Chapter 111
Despite that, he never took it. Thus, the man still deserved his credit for his honor and kindness, which was why she couldn‘t leave him be. Frustrated, she walked back to Matthew‘s side. Due to her anger, her pale face visibly reddened, and because of that, she appeared rather charming.
Having witnessed what happened, Matthew softly quizzed, “Why help him if you‘re that mad?” Few moments ago when the masked man appeared, Matthew wanted to eliminate him right away, but Veronica‘s words and gestures reflected that she was an insightful woman. Besides, he shouldn‘t be meddling in any of her personal affairs, unless it was an issue she couldn‘t resolve, that was. That was the basic respect he had for her.
“Hmph. He… Forget it. I‘m hungry, and I‘ll just be wasting my life away talking to him anyway.” As she was venting, she snatched the meat skewer in Matthew‘s hand and impatiently took a bite, only for her lips to be burned by the scorching hot food. “Ah, it‘s still hot! Damn it all!” With problems stacking on top of each other, she couldn‘t help but feel irritated. For some reason, her annoyed look made her seem like the whiny little girl next door, and Matthew was entertained by it.
Thereupon, the man grabbed the meat skewer in her hand and cut it into bites with his dagger before picking a piece up with the tip of the dagger. He then blew the heat off and placed it before her mouth. “Here.”
Famished, Veronica thoughtlessly nommed it down, and instantly, her face froze. She turned to Matthew with a frown. “It tastes… so bad…” Without salt, it was supposed to taste bland, but the meat was awful!
“Bad?” Baffled, Matthew had a taste for himself, to which he, too, revealed a glower. The meat was dry and carried a strong taste of burntness along with the bloody flesh underneath. The skin was burned but the flesh was thoroughly uncooked. In that instant, awkwardness surged on his handsome face.
“Do you perhaps only know how to cook porridge, Matthew?” She recalled the time when they shared a room, including the second day spent uphill, where Matthew would only prepare porridge for meals and nothing else apart from that. Now that she thought about it, he seemed to have cooked nothing else.
With the truth laid out in the open, Matthew turned away with a sharp gaze. “It‘s up to you, then.” His silence, to Veronica, was an implicit acknowledgment of the fact that he knew nothing of culinary except for preparing porridges. ·
“You know what… To be fair, it‘s already a merit for a busy man like you to know how to cook porridge. Mhm, a merit, indeed.” After throwing out those highly perfunctory words, she noiselessly grabbed the meat in his hand and started chewing. Regardless of the rawness of the meat, she could only bear the burnt odor on top of the fleshy stink in order to fill her stomach. She proceeded to take a few more bites. No matter how hungry she was, she had to admit it. It‘s so f*cking bad! I swear even poison doesn‘t taste this bad!
“Blargh!” Her forceful attempt to take in the meat only ended up in belches.
With that, Matthew‘s face instantly stiffened, though he couldn‘t help but feel sorry for her. “Don‘t force yourself if it‘s that bad.” He took the meat away from her hands and handed her his gun. “Take this. I‘ll go look for something.” Having said that, he shot the masked man a warning leer before turning around and leaving.
“Hey, where are you going?” Seeing as Matthew was about to leave, Veronica suddenly felt her insecurities arise all over again, but she failed to notice how dependent she was toward Matthew.
However, the man departed without even turning back, to which she mumbled, “You‘re not abandoning me here alone, are you, Matthew?” He‘s not leaving me behind because his pride was hurt after seeing me about to throw up because of the food he made, is he?
Hearing that, Matthew stopped walking. Her words—“You‘re not abandoning me here alone, are you?“–echoed in his mind. Simple words that carried so much helplessness fondled the softest spot in the man‘s heart that immediately soured. His stunning face revealed a vague beam. “What are you talking about, silly?” Utmost warmth and adoration was evident in that smile. Sadly, a hard–headed woman like Veronica couldn‘t sense the tenderness underneath his words.
“That‘s better. No matter what, you‘re still my bro. If you dare to abandon me, I‘ll make sure to tell Grandma about it!” She voiced her threat and pouted her lips.
She must have been a boulder in her past life to be so ignorant and oblivious toward his subtle, loving hints. Upon her words, his smile turned into a frozen grin, and his eyes visibly darkened.
Realizing something was off, she nervously questioned, “Hey, Matthew, y–you‘re not actually abandoning me, are you? T–That‘s not cool at all! Not one bit!” God had just gifted her a path to survival, and now that the path seemed to be closing down, she would have nothing else to turn to. Bearing that in mind, she was utterly agitated. Swiftly, she stood up and hurriedly limped before Matthew. Gripping his arm, she piliably pursed her lips. “I was just joking. It‘s not that bad, really! It‘s just… a liule burned, but other than that, it‘s all good! Mhm, just like… just like how people like
their meat medium rare. It was splendid! But a country girl like me wouldn‘t know to appreciate it, right? Heh…” In order to please him, she racked her brains to think up such a speech and somehow managed to recover his pride.
Nonetheless, Matthew was used to her sly trickeries. His instinct was to shove her away, but seeing her so petty–her dirty cheeks and her unkempt shoulder–length hair as well as her soiled garment as if she was a kid that was just done playing in the dirt, he had mixed feelings. Topping that were her desperation to live and her pitiful, insecure expression, which eventually moved the man.
Idly, he stared at Veronica. His deep, stony eyes turned sympathetic and solicitous. Thousands of emotions flashed across his eyes, so fast that Veronica couldn‘t notice
- it.
“Don‘t be mad, Matthew. I was joking!” To her, Matthew was her savior, and her intense desire to live on wouldn‘t allow her to upset him. There was so much to accomplish yet. She couldn‘t afford to die now. Hence, all she could do now was hold on to Matthew. That way, she would be able to live longer.
In the past days, the woman, too, donned innumerable faces in front of him–cold, rageous, gratifying, and so on. Although she wasn‘t exactly easy to grasp, he still managed to figure out her “game.” Nonetheless, at that moment, she seemed so miserable, so alone, like a child fearing abandonment. After having gone through so much pain and trauma, she could no longer feel safe in the world, and even the sturdy “fortress” holding up her spirit was about to collapse. That ultimately “forced” her to put up a facade, making a fool out of herself around him.
Matthew frowned. There was nothing but pain on his appealing face. The next second, he uncontrollably pulled her into his arms, tightly holding her in his embrace. As he held her, he made sure to avoid the injury on her arm. And so, he hugged her, regardless of the filth on her.
Mysophobia? To hell with it!
