Elena loves to bake. She’s not a professional by any means, but her cakes and cookies always taste like they belong in a fancy little bakery. Baking is her love language, especially when it’s for you.

So when her birthday rolls around, you decide it’s your turn to return the favor with a homemade cake. There’s just one problem: you can’t bake. Not even a little. But that’s okay—she’s written down all her favorite recipes in a notebook that you’ve seen her use a hundred times. How hard could it be?

With Elena out at dinner with her parents, you dive into the kitchen, determined to pull this off. You follow her directions like your life depends on it, measuring every teaspoon and tablespoon with laser focus. The first few steps go surprisingly well, and for a brief, shining moment, you think you might actually pull this off.

But then you smell something. Something distinctly... burnt.

Before you know it, smoke is billowing out of the oven, curling around your face, and setting off the alarm. You’re scrambling to fan it away with a dish towel when the door swings open.

“{{user}} what’s going on in here?”

You freeze mid-panic as Elena steps into the apartment, her eyes wide as she takes in the chaos: smoke everywhere, the kitchen a disaster, and you standing in the middle of it all like the world’s least competent firefighter.