Chapter 82
As time went on, the atmosphere became increasingly awkward. Thankfully, the waiter happened to deliver the food at this moment.
Only after serving everyone and pouring them each a glass of wine did the waiter finally leave.
Feeling more inclined to ignore her tablemates, Veronica took a huge gulp of her wine and prepared to begin eating, only to realize that Xavier had placed a large chunk of pork shoulder on her plate.
“You’re too thin. Put some meat on your bones.” Like a good man, he was gentle, attentive, and incomparably delicate.
“Thank you.” Without further pomp and ceremony, Veronica picked up the hunk of meat and began to eat. The meat was tender, juicy, and fragrant, melting on her
tongue the moment it entered her mouth. In short, it was exquisite.
While it was expensive, she had to admit it was truly very delicious.
Instantly, she was in a better mood. “It’s fantastic, Xavier. You should try some yourself.” So eager to share the tastiness of the meat with him was she that she reached out with her own cutlery to fetch him some from the common platter. “Try it!” With that, she looked expectantly at him, waiting for his evaluation.
Veronica was clearly coming from the perspective of a foodie eager to share something delicious with a friend, but her actions caused Xavier to pause before nodding with a happy smile. “Alright, I’ll try it.”
The problem was that he had completely overthought her actions and assumed she liked him.
Meanwhile, Matthew watched on and his eyes flashed coldly. In the end, he picked up his glass of red wine to down it in one go.
After chewing the pork and tasting it carefully, Xavier nodded once again. “You’re right; it’s very good. Have some more too.”
As he reached out to get some for her, Veronica interrupted, “I can do it myself.”
With that, she served herself some pork and began to eat heartily.
To a foodie like her, such tasty meat was too good to pass off.
Since the reviews of the meat seemed good, Tiffany got Matthew a piece. “You should try it as well, Matthew.”
Unexpectedly, he pushed it aside. “It’s greasy and high in fat.”
With that, he put a piece of vegetable into his mouth.
Although he wasn’t vegetarian, the pork was inexplicably turning his stomach at this moment.
Somewhat embarrassed by his actions, Tiffany pursed her lips before lowering her head and beginning to eat slowly.
Even though he hadn’t humored her, she had achieved her goals.
After all, the reason she came over to have lunch with Xavier and Veronica was for the ‘couple’ to showcase their ‘love’ so that Matthew would know Veronica’s heart belonged to another.
“You don’t want it? That’s great!” Standing up, Veronica prepared to move the meat over to her and Xavier’s side of the table. “They don’t want it, Xavier. Let’s share it, then.”
Unfortunately, the moment she picked up the platter, Matthew shot her a sharp look. “I might not want it, but Tiffany does.”
And then, he rested his fork against the edge of the platter and eyed Veronica, his gaze vaguely threatening.
Pouting, Veronica glanced at Tiffany and said immediately, “Tiffany is a princess. Having something so greasy will make her fat and once she’s fat, she’ll be ugly. It’s best if she doesn’t have it.”
Such precious food will only be wasted on a woman the likes of Tiffany!
That was the reason Veronica had been unwilling to sit down to lunch with them and yet, she had suppressed the loathing in her heart and tolerated their presence at her table because of how expensive the meal was and how much money she could save by eating with them.
“I-I do want it, Veronica,” Tiffany said demurely now, her soft voice tinkling like a bell.
The pretentiousness nearly made Veronica throw up last night’s dinner.
Long having gotten used to Tiffany’s actual colors, Veronica was repulsed by Tiffany’s ladylike behavior now.
All of a sudden, Veronica felt pity for Matthew.
After all, if one day, he saw Tiffany’s true face after they married, would he…
Tsk! How pitiful. Wait a minute... How gratifying!
“Are you sure?” Veronica asked.
“Yes, I do like the pork shoulder,” Tiffany replied.
“Very well.” Veronica put down the platter before serving Tiffany an extremely large piece of pork. In all honesty, the former wished she could shove an entire half of the platter onto Tiffany’s plate. “Eat it, then-don’t waste it. It’s good practice to clean our plates.”
She‘d better choke to death on it!
Fanning the flames, Xavier added, “Yes, yes. Veronica’s right. After all, the Larson Family is well-known for its charity. Since you know how hard it is to earn money, you should know the importance of practicing thriftiness and putting an end to extravagant waste.”
Tiffany looked down at the huge hunk of meat on her plate and her expression turned dark. Thereafter, she glanced up at Matthew with unconcealed indignation in her eyes.
Unfortunately, he only said, “If you like it, you should have it.”
At that, she stared at him, feeling rather speechless.
The distress buoyed Veronica’s spirits a lot.
Quietly, the four of them ate.
Since Veronica liked the One Piece Restaurant’s delicacies a lot, she helped herself to multiple servings of food before she finally had to set her cutlery down when she could no longer fit anything else into her stomach. “Help yourselves to the rest of the food. I’m going to use the restroom.”
Even after Veronica’s multiple servings, Tiffany had only finished half of the pork Veronica gave her. Standing up, she intended to go to the restroom as well and she chimed in, “I’ll go with you.”
By now, Tiffany had eaten a lot and drunk a lot of red wine, and she felt quite uncomfortable indeed.
After the sisters left, Matthew picked up his wine glass and took a sip leisurely before saying lightly, “Stay away from her in the future.”
Of course, his sentence was directed at Xavier.
“You should be saying that to yourself.” Xavier turned sideways to glare coldly at Matthew. “Don’t think I don’t know about the beastly things you did in the past!”
“So what if you know? Or do not for that matter?” Matthew scoffed, shooting Xavier a
contemptuous look.
With a laugh, the former lifted his wine glass with slender fingers and tipped it back to empty it in one go. So elegant and refined was his posture that, if every moment of the scene had been captured, he could have been turned into a tableau that was the envy of gods and men alike.
Angrily, Xavier clenched his fists. “If you touch her again, Matthew Kings, you and I will become sworn enemies.”
“Is that so?” Matthew laughed lightly in response.
Meanwhile in the restroom, as Veronica exited the cubicle after using it, she heard the sound of retching from the other stall. “Ugh... ugh... ugh...”
It was the sound of Tiffany throwing up.
Resting against a wall, she waited calmly for Tiffany to flush and emerge from the stall. “Tsk! What a waste for you to throw up after eating.”
As Veronica looked at Tiffany, whose eyes were red due to the regurgitation, the former couldn’t help laughing scornfully,
On the other hand, Tiffany clenched her fists in anger. Since Matthew wasn’t there, she found no need to act. “Don’t get too complacent, Veronica.”
“Go back and tell Floch and Rachel that I won’t let them live a day without suffering as long as I’m still alive!” Veronica shot back.
