Love My Friends with Benefits

I'd blurted those words out without even thinking. I expected Leonard to get mad.

However, he just glanced at me before walking away.

After that, sounds came from the kitchen.

He was in the kitchen...

In that instant, a ludicrous thought popped into my mind. Was Leonard getting a knife so that he could kill me?

This scared the living daylights out of me.

With Titan Group's power and influence, Leonard would get off scot-free even if he were to kill me. I was all on my own, and the Jones family were doing their best to suck up to him. Nobody would care about my death.

My imagination spun out of control and I successfully gave myself a fright.

I had to say that the fever had really short-circuited my brain. I only started to wonder whether I was overthinking things five minutes later.

"Nah, that's not gonna happen." I shook my head and muttered to myself.

I'd only said a few things to get on his nerves, hadn't I? Leonard wouldn't kill me over something like that.

"Yes," I thought. "I'm overthinking."

...

Suddenly, I heard Leonard chopping something.

Was he preparing to cook something? This shocked me.

He didn't seem to be very skilled at using a knife, having to pause every few slices.

Oh, so he was just slicing vegetables. He wasn't coming after me.

My heart settled back in my chest.

After some thought, I got up and staggered to the kitchen. "Leonard, what are you doing?"

He had his back towards me while he cooked and didn't turn around when he heard me. "I never knew that you were blind."

I was bemused by the venom in his words. "What's that for? Is there something wrong with you?"

"Can't you see for yourself what I'm doing?" he said coldly.

Leonard turned the stove off and poured the food into a plate.

I'd learnt my lesson. I ignored him and shuffled towards him, trying to see what he'd cooked.

He swatted me away. "Even a child knows that they have to wash their hands before eating." Before eating?

I was so shocked that I could only stutter out, "You... You made this for me?"

"Queena, let me give you a piece of advice." Leonard gave me a fake smile. "Cut the crap when you're talking to me."

What sort of advice was that? It was obviously a threat.

I pouted and turned away, wanting to walk over to the sink. It seemed so far away, though.

Oh, forget it.

I gave up on eating and slowly shuffled back to bed, using the wall as support.

Leonard grabbed me by my hair. It didn't hurt, but he managed to drag me back to him.

I lost balance and fell into his arms.

He looked at me disdainfully and clucked his tongue. "Throwing yourself at me?"

Alas, when someone had a dirty mind, everything became dirty to them.

I cursed him silently and asked angrily, "What the h*ll are you up to?"

This time, Leonard didn't make things hard for me. He pushed me over to the dining table and stuffed some cutlery into my hands. "Eat."

I looked down at the food and immediately lost my appetite.

He'd cooked two dishes. One of them was completely indistinguishable, while the other was a simple dish of carrots and peas that looked pretty normal.

I recalled Leonard's "masterpiece" from the other night and lost the courage to even give these dishes a try.

I turned around and asked him, "Can I not eat?"

He looked at me silently, his gaze gradually turning stern.

It looked like I didn't have a choice.

Unwillingly, I scooped up some peas and gingerly ate them.

I couldn't stop myself from spatting them out almost instantly.

They were too salty! I couldn't taste anything else.

This was even worse than before. I was sure that Leonard had poured half a jar of salt in here.

He was sitting opposite me and covered in peas.

He looked down at the dirt on his shirt, then looked up at me frostily. "Wanna die?"

Of course not.

"No, I..." The saltiness made me tear up. At the same time, it cleared some of the fogginess in my head and I hurriedly apologised to him. "I'm sorry, I was just.....' "Shut up," Leonard growled.

He snatched the spoon from me and slammed a glass of water onto the table.

I mumbled my thanks and took a sip of water.

Leonard scooped up a carrot and put it into his mouth. The next second, he scowled and spat it out.

I couldn't help feeling a sense of relish at his actions. He finally knew how horrible his cooking tasted!

"I'll order some takeaway," he said coldly as he threw the dishes away.

It was obvious that he was trying to hide his awkwardness.

Speaking of which, he'd never been in such an awkward situation in front of me before.

I grinned and said teasingly, "First, you cooked for me. Now, you're going to order me takeaway. Leonard, have you fallen for me?"

The fever seemed to make me bolder than usual. I would never have said something like this in my usual state.

Leonard stilled.

After a while, he strode out of my house and slammed the door loudly.

I felt relieved at the sound of the door closing.

He'd finally left.

With Leonard's departure, I felt so much more at ease. Even my head didn't hurt as badly as before. I grabbed some bread and climbed back into bed, planning on finishing it before sleeping. I fell asleep halfway through, though.

It was already the next morning when I woke up.

I had to say that the medication Leonard had bought was pretty effective.

I felt a lot better.

I shook my head and called Aunt Nancy. "Aunt Nancy, I'm going to see Grandma today."

On the other end of the line, she asked, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I hadn't brushed my teeth the night before, and I felt disgusting. As I answered Aunt Nancy, I walked towards the bathroom to wash up.

When I turned around, I noticed there was something on the dining table.

It piqued my curiosity. When I got to the dining table and saw the things there, I fell silent. I didn't even hear what Aunt Nancy was saying. There was a bowl of oats, some fruits, and syrup. There was also a note next to the oats.

"Queena? Queena!"

I was only pulled out of my reverie when Aunt Nancy called me a few times. "Sorry, Aunt Nancy. I was thinking about something else."

"It's fine." Aunt Nancy sounded a little concerned. "Are you still sick? Maybe you should rest for another day and come to see your grandmother when you're better."

I quickly said, "No, no. I'm fine."

She wasn't reassured. "But..."

I pretended to have something to attend to and quickly hung up.☐☐☐☐☐☐