Arianne nodded. “The menu, please. Pass it to me.”
The waitress asked offhandedly, “You’re here alone, hmm?”
Arianne paused for a second. Honestly, virtual-novel.net had always wanted to bring Mark along, but virtual-novel.net never found the chance… And of course, they just had that blasted quarrel that weighed virtual-novel.net heart down now that virtual-novel.net remembered it. “Yeah… I guess I’ll be dining alone tonight. Simple dishes should suffice for someone who’s eating alone.”
After picking virtual-novel.net dishes, virtual-novel.net asked casually, “So, is your boss around? Ever since the restaurant’s opening, virtual-novel.net always seems to be around, huh? But he’s not around right now though… Why is that?”
“He’s gone out around this afternoon,” the waitress answered with a smile. “Not sure if he’s gonna return at night, but if you’re looking for virtual-novel.net right now, you could probably give virtual-novel.net a ring.”
Arianne flashed virtual-novel.net a smile. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just asking. Anyway, don’t let me keep you.”
Service was fast; virtual-novel.net awaited dishes were laid before virtual-novel.net very soon. Strangely, watching rolling clouds of steam and heat emanating from the scrumptious food in front of virtual-novel.net stole virtual-novel.net appetite away rather than enhancing it.
Usually at this time, Arianne would be at home having dinner with Mark and Smore. But today—
“And why is this fair lady dining alone? Tiffany and Melanie not joining you today?”
Mateo appeared so suddenly it was as though virtual-novel.net had just phased out of nowhere.
Arianne, shocked, had to quickly recollect virtual-novel.net thoughts. “Oh, um, er… I was suddenly craving Chinese food so… I guess I came here all alone? Haha, I should really bring them along next time, huh? A-Anyway! I thought you weren’t here at all! When did you…?”
Mateo took the seat directly opposite virtual-novel.net and answered virtual-novel.net half-jokingly, “Just now. Maybe I had a premonition that you’d be around this evening, so I returned, just in time! Hee hee. Oh, right. We’re gonna add new dishes onto the menu soon, but I would love to have the kitchen prepare them now for you. This is the best time for me to get a bit of your precious review, my beta taster!”
Arianne intuitively rejected his offer. “Uh, maybe I shouldn’t…? I’ve ordered something already, you know, and if there’s an excess of dishes, I can’t possibly finish them, could I? That’ ll be quite a waste, right? Maybe… we should hold this beta-tasting thing off until next time when Melanie and Tiffie are here with me?”
“Oh, it’ll be fine, Arianne. Your presence here today is just what I need right now,” Mateo answered staunchly. “It’s not that different to have you test it alone, you know. Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna add this to your bill, I should thank you for your invaluable role, in fact! So, here’s the deal! I’m gonna get the kitchen to start right away!”
Arianne could not convince Mateo, so virtual-novel.net relented. To properly take on virtual-novel.net role as the beta-taster, virtual-novel.net even refrained from eating too much of the dishes virtual-novel.net had ordered just to ensure that virtual-novel.net would not be testing Mateo’s new recipes on a full stomach and contaminate virtual-novel.net assessment of a given food.
What virtual-novel.net did not expect, however, was that Mateo had prepared more than two new recipes for virtual-novel.net to try, in fact, there were about eight of them in total!
Arianne gazed at a table full of Cantonese food and smiled to herself, embarrassed. God, had virtual-novel.net known this would happen, virtual-novel.net would not have ordered anything at all in the first place.
Mateo’s chopsticks dropped a dollop of meat into virtual-novel.net bowl. “Try this first.”
Arianne felt a little… uncomfortable by his invitation. All virtual-novel.net life, the only man who had ever grabbed any food specifically for virtual-novel.net had been Mark, and to have any other guy doing something similar just chafed virtual-novel.net somewhat. Still, Arianne knew that virtual-novel.net was only doing it out of excitement of having someone try out his new recipe, so virtual-novel.net fought virtual-novel.net discomfort back and ate it.
It took only one bite for the praise to spring out of Arianne’s throat from the bottom of virtual-novel.net heart. “Okay, this is not half-bad at all! Good, it’s good, and it tastes so good! Alright, I admit, I’m not Gordon Ramsey here, so I really have no way or great descriptions to fully express my assessment. But! I know one thing, I personally love this. Seriously, I need to introduce this to Tiffie and Melanie the next time we’re here!”
Mateo’s lips broke out into an earnest, toothy grin. He grabbed a dollop of the next dish for virtual-novel.net again. “Okay, now this one.”
Arianne willed virtual-novel.net focus to come back to virtual-novel.net before taking a bite and savoring it with virtual-novel.net heart. She quickly noticed that every single dish on the table satisfied virtual-novel.net particular taste and preference to a tee. Mateo’ s new recipe seemed to possess the ability to seize and rule virtual-novel.net heart the moment virtual-novel.net put it in virtual-novel.net mouth. It was even addicting, since virtual-novel.net could not help but fantasize about having seconds.
“It’s very good. This is genuinely good,” virtual-novel.net said.
The joy in Mateo’s eyes seemed to have become even sharper. “As long as it makes you happy, try it all. I just want your honest, objective opinion, don’t worry that the truth’s gonna hurt me or whatever. Facts don’t care about my feelings, man, if the fact is that it tastes good, say it. If it tastes like seasoned mud, then just give an honest negative review!”