My Darling, My Dearest

Chapter 407 Fried Chicken Restaurant

In the past two days, Rachel had noticed a sudden change in her appetite. Those foods that she usually disliked were now making her drool.

Just like this afternoon, she had just finished eating the orange that Julie gave her, and she was resting on the couch while watching TV. Upon seeing the fried chicken advertisement, her mouth watered immediately.

In the past, her colleagues were fond of fried chicken and often ate it during their break time. Whenever they ordered fried chicken delivery, their pantry always filled with its aroma. But Rachel had regarded fried chicken as junk food. As soon as the greasy smell entered her nostrils, she always thought of its high calories.

But right now, she couldn't take her eyes away from the screen. Staring at the well-presented images of deep-fried chicken, she badly wished to have a bucket of it to devour in an instant.

Rachel rubbed her belly while still staring at the screen unblinkingly. All of a sudden, she felt hungry again. She sat there for a moment, contemplating the effect of the ad on her. After a while, she thought that it didn't make sense, so she shook it off, stood up, and went to the closet. Jack was already finished with his work, so he cleaned up his desk and gathered his belongings. He was halfway down the stairs when he caught sight of Rachel in the walk-in closet. She had taken off her pajamas and was rummaging up her clothes in her underwear. He stopped in his tracks and asked confusedly, "Rachel, what are you up to?"

With head still between the hangers, she replied, "I'm going to get some fried chicken."

Rachel grabbed a pair of baggy jogging pants and an equally over-sized sweater. 'This is just perfect for pigging out,' she thought.

Jack was a bit taken aback by her response. Rubbing his brows, he barely moved from where he stood and tried to absorb what he heard from her just now. After staring at her blankly for a few seconds, he turned around and went back to the study. He grabbed his suit and rushed downstairs. He caught up with Rachel and said, "I'll go with you."

"No, thanks." Rachel shrugged as she made her way to the door. But Jack walked past her and opened the door, leading the way out.

Rachel stopped for a moment and rested her gaze at his back. Upon realizing that she didn't have a car, she thought that she might as well let him come along and drive her around.

Satisfied with her idea, she smiled to herself and followed him. While Jack was driving, she took out her phone and browsed some restaurants nearby. She looked for a restaurant that sold the best fried chicken. As Jack pulled over at the storefront, they saw that there was a long queue at the counter, and all the tables were already occupied.

Jack rolled down the window to have a better look inside. He then turned to face Rachel and asked with a slight frown, "Would you like to eat inside or just go through the drive-thru?"

There was also a slight frown on Rachel's face, which meant that they were both disappointed. She said nothing while her eyes were fixed at the restaurant. When she saw a couple stand up, her pout was immediately replaced by a smile, and her eyes lit up upon looking at the empty table. "How about we eat inside? Do you have enough time?"

Jack followed her gaze, and upon seeing the empty table, he replied, "Of course, I do. Let's go!" Looking at Rachel, who was still staring at the table, he thought, 'She must be fantasizing all the delicious fried chicken she is about to have.' His gaze lingered on her for a while, unconsciously landing on her smile. His heartbeat quickened. He must admit, he was willing to wait through the longest queue if it would mean her happiness. He would patiently stick with her through every second.

They both got out of the car and headed to the door. Jack stretched his arm before Rachel to protect her from the crowd. As they entered, she lined up at the back, but a hand grasped her wrist. She whirled around and found Jack facing her, pressed in closed by the crowd. With a gentle look, he suggested, "Why don't you go save our seats while I order?"

Rachel seemed to have been mesmerized by his soft voice for a while. When she came back to her senses, she replied, "But I have no idea what I should have yet."

It was her first time visiting this restaurant, so she didn't know what they had on their menu. Although she had heard of this restaurant before, and she also read a lot of good reviews about it, she really didn't know what to order.

"Hmm..." Jack thought for a moment. "Just go to our table and give me a second."

He turned towards the counter, got as closer as he could, and raised his phone. After taking photos of the menu, he went back to their table and laid his phone in front of Rachel. Sitting opposite her, he smiled excitedly and said, "How about this? I think we can now pick our orders."

There was a wide variety of fried chicken to choose from the menu. Reading through it, they both could hardly understand the descriptions. Now, they were in a dilemma as they couldn't decide which one to order. Eventually, they picked out whatever looked appealing based on the pictures. All of a sudden, Jack sprang up and approached the next table, where a pair of high school students sat.

