Chapter 30

RJ was outside sitting on the porch, so only Valin was inside, sitting on the couch alone and typing so quickly that his fingers were a blur. I'm surprised his laptop hasn't exploded from all the kinetic energy he's creating. He looked up at us smiling.

"Nice of you two to finally get up." He stated with a hint of passive aggression. Zai left my side and flicked his forehead, Valin stopped typing and screamed, instantly raising his hands to protect himself. "What?! Whatever it is, I'm sorry!" That's when Zai started whispering threats, I know they were threats because of how frightened Valin looked, even though Zai's expression was the same as always, amused. Zai then sat down next to his brother and pulled me down into his lap. RJ came inside at that moment and said,

"Snowe your eyes are puffy, have you been crying?" I hid my face, Valin was literally crying right beside me but he instead chose to point out my eyes?! He then approached Valin, saying, "Move over." So he would make room for RJ to sit next to Zai.

"You're heartless! I'm hurting right now!" Valin complained, but he still moved over nonetheless.

"You're not going out today?" He asked, ignoring Valin completely.

"Snowe is off of work today," Zai replied while hugging me closer.

"I see... Does that mean you're cooking tonight?" RJ asked, directed at me.

"I... sure." I hadn't really thought of it.

"Yeah, and the house is a mess," Valin joined in, regaining his composure completely. Zai shot him a glare, causing him to tense up.

"You're right, ever since Snowe married me, she's been slacking off," Zai said while stroking my thigh. "I can clean and cook better and faster than her, but it feels nice to let someone else do it." I gasped and touched his hand to signal him to stop rubbing me.

"Why are you talking about me like I'm not here!?" I questioned and Zai chuckled lightly, before looking at his brothers and saying,

"It's time you learned how to take care of yourself." Zai's words struck Valin hard but Rai just started ordering food from an app on his phone.

"I just want to eat food cooked by a cute girl! What's wrong with that?!" Then he groaned and stomped upstairs. Every time I think I've gotten used to Valin he opens his mouth and shows me he's not normal. But none of the brothers I've met are normal, I guess. There are 3 left... I wonder if I'll ever see them.

"I'll make lunch for the two of us at least," I stated, pulling away from Zai's warm embrace. His face flashed with disappointment momentarily before it was covered back up with his usual display of cheer.

"I'll help you." He offered and followed me into the kitchen, to make sandwiches and fries. As I was slicing potatoes he started kissing me and moving his hands under my shirt.

"Zai... you're distracting me." He acted as if he didn't hear me, with one hand going up towards my breast and one going downwards. "I'm holding a knife," I added as a warning. He laughed lightly and asked,

"Is that a threat? Should I be worried?" That's when I noticed RJ in the living room looking at us. When our eyes met he looked away and left the house. Zai... said I should start saying "No" to him... and I know that if I make half-hearted excuses instead of denying him he won't take it seriously.

"Zai... stop. Not right now." At that moment he actually paused in his movements. Then a second later he was away from me and silent. I finished chopping the potatoes into fries but it was super awkward! The tension in this room is too much. Why is he so quiet? Is he mad? RJ came back inside and said,

"I ordered food,"

"Oh great!" Zai replied, "Tell Valin we made enough for him after all" No we didn't, there are only 2 sub sandwiches! "... I'm going out for a while." He added and as I opened my mouth to speak he was out the door... He's definitely mad at me. The anxiety that overcame me made me lose my appetite.

"Snowe... the grease is smoking," RJ said snapping me out of my thoughts, so I turned off the stove.

"You know Zai, well... did he seem angry to you?"

"I don't care," RJ replied. That's when a few tears started to appear and I quickly wiped them away. RJ definitely noticed since he put down the phone that he had been staring at for the past 5 minutes, and approached me with a paper towel. "Hey... don't cry..." He pleaded. I sniffled then he started to wipe my tears. "He didn't look upset..." I took the towel from him and stepped away.

"Thank you... You can have my portion too." I offered. RJ glared at the uncooked potatoes I left in a bowl.

