Late Night Supper

After the banquet ended, Assistant Shawn drove Neil back to his condo. The sky has long turned dark, and the surroundings were quiet as at this time, many of the people in the city had entered the dreamland.

When Neil entered the house, he was surprised to see that the living area was brightly lit and there was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. Neil walked quietly towards the kitchen and found Edith.

The woman was slurping her noodle eagerly with one leg on a chair and her arm resting on the knee. Her hands moved swiftly and once in a while, she would sigh as she chewed.

As if she could sense that someone was watching her, Edith lifted her gaze and the chopstick in her hand paused midair. The noodle in her mouth fell back in the bowl and Edith started to cough loudly as the spicy soup got into her throat.

Edith put her legs down, grabbed the glass of water on the table, and drank quickly. Her throat felt better, although slightly burning from the spicy soup. She took a deep breath and looked at the man before her.

"President Mo, you're back."

Neil snapped out of his trance when he heard her voice. His lips tilted slightly as he recalled the way Edith had reacted when she saw him a few seconds earlier. "Sorry. I did not mean to startle you."

Edith wiped her mouth with a paper towel and tried to calm down. At this time, her head was whirling with various thoughts. She did not think that Neil would return home at this time.

She was counting that she would hear it when he entered the house, but Neil had walked in silently and appeared like a ghost.

Neil shifted his gaze away lest Edith would be embarrassed. He looked around the area and could not find his niece. "Hazel?"

"She went to bed a few hours ago," Edith reported. Seeing that Neil was not commenting on the way she ate, Edith planned to pretend that the incident did not happen.

"Why are you not asleep?"

"I was studying for my class. I got hungry and decided to make something to eat." She stared into her half-eaten bowl of noodles and found that she no longer has the appetite.

Neil followed her gaze and saw that there Edith had not finished her meal. "You should continue and finish your noodles."

Edith sat down on the chair and poked at the noodles. But with Neil's presence around, Edith thought that everything was awkward. Nevertheless, Edith picked up a strand of noodles and chewed it slowly. Her gaze followed Neil's movement as he walked over to the living area, took off his coat, and sat down on the sofa.

Slowly, Neil raised his hands and massaged his painful head.

Previously, when her brother, Adam Mo was still alive, he would often attend any banquet of any form of entertainment for the company. Now that he was no longer around, Neil had to take the job and attend those gatherings.

Because he was not good at socializing as his brother, Neil thought that this gathering was somewhat strenuous. Every time he came back from those gatherings, he would often felt uncomfortable.

"Here, drink this."

Neil looked up and saw that Edith was holding a mug in her hand. The sweet smell of honey wafted to his nose.

"I made you some honey water." She confirmed his suspicion. "It might help."

"Thank you." He took the mug from her and took a few sips. The warm liquid went to his stomach and he felt slightly better and he emptied the mug.

"Have you eaten? If you haven't, I can help you to prepare something." Edith said. "Your stomach might feel a little better after eating something."

Living with her grandfather, she would often look after him when he came back home after having too many drinks with his team. Usually, her grandfather would request her to make him some noodles.

"President Mo, you don't have to be too courteous. You paid me a high salary to look after your niece. Just making you a bowl of noodle would not be too difficult," Edith said when she noticed his hesitation. "Since we are living together, we should look after each other. Besides, I still have to attend the class tomorrow. I wouldn't be at ease if I have to leave Hazel when you were unwell."

Hearing her words, Neil could no longer find a reason to decline her offer. "Alright. Please, help me prepare something to eat."

Edith walked into the kitchen, took out the ingredients, and in ten minutes, a bowl of piping hot noodles were served. Neil took a seat at the kitchen counter and found that the smell of the noodles was making him hungry. He picked up the spoon and took a sip at the soup.

Noticing that she was looking at him, Neil lifted his head. "It's good." He moved his gaze towards the bowl in front of her and said, "You should eat too."

Edith picked up her chopstick again and picked at a strand of noodle and chewed slowly.

"Why are you eating slowly? That is not how you eat your noodles just now."

Hearing his words, Edith accidentally slurped on the noodle too quickly and she started to cough again. She thumped her fist on her chest and looked at Neil begrudgingly.

Edith knew that Neil had seen the way she was eating her noodle earlier and thought that he was not going to say a word about it.

Another cough escaped her when she noticed the slight smile on the corner of his lips.

What is this? Was he teasing her? The iceblock President Mo was teasing her!?

Edith whispered a few cursing words, but after pondering for a while, she decided not to care about his words.

So what if she had seen the way she ate her noodles? If he started to complain about her manners, then she can only be mindful of her manners for as long as she was staying at his condo.

"The noodles were a bit soggy and cold. It doesn't taste good to eat it quickly," Edith came up with an excuse to ease the awkwardness.

Neil saw that Edith was not lifting her head to look at him and decided not to say anything more about this matter.

There was a long silence between them as they continued to eat their noodles.

"About the trip to the aquarium," Neil spoke and broke the silence. "My assistant had booked tickets for us."

"Oh." Edith nodded before she lowered her head again. "Right." She cleared her throat a few times and spoke, "President Mo, since you're here, there is something that I need to tell you."

Neil raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

"Early next month, the kindergarten will be holding a parent and child activity day," Edith spoke. "President Mo, it would be good if you could free your time and come over. Hazel would be happy to see you."