It was another rare day off.

  Early in the morning, Amy sat up on her bed and stretched her arms. She climbed onto the big bed as she rubbed her eyes and kneeled next to Mag’s pillow. She was about to wake him up when she paused as she looked at Mag who was sleeping peacefully.

  “Father works so hard usually, I shall let him have a good sleep on his rest day.” Amy retrieved her hand and bent over to kiss Mag’s cheek. Then, she got off the bed quietly and waved to Ugly Duckling, who was still trying hard to get up to the bed. She carried it in her arms and started to make her way downstairs. After closing the bedroom door, she quietly spoke, “Don’t wake Father, Ugly Duckling. He works very hard every day.”


  “Meow, meow~” Ugly Duckling gazed at Amy as though it understood, and its cries became much softer.

  “Father cooked for me every single day. I have decided to cook a breakfast of love for Father today.” Amy put Ugly Duckling down after they were downstairs. She then went to carry a little stool over and stood on it. She tiptoed to reach for a little apron that was hanging next to the door.

  It was given to her by Auntie Bernice, but she had never used it before.

  Amy tied the apron on her just like her father before she carried the little stool into the kitchen. Then, she washed her hands and ran to the fridge to check on the ingredients. She seemed to be in a dilemma.

  “There is so much meat and vegetables. What should I make?”


  “Meow, meow~” Ugly Duckling said as it clawed at the fish tank with anticipation.

  “No. Father said we should have a light breakfast, so we are not having fish.” Amy shook her head.

  Ugly Duckling went to the other side of the fish tank and clawed at the compartment that held the prawns as it cried, “Meow, meow~!”


  “Prawnies are a good choice.” Amy nodded. She took a small net and struggled to scoop out two fat prawns as she stood on the stool.

  Plat. A big prawn that was unwilling to die jumped out of the net and fell onto the floor. It tried to jump toward the sewage……

  “Meow!” Ugly Duckling went over immediately. It lifted a paw and pressed on that big prawn.

  “Good job, Ugly Duckling.” Amy came over and grabbed the prawn that was as big as her hand from Ugly Duckling’s paw. “I’ll give you a prawn’s head as a reward later.”


  “Meow, meow, meow~” Ugly Duckling called out excitedly.

  “Apart from prawns, let’s have some beans, beef, mushrooms…… Oh yes, how do I turn on the fire? Never mind, I will just release a fireball…… Uh-oh! The fire seems to be too big. Why is there a hole at the bottom of the pot? Nope. Let’s start again……”


  Amy was meddling in the kitchen alone, and strange sounds came out every now and then.

  Mag was woken up by a burning smell.

  “What is that smell?” Mag opened his eyes drowsily as he naturally looked toward the little bed. He could see Amy’s sleeping form every morning, but she wasn’t in her bed today!

  “Amy!” Mag jumped up from his bed immediately and went over to touch the little bed. It was cold, so the little one had to have got up for quite a while.

  “Where is she?” Mag couldn’t even bother to change as he simply went out in his pyjamas. The smell of burnt food washed over him and made him cough as soon as he opened the door.

  What is this little one doing? Trying to burn down the house? Mag was shocked because the smoke and burnt smell obviously came from downstairs. He was having serious suspicion that there was a fire downstairs as he rushed down.

  “It still looked a little weird. I wonder if Father will like it. Come Ugly Duckling, try this……” Mag heard Amy and halted as soon as he reached the kitchen’s entrance.

  Is Amy making breakfast for me? Surprise flashed through Mag’s face. His heart immediately felt warmed. The little one had actually got up quietly and sneaked downstairs to make breakfast for him.

  Mag didn’t make a sound. Instead he peeped into the kitchen and saw a weird scene.

  Amy was holding a long soup ladle that was filled with some sticky black soup and walked slowly toward Ugly Duckling with a smile.

  Meanwhile, Ugly Duckling was backing off slowly until it was cornered. It was staring at the thick black soup with its big eyes. It was standing on its two hind legs, and was covering its face in despair.

  “It’s alright, Ugly Duckling. Although the taste is a little weird, it’s made for my father, so I got to make sure that he won’t die after eating it. So, you got to be the poison tester.” Amy removed one of Ugly Duckling’s chubby paws with a smile.

  “Meow~” Ugly Duckling looked at Amy grudgingly. Are you the devil? You don’t even know if it’s inedible, and you are feeding it to me!

  Mag didn’t know he should laugh or cry when he saw this.

  But, Mag’s smile began to fade a little as he looked at the kitchen. Even though the kitchen looked rather neat generally, there were three pots with holes in the bottom lying neatly in a row, and a fireball was dancing on the stove. She was the kitchen terminator.

  “Amy, why did you wake up so early?” Mag said to Amy with a smile as he could no longer watch Amy forcing Ugly Duckling to be the tester.

  “Father!” Amy was slightly taken aback. She hid the soup ladle behind her when she turned to look at Mag. She depressedly whispered, “Because Amy thinks Father works very hard, so I want to make breakfast for Father. But…… But……”


  “So it was Amy trying to cook breakfast for Father. No wonder I could smell a sweet aroma in my dreams earlier. Let me see, what scrumptious food did Amy make?” Mag walked into the kitchen with a smile and straight to the stove. His eyelids twitched as he looked at bubbly black stew on it.

  “This is prawns stew with beans, stewed beef, stewed mushrooms, stewed……”Amy counted with her fingers. She listed almost all the ingredients in the fridge. Then she looked at Mag expectantly. “Father, do you like it?”


  Mag looked into Amy’s big blue eyes. This little one was never interested in cooking, but in order to make him a breakfast, she had put in so much effort. Even though the smell was a little weird, the thought made him very touched. He patted Amy’s head with a smile. “Yes. Father likes it. Thank you, Amy.”