"How long do you fry these for?" I sighed then pushed through my feelings to finish cooking, Valin came downstairs just as the food was done and shouted excitedly,

"I got your text!" To RJ, "I'm so glad you decided to cook for us anyway." He said, this time to me.

"Yeah," I actually didn't... I just lost my appetite and Zai abandoned his food because I turned him down. Why did I tell him to stop? There's no doubt that I was in the same mood as him as soon as I felt his fingers on my bare skin. But When I looked at Rai, I suddenly felt ashamed ... I definitely pissed Zai off, he hates me, what if he doesn't come back home, what if he never touches me again? What can I do to make him forgive me? Do I turn back time? Beg?

I was hugging my knees and weeping on the front porch, the moon was shining bright and there was a chill in the air. I don't even know how many hours it had been when Zai finally arrived back home.

"What are you doing?" He asked, and at the sound of his voice, I leaped up and held him.

"I'm so sorry! I'll never say No to you again! Don't hate me..." Zai pried my arms from around him and sighed, before planting a kiss on my lips, that took my breath away.

"Dummy, you can tell me no hundreds, or hundreds of thousands of times and I would still be in love with you."

"Then, why did you leave?" My voice squeaked slightly as I asked this question. Probably because what he said caused me so much relief that I was close to crying again for a whole new reason.

"I needed to cool off, Snowe... You said No, so but... that doesn't stop me from being turned on. I took a walk."

"You didn't... take a walk to another woman did you?" Zai chuckled at my question and then kissed me again, this time repeatedly, while holding me close.

"Who knows," He replied teasingly then I bit his ear. "Ow!" He yelled, and I pouted.

"You better give me a straight answer!" I shouted in a huff. Zai smiled and began affectionately locking his lips with mine again; I felt all the anxiety leave my body. At that same moment, he looked down into my eyes with a genuine, brilliant, smile, his eyes sparkled and his cheek dimples were showing.

"There's no woman in my life, but you." I could tell he was being honest, so I embraced him and laid my head against his chest.

"I'm glad you came back." I cooed. Zai then picked me up with my thighs gripping his waist and carried me inside.

"I'm doing my best for you... Snowe... don't forget that."

"Were you REALLY going to ... you know, go all the way with me in the kitchen... with your brother watching?" I asked as he carried me upstairs.

"Of course not... but I was about 10 seconds away from carrying you into the bathroom."

"We had just done it less than an hour ago and I was cooking!" I started trying to bring some rationality to the conversation.

"I wasn't hungry." He replied. I sighed and whispered.

"I'm hungry... I was so upset when you left that I didn't even eat." That's when he stopped marching up the stairs and turned around completely. Zai made his way to the kitchen and then placed me on one of the barstools around the kitchen counter. He looked through the fridge and cabinets, sometimes moving so fast that he became a blur, placing a package of chicken, seasonings, flowers, and vegetables across the counter. It was as if the produce chopped itself then I watched as he cleaned the skin of the chin delicately with a knife then rinsed it afterward tossing 2 pieces into a bowl of seasoning on the counter and putting the rest away... He was then seated beside me slumped over the counter.

"I have to wait for the stove to get hot." He informed me, that's when I noticed the 2 skillets and pots on the stove.

"What are you making?" I asked. Even the spices alone smelled delicious.

"I prefer to surprise you. But you should be able to guess without me saying anything..." He then got up and washed his hands, and put on the black apron, I hadn't seen in a while. He went back to cooking and It was about 30 minutes later when everything appeared to be done. He set a plate before me with one of the pieces of chicken and rice with stir-fried vegetables on top. Then he sat next to me with a plate of his own. "Sorry, I didn't have time to marinate the meat." I lifted the drumstick in front of me and took a bite.

"The skin is so crispy!" He rolled his eyes.

"Duh."

"And it's so yummy! What kind of cooking style is this?" He smiled cockily,

"You haven't had fried Chicken before?" I shook my head, no. "Life on Infaniya sounds even more bleak than I originally thought." He ate with me quietly as I raved about the food, I could tell he was flattered by the look on his face.

(In the future I ordered fried chicken a few times from several restaurants but none of them tasted as good as what Zai had served me.)