As soon as the question left his mouth, Miguel Smith suddenly felt two intense stares bore into him, turning into icy daggers that sent shivers down his spine.
"Who? Isn’t that your ex—"
Intimidated by the fierce gaze, Miguel wisely held his tongue.
Nora Scott didn’t seem to mind. She glanced to the side and reached for a few shopping bags next to him, "What did you buy?"
"Hot pot ingredients."
Her hand paused mid-air, and she gave him a sideways look, "What?"
"Birthday gift, hot pot ingredients."
Taking off his baseball cap, revealing a mess of short hair, Miguel’s expression was weary, "I rushed over here at seven. Who knew you weren’t home?"
There was a moment of silence.
Nora slowly stood up and said, "The password to my house is my birthday."
Miguel was startled, standing up from the ground, looking shocked, "You just told me your house password?"
Giving him an inexplicable look, Nora pressed the password and said lightly, "You can also choose to forget it."
That’s an irresistible reason.
Miguel knowingly picked up several shopping bags, but just as the door was pushed open, a sudden chill attacked him from behind, creeping up from his feet to his heart, sending a shiver straight to his spine.
He finally realized: Could it be that Nora went to celebrate her birthday with her ex? And now bringing him home, is it...
Just as his thoughts began to wander, Nora, standing by the door, turned back and asked Pedro, "Aren’t you coming in?"
"Crashing the hot pot," Pedro replied coolly, his voice carrying an air of entitlement.
Nora agreed without much hesitation.
Miguel, who hadn’t eaten before coming over, certainly planned to enjoy this hot pot. One more person wouldn’t matter.
"Yeah, didn’t pay, but got the key. The old man got a lecture, and so did I."
Nora raised her eyebrow, "Why?"
"Told me not to be so careless next time, remember to take the key out."
"Ha," Nora chuckled, "Makes sense."
"..." There’s not much hope of maintaining this friendship.
Having entered the entrance first, Miguel, familiar with Nora’s place, suddenly noticed something unusual when he took slippers from the shoe cabinet.
"Why is there an extra pair of slippers?"
At this moment, a chilly voice drifted from his side—
Miguel: "..." A surge of inexplicable hostility.
Suppressing the urge to turn around, Miguel quickly changed into the slippers, grabbed a bag in each hand, and headed straight to Nora’s kitchen.
He was eager to slip away.
Unbeknownst to him, in Pedro’s eyes, it seemed he was very familiar with the place.
Nora, only realizing about Pedro’s slippers later, paused for two seconds and abandoned the idea of pursuing it, then introