Chapter 178 Chapter 178
“But that was because I flinched when you suddenly broke the cup. What are you, Hulk? How is that possible with your bare hands?”
In her exasperation and faced with his grumpy scowl, Valerie began to laugh. She couldn’t believe what a stubborn idiot he was, and the entire situation was more than hilarious in her eyes. They had just planned to make a simple cake, and now half of the ingredients were all over the floor, along with shards of the shattered cup.
“Valerie.” he complained. “Not my fault, cups are so fragile.”
“We need to clean up before we can finish this,” she sighed and bent down to pick the shards up, but he was faster and swatted her hand away.
“No, you won’t touch this,” he said. “Sit on the chair and let me do it.”
Astonished, she straightened up, meeting his unrelenting eyes that told her he wouldn’t tolerate a no for an answer. To underline his point, he nodded his chin towards the chairs and table.
“Okay, you win,” she mumbled and carefully navigated past the shards on the ground to a chair where she sat down and watched him. The left sleeve of his black hoodie was covered in flour, the sight reminding her of snow. He was unfazed by his messy appearance, flicking his braids over his shoulder as he bent down to collect the shards with his hands.
“Don’t cut yourself,” she reminded him, earning an amused gaze.
“You think this would be enough to hurt me?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as if she had suggested something ridiculous.
“Anyone can cut themselves.”
“I’m not anyone,” he replied arrogantly. “I’m superior to regular humans.”
“Oh, I forgot,” she retorted, a cheeky undertone in her voice. “You are actually a century-old vampire, isn’t that right?”
“Can you get any more random?” he chuckled. “I’m no fucking leech.”
“Then what are you?” she asked jokingly.
“Many things.”
“Oh, how mysterious of you, Maxwell.”
He smirked as he threw the shards in the trash. “Do you like mysterious men?” he asked.
“Only if their name is Maxwell.”
He groaned, the sly smirk falling off his face. “Valerie, can you not call me that? It destroys my demonic pride.”
“Your what?” she gasped. “What does that mean?”
Realizing his mistake too late, he cursed inwardly. “Nothing… just forget about it.”
“Do you believe in demons?” she prodded carefully, recalling that he had commented similarly to this one before.
“No,” he muttered. “Why would I?”
“You seem to like them…”
“I don’t think I do,” he replied as he dumped the shards in the trash. Looking around in the chaos, he wasn’t sure where to continue since their cake was far from done. The dough had been sitting in a bowl untouched for a while, waiting to be baked.
She noticed his clueless expression and got up, deciding to help him out. If they didn’t hurry up, they wouldn’t be done with the cake any time soon. Valerie grabbed the bowl with the dough and pushed it into his hands, telling him to put it into the cake pan and into the oven. In the meantime, she went to cut the strawberries she wanted to use as decoration later.
As she worked, she was once again reminded of the bandage on her left wrist. It had been bothering her for the past few days, since it always got in the way and annoyed her greatly. She didn’t get why Maxwell wanted her to wear it since she didn’t feel any pain in her wrist anymore. Shouldn’t it be fine to take it off?
He caught her playing around with the bandage, his eyes narrowing. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Didn’t I tell you to leave it alone?”
Like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar, she quickly let go of the bandage. “But Maxwell,” she whined. “Why can’t I remove it?”
“It’s too soon,” he muttered seriously, his brows knitting. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Understand what?” she asked, raising her voice. Why couldn’t he just tell her? How bad could it be?
He took both of her hands, standing in front of her and watching her seriously. “Please, trust me on this. You will understand my reasoning when you remember everything.”
She heaved a sigh, frustrated and annoyed. Why was he so reluctant to answer such a simple question? It was mind-boggling.
“Let’s finish the cake, okay?” he said, and she nodded, making a mental note to bring the issue up again later.
While they waited until they could remove the cake from the oven, they began to clean up the kitchen, getting rid of the mess they had created. Valerie prepared strawberry cream and put all the fruits in a small bowl. By the time the cake came out of the oven, the kitchen was spotless, a delicious smell hanging in the air. It was mouth-watering.
Valerie added the pink cream once the cake had cooled down, Maxwell curiously looking over her shoulder. At last, she decorated their creation with a few strawberries—and then it was done.
“Perfect,” she whispered. “Now we only need to try it.”
“If it tastes the way it looks, it will be amazing,” Maxwell said.
“I will make coffee, and then we can try it,” she smiled. “Please put it in the fridge until then.”
With how longingly he stared at the cake, it was a wonder he didn’t just eat it right then and there. But he held himself back and put it in the fridge as she had told him to.
When she turned around to get two coffee cups, her eyes got stuck on something very peculiar. A small cat scurried through the doorway into the kitchen, and it was glowing. She gasped and walked backward, away from the creature.
“What is that?” she asked, staring accusingly at Maxwell, who looked uncomfortable and didn’t answer her. “There is a glowing, translucent cat in my flat and I want to know why.” she demanded hysterically, backing away from the animal. “What the fuck is wrong with my head?”
“Calm down, okay?” he said. “I could tell you, but it would probably freak you out.”
“That’s reassuring to hear,” she answered sarcastically.