Crawfish

He Zifeng did not even remember how he reached home. He relied on muscle memory to drive from the Chen house. Good thing there was less traffic, otherwise he was at risk of not minding some vehicles.

Mrs. He welcomed him home then told him to wash up for dinner.

He went to his room, took off layers of clothes, then proceeded to take a warm shower.

When He Zifeng sat down for dinner, his face became instantly gloomy.

Before him was a large dish of red hot spicy crawfish.

"Errhm...Son, you didn't convince Kaori to come back?" Mrs. He felt her question was dangerous right after she spoke her words.

"She's not there." he murmured.

Mr. and Mrs. He looked at each other, looked back at their son.

"Uh, the dishes are here. Let's start eating." He Zilou wanted to break the tension in the dining room.

Mrs. He quietly put on her plastic gloves and started to peel the crawfish. She dared not offer her son the gloves prepared at the other side of the table.

She had their chef prepare spicy crawfish because it is one of the dishes Chen Kaori really likes whenever she comes over. She was expecting that her son will be able to take her back today. When he came back alone, the crawfish was already being cooked. Even though they are rich, it is not their style to waste good food.

Suddenly, He Zifeng sighed, then took out his phone and snapped a photo of the crawfish dish.

Mr. and Mrs. He could only look at each other.

Their son would seldom use his phone during meals. He would only do so if there is an urgent call, and if there is, he would excuse himself from the table. This is the first time he snapped a photo of the food on the table, and it was of crawfish, not some fancy, colorful or stylishly presented dish.

Mrs. He cleared her throat as her son kept using his phone after taking the photo. "Ehrm...Son, the food looks tasty, right? Would you like to put on plastic gloves to peel the crawfish?"

"Just a moment." he replied monotonously as he kept tapping on his phone.

His parents went on eating but they were dying to know why their son seemed to be posting something on the internet.

After awhile, He Zifeng kept his phone and had a subtle smile on his face.

His mood seemed so much better. Without saying anything, he put on the plastic gloves and started peeling some crawfish.

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.

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Chen Kaori ordered some delivery food, but not too much, since she was spending Christmas eve alone. Her old neighbors thought she went home for the holidays so they did not invite her over.

Anyway, she thought it was great being alone. She wanted some time for herself, not trying to please anybody else.

As she sat to eat, she was browsing on her phone. She was tapping to like friends' holiday posts when she saw something unexpected.

Her eyes widened. "What the- Are you kidding me?!"

The piece of bell pepper between her chopsticks fell back to her bowl. She put her chopsticks down and clasped her phone with both hands.

"The ice overlord made a post?!"

She swiped up to read the caption of his Moments.

"Prepared too much but the visitor never arrived. Still possible to catch some if you hurry."

Chen Kaori gulped looking at the fiery red crawfish dish.

Then she shook her head. "No, no, no, no! This is a bait! A really, really big...tasty...ugh, bait!"

She stood up and paced along her kitchen counter.

"How dare he try to make me come in a hurry! That sly ba****d! No, I would never! I would never fall for your tricks again!"

Her feet felt tired and she subconsciously sat on the bar stool nearest to her.

"Hey...how did he know I'm not home for the holidays?"