Actually, where he came from, the women there were different from the women, society expected to see.
However, this was the first time that he had seen such a bold woman who didn't conform to society's rules regarding etiquette.
Women were expected to keep their distance from strange men obviously to maintain their chastity. When eating, they would sit amongst themselves usually on the ground or mats depending on what they have and which status they have as well.
Usually, when one sees a man and a woman eating together, especially in big cities, they are either married or siblings. However, in some villages, people still sit together but in the central room and not in a sacred place like the bedroom.
And yet there she was sitting with one leg hanging down the bed, and another one on top of the bed crossed, with her plate in hand as she devoured her food without caring that there was a man in the room.
Even the way she was dressed, it just expressed that she was a very carefree person and honestly, he was quite interested in her background.
However, he also understood that it wouldn't be easy to pry any information out of her. He had just been with her for a few hours and yet everything he had found during that time was enough to make those who knew him to be greedy and wary at the same time.
Calista despite sensing the gaze cast on her, ate her food seriously. There were too many fishbones and there was no way she wanted to suffer once a bone got stuck in her throat.
It didn't take long before the two cleaned the plates. Only the bones remained in the plates.
When Calista saw that Orson didn't waste food, the way she looked at him changed. And Orson being looked strangely at again, he couldn't help but tremble with fear, wondering what she was thinking of doing to him again.
Calista rose from the bed and passed the man the dish so that he might wash his hands.
"I have already wiped your body, so there won't be any need to clean up anymore," Calista informed Orson as she waited for him to hand over the dish.
Orson's movements halted for a second upon hearing how she was at it again, speaking without thinking and being reckless with her words.
"Thank you, for taking care of me!" he said with gritted teeth, embarrassed that she had eaten his tofu when he was still unconscious.
"It's not a problem. Taking care of you is just my duty!" she provocatively said, knowing fully that Orson obviously wasn't supporting everything that she was doing at that moment.
Orson didn't say a word. After clashing with her for a while, he accepted the fact that when it came to being shameless and using words, he would never win against her. He might as well go with the flow and see if he would gain from anything in the process.
Calista received the dish with water and placed both plates in it.
Before leaving the room, she generously told Orson, without looking back at him. "I won't be coming back to check on you, but don't even think about running away. Unless I want to do it, you cannot escape from me. So be a good boy and wait until the day we get married. By the way, tomorrow I will be meeting with the village chief about us. Before the week comes to an end, the two of us will be married. You don't have to think about anything. Just leave everything to me."
As he watched her leave, Orson couldn't help but chuckle amusedly.
'Even the Chief is not so brazen like her. Just what exactly is her background?' he pondered with a glint of interest flashing in his eyes.
He wasn't a fool and wouldn't bother to check and see what would happen if he tried to escape. Besides, why should he escape when it seems that the answer he had been looking for, the one that led him all the way here, was with her?
Until he got what he came here for, he would play along and stick to her side like a virtuous amnesia husband.
How long had it been since he was a husband?
Sadness suddenly overwhelmed him as he thought of that.
On the other side, Calista merrily hummed a tune unheard of before as she took the dirty dishes to the rack where she placed the others.
The sun had already set, so it had become a bit dark. She was supposed to have washed the dishes earlier before, but with Orson's arrival, that chore was pushed aside.
"Meow!" suddenly Whitey, who had disappeared goodness where the time she found Orson appeared in front of her.
Upon seeing the kitty, Calista's eyes brightened as she scooped the little one into her arms.
"You are always roaming around like that. Aren't you afraid of being eaten?" she asked teasingly as she scratched the kitten on its neck.
Whitey simply meowed in dissatisfaction with its eyes closed.
Seeing Whitey doing that, she shook her head helplessly as she carried Whitey to the kitchen. When they entered the kitchen, Whitey's eyes snapped open upon smelling roasted fish.
Seeing the greedy kitten awake, Calista dotingly scratched its head once more before placing Whitey on the floor.
Calista walked over to the basket where she had placed the fish before. She took out one fish and brought it to Whitey on a beautifully decorated porcelain plate.
"Eat your fish and don't dare touch what's mine!" she threatened the kitten before leaving the kitchen.
Whitey snorted seeing his mistress leaving but diligently began to nibble on the fish with a satisfied expression on its small face.
Outside, Calista fetched water from a barrel outside and used that water to clean all the dirty dishes diligently.
It took a while for her to finish her chores since it was night already.
After doing the dishes, she went back to the kitchen where she found Whitey gone already and the fish bones were nowhere to be found on the plate. Calista cleaned the plate before setting aside the plate where she had taken it before.
On the fire, a cauldron full of water was boiling silently there, and she later used that water to take her last bath of the day before dozing to sleep.
And just like she promised before, she didn't go to check Orson again for the night.
If he didn't want his life, then he might as well just be brave and try running away!