Chapter 254 - Nina's cooking
Anastasia
“Can I smack you before you leave?” I asked with a smile.
“What?”
“May I?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, totally.”
“No! I’m leaving,” she yelled, running off in the opposite direction.
“Where are you going? Stop here!” I ran after her, only to bump into someone on the way.
“I’m sorry–“
“What’s your relationship with Nikolai?” Nina’s voice drew my attention.
She looked at me with a shocked look on her face.
“What…do you mean by that?” I stuttered in my reply.
“What the heck is going on between the two of you?” she yelled, drawing the attention of other maids near us.
This isn’t a good place to talk.
“I don’t understand what you are trying to say, please excuse me,” I said, turning away to leave.
“Stop there!” she grabbed onto my shoulder tightly. “You aren’t leaving till you answer my question. What’s your relationship with him?”
“I don’t feel obliged to reply to all of your questions. Let me go!” I stated, removing her hand away.
“Yes, you are obliged! You are obliged to answer me!”
“Why? Who are you?”
“I’m….that doesn’t matter. You still have to–“
“I’m not your personal maid nor do I wish to be one. If you try to touch me again, I’ll be forced to inform Nikolai about what you tried to do earlier in the morning. And I don’t think it’ll raise your image in front of him any better.”
A sign of worry appeared on her forehead.
“You–“
“I have work, excuse me,” I rushed away from her side in a hurry ignoring the eyes looking in my direction.
She must’ve seen me earlier with him. That’s why she’s reacting like that.
I need to be careful, or else she might start blabbering about us all around the house.
In the afternoon, I saw a group of maids blocking the entrance of the kitchen. All of them were peeking inside the kitchen watching something happening inside with quite an interest.
What’s going on here?
I tried to peek inside but I couldn’t see anything. I went from the back and saw Nina inside the kitchen.
She was up to something. She was taking ingredients out of the freezer and had turned on the stove as well.
Is she….planning to cook or something? For whom?
Don’t tell me she’s trying to impress him with her cooking.
Now, that’s unexpected.
She checked the veggies with close detail. Then placed them down on the cutting table.
And searching for the knife.
At least wash the veggies before you cut them. Are you going to throw them in the pan like that?
She left the fire unattended. She’s going to cause a ruckus here.
She held the knife with trembling hands and then felt hesitant to cut up the veggies.
Oh no, she might lose a finger or two with that.
Though I might not like her, I don’t her to hurt herself and go begging him for help.
“Why don’t any of you go and help her out?” I asked, stepping inside the kitchen.
All the maids looked at me in confusion.
“She’s clearly struggling and is inexperienced in this field. Help her out in whatever she’s doing.”
“I never said I needed any help!” Nina yelled from behind, carrying the knife with her. “Why are you assuming things for me? Who are you to decide that?”
“I’m not assuming,” I replied, turning to her. “I can clearly tell you never cooked before by the way you held the knife.”
I also did the same when I first entered the kitchen for the first time in my life.
“What? Aren’t I holding it correctly?”
“Uh, no,” a maid stepped forward and replied. “You might bleed badly if you cut up veggies like that with a sharp knife. Let us do it for you.”
“But, I wanted to make the lunch by myself. If any of you help, it won’t be my credit. I don’t need any help. I can do it on my own.” She insisted.
“Let them help or else you might have to get admitted to the hospital in a few minutes, and send us along the way. If you don’t want that, listen to me!” I replied.
She pondered over it for a minute then replied, “Alright then. Only help me cut the veggies. I can do the rest myself.”
“Thank god, I thought she was going to fire up the entire kitchen in a few minutes,” one of them mumbled loud enough for Nina to hear.
And she didn’t seem to like the sound of it.
“You always like to butt your nose into everything, don’t you?” she comments, looking at me.
“Yeah, I like saving others lives. I saw the foreseen danger and helped you out. You should thank me for it.”
“As if I would,” she grunted, walking away.
She’s not cute at all. What did he like about that ungrateful woman?
I watched from a distance, how she stir-fried the veggies which she had managed to burn on the first try.
Then she sent the fish to roast in the microwave, then I saw smoke coming out of the kitchen half an hour later.
She panicked and splashed water on it.
What is she doing?
Then she tried to fry the sausage and dropped some veggies without thinking. But instead of using the spatula or anything she dipped her fingers onto the hot pan and burned her fingers while trying to pick up the veggies.
She screamed in pain and cried out for water.
A maid brought out some ice cubes and attended to her needs.
“What’s going on here? Who was yelling?” Leon asked, standing right next to me.
“It is her,” I replied, pointing to the events happening inside the kitchen.
He saw her crying, and then asked, “What’s she doing inside the kitchen?”
“Making food for your brother. Did she ever cook before?”
“Yes, the only one time during Valentine's. She came over to make cookies for him. The tragedy of the day was quite unforgettable.”
“Why? What happened that day?”
“She burned all the cookies. And if that wasn’t enough, the whole kitchen was covered in black smoke, as if it were a chimney. The kitchen was smelling smokey and charred for at least two weeks. The maids had a hard time cleaning that all up. Since then she never set foot in the kitchen again. It was the last time.”