Chapter 134
Chapter 134
After a pause, Jack turned around and raised his eyebrows. "Didn't I make breakfast in your place once?"
Rachel stared blankly back at him, finally remembering that Jack had indeed made breakfast for her once. But still, she was surprised that he could cook something more elaborate than fried eggs.
After she went back to watching TV in the living room, Jack took out the fish and the steak, intending to make steamed fish and filet mignon, both of which would taste great paired with red wine.
He placed a steamer pot on one burner and a skillet on another, leaving them to heat up while he prepared the ingredients and lined them up on the kitchen counter.
Meanwhile, sitting in the living room, Rachel tried to focus on watching TV, but she found herself being drawn again and again to what was happening in the kitchen.
When she turned her head around, she saw Jack bend over the kitchen counter, completely focused on chopping up some ingredients.
Sensing a pair of eyes on him, Jack shifted slightly and turned around, but by then, Rachel had turned back to the TV, pretending to be engrossed in the program that was on.
The noisy laughter from the TV program echoed throughout the villa.
Even after Jack turned his focus back to cooking, Rachel continued to stare blankly at the TV screen, but her mind as elsewhere.
She did not come back to reality until ten minutes later, when the mouthwatering aroma of steamed fish and ginger wafted over to her.
Sniffing like a puppy, she turned around and asked, "You made steamed fish?"
Without waiting for a reply, she eagerly strode to the kitchen and saw steamed fish as well as some filet mignon.
Jack, who was standing near the sink washing his hands, raised an eyebrow at her.
Rachel just looked appreciatively at the dishes, surprised that Jack could cook so well.
A few minutes later, they were both sitting at the dining table, ready to eat.
There were two portions of steak and one portion of steamed fish on the table.
If anyone else saw this scene, they would be shocked.
How could the arrogant president of MK Group make lunch and even serve his wife and himself?
Rachel watched Jack for a moment, and then looked at the pair of chopsticks in front of her in confusion. "Why did you bring bowls and chopsticks for Western food?"
Jack looked at the dishes on the table as if he
had forgotten what they were, and then laughed. "We're at home, so we can just eat comfortably, right? It's up to you."
He didn't care about whether the cutlery was suitable or not. Right now, he was so tired and hungry that he just wanted to eat as soon as possible.
Noticing his exhaustion, Rachel poured two glasses of wine. After clinking their glasses, both of them took a sip. Neither of them had expected that they could have such a pleasant day together, but Jack was even more surprised than Rachel was.
For the last ten years or so, he had never paid any attention to this woman. However, in just the last three to four months, everything had changed.
He had begun to notice her and even fall in love with her!
The speed at which it had happened made him feel like he was a character in a soap opera. Moreover, he was worried that he would frighten her if he told her his feelings for her.
Unaware of what was going through Jack's mind, Rachel indulged herself in eating the steamed fish that Jack had made.
Although there weren't many steps to prepare steamed fish, the quantity of the ingredients and the timing had to be just right to achieve the perfect taste. It seemed that Jack was well-versed in these things.
They ate in silence. The only sound in the room was the laughter from the TV.
Finally, Jack asked, "Do you like the fish that
much?"
Rachel paused, worried that she had scared him with her lack of table manners. She had finished almost half of the fish after telling him that she had already had lunch.
"Ahem!" Rachel coughed to hide her embarrassment. Her face flushed red as she said, "I do. It's very delicious."
A smile appeared on Jack's face. Judging by the fact that she ate almost half of the fish, she had to be telling the truth.
"I can cook often if you like," he said softly. He didn't add "for you" in fear that he would scare her off.
Fortunately for him, Rachel didn't notice the affection in his voice. She was more preoccupied with her curiosity about why he could cook.
"I never knew that you could cook," she said, frowning.
Jack smiled. "There's a lot of things you don't know."
When they had been living with his family, he had never cooked. After that, he had lived alone most of the time, except for a short period of time when Celine had lived with him.
And even during that period of time, he had been too busy to cook at home, only occasionally cooking when Michael came over.
It had all started when he had been studying abroad. He had quickly gotten fed up of eating Western food and Japanese food, both of which
didn't suit his appetite.
