Half Light [Editing]

Chapter Seventeen

"Why do you think I kept a housekeeper in the first place?"

New looked away, mumbling under his breath, "As I feared."

"What?"

Tay felt that feeling he hated.

This feeling called confusion.

Just- just what did he fear?

New looked at him again, "Did you never-" He stopped abruptly, looking away, "You know what, forget that."

He looked at him, "I volunteered to teach you about hospitality. And so I shall abide by it."

Tay gazed at those dark browns peeking out from under those hair.

"Meet me in the kitchen after you've showered."

*

Combing back his almost dried up hair with his hand, New entered the joint area, seeing a cloth shopping bag lying on the table and Tay already leaning back at one of the counters, arms folded,

"You take awfully long to shower."

"What's so long about that?"

"Who takes fifteen minutes to shower?"

He straightened up from the position he was in, not unwrapping his arms,

"My sister takes half an hour to shower." New placed his left hand on his waist, "Forty five minutes when she's feeling really happy or really sad. No in between."

He waved his other hand with a sort of eye roll as he "bragged".

"On the contrary, I take only fifteen minutes, now is that long?"

The only thing Tay could think, as he stared at New, was that had he married him would this happening?

Because if it had, then-

"Okay then!" New clapped his hands, "Let's see what we have in the pantry and in that shopper that we can possibly cook."

*

"We're going shopping tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Your pantry is almost empty otherwise a few cloves of garlic, onions, potato, some sugar, rice and tea!"

New rambled as he closed the pantry door and turned to Tay, whose eyebrows creased, "And I thought Khun Jarunee took care of the house."

"She does," New countered as he turned over the bag on the counter, revealing to be small portions of ingredients,

"Look around you," He faced him, "The house is spick and span. I am sure it is you who neither eats nor invites anyone over to eat."

"How is that I am at fault for everything?"

New cocked his left eyebrow, "Or are you?" Tay stared back at him as New's demeanor broke with a chuckle, "I'm kidding. I think you really forget about things real quick."

He turned to see that by the sink was a strainer. He walked before the alpha, whose eyes never left him, towards the said strainer, while saying,

"Because if you'd remember," He reached and saw that there were shrimps in the strainer, cleaned of the insides and washed.

"Food is one of the two topics we've talked about so far." He turned to Tay, who again leaned back against the counter with the stove. New wondered for a split second if he had unfolded his arms,