13 - Hide and Seek!

“I think I'll be on my way.”

Oli said, heading towards the door.

"Wait! Have you ever had coffee? If you want, you can stay here. I can do something. Although you are a much better cook than I am, so I don't think I could make something as tasty.”

Carly said, with a humorless laugh.

“I'd love to, but I need to get this to my uncle. He said it was urgent, but see you later, right?”

Oli confirmed once again.

"All good. For sure!"

Carly smiled.

So Oli left.

Upon arriving at the apartment, he looked for Daniel, who was sitting on the floor in the studio, watching the amp closely.

“Here is Uncle.”

Oli said, handing the screwdriver to Daniel.

“Finally you have arrived. Now I can finish this. I just need to get these screws out, and…”

As Daniel spoke, it was noticeable that he didn't really know what he was doing. He just turned a few screws trying to disassemble random parts.

“Do you know what you are doing?”

Oli asked, curious but already knowing the truth.

“Pffff! Of course I know."

Daniel replied, looking away in embarrassment.

“Why don't you look up some tutorials on the internet? On some blog, I don't know. There must be someone teaching how to do it.”

Oli recommended, handing over the laptop that was in the studio to Daniel.

"I do not need. I know very well what I'm doing.”

Daniel grunted confidently.

Oli knew that Daniel was just acting like any other parent, that he never needed help doing manual tasks, even if he didn't know what he was doing.

“Hahah. All right then."

Oli chuckled, and left the studio.

A few seconds later, looking at the door, Daniel took the laptop and started looking for tutorials on how to fix amplifiers on the internet without Oli knowing.

“Big Oli! Big Oli! Let's play?"

In the afternoon, Emy appeared skipping in Oli's room, with a crown on her head.

"Hey princess!"

Oli said, admiring the crown on her head.

"You look beautiful! What do you want to play?”

He completed, with a welcoming smile on his face.

“Emy wants to play hide and seek!”

Emy said, forcing a huge smile on her face to try and convince Oli.

“Who starts hiding?”

Oli said, asking the little girl.

“Emy wants to hide first! Oli counts to ten before looking for Emy. BYE!”

Emy ran out the door desperately, while letting out a cozy laugh, without even waiting for Oli's answer.

Oli smiled and turned to the wall.

“1… 2… 3…”

As Oli tells it, Emy looked around the apartment, looking for the perfect place to hide.

[Emy's Commentary]

Emy was sitting on the couch, kicking her little legs in the air excitedly.

“Oli is great at hide and seek, but Emy is much better than him! He will never find Emy… Only if Emy wants to.”

[Commentary Ends]

“8… 9… 10… AND THERE I GO!”

Oli shouted at Emy.

Upon leaving the room, Oli came across Bella sitting at the kitchen table, painting her nails with a blue nail polish and merengue music playing very softly, which made the game much more fun.

“EMY?”

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

“I WILL FIND YOU!”

He started pacing the room, looking for Emy, and yelling loudly, teasingly.

As he searched, he began to hear some giggles from under the table where Bella was painting her nails.

Then, he looked towards the table, which had a tablecloth spread over it, and noticed the toe of a pink sneaker sticking out of the tablecloth.

Oli looked at Bella, who smiled, finding it funny, and went back to painting her nails.

“I wonder where Emy is, huh?”

Oli said, slowly approaching the tablecloth.

As he got closer, the giggles got louder.

“Is she… HERE?”

Oli yelled, opening the closet door.

"Hmm, it's not here!"

He said, causing Emy to laugh.

“How about… HERE!”

He yelled, opening the fridge door to look for Emy, causing her to giggle under the table.

Bella snickered at Emy's infectious laugh.

Oli walked slowly towards the tablecloth, silently, making Emy not know where he was.

"I THOUGHT!"

Oli put his head under the table quickly, causing Emy to get scared and run out from under.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

She screamed desperately as she ran away.

"COME HERE!"

Oli joked and ran towards Emy, who ran laughing desperately.

He reached the little girl and picked her up, placing her gently on the couch and tickling her belly.

