Suddenly, Dolores called him. She wanted to ask how Armand was doing, but she didn’t speak it out.
She wanted to cook the noodle soup for him first. He must be starved since he hadn’t eaten for a whole
day.
“Pardon?” Matthew looked back at her.
“Nothing. Go get changed.” Dolores curled up her lips into a faint smile to him.
Matthew could tell that she wanted to ask about something and understand what she wanted to ask.
However, he didn’t expose it and wasn’t in the mood to discuss it with her. He couldn’t tell her anything
without finding Theresa or Armand.
He went upstairs, and Dolores went into the kitchen. Since she came back with the children, in the
afternoon, Coral went to the supermarket and bought a lot of ingredients. The fridge was full already.
Opening it, she looked up and down. Finally, she took out the meat, green peppers, some green
vegetables, and tomatoes.
She washed all ingredients. While cutting, she put a pot of water on the stove to boil, which could save
her some time.
She sliced the lean meat and marinated it with starch and eggs with seasoning. The cured meat would
be particularly smooth and tender. She cut green peppers and tomatoes during the marinating time.
On the second floor, Matthew took a shower and put on pajamas. The texture of silk was soft and
smooth. Although he wore a long-sleeved shirt and trousers, he didn’t feel muggy at all. He stepped
down on white indoor slippers and went to the children’s room to see the two kids. At this time, both
children were sleeping. The villa was extremely quiet, and only a slight noise from the kitchen was
heard.
He walked over and stood in the dining room, from where he could see the slim figure busy cooing. He
didn’t move, just looking at her in silence. He enjoyed it very much, feeling the warmth from the bottom
of his heart.
In fact, the life he longed for was pretty simple, which was just like this moment -- his kids and wife
were with him together. After he finished work and went back home, someone was waiting for him at
home.
He would ask for much, as long as she was willing to make him a noodle soup personally.
When Dolores was putting the noodles into the boiling water, she was hugged from behind. She looked
back, and the tip of her nose touched his cheek. He had just taken a shower, so she smelt the fresh
scent of the shower gel.
She gently pushed him with her elbow. “Wait for me outside. It’ll be ready pretty soon.”
Matthew wrapped his arms around her waist, covering her belly with his palm and touching it gently. He
bent over his upper body and pressed his chin on her shoulder. “I want to watch you do it.”
Dolores glared at him in anger. “I feel bothered if you keep holding me like this.”
“I don’t care.” He insisted on holding her.
Dolores heaved a sigh, feeling quite speechless. “I’m not as good at cooking as Coral. Just make do
with it.”
“As long as the dish is cooked by you, I would love it.” While spoke, he pecked on her cheek.
Dolores didn’t have time to check on him. Before the noodles were fully cooked, she put the lettuces
and turned over the gas off. Since Matthew was holding her like this, she couldn’t move around. She
patiently said, “Could you stop playing at being cute, please? Just go out and wait for your food.”
Matthew released her, but he didn’t go out. Instead, he pulled her away. “I’ll put it into the bowl.”
He opened the cabinet and got a rice bowl. When he was about to put the noodles into it, Dolores
asked, “Are you sure you’re gonna use this bowl?”
Matthew looked down and check it on, but he didn’t find anything wrong. “Don’t we use this bowl to
eat?”
He wondered what was wrong.
Dolores heaved a sigh, took the bowl from his hand, and explained to him by the way, “This is a rice
bowl. You should put the noodle soup into a noodle bowl because it’s big enough for the soup. The rice
bowl is way too small. If you leave the noodles in the pot, they would lump shortly. Hence, you should
use this one.”
She opened another cabinet, took out a white glazed noodle bowl, and gave it to Matthew.
Matthew looked up at her and took the bowl over with a smile. He filled the bowl with the noodle soup,
and Dolores took the stir-fried dishes to the dining table -- stir-fried tomatoes with eggs and stir-fried
green pepper with sliced meat. She put the lettuces in the noodle soup.
Pulling out a chair, she sat down. Matthew put the noodle bowl on the table and sat down opposite her.
“Would you like some?”
Dolores shook her head. Matthew had been used to eating noodle soup with stir-friend tomatoes with
eggs in this way. Dolores didn’t need to tell him again, and he mixed the dish with the noodle soup
already.
“Probably you can cook the noodle soup with the stir-fried tomatoes with eggs together.” He believed
that it would save much time. It was way too troublesome in the current way. Dolores needed to stir fry
the tomato with eggs first before putting them on the noodle soup.
Dolores supported her chin and didn’t retort him. She said, “I’ll try your method to cook it next time.”
She used the current method because the tomato juice would come out after being stir-fried. It wouldn’t
look good but also be with a strong flavor. If she cooked them all together with the noodle soup, the
tomato could be over-cooked with less flavor.
Matthew picked up sliced meat and took a bite. The meat was quite tender. After the marination, the
meat’s smell had completely gone. He looked up at her. “Have you learned how to cook?”
Dolores nodded. “In the past, I could only cook the noodle soup with the stir-fried tomatoes and eggs.
After giving birth, I made time to learn to cook some simple dishes. If I had time, I’ll cook for them
myself.”
After having the kids, she wanted to learn how to cook. She felt that it was a happiness to prepare
three meals for her children. However, she had to work, so she could only make certain time to cook for
them when spending time with them.
Matthew looked down slightly. He didn’t participate in the past six years. When listening to her talk
about those things, he felt quite depressed.
He cast a glance at the clock on the wall and asked, “Aren’t you sleepy yet?”
Dolores was indeed sleepy. She didn’t take a nap again after being woken up by Coral.
“You should go upstairs and sleep.” Matthew could tell how sleepy she was. He didn’t have the heart to
let her wait here.
Dolores hesitated for a moment, stood up, and said, “Okay. I’ll go upstairs. Put the dishes in the sink
after you’ve done.”
“I got it. Just go ahead,” Matthew interrupted her.
Dolores went upstairs. She had already taken a shower. After lying on the bed, she soon fell asleep
and even didn’t know when Matthew came upstairs.
In her dream, she felt that someone was holding her from behind. Her subconsciousness told her who
that was, so she was sleeping soundly.
Boyce led the team to search until the latter half of the night but still failed to find them. The cave
entrance from which Armand and Theresa had slid down was in a secret place and the cave was deep.
Even if there was any sound above, they couldn’t hear it at all, unless it was a huge noise.
After a night, Armand’s cell phone died. They were in the cave but didn’t speak at all for a whole night.
When the sun rose, there was light in the cave. Armand checked on Theresa, only to find that she was
leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. He thought that she had fallen asleep, so he dared not to
make any sound at all.
However, after a long while, Theresa still didn’t open her eyes. Armand tried to call her, “Theresa?”
She didn’t answer.
He called again, “Theresa?”
There was still no answer. He frowned and gradually approached her, reaching out to touch her.
“Theresa...”
As soon as he touched her body, Armand felt the burning heat. In a hurry, he covered her forehead -- it
was quite hot. He didn’t know when she was on fever. Without a thermometer, he was sure that she
was on a high fever.
Her lips dried out with a layer of skin. Armand held her and patted her on the cheeks. He kept calling
her name, but she had no response at all. She was totally in a coma. Armand was so anxious. He
shouted to the entrance of the cave, hoping to attract people’s attention and rescue them.
He shouted till his voice got hoarse, but there was no response at all. Dizzily, Theresa heard Armand’s
voice. She wanted to open her eyes but she was too weak. She just felt so thirsty and cold.
“Water... Water...” Her voice was as low as a mosquito's. Armand didn’t hear it clearly. When his ear
approached her lips, he finally heard what she was muttering about.
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