"You look prettier now"

As night drew near, Lisa became even more nervous. She had been watching YouTube videos on the easiest method to prepare Chinese fried rice since that was what Tom had requested for, but no matter how many videos she watched, she still wasn't sure she would be able to pull it off accurately. 

After much contemplation, she decided to place a call across to someone she believed would help. 

"It's so surprising that you're calling first. You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend again?" Li Chen teased. She could tell he was grinning by the way he sounded on the phone. 

"You love to cook right?" She asked him bluntly. He had been starred in shows where he had to show his culinary skills. Those were also part of the reason he was topping the country's most wanted bachelor list. He was good looking, an actor, a model, and a good cook. What more did vain-loving girls want? 

"Don't tell me you want me to cook for you?" He asked in a surprised voice.

"I need to prepare Chinese friend rice tonight. Let me know how to go about it."

There was a long silence at Chen's end of the line. He obviously could not believe what he had just heard. Lisa wanted to cook? Or maybe he was hearing things right?

"Are you joking right now?" He asked in a whisper as if he was afraid someone else might hear them.

"Don't  ask me silly questions. I'll connect you to a live video and you give me the instructions.  Hope you're close to your computer right now?" 

"Wait.. wait.. wait. You are being serious? Why are you suddenly cooking? Is it for a mission?"

"Why else would I hold a kitchen knife instead of a dagger?"

"Wow! This is unbelievable." He said with a laugh. "Alright, I'll help you. But there's a condition."

"I'm hanging up." She said rudely before reaching for the 'disconnect' button on her phone but she heard him hurriedly stop her from hanging up.

"Fine, I'll help you. Jeez" 

"Then talk to you in Five."

      **************

Tom was relieved since the cast could easily be taken off and then put back on. But before he took it off, he made sure his door was tightly locked. He knew Lisa wouldn't suddenly barge into his room but he didn't want to take any chances. 

While waiting for Lisa  to prepare dinner for them, he scrolled through the internet for any news about her supposed 'boyfriend', Li Chen.

And immediately he did that, he regretted what he had done. Li Chen didn't only have millions of followers, he had countless fanpages which had thousands of followers.

He saw a video of Li Chen cooking in his kitchen. He wore a loose black pant while his upper body was bare except for the apron he wore which covered part of his broad chest. 

When Tom saw the millions of views and comments, his eyes darkened. 

"What's so special about him?" He sneered.

He exited the page angrily and mistakenly clicked on his gallery. The first line of pictures he saw were the ones his private investigator had sent him that morning. 

He remembered Lisa's warning to not touch her and became even angrier. So Li Chen  could touch her while he was forbidden from doing so? Why? So what if he was her boyfriend? It was not as if she was married to him already right?

He was about to throw his phone in annoyance before it began to ring. When he saw that the call was from Joel, he reluctantly answered it.

"Yo, what's up? Why did you leave me by the side of the road?"

"Sorry. I totally forgot about you. I remembered immediately I got home" Tom answered leisurely.

"So now I am irrelevant? How can you do this to me?"

"Do you think you're the only one who feels irrelevant right now?" Tom shot back in annoyance.

"What's wrong? How's it going over there?" Joel asked curiously. He knew Tom's sudden mood swing was related to his bodyguard.  He didn't need anyone to tell him that.

"Terrible." Tom answered through gritted teeth before sitting up.

"What? Terrible? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Tom used a hand to comb through his hair before standing up to move closer to his large mirror. 

"What's so special about Li Chen?" Tom asked with a scoff. 

There was a short pause before Joel answered. 

"Nothing. He should be lucky you're not interested in joining the entertainment world. Else, he would be thrown to the sideline." Joel tried to cheer him up.

They all preferred a cheerful Tom, and the only way they could get one was to make sure he doesn't get angry. 

"Ya right!" Tom smiled brightly. But the smile quickly turned to a frown.

It wasn't  enough to hear Joel say it. He wanted to be sure Lisa thought the same thing. He wanted to be sure that Lisa preferred him to that annoying actor who didn't look like a good person.

Joel smiled at the other end. He knew he had gotten to Tom already. "So did you let her feed you?" 

"No. I couldn't. I had to eat inside my room" 

"Why!? How could you let go of such opportunity?" Joel yelled at him. 

"I said I couldn't! She was helping me undress and I —" He paused and sighed deeply. "Just forget about it."

"What? She helped you undress? What happened? Did you suddenly...you know—" The curiosity was so evident in his voice that even his voice was high and loud.

"I'm hanging up."

Before Joel could say anything else, the call disconnected. 

Tom couldn't ask her to feed him after what transpired between them earlier. He feared she was going to see his embarrassed blush. 

He heard a text notification beep and looked at his phone to see a text from Joel.

He opened it and read the words out...

     'You have to seize every opportunity  to be close to her. Else, she'd continue to find Li Chen more everything than you. Good luck mate'

Tom reminded himself that it was either now or never. And he wanted it to be now. He was going to use every means to seduce her and snatch her from Li Chen, whether she liked it or not, she was not supposed to like any other person apart from him.

With that, he fixed back his cast and went to the kitchen. 

************

"I'd rather infiltrate a military base camp than to do this again" Lisa swore as she looked at the food she had prepared. 

"It looks nice" She heard Chen's voice from her airpod commend her. 

Nice? This didn't look like the other fried rice she had eaten before!

She suddenly paused and turned around to look at Tom who just appeared at the kitchen's door. 

He was surprised to see her looking so formally dressed even when cooking.

She still wore her trouser suit and this time, she wore glasses.

Lisa raised a finger as if to push out strands of her hair from her face, but she directed her hand towards an almost invincible button attached to the glass and pressed on it to disconnect Li Chen from the live video. 

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Please wait at the dining" She said politely. 

Tom did not move but still fixed his gaze on her. 

He liked how humble she was being. Was it because he talked about firing her earlier?

He moved closer and closer and closer till he stood right in front of her. 

He admired how tall she was. And liked the fact that he towered over her even more. 

Lisa remained motionless. She did not bother to move at all since she believed he was not going to do anything stupid. But she wondered what was suddenly up with him that he was behaving this way. 

Tom remembered how Chen had helped her tuck in a few strands of her hair behind her ear and decided he was going to do it also. Maybe that would help him forget about that picture. 

"I do not want your hair bothering you. So I'll help you with it." 

Before she could reject his offer,, he already used a hand to brush the strands of her hair from her face and gently tuck them behind her ear, with his palm resting on the side of her face.

Lisa's eyes twitched but she did not move.

Tom arched his back a bit so they were both face to face. 

"You look prettier now." He said with a gentle smile before turning around to leave the kitchen. 

Immediately he turned, Lisa grabbed the nearest kitchen knife and fought the urge to pierce his back with it. 

Who was he to touch her and startle her like that? She asked herself angrily as she watched him close the door after him.

As she continued to stand there, her heart raced from anger.... or was it?