“Come let us eat this” Cade said with two plates in hand as he walked to the dining table.
“Okay we are eating there” she murmured following him. He set down the plates opposite each other and waited to choose a side before sitting down.
“You made this?” she asked looking down at her plate to see the pasta meal, she wondered how much time she had spent upstairs for him to have enough time to make this.
“Yes,” he beamed as if he had been waiting for her to give him that compliment. “Why don’t you try it?” he gestured to her.
She smiled taking away the hair that had fallen to her face and wrapping it around the bundle of hair behind her head. She never took food as a joke and was well-invested in having good meals. She would be elated if the meal before her turned out to be a fantastic one.
“Are you confident in your skills?” she asked taking up the cukterly and swirling it in between her fingers.
“Of course, I am not just the nation’s boyfriend for nothing” he smirked.
She took a spoonful of the meal in front of her and downed the entire content inot her mouth before slowly chewing it down. She wished her face had not betrayed her by showing satisfaction but she could not deny that he had done a good job.
The flavours burst in her mouth as she ate and his seasoning was in right proportions. “This is good” she said taking the spoon to her mouth again.
Cade nodded and then began with his own meal, it was as if he was waiting on her approval before he could go ahead to eat. “So are the rumours true?” she asked taking a sip from the cup of water by her side.
“What rumours?” he asked dropping the cutlery to the plate and raising his head to meet hers.
“That you are a genius?” she asked.
“Of course I am, and there is absolutely nothing I am not good at” he bragged.
She raised her head to study his face, she was not sure if he was saying it as a joke or if he was being serious. They had spent four weeks together before the wedding ceremony and she had never seen him as egotistical. Of course, as someone with wealth, there were certain kinds of aura required of him and he never failed to deliver so this was quite strange to her. Him bragging in her face was strange news to her.
“Have you always been this way?” she asked and shook his head swallowing his meal.
“What way?”
“Proud”
“Oh little one, I am not proud, I am just perfect, that is the way it is” Cade replied with a smug expression on his face.
“Oh really? I am a hundred percent sure and I can bet on a decent sum of money that you have a weakness” she replied.
“I meet you on that bet but not on the money”
“Not on money?” she asked confused.
“Money is too boring, we have money we have had money all our life, I don’t think any of us can be enticed by money”
Ophelia nodded in agreement, he was right. She had always faced the dilemma in school while she studied. Some boys whose parents had only a small chunk of money always tried to entice her with money, whenever they raised a chunk of money in her face, she doubled it for them and moved on with life.
If anything she was not looking for someone who was going to flaunt their money in her face because she already had money, she was looking to have love not defined by walls. She knew there was no way she was getting that in marriage, but it was still shocking to her that she did not get to experience it.
“That is true, so what do we bet on?”
“If you manage to somehow prove I have a flaw or weakness or whatever it is that you want to call me then I must grant at least ten of your wishes”
“Oh wow,” she was impressed with how fast his mind thought about the solution and proffered it to her.
“And if you can’t prove it then you must grant ten of mine too”
“I can prove it in ten days” she replied ready to take on the challenge. He might be a genius but she was no dullard herself.
“I will give you a month,” he said. She scoffed at his confidence, she knew that she had to do what it takes to make sure she won. Who knows what kind of absurd wishes he might have?
“Better get ready to do my wishes,” she said.
“I should be telling you that,” he said.
They both paused and looked at each other before a burst of laughter sprung up from within them. “What are we doing? Like school children” Ophelia said.
“Don’t try to use this to get out of this,” Cade said and she sat up straight making her shoulders straight.
“I don’t lose, I have never lost and I do not intend to lose now”
After the meal, they moved to the living room with a cup of sweetened tea for Ophelia and a strong black coffee for Cade.
“I just don’t understand why someone would have the choice to have something sweet but they would insist on having bitter things”
“Bitter things? Like coffee?” he asked looking into his cup as he swirled the contents around.
“Yeah,” she murmured taking a sip from her cup and savouring the taste in her mouth.
“You really are a little one” Cade said with a smile raising his head so that his eyes would meet hers.
“Shall we discuss our living arrangements?” she asked placing her cup to the table in front of her. She was glad that he was away from her or else she was tempted to run her hands over his golden brown eyes and then deep kiss them.
“More terms?”
“Of course”