Inktober 2025 - 27 - Onion

When he came home from work that night, he found the house darker than expected, given his girlfriend should have already been home. There was usually a very clear light coming from the kitchen, any room upstairs, or the living room, but tonight, there was only a faint glow emanating from that last room. Perplexed, he hung up his coat and bag as he always did, and went to enquire what was going on. Maybe there was a power outage and she hadn't known how to rearm the circuit breaker? The rest of the street definitely had power; he'd seen streetlights and lit up windows around him as he made his way in.

"Honey! Welcome home!"

His girlfriend was indeed there, surrounded by candles, but that was not all. First of all, the candles were scented, which meant they had not been picked simply out of necessity. Second, there were bouquets of fresh flowers here and there, which was unusual. Finally, their coffee table was covered in all his favourite treats: chocolate, candy, and pop corn. 

"Er… What is going on?"

It was not his birthday, nor Valentine's day. He was also pretty sure today was not an anniversary of any kind for them. So, what was the occasion for all this?

"Well, you're always so thoughtful, when I'm feeling a bit down, trying to make me feel better or at the very least safe, if you can't cheer me up, so I figured I'd return the favour, for once."

"All right… Are you proposing to me? Is that what is happening?"

"What? No! We have never even talked about this. I wouldn't just drop it on you without discussing it first. Wait… Are you expecting to be proposed to?"

"No! Like you've just said, we haven't even talked about it, so we're on the same page. But then… I'm confused."

"It's fine. You don't have to tell me what's bothering you. We can just cuddle and watch one of those very old and terribly paced black and white movies you still like from your hipster phase. I just… I don't want you to feel like you have to face things alone, like I'm not here to support you."

"Back up: why do you think anything is bothering me? Did something happen that I don't know about?"

She did not look like she was apologising or making up for anything. Did they have a fight he was not aware of?

"You don't have to play strong with me. I heard you crying in the kitchen, when I came home last night."

At first, he frowned, and then he started laughing.

"Sweetie. I love you, and this is amazing, even more so because you planned it in a single day, but the reason I was crying yesterday is because I was chopping onions."

"Nice try: we both hate onions."

"We do. But the girl in charge of the work picnic gave each of us very specific instructions on what to bring. And my dish required onions."