On The Scale Of

Chapter 12

"What?" I prompted, noticing his fluctuating expressions.

He averted his gaze and crossed his arms together. "Nothing."

When he looked away, I can't help but to ogle at his face, particularly in its texture. I've gawked at Daniel's annoyingly attractive face since forever but it was now that I've noticed something different. There were sprinkles of barely visible spots across the bridge of his nose. Claire had those too.

"You have freckles."

Daniel flicked his eyes to me in surprise. He touched his face, seemingly abashed. "I've always had these."

I was momentarily stunned at his bashful reaction. Heh. This guy's nothing but a gooey mush underneath his cold, hard shell.

"So, how is it? Does your head ache?" He asked me.

"Wow, you look like a nerd," Nat remarked from the couch, finally out of her own trance.

I clicked my tongue and pursed my lips. "Nerds are cool. At least I'm not short."

"You can't tease me about being short! I'm still eleven. It's only natural," She retorted. "I'm at least above-average."

"Mhm. Shorty."

"Mooooooooom! Ri's calling me 'Shorty' again!" The girl shot off the couch and dashed to the dining area.

Daniel cleared his throat. "Well?"

"It's alright." Amazing, actually. But I gotta stick to my Tsundere persona. "Thanks." I studied my reflection again. "So... Is it really OK that I don't pay for it?"

He waved his hand at me in dismissal. "Don't worry about it."

The brief encounter ended when Catherine called for us three for dinner. She cajoled then eventually berated Nat, saying that she was old enough to take a teasing. Nat knows this, but she's just a little tattletale.

The Meatloaf's aroma filled the kitchen despite the cold wind blowing through the open window. I sat down the dinner table with Nat's table arrangement laid out neatly before me. We said our grace then began to eat. I eased my hunger with the creamy mashed potatoes, green peas and meatloaf, and pineapple upsidedown cake for dessert. I don't get why people complain about meatloaf. They're awesome.

It was hard to ignore Catherine's eyes straying to me every few minutes but I tried hard to keep mine down at my plate, only participating in the conversation when prompted. There was a huge elephant in the room that needed to be addressed, I know. But I'd rather just enjoy eating without anxiety piling up inside me again.

"The glasses look good on you, Ri," Catherine complimented. I nodded at her and cocked my head to Daniel. "He bought them."

She thanked the man and we all continued to eat and idly chatted, gradually easing into a more relaxing atmosphere.

We cleaned up after we finished, with me and Daniel on dishwashing duty since the dishwasher was acting up lately. I set a reminder for myself to call the repairmen tomorrow since Catherine kept on forgetting.

"I'll be in my study if you need me," Catherine informed us, wiping her hands with a cloth and was on her way to leave the kitchen. "Ri, please be the one to tuck in Nat in her bed later."

"Sure." I threw a dry washcloth at Daniel. "I wash, you dry," I told him.

"I'll pop the popcorn!" My sister announced excitedly. "Well, the microwave will but I'll be the one to set it!"

I positioned in front of the sink and began to wipe away the food remnants from the plates. Nat input the time needed for the bag of popcorn to pop in the microwave then moved back to the living room, leaving me and Daniel alone. He waited beside me after stacking the used plates in the sink. It was then I've appreciated the only good thing I inherited from Leonard - his height. So I almost equally stood beside Daniel with the top of my head to his eye-level. His height used to be imposing but now it was more of a trivial matter.