15. TASTE MY SOUP
Tina resumed work early that morning, but Lena didn't let her cook for Darian. She was mad at her husband but she still wanted to cook for him. She saw how badly he was bleeding the night before and she wanted to be sure she made some soup she believed healed bleeding.
"Ma'am, this is my job." Tina protested, not letting Lena wear the apron. "I have five meals to prepare today. Just let me do it please." She begged Lena.
"No, you don't have to worry. I will make sure he eats the soup I cook." Lena tied the apron around her neck. "Tell me, don't you feel it's stressful to prepare five meals every day?" She asked Tina.
"No, it isn't. I have been doing this for years and besides, the pay is good. I don't have a reason to complain. It helps me pay my college fees too." She smiled.
"You attend college?" Lena paused, taking some seconds to process Tina's words. If she attended college and was still working as Darian's maid, when did she have the time to herself? She smiled, but not fully.
"I just gained admission into college. The boss doesn't know about it yet though." Tina smiled innocently. Lena wiggled her head as she stared at Tina. She was determined and focused, she thought to herself.
"How long have you been working for Darian?" Lena set the ingredients she would be needing for the butternut squash soup on the counter.
"Since I was little ma'am, he helped my parents and took me as his maid. We used to be two and I was the youngest." Tina smiled, assisting Lena to slice the onions.
"Good. So, what can you say about the boss? I mean how can you describe him?" She questioned. Flashing back to what happened the night before when he had come back from the place he went to. How cold he acted towards her, she had expected him to at least carry her to the bed, but she was so disappointed to wake up and find herself curled up in a corner of their bedroom.
"I don't know too much about him, ma'am." Tina bowed her head in reverence. "All I do is cook his food, clean his house and leave after that. We don't talk much unless it's necessary, but if I am to judge, I will say he's cold, talks less, and doesn't care what people have to say."
"Selfish, huh?" She looked at Tina.
"No, ma'am. I would never call my boss selfish but he just doesn't care about people's opinions." Tina rephrased her words, hoping Lena wouldn't get mad at her.
"I understand what you mean. It's been three weeks with him and I still don't understand who he is." Lena heaved a long exasperated sigh. "So, I do understand when you talk about his ambiguous characters."
"Hmm, was it an arranged marriage?" Tina had already asked before she realized the gravity of her words. "I am sorry ma'am, this shouldn't be my business." She bowed her head. Lena laughed, shaking her head, she set all she needed, and discussed other things with Tina, but never answered her question.
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The bedroom was void when Lena got in. She left him sleeping on the bed but he wasn't there anymore, she figured he would be in the study or his office. She went to the office and luckily, she found him there. The door was left ajar, she pushed it open slowly. His eyes were on the computer screen, a pair of glasses perched at the bridge of his nose. He looked incredibly handsome, like he was too perfect to be real.
Lena cleared her throat and walked in with her hands folded around her chest.
Darian raised his head to take a look at her.
"You must be wondering what I want or if I'd ever talk to you after what you did last night, but don't worry I don't hold grudges." She settled down on the armchair in front of him. "How's your arm?" She asked him.
"What do you want?" He queried her, his face devoid of emotions.
Lena pursed her lips, "Darian, I made butternut squash soup for you. It will help you get stronger—"
"I don't want it, thanks." He interrupted her. "I was so busy before you came around, I will like to go back to what I was doing before you came in." He adjusted his glasses.
"And do you think I will let you do that? I spent time in the kitchen preparing food for you and you want to refuse it?" She lowered her hands on the mahogany desk and sighed. "Don't you want to taste your wife's food? The first food she will cook in your house?" She winked at him.
"What do you want, Lena?" He huffed a frustrated sigh.
"For you to come with me to the dining table and have some soup. It will make you feel better, how do you even type with that arm? Are you a zombie or something?" She whispered but he heard her words. She smirked at him and smiled. "Common, let's go, I won't let you be until you agree to come with me." She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, unperturbed about his scornful looks.
"I just said that I don't want the soup," he said sternly. "Leave now, I am busy." He motioned to the door.
"What will you do if I don't leave?" She leaned backward on the chair and smirked at him. "Haul me out?" She smiled a nasty smile. "You have a neat office, it will be nice to join you here. Do you know? We will share the table and other things while we work together, but you don't have to be scared or worried, I haven't thought of what I should be doing yet. You can still have your office to yourself." She crossed her legs and smiled at Darian. "Hmm, I have been wanting to ask you this…"
"Where is the soup?" His voice was harsh but Lena was glad he asked for it.
"Dining table, do you want to go now?" She asked, a sly smile playing on her lips.
He said nothing, straightening out of the chair he walked out of the office. Lena genuflected, she was glad she could tame him to have something to eat.
She closed the door behind her and walked after Darian. When they got to the dining table, he sat down, waiting for her to serve the soup.
"You know what butternut squash soup does to the body?" She asked him.
"Can you serve the soup and stop talking?" He said, rolling his eyes at her.
"Sure, I will serve it, but I won't stop talking." She gently raised the cover of the plate. The aroma of the soup assailed his nose. He looked at her, disgust evident in his expression. "You will like it, trust me." Lena laughed at her husband.
She served the soup on a deep ceramic plate, Darian hesitated but she urged him to go on. He listened willingly, took a spoon, and dipped it into the soup, scooping some into the spoon, he brought it back to his mouth and swallowed.
"Does it taste good?" She smiled.
"I don't know," Darian intoned, he took a second spoon.
"Darian, why are you so cold?" She suddenly asked him. She made sure he had taken a good spoonful of the soup before starting the conversation. "You always wear a frown on your face, one can barely make out how handsome you are. I treated you last night and all I got was scolding from you, do you think that's fair?" They gazed into each other's eyes, silence stilling the room. Lena smiled, knowing well that her husband doesn't have an explanation to her question.
"I would like to go back to the office now, I have a lot on my plate." He leaped up, drew out the chair, and looked at Lena. "Do not disturb me anymore, I beg of you."
She nodded her head, "You should be fine in there, I will be here occupying myself with other things." She told him. "Hope we get to discuss my job when you come back to the room." She hung her head low.
"The soup was nice," was all he muttered before walking away.
Lena smiled, she didn't expect him to say that but he did. "He can blend if he has someone who stays with him all the time." She whispered slowly only to her hearing. "You will stop being cold, Darian. I promise you." She stacked the plate he used in eating the soup and headed to the kitchen.
Drooping the plates in the sink, she thought of her husband, the pills she saw beside the drawer that morning, how she agreed to marry him, why he never consummated their marriage, and her father, the old man who brought Darian into her life.
"Oh my, I will do the dishes." Tina's voice jolted Lena out of her trance.
"Sure," Lena smiled. She left the kitchen and made her way back to the hallway. With slow and quiet gaits, she walked toward the door of Darian's office. She peeped at him through the door that was left slightly open. A smile tugged on her lips, and she wiggled her head, basking in the pleasure that came with watching her handsome husband work his ass off.
She was ready to find out all about him that made him cold. No matter how long it took him to open up to her, she would wait for him.
Faithy💓