No she's not.

She is not that grandma. She looks a little older and her temperament is different as well.

She seems cold.

“Hello po lola~ Please do me a favor and don't call the police. I'm not a burglar. Eli-chan is my girlfriend after all.”

I open the gate and face her.

“What?”

“I'm Elizabeth's boyfriend.”

“That girl has a boyfriend?”

She looks sceptical and she sounds rude.

“Right in front of you po.”

“So she have a friend?”

“Opo.”

I don't know if Eli-chan considers those people as her friends though.

“And I am her boyfriend.”

“Prove it to me or I'll call the police. Do you really think I'll just believe you because you say so?”

Ehhh~

“Eli-chan is just right inside. She is currently baking po lola. Why don't you please come inside to check?”

“!!”

She looks alarmed and suspicious as she steps back a little.

“Are you planning to kill me?”

What now?

“You're trying to lure me in so that you could kill me right? There are CCTV cameras here for your information.”

Please lessen the amount of time you burn for watching dramas.

“No. I have no purpose to do that po. Eli-chan is just really inside.”

She's squinting her eyes in obvious doubt.

Bloody hell. She's too suspicious isn't she?

“I'll call her.”

“Hmmp. There's no need. Are you really her boyfriend?”

I just said it.

“Yes. My name is Mark po lola. What should I call you?”

“Call me nanay Maria.”

“‘Nanay’?”

Fufu. I'll tease her.

“Are you perhaps wanting to introduce me to your daughter— Agh sorry po nanay. I was just kidding. Please don't pinch my waist.”

Her nails hurt.

“Just call me ‘lola’.”

“Alright po ‘nanay’ Maria. Anyway, it's nice meeting you.”

“Hmmp.”

She's frowning in disgust.

“Fufufufufufu.”

“Oi.”

She suddenly looks serious.

“Yes po?”

“Don't you two have a school? Why are you skipping classes?”

“Uh...”

“Does your parents know you're skipping classes?”

“No po.”

“You're such a bad influence for that girl. And right! Were you the reason why she flew into rage last week? You better be kind to her... ”

“What?”

“You don't even know? Hmmp. I heard her scream that time and then there suddenly were noises of things getting smashed. Hmmp. It's bothering the neighborhood. You better tell her that.”

Hmm. That time huh.

“I apologize for her behavior. Thank you for your concern.”

“I'm not concerned about her. She's always alone inside her house never interacting anyone. What if she's a serial killer? I'm worried for my own granddaughters.”

Um... Please stop watching dramas.

What a rich imagination you have nanay Maria.

“So you do have granddaughters? Fufufufufu.”

“Hmmp! You better not get any weird ideas about them! And don't you dare cheat on that girl as well! You're not the one who will endure her rampages in the middle of the night. Remember that or I'll cane you.”

She hit my leg lightly with her wooden cane.

“Fufufufu. I was just teasing you po nanay Maria. Please don't be too serious. Take it easy.”

“Hmmp.”

“Well then—”

“Wait.”

I was about to say goodbye but she stopped me.

“Yes po?”

“Wait here. I have some leftover dish. I don't want to eat it. It's disgusting. You go have it with your girlfriend.”

She didn't wait for my reply but turn around and leave. Her house and Eli-chan's are only separated by a medium size house.

Few minutes later, she comes back carrying a tupperware with her.

I walk towards her.

“Please let me carry it now.”

“So you're at least this sensible. Here take this. Tell your little girlfriend to give it back to me washed and clean as usual. Don't she to lose that!”

She give me the tupperware which is still hot. ‘Leftover’ she said. And ‘as usual’?

“I'll give it back to you po by myself nanay Maria.”

“You better keep your word— cough! Cough!”

She suddenly coughed terribly. I support her immediately because it looks like she was about to lose her balance.

“Nanay. How are you feeling? Should I call an ambulance?”

“Stop being nosy. Am I not allowed to cough? Hmmp. Just go back inside and eat it already.”

She pushes me away.

“I'll send you back.”

“No need. Just go back. I'm not weak.”

“Don't be stubborn nanay Maria. Let's just go.”

I support her back home even though she keeps scolding me for being a busybody.

“Please drink your medicine.”

I see her off outside her gate.

“Just go back!”

She shoos me away like as if I'm some sort of stray animal.

“Fufufu. Thank you po for this nanay. Please take care of yourself.”

“I know. Just go back!”

Fufufufufu.

I walk back to Eli-chan's house after I see nanay Maria's front door closed.

It's almost 11 o'clock so I should probably cook rice now. Eli-chan most likely wouldn't be able to do so after all.

“Eli-chan, nanay Maria give us a lunch.”

I put the tupperware on the table.

There are now several bread on the table which are still steaming hot. It looks brown and crispy. There is also something that resembles a cake. It's not halfway done though... I guess.

Whatever, they look delicious.

“I don't know her.”

Uh..

“It's an old lady one house away from yours. She have a blue hair.”

Although most of her hair are grey and white now.

“The old lady from the Nightengale household? She always does that. She just treats me like a pet that will eat her leftovers.”

I don't think she's treating you as one. She's just being a tsundere. And she always gives you food? She's basically taking care of you.

“Well, this is a freshly cook. It's not a leftover.”

“She always heats up her left overs.”

It's freshly cooked bloody hell.

“Oh hell.”

“...........”

“Anyway, may I have a bite? What kind of bread is this?”

I try to get a piece but Eli-chan slaps my hand.

“No!”

“Why?”

“It's a failure.”

“It's not a failure. It looks delicious.”

I try to get one again. But she slaps my hand immediately.

“I said no!”

She's glaring. She's stressed out by this.

“Alright. I won't take anything. So calm down alright?”

“.........”

She didn't respond.

“You can continue baking. I'm just gonna cook rice for lunch.”

I turn around towards the sink. I then prepare the rice and switch the rice cooker on.

I sneak back towards the table but Eli-chan slaps my hand before I can get anything.

I should just leave her for now.

I'll continue exercising for another thirty minutes.

—Thirty minutes or so later.

I come back to the kitchen.

The table is now filled with so many breads that I'm wondering if we're going to open a bakery or something.

The cake is almost done. It's a chocolate cake. Hell, it's very delicious. I wanna taste it.

Hmm.

Eli-chan takes a tray out from the oven. She looks frustrated right now.

Then she stop moving afterwards.

*Clang!*

The tray falls to the ground and the breads spread all over the floor.

Eli-chan drops to her butt and hugs her knees silently crying.

What the...?

“Sniff....I knew it... I knew it... I can't do it after all... What was I expecting...? There's no way I'll succeed... Sniff...”

She's mumbling to herself.

I look down and pick a piece of bread that fall on the ground.

It's round and there's a sugar above it. I forgot what this bread is called but I never remember it to be this dark brown.

I can even see some charred parts.

She burned it.

“Eli-chan...”

“!!”

I walk towards her and squat down.

“....I'm sorry Mark... I can't do it after all... Even with everything you said... I ... I still failed you...”

She's burying her head into her knees. She's not letting me see her face. Eli-chan's voice is weak and sounds repressed.

While she's silently crying, I pick the breads one by one putting them back on the tray then set it on the table among with the other breads.

I stand up to check on the rice cooker. The switch already turned up to 「Keep Warm」 and it's been thirty minutes so I'm sure the rice is already cooked.

I use the potholder and take the burning hot rice pot towards the table. I then prepare two sets of eating utensils.

I remove the lid of the tupperware and a warm caldereta is seen. Afterwards, I scoop the two of us an ample amount of rice putting it on our respective plates.

I walk towards Eli-chan squatting down then I wrap my arms around her knees.

“W-What are you doing...?”

I then hug her tightly, standing up, then I walk towards the dining table carrying her with me with the same position she have since earlier.

She's kind of heavy but I can manage somehow.

“Let's eat lunch...”

“M-M-Mark let me down... I can walk... myself....”

“Here you go.”

I put her on the chair which is facing mine.

I then walk around to sit on my seat.

“Let's eat now.”

I take a scoop of the caldereta and serve it to her. I did the same to myself.

I start eating.

“Hm-mm... Eli-chan, nanay Maria is a good cook isn't she?”

“!....”

Eh? What? Don't look at me like that.

“I'm sorry then for being a bad one...”

She turns her head away preparing to leave but I grab her shoulder pushing her back onto her seat.

“Let me go. I need to buy gifts.”

“Look around you, aren't all these breads a gift?”

“No it's not. They're a failure! And you want me to serve that to your parents? Do you want me to be really hated by her?”

She looks fierce unlike how she was just earlier.

“She won't hate you for this. And they're not a failure.”

“They are. They're not enough.... They're unworthy...”

“Are they...?”

I take one of the burnt bread and take a small bite.

“What are you doing?! It's burned! Don't eat that!”

She tries to get it from me but I did not let her succeed.

I keep chewing until there was nothing left.

“Fumu. It's edible at least.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Yes I am.”

“!!”

She looks deeply shock by that. We're you not expecting that? I thought that's what you want to hear due to it validating what you just said.

This dramatic little girlfriend is really complicated.

“But not because of your performance nor because of these breads Eli-chan.”

She stares at me silently.

“It was good enough from the very beginning, but because you didn't believe the words of the person you wanted to show it to, you ended up ruining it yourself.”

“..........”

“Just take it easy and don't try to make something you are incapable to do so. If that's just what you can really do, then it's fine. You just did what you can. And for me, and for sure for my mom and dad as well, what you baked is more than good enough.”

“..........”

Eli-chan lowers her head seemingly thinking about something.

“...That's not true...”

I shove a spoonful of rice and caldereta and chew it for a while before swallowing it down.

“You didn't even asks me for my opinion...”

“....I'm sorry...”

“Let's eat. No more baking or whatever. All of this are enough and they're delicious as well. It's in fact a lot, so let's share it with nanay Maria and with your other neighbors as well.”

She didn't respond still lost in her thoughts.

What is she thinking hardly right now? I can see her mumbling as well. Is she casting a spell or something?

Whatever.

“Anyway, because we're not at school anyway, we can pick dad up from the airport. I'll introduce you to him.”

“Eh? What?”

“Let's go pick dad up.”

“What?”

“I said let's pick dad up.”

“!!”

She stands up jerkily.

“I need to prepare! Why are you so sudden about this?”

“Sit down and eat.”

“How can I have the time for that? What time will he come? Can I still prepare myself properly?”

“Bloody hell! Just sit down.”

“But—”

“I told you to take it easy.”

“No—”

She turns around to leave but I immediately take an action. I kick my legs on my seat while propping myself upward using my hands pressing it on the table to flip myself behind Eli-chan.

I push her shoulders to push her down to her seat and then I whisper into her ears.

“Sit down.”