Orson had no idea what Calista was thinking, but judging from the smug smiles she had been throwing at him, he knew that it wasn't anything good.
Nonetheless, he was quite amazed, actually, by how attentive and caring she was. So far, the only bad thing she had done to him was give him a scar when his face was completely fine and not heal it when she could.
And then forcing him into marriage, taking advantage of his 'so-called' amnesia he had.
Apart from that, she had shown a lot of trust in him and treated him pretty well. She was straightforward, and her directness and shamelessness sometimes possess a certain charm to it.
With the clothes out of the way, Orson took on the job of helping Calista store the food she had purchased.
In less than an hour, Orson now knew where this and that could be found. Seeing the full barrels of crushed corn, white rice, brown rice, white flour, brown flour, mealie-meal, sugar, salt and other things, he could tell that she was someone who knew what to do.
She didn't wait for her barrels to be empty and starve to death, but she was always preparing and organizing.
All the meat that wasn't going to be eaten was taken to the underground icehouse. Inside that house, Orson was baffled as he looked at the meat that hadn't been touched yet.
Just how fancy was she?
After dealing with all the food and meat, Calista gave Orson a job which was to do the dishes while she prepared breakfast.
Orson was baffled by the sudden chore he was given, but when he thought of how hardworking she was, he ended up rolling up his sleeves and started doing dishes seriously.
When Susan arrived with her family, she came across a scene of a tall man with his back facing them washing dishes while a sweet melody could be heard coming from the kitchen, where smoke was rising from the chimney.
"Your friend ….. Calista, what is she doing?" Susan's mother was baffled upon seeing such a brazen thing happening.
Since when did men start doing women's work? Her face simply burned with shame at the thought of that little rascal doing the impossible.
"Calista, get the heck out of there!" unable to contain herself, Ma Susan infuriatedly called for Calista whom she knew would hear her pretty well.
When Ma Susan called out, Orson, who was immersed in doing dishes, was startled as he wasn't expecting any visitors so early in the morning.
Without thinking much about it, he placed the plate he was rinsing on the rack before he turned around to face the visitors he wasn't expecting to see so early.
When Ma Susan was fuming as she walked towards the kitchen, Ba Susan was busy sizing the young man that rascal had taken a fancy to.
And when he saw him, Ba Susan couldn't help but furrow his brows as he looked closely at the man.
'It's a pity that his face is marred like that. Is it possible that because of that, he had the guts to come and remind me about the engagement?'
The old man's head was filled with all sorts of hypotheses.
Orson didn't need anyone to tell him that the old man standing in front of him was scrutinizing him, but what did that have to do with him?
"Hello Uncle!" he respectfully greeted with a slight bow, expressing a bit of shyness in the process.
When Ba Susan saw that, he sighed heavily as he started worrying about the future.
For such a big man, how could he be ...? Even that rascal had thick skin!
He suddenly started feeling pity for this groom, especially when he thought of how troublesome Calista was.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the yard, Calista, after hearing Ma Susan's yell, knew that the nice old lady was pissed.
As for the reason, that didn't matter. There was nothing that she, Calista, wasn't able to solve.
So, when she came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron, she flashed Ma Susan with a smile, rendering the old lady silent.
Who told her to be so weak to the little rascal's charm?
When Susan saw her mother losing without even fighting, she facepalmed helplessly wondering why her mother had to be angry in the first place if she was going to act like that the next second.
"Aunty, you came!" Calista pretended as if she wasn't aware of Ma Susan's gloominess a few seconds ago and merrily greeted the other with a cheeky smile that left no room for chidings.
"You ….. what? Didn't you want me to come too?" Ma Susan retorted.
Chuckling softly at the old woman's antics, Calista took Ma Susan's hands in hers and patted her coaxingly, "Aunty, how can you say that? Are we that distant?" pouting sulkily, as if she had been wronged.
Ma Susan glared speechlessly at Calista who knew how to make this move all the time and yet her heart was racing wildly as she enjoyed getting coaxed like that.
Who else could make her old heart pump like that and make her feel as if she were a maiden once again?
Susan wasn't pretty good at acting coyly to the parents. Her son was boorish and the daughter-in-law was a bit squeamish and thin-skinned. But Calista was different.
And it was thanks to her that her days in the village were colorful like this.
Calista's antics attracted Orson and Ba Susan's attention and, seeing that for the first time, Orson was baffled.
'Why hasn't she shown me that side of her yet?' he sulked at the thought of that.
Usually around him, she would beat him with a stick and then coax him with a carrot, but it wasn't to that extent.
He didn't think that she could act so coquettishly like a child before considering how she was always acting in front of him.
So, seeing this new side of hers, he didn't know how to react, but judging at the three's reactions; it looked like they were quite used to that.
Ba Susan, seeing the bit of shock on the son-in-law's face, for a second, wanted to scold Calista for losing her manners but on second thoughts, it was better for him to know more about her. After all, he was certain that Calista wasn't the type of person who would hide her true nature from the surrounding people.
"I guess she is forgiven already. Let's go to that side!" Ba Susan shook his head with a soft chuckle as he motioned for Orson to follow.
Orson hearing the old man saying that he could only follow, numerous thoughts swimming in his mind.