Charity

"How has your lesson been going?”.

Melody turned away from the window where she was staring at the different houses and companies on the road as they drove past when she heard Hunter's question. They were both in his car on their way to his company. They were seated together at the back and Michael was driving them. She has not felt scared of sitting with him. After cooking with him in the kitchen, some of her discomfort of being around him has lessened.

Melody took in the handsome man who was clad in a black suit. She had been trying to avoid looking at him because she realized that she always lost herself, and he always caught her staring. It was embarrassing.

"Hey".

Melody blinked her eyes and tried hard not to blush. She has been caught staring again, “It has been good so far. I have the best teachers in the world. Cooking is not as easy as people think, but it's not that hard either if it's something you love”.

He loved the way she spoke about her friend's who were teaching her, " So you still want to become a chef, huh?” Hunter asked with a small smile playing on his lips.

Melody was surprised at his question, but she did not let it show. Instead, she nodded, “of course. I have loved cooking since I was little. My mother also wanted to become a chef”. The thought of her mother who lost her life and abandoned her dreams because of her father made her eyes dim.

Hunter immediately noticed the change in her when she mentioned her mother. He wanted to know all about her, including her mother, because it looked to him that she loved her mother, but now was not the right time. He was still trying to build up their relationship.

"Your mother must have been a great cook then”. Hunter told her.

Melody perked up at his words, " yeah she was a good cook and I loved her cookies so much. She always made me do little tasks to get an extra one”. The thought of how she and her mother spent their time when her father was not around brought a silly smile to her face. They had spent most of the time covered in flour.

Hunter's eyes shone with a bright light. He could almost envision a mini Melody running around doing little things in the house just to get an extra cookie from her mother. The picture conjured up in his mind was beautiful yet funny.

"She must have been beautiful, that's why she gave birth to a beautiful daughter like you”. Hunter complimented her with a sexy smirk.

Melody blushed crimson. She was not expecting him to compliment her, and he just did. She had never felt beautiful before because of all the scars she grew up with that made people call her a weirdo, but hearing him saying she was beautiful, she felt beautiful. Her mother had also been a beautiful woman, and she was the carbon copy of her mother. She looks nothing like her father, and every so often she wonders whether he was really her father or not.

"You don't have to work too hard to pass the competition. I would still train you in Rebecca's culinary school if you don't get in”.

As much as he would love for her to win the competition, he did not want her to stress herself. He wished that he could make everything easy for her. He had all the money in the world, and what was he going to use them for if not to spend them on his little mate? Of course, he was also rooting for her and wished her success as he knew that she valued her Independence.

Melody was taken aback by his words. He was going to still sponsor her whether she aced the competition or not? His words surprised her. She did not know what she did or who she saved in her past life that made her meet this man after leaving her father.

At first she had not liked the way they kept on bumping into each other. She had felt like it was too coincidental, almost staged. But now, she knew better. It was fate that always led her to him. It wasn't clear to her why he always wanted to help her, but she was beyond grateful, and she would not hesitate to spend the rest of her life trying to pay him back.

"You don't have to do that. You have already done a lot for me, and I have not even paid you back for them. I don't want to owe you too much, but I already do, and I would rather not add more to my debt. I will work hard to pass the competition”. Melody told him. Him trying to help her was only pushing her to want to work hard to ace the competition.

Hunter's brows furrowed with a frown at her words about owing him. She still had not forgotten about her promise to pay him back for her hospital bill. She also thought that he was helping her again and she must pay him back. Well, he was the one who made her draw that conclusion in the first place, but it was something he had to do, if not, she wouldn't have agreed for him to help her.

"You don't have to worry about paying me back. I have enough money as it is, so it's not a big deal to try to help others”. Hunter told her, but he somehow felt like his words were not sounding nice. He had already said it and could not take it back.

Melody nodded before turning to stare out of the window. She felt a slight bitterness in her heart because of his words. Maybe he was just helping her, like giving out something to charity. She was not supposed to feel bad, but she did. He did not know anything about her, except, perhaps it was that form she filled before coming to work for him.

She had stated that she was an orphan whose parents died when she was sixteen, and she had to work hard for money and take care of herself. Maybe that was why he was helping her. He was just giving out to charity.

Melody felt tears sting the back of her eyes and she did not know why, but she felt the sudden urge to curl into herself and howl loudly.

She broke out of her thoughts when the car came to a stop in front of his company, and he called her name and asked her to get down.

As she followed him inside his company and in the direction of his exclusive elevator, she chided herself for her thoughts. Here was someone who was helping her. Charity or not, he was a good person, and she should not think too much because she was crushing on him. He was not crushing on her, and she was sure that he had a girlfriend, even if Rebecca had not mentioned it before.

Her mind flashed back to the woman she had seen hanging on his arm in that magazine in the library when she was still in country Vee and she felt like the woman looked like Eleanor. She put it at the back of her mind to check the magazine when she got home. Maybe Eleanor is his girlfriend.