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“It’s not any kind of bread because you didn’t fucking turn on the oven!”

“Yes, I did.” I stomp over to point at the display. “It literally had three five zero on it after I pressed Bake.”

“Did you hit Start after that?”

“S-start?” I didn’t know I had to press more than one button.

Wait. Did I actually mess up? Did I…fail?

All the fight leaves me.

“My first time baking something and I blew it.”

“Yup. You did. Big-time. But it’s normal to do that sometimes.”

“Not for me.”

“Nobody’s perfect, Silver.”

“I don’t deserve silver. I don’t deserve bronze. I don’t even deserve a participation award. I failed. I’m a failure.”

Khaos pulls my arm down. I didn’t even realize I was scratching my head.

“That’s not even…” He growls. “Look, one mistake doesn’t make you a fucking failure. You just didn’t know how to use the oven. Here, I can show you.”

He maneuvers my body between him and the oven before patiently walking me through all the buttons as well as their functions. I barely hear him though.

I’ve never felt defeat like this.

I’m grateful my mom isn’t here to see this.

I can’t imagine what Guy would think of me sticking a pan of batter in a cold oven and letting it sit there for an hour.

My nose stings. All I want to do is retreat to my room and hide under the covers.

Khaos points over my shoulder, his bulging bicep right next to my face. Despite the veiny muscle looking more boulder than arm, the tattooed skin looks soft enough to fall asleep on. Refuge. Support. Safety.

What?

I shake the nonsense away and tune back in to my tutorial.

“Go ahead and set it to three fifty,” Khaos says quietly next to my ear, making it difficult to remember anything.

Um.

Bake. Start.

Where before the oven remained silent, it’s now making all kinds of noise. That should’ve been a hint I did something wrong.

“Good girl.”

I try not to let the praise go to my head. Or to any other part of my body. I’m not a good girl. I’m a disappointment.

“It’s preheating now. Once it reaches three hundred and fifty degrees, it’ll ding, letting you know. And then you can put the bread back in there to—”

I press Off.

“What are you doing?”