The moment the two got back in the house, Jean headed straight to the kitchen to prepare their lunch. It was a coincidence that he was on a holiday the same time his mom was on leave. That was one of the reasons why the boy saw this as the perfect moment for revisiting the mysterious spot.
Now that he had achieved this, it was time to recuperate.
As he headed towards the kitchen, Natalie, on the other hand, walked straight into the leaving room and lowered herself in one of the coaches.
'At least he has now grown into a responsible kid. He doesn't need my reminder for him to understand what he is supposed to do.'
Natalie thought to herself as she eyed the boy that was just entering the kitchen.
While in the kitchen, Jean didn't think about any other thing other than the powerful guy that Natalie told him about. At this point, he was wishing that he could at least have the chance to meet the guy. The one reason that made him feel the urge of having met the guy was the fact that the guy had goodwill towards the mundanes. So, he at least saw the opportunity of mingling with such rare people in the guy. But unfortunately, that chance was long gone as the guy was no more.
Since he knew that he still had a bundle of questions that he needed to ask Natalie concerning the powerful guy, he had to come up with a tactic that will give him the chance to ask Natalie about this guy without her getting angry.
Understanding that one of the way of making her happy is by preparing a good meal, Jean was prepared to do his best in the preparation of their lunchtime meal. Perhaps this way, her mother can have the heart to tolerate his bothersome questions.
Natalie, on the other hand, was thinking about how to prevent the boy from inquiring much about the powerful individuals. She believed that by doing so, she would prevent him from risking his life in case he accidentally inquired about this information from a wrong person. Probably a government official or someone connected to them.
Approximately ten minutes later, Natalie smelled the aroma of the food that Jean was preparing. The moment she noticed the sweet aroma permeating the surrounding air, she raised her head and gazed in the direction of the kitchen with a dazed expression.
'When did this boy advance his culinary skills? This has caught me by surprise. I can't wait to have a taste of it.'
Natalie pondered as she gulped. At this point, she was drooling for the meal that Jean was preparing.
'I will have to wait until we are done taking lunch before I tell him what I have to tell him in order for him to never inquire about the powerful individuals again.'
With that thought in mind, Natalie lazily lied in the coach as she waited for Jean to finish preparing the lunchtime meal.
Twenty minutes later, the two sat across each other on the dining table as they stared at the sumptuous meal before them. Each of them was leaking their lips more especially Natalie who seemed like she was the hungriest among the two.
After staring at each other for a moment, Jean let out a gentle smile.
"Go ahead and satiate your hunger, mom."
Jean said in a gentle tone as he gestured at the food that was lying in front of Natalie.
Smiling with the corners of her mouth, Natalie sighed. In the next moment, she descended on the food like a hungry beast. The moment she munched the food in her mouth, she closed her eyes in satisfaction.
When Jean saw this, his eyes widened in bewilderment and just at that moment, Natalie's eyelids cracked open as they met Jean's weird reaction. Noticing Natalie's gaze, Jean flinched, unconsciously scooped a spoonful of fried rice and quickly placed it in his open mouth.
Natalie, on the other hand just let out a cheeky smile and continued eating.
Sneaking glances at Natalie, Jean felt like jumping in the air. From Natalie's expression, Jean could easily tell that his mom was enjoying his cooking. Although she hadn't said a word, her expressions were enough to describe her feelings.
This being the first time that Natalie seemed to have forgotten about table manners, Jean felt like his aim of pleasing his mom had been achieved.
'I can't wait for us to be done with this before I can bombard her with questions. I hope the food has worked on her mood because at times she is usually very unpredictable.'
Although Jean could still ask her some of his questions while still on the table, he still had a feeling that by doing so, he might irk her mood. Since he didn't want this to happen, he had decided to ask her these questions at the end of their meal. This was after he was done cleaning the dishes. He believed that this way, Natalie will not have a good reason of avoiding his questions by sending him to wash the dishes.