Rachel was shocked and confused at the same time. She had no idea what Jack was doing, but her gaze followed him. With a sheepish grin, he asked in his most polite tone of voice, "Excuse me. Would you mind telling us their bestseller? It's actually our first time here."

"Sure," replied the girl. She swallowed her food first before she continued, "Actually, it's what we're having right now. This is the best!"

"Oh...may I know what's that called?"

Jack and the students chatted for a while. He asked for their recommendations from the best fried chicken, snacks, side dishes, drinks, and everything else that he could order to satisfy Rachel's cravings. Rachel just observed them quietly, her eyes were fixed on Jack's face. She watched as he spoke purposefully, listened intently, nodded, and acknowledged remarks. He showed telltale signs of a man having a serious conversation. It was if he was having a business meeting. Rachel caught herself staring and smiling, unsure if she found him funny or amusing. But in the end, she sighed and thought, 'Adorable.'

Jack read the full list of what to order out loud to the students before thanking them and walking back to their table. But he suddenly turned around and asked the student again, "How about the Korean chicken?" The student had already taken a big bite of her food, so she almost choked when she tried to speak. She gave him a thumbs-up while chewing. After clearing her throat with a gulp of soda, she said, "Their sauce is the best!" "Gotcha!" Jack winked and thanked them again. Finally, he made his way back to their table. Seeing him walking back, Rachel sat up straight and looked down to avoid his gaze. She simply wiped her eyes that subconsciously got moistened. Jack dropped into his seat across her just in time she finished drying up her eyes. "I think we should go for their recommendations, " she said before he could even open his mouth.

Jack didn't have any objections at all. He just smiled and said, "Okay. Wait for me here." He cheerfully got up again and walked to the counter. This time, the queue had already grown shorter.

Rachel remained in her seat, staring at Jack's back blankly. His tailored suit highlighted the shape of his broad, muscular shoulders. She let herself admire the view of his back, a robust figure that stood up among the other men in the queue. A warm feeling welled up in her chest and traveled up to her face, which made it flushed.

Scarlett and her friend had just finished another afternoon shopping run. Each of them had several shopping bags in their hands.

Her friend suddenly stopped walking and dropped the shopping bags she was carrying next to her high-heeled feet. She almost fell into the nearby plant box. "Ugh! We've been shopping for such a long time now," she complained in a high-pitched whiny voice. "My legs are sore. Let's go in and rest." She pointed at the fried chicken restaurant in front of them. "Fried chicken?" Scarlett asked in a disgusted tone, eyeing the restaurant up and down with a frown. She made a gagging noise. The creased on her forehead deepened as she continued to whine, "There are too many people inside. There's no way I'll let myself join that tasteless crowd. That will only ruin my image." As dreaded images formed in her head, she glanced around to look for a better place to stay. "Aha! If my memory serves me right, there's a cafe a couple of blocks from here. Let's go there instead."

"Your treat?" asked her friend, who first stopped, half-jokingly.

"Of course, we are going Dutch," Scarlett replied at once as she started to walk forward.

The friend pursed her lips and muttered something under her breath.

When Scarlett walked, she usually didn't mind things or people around her because she deemed them unworthy of her attention. She walked leisurely while her friend was trying to catch up behind her. But after taking a few steps, she froze, which made her friend bumped into her. "No, it can't be," she muttered in disbelief. "Perhaps I'm just tired, that's why I'm seeing things." Subconsciously, she braced herself and slowly turned to face the chicken restaurant. She looked at the glass wall for a few seconds, thinking that she was looking at her own reflection. But the face she was seeing was bare and with unkempt hair going across different directions. She suddenly remembered what her cousin had told her before. Her fatigue vanished in an instant. Her face became stern as her eyes narrowed.

Her friend asked annoyingly, "What's wrong?" But Scarlett didn't respond. Upon seeing her gloomy expression, her friend changed the tone of her voice and asked again, "What's wrong? Why did we stop?"

"You go ahead. I just have something to take care of," Scarlett replied, almost in a whisper. Without a second thought, she shoved her shopping bags into her friend, who scrambled to receive them, and walked briskly towards the restaurant. She opened the door and glanced through the queue. Sure enough, she spotted Jack. Although she could only see his back, she was sure that it was him. She whirled to confront the woman, who was waiting at the table.

To let go of the weight she was feeling in her chest, Rachel tried to think of a story in her mind, involving two characters. One of them argued loudly but calmly, "It's all over now. What has been done couldn't be undone. There's no need to beat yourself up with things in the past. After all, he has always been good to you, and you know that."

