Elisa clenched her phone to her chest, breathing heavily as her chest rose and fell. The air around her seemed to become thin, making it hard to breathe.
After a long while, Elisa spoke up: “Fine, I’ll do it.”
Having gotten the satisfactory response, Hamish hung up the phone and went to accompany his sweetheart.
Elisa looked around the dark, empty room. She gritted her teeth, thinking of how Hamish was happily accompanying Lila to move houses while she had to wake up early to buy groceries and cook. Her stomach ached just thinking about it. She really wanted to smash Hamish’s face in!
Lying in bed, Elisa looked up at their wedding photo hanging above her. The more she looked at it, the more irritated she became. She suddenly understood why Hamish had smashed this photo back then – because she wanted to smash it too. Not only did she want to smash it, she wanted to burn Hamish’s hateful face to ashes.
Her eyes suddenly grew wet and Elisa raised her hand to cover them, choking out through gritted teeth: “Hamish, you bastard, I’m nearly dead and you’re still tormenting me like this.”
The next day, Elisa got up early. Looking in the mirror, her eyes were indeed swollen and red as expected.
She took some ice cubes from the fridge and applied them, the swelling slowly going down after about ten minutes.
Elisa simply cooked some rice porridge. While it was cooking, she changed her clothes, put on light makeup, and took her medication.
Having cleared out the fridge while preparing to move recently, it was now nearly empty. Elisa took out her phone notes app and started making a grocery list while eating breakfast.
She listed over thirty items, mostly seasonings and ingredients. She remembered all of Hamish’s taste preferences, ingrained in her like a habit. Even if someone just mentioned something, she could reflexively answer.
Hamish was decisive in his actions, but extremely finicky when it came to food. He didn’t like weird animal parts, ugly looking meat, organ meats, meat from the feet, and preferred bland flavors without green onion, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, etc.
Suddenly getting an idea, Elisa headed straight for the meat section at the supermarket and deliberately chose meats Hamish didn’t like. For seasonings, she specifically picked things he disliked – the more he hated something, the more she chose.
After buying a cart full of ingredients and seasonings, Elisa checked out and had it all delivered back home.
Once home, Elisa efficiently tied on an apron and started washing vegetables and cutting meat. She made three stir-fried dishes. Having learned cooking from a chef to please Hamish originally, her skills were just as good as any restaurant’s.
The hot wok sizzled as enticing aromas quickly filled the house. Elisa threw in lots of chili peppers, the spicy scent rushing out aggressively – even the vent hood couldn’t contain it.
Elisa sneezed, coughing as she quickly plated the stir-fries that were cooked bright red.
With three dishes and a soup, Elisa set the table and glanced at the time – 11:40. Just as she was wondering when Hamish would bring Lila back, the front door opened.
Taking off her apron, Elisa looked towards the door to see Hamish dragging a suitcase inside, followed by a sickly looking Lila.
Before Elisa could say anything, Lila glanced at the set table behind her and softly said: “Sorry to bother you, and thank you for making this whole table of food.”
Hamish coldly glanced at Elisa, then said to Lila behind him: “Go wash your hands. I’ll take the luggage upstairs first.”
Lila nodded, looking at him with bashful spring-like eyes. “Thank you, Hamish.”
Hamish didn’t respond, easily lifting the 28-inch suitcase and heading upstairs. Watching this, Elisa’s stomach turned – were they trying to disgust her with their affectionate relationship?
With Hamish gone, Lila still acted weak and timid, shyly glancing at Elisa before going to the bathroom.
Elisa sat at the head of the table in front of the greasy, spicy dishes. No matter how they tried to bother her, she would definitely not be the one feeling disgusted in the end.