“Let go of Emmy! HAHAHAHA! Let Emmy go!”

Emy started to laugh desperately, while trying to throw pillows at Oli.

After a few minutes, Oli let Emy escape the tickle.

“Wow, I need to start getting things ready for the movie at Carly!”

Oli said, looking at his watch.

It was 3 hours before the time they had planned, but Oli wanted to bring them some snacks to eat while they watched the movies.

“Is O-Oli going to see the girls today?”

Emy said sadly, approaching Oli.

“I will, princess. Why? What it was?"

Oli bent down to look into Emy's eyes.

“Because Emy wanted to be with Big Oli!”

Emy started whimpering and hugged Oli, with a strong grip.

“Oh, you don't need to cry. Hm… How about we cook together? Then you can enjoy more time with me and still fill that sweet tummy. What do you think?"

Oli said, hugging Emy back.

“Big Oli wants help from Emy? In truth?"

Emy said, her eyes sparkling.

"Of course. Emy is the best cook I have ever seen.”

Oli said, with a warm smile for Emy.

Then they went to the kitchen. Oli organized the ingredients for buttered popcorn, chocolate and salty cookies, while Emy put the little pink apron on herself.

“First, let's make buttered popcorn. Do you want to help put the corn in the pot?”

Oli said, picking Emy up in his arms to place her on top of a stool.

“YESSS!”

Emy said, raising her little arms excitedly.

“Can you put 5 tablespoons of butter in the pan for me, please?”

Oli said, handing Emy a spoon and a pot of butter.

As Emy struggled to get the butter out of the wrapper, Bella appeared behind her with a hair tie, and began to tie Emy's hair into a ponytail.

Oli turned on the stove flame and placed the pan with butter on top to melt.

“Okay, now can you get me 3 cups of corn, mini chef?”

Oli asked, going to get the packet of corn from the freezer.

“Why did you keep the corn in the freezer?”

Bella asked, curious.

“Oh, to make homemade popcorn, we need to store the popcorn kernels in the freezer. That way, when you pop the popcorn in the pan, all the corns will pop, with none left.”

Oli explained gently.

Emy filled the glass with the corn.

"Like this?"

She said, lifting the glass towards Oli carefully, trying not to spill any grains.

"Perfect!"

Oli said, taking the glass from Emy's small hand.

Before adding the cup of corn to the pan with the melted butter, he put a little oil in the pan to keep the popcorn from sticking to the pan, and then added the corn carefully so the hot butter wouldn't jump on his hand. from him.

After a few minutes, the popcorn started popping and the movie smell began to spread throughout the apartment.

“Wow, it smells like movie theater popcorn.”

Bella said, enjoying the savory smell coming from the pan.

“That's the point, Mommy!”

Emy said, making a thumbs up with her hand towards Bella.

Oli took a large bowl of popcorn and poured in the buttered popcorn. The popcorn looked great, a little yellowed from the butter, which made it even more appetizing.

“Can Emy eat?”

Emy said, her eyes hungry.

"Of course you can! I'll put some out for you."

Popcorn was something very easy and quick to make, so he made sure to give them some and start making more.

He put a pinch of salt on top before handing it over.

Emy filled her hand with popcorn and stuffed it in her mouth, her cheeks puffing out.

“Wow, this is amazing. It's better than movie popcorn.”

Bella said, eating some, while Emy couldn't even speak she was devouring the popcorn so fast.

“Are you eating popcorn?”

Daniel appeared in the room, mesmerized by the smell.

"Yes. The Oli who prepared it, do you want to try it?”

Bella said, offering the bucket of popcorn to Daniel.

“My God in heaven, Oli.”

Daniel said, feeling the crunch of popcorn.

"It's much better than that crappy bagged popcorn on the market."

He said, stuffing a whole handful of popcorn into his mouth, just like Emy.

“Have manners!”

Bella scolded, eating her popcorn calmly.

“I promise I will as soon as the popcorn is finished!”

Daniel said, filling his belly with popcorn along with Emy.