"Serena, why don’t you help feed him the porridge?" Grandma suggested cheerfully as they sat around the breakfast table.
Aiden, in mid-chew, coughed at the suggestion, glancing between Serena and his grandmother. Serena blinked at the suggestion, clearly caught off guard, but then plastered on a bright smile and nodded hurriedly. "Of course! I can do that," she replied with exaggerated enthusiasm.
She reached for Aiden’s spoon, raising it toward his mouth like a nurse in training. Aiden eyed the spoon suspiciously, then shifted his gaze to Serena. Was she really going to feed him like this? And more importantly, she hadn’t mixed anything funny into the oatmeal, right?
He looked at her carefully. She’d been behaving really oddly since returning yesterday after the incident. She’d insisted on taking him to the hospital for getting his hand plastered because it had been swollen and then she’d even fed him the medicine. And offered to help him change his clothes. In fact she’d almost taken off his shirt before he’d gathered the sense to shoo her off and then struggled for an hour to get into his clothes...
"I can feed myself," Aiden muttered, trying to move his bandaged hand before wincing in pain. "I mean, the left one still works."
Serena tilted her head, "You sure? Because last I checked, you barely managed to hold that coffee cup and almost spilled half of it on yourself."
Aiden glared at her and then at the heafy coffee mug! Okay, so maybe that had been a little bit of a disaster, but still! And he’d eaten the pieces of bacon that she had done for him with one hand, well enough hadn’t he?"
Serena clicked her fingers in front of Aiden’s face, leaning in with an exaggerated grin. "C’mon, Aiden, open wide! Here comes the airplane!" she cooed, making playful babbling noises as if she were coaxing a baby to eat.
Aiden blinked, his expression frozen somewhere between disbelief and horror. He stared at her as though she’d completely lost it. "Are you... are you serious right now?"
Serena’s grin widened, "What? I’m just helping. Isn’t this what Grandma suggested?" She wiggled the spoon in front of his face, making it ’fly’ toward his mouth.
"But, Serena, child, I don’t think anyone fed Aiden like that even when he was a baby." And then joining in on the fun with a smile, grandma also clicked her fingers in front of Aiden, teasing him," Come on little baby. Eat.. See its very tasty." Aiden turned his head to look at grandma then, not knowing whether to be horrified or not. She was right that he had never been coaxed like this even as a child.. And then, shaking her head, Grandma muttered, "Serena is already practicing feeding a baby."
This time, Serena almost dropped the spoon while Aiden’s ears turned red. Hurriedly, he took a bite from the spoon and then stood up with a jerk," I am too full. I’ll just go to the office."
Serene stood up then and hurriedly followed him," You’re forgetting something..."
Aiden paused and turned back to see a red tie dangling from her hand," I don’t need a tie today."
"Come on. Let me put it on for you."
Aiden was about to protest but he noticed grandma standing there and stood straight, while she placed the tie around his neck. As Serena stepped closer, her entire focus on tying the tie, he could not help but hiss,"What is wrong with you?"
"With me? What could be wrong with me?" She looked up and smiled at him, making him feel even more weirded out.
"Aren’t you being too nice? What happened to your arguing with me?"
Before he could say more, Serena tugged the tie snug around Aiden’s neck, tightening it a little too much. His eyes widened in alarm as the knot dug into his throat, and he instinctively reached up with his good hand to loosen it.
"Are you trying to choke me?" Aiden rasped.
Serena loosened the knot before grinning, "I thought you wanted that. Weren’t you the one who was just complaining about me not arguing with you? I thought you were a masochist or something, only liking me when I am arguing with you...
She gave him an innocent smile that didn’t match her mischievous tone even as his eyes narrowed. Something was definitely up with her.
Seeing his look, she rolled her eyes and gently patted his shoulder," Relax and stop looking as if I am about to poison you. You hurt your hand because of me. So, I’m just trying to make it upto you, okay?"
"So, you’re returning kindness with kindness? But here is the thing. You were not the one who threw the bomb. And you could not have expected that I would injure myself while using the fire extinguehser which just happened to be older than me."
"You’re right. And it certainly was not my fault that you didn’t even realise you’d hurt your hand! How clueless can you be to not know that until your hand was the size of a big potato! But,I still feel a bit guilty so I’ll be nice to you until your plaster comes off, once that is off, you can expect me to return the old roasting of yourself. And definitely no spoon feeding then. Disagreeing with you is my favourite hobby."
Aiden stared at her then. Well, she was back to her original self already, it seemed. Well, that was a relief. But the next minute she smiled and blinked her eyes at him," But I have to take care of you until then, don’t I? It is my wifely duty..."
Aiden shuddered at her overly sweet tone, a chill running down his spine. Wifely duty? That sounded ominous. Very ominous. Without another word, he hurriedly walked away, practically bolting toward the door.
As he made his way out, he could still imagine her evil laughter ringing in his ears all the way to the office. And somehow, he knew this was just the beginning.