So, he had found a chef in a Chinese restaurant in China Town and learned some cooking skills from him.
For the sake of his appetite, Jack had put a lot of effort into learning how to cook authentic Chinese dishes.
Of course, it was only because he had been so young and free that he had had time to spend on such a monotonous thing like cooking.
However, when he heard Rachel's praise, he felt glad that he had taken the time to learn it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had anything to impress her with now.
To answer her question, he began elaborating on his learning experience with the chef abroad.
He had only spent a few months learning, but that restaurant had been an amazing environment to learn how to cook, even though he hadn't thought so at the beginning.
He had been so impatient to find a chef that he had just picked a random Chinese restaurant.
It was probably the unhygienic place he had ever been to in his life, with the kitchen full of smoke and dirt.
Just spending a few minutes there would make him reek of sweat and smoke.
Moreover, the chef had been a man with a strong temper, always making sure that Jack arrived at the restaurant on time.
To his credit, Jack was punctual every single Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.
day, regardless of whether he had to go to the restaurant at noon or midnight.
At that time, he had gone through a lot of ups and downs not only for food, but also to improve his perseverance.
To hone his cooking skills, he had followed the chef around and carefully watched everything he did.
Apart from this, he had also paid attention to the art of using a knife, finding complementary flavors, and so on.
He had gone through such hardship just to cook food that would suit his appetite.
Now that he was finally talking to someone about it, he realized how funny and ridiculous it sounded. What a stubborn young man he had been!
As Rachel listened to him quietly, she could almost picture him following around an old chef in an oil-stained kitchen.
Of course, it was hard to imagine that the spoiled young man from the Fu family would ever have been willing to work this hard.
After he finished his story, she asked, "How long did you learn from that chef?"
"For about three months."
Rachel nodded, but she felt her head becoming heavier. The effect of the wine was gradually setting in, even though she had had only half a bottle.
Jack's words were not funny at all, but she could not help but giggle as she listened to him. Then, she rested her cheek on the table and looked up at him through her long eyelashes.
For a moment, Jack was dumbfounded by her beauty. Then he asked, "You've barely had any wine. You're already drunk?"
Rachel blinked innocently, her cheeks flushed red. "I'm a cheap drunk..." she murmured.
"Then why did you want to drink?"
"I want to sleep..." she mumbled in a cute voice. Realizing that she couldn't even stand on her own, Jack immediately stood up and helped her up from the table.
Rachel looked up at him, but she couldn't focus on his face, which seemed to be swimming in front of her.
Suddenly, she thrust out both her hands and held Jack's face. "Don't move!" she commanded seriously.
It seemed that she was really drunk. Jack pulled her hands away from his face and smirked in amusement. "Are you really that drunk?"
Suddenly, the memory of her at a bar flashed through his mind.
How did she dare to visit such places if she could get drunk this easily?
At that thought, he pulled a long face and waved his hand in front of her. "What's this?"
"Your hand... How many fingers do you have?"
She shook her head. Her eyes were misty and unfocused.
Jack frowned, wondering whether he had accidentally drugged her. Her behavior didn't make sense to him at all.
Rachel slowly counted out loud with her head tilted, and then shouted in a proud voice, "Five fingers! You have five fingers..."
She sounded like a child who had gotten the answer right.
Shaking his head, Jack picked her up and walked toward the bedroom.
Rachel lay obediently in his arms, but the movement of his arms kept pulling her in and out of her trance.
At times, she found it hard to remember whose face she was looking at. When Jack had finally carried her into her bedroom and was about to put her down on his bed, she gripped his arm to stop him and said,
"What's wrong with you? Did someone bully you?"
Jack's lips twitched, but he maintained a poker face as he gently pulled her hand away and said, "Yes."
Rachel didn't struggle. She obediently withdrew her hand and allowed him to put her down on the bed.
"Who bullied you?" she asked curiously.
Jack had never seen anyone who could get this drunk after finishing just half a bottle of wine.
"Have a good rest," he said with a helpless sigh. Rachel curled up her body to sleep, but after a moment, she suddenly sat up and said unhappily, "I haven't washed my face and changed my clothes yet."
Then, she moved to get out of bed, but Jack stopped her. "What are you trying to do?"