Love Coming from the Least Expected novel Chapter 9

Out of kindness, I decided not to cook caramelized pork anymore.

Instead, I opted for trying my hand at pan-grilled fish in an

attempt to show off my culinary skills.

Christopher laughed as he leaned against the sink, watching me

roll my sleeves up dramatically.

I gave him a sidelong glance. “What are you laughing at?”

He shook his head, but his eyes were still sparkling with mirth.

“Let me clean the fish. You might get hurt.”

He took off his coat as he said so, draping it over my head and

using me as a human coat hanger. The faint, intoxicating smell of

tobacco enveloped me, and I almost couldn‟t bear to take the

coat off.

In no time, he was done and promptly took over the rest of the

preparation process; pouring oil into the pan, frying up some

chopped onions and garlic, and finally putting the fish in the pan.

Unfortunately, he had put it down a little too quickly, and drops

of boiling hot oil splashed out of the pan as soon as he did.

Thanks to Christopher‟s quick reflexes, the oil didn‟t splash onto

me but onto his outstretched arm protectively covering mine. I

noticed his skin instantly start to become an angry shade of red

in certain spots.

“Are you okay? I‟m going to go grab the first-aid kit,” I fretted,

holding his hand up close to inspect it. For some inexplicable

reason, I felt my heart clench at the sight of his reddened hand.

“I‟m fine.” He pulled me into his arms as he patted my head

comfortingly. “I‟ve dealt with worse before.”

I raised my gaze to meet his. “You‟re used to cooking for

yourself?”

Lyle could never cook or do anything useful in the kitchen, so I

had naturally assumed that Christopher couldn‟t either,

completely forgetting the fact that just because they were friends

didn‟t mean that they were the exact same person.

Christopher shrugged and silently turned back around to focus on

the fish in the pan.

At that moment, I had the sudden urge to hug him from behind

and comfort him. It must have been hard living by himself all this

while.

But I didn‟t do so for two reasons; the first being that I couldn‟t

muster up the courage, and the second reason was that the

doorbell rang.

I was about to go and open the door when he suddenly said, “I

swear, I‟m going to remove the doorbell one day.”

“Why?” What had it done to offend him?

didn‟t have the energy to deal with it right now.

“What is this?” She picked up a sock from the ground while I was

silently praying for her to leave as soon as possible.

“That‟s Lyle‟s sock. I must have dropped it after washing it this

morning.”

Her eyebrows were knitted together. “Washed? This is clearly still

grey with dirt!”

But that‟s… the color of the sock. It‟s a grey-colored sock.

She must have quickly realized her mistake, but instead of

apologizing to me, she chucked the sock into a nearby rubbish

bin. “You need to buy white socks for him from now on. And

remember to dry them out in the sun after washing them so that

the germs are all properly killed…”

Yes, yes. I nodded along. Whatever you say goes, oh great

mother-in-law.

Wendy seemed disappointed at how quickly I admitted to my

mistakes as she was now unable to find fault with me.

Then, she turned to focus her attention on Christopher, who was

sitting at the dining table. “Why are you here, Christopher?”

Nearly every muscle in my body tensed up from sheer

nervousness.