"I FOUND IT!" Kanum's voice pierced through the storage room as he yelled in excitement.
In the kitchen, in response to Kanum's yell, Shelt shook a little bit and glared in Kanum's general direction.
Finally finding what he was looking for, Kanum ran out of the storage room hugging a large box labeled Fare Regali in his arms.
Placing the box at the bottom of the stairs, Kanum immediately cut it open as soon as it touched the floor
"Alright, Shry, LET'S GET TO WORK!" Kanum cheered.
As Kanum opened the box, his eyes suddenly widened, and almost like he just remembered something important, he quickly turned around, and his eyes instantly met Shry's.
"Oh shoot! I am so sorry," Kanum said with clear regret in his voice.
Kanum quickly ignited his will and cancelled his power, causing the barriers to disappear.
Shry, who's now free, ran to the box with extreme curiosity and anticipation about what was inside it, and when he finally saw what was inside the box, he wasn't disappointed, as inside it was a bunch of holiday decorations specifically from Fare Regali, the day of gifting, his favorite holiday.
(I don't need to wait until the 1st of June to play with these decorations anymore!) Shry thought, excited about the prospect of working with these decorations
There were dozens of ornaments, streamers, lights, etc. in that box, and they all seemed to share quite a few aspects as well.
All the decorations in the box are mainly colored with shades of green and yellow, and another common theme among the decorations is their imagery. Nature seemed to capture the theme of all these decorations the best, as there was mainly imagery of flowers, trees, and even fruits.
"Can we really use these?" Shry instinctively asked Kanum with a bright smile
Shry looked at Kanum with a bright and cheery smile, but then he remembered how Kanum trapped him earlier and that he should be mad right now. So, in an effort to change his image, Shry got silent and began to frown, showing his disdain, he stopped. but halfway through
Shry was afraid if he misbehaved or showed his discontent. His father might change his mind and take the decorations away from him.
Feeling trapped, Shry's expression twisted between joy and bitterness constantly, looking weird and funny as he did so. Kanum felt amused looking at this; he knew what Shry was thinking, but he was never going to put the box away in the first place, even if Shry got angry at him for trapping him. Despite that, Kanum decided not to reveal the fact because he wanted to watch Shry's weird expressions for just a bit longer.
Seeing Kanum's amused face, Shry felt annoyed; he narrowed his eyes at Kanum and turned his head away, giving him the silent treatment.
By now, Shry had already figured out Kanum's plan, so as to not give Kanum what he wanted, he acted indifferent with non-visible hostility.
Kanum, who was standing slightly away from Shry, started giggling at the situation. He couldn't help it; no matter how Shry acted, it wouldn't stop Kanum from loving him.
Noticing Kanum's continued amusement, Shry got even more annoyed. He tried to distract himself with the box of decorations, but no matter how he tried to block it out, it was really hard to do so when the subject of that annoyance was right in front of him.
(I hate you, I hate you.) Shry repeatedly cursed in his heart as he sulked.
Unbeknownst to Shry's displeasure, Kanum started to rummage through the box; he wanted to make sure that everything he wanted was in there, but as he was doing so; As petty revenge, Shry will periodically get in his way and even snatch things from his father.
As Shry continued to do this, his displeasure began to slowly subside. He still felt like he had to continue, to make a point; so, while trying to hide his true feelings, Shry purposefully expressed subtle signs of displeasure, like constantly looking away from his father and some occasional sounds of contempt.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, as the racket from the living room grew, their noisiness that traveled all the way to the kitchen began to catch the attention of a certain crimson-haired woman.
(Kanum... What are you doing?) Shelt thought while glancing over her shoulder at the doorway.
Shelt couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore, but right when she was about to step outside to check on the commotion. Almost like he sensed it, Kanum quickly got up and ran to intervene before his wife could get a glimpse.
As he reached the doorway to the kitchen, Kanum quickly stretched out his left hand as far as he could and leaned in between the doorway, blocking the exit.
"I-II H-hey lovely... morning we're having, huh..." Kanum said in between puffs of breath.
Shelt crossed her hand and raised her eyebrow, staring at Kanum with suspicion. She waited for Kanum to continue, but even after a minute, Kanum just stood there, seemingly trying to stall for time.
Shelt tried to gaze past Kanum, but every time she tried, Kanum would move his body according to her line of sight, blocking her vision.
"A-"
Annoyed, Shelt was about to speak up. Her mouth raised halfway, but right as she was ready to vocalize her words, she stopped.
Shelt finally got a glimpse of Shry. Even though it's only his head and face, that was enough to make her hesitate.
Shelt couldn't see what Shry was doing, but just by looking at his expression, Shelt could tell that whatever he was doing, he was having a lot of fun.
(What could they be doing...) Shelt thought as she began imagining the various things that Kanum could be up to.
As Shelt glanced back at Shry, though, her heart ached. She knew she shouldn't condone whatever they're doing right now, but she couldn't bring herself to stop them.
(Fine... I'll let it go for today.) She silently resolved herself to turn a blind eye, as what's happening
Shelt narrowed her eyes at Kanum, showing her suspicions, but after making up her mind, she turned her head away and turned around, acting like nothing happened.
