Chapter 307 A Woman’s Motherly Nature
“President Burton, we have arrived.” Frankie’s voice was heard from the front. Before Rachel could even return to her senses, Justin alighted from the car and walked around the vehicle toward her side. The moment Frankie opened the door, Justin carried her out of the back seat.
As she no longer had the strength to even struggle, she allowed him to carry her. “Put me down.” She patted him on his arm when they arrived at the foyer so that she could change to a pair of flip-flops.
She was contemplating about Bucky’s matter. Although she was afraid, she had to consider other possibilities, after which she sat on the couch with a distracted mind.
“Are you alright?” Justin poured her a glass of water.
Rachel nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look well, though. Do you want to get some sleep?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“I’ll sit here and accompany you then.”
As Justin spoke, he took a seat opposite her and retrieved a few packets of snacks from under the coffee table and shoving them to her in the process. He seemed to find nothing wrong with his actions.
When Rachel moved in with Samuel, he seemed not to know where the snacks were kept in the house, but last night, he had taken a magazine from the book shelf to read.
Since he didn’t bear any intention to explain about his actions, she merely allowed him to have his way.
After mingling with him for such a long time, she had noticed that Justin had one fine quality. Whenever she was with him, they rarely needed to talk; the two of them could each read a book and spend the entire afternoon just like that without any of them finding it strange.
As she used to be mute, reading was her greatest hobby since she was little. Even after Julian had cured her illness, she still retained her old habits and seldom talked whenever there was no such need to do so.
The afternoon soon flew past.
During that period, the Riverdale Investigation Bureau had called them twice to ask questions regarding the crime scene in the afternoon, to which both Rachel and Justin answered in the best possible way.
In the evening, Rachel fell asleep without realizing it.
By the time she woke up with a groggy head, only the kitchen was bright and she heard some clanking sounds of the kitchen utensils. It was those sounds that woke her up.
When she arrived at the kitchen entrance, what she saw made her close to doubting her eyes.
“Are you cooking?”
Justin looked behind him. “You are awake. Did I wake you up?”
“Yes.” Then, Rachel directly entered the kitchen. “What are you doing?”
Before him was a pot of noodles on the heated stove. “I thought about it and still find this an easier choice.”
She hesitantly asked, “How long have you been cooking the noodles?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes?!” There was an incredulous look on her face.
“What’s wrong? Is that not enough?” Justin was confused. “How long does it usually take?”
The corner of Rachel’s lips twitched. “Just turn off the stove. It’s more than enough.”
Talking about cooking with this man, who had barely entered the kitchen all his life, would be akin to casting pearls before swine and she had no intention to waste her time teaching him how to cook either.
It was only when Justin attempted to take the noodles out from the pot that he realized his attempt at cooking seemed to have failed. The noodles had practically become so mushy that it broke when he tried to dish it out with a pair of tongs; he couldn’t take them out at all.
“We’ll serve it with the pot.” Rachel found a coaster from the cabinet and placed it on the dining table. “Just place it here.”
This was the first time she ate noodles from a pot and it surprisingly felt refreshing.
As Rachel was starving, she took a fork and spoon to scoop the noodles and blew on it before placing it into her mouth.
“How does it taste?”
“Not bad, but it will taste better with a sunny-side up.”
“A sunny-side up?” A hesitant Justin glanced at the kitchen.
“I was teasing you. A simple meal will suit me fine. Do you want some?”
He unexpectedly replied, “Frying an egg is not hard.”
With that, he took two eggs and returned to the kitchen.
Rachel raised her brow in response and continued to bury her head in the food without even giving him a glance.
Truth be told, she didn’t really crave for a sunny-side up egg; she had merely found an excuse to make Justin leave since the meal tasted better without him in front of her.
Soon, she heard a sizzling sound from the kitchen that was followed by a loud clang. As the sound had startled her, it caused her to drop her utensils into the bowl.
“What happened?” She asked as she turned to the kitchen in shock.
“Nothing.” However, it was obvious from Justin’s voice that something wasn’t right.
Rachel immediately placed her spoon down and headed into the kitchen. As soon as she stepped through the door, she saw the pan sizzling as well as an egg and spatula on the floor. One look at it was enough to tell her that the place was in a mess.
A pale Justin was standing far away from the stove as his left hand held his right hand.
She immediately covered the pan and turned off the stove. “You can’t add oil when there’s water in the pan. Are you alright? Did you burn yourself?”
“I’m fine.”
“What do you mean that you are fine? Let me see.” She took his hand and carefully looked at it, whereupon there were a few blisters on the back of his hand which soon swelled up. “Come with me. I’ll get you some medicine.”
Justin was pulled along for several steps before he finally returned to his senses and his gaze landed on her hand that was pulling him.
The last time she had treated him with such patience was when he had been injured.
Since a woman was known to have a maternal nature, it would be her natural instinct to sympathize with the weak. Is it this part of sympathizing with the weak?
“Don’t pop the blister. Be careful when you change your clothes for the next two days. Remember to apply medicine twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening.” Then, Rachel placed the medicine on the table. “Apply it yourself.”
After she said that, she picked up the fork and spoon and continued eating noodles.
Justin still hadn’t regained his senses as he pointed out, “I’m already in such a state. Aren’t you going to apply the medicine for me?”
“What’s wrong with you? It’s only two blisters; it’s not like you broke your hand.”
“You—”
“I’m done. I’m going out to pick up Samuel and Charlotte. You can stay at home on your own.”
With that, she took the car keys and left the house, leaving a frustrated Justin standing in the dining room alone with an injured hand.
When Rachel arrived at the music room, Gloria was practicing piano while Samuel was singing next to the piano.
It was a French nursery rhyme, which he fluently sang.
Once he finished singing, a warm applause came from one side. “That’s awesome! Samuel, you’re amazing! I’ll get the whole class to attend your performance!” Gloria spoke, “However, I won’t buy the tickets; you have to buy them for your classmates.”
“Aunt Gloria, you are being petty!”
“What did you say? I dare you to say it another time!”
When Samuel raised his head and saw Rachel, his eyes brightened. “Mommy!”
She pushed the door open and entered the room, whereupon Charlotte and Samuel pounced on her one after another to hug her waist while refusing to let go of her.
A helpless Rachel uttered, “Ria, I’m here to pick them up. Did they give you any trouble?”
Gloria immediately waved her hand. “No, no, Samuel is a good boy; as for Charlotte, she has always been a little mischievous, so I’m used to that!”
“Are you really planning to allow Samuel to perform together with you?”
“Of course, Miss Rachel. Did you think that I was messing with you?” She rose up from the piano bench. “You must have heard how well Samuel sang, right?”
Rachel caressed Samuel’s head. “I didn’t know that you have such talent in singing. Maybe I should send you to a vocal class so that you are able to learn it systematically.”
However, Samuel immediately shook his head. “I don’t want to attend classes; I want to learn from Aunt Gloria!”
“You really know how to pick the best, don’t you? Do you know how many people are in the line waiting for your Aunt Gloria to teach them?”
Gloria broke into a smile. “The long line won’t stop me when I’m willing to teach Samuel.”
As they chatted, Rachel suddenly felt a presence at the door but failed to see anyone when she looked in that direction. She frowned, thinking that she might have sensed it wrong.