The other character replied, "Maybe so. But the people involved here are his parents. Do you think it's that easy to forgive them?" Rachel thought about it for a while. Both arguments made sense, so she found it hard to decide. 'Ugh! It's no use. I definitely can't settle this issue all by myself,' she thought to herself as she stopped thinking of the two characters.

However, the complicated exchange of arguments continued to play in her head. As different thoughts raced through her mind, she became agitated. Good and bad memories from the past and the present all came back to her. It was emotionally and mentally exhausting. She found herself giggling one moment and closing to tears in the next.

'If this continues, I'll definitely become a nervous wreck soon.' Since anxiety was starting to overwhelm her, and Jack hadn't returned yet, she took out her phone to send a message to Lea on WeChat. She was hoping that she could get a piece of helpful advice.

She typed, "Should we just get back together?"

It had been a while, but she hadn't received a reply from Lea yet. While waiting, she contemplated if it was really necessary to ask Lea such a question.

She was deep in thought when her phone vibrated. It was a reply from Lea.

Lea's message said, "I thought I made myself clear the last time we talked." Rachel sighed. Another message came in. "Do you know what Jack has been up to in the last two days? It's not easy for a man to do the things he is doing for you. Enough is enough, Rachel. Put your foot down and stick with it. Only then that you can truly be happy." The message made Rachel's heart feel heavier.

She heaved a sigh and bit her lip as she read Lea's messages over and over again. As Lea's words sunk in deeper to her, she eventually felt relaxed. Although what Lea said was a bit strong, she believed it was what she needed. After another sigh, she made up her mind.

Her anger dissipated. When Jack returned, she would let him know about it.

Rachel was wallowing by herself when a woman suddenly sat across her. Slightly offended by the rude intrusion and the interruption of her moment, she glared up to face her. She was about to say something snarky, but the words stopped in her throat.

She felt like she was seeing herself in the mirror. The only difference was, the face she was seeing was well-contoured, and the eyes that were staring at her were cold.

Scarlett saw that Rachel was totally flabbergasted, so she smiled and asked teasingly, "We look alike, aren't we?"

Rachel began to realize that she did not meet this woman here coincidentally. She had a feeling that this woman somehow knew her and approached her intentionally. But dumbfounded as she was, her mouth remained closed. Since she didn't know what to say, she decided to put on a straight face and let the woman make her next move. When Scarlett saw that Rachel's eyes were slightly

red and puffy, she felt a pang of guilt, thinking of what she had to say. However, she also waved it off quickly upon thinking of Jack. She took a deep breath and smiled enchantingly. "I was actually as surprised as you when I first saw your photo on Jack's phone for the first time. I didn't expect that he would find someone who looks exactly like me to get back at me."

"Get back at me." The words resounded in Rachel's mind.

She suddenly got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she made sure that the woman in front of her wouldn't notice it. She said dryly, "It seems like you and Jack know each other well."

Scarlett nodded. "You're right. We were in the same high school." She kept her cold expression to cover her lie.

Jack and Celine's story was known to everyone in his circle. Scarlett thought that she could use it. She just needed to alter some details, and she could make her story work.

She smiled to herself and turned to look at the queue. Jack was already next in line, so he would definitely be back soon.

Satisfied with the effect of what she said, she got up and gave Rachel a provoking smile. Extending a hand, she said, "It was a pleasant surprise, and it was nice meeting you here."

"Thank you," Rachel managed to mutter. She absentmindedly shook Scarlett's hand. But when their fingertips brushed, she suddenly realized that she was still holding a teacup. She had totally forgotten that she was about to take a sip of her tea when Scarlett approached her, and she wasn't able to put it down. Scarlett's cold gaze seemed to pierce right through her in an instant and froze her. Rachel couldn't help scolding herself quietly for being so awkward. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Scarlett had already left moments ago, but Rachel was still in a daze. All of a sudden, she felt hot in her mouth. It was only then that she realized, she drank her tea so quickly that she scalded her

tongue. When Scarlett's provocative smile flashed across her mind again, anger surged up in her heart.

Rachel recalled everything that Scarlett said to her. She knew all along that Scarlett was lying. But she couldn't help thinking, 'Why would she come to me and irritate me for no reason? Surely, she didn't just go out of her way to tell a lie.'

While the heat in her scalded tongue dissipated, the anger in her heart welled up.

Author's note

G°°se Mfiiiisn

Translator: Scarlett5555