Chapter 13- Inviting her for dinner

Abigail looked at him who was busy brewing coffee in the kitchen and was not aware of her intense gaze. The smile on her face was still there. She sat on the couch and kept looking at him, holding her chin on her right palm and placing her elbow on the armrest of the couch. When she first met him, she hated him and didn’t want to see his face. But now, she was not tired of watching him. In fact, she started enjoying his company.

It didn’t take much longer for him to brew the coffee, and he came out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee in his hands. He passed one cup to her and said, “I hope you will like it.” He grinned widely.

“Hmm. Let me taste first.” She took a sip of the hot coffee carefully and licked her lips as if she was savoring its taste. “Hmm… Not bad.” She smiled and took another sip. “Not at all bad. I like it.”

“Well, thank you.”

“I didn’t know that you can brew such a nice coffee.” She narrowed her eyes and gazed at him. Amazement spread in her eyes.

He chuckled and said, “I am a good cook too.”

“You are kidding me, right?”

“Wanna try?”

She laughed and asked, “Are you inviting me to dinner?” She gazed at him, raising her eyebrows. Amusement was evident in her eyes.

“I guess I am.” He was grinning from ear to ear.

“Hmm.” She hummed, nodding her head, and stared at him curiously. “Alright. I accept your invitation.”

She actually came here to talk about the relationship between Aidan and Erica, but now, this matter totally slipped out of her mind. She was enjoying the company of Charles. They chatted on trivial matters while sipping coffee.

After that, Charles headed to the kitchen to cook, and Abigail also followed him. Charles asked her to sit down and watch TV, but she insisted on helping him in the kitchen. He let out a low chuckle and said, “Okay. Then help in washing the vegetables.”

“Alright.”

He took out broccoli, beans, bell peppers from the refrigerator and gave them to her for washing. Then he took out some sausages from the freezer and put them on a plate. While she was busy washing vegetables, he peeled off some potatoes and put them in a vessel to boil. By then, she finished washing the vegetables and asked, “So, what can I do next?” “Go and rest for a while. It will not take much time to cook.”

But she didn’t want to sit and watch him cook. She wanted to help him. “No… Let me help you. In this way, I can also learn how to cook.” She was looking at him with hope.

He leveled the stare with her, squinting his eyes, mouth slightly open. She was really a stubborn woman, and she would do whatever she wanted. At last, he allowed her to help her, “Then, can you cut the sausages?”

“Sure.” She answered excitedly, grinning widely.

He passed a knife and a chopping board to her and said, “Be careful. Chop the sausages, not your fingers.”

“Whatever.” She pouted and took the packet of sausages.

He laughed softly and busied himself in cutting the vegetables and boiling the potatoes.

Abigail was cutting the sausages very slowly and carefully. She was scared of getting hurt, and mostly, she was afraid of blood. Despite her fear, she was persistent in helping him. It was almost done, and she was glad to think that she had done something in the kitchen for the first time. She said, “You know what, this is my first time with the knife. I even didn’t cut fruits with my own hands.”

“Ah…” Before she could finish speaking the last sentence properly, she screamed in pain.

Startled, Charles dropped the knife and turned around frantically to look at her.

“My finger, my finger…” She kept yelling, shaking her hand.

“Stop shouting.” He grabbed her wrist and said sternly in his authoritative tone. “Don’t move, okay?”

Abigail instantly stopped shouting and looked at him timidly. Tears already started collecting inside her eyes. Charles turned on the tap and put her hands under the running water. He helped her wash her hands. The cut on her index finger was a little deep, and the blood was still oozing out of the wound. Abigail suppressed the impulse to scream, and she closed her eyes. Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably.

Charles lowered his head and put her finger inside his mouth to suck the blood. His action was instinctive.

When Abigail felt warmth in her finger, she opened her eyes and looked at him, only to see her fingers inside his mouth. Her heart thumped loudly, and her breathing ceased.

Charles came to his senses and lifted his eyelids to look at her, only to meet her curious gaze. He skipped a beat and stared at her deep blue eyes earnestly.

For a few seconds, they only gazed at each other without a word. After a while, she cleared her throat and called him in a low voice, “Charles…”

Only then did he realize that her finger was still inside his mouth. He quickly pulled her finger out of his mouth and looked down at it. The bleeding had already stopped. He said hoarsely, “There is no blood is coming out now.” He cleared his throat and added, “Let me put a bandaid on it.”

He walked out of the kitchen and headed to his room. A few minutes later, he came out of his room with a bandaid in his hand. He wrapped the bandaid on her injured finger. He stole a glance at her and said, “Uh… Go and sit in the living room.”

This time, she didn’t oppose him. Nodding her head, she exited the kitchen and went to the living room.

Finally, he was done cooking, almost an hour later. He served the food, and they both started eating quietly. After the dinner, she stated happily, “Wow, it was really good. Thank you for the dinner.”

“Don’t thank. I am glad you like it.” He paused for a while before asking her, “So, what do you want to ask me?”

Abigail’s expression changed instantly, and her smile vanished the moment he asked this question. This entire evening she enjoyed with him and totally forgot about Aidan. His words forced her to remember about Aidan with Erica, and the bitterness spread within her. Truly speaking, she didn’t want to talk about Aidan, but she couldn’t avoid his question either. She came here to clear her doubts, and without that, she couldn’t go back. She looked at him and asked, “Who is Erica Barrett? What is her relationship with Aidan? Are they together?”

“Miss Barrett?” He squinted his eyes and cast a suspicious look at her. Now only did he figure out why she said last night that Aidan was cheating on her. “She is a model and the brand ambassador of our company.”

“That I know. I want to know if they are together or not.” Her tone was sharp with a tinge of annoyance.

“I… actually speaking, I don’t know either. Uh… they are spotted together on many occasions, at business parties and press conferences. She also followed Mr. Thomson in business lunch and client meetings. They also have some friendly dinner. This may create doubts in people’s minds, but I don’t think that they are together. Their relationship is only professional, nothing more than that.”

“Are you sure?”

She looked at him doubtfully. She had complex feelings in her mind. After this clarification, she should jump up and down happily, but who knew why she was not feeling happy. She unexpectedly expected him to say that Aidan was cheating on her with that woman.

“Well… I… uh… I am not a mind reader, and I am not quite sure what exactly Mr. Thompson thinks about Miss Barrett. I also don’t know if he had a secret relationship with her. But for all I know, he is not with her.”

Here Charles neither cleared her doubt nor said that Aidan was cheating on her. If he wanted to, he could have made it clear that nothing was going on between Erica and Aidan, but he didn’t do that. In his heart, he wanted to create a rift between Abigail and Aidan. He wished her to doubt Aidan more and more. In short, he hoped that she would break up with Aidan. After spending time with her, he realized that he had started to develop feelings for her. He enjoyed her company, and he wanted her to be his side. He willfully wanted to win her heart.

Surprisingly, Abigail, on the other end, didn’t feel that much pain in her heart like earlier. Now, she didn’t want to waste her time wondering whether Aidan had deceived her or not. She wanted to enjoy every moment with Charles. She felt rejuvenated with him. All her worries and tension just vanished from her mind the moment she saw him, which is why she didn’t remember Aidan at all this evening.

This feeling was new to her. She was happier with Charles than Aidan. She always longed for love and care from Aidan, but he never gave her that in these past five years. He gave her many expensive gifts and took her to the fancy restaurants to dine, but she never experienced the warmth and care from Aidan that she was getting with Charles. She became greedy and wanted it more and more. She no longer cared about if Aidan was with Erica or not. The only thing she desired now was to stay with Charles.