Filed to story: Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel >>
Throughout the drive, Elliot chatted with the boy. He asked what class Jared had had in the day, what he had had for lunch and even what he had done in the afternoon. Throughout, Jared happily answered all the questions.
Meanwhile, Anastasia looked outside the window with her arms folded across her chest, thinking about what to cook that night. Then, she said to Elliot, “Let’s buy some groceries at the mini market below my apartment.”
“Sure,” he responded as he glanced at her with his bottomless eyes from the rear mirror. Coincidentally, she happened to look into the mirror, so their gazes met.
Upon seeing that, Anastasia immediately turned away as she was reluctant to meet his eyes.
After a ten minute drive, they arrived at her place. Stopping the car, Anastasia then handed the keys to Elliot as she said, “Go on and take Jared home first. I’ll go buy some groceries by myself.”
With the keys in his possession, Elliot then took Jared by the hand and walked to the entrance of the community.
At the supermarket beside the residence, Anastasia was choosing the vegetables until she saw the green chillies. She suddenly craved some stir fry pork, as well as roasted peppers and sea bass.
Except for her son’s steamed eggs, which would not be spicy, the other dishes tonight would all be flavorful, with chillies as the main star of the show. The only thing now was that she did know if the tyrannical president would like it or not, even though she herself would enjoy it very much.
After finishing the shopping, Anastasia, who was in a good mood, also bought some fruits on her way home. Reaching home, she noticed Elliot was playing with Jared using toy blocks. When she set down the washed fruits on the table, Anastasia noticed that the man was drinking out of her cup again.
Annoyed, she then blamed herself for forgetting to buy disposable cups.
“I’m going to cook now.” With that, she went into the kitchen.
While cooking, she kept getting choked by the smell of the chillies. However, she knew that the food would be amazing. After an hour, Anastasia set the meal on the table, and they all looked green and red due to the chilies. The stinging smell of the chilies made Jared sneeze multiple times.
“Time to eat.” She called to the two, who were sitting on the sofa.
Standing up, Elliot was visibly shocked upon the sight of the food on the table, but he did not grumble about it. After sitting down, they all then started to eat when Jared muttered with a pout, “Mommy, all the dishes tonight are super spicy!”
Laughing, Anastasia then explained to him, “It’s because Mommy loves spicy food!”
“Mr. Presgrave, do you like spicy stuff?” Jared asked curiously, his head tilted.
Smiling, the man replied, “I like it.”
With a hint of mischief in her eyes, Anastasia then proceeded to serve Elliot two roasted peppers. “If that is the case, President Presgrave, do help yourself.”
Elliot looked at the peppers in his bowl and his Adam’s apple bobbed a little, clearly showing that this was beyond him.
“Do eat up!” Anastasia urged.
As she was closely watching him, Elliot had no choice but to bite into it. Although he was obviously affected by the spiciness, he chose not to voice it out.
In a flash, Anastasia had already put a big chunk of fish into his plate and murmured, “Come, President Presgrave. This is a spicy sea bass. It’s very delicious, you know.”
Knowing that she was harboring bad intentions and was out to get him, Elliot did not reject her. Instead, he earnestly ate the food she offered. Meanwhile, Anastasia, who liked spicy food, obviously had a great meal.
There was a slight blush on Elliot’s face that was rather unusual, and he looked as if he had been drinking. Due to the thin layer of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, it was obvious that this was caused by the spiciness of the meal.
That night, probably out of the sheer heat from the food, he had two helpings of steamed egg. After Anastasia had cleaned up the table, Jared then went off to finish his homework.
Finishing washing the dishes, she was then greeted by the sight of Elliot chugging water out of her cup, obviously still reeling from the effects of the spices.
“It’s getting quite late, so you should get going now!” Anastasia said to the man who was sitting on the sofa.
Elliot only peered at her in response while telling her in a low tone, “Come here.”
Blinking, she asked, “What’s up?”
Holding up his phone, he handed it over to her. “See for yourself.”
Curioused, Anastasia walked over and took his phone to look at the recording from the surveillance, as Hayley’s voice transmitted clearly from the speaker. “Elliot, I think that something got into my eyes. Can you check for me? It hurts!”
Looking at the video, Anastasia saw Hayley shutting her eyes, with Elliot leaning forward to check her eyes. This was the exact scene Anastasia witnessed in person; it
was just that she had missed Hayley’s words.
So, the truth was this man was only really helping her to check if something got into her eyes? Why would her eyes hurt the moment I opened the door? Also, why would Elliot call me to his office when Hayley was already there?
“Didn’t you send someone in the afternoon to summon me to your office?” Anastasia asked the man on the sofa.
Frowning, Elliot replied, “I didn’t.”
Immediately, she remembered that it was Grace who came to relay the message. But where did she get the orders from? Obviously, this was planned to make the situation look like a coincidence.
Sneering deep down, Anastasia already knew that this was another one of Hayley’s ploys.
Still sitting on the sofa, Elliot asked with his seductive low voice, “Do you still need me to explain all to you again?”
Giving his phone back to him, Anastasia noticed that his pale skin was unnaturally flushed. Paired with a sweat-covered forehead, the usually stern looking Elliot looked a bit weak under the light.
“A-Are you alright?” Anastasia asked guiltily. Don’t tell me it’s because of the spicy food tonight!
“My stomach hurts.” Covering his stomach with his big hand, he then added strugglingly, “It’s fine, though. It’s still bearable.”
Frightened, Anastasia kneeled by the man in panic as she asked hurriedly, “Does it hurt a lot? Do you want to go to the hospital? If you have stomach problems, why did you eat all that spicy food just now? You could’ve just told me! Why are you so dumb?!”
Anastasia was panicking and she could no longer think straight, as she blamed herself and him for not voicing this fact out.
Seeing her in this state, Elliot chuckled after admiring this scene in front of him for a while. “If I didn’t eat all that, how would you have forgiven me?”
Feeling her chest tighten, Anastasia knew that it was indeed her fault as she made all those spicy food on purpose.
“Then what should we do now? Should we go to the hospital?” She looked at him guiltily.
“No need. There’s a pharmacy at the entrance of the community, so just get me a box of stomach medicine from there.” After saying that, Elliot handed over the empty cup to her. “And I’ll have to trouble you for another cup of warm water.”
After refilling the cup with warm water and passing it to him, Anastasia then rushed out with her bag and keys.
In the elevator, she was greatly regretting her actions. I shouldn’t have pranked him like this! How was I supposed to know that he had a weak stomach?
Beautiful reading