“Right, you guys must have introduced yourself I presume?” Hayden looked at Joseph before shifting
her gaze to Freddie, “Do you need me to introduce him to you?”
“There’s no need for that.” Joseph eyed Freddie with an undecipherable expression on his face. His
tone was strangely distorted, “Your future little boyfriend has just introduced himself to me.”
Hayden was startled a little and then she shot a glance at Freddie, “Did you just spout some nonsense
again?”
Freddie was furrowing his brows in obvious dissatisfaction, but he could only answer timidly, “What do
you mean that I am spouting nonsense?”
“This is Freddie.” Hayden explained to Joseph, “He’s a cello player, but he’s out of job at the moment.”
“I see, so is he living off of you?”
Joseph glanced at him faintly and he sounded a little sarcastic.
“Who do you think is living off Hayden? I am just staying here temporarily, and what’s more, I am going
to sign a new contract with a new company.” Freddie returned Joseph’s glance vehemently.
“I sure do hope so.” Hayden shot him a glance with utmost powerlessness.
“I need to go prepare something in the kitchen. You guys can continue chatting.”
When Freddie was going to enter into a long explanation about the fact that he wasn’t really without
income during this period, Joseph swiftly snatched the raw food on the floor and darted into the kitchen
before anyone else could.
“What are you doing?” Hayden chased after him.
“Let me help you.”
The two of them entered the kitchen one after another while Freddie was staying still in the same spot
with a petrified expression on his face. As the creases on his brows deepened, he followed their
footsteps, “Let me help you too.”
“The kitchen is not very spacious. You’d better don’t come in here and stir up some trouble. Go look for
Stella.”
Hayden ordered with an unhappy tone as she shut him out of the kitchen by sliding the glass door
close.
Freddie was a little frustrated, “Don’t keep treating me as a child.”
After slamming and tapping the door for some time, Hayden suddenly pulled the door open and shoved
a bag full of bean sprouts into his embrace, “Alright, since you’re an adult now, help me to pluck off the
leaves on these bean sprouts.”
Immediately after saying that, she slammed the door shut.
“What?”
Freddie didn’t know what kind of reaction he should show at the moment.
What he actually meant was that Hayden should see him as an equal adult in terms of maturity and not
only seeing him as merely as a friend like her younger brother. Her treatment of him would only attract
mockery to him, just like that guy’s response.
Joseph was washing tomatoes by the sink and after seeing Hayden shutting Freddie out of the kitchen,
a sense of relief took over his heart. His pent-up frustration ever since encountering this guy was now
gone without a trace.
He was a little shocked at how he was handling his emotion up to this moment.
“You should just let me wash them since you are a guest. You can just wait outside.”
Hayden discovered to her surprise that Joseph would even soil his own hands in helping out her tasks
in the kitchen, which made her feel a little sorry for him.
Joseph placed two freshly-washed tomatoes on the chopping board while replying casually, “No
thanks, I have some time on my hands anyway.”
“Th...Then, alright.”
Hayden didn’t have anything more to say towards him.
When all of the vegetables had been finely sliced, Joseph was still not planning to get out of the
kitchen. Hayden asked in confusion, “Are you sure you don’t want to go out? There will be a lot of
smoke when I start frying these vegetables.”
“Didn’t you say that you want to teach me how to cook?”
“Huh? You mean now?”
Hayden was astonished by what he had just said. When they were in the Imperial Villa, she had offered
to teach me about cooking, but he didn’t look vested in this activity at that time. Why would he suddenly
offer to be her student now?
“That’s right.”
After getting his affirmation, she was still slightly stunned, “Alright, you can watch me when I do it.”
She was going to cook up braised chicken wings now.
Hayden took the glass container containing marinated chicken wings and signalled for Joseph to pay
attention, “You must have never seen the process of marinating chicken, so I will briefly tell you how to
do it. You lightly make three openings with knife on the front and back side, splashed soy sauce and
some wine on it as well as put some ginger on it and make sure the ingredients are spread evenly by
mixing in some flour and turn and toss it. Use a plastic wrap to seal it and let the whole thing sit in the
fridge for an hour. Then we will have this end product here.”
“I see.”
“Pour some oil into the wok and let it heat up. Next, sprinkle some freshly-sliced condiments first to
create some aroma by frying…”
As she said that, Hayden tossed the onions, ginger and garlic into the wok, and with a loud sizzling
sound, the oil started to boil and react. She subconsciously took a step back and accidentally bumped
into Joseph’s broad chest.
“I’m sorry.”
She turned around to apologize but she lost her balance when her legs slipped.
Joseph was able to react fast by cupping her waist and preventing her from stumbling to the floor. His
cool face had a few layers of tenderness as he asked, “Are you alright?”
“I...I’m fine.” Hayden swallowed hard.
She was not fine, of course as her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She could feel his grip on her
waist and by raising her face upwards and his handsome face was just inches away. She could even
sniff the fragrance emanating from his body.
Suddenly, the door to the kitchen was slid open, and Freddie screamed, “What the hell are you guys
doing?”
Hayden snapped back to reality as she fumbled around to break free from Joseph. However, her feet
were even more slippery now and her whole frame was on the verge of crashing down to the floor,
which only prompted Joseph to hug her tighter.
There was fire in Freddie eyes as he roared at Joseph, “Hey, what are you doing? Where are you
touching on her body? Let go of Hayden.”
Joseph helped Hayden to stand on her feet steadily before letting go of her casually. He glanced at
Freddie slightly and replied, “I am showing you why we ended up in that posture just now.”
“Y...you are just taking advantage of her.”
“Freddie, you better shut up now.” Hayden glared at him with her face blushing, “I almost fell down just
now, and it was all because of your screams.”
Freddie was not willing to succumb just yet. He shot a gaze at Joseph and said, “I want to learn
cooking in the kitchen too.”
“You better don’t joke with me. How would you have any time to cook? After you sign with the new
company, all of your time would be occupied.”
“Then, does that mean that guy have a lot of time to do that? Isn’t he the president of a company?
Since when did president need to cook for himself?”
Freddie had a look of animosity on his face.
A man knew another man the best. If Joseph, a president of a company was here in an employee’s
house, looking like he had a lot of time, in his deduction this president must have some ulterior motives.
If that was not the case, he would have his name written backwards.
“Hayden is the one who suggested teaching me cooking.” Joseph eyed him nonchalantly, as if victory
was already in his grasp.
On the side, Hayden was overcome by goosebumps when he heard Joseph calling her by her name
intimately.
She couldn’t recall since when her relationship with Joseph was so close that he could call her by that
name.
Freddie didn’t care about what kind of excuses he was coming up with, he must stay behind to learn
cooking no matter what. The time was getting late, and Hayden didn’t have the energy to go into a tug-
of-war with him, so she agreed to teach him.
The two men were flanking Hayden as if they were guarding her. It was a sight to behold.”
“Next, slowly put all the wings in the wok, but since it the oil would splash, you better take a step back.”
After making sure she had reminded them, she slowly poured a plate of washed chicken wings into the
wok.
The moment the wings came into contact with the oil, a huge sizzling sound could be heard, and
droplets of oil were jumping around.
“Be careful!” Freddie let out an exclamation while pulling Hayden into his embrace. They turned around
with Hayden being hugged by him.
On the other hand, Joseph was slightly slow on his feet, but he was intending to pull her close to him
too. Too bad, he wasn’t able to grab her because Freddie had cut him off by doing that first.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Hayden was infuriated as she pushed Freddie away, “Do you think we are
filming a drama? This is just some hot oil, not some landmine. What should I be careful about? You
better get out now.”
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