"Do we really need to go out?" The refrigerator was packed. It would take about 30 minutes or so to prepare a sumptuous dinner. Eating out was a waste of time. Besides, the food in the restaurant was salty and oily. Leena didn't like it.
Why? Don't you want to go out?" Kevin looked straight at Leena. 'What a doll-like girl,' he thought. Her lips pouted invitingly, making her look like a little princess.
No. You must be tired from your trip. Go take a shower first. I promise dinner will be ready after you finish the shower. We don't have to go out to look for a restaurant. Not when we have everything we need here." Leena immediately stood up and walked to the kitchen at a brisk pace. It was the happiest thing to cook dinner for the man she loved.
Alright. Take your time. Don't be too anxious. I don't need you to burn yourself again." Kevin proposed going out to eat because he didn't want Leena to cook. Since Leena didn't want to go out, he agreed to stay home. Also, he had been out for a long time. He missed the delicious dishes that Leena cooked.
Leena washed the rice deftly and put it in the electric cooker. After pressing "on," she went to take out some simple ingredients from the refrigerator. 'It won't take much time,' she thought.
Kevin looked at the rest of the instant noodles and her laptop on the table. The screen was still on. Kevin guessed she must have been surfing the net while eating noodles just now. It was what young girls like Leena liked to do. Kevin shook his head smiling. He never had time for it. He turned around and carried his suitcase upstairs. After a ten hour flight, he did feel a little tired, so he took Leena's advice to relax and enjoy a bath. Going back to the familiar bedroom, Kevin found it was filled with a faint floral fragrance which he had never smelled before. It looked like Leena had changed the room while he was away. Even the smell of the air was different. She had added colorful pillows, closet organizers, more shelves, brightly-hued throws, and had moved more of her stuffed animals from the Leng house here. It was definitely more girly.
Everything in the house was familiar yet strange to Kevin, because Leena had made many big changes. It was totally different from how it used to be. When Leena lived here alone, she must have been busy decorating the place. Now the house was much more cozy and comfortable than before. Kevin was quite satisfied with it.
Immersing himself in the warm water, Kevin gave a comfortable sigh and felt that it was the most pleasant thing to stay at home. He didn't expect that Leena would be here. Before he left for training, he asked her to go back to her house, because he was worried about her staying here alone. She had promised she'd go, but she went back on her word. Instead, she stayed here and decorated the house.
Kevin scooped up some water with his hands to wash his face and then gently closed his eyes, completely relaxing himself in the water. The last training exercises were absolutely brutal. Better him than Daisy, though. If the colonel decided to participate, she would have suffered bitterly. But he took her place, because he didn't like to see her in pain. After experiencing this closed training, Kevin found that he had cast aside his love for Daisy. Sometimes her silhouette would flash into his mind, but he just let it go, because he thought that he shouldn't cling to it anymore. 'It's the best for both of us,' he thought, 'Forget her, and fall in love with someone else.'
Leena was clever in mind and skillful to boot. She had gotten a few dishes ready in half an hour. Since Kevin hadn't come, she cooked another Seaweed and Egg Soup. Then there were three dishes and one soup. She didn't have much time, so she could just cook some vegetable dishes.
A long time had passed since Kevin went upstairs to take a shower, but he hadn't come back to the dining hall yet. 'What is he doing?' Leena muttered to herself. She walked upstairs and gently pushed open the door of the bedroom, but it was quiet. Weird! Where was he? Thinking that Kevin might be in the study, Leena looked inside, but it was also pitch-dark. No one was there. She went back to the bedroom and frowned at the closed door of the bathroom. 'Did he fall asleep? He hasn't done that before. Maybe training was really tough this time,' thought Leena.
Leena hesitated for a moment, but she still didn't have the courage to push the door in, so she knocked gently. No one answered her. In desperation, she had to knock harder. She pursed her lips, growing more concerned as she waited for Kevin's answer.
"Sorry. I'll be out in a minute." True, Kevin did fall asleep in the bathroom. In the training camp, they had to train day and night. They were often awakened in the middle of the night to fall in. After roll call, they would be trained how to fight better in the dark, so most of the time, they could hardly sleep.
"I'll wait for you downstairs. Hurry up." Leena sighed inwardly. She was afraid of seeing Kevin's naked body after he came out, so she rushed out of the bedroom and went downstairs before Kevin could say more. Her face reddened with shame.
Kevin walked out, with a bath towel around his waist. As Leena thought, he was naked, because he didn't bring any clothes into the bathroom with him.
After putting on his casual clothes and drying his wet hair, Kevin went downstairs, refreshed and relaxed. When he saw the dishes on the table, he was shocked. He didn't think that Leena could cook so many dishes in such a short period of time.
"Sit down. Dinner's ready. I didn't have much time, so I just cooked up some simple things." Leena walked out of the kitchen, with two bowls of rice in her hands. Since she was making a real meal, she didn't want the instant noodles anymore, so she dumped them when she was waiting for Kevin just now.
"Not bad. This is simply mouth-watering. I couldn't cook so many dishes in such a short time." Kevin spoke highly of Leena's cooking skill. He had to admit that he was nowhere near her level of skill when it came to cooking.
"You're busy with work. I've had a lot of practice. If you had as much free time as I do, you'd be better than me." Kevin's praise embarrassed Leena. She flushed again.
"It's hard to say. Didn't you go back to the Leng house? They have servants to fix meals there." Kevin took the bowl from Leena's hand and gave her a loving look. He could imagine how scared she was to stay alone in such a big house.
"Oh yeah. I went back home a lot, but I didn't sleep there." In Leena's heart, home was here. She had a duty to keep that house nice and organized, so that Kevin would feel the cozy warmth of the house at the moment he returned. That kind of warmth didn't come from a fire or from the sun, but from the heart. If she hadn't been here, he would have been disappointed when he came in.
"How is your brother?" Although Duke didn't treat Kevin like a brother-in-law, Kevin had already accepted him as a family member.
"He's fine. Oh right. Your timing is awesome. His wedding will be held tomorrow. I thought that you'd have to miss it. But you came back tonight. Let's go to the wedding together tomorrow." When she talked about the wedding, Leena grew more and more excited. She brought Duke and Belinda together. Although sometimes she felt sorry for Belinda, but if she was given another chance to make a choice again, she thought she would do the same. Belinda was drugged after all when she slept with Duke, and that was Leena's doing.
"Oh? Really? That's lucky." 'What a coincidence,' Kevin thought, 'I'm really in luck. If I miss Duke's wedding, he'll make things difficult for me in the future. I'm dead dog tired, but I have to see this through.'
"You're free tomorrow, right?" Leena asked with some hesitation, tilting her head to one side. She worried that he might have to go right back to work.
"Yes. Yes I am. I'll report for duty at the army base on Monday, so I have two days off." Kevin was really hungry, so he glutted himself with the dishes. "Take your time, Kevin. Don't choke yourself," Leena said in a concerned tone, "The food on the plane must be hard to swallow, right? I never opt for meals during short flights." Kevin nodded in agreement. He was going to a wedding tomorrow. Probably not a good idea to end up in the hospital with a blocked airway before then.