*Hooof* Kanum huffed a sigh of relief.
Almost like he knew what Shelt was thinking, Kanum's mouth shaped into a shaky smile.
For a while, Kanum just watched his wife arranging bowls and plates as well as preparing the ingredients for their breakfast, but after some time, he began to feel bad for leaving his wife to take care of their breakfast and such.
Unable to stand this feeling, he made a decision. Silently walking up next to Shelt Kanum and grabbing a frying pan from the side. When Shelt noticed, Kanum had already begun heating up the pan, ready to help.
"Dad?" Shry questioned dazedly.
Meanwhile, Shry finally snapped out of his mesmerization. Around him, decorations were scattered everywhere, strewn across the floor chaotically, while he sat in the middle with a now empty box, surrounded by its contents.
(Mom!) Shry thought, panicked
Glancing at the kitchen entrance, Shry grew worried and began looking around nervously for his father and especially his mother. He didn't want to get in trouble, so he desperately hoped that his dad was making sure his mom was distracted, and luckily, he was, but from Shry's perspective, because he saw neither of them, he got worried and hurriedly jammed all the decorations back into the box.
He didn't care about organizing, so by the time he was done, the decorations barely stayed in the box; some were even hanging to the side, clinging on for dear life, while the others were stacked like a pyramid.
(Erm, this should be fine, right?) Shry asked himself as he looked at the stack of decorations questioningly.
Shry thought he should probably get the box out of sight from the kitchen, so he decided to bring it upstairs since they were going to use it to decorate his room anyway.
He wrapped his hands around the box, squatted on his knees, and clumsily lifted it up as he stood. The box was very imbalanced, but luckily it wasn't very heavy, so it was possible for Shry to carry it alone without too much trouble despite being a 7-year-old kid.
Shry made one final check to make sure everything was in the box and secure before finally moving the box upstairs, trying his best not to trip and fall.
If Kanum or Shelt were to see this, they would've stopped Shry immediately and reprimanded him for doing something so dangerous. Luckily though, Shry made it without too much trouble.
"Can you grab the salt for me?" Kanum asked Shelt gently with his left hand out.
Hearing this, Shelt confidently moved to the shelf next to the fridge and opened it. She looked around inside it for a second, but when she was unable to find it with just her sight, she began digging deeper in an effort to find it.
*Cling, cling, cling* Shelt pushed and shoved dozens of glass jars filled with dried spices, checking behind and around them.
When Kanum noticed this, he stopped cooking for a second by lifting his pan up slightly to prevent the sausages from burning.
(It should be...) Kanum thought offhandedly
Kanum took a good look around the kitchen, and once he spotted it, he poked Shelt lightly and pointed at a small rack hanging next to the doorway.
"Hmm? Oh..." Shelt voiced as her voice decreased with each sound she made
The moment Shelt looked at the direction Kanum was pointing at, her face turned mildly red, embarrassed by her momentary blindness.
On the rack, in front of bottles of sauces was the salt, placed front and center.
(Why did it have to be there...) Shelt thought as her cheeks grew redder.
The rack that was holding all of the sauces and salt was actually designated to be Shelt's cooking rack. So she got especially embarrassed because the rack, in her perspective, should've been the first place looked
Watching Shelt embarrassed, Kanum smiled in both amusement and encouragement. Internally he noted that he should put the salt on the shelf next to the fridge so that Shelt will have an easier time getting it when she needs it.
Little did he know, Shelt was also making mental notes on the same subject, and thus, a vicious cycle of 'I insist' between the couple began from that day onwards
*Rang rang pan* sounds of rattling reverberated from upstairs.
"Are you done with the ham yet? I can hear Shry making a fuss upstairs," Shelt said as she used her head to gesture upwards.
As Kanum flipped the ham, he looked like he just remembered something; his mouth widened slightly, and he gasped in excitement.
"Oh yeah!... I'll be done in a second," Kanum said as he began cackling.
Meanwhile, Shry, who was upstairs in his room, is now faced with another conundrum. Just like before, he is currently surrounded by the same decorations. But this time, his worries didn't lie with the mess. Instead, it was with how he should begin decorating.
He tried hanging up some streamers, but he wasn't tall enough to reach the ceiling even with a chair. Shry didn't know what to do. Until a stroke of inspiration struck him while he was staring at his table.
Pushing his table near the wall, Shry began to stack his chair on it along with a couple of supports so it wouldn't move when he climbed on it.
"Please don't fall..." Shry put his hand on the structure built and shook it slightly to test its stability.
Seeing that it's stable, Shry carefully and slowly began climbing it. But before he could get to the top, an authoritative voice called out for him to stop.
"Get down from there!" Kanum commanded as he frantically ran to Shry.
Kanum entered the room with a mind filled with ideas, but before he could share any of them, he saw what Shry was doing and instantly forgot about everything else, immediately rushing to the ragtag structure Shry had built.
Because he was startled by his father's voice, Shry's balance became unstable, and he almost fell. Luckily, he was able to rebalance himself, but it was already too late.
One of the chair's legs hung to the side without any support, and within moments, the structure shook and everything began to tumble down, bringing Shry along with it.