"What could possibly happen to ?" Nora Scott glanced at him askance.
"For example, going to bail you out from the police station."
"?"
Is this even human speech?
With a aningful look at her, Pedro Langley added, "Or maybe you suddenly can’t think straight and decide to take a winter swim or sothing."
"...."
Nora was at a loss for words.
"Or maybe—"
"Will you ever stop?"
Nora interrupted Pedro’s string of unfriendly guesses with a chilly tone.
After thinking seriously for a mont, Pedro replied quite earnestly, "If you let continue, I can finish by dawn."
Her gaze was sharp as a knife, cutting towards Pedro, as Nora proclaid coldly and clearly, "Pedro Langley, you’re done for."
Pedro, however, remained calm, skillfully dodging the topic, "Wanna try the mooncake Flora Loughton made?"
?
Is this really the ti to change the subject?
However, since Pedro’s information was so strange, Nora’s brain stalled for a mont and she went along with him, "Mooncakes, now?"
"Yeah."
Pedro took a palm-sized box from another pocket, opened his hand, and handed it to Nora.
He said, "Flora Loughton only cooks once a year, on New Year’s Eve, and gives everyone a mooncake, one per person."
Looking at the exquisitely packaged box, Nora paused slightly and asked, "Is this yours?"
"Yeah."
"Is your Loughton classmate..."
Nora pointed to her head, clearly implying sothing.
Who eats mooncakes on New Year’s Eve?!
"An artist’s way of thinking." Pedro chuckled helplessly but still defended Loughton, making excuses, "For her, the reunion on Mid-Autumn is no different from New Year’s Eve. In our family, we don’t have get-togethers on Mid-Autumn."
"Oh." Nora accepted the box, fiddled with it in her hand, and asked, "What filling is it?"
Pedro said, "Lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk."
Lotus seed paste.
Nora was picky, and this was the only flavor she ate.
With a nod, Nora put the mooncake in her pocket, accepting it without hesitation.
Thinking of ’one per person’, Nora casually asked, "Does this count as taking it out of your mouth?"
Pedro gave her an askew look, "I thought you’d share half with ."
"We’ll see."
She had no intention of eating mooncakes in the snowy, windy night with Pedro like fools in the street.
—Imagining the scene, any single elent could trigger endless teasing.
Pedro smiled and continued to walk forward with her.
After rounding a corner, it finally dawned on Nora—
The topic indeed had been diverted by him!
This scoundrel got away with just a mooncake!
*
They walked for a while.
Suddenly, Nora asked, "Could we be any dumber?"
New Year’s Eve, in the wind and snow, two people, aimlessly walking on a deserted road...
This kind of foolishness is unmatched.
Pedro, however, was happily indulging in it as he responded earnestly, "No matter how dumb you want to get, I can find a way."
"....."
Nora couldn’t take it any longer and kicked his knee.
Pedro was prepared and narrowly avoided it.
"Okay, should we head back?"
When it ca to Nora, Pedro’s principles and attitude all went to the dogs.
Nora glared at him.
Pedro chuckled softly.
With his gaze fixed ahead, Nora suddenly asked, "Do you rember the painting I gave you last ti?"
"Yeah." Pedro nodded, "Bernardo Quinn’s."
All along, Pedro had been puzzled about how Nora acquired so many famous artworks.
Especially Bernardo Quinn’s.
Until their first visit to the alley, when Nora went out and brought back a painting by Bernardo Quinn and gave it to him at Cloudwater Haven—
Pedro then realized that Bernardo Quinn lived nearby and had been Nora’s neighbor for over twenty years.
"That’s where he lives ahead." Nora said, "Want to take a look for your dad?"
"....."
Pedro didn’t want to talk.
He was on a good date and didn’t want his dad involved at all.
However, Patriarch Langley loved collecting antique paintings and calligraphy, and among contemporary Chinese painting masters, he adored Bernardo Quinn the most.
They had quite a few of Bernardo Quinn’s works at ho.
However, the paintings that Patriarch Langley worked so hard to acquire were sothing Nora could easily obtain by just making a trip and saying a few words.
When they first started dating, Pedro had ntioned Flora Loughton’s, and his father’s profession and interests to Nora, naturally including these. However, he hadn’t expected soone as nonchalant and indifferent as Nora to actually rember Flora Loughton’s profession and his father’s preferences.
"Okay."
In the end, Pedro agreed.
With a goal in mind, the rather silly strolling behavior no longer seed so silly.
They didn’t walk far, just about a minute or two before Nora pointed to a door ahead and told Pedro, "Right here."
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