Chapter 30 Hard to Please
+8 Pearls
Sure enough, Liana’s face fell; all signs of liveliness earlier completely vanished, leaving only a look of pure misery.
“There’s no rush to go back to school now.” Halford glanced at his watch: “It’s already lunchtime. Let’s go eat then, my treat.”
Before anyone can speak, Lilith interrupted, “Thanks, but I’m not hungry now, so I’ll pass. You guys go ahead then, I’ll go back to school first.”
She could barely walk a few steps away before she was stopped by both Halford and Liana. Her dear friend gave her an innocent and pitiful look, “Can you bear to leave me alone here?”
“Well, then let’s head back to school together, I’ll treat you to lunch.”
“Are you really going to put me through the suffering of being in a classroom?”
Halford casually threw an arm around Lilith, “It’s not everyday I treat someone to a meal, won’t you at least show me some Jappreciation and show up?”
“Yeah,” Liana blinked at her friend, getting into the act rather naturally. She has used this trick on Lilith before whenever she has a favor to ask, and she knows that Lilith will definitely agree in the end, “Don’t let Halford down.”
“Fine,” Lilith gave in, as expected, “then can we go back to school after the meal?”
“Of course!”
Liana agreed, her grin stretched wide on her face. Whatever it is, just nod along.
“Hey, you! The one lying on the bed,” Halford narrowed his eyes at Nigel, his voice ringing with disdain, “What are you waiting for? An official invitation?”
Despite his words, Halford still went to Nigel’s bedside, “Get up. Now that the weather’s warmer, you can go out and strecth a little.”
“Is he coming too?”
“Excuse me?” Halford turned around and looked at Lilith in disbelief, not unlike how one would look at a devil, “You want to starve him to death?”
“No, of course not.” It was obvious that Halford had misunderstood Lilith’s intentions, it’s just that Nigel is not the kind of man that would enjoy lunch with strangers, which was why Lilith had asked in the first place. Plus, once the idea of “having lunch together with Nigel” took shape, it suddenly added pressure to her.
“Whew, I really thought you hated him so much to the point where you would allow him to starve to death on his own sickbed.” Halford joked with a sly smirk on his face, “But if that really was the case, that would be awesome!”
Lilith lowered her head and murmured, “I wouldn’t.”
Nigel didn’t seem bothered by the messy conversation that was going on. He got out of bed and went into the bathroom to get changed. He walked out dressed in a deep gray wool coat that complimented his features and appearance really well, adding an air of sophistication and refinement to him.
There was a driver waiting on the ground floor of the hospital, driving a non–conspicuous black Bentley. The car was spacious with a lot of room inside. Nigel took the passenger seat.
Lilith’s palms were all sweaty. She didn’t even feel feverish before, but now that she is done with the IV drip and injection, that feeling seemed to have started to invade her senses.
The temperature inside the car was perfectly comfortable, neither too warm or chilly.
However, due to the enclosed space, the distance between each passenger is not even three feet apart. The lack of space made Lilith feel suffocated, she even had the urge to just pull the window down to let some air in, and to freshen her foggy mind.
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Chapter 30 Hard to Please
The ride took about ten minutes but it felt like an eternity to Lilith, before finally reaching its destination.
+8 Pearls
While they just randomly decided on a place to eat, the restaurant that they went to was actually located at a discreet place. The doorman helped them with the parking, and the waiters in neat uniforms welcomed them with respect, leading them to a private dining room.
It was a room with traditional–style decorations, featuring stone steps on the ground and wood at the side, accompanied by the calming sound of flowing water. There were also orchids; though the flowers had yet to bloom, the leaves were green and luscious, clearly well cared for.
Halford was probably a regular customer here, he ordered a variety of dishes from the menu, then asked for opinions from his companions.
Seeing all those meat dishes was giving Liana a headache, so he proceeded to add another stir–fired vegetable and a dessert to their order. Lilith shook her head; she was not very picky about what she ate. Of all the many dishes that Halford had ordered, there has to be one or two that is to her liking, thus she had no opinions or complaints about their orders.
Nigel flipped through the menu a few times before finally selecting a dish, though showing some reluctance when doing so.
The central air conditioning was turned on, and the temperature inside was quite high.
Nigel took off his coat, revealing a white linen shirt underneath, outlining his slim figure and smooth collarbones. He rolled up the sleeves, exposing a pale and slender wrist and forearm, with prominent blue veins crawling over them.
Lilith did not stare at Nigel for long, she kept her gaze in front of her or down at the table.
If there was anything to blame, that would be the lights of the overly bright chandelier above her head. She only had to lift her eyes slightly to get a peek at the small dark mole on the vein on Nigel’s right wrist, like an insignificant small island in the vast ocean, yet Lilith noticed it at just a glance.
Suddenly, it came to her that she also has a similar mole on her left wrist, so she subconsiously stared at her left hand.
They did not wait long for their meals to be served. Though the restaurant mostly serve homecooked dishes, they were cooked delicately and the presentation was also immaculate.
Halford and Liana were truly famished, the games that they played in the afternoon probably exhausted them to the bone. They dug in as soon as the dishes arrived, no longer as chatty as before.
The steamed fish was placed in front of Lilith three times. She finally took some of the fish and placed it in her bowl, but she did not touch it at all. Liana noticed it in the midst of stuffing her face with another bite of food. She took a glance at Lilith and asked with food still in her mouth, voice unclear and muffled, “Do you not like the fish, Lilith?”
She shook her head.
Not just this dish, Lilith did not like to eat fish in general. The bones in their flesh and fishy taste deterred her from any fish- related dishes.
She coincidentally saw Nigel having this dish before, and later when she was dining out, for some reason she also ordered it a few times for herself. She had to physically force herself back from vomitting out after taking a bite of the fish, but didn’t want others to point out or ask about it, so she put on a calm face and swallowed it, before washing it down with water to ease the discomfort.
Looking back now, she felt rather laughable, because she had been noticing all this trivial and baffling little details, and acting on these small discoveries in a more baffling manner.
Knowing that Lilith disliked eating fish, Liana then removed the dish from Lilith and switched it to the steamed ribs and pan- fried sausages and her friend enjoys. The fish ended up at the spot between Halford and Nigel. The latter was about to take some of the dish, when he seemed to thought of something and paused his movements.
He then put down his fork and spoon, took a sip of the steaming hot tea, and stopped eating completely.
He barely touched any of the food on his plate, and only took small bites of the rice that he was eating.
Halford spared him a glance, and commented, “You’re hard to please.”
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