"You are no longer pretending to be a professional, you sham of a doctor!" Ella instinctively grabbed Adrian's sleeve and turned to him, "Am I ugly?"
Adrian tilted his head to the side and reached out towards Ella's face. Tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, he shook his head, ''Pretty.''
''You!'' Ronan clutched his chest, ''What do you mean by no? This witch tried to poison you with pufferfish!"
Ella instinctively opened her mouth to ask 'Am I a witch' but hearing the latter part of Ronan's words, she choked on air and coughed a couple of times.
She did not dare to meet Adrian's gaze. But as she turned away, she let go of Adrian's sleeve that she had been holding on to.
Adrian's nonchalant gaze suddenly darkened. He looked at Ronan, ''Go back to the mansion and deal with them personally.''
''Huh? Didn't we decide I'd send my team over to look after those oldies? When did you change your mind?"
"Just now,'' Adrian calmly said, snatching his phone away from Ronan, ''Get going.''
Ronan stood there, thunderstruck, ''You... Where is your conscience? You are going to make me suffer just because I spoke some bitter truth?!"
However, seeing Adrian's face, he probably figured out that this decision won't be retracted so after whining and scolding for a couple of seconds, he checked his watch and ran away.
Oh, he also grabbed some sandwiches and stuffed them in his mouth before leaving!
Ella looked at his retreating back, thinking that Ronan was indeed a good friend to Adrian, apart from being his doctor.
He disliked her so much but it had everything to do with her relationship with Adrian.
Adrian was the treasure of the King family and not even the top assassins could get anywhere close to him but six months after she moved to the mansion, she tried to poison him with pufferfish. But her knowledge about poisons gained from the internet was half-baked so her plan failed.
But she did not give up. Instead, she tried to find other ways to harm and hurt Adrian constantly.
Suddenly, Ella's chin was pinched.
She was forced to look away from Ronan who had walked out of the door by then.
Adrian grazed his thumb across her chin as he coldly uttered, ''Don't look.''
''Don't speak about him!"
Ella was speechless. Was he jealous of even his own friend?
She looked at Adrian and then at the phone he held in his other hand, ''Pancake recipe? You want to eat pancakes?"
He released her chin.
''You could have told me instead if you don't know how to cook. Let me make it for you.''
She quickly moved to the other side of the kitchen counter.
The servants all stood at a distance, leaving them there.
Adrian leaned back on the kitchen counter and watched as Ella busied herself around.
She prepared the batter with a sparkle in her eyes. At some point, she started humming a song.
When she looked at him, her eyes did not gleam with hatred or disgust. But rather, it was a gaze he had long buried in the past.
Suddenly, something soft touched Adrian's lips.
He snapped out of his reverie and glanced at the slice of strawberry that she held near his mouth.
After a brief pause, he opened his mouth and ate it. As he did so, his tongue briefly brushed against the girl's finger.
She retracted her hand like she was electrocuted but then she busied herself with the pancakes again as if it never happened.
The servants nearby had unnatural expressions, especially the chef who looked weirdly constipated like he wanted to say something but he could not.
When Ella finally prepared the pancakes, she served it in front of Adrian. She poured some maple syrup atop it, ''Try it.''
As the man cut a small piece with his knife, his phone that was lying by his hand vibrated.
Since Ella was standing next to Adrian, her gaze shot onto the text sent by the unsaved number:
'Mr. King, please don't blame my sister for meeting with Max last night. I will try to talk to her and make her understand....'
It was a paragraph long message but it disappeared before she could read it, however Ella did not have to read the entire message to know what Esther was trying to pull by triggering Adrian .
Ella quickly sat next to Adrian.
The man's eyes sparkled.
He extended the first piece of pancake towards her but she turned her face away when it approached her mouth.
''I am on a diet starting today. I will avoid sugary foods,'' she declared right when the servants had slowly filled up the dining table with other dishes, ''I will have some fruits and porridge only.''
The servants all froze and looked at her in disbelief.
Ella blamed herself for their extreme reactions. In fact, her food choices were unhealthy but these people had to make their living. So under Adrian's command, the chefs in the Eve Mansion would try to please her by making all sorts of healthy food that looked and tasted as unhealthy as she wanted.
Adrian paused when he heard his words and his gaze trailed across her body before landing on her face, ''Don't starve yourself.''
''I won't starve myself but I have decided to work on myself from now on. Quickly, try the pancake...'' she urged the man.
As he took a bite of it, she questioned, ''How is it?"
The corner of his lips lifted, ''Sweet.''
However, he quietly continued eating the pancake so Ella did not dwell on his dry compliment.
But the chef who watched the second master finish the pancake looked even more constipated.
''Thank you for the phone...'' Ella licked her bottom lips. Instinctively, she wanted to push this conversation a little far but she knew that she did not have a lot of time.
She had already received repeated mails from the university. Initially, she discontinued her studies because she got into modelling. Then, her career was ruined overnight by a scandal and she got involved with Adrian. Things were liberal before but given that this was the final year, she would fail this course if she did not attend classes.
''I... Um, can I resume university?"
The temperature in the living room dropped and the air chilled.