Immediately they were done with their meal, Natalie slowly raised her head and glanced at Jean with interest.
Jean on the other hand, stared back at Natalie with a questioning look.
"Where did you steal this?"
Natalie asked.
For a moment, Jean was stunned as he found it hard to discern what Natalie was alluding to.
"Steal?!"
Jean asked out of confusion.
"Yep! Where did you steal these new culinary skills of yours?"
Natalie responded in a curious tone.
Suddenly, there was a moment of silence. In few moments later, Jean smiled wryly before responding.
"Where else? I learnt it from one of my friends."
"Axel?"
"No!"
"I thought that Axel was the only friend you had, because I know you well... You are not that good in making friends."
"What if I tell you that I changed and I can now easily befriend anybody?"
Jean said jokingly.
"Okay, let me assume that you are right. Who's thos new friend of yours that I don't have any information about?"
"Even of I tell you, you can't know her... Oh! I mean him."
Jean stated with a stutter as he quickly covered his mouth in embarrassment.
At this point, Jean was cursing inwardly since he realized his mistake when it was almost too late.
The truth of the matter was that Jean had learnt his new culinary skills from a young lady that was Axel's longterm friend and her name was Tasha. She resided on the Eastern wing of the estate. Whenever the two could visit her home, the girl would prepare some delicious meals for them and that was how Jean developed the interest to learn this skills from her. After getting used to each other, Jean could occasionally join the girl in the kitchen during her preparation of the meals and this was how he was able to learn some skills from her.
Now that his mother had unexpectedly ask Jean about the source of his seemingly exceptional culinary skills, the boy almost found himself in hot soup when he almost revealed the true identity of his cooking teacher.
It was not like revealing that it was her that taught him was a bad idea. It was only that, he was worried of what his mom might think of him considering that he had not had a female friend in his entire life.
'So, this boy has now mastered the art of lying. After all, it is understandable. I will therefore let that slide.'
Natalie contemplated as she gently straightened her dishevelled hair.
"It's okay if you don't want to reveal the friend to me. All I can tell you is that, your friend must be a good cook as well as a good teacher because I am a witness of his work."
Natalie said with a grin.
Giving Natalie a dubious look, Jean let out a frustrated sigh.
"But I was the one who prepared the meal. So, I think I deserved all the credit, mom."
Jean said as he pouted.
Natalie just waved a hand dismissively and snorted.
"It is fine, go ahead and clear the table."
Although a frown was evident on his face, Jean didn't feel offended by Natalie's words in any way. He understood that she was just trying to hide the good mood that she was in at the moment by diverting the topic without notice.
Clearing the table in haste, Jean maintained a straight face as he looked forward to the questioning session that was ahead of him.
While in the kitchen, Jean tried his best to finish cleaning the dishes so that he could come out when Natalie was still downstairs. He knew that if she had to leave for her room, it would be a bit difficult to persuade her to carryout the questioning session. And since he had put a lot of efforts in livening her mood by preparing a sumptuous delicacy for her, Jean couldn't stand forfeiting the chance.
Natalie, on the other hand was still contemplating on the contradictory statement that Jean had given out a while ago about the identity of his cooking teacher.
'So, it seems this boy has a female friend somewhere. He tried hiding it from me, but I can tell if he is lying. After all, I haven't trained him to lie. Perhaps he is learning these filthy behaviours from Axel and those new friends of his.'
A moment later, she stood from her seat and returned in the leaving room. She then lowered herself back in the couch and relaxed in it.
Approximately fifteen minutes later, Jean emerged from the kitchen. Noticing that Natalie had already left the dining area, Jean was startled as he abruptly came into a halting stop. After lingering for a moment, he decided to move to the leaving room and confirm if Natalie had moved there.
The moment he got in the leaving room and noticed Natalie lazily sitting on one of the coaches, he heaved a sigh of relief as a broad smile shone his face.
'It is time for the questioning session. '
Jean mused as he took a few strides towards Natalie.
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