This new guy seems awfully reserved. He has let nothing slip about his personality yet and he's drunk two glasses of whiskey. Since I'm pregnant, I'm enjoying a delicious glass of mango juice, which is my favorite. Caleb and I casually exchange jokes like we have since the day we met. Zhou will laugh every now and again. But he seems to watch me more than anything.
At first, I thought he was trying to make sure he was paying attention to the directions I gave him while prepping the food. But, as I continued to joke with Caleb and work my way around the humongous kitchen, I noticed Zhou watching me. In fact, he was probably better at cooking spaghetti than I am. The way he handles a knife tells me a lot about him.
For example, I know he must cook a lot. That may seem kind of obvious, though. Second thing I noticed is that he has minor cuts around his fingers. He probably handles knives and other sharp objects a lot. I know he has a knife on him somewhere, too. As many tattoos as I see around his neck and on his hands, tells me he's definitely rough around the edges. He probably gets into a lot of fights.
As smooth and carved as his facial features are, I doubt he's lost many of those fights, either. Zhou finished cutting up the garlic, onion, and parsley for me with ease. I add it to the cast-iron skillet and turn the heat down a bit. Caleb tosses the freshly made noodles I had prepped this morning into a large steel pot. The water is boiling nicely in the pot and the veggies are just sweating in the pan.
The aroma is pleasing, thankfully, since my pregnancy nose is always slightly off with certain smells.
"Can you pass me that can of plum tomatoes please, Caleb?" I ask, pointing to the cupboard above his head.
While he grabs that, Zhou begins on the meatballs and sausage; he is quick to follow my directions and even asks what else he can help with. He is awfully helpful, but something tells me he is up to more than he's letting on. For now, I'll just observe and maintain my ignorant facade. By the time the sauce has come together, the noodles are done and drained with a minor amount of pasta water to combine the sauce and noodles together.
"So, you toss the noodles into the sauce, like a pro, instead of putting it on top like every other amateur home-chef?" Zhou asks with a hint of a smirk.
"Oh, I see someone is finally feeling the alcohol! Pasta is subjective, I toss the noodles cause the kids love the sauce. Sometimes it ends in food fights that I gladly clean up after," I say with a slight chuckle.
The thought of my babies giggling and causing a commotion makes me feel more like a normal mom.
"You seem happily lost in thought, what's got you smiling so bright?" Zhou remarks.
I look over at him, to my right, wiping up the counter with a damp kitchen towel.
"Oh just, thinking about my little ones. I love them so much, sometimes I forget that..." I trail off as I catch myself almost revealing too much of my emotion. "Well, I forget some of the little moments. Can you, uh, hand me that Cabernet wine from the center island, please?" I ask Zhou with a friendly smile.
I almost slipped, and he almost had me at a disadvantage. He'd know how much the situation with the others affected me and what buttons to press. I won't let any man outside of the ones in this house ever see me completely weak and vulnerable. There's only so much strength I can have every day for my men, eventually one or even all of them gets to me. I spend so much time bottling up my emotions that sometimes I break open like a flooding dam.
But not tonight. Tonight, I have to maintain my strong outward demeanor and get through dinner. I ask Zhou and Caleb to cover the noodles and turn the sauce down to a simmer while I make the cheesy garlic bread. As I am slicing the Italian bread loaf, Emilio enters the kitchen. I look over at him and he eyes me with a sneaky grimace on his face.
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Own You
Romance**Trigger Warning** Story contains abuse, violence and other triggers. All use of images are for entertainment and in no way meant to reflect on the real people. Mya is a 17-year-old girl on the cusp of womanhood when her mother gets married to Mas...