"Darling~ I heard your voice. You must be tired after being busy all day, right? Come try the cookies I just baked. They're cranberry almond flavored~"
That voice was far too saccharine, and Mo Wang instantly broke out in goosebumps. He opened his mouth, wanting badly to say, Ma'am, could you act normal? I'm more used to your old wild and unruly self.
But before he could say it, another figure came bouncing out as well.
"Mo Wang, Mo Wang! I made cookies too!" Connor held a plate high and rushed up to Mo Wang as if seeking praise, her little soot-smudged face practically screaming, "Praise me already!"
Then everyone's gazes froze on the plate in her hands.
The things piled on that plate... could barely be recognized as cookies. They were pitch-black all over, their surfaces covered in cracks, with suspicious carbonized particles clinging to the edges.
Rather than food, they looked more like a pile of charcoal chunks in assorted shapes.
As her older brother, Lao Tang was the first to lose it. The corner of his mouth twitched as he asked, "Um... Connor, I understand that you wanted to cook. I get it, I really do, but... where are the cookies? Why can't I see them?"
Connor immediately puffed out her cheeks, pointed at the pile of charcoal, and declared with complete confidence, "Brother! These are the cookies! I followed the recipe exactly!"
Lao Tang's expression instantly petrified.
Mo Wang looked at Connor's sparkling, expectant eyes, then glanced at that plate of "bioweapons." His Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.
The words of refusal circled around his mouth three times before finally surrendering to that innocent gaze.
He took a deep breath and, with an almost heroic air, carefully pinched up a piece of "charcoal" with two fingers