Blinking her eyes, the dullness, confusion, and defensiveness in her expression disappeared instantly. Crystal Hughes let go of the scissors, her eyes brightened, a smile blossod, and her voice carried a hint of teasing.
"It’s Marcus, huh."
"..."
Marcus Shaw looked at her steadily, said nothing, and silently walked toward the dining table.
Jumping down from the sofa, Crystal stepped into her slippers, gathered her loose hair back, casually pulled out a hair tie, and tied her hair up before approaching.
Asked: "Did you buy it for ?"
"Mr. Hughes said you might forget to eat."
Opening the bag, Marcus took out the packaged als one by one.
Crystal proactively took out chopsticks, broke them apart, and asked: "It’s Monday, don’t you have class?"
"No class at noon."
"..." Staring at him in surprise, Crystal pondered for a mont and comnted, "Marcus, you’re so boring."
"..."
Marcus had no response.
Rummaging through the plastic bag, Crystal saw the logo printed on it, her eyebrows slightly raised as she quietly asked him, "Did you specially go to the Little Lee Family to buy it?"
"Hmm."
Crystal tilted her head, "It’s your lunch break, pouring rain, you walked two streets to buy lunch. So thoughtful, why didn’t you tell ? What if I didn’t notice?"
"..."
Marcus habitually stayed silent.
Unlike Nora Scott, Crystal wasn’t picky and could eat anything.
A few years ago, when Marcus’s cooking skills weren’t quite there yet, Crystal would eat with a smile, fearing to discourage him, and even added more food, finishing it all, only to have a stomachache from eating too much.
When he didn’t know that his sister was Nora, Marcus once naïvely thought—
All sisters in the world were like Crystal.
Although Crystal wasn’t picky, she had a normal taste, capable of discerning quality. She favored the local Little Lee Family’s dishes and was especially fond of them, frequently visiting the place when not cooking at ho.
Naturally, when Peter Hughes asked Marcus to bring so food to Crystal, Marcus imdiately thought of that restaurant.
When Crystal took a seat at the dining chair, Marcus handed her a portion of the al, a large one, with an intimidating amount of rice.
Then he placed a bottle of orange juice beside her hand, which was Crystal’s usual favorite drink.
Stretching out her finger, Crystal lightly pushed the orange juice bottle cap, the bottle swayed twice, then quickly returned to calm.
Crystal looked up, seemingly curious as she gazed at Marcus, "Marcus, why aren’t you talking?"
Marcus paused slightly, furrowing his brows in thought, and said, "That restaurant is about to change ownership."
"Why?"
"The business is too bad; it can’t continue."
"..." Silent for a mont, Crystal sighed in disappointnt, "Marcus, you’d better not talk, bringing all bad news."
Marcus really stopped talking.
Seeing Crystal start using the chopsticks, Marcus perceived a cold wind and then noticed Crystal’s loose and thin long T-shirt, his eyebrows slightly moved, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he walked to the balcony, closing all the open doors and windows.
Once the draft closed, the room’s temperature increased by several degrees.
Crystal saw it, opened her mouth but didn’t utter the teasing words, just lowered her head and rubbed her eyes, continuing to bury herself in eating.
A few minutes later, Crystal finished a third of the rice, suddenly looked up, seeing Marcus coming out of the kitchen with a cup of hot water.
Crystal asked: "It’s almost ti for class, isn’t it?"
"Hmm."
Marcus approached and placed the hot water on the dining table.
Crystal instructed, "You should go ahead."
"No need to finish eating." Marcus looked at her steadily.
"Got it."
"Mr. Hughes won’t be ho tonight."
"He ntioned it."
"The rain is heavy, if you have ti, pick up Andrew."
"Okay."
...
Marcus did say quite a lot of instructions, with each sentence Crystal agreeing, unlike Nora, who would surely respond to two or three sentences and then impatiently hurry him away.
After confirming everything needed was said, Marcus picked up the trash from the living room and left.
The door was closed.
Crystal breathed a sigh of relief, raised her hand to smooth her esophagus, and took a sip of warm water from the table.
Eating too hastily had made her feel bloated.
Putting down the cup, Crystal picked up the chopsticks again, trying to pick a piece of stir-fried at onto her rice, but couldn’t pick it up anymore.
She had no appetite at all.
Crystal’s actions froze, staring at the few dishes, which were her favorites before.
Yet, eating them, she couldn’t taste anything.
Why did she like eating them?
Couldn’t rember anymore.
A good while later, she sighed softly.
—Marcus had good intentions.
She bowed her head again and mixed the rice with the dishes, chewing and swallowing one bite at a ti.
Just as she was about to reach the bottom, suddenly, she "sniffed" once, dropped the chopsticks, and rushed to the bathroom.
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