the fridge door closed. He pushed the ingredients back and took out two cutting boards, two knives, and what looked like a white, rectangular baking pan.

“It’s kinda lame, really,” I admitted.

“You have a point,” he said with a shrug, handing me one of the knives. “Zedikai, right?” he asked, pronouncing my name slowly.

“Yeah,” I answered, taking the handle of the knife. “What do I do with this?”

Mr S washed his hands and the food he had taken from the fridge, then gestured for me to join him at the counter. “I always find it easiest to learn on the job. You know, watching and mimicking movements to remember them. So, you will not just watch me make breakfast, you will do some of the work. I cannot promise to be a good instructor, so just watch and do as I do. Let me know if you need me to slow down at any point.”

I nodded sharply. “Yes, Sir.”

Mr S got to work with the mushrooms first. He emptied the container, turned a mushroom on its head and started slicing. It looked easy enough, so I picked up a mushroom and did the same. I was clumsier and slower with the knife, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. When he was finished slicing each one, he moved the sliced pieces to a section of the tray.

“I hope you do not take offence to this, but do you know the names of these foods?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” Most of them. No, some of them.

I hadn’t eaten a very wide variety of foods. At least not whole foods. My diet mainly consisted of frozen dinners and packaged snacks and the most important ingredient I looked for in those was which meat was in them. Homecooked meals didn’t exist in my world. Peter hadn’t cooked for me since I was a child and I didn’t know if Jeff knew how to cook.

“I want you to tell me what they are as we move on to cutting them, alright?”

“Alright. Uh… mushrooms.” I glanced at him oddly, but he wasn’t looking at me. “Why though?”

“Because Aubyn is a sucker for charity cases-”

“I’m not.” I’d take being called a stray but being called a charity case kind of made me want to fight this man.

“You are. How about you focus on the actual definition of the word instead of the negative connotation it has? I do not mean it in the demeaning way you most likely took it. I simply meant that you are someone in need of assistance.” He reached for a long purple vegetable next. “Aubyn cannot stop himself when he sees someone in need of help, even if it means going out of his way to provide that person with what they need. The man is too kind for his own good and sometimes doesn’t know when he is putting himself out too much.”

I went back to cutting up vegetables, reaching for the second purple vegetable and watching how he cut the one he had before following suit. “And I’m guessing I’m his latest project.” I was curious as to his past projects seeing as it sounded like Aubyn had a habit.

“You can say that. He wants to help you and since he is like family to me and I probably owe him my sanity, what is important to him is important to me. Therefore, I do not mind assisting you either. I hope you don’t mind that he has told me about your current predicament.” He looked over at me then.

“I guess not,” I muttered. I hadn’t expected him to tell Mr S, but it would only help if it resulted in another person pitching in to help me.

“In my line of work, I deal with people in tough situations. Children usually. So, I have learned to use my senses more to take note of little things. Things like how thin you are, how much your ribs and spine stuck out when I saw you change your shirt the last time you were here, the darkened skin underneath your eyes, how dull and brittle your hair is.”

An uncomfortable chill went down my spine.

“And of your habits, you engage in self-destructive behaviour and have little interest in self-safety. I also noticed how defensive your speech and stance are when you speak to me or Aubyn, but not to Milan,” he continued. “Your shoulders are tense. I have chalked that up to Milan being more familiar since he is human like you are.”

I stopped cutting the vegetable, my grip on the knife handle tightening.

“You are also very restless. The two times I have seen you eat, you constantly fidget. While you sleep, your breathing and heart rate don’t remain steady. You also move around in bed a lot and mutter to yourself.”

My hands were shaking, and my chest felt tight. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t bring myself to. What did one say to someone who had psychoanalyzed them? Was it considered creepy if he was doing it so he could find a way to help me? Or was it just creepy in general?

“Why are telling me this?” I managed to get out.

“I just thought my being transparent with you would prompt you to do the same. Aubyn seems dead set on helping you and I will too as long as I am able and you cooperate.” Mr S gestured to the purple vegetable that he had finished cutting. It was white inside with tiny seeds. “What is this?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Eggplant. Remember that.” He moved on to something that looked like a large, pink berry, but was also white inside.

“What does all that you have noticed about me have to do with me naming food?” I asked, feeling like I had missed the point.

“Social issues and poor eating habits like the lack of proper, nutritious meals could result in more than just dry hair and skin. Treatment requires consistent, well-balanced meals and upping your water intake. To create well-balanced meals, one must know how to make them. And you cannot make them without knowing the ingredients. Are you catching on?”

I nodded slowly, still freaked out by all those things he had said about me before. “So, you’re trying to get me to name these things we’re about to cook so I can learn what to cook and how to cook it to make myself proper meals?”

“Exactly.”

“You could have just said so instead of going into all that detail,” I mumbled. It really freaked me out. What kind of job did he do that caused him to notice those kinds of things in a person he had only interacted with twice?

“It was more to bring those things to your attention. And as I said before, I am hoping my transparency prompts you to be transparent also. This means that since Aubyn and I are trying to help you, you need to be upfront, vulnerable, and honest about your entire situation, the people involved, how you came to be in said situation, and if there are any dangers.”

What he was saying was starting to sound like it was heading towards a threat. “What do you mean by dangers?”

“Like if you are in trouble with dangerous people that might want to hurt you or could follow you here.” Mr S left his cutting board to go to the stove, but came back and caught my attention, not saying anything until I was looking directly at him. “While we can defend ourselves if your presence here invites any dangerous people, I will not be helping you anymore. My family comes first.”