Marshall’s arms around Katherine froze for a quick second.
Katherine wasn’t expecting Marshall to hold her, and Marshall wasn’t expecting her to kiss him. Again,
they got even this time.
But Kyle began freaking out like an agitated monkey. “You can’t do this do me. You simply can’t. I
mean, everyone already knows that you’re in love, you don’t have to flaunt it around like that. Break
apart right now – this is an order!”
“Never,” smirked Katherine, cuddling deeper into Marshall’s embrace.
Holding her, Marshall heaved a silent sigh after a while. Why was it that it didn’t feel right no matter
what he did in front of Katherine?
Angered, Kyle was sitting on the sofa with his back turned against them.
Katherine turned to smilingly look at Marshall, just as Marshall looked down and caught her gaze.
Staring into each other’s eyes, they began having that weird feeling again.
Kyle stayed with them right into the night and refused to leave at dinner time. Sprawling out on the
sofa, he said, “I want to taste the food you make, Kathy. You look like the kind of woman that’s insanely
good at cooking, and I’d die for the opportunity – the honor, if you will – of getting a bite of your
dishes…”
He’d made the same request a couple of times.
Defeated, Katherine motioned him to stop. “Stop yelling. And yes, I will cook, but mostly because the
hubby and I do need to have dinner. You’re simply a free rider.”
Sitting up from the sofa, Kyle was instantly happy. “That’s fine. I just wanted a taste of your cuisines.
What are you making? Shall I invite Hector over, too? He’s all by himself at the Bennett house; I
wonder if he’s getting food at all tonight.”
Sitting at Kyle’s side with a PC on his laps, Marshall stared at the data on the computer screen for a
good while before he resumed tapping on the keyboard.
Getting off the sofa carefully, Katherine didn’t take Kyle seriously. “You might as well ask him to come
since you’re already here. But let me be clear, you are not playing poker in my house.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” replied Kyle, chortling, “I just happen to be off my game tonight. I’ll beat all three
of you when I’m all prepped up.”
Katherine ignored him and went to the kitchen. With plenty of stuff in the fridge, she had a plan.
In the living room, Kyle reclined into the sofa and glanced at Marshall with smile in his eyes. “You made
the right choice. Kathy looks much better indeed than Clara would as a wife.”
“You haven’t known Katherine very long, mind you,” Marshall said without looking at him.
“That might be true,” Kyle turned over to lie on his stomach, his voice gentle as he watched Katherine,
“but I’ve met plenty of people at the club, and I fancy myself as a pretty good judge of character. Kathy
is a good girl. Someone you should appreciate and cherish.”
Quietly, Marshall sneered. There were no shortage of good girls in the world, and he couldn’t go around
appreciating every single one of them. Katherine was perhaps indeed a “good girl” as Kyle alleged, but
that had nothing to do with him.
Not one for idleness, Kyle made his way to the kitchen, leaving Marshall reading corporate documents
on the sofa.
Leaning on the doorframe, Kyle texted Hector as he asked, “Do you have a female sibling or friend you
can introduce me to, Kathy? I’m only asking that they’re like you.”
Her back against him, Katherine chuckled. “Well, even if I did, I shouldn’t lead them to the chopping
block, should I?”
Kyle hissed. “What the hell, woman? Is that what you think of me? Do you know that there are a swarm
of girls throwing themselves at me?”
“Is that right?” asked Katherine, smiling. “Do you think those girls would still throw themselves at you if
you weren’t a Haverford?”
That completely shut Kyle up. Kyle wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what it was that those women liked
in him. He knew that he was detested and scorned upon for his overbearing ways, and that he could
continue his reckless behaviors because of the cash handouts from his father. Nobody would tolerate
him without the assistance of his father, and no woman would even look at him twice. That was why he
couldn’t refute Katherine at all.
Silent for only a second, Kyle soon started stomping around. “Marshall, get in here! How do you usually
keep the wife in order? Don’t you have house rules around here? Come fix her good for me, come on!”
Staying where he was, Marshall broke into a smile. “Who was it again who was singing her praise just
a moment earlier?”
Kyle stopped for a second before he resumed kicking the air. “I don’t care. Come discipline her for me.”
Then, he clutched at his chest, shouting, “My heart! Oh, god, I’m having trouble breathing…”
Marshall put down the laptop and went towards the kitchen, where Katherine, in her apron, was paying
no attention to the monkey by the door.
Entering the kitchen, Marshall looked at Katherine. “Do you need help with anything?”
Not one for modesty, Katherine pushed over a basket of vegetables. “Rinse these out for me.”
Marshall hummed in agreement and went to the sink.
The monkey by the door stopped dead in his tracks to stare at Marshall. “Sir, might I ask what you’re
doing here? Are you here to help her or me?”
Grabbing another basket of veggies, Marshall said coolly, “Come rinse these out.”
“Very well then,” Kyle answered briskly, his attitude taking a 180 turn as well.
Smiling, Katherine turned to glance at Marshall, who happened to be looking at her, too. Their gazes
met in the middle before they both looked inexplicably awkward once again.
Katherine looked away first. She blinked with her back against Marshall. This damn guy and his
unbelievably gentle smile. How was someone as inexperienced as her supposed to resist that?
Marshall kept on rinsing his vegetables, the corners of his mouth curving upwards after a minute.
Hector arrived shortly after that to find the three of them working in the kitchen. That took him by
surprise, because although he had no idea what Marshall was normally like at home, he was literally
flabbergasted at the sight of the famously recalcitrant Kyle helping out in the kitchen.
Watching the scene for a while, Hector walked in. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Nope,” Kyle waved a hand before Katherine could answer, “we’ve got plenty of hands here already. Go
sit on the sofa for a bit. Dinner will be ready soon”
Hector couldn’t help laughing out loud. Kyle was looking very much at ease.
Hector hadn’t felt great today, what with the kerfuffle at his home and Katherine’s wounds. Throughout
the afternoon, he had been feeling disturbed, but upon seeing the trio in Katherine’s kitchen,
unexplainably, the heart calmed down.
Walking into the kitchen, Hector crouched down beside Katherine to inspect the bandage on her
calves. “Do they still hurt?”
“Not anymore,” replied Katherine as she lowered her head to look at Hector, “I was probably just
startled. It was not a big deal actually.”
Marshall had stopped his motions to watch Hector, who pressed on the areas around Katherine’s
wounds. “Were they big cuts?”
Not finding anything wrong with his move, Katherine offered the leg to him. “I don’t think they are. I was
too afraid to look, but the doctor said it was fine, so it should be really truly fine.”
Nodding as he stood up, Hector ruffled the top of Katherine’s hair. “Sorry I got you involved.”
Smiling, Katherine said, “That’s okay. I’m still feeling bad for not being able to avenge you.”
Standing at her side, Marshall’s expressions had completely soured.
Next to him, Kyle was smirking. “Should I come across them again, I will bring Kathy along, and the two
of us will destroy them for good.”
Kyle found nothing inappropriate with Hector’s interactions with Katherine, either.
Marshall exhaled as he put the veggies in a clean plate.
He was probably the only upset one among them.
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