“I felt like leaving after getting my heart broken. I wanted to leave the people I knew and the things that reminded me of the pain. I even turned off my Facebook, WhatsApp, and changed my phone number. I happened to meet a good stranger who happened to come from A city, so I came here,” Natalie Wheeler lowered her eyes as she explained sadly.
“Where do you live now? I saw that the address on your resume is the address of a hotel.” Jasper Milton asked.
“That’s why I thought it was a very tempting offer that I could stay and eat at your place,” Natalie said jokingly.
Jasper did not speak as he continued driving.
“My waist doesn’t hurt anymore, so I don’t need to go to the hospital. I just had a little bump. I’ll be fine. You can pull the car to the side, and I can go back by myself.” Natalie said, looking out of the window.
“Auntie, since you’re no longer in pain, could you cook dinner for me? I often eat in restaurants, and I’m tired of it,” Dante said playfully.
Natalie’s heart softened. She glanced at Jasper. He remained silent.
“Sure. What do you want to eat? Auntie will cook for you.” Natalie rubbed Dante’s head.
“I want to eat chicken wings, fries, and…” Dante licked his lips. “… and mushroom soup!”
Natalie smiled. “Do you have any ingredients in your refrigerator?” she asked Jasper.
“No, there’s nothing. There’s only wine,” Dante complained.
“You could pull up at the front. There is a market there. I’m going to buy some groceries. Give me ten minutes,” Natalie said.
“You might not be from A City, but you are quite familiar with this place,” Jasper said meaningfully.
“I like to wander and walk around, so I remembered that there is a market here. You can stop at the side now, please give me a moment,” she said softly.
Jasper parked the car on the side and handed his wallet to Natalie.
She was stunned.
“Take my wallet and return it to me later,” Jasper said in a low voice.
“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll take your money?” Natalie was surprised.
“A person like you who’s earning 100 thousand dollars a month won’t be interested in a few thousand dollars.”
She was amused.
A monthly salary of one hundred thousand dollars?
Indeed, the offer was very tempting. Even if she really was a thief, she would not steal money from him.
She took his wallet and got off the car.
Jasper opened the window, lit a cigarette, and looked at Natalie’s back. The light of the cigarette was flickering, just like the light in his eyes, mysterious.
Ten minutes later, Natalie bought the ingredients and came over. She opened the back door and sat next to Dante.
“Natalie, what kind of ingredients did you buy?” he asked with a smile.
“What did you call her?” Jasper reminded him.
Dante stuck out his tongue and corrected himself. “Auntie Natalie.”
Natalie said with a smile, “I bought juice, chicken wings, nuggets, codfish, fries, tomato, bread, vegetables, mushrooms, meatballs, and spices.”
“You’ve bought so many ingredients. How could the three of us finish eating it all today?” Dante was surprised and happy, but he also felt that it was a waste.
“I’ll make chicken wings, fish and chips, and mushroom soup for dinner tonight. As for the other ingredients, you can make meatball sauce with them. After preparing them, you can keep them frozen in the refrigerator. If you want to eat it, you just have to heat the sauce and have it with a sandwich. You can have them as breakfast tomorrow.” Natalie explained.
Jasper looked at her. “You know how to make fish and chips?”
“Yep. If we can’t finish them tonight, we can eat it tomorrow,” Natalie said with a smile.
Jasper did not speak again. He sped up and drove back to the apartment.
As soon as they came out of the elevator, Natalie saw Bettany holding Ralph’s shoulder and standing at the door.
Bettany Hadley glanced at Natalie and said to Jasper with a smile, “Ralph came back again. I was afraid that you would be worried, so I sent him here. Is this the housekeeper that Ralph mentioned?”
“She is the tutor I hired. Because Ralph and Dante are about to go to school, I’m giving her full responsibility to take care of them. Ralph, apologize to Miss Wheeler. You shouldn’t have pushed her,” Jasper said sternly.
“I didn’t push her. She pulled me and didn’t let me go.” Ralph shouted with grievance.
“She didn’t let you go because she was worried that something might happen to you. It’s not right to push people away. Besides, it’s wrong to run away without your parents’ permission and make your parents worry about you. Apologize to her now,” Jasper said sternly.
“Ralph, don’t make your father angry. Apologize quickly, and you are not allowed to come back casually like this in the future. Mommy is fine, so you don’t have to worry about me,” Bettany immediately said.
Ralph pursed his lips tightly with tears in his eyes. He looked at Bettany and said, “Mommy, I want to go back with you. When Dad found Dante, he didn’t care about me anymore. I want to go with you.”
“Don’t say such nonsense. How could your father not love you? If you continue to talk like this, I will be angry. I won’t allow you to say that. Do you hear me?” Bettany said angrily.
Ralph lowered his head, not a word escaping his lips.
“Mr. Milton, I’ll go in and cook first,” Natalie quickly changed the topic.
Jasper nodded, opened the door, and Natalie walked in.
His apartment was not particularly big. There were three bedrooms, two living areas, and one kitchen. It was also very neat. The tiles on the wall were immaculate and polished enough to see one’s reflection. The overall layout was similar to the impression he gave people: masculine, righteous and meticulous.
“Where is the kitchen?” Natalie asked.
“I’ll take you there. Since there’s no helper, I’ll help you,” Bettany volunteered as she stepped in.
Jasper held her arm. “You’re suffering from diabetes, so you’d better rest more. You can eat here if you haven’t eaten yet. After dinner, I’ll get someone to send you back.”
“It’s okay. I’ll help. I’ll stop if I’m tired. I know my body best.” Bettany smiled and walked toward the kitchen.
“Miss Wheeler, what should I help you with?” she asked politely.
“Why don’t you clean the vegetables then?” Natalie took out all the vegetables that she’d bought.
Bettany took the codfish and washed it under the water. “I remember that Jasper likes fish and chips the most. Let me prepare this dish.”
Natalie did not say anything. She washed the chicken wings and cut up all the chicken wings in the center. Then, she poured a good amount of oil onto the pan before putting the chicken wings in and frying them until they were golden brown. She added some honey and glanced over at Bettany to check on her. Satisfied with what she saw, she added garlic powder, some salt, and a little BBQ sauce.
While waiting for the chicken wings to be cooked, she cleaned up the mushrooms.
By the time she was done with the mushrooms, the chicken wings were also ready. Natalie took out the chicken wings and saw that Bettany had already taken out the deep-fried fish and lay them on the parchment paper.
“Jasper likes the way I make this dish the most, but I’m in poor health. He doesn’t want me to overwork myself. I’ll teach you the recipe some other day,” Bettany said with a smile.