Chapter 67 Taking Advantage of Her
“By the way, I believe you two have met before.” Courtney looked at Alexander before glancing at Shay. “Would you like me to introduce you two?”
“No need for that.” Alexander glanced at Shay with a complicated look. Then, he added in an odd tone, “Your future boyfriend has introduced himself.”
Courtney was stumped when she heard that. Hence, she turned around to glare at Shay. “What nonsense did you spout this time?”
Shay scowled deeply, looking clearly upset. Nevertheless, he didn’t dare comment further; he mumbled in a quiet voice instead, “What do you mean, spouting nonsense?”
“He is my younger brother,” Courtney explained to Alexander. “He is a cellist, but he’s jobless now.”
“Oh, that means he is currently relying on you to survive.” Alexander glanced at Shay in a scornful way.
“Says who I’m relying on Courtney to survive? I’m merely staying with her temporarily. Besides, I’ll be signed on to a new company soon enough,” Shay retorted as he glared at Alexander furiously.
“I hope so too.” Courtney looked at him while appearing slightly helpless.
“I need to make some preparations in the kitchen. You two should feel free to chat.”
Shay was just about to launch into a long speech that he wasn’t completely without income when Alexander picked the ingredients up from the floor. Then, he moved forward swiftly to enter the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Courtney chased after him hastily.
“I’ll help you.”
The two of them entered the kitchen one after another, whereas Shay stood rooted to the spot in a daze for a while before he snapped back to his senses and followed them in a hurry too. “I’ll help too.”
“There’s limited space in the kitchen, so you shouldn’t come in to create more trouble. Please go to Tina.”
Courtney did not wait for an explanation; instead, she shut him outside of the kitchen glass door.
Shay was slightly annoyed at that. “You need to stop treating me like a child.”
He started knocking against the door while making a fuss for the longest time. In the end, Courtney opened the door to shove a bag of bean sprouts at him. “Sure; since you’re an adult, you can help me pick the bean sprouts.” With that, she closed the door straight away.
“Huh?” Shay held onto the bag of bean sprouts while feeling confused and frustrated. I obviously meant that she should treat me as an adult when it comes to matters involving feelings and relationships. She always treats me as her younger brother. Isn’t she deliberately embarrassing me in front of others? It’s especially true with this fellow here.
Alexander was washing tomatoes by the basin, and he just couldn’t help but feel especially pleased when Courtney closed the door in Shay’s face. The frustration and annoyance he felt earlier after meeting Shay vanished instantly. Undeniably, he was surprised at his own drastic change of emotions.
“I think it’s best that I wash these. You are a guest after all, so you should just rest out there.” Courtney felt bad that Alexander was helping in the kitchen in person.
However, he placed two washed tomatoes on the chopping board while replying to her steadily, “That’s fine; I have nothing else to do anyway.”
“O-Okay, I guess.” Courtney gave up trying to convince him.
After all the vegetables had been chopped up, Alexander still refused to leave the kitchen, which Courtney found odd. “Why aren’t you going out? It will be very smoky and oily once I start cooking.”
“Didn’t you mention that you’d teach me to cook?”
“Huh? Right now?” Courtney got a shock. Previously, he barely paid attention when I took the initiative to teach him to cook at Royal Park. Why is he volunteering to learn to cook right now?
“Mm-hmm.” Courtney was stumped for a moment upon his confirmation. “Alright. Observe how I cook then.” She was just about to prepare braised chicken wings.
Courtney picked up the marinated chicken wings in the glass container while signaling Alexander to pay attention. “I don’t think you saw the chicken wing marinating process earlier. Allow me to walk you through the steps now. First, score three times on each side of the chicken wings. Then, add some thin and thick soy sauces, cooking wine, ginger slices, and a pinch of starch. Stir the mixture well with the chicken. After that, seal it with a Saran wrap before placing it into the fridge. It looks like this after marinating it for an hour.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then, add some oil to the pot, and once it’s hot enough, add in the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic. Stir fry it until it’s fragrant…”
With that, Courtney added the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic from the plate into the pot. The hot oil started sizzling away, and she retreated a couple steps back reflexively, whereupon her back bumped against Alexander’s chest by accident.
“Sorry.” She turned around hastily, but the slippery floor caused her to lose her footing and she staggered.
Alexander was quick to respond; he held her by her waist swiftly to stop her from falling as concern was etched across his usually cold and distant face.
“Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine.” Courtney gulped hard. Fine, my a**! I can feel my heart in my throat. Besides, I feel the pressure of his arm against my waist, and our faces are merely inches apart when I look up at him; I can even smell the light scent of his cologne.
Swoosh. The door opened swiftly before Shay exclaimed in surprise, “What are you two doing?”
Upon snapping back to reality, Courtney shoved against Alexander hastily. However, her legs slipped further against the floor, and she was about to fall onto the ground when Alexander bent down to hold her even tighter.
Shay’s gaze was burning with fury by that point. He immediately shouted fiercely at Alexander, “Hey, what are you doing? Why are you laying your hands on her? Let go of her!”
Alexander supported Courtney while straightening up. He then took his time to release her before turning around to glance at Shay. “I was demonstrating to you why we were in that position earlier.”
“Y-You are clearly taking advantage of her.”
“Shay, shut up.” Courtney glared at him, but she was obviously blushing. “I almost slipped and fell, all because of your shouting.”
Shay was reprimanded, but he didn’t look satisfied. Hence, he glared at Alexander while stating stubbornly, “I want to learn how to cook in the kitchen too.”
“Forget it; how would you find time to cook? You would be swamped with work once you sign your contract.”
“Well, do you think he has the time? Isn’t he a company president? Since when does a president need to cook for themselves?” Shay had a hostile expression across his face when he said that.
A man could always see through another man’s true thoughts. As a president of an enterprise, Alexander puts aside his work to hang around his staff’s home to enjoy free meals. I’d eat my hat if he had not an ulterior motive.
“It was Courtney’s idea to teach me how to cook.” Alexander glanced at Shay casually while he appeared especially sure of himself.
On the other hand, Courtney was caught by surprise when she heard that. I don’t recall us being close enough to be on first-name basis.
Nevertheless, Shay did not care about the reason; instead, he was adamant about staying to learn how to cook. It was getting dark outside, and Courtney was too lazy to argue with him, so she agreed to his request in the end.
Courtney was flanked by two men on either side, and they both looked like her protectors. In fact, they seemed especially powerful and domineering.
“After that, add in the chicken wings. There will be some oil splatter, so you two should retreat slightly right now.” After giving the reminder, Courtney placed the drained chicken wings into the pot.
There was a sudden sizzling noise the moment the chicken wings were placed into the pot and came into contact with the hot oil. The oil splattered in all directions instantly.
“Careful!” Shay shouted in surprise, and he held onto Courtney while twirling around a few times.
On the other side, Alexander was a little slow, but his actions obviously revealed that he was about to whisk Courtney away in his arms. Unfortunately, before he could even grasp onto her sleeve, Shay cut him off by being a step ahead of him.
“Oh, my. What are you doing?” Courtney lost her temper, and she shoved Shay away. “Do you think that we are acting in a drama? This is just a pot of hot oil, not a landmine. Why do I have to be careful? Please go out right now.”
