Can you cook?

It was weird to have Tom sit beside her at the front seat. He always stayed behind but had joined her in the front when his friends carpooled with them. 

So why was he still sitting at the front now that they were no longer with them?

'It's none of my business.' She reminded herself and continued to drive. 

"I am starving. What would you like to eat?" He asked her with his gaze fixed on his phone. 

"I am not hungry." She answered with her gaze on the road. 

"You've been busy since morning. There's a restaurant that sells really good food at the front. I'll place an order now and go get it by the time we arrive there." He informed her and continued with his phone. 

She noticed he was having great difficulty in using his left hand alone. But well, that was his fault, and his business.

She had warned him earlier today not to touch her anymore. But he had held her hand and led her back to where the car was and even went as far as opening the driver's seat door for her after pulling his hand from hers.

She could not understand him one bit. She had a problem with reading people properly. The only emotion she could easily detect was fear, when a person was telling lies, or when they were trying to hurt her.

Hwang Thomas was so unreadable. 

"Can you cook?" He asked while placing his phone inside his pocket.

Lisa's hands tightened around the steering wheel as she thought about the best answer to give to him. 

"Wait what? Don't tell me you do not know how to cook?" He sat up and turned to face her when he noticed her hesitation.

Now, that was going to be a big problem. Her bio had stated that she was an orphan who had led a tough life and grew to take care of herself. Would it make sense that she didn't know how to cook even a simple meal? 

She would have been fully prepared for this if Tom had not suddenly asked for a female bodyguard out of the blue. But because he had done that unexpectedly, she could not start learning how to do basic chores in case of emergencies.

"I...can cook." She closed her eyes for a split second as she lied. 

She convinced herself that there was always YouTube to help. She was never going to disgrace her clan like this. 

Tom sighed in relief. "Great then. Would have made dinner but—" He lifted his arm to show her it was in a cast. 

"So could you please make us dinner?" He asked with shiny eyes. 

Lisa had never been so nervous in her entire life.  But she was able to mask it so he wouldn't notice it. 

"No problem" She assured him before pulling over by the side of the restaurant he showed her.

She was a bit surprised because she had thought it was a very big restaurant but this one was simple and small. It didn't look like the kind of place a politician's son cum CEO would choose to eat.

After she turned off the car, the both of them remained seated inside. 

Tom looked at her and blinked twice. 

She also looked at him and wondered why he was looking at her with such expression. 

It finally dawned on Tom that she was never going to offer to go inside the restaurant to go take the order. He couldn't understand her. She had hurt him, and was still expecting him to do everything? Tsk!

He opened the door and walked out. 

   **********

"Why aren't you leaving?" Anna asked Joel when he continued to wait with her. 

"Can't you see how crowded this place is? Am I supposed to just leave you here? As a gentleman, I have to wait till your boyfriend comes" He adjusted his shirt's collar proudly.

"What could probably happen to me? Some terrorists would come kidnap me to threaten my soldier boyfriend?" She tolled her eyes. 

"Anything can happen my dear. So just let me do what I need to do before leaving." 

Anna cross her arm in front of her chest and turned to face him.

"Why do you both still treat me like a kid? I'm 27 for goodness sake!" She reminded him for the umpteenth time.

The boys had always been protective of her. But now, she was an adult and they needed to understand that.

"You'll always remain a kid to Tom and I. Relax" He used a hand to pat her head and as he did so, a car pulled over. 

A man in a full military uniform stepped out of the car and saluted Anna. 

Joel frowed when he realised it wasn't her Boyfriend, Jianjong, but a low ranked soldier instead.

"Apologies Miss Kang. Colonel Feng is unavailable at the moment and had asked to drop you off at wherever you would like to go to."

"What do you mean by he is unavailable? We spoke on the phone two hours ago and he promised he was going to come." Anna asked with a deep frown. This was going to be the fifth time he had stood her up.

"Apologizes Miss Kang. It was very important so he had to hurry." 

Joel watched her force out a smile. He knew she was embarrassed. More embarrassed because he was right there.

Anna eyed the young soldier and quickly flagged down a taxi when she saw one. 

"Miss Kang, we were asked to take you home" He explained but she was not paying him any attention. 

She entered inside and waited for Joel to join her before she asked the driver to move.

She closed her eyes and used a hand to massage her temple as she tried to control the anger she was feeling.

"They are following us" Joel informed her when he turned to see the car following them.

"Yes. That's how they keep bugging like flies every time." 

"Every time? How many times has this happened to you? What kind of man stands his girlfriend up?" He asked while trying to suppress his anger. 

"A man that cares about his country." She answered sarcastically before closing her eyes. "I don't want to talk about this. And keep this from Tom. He always likes to behave rashly."

 "And why do you think I won't behave rashly and go beat him up?" 

"You want to beat up a colonel?" She asked in amusement. "Well go ahead, I guess you must be tired of living"

          *************

 Lisa watched from the car as Tom came out of the restaurant with an elderly woman who held a bag that contained their order in her hand.

She saw the woman looking at his injured arm with worry in her eyes. 

Lisa followed his mouth movement and made out the words "I am fine." After which he laughed and took the bag from her hand even though the woman was reluctant to release it.

''That looks different'' Lisa commented as she watched him laugh.

She had seen him smile a lot but the one she was seeing now looked different and genuine.

As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't deny the fact that he was good looking. If he wasn't her employer and if she didn't dislike him already, she wouldn't have thought of it as a bad idea to play with him a little.

She saw him turn and use his hand to signal for her to come over.

She also noticed the woman was looking at her.

Reluctantly, she got down and strolled towards them.

"Hello Young Lady. How do you do?" The older woman asked with a bright smile that revealed the crow's-feet in both corner of her eyes.

For a moment, Lisa was stunned. Her voice sounded very much like her mother's. But she quickly shook that thought out.

"I.... I am fine. Thank you" She managed to say with a stutter, causing Tom to raise his brow.

"I heard you did that to him. Please, be gentle with him. I know he behaves rashly sometimes but he is just like a big baby who needs to be handled with care. Here, take this" She took the bag from Tom, who was smiling to see that the older lady was taking his side— and gave the bag to Lisa.

"Whenever you are hungry, just come. I'll make you something really delicious." She smiled once again to Lisa.

Lisa took the bag from her and nodded slowly.

"Thank..you" She managed to say in a low voice.

"I need to get back to work. Have a nice day you two." She waved them goodbye before going back to fix things inside.