Chapter 95
*I actually encountered Phoebe a few years back, and again more recently at a blind date dinner. I have developed a certain fondness for her–it’s not precisely love, but my intentions towards her are indeed matrimonial. However, the challenge lies in the fact that she evades me as though I were a pestilence, making it impossible for me to establish any proximity: Noel elucidated.
“What do you want to know?”
“Has she been hurt in love before?” He couldn’t figure out why she was so opposed to love and marriage. Hurt in love? Ines pondered for a moment, “You should know that I lost my memory in a car accident, so I don’t know much about the past. I only know that Phoebe had a boyfriend in college, they were pretty tight, but then I don’t know what happened, the guy dumped Phoebe and went abroad.”
Rita and Zander had recently visited and insisted that Ines spend Christmas with the Meyer family, so she and Ethan spent the entire holiday with the Meyers.
Time flew by, and before they knew it, the holiday was over. Ines and Ashley had grown quite close during this time, and as she was leaving, she quietly told her that Ethan’s birthday was in a couple of days.
Ines was struggling to think of how to celebrate his birthday. She realized that Ethan didn’t really need anything, so in the end, it was Phoebe who suggested she make something herself.
After some thought, Ines decided to cook Ethan a meal to show her sincerity.
After work, Ines didn’t wait for Ethan to pick her up, instead, she took a cab straight to the supermarket. She bought the ingredients according to the recipe she had prepared in advance, worrying about time, she changed clothes as soon as she got home and got down to cooking.
It was her first time doing this, and even with the recipe, she was all over the place.
Luckily, Ethan called saying he had to come back an hour late, which gave her a sigh of relief. Ines first washed the veggies she was going to use, then looked at the fish in the basin that was jumping around, her eyebrows knitted tightly.
Why hadn’t anyone warned her about the slippery nature of a fish’s body? The moment she gripped the fish, it flicked its tal, resulting in a splash of water dousing her. On Ethan’s return, he found Ines’s bag and coat resting on the sofa, but her presence was elusive. The kitchen light illuminated the room, and as he ventured in, he encountered his kitchen awash with freshly rinsed vegetables, and Ines wielding a bloody kitchen knife, her eyebrows drawn into a frown. She stood at a short distance, absorbed in her intense scrutiny of a fish on the cutting board. So immersed was she that she hadn’t registered his arrival. The entire tableau struck him as amusingly peculiar.
*Izzy, what are you doing?”
Ines’s face turned red, “Why are you back so early? Didn’t you say you’d be back later?” She hadn’t even started cooking yet.
“I finished up so I came back. So, why do you want to cook today?”
“Just felt like it.” Ines didn’t plan on telling him the truth, she wanted to keep the surprise a little longer.
Ethan raised an eyebrow, rolled up his sleeves, “Let me do it. You go and rest for a bit.”
“No, I want to do it myself today.” Ines insisted.
Ethan glanced at the kitchen that was soon to become a battlefield, randomly picked up a piece of potato that was cut into an unrecognizable shape, “Are you sure you don’t want my help?”
Ines felt a bit nervous, she had memorized the recipe, but the actual operation was completely different from what she had imagined. She had spent half an hour on just one fish. And there were so many more dishes to prepare, if she did it all by herself, it would probably take her a few more hours.
“You can stand by and guide me,” Ines said, not very confidently.
“Okay.” Ethan responded with a smile.
Ines approached the cutting board with the knife again, extended a finger to poke at the fish, seeing no reaction, she grabbed the fish’s body with a shaking hand, the other hand raising the knife high, she looked quite intimidating.
Ethan watched anxiously, worried she might hurt herself, he quickly stopped her, grabbed the knife from her hand, “Izzy, the fish is already dead, you just need to clean it thoroughly.”
1/2
11.09
“That’s impossible” Ines looked at Ethan confidently, explaining. When I was scraping the scales off just now, it moved That’s why she was scared and backed off.
Ethan shook his head with a smile, “The fish is indeed dead, it’s just that its nerves are still excited and tense. The blood in a freshly killed fish still has nutrients, which can supply nerve activity. When the nutrients in the fish’s blood are all used up. the fish won’t move anymore.”
“So that’s how it is. How come you know everything?” Ines was a bit upset, she couldn’t even handle such a small thing Ethan smiled, went over to help her clean the dead fish, his movements were smooth and efficient, he finished everything in less than five minutes. Ines was astonished, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “There really is a gap between people.” She had to admit it.
Ethan teased with a smile, “Izzy, what do you plan to do with this fish?”
“Fry it.”
“You should start with something simple for your first time cooking, this is too complicated. Frying a fish isn’t as easy as it sounds, if you’re not careful, the fish will fall apart. Why don’t you prepare the other dishes, I’ll handle this one.” It’s easy to get splashed with oil when frying fish, and for a beginner, it’s easy to get burnt..
“I’ll go make the soup first then.”
Ines had set her sights on preparing cream of mushroom soup, a traditional favorite. She had already commenced by adding butter to the pot when she abruptly realized that she hadn’t prepped the mushrooms. With a jolt of panic, she switched off the stove and hastened to wash the mushrooms.
Ethan watched her chaotic actions and couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t expect this girl to be so ambitious, daring to try such complicated dishes on her first attempt.
Just as Ines started, she cut her finger on the sharp knife and couldn’t help but cry out, blood quickly seeping out
Just as she was about to rinse her finger under the faucet, Ethan had already taken her hand and was sucking on the wound. His long eyelashes brushed against her finger, she didn’t feel any pain at all, she just watched Ethan’s actions in a daze. A person’s reaction in an emergency is the most genuine, this man really cared about her.
