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I shake my head, unable to look away from him. “No.” His face softens, and his lips curl up sweetly. “I was just surprised,” I say.
“Good. C’mon, let's eat breakfast. I know you must be famished.”
He ushers me to a chair at the kitchen table and sits beside me. “I prepared toast and eggs. You still like it, right?”
“How did you know it's my favorite breakfast?”
He shrugs, smiling as he scoops some eggs onto my plate. “That's all you ate anytime you stayed over back then.”
My heart flutters. I never knew he paid attention to me. I always thought I was invisible to him.
To hide my flushed state, I start eating my toast. I can’t entirely focus on my food either because I'm too aware of how my knee is touching his under the table. Our legs are pressed together, and neither of us moves away as we eat.
“You were so beautiful last night,” he whispers in my ear before drawing back and eating his toast as if he didn't just do that.
I feel tingly all over, but I will be damned if I let him know the effect he has on me.
“This came out better than I expected. I didn't know you cook,” I say to change the subject, gesturing at my plate.
He chuckles lightly. “I don't.” He simply says before taking a sip of his water. “This is the only thing I can cook without burning the whole house down.”
We share a laugh. “I guess you are not the perfect bachelor they say you are.”
“I'm so far from it.”
After a few moments of silence, he talks again. “Funny how I still don't know how you met Nala and became friends.”
“Well, I met Nala in high school, obviously.” That causes both of us to laugh before I continue. “My aunt had moved from Oxford to Georgia when I was thirteen, I think? We moved because she had found new work. I didn’t know anyone at school, and nobody wanted to be friends with the new girl who wore glasses that covered most of her face.” I chuckle lightly at the memory that used to make me sad, but not anymore.
“But Nala spotted me being bullied by one of her friends. She saved me and declared me her friend from that day. Being the most popular, her endorsement of me made everyone want to become my friend. Boring, right?” I ask, laughing quietly, only to stop when I see that he's not a bit amused.
“What about your parents?” he asks, making my smile drop. When he notices my discomfort, he starts again. “No, no, you don't have to tell me about them. I'm sorry for being nosy.”
“My dad died when I was four, so I didn't really know him. My mom couldn't come to terms with Dad's death, and she abandoned me with my aunt and never came back. Even today, I don't know if she's alive or dead. That's why I maintain that I'm an orphan.”
Staring at my almost empty plate, I remember the nights my aunt locked me out, and I cried for my mom to come back for me. She never did. She left me to be a slave for my aunt. I slaved away the fourteen years I spent with her.
The feel of Chris’s hand on mine snaps me out of my distant thoughts. I take a deep breath, realizing that I've said too much, and now I can’t bear meeting his eyes. It's most probably pity I will see there.
I pulled myself together and removed my hand from his despite his warm fingers' calming effect. “It’s fine. It's all in the past.”
“I am sorry that you had to go through all of that,” he whispers quietly, his hand back on mine like it never left.
I close my eyes, savoring his warm touch, and I can't find it in myself to pull away. “And I'm sorry that I failed you. I should have been there, but I just made things worse.”
“Like I said, it’s in the past. Now we are here. There are other things to worry about,” I say, thanking my voice for not giving out on me.
He clears our plates despite my protests and takes them to the sink to wash. It feels weird seeing Chris in my kitchen looking like he belongs there.
After washing the plates, he wipes his hands with a hand towel. He smiles when he sees me watching him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You know you don’t have to do all this,” I reply.
“Do what?” He looks confused, and it’s cute.
“Be all nice and pretend like we are friends and not fuckbuddies.”
