How Not to Fall in Love with Your Worst Enemy

Chapter 24

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Neo's POV

I held my breath while listening to the ringing.

Pick up, Mark, please pick up, I said silently.

No such luck. My call went to his voicemail.

I had been hoping that I would be able to invite Mark to have dinner with me at the newly opened seafood restaurant downtown.

I wasn't much of a cook so I had to resort to dining out if I wanted to have a special dinner with anyone.

Now that Louis was no longer in my life, I thought that perhaps Mark could be able to lift my spirits.

I wondered why Mark couldn't be bothered to take my call.

Was it possible that he was with Gawin this evening? Was he having a nice dinner with Gawin? Did Gawin possess excellent culinary skills?

But was cooking skills alone enough to hold your man to your side.

And then again, there was the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

Damn, if that was true I was truly lacking the ability to keep a man by my side.

With a heavy sigh, I swiped on my contacts and looked for Aungpao's number.

He answered on the first ring. Damn if only Mark had done the same.

"Neo!" Aungpao's bubbly voice came to my ears. "Is it a yes or a no?"

"What question did you ask?" I decided to play with Aungpao.

I heard him sigh loudly on the phone.

"Are you forgetting that you promised to confirm with me if you're able to come over for dinner?" Aungpao's voice sounded a little exasperated and it made me smile.

I decided that I was going to play with him a little bit more.

"And when did you invite me to dinner? I don't remember you inviting me to dinner," I said, making my voice as innocent as I could.

"My dad invited you to dinner as his way of thanking you for letting him use your jumper this morning, remember? Are you eighty years old? Are you having memory problems?" Aungpao was sounding more exasperated by the second and I was loving it.

"Just say you can't come over and I will let my dad know right away so that my mom doesn't have to cook for four persons," I heard him say.

I decided it was time to quit playing with him.

"Tell your dad I'm coming over for dinner. What time does he want me to be there?" I asked.

"Right now!" Aungpao replied.

"Okay, open the door right now!" I said.

I heard him gasp.

"No way," I heard him say and I could tell by the way his voice was breaking a little that he was running towards the front door of his house.

I heard the door creaking open.

"Asshole! Stop trolling!" I heard him say.

I laughed out loud.

"Tell your parents that I will be there in fifteen to twenty minutes," I said.

"Okay," he said.

I took a quick shower and put on some casual clothes.

I wondered if I should bring a bottle of wine but then again I didn't know whether Aungpao's dad was a drinker or not. I needed to find out first over dinner.

I felt a bit nervous as I pressed the buzzer of Aungpao's front door and waited for someone to open it.

Aungpao's mom was the one who came to the door.

"You must be Neo," she said with a friendly smile as she opened the door wider to let me in.

"Yes, ma'am," I said, bowing to her.

"Just call me Letty," she said. "My son has been talking nonstop about you."

"I hope it was only good things that he has spoken about me," I said, as I looked around the living room where she had ushered me in.

She didn't confirm my statement. She just gave me a cryptic smile.

She motioned for me to sit on the couch.

"I was thinking of bringing a bottle of wine but I wasn't sure if anyone of you drinks alcoholic beverages," I said a I settled myself on the couch.

"My husband and I don't drink," she informed me, "But he and I are getting suspicious about Aungpao. We think that he is secretly drinking with his buddies."

"That's not true, Mom!" Aungpao appeared out of nowhere.

He rushed over to me and sat down close beside me on the couch.

"I'm so glad that you have decided to have dinner with me and my parents," he said with a big and happy smile on his face.

Aungpao had barely finished talking when Mr. Suwanacheep came into the living room.

I stood up from the couch to greet him.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation to dinner," he said, "and thank you for lending me your jumper this morning. I have ordered one online so that I won't have to borrow yours each time my engine won't start."

"No worries," I said. "We're neighbors. We should help one another."

"Dinner is ready," Aungpao's mom, Letty, announced from the doorway of the dining room.

"Come," Mr. Suwanacheep motioned for me to follow him into the dining room.

Aungpao followed close behind me.

I suddenly felt very hungry upon seeing the sumptuous feast that was laid on the table.

"Aungpao cooked the beef stroganoff dish while I made the lemon and herb roast chicken," Aungpao's mom announced.

I turned my serious attention to Aungpao for the first time.

"You really cooked that dish?" I asked him.

He nodded with a wide smile.

"I hope you will like it," he said.

"I can't wait to try it," I said as I took the chair that Mr. Suwanacheep motioned for me to take.

"This is really good," I said after a few forkfuls of the beef stroganoff.

"Aungpao plans to take up Culinary Arts after he graduates from high school," Mr. Suwanacheep announced. "I'm trying to discourage him from studying Culinary Arts. I would rather have him take an Engineering course."

"No, no, no," I said. "Let him take Culinary Arts. I can already tell that he will excel in it."

By the time dinner was over, I felt so stuffed I could hardly get up from my chair.

I thanked Mr. and Mrs. Suwanacheep for the wonderful dinner.

Then I turned to Aungpao.

"And my special thanks to you for the dish that you cooked," I said to him sincerely.

"You're welcome," he said. "I had so much fun making it."

Mr, and Mrs. Suwanacheep walked me to the front door.

"Can I walk you to your front door?" Aungpao offered.

I turned to his parents for their reaction.

"Yes, son, walk him home," said Mr. Suwanacheep.

When we reached my front door I turned to Aungpao.

"Would you like to come in for some coffee?" I asked. "That's all I can offer you. I don't know much about cooking."

"No, thanks, I'm fine," Aungpao said. "But if you have some beer I will gladly come in."