Eyes Meet

Chapter 10

"Ma'am, we-"

"Sit down, Jongnam" Melissa commanded and I heard another chair was pulled. "Relax old man, we are having a lovely dinner here," She continued with a playful tone as I was busy preparing the table.

The food was already served, only the drink was on its way as mum was making it and I prepared the glasses for us to use.

"Help yourself Lisa, make yourself at home" I spoke with a smile.

Melissa Maas was going to have dinner at my house! She was finally eating outside food.

"Ms. Maas never help herself, Ms. Pearce," I heard Jongnam's voice, responding to me. "She needs to be served,"

"That's okay, Jongnam. I can do it" Melissa said softly.

"Allow me, ma'am" He said again and I heard the sound of a spoon touching the bowl. "Some gravy?"

"Yes please,"

I brought all the cleaned glasses to the table, putting them one by one in order. "You can't take your own food to the plate, Lisa?" I teased as I heard mum filling in those glasses with the orange juice she made.

"I certainly can, Roseanne" Melissa responded and I walked to the chair, sitting next to her. "Jongnam loves me so much he won't let me"

She giggled. Her voice was different than I usually heard. It was because she was talking more natural and relax. I felt like she was actually happy being in my house, having dinner with mum and I.

We started the dinner with a prayer and I was so nervous, waiting for Melissa's reaction to my mum's chicken stew.

"How is it?" I asked her after I took one spoon of the dish into my mouth.

"It's delicious!" She exclaimed.

"Told you," I said, smirking.

"Thank you Mrs. Pearce" Melissa thanked my mum. "For inviting and for the food" She took another slurp of the soup before continuing. "I really like this one"

"I'm sure your mother can cook it better"

I hit mum's leg with mine under the table as she was sitting across, giving her a warning that she should stop right there. The last time I mentioned mother to Melissa, it didn't end good. The girl was having dinner with me and I didn't want to ruin it for her.

Melissa didn't respond, not even a slurp sound or cutlery to tell if she continued with her eating. I tried to guess what she was doing right now. She could be looking at my mum or the soup but I had no idea.

"My mother doesn't do cooking, Mrs. Pearce" Melissa spoke after seconds of silence.

"Why, Melissa? Not even once?"

I signalled mum again. I didn't understand why she kept on talking when I already warned her. Didn't she get it?

"Ohh, she has 6 executive chefs in the house and 1 head chef, Mr. Pearce himself. There is no reason for her to cook actually," Melissa answered so fast with her little laugh, or I could say, a fake one.

I knew her better. She was definitely lying with that kind of sentence structure. At that point I just wanted mum to stop. Mum was pushing Melissa in an unexpected way and I felt sorry for the girl. Melissa sounded so uncomfortable talking about her mother, and it was so disappointing that I wasn't able to give a good dining experience to her.

That was her first time eating outside of her house, and it happened to be in my house. I just wanted to give her good memories or at least a normal family dinner even though my dad couldn't be here. But the atmosphere had turned stressful for her to handle.