Bringing the Nation's Husband Home III

XXXIX

When James arrived back at Ceberos apartments, Helen was wearing an apron and cooking in the kitchen.

It was an open kitchen, so when he removed his shoes at the entrance, he instantly saw her holding a knife like an expert, yet completely unregulated and ungraceful, as she sliced a cucumber.

The vent was clearly on, but for some reason Helen managed to fill the room with smoke. When she heard the sound of the door opening, she covered her mouth and let out a cough. Turning her head, she bluntly said to him, "You're back? Wash your hands for dinner."

Without waiting for James to answer, she turned her head right back around. Holding the knife with two hands, she randomly chopped the cucumber on the chopping board as though she was going to kill someone. Then, she picked it up and divided the slices into two bowls.

She picked them, one in each hand, and then planted them hard onto the dinning table with a "PA!". She furrowed her brows at James who stood in the living with raised eyebrows. "What are you doing blanking out? Are you not going to eat?"

"Hm," James responded, going to the bathroom to wash his hands. He then sat down in front of Helen. Just as he picked up his chopsticks, he looked at the dark mess in his bowl and dropped them down in shock with a "PALA!". "Helen, can you tell me what the hell is this?"

She calmly lifted her eyes, a matter-of-fact expression on her face. "Fried sauce noodles. What? You've never had it before?"

"Fried sauce noodles? Fried sauce noodles at your house looks like this?" James picked up his chopsticks again and lifted the knotted mess of noodles, the unevenly thick and thin excuse for cucumber strips, and the pitch-black sauce. He let out an evil chuckle. "Hehe, I couldn't tell."

As his words dropped, Helen grabbed his bowl in a swoop and without saying a word was ready to pour it into the bin. James grabbed the bowl back with his sharp reflexes. He stirred the noodles with his chopsticks for a long time, forcibly picked up a string of them and put into his mouth. The next second, James grabbed for the cup beside him and gulped the water down in an instant.

"Helen, just how much salt did you add?"

"Not much."

Helen picked up a jar of water and poured James a cup. She stirred the noodles with her chopsticks, added water, and then poured it into the bin before serving it to James again. "I suppose this will dilute the saltiness."

He peeked into the bowl, which looked even scarier than the "fried sauce noodles" just now, and pulled a face. Even though his expression looked forced, he still lifted his chopsticks and started eating.

The corner of Helen's lips curved into a meager smile. She lowered her head and continued to eat the awful fried sauce noodles.

After eating about half the bowl, James finally couldn't help but put his chopsticks down. "Helen, look at yourself... you can't even cook fried sauce noodles... in the future, who would want to marry you?"

The chopsticks in Helen's hand tensed up, and the smile at the corner of her lips instantly disappeared.

In the future, who would want to marry you... Did this mean that deep down he didn't want to marry her?

It was only for a second but Helen wore a charmingly sweet smile on her face. She then raised her head and looked over at James. Without a hint of holding back, she stated, "None of your fucking business, I won't marry you anyway!"

In the past, every time Helen swore, she would always get scolded by James. But this time, he was actually so stunned by her words he didn't even notice that she swore.