Looks like I’ll have to pay more attention to Nina in the future.
At night, after lulling the two kids to sleep, Nicole stared dreamily at Maya’s beloved wreath, smiling occasionally as she wondered about that person who made the wreath for her back then.
With a ripple in her heart, she walked out of the room quietly, and looking up at the moon, a figure appeared in her mind. She remembered that the rose trellis looked very lovely in the moonlight.
Unknowingly, Nicole found herself in the front yard. She had just stood under the trellis when Evan, who had returned from outside, saw her.
Unable to make out who the figure belonged to from a distance, Evan approached her slowly.
What is this woman doing here at this time? He frowned upon realizing who the person was.
“Sneaky. Here to steal flowers?”
The sudden voice broke Nicole from her reverie. She looked back over her shoulder and saw the man walking in, reeking of alcohol.
Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s not what you think it is, Mr. Seet. I’m just looking around.”
“Enjoying the view? At this hour?” Evan questioned her motive, his tone full of disbelief.
Feeling speechless, Nicole swept an annoying glance at him and said, “What else can I do here besides admiring the flowers?”
“You know yourself best,” Evan snorted, sizing her up. “You and your little intentions.”
Intentions?
Right, there’s always a cloud of suspicion hanging over me in his eyes.
Not wanting to bother herself with him, Nicole headed back to the rear house.
Evan regarded her retreating back with a frown, sniffing the smell of alcohol on his body.
Did she just leave? Logically speaking, this woman wouldn’t have let go of such a good opportunity.
“Good that you understand your own limits,” Evan muttered to himself and walked toward the room.
The following night after school, Evan brought Kyle and Juan back to Rose Garden.
The two children put down their school bags and immediately ran to the rear house. They couldn’t wait to see Nicole.
Nicole was overjoyed to see them as well.
“Kyle, Juan, what would you like to have for dinner? Mommy will make it for you.”
Juan gave it some thoughts and blurted out a few of Nicole’s signature dishes, “Buffalo wings, lemon butter fish and cheesy baked eggplant.”
“And pork chop too,” Maya quickly added.
“I’ll have the greens,” Nina, feeling a little down, added in a depressing manner.
“All right, I’ll stir-fry some broccoli as well then,” Nicole said, then turned to Kyle. “Kyle, how about you?”
Kyle contemplated for a while before asking coolly, “The ones they talked about, are they nice?”
“Of course, they are. Those are Mommy’s signature dishes,” Juan answered and Maya nodded in agreement.
“I’ll have those too then.”
“Sure. Now, you guys have fun. Mommy will be in the kitchen.”
The kids nodded in unison and Nicole was gratified to see how obedient they were.
In the kitchen, she was at a loss when she saw what was left of her cooking ingredients.
Rose Garden is located in the south of the suburbs and it’s far away from the city. It’s too late to go grocery shopping now. It’s either I borrow some ingredients from Evan and return them later, or I can pay him now to save some time.
At this thought, Nicole summoned up her courage and walked to the main house.
Evan was on the phone so she waited at the side, not daring to disturb him.
“Yes?” Evan looked up at her after the phone call.
“Uh, Mr. Seet, can I borrow a little something from you?”
“What do you want?”
“Ingredients.”
“What?” Evan questioned in puzzlement.
“Yeah, like vegetables, meat and some condiments. I want to make the kids their favorite dishes.”
Evan fixed his eyes at Nicole. This woman’s cooking skill is actually not bad, but to borrow ingredients from me…
“Borrowing my stuff is subject to interest charges.”
“No problem. It’s only right that you charge me for that.”
