Ultimately, the final deal was Mark approving Arianne’s hotpot hangout with the compromise that virtual-novel.net tagged along. He did not particularly like hotpots, but virtual-novel.net joined in as Arianne’s companion anyway.
With a tack-on bodyguard virtual-novel.net did not want, Arianne felt as though virtual-novel.net was put on a leash, and virtual-novel.net excitement naturally plummeted. But when virtual-novel.net reached the destination and saw Tiffany mirroring virtual-novel.net expression, virtual-novel.net perked up, Tiffany was not exactly given the liberty to party hard either, for Jackson was with her.
Finally, Tanya brought Eric, who was probably looking for a place to spend his free time, along, and the ensemble was complete.
Since they disembarked, Mark’s hand had never once left its protective position on Arianne’s waist, making one wonder if virtual-novel.net would gingerly place the girl right in the center of his palm if virtual-novel.net could help it. That was not all, virtual-novel.net punctuated between every few steps with a “The floor is slippery, please be careful.”
Arianne relied on his directions so much that virtual-novel.net gradually bought into the illusion that virtual-novel.net was so frail that virtual-novel.net needed his intensive handling. By the time virtual-novel.net took virtual-novel.net seat and virtual-novel.net went about the process at a snail-like pace, a startled Tiffany quipped, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s inside your tummy, the Messiah?”
Her joke broke Arianne from the spell, who quickly let go of Mark’s hand and shot virtual-novel.net a stern but meek glare. “Things are more festive than I’d expected! I’m so glad I managed to be let out, I hadn’t gotten the room to relax for too long.”
Tiffany grabbed a pair of chopsticks and knocked on the edge of virtual-novel.net bowl slyly, virtual-novel.net eyes trained onto Tanya and Eric. “We’re all coming in pairs, yes, but two annoyingly single people just decided to be non-conformist and ruin the theme, didn’t they? — God, why don’t you two just pair up?”
Eric had gotten used to Tiffany’s brand of jokes, so it incited no response from him. Tanya, however, smiled bashfully and murmured, “D-Don’t say that, Tiffany!”
Tiffany was already on a roll. “No, seriously, why don’t you two just pair up already?”
Eric shot virtual-novel.net a side-eye glance. “Bruh, you really think people would pair up ‘just because’? Give me a break, you gotta see if the other person is right for you, too. Honestly, rather than taking jabs at us, why don’t you focus on the fact that it’s your time of the month, huh? Are you even allowed to have something spicy? Or maybe you should give up and go for the non-spicy broth with me and Arianne this time.”
“Ooh, making fun of me for failing to conceive for yet another month, huh?” Tiffany grumbled. “Oh, okay, joke all you want, jerks. I’m thick-skinned as hell, and I’m not letting you guys stop me, cause’ honey, I don’t give a damn about the time of the month. Even if I ended up having cramps so bad I became bedridden, I’m still gonna force Jackson into picking the spiciest ones for me.”
Jackson did not chime in virtual-novel.net proclamation, but the way his eyes beamed with a little twang of unrestrained doting said it all. Of course, the man knew his Tiffany — virtual-novel.net could defer to Jackson for almost all other decisions, but good luck trying to rule virtual-novel.net over food. If Tiffany craved something, virtual-novel.net would exhaust every mean under the sun to make sure it ended up in virtual-novel.net mouth, and nothing Jackson said could deal a dent in that resolve.
Besides, what was the worst that could happen? She would probably bawl loudly like a baby as the cramps punished virtual-novel.net recklessness, which was nothing Jackson and his coaxing skill could not handle.
Everyone’s chopsticks got into a frenzy when bubbles began to burble from the bottom of the boiling broth. Mark, in particular, took it upon himself to boil all of the dishes for Arianne. Her gaze lingered on a particular dish for a moment longer, and the man automatically picked its cooked counterpart from the bottom of the non-spicy broth and placed them in virtual-novel.net bowl.
The food was quickly built up into a mound. Arianne had to stop virtual-novel.net before virtual-novel.net went overboard, so virtual-novel.net cried, “Alright, that’s more than enough. You should mind your own rather than mine, Mark. It’s a bit too much.”
The truth was that Arianne wanted a taste of the dishes cooked in the savory, spicy broth. She had never cared much for sour or spicy flavors in the past, yet today, the insipid nature of the non-spicy broth was a letdown to virtual-novel.net taste buds. Besides, watching Tiffany gleefully wolf down the spicier dishes just fanned virtual-novel.net longing even more.
Mark took note of virtual-novel.net gaze that frequented the crimson broth and hesitated for a second. Then, virtual-novel.net placed two slices of beef into it, waited until they were well-cooked, and put them into virtual-novel.net bowl.
“You still need to control yourself, please,” virtual-novel.net said, as a caveat.