James stood up immediately and rushed into the kitchen. Seeing Kara standing there in panic, he frowned. He noticed that her hands were trembling.
"Did you get hurt?"
Looking at the broken bowl, Kara felt guilty and hid her hands behind her back. She lowered her head to show that she realized her mistake.
"No. But I just broke a bowl accidentally. I was too careless."
This was the first time that Kara had washed the dishes alone. She didn't expect that the bowl with dishwasher could be that slippery. It suddenly fell to the ground and broke when she was not being careful.
James was still very worried. He grabbed her small hands hidden behind her back to check. After he made sure that her hands were not hurt, he helped her wash them with warm water.
"I'm sorry, Uncle James."
Kara suddenly felt that she was so useless. Although she had been in poor health, it was not difficult at all to wash dishes. How could she still break a bowl?
Kara thought that she was a person who knew nothing but eating!
James washed her small hands clean. Her fingers were as white as jade. He could feel her soft fists clenched in his palms.
He took her to the living room and wiped the water on her hands with wet wipes.
Seeing that her eyes were red and filled with tears, he pulled out a tissue to wipe her watery eyes.
"It's just a bowl. That's not a big deal. Why are you crying?"
"I feel that I'm so useless."
James stroked her head and said, "You silly little girl. You think you're useless just because you don't know how to wash dishes?"
Kara sobbed sadly, "Yes. I can do nothing but eat."
"Everyone has a talent for something. Your paintings look nice, so you've got a talent for painting."
James led her to a room and pointed at the drawing boards in it. He said in a serious tone,
"You're belittling yourself just because of something that you're not good at. What a little fool!"
When she entered the room, Kara was shocked.
The room was decorated by pink wallpaper. On the left side of the room, there was a huge shelf filled with sculptures of human heads which were all necessary props for sketching. In front of the shelf, there were two drawing boards.
A bookshelf had been placed next to them. The top two layers of it were filled with books about painting while the layers below included piles of painting tools and paints.
There was also a swing in the room, next to which was a zither.
The balcony door was open. A night breeze blew into the fragrance of flowers.
Kara was surprised. She had never thought that Uncle James would be so considerate that he actually had prepared all these things for her.
This was completely her dream room. In the past, her father had also set up a studio for her, but it was in the Quain's where she could not go back now.
"Take a look. If there's anything that you're not satisfied with, tell me and I'll find someone to fix it tomorrow."
"No, I'm very happy with all the things here." She grabbed his wrist and shook it excitedly.
James could tell from her actions that she was very happy. Thinking of that, he put on a smile.
If he was keeping a cat, James would make a nice cat house for it for sure. Now since he decided to take care of Kara, he could not treat her unfairly.
"Uncle James, you're so awesome."
She let go of his hand and circled around the room merrily.
James heard her praise. Her voice was so gentle and her smile so shiny. When James was staring at this girl, some thoughts flashed through his mind but were quickly suppressed.
"I'm happy that you like it. When you finish the college entrance exam, you can come here whenever you like."
"But ... why do I have to finish the college entrance examination first?" Kara had a pause.
"There're only three months to go before the exam. When you finish it, you can do whatever you want."
When James walked out of the room, he saw her frowning. He lifted the corners of his mouth slightly and knocked at the door.
"Have you finished your homework?"
"..."
Kara got a long face. 'Why he had to talk about my homework now!'
"Mr. James, Miss Kathleen is here. She said that she wants to see Miss Kara," Libby told James.
"Alright, I'll be there in a second."
Kara jumped out of the room. Thinking for a moment, she turned to look at James with a flattering smile. "Uncle James, will you be busy and stay at the study?"
"Yes, I will. Go to meet her." Looking at Kara's smile, James stroked her head.
Since Kathleen said that she was coming to see Kara, he would just stay out of it.
"Thank you, Uncle James. I'll be back soon to do my homework."
Kara walked downstairs to the living room. When she saw Kathleen sitting on the sofa with a familiar jewelry box in hand, she squinted her amber eyes.
"Kara, I've brought you here what you want. You can't break the promise that you made to me."
Kathleen handed the jewelry box to Kara and patted her hand meaningfully.
Kara said before if Kathleen returned her mom's jewelry to her, she would help her get close to James.