Elena was amused, and she wanted to laugh. Did he say that on purpose? Did she look like someone who would want to show off something like that?
“Really?” She raised her eyebrows.
“For sure!” Henry turned around and nodded at his people, and two men immediately appeared with a folding table that they had prepared earlier.
Then they left after they had set up the table.
Henry put the bowls of noodles that he had bought onto the table. “Let’s eat, greedy little cat.”
“Wow, it smells great!” Elena looked at the three bowls of noodles that Henry had put in front of her. Her mood immediately lifted when she detected the delicious aroma.
“I don’t know which one you’d like, so I bought a few. So, try it.”
Henry shoved the chopsticks into her hand and went on to open the other bag. He took out another three large bowls of food.
“There’s so much food. How can we finish all of these?” Six bowls—he must have gone crazy.
“Here, try these.” Henry pushed the other three bowls toward her.
Elena thought it was a waste! However, her appetite returned when she saw the spread of food in front of her. She quickly picked up the chopsticks to try the first bowl.
“Pork ribs noodles!” It was delicious, but where were the pork ribs? “Where’s the meat?”
“The doctor said that you can’t eat meat yet because the fat in the meat might affect the scars, so I told them to remove the meat.”
If the meat were not removed, she might be tempted to eat them. Henry thought he should remove the appeal. Elena had no choice but to enjoy the noodles without the meat.
After a few bites, she reached out for the other bowl next to it. After another taste of that, she exclaimed happily, “It’s delicious!”
Her eyes lit up, even though she could not tell what flavor it was; it was sweet and delicious!
“What about the pork rib noodles? Do you still want it?” Henry glanced at her happy face.
“Yes, I still want to eat that!” The pork ribs noodles were very nice, but it was not as good as the bowl in her hand.
“Go on, then.” Henry knew that she was an avid foodie.
They had been friends for some time, and in that period, Henry learned that even though Elena seemed calm and collected most of the time, she was only a young girl. After all, she was only 18 years old, so one could not expect her to be that mature. Elena ignored him as she picked up her chopsticks and started to eat again.
“Delicious! It’s really delicious! Don’t you want to try?”
She took the time to take a look at Henry only to see that he had a pair of chopsticks in his hand and had already started to eat.
However, the food that he ate… “I’ve already eaten from this bowl!”
“I thought you didn’t want this anymore?” Henry frowned. Why would she not allow him to eat the food that he no longer wanted? Did she have to be that overbearing?
“That’s not what I meant!” Elena saw the dissatisfied look on his face and knew that he had misunderstood her.
“I mean, I…have eaten it, how can you…eat that?”
“Do you have an infectious disease that I haven’t heard? Are your lips poisonous?” He did not care at all. In the blink of an eye, he had gobbled half of the noodle in the bowl.
Elena blinked in disbelief. She was not poisonous, nor did she have an infectious disease, but he was Second Young Master Sharp! Did he not think it was filthy to eat something that she had eaten before?
“There are still many bowls of noodles here. You can eat something else,” she said in a hurry.
Henry did not even lift his head. “You can try them first. Then, just give me the ones that you don’t like.”
Elena gripped her chopsticks. Something tugged at her heart. She looked at the person in front of her as he continued to devour the noodles. She felt as if she was in a trance. When did the two of them meet? When did he start to treat her so well? It was apparent that they were from two different worlds, so she had not expected them to be friends or him to stand by her side. She did not even remember how they became friends in the first place. Henry finally realized that Elena was staring at him instead of enjoying the food.
He swallowed the food in his mouth. Then, he looked at her with a frown. “What? Haven’t you seen a handsome guy before?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Very handsome, indeed.”
“Why? Have you fallen for me?”
Henry did not take her words to heart. He looked at the food and continued to eat. He was so busy with the food that he slurped when he talked to her.
“Well, you should know that I don’t like women like you. You’re not compliant, or even gentle. Sometimes, you are rather crude too. Don’t fall for me, or you’ll get hurt.”
Elena had nothing to say to that.
If he had said such words in the past, Elena would definitely refute that she would never like him. However, she quietly looked at him for a few moments before she softly asked, “Why do you treat me so well?”
Henry froze. Then he drank half of the leftover soup in his bowl before he put it down and met her gaze.
“Do you think that I’m good to you?” He was serious; he wanted to know.
Elena thought for a moment and then nodded. “Very good.”
“You’re right! In that case, you’ll have to return that favor to me at work! Don’t forget that I have invested money in you.”
She was speechless, yet again.
Every time she felt touched by his action, he would immediately give her a huge blow to wake her up quickly.
“Got it!” She pouted her lips and continued to eat her noodles in a slight resentment.
Henry’s eyes gleamed with a hint of joy when he noticed that she was annoyed with his answer. Did he treat her that well? He did not seem to notice it at all. Anyway, his big brother had asked him to take care of her, and that was what he did. Was that how one would treat another well?
“Do you still want to eat this? Try the next one. There are so many, and you won’t be able to finish them all.”
He snatched the bowl in front of Elena and pushed the other bowl toward her.
“Are you sure you want to eat the one that I’ve tasted before?” Why would he not get a new one for himself? It did not seem appropriate for him to eat her leftovers.
“Try them first. I’ll finish them if you don’t like it.” He did not want to snatch her food if there were ones that she favored. Elena gave up and tried another bowl. She had only one bite, but her mood improved tremendously!
“This is so delicious!”
“Try another one.”
“I’ll have a couple more bites.”
“This bowl also smells yummy.”
“Yes, it’s delicious, but I don’t want it anymore. You may have it!”
…
Three days later, Ryan performed a skin reconstruction surgery on Elena. The operation took more than seven hours, and during those grueling hours, Elena had either laid or sat down on the operating table. She was groggy when the operation ended. They did not give her general anesthesia, but they had used potent local anesthetics all over her body. Ryan and two nurses had to help her into a wheelchair.
Ryan smiled at her and treated her with a friendly attitude like he had in the past. “Young Madam… Miss Elena, the operation had gone very well. Rest assured that most of the wounds would not leave a scar.”
“What about the other wounds?” Elena looked at him.
“Err…” Ryan thought she was sad, so he could only try to comfort her. “There might be scarring on a few wounds at three places; your back, your lower back, and your shoulders. Except for one wound on your shoulder that might be visible if you were to wear bare-shoulder clothes, the others would not be noticeable.
“Furthermore, if you take good care of yourself, the scars will get lighter after some time. Eventually, they’d appear invisible.”
Elena still said nothing, and Ryan felt a little nervous. “Miss Elena, if you are still worried, after a month, I can…”
“Ryan,” Elena interrupted him as she tugged at his coat.
Ryan knew that she had something to say, so he told the two nurses to leave the room. After that, he crouched to look closer at her. “Miss Elena, do you have something you’d like to ask me?”
Elena hesitated for a moment before she asked, “Is your eldest young master really in Bentson?”