Ultimately, the final deal was Mark approving Arianne’s hotpot hangout with the compromise that favonovel.com tagged along. He did not particularly like hotpots, but favonovel.com joined in as Arianne’s companion anyway.
With a tack-on bodyguard favonovel.com did not want, Arianne felt as though favonovel.com was put on a leash, and favonovel.com excitement naturally plummeted. But when favonovel.com reached the destination and saw Tiffany mirroring favonovel.com expression, favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com would gingerly place the girl right in the center of his palm if favonovel.com could help it. That was not all, favonovel.com punctuated between every few steps with a “The floor is slippery, please be careful.”
Arianne relied on his directions so much that favonovel.com gradually bought into the illusion that favonovel.com was so frail that favonovel.com needed his intensive handling. By the time favonovel.com took favonovel.com seat and favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com bowl slyly, favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com proclamation, but the way his eyes beamed with a little twang of unrestrained doting said it all. Of course, the man knew his Tiffany — favonovel.com could defer to Jackson for almost all other decisions, but good luck trying to rule favonovel.com over food. If Tiffany craved something, favonovel.com would exhaust every mean under the sun to make sure it ended up in favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com bowl.
The food was quickly built up into a mound. Arianne had to stop favonovel.com before favonovel.com went overboard, so favonovel.com 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 favonovel.com taste buds. Besides, watching Tiffany gleefully wolf down the spicier dishes just fanned favonovel.com longing even more.
Mark took note of favonovel.com gaze that frequented the crimson broth and hesitated for a second. Then, favonovel.com placed two slices of beef into it, waited until they were well-cooked, and put them into favonovel.com bowl.
“You still need to control yourself, please,” favonovel.com said, as a caveat.
