Claire yawned loudly, she tossed and tossed before getting out of bed lazy. She looked around her room and her eyes fell on the leftover pancakes Carter made for her from the day before. After returning from the court, she remained in her room all day till she eventually slept off.
"Silly" she mumbled with a roll of her eyes after she remembered Carter's unending sudden caring attitude towards her.
She grabbed her flip-flops then walked into the bath. The day before had taken a toll on her but she was not planning to wallow in her thoughts. She had better days ahead of her.
After a refreshing bath, she got dressed and walked out of the room. Planning to grab a glass of water from the kitchen, she walked in but only for her to be welcomed with the uncommon sight of Carter in an apron.
Glittering sweats ran along his forehead down to his chiseled face. He hair was rough and it fell covering his eyes while he worked. He cut the vegetables smartly like a kitchen expert. Claire's jaw dropped at the sudden unexpected sight in her kitchen.
"Hey" Carter who just raised his head acknowledged the shocked Claire.
"Ehem— " Claire cleared her dry throat awkwardly. She was quick to covering up the look of shock on her face. Carter who had noticed nothing quickly passed her a glass of water. She took it gratefully and gulped. She dropped the glass after emptying it. She gave the dashing Carter a look over once again.
"Why do you look so—" She used her hand to gesture at his appearance. Carter paused and looked at himself. He saw nothing bad and raised a questioning brow.
"Nevermind. What are you cooking?" She changed the topic.
"Nothing much, just food" he answered.
"Food? Isn't that the obvious?" Claire rolled her eyes. "What food?" She asked specifically and Carter shrugged. Claire saw his cluelessness and shook her head before walking out leaving him to his work.
Carter was disappointed as he watched her departing figure. He reflected on the romantic novels and films he had seen. Kitchen scenes are always presented as the guy cooking in a cute bunny apron with the girl giving a helping hand and doing cheesy things in between. But Claire just walked away, just walked away!.
'What am I thinking?' He shook his head brushing off the thoughts and continued his work. He should be taking care of his friend nothing else.
He took him few more minutes before he was finally done cooking. He served the dishes on the table all by himself. Claire only mumbled a word of 'well done' at intervals while scrolling through her phone.
He finished and then went to the bathroom to freshen up. He was sweaty and sticky from preparing so much dishes. He looked up a couple of them on the internet the night before and could only hope he prepared them well. Having lived alone for so long, he picked up habits like cooking.
While Carter cleaned up, Rhea arrived. As soon as she walked into the house, the welcoming aroma invited her straight to the dining table.
"Whoa, Claire what is the ceremony this time. So many mouth watering delicacies" She said.
"Actually, this was not made by me but Carter" Claire replied and Rhea looked at her strangely.
"Carter?" She was surprised.
"Yup" Claire answered popping the 'p'. She looked at the dishes once again before turning to her friend and said.
"I was quite surprised myself. You need to see him while he cooked in my pink apron"
Rhea was speechless. She was still looking at the food before her and did not notice Carter approaching figure.
"With the way you two are staring at the food, I will feel it is trash" Carter voiced and Rhea turned to him.
"Ah... I am just surprised, never thought you will be one to cook" She voiced her thoughts.
"Well..." Carter shrugged without giving an further explanation to the comment Rhea made. "We should eat before this gets cold" He said.
They walked to the table and sat down. Each served what they could eat.
"I see you did well taking care of Claire last night" Rhea noted while she ate.
"I had to. Although she was a little bit handy, I still tried my best" Carter replied.
"Yeah... I can see that, thank you" Rhea said and Carter nodded offering Rhea a small smile.
"Hey. You two! I am sitting right here do you know that?" Claire voiced. She did not enjoy the ignoring treatment she was receiving from her two friends.
"So what?"
"And?"
Carter and Rhea said simultaneously. They turned to look at Claire with a question brow. Claire who had not expected their retort shut her mouth. Seeing that she had no response to give, Rhea and Carter turned back to return to their discussion leaving Claire to grumble throughout breakfast.
"What do you guys think of the fair tomorrow?" Claire asked. They were through with eating, Rhea sipped on an orange flavored drink as she engrossed herself in a novel. Carter raised his head and tilted it.
"Not bad" Rhea replied. She flipped a page.
"Why are you guys showing no interest!" Claire snapped.
"What is this fair all about?" Carter asked dropping his phone on beside him. Claire's eyes sparkled in excitement. No one who think she was the same broken lady from last night.
"Don't you know? A day before Christmas, our City hosts an annual fun fair. The event is held from morning till night, it's loads of fun. There will be live bands, plenty of foods, fireworks and games. It's just so fun. We should all attend it this time" Claire said.
"It's not bad after all" Carter replied and earned a glare from Claire.
"Rhea, you should tell Aunt Laura and Daniel about it, let us all have fun together this time" Claire suggested.
"Okay, okay" Rhea answered. They chatted till evening before Rhea and Carter left for their homes. Although they left because Claire urged them to, she took forever to convince them that she was all good now.
*
At that time in Eris study, he worked through the company's annual report that they were going to present the shareholders at their next meeting. They had worked non stop all day and now were obviously stressed.
"Ah... so much work" Taylor yawned. He dropped his pen and stretched.
"You can take a break if you want to" Eris said without raising his head from his work.
"You think I will rest if you don't. Just look at your horrible bags" Taylor voiced and then added. "I bet your little lady will appreciate this look" he mumbled inaudibly.
Eris paused and looked up. "What did you say?" He asked.
"Nothing" Taylor quickly muttered. Eris ignored him and worked on. Taylor looked at his friend and sighed. He was walking so much these past days without rest. All he could do as a friend was to stay by his side while he worked.
"With these much growth and development you have achieved in the company, I bet any of those selfish shareholders will still have any reason not to accept you as the new CEO" Taylor said.
"Let us wait and see" Eris responded. His upper lip curled up in an arrogant smirk.
"Speaking of shareholders, I already asked Audrey to return as soon as that incident happened. She should bring the report of the case this night" Taylor voiced.
"Mm.... if that is the case, I believe we have to pay someone a big visit then" Eris said and his smirk deepened.
"Hey man, don't scare me here! Why does it feels like you suddenly become so scary?" Taylor nagged.
"Is that true? Prepare for tomorrow well then" Eris said and continued working.
"That aside, what do you think about the company's end of the year party? Who will be your date this year? I was very mad you forcefully made Audrey attend with you last year—"
"It was voluntary" Eris cuts his friend off his annoying speech.
"Whatever, but I have a hunch your mother is going to arrange some rich girl with you this year" Taylor opined.
Eris' fingers stopped working. He looked at his friend thoughtfully. 'A date for the party'. Finding a date was not a hard thing but will he want to do that after....
"Cancel the Party from my schedule, I am not attending" Eris said and his friend looked at him like he grew horns.
"What! Why?" He asked.
"Did you hear me? Do as I said and if anyone asks for reasons, you can give them any reasonable like your head can cook up" Eris replied.
"You do not mean to say that right?" Taylor questioned. Eris looked at him, he arched his brow.
"I did say it, so what?" He said.
'Atrocious!' Taylor thought. This end of the year party was one that Eris should not miss, it was important for him to attend. Only then can he curry favor with the shareholders who attended. But what now, he was backing out?.
Sensing that his friend had no more words for him, Eris stood up and left the study. His friend watched him leave with opened jaw.
He had better plans at heart.