Paranoia?

Braised Chicken with Black Mushroom

"He always cooked that exact same dish...everytime he's mad at us," she thought.
And each time after that meal,
my stomach feels...abnormal.
Uneasy.
Unwell.

It writhes...as if calling out for help.

She gazed at the bowl of that dish.

Simply coincidence?
Or...did he have something up in his sleeve?

She scoffed at her absurd thoughts.

I must be thinking too much.
He is the person who brings me into this world.
The person who plays a major role in my upbringing.
Dad couldn't possibly have the heart to....poison us.
...
......
..........
right?

She recalled the incident earlier....

Mom had an argument with Dad.
Like their previous arguments, it revolved around...

Her brother.

This time, Dad's unhappy about the huge hole Little Brother dug in the front lawn.
It's been weeks...but that's EXACTLY how long Dad has been fuming.

Even the after-rain cooling effect of the rainy season didn't help much.
It only escalated the issue to higher heights.

Thanks to the endless rain, the hole's now filled with dark murky water.
Guess who resides around the rim of the hole?!

Mosquitoes' larvaes.

So, Dad's adamant about Little Brother filling up the hole.

You'd think this simple problem would be easily solved in no time.
But with a guy like Little Brother.....*sigh* dream on!
His stubborn and rebellious streak best defined him.
He just let Dad's words went into the right ear, and flew out the left ear!

"If you don't fill up the hole, I will beat you into pulp using the wooden baseball bat!"

Not even Dad's threats got into him.
Sometimes....I swear he's being foolishly fearless.

"You'd better tell him to fill that hole up or I won't hesitate to use the knife on him!"
Dad was barking at Mom.

Dad was always like that.
Shooting Mom when he did not get what he wanted.

And right now,
only Dad, her Sis and her eats at the dining table.
Mom?
Outside filling up the hole.

-------
Meal over.
She can't help but take notice of the number of times Dad take a scoop of that dish.

Three times.

Only three times out of that huge bowl.

She sucked in the air sharply.
Her stomach felt like thousands of needles poking into the wall.

....

Is she being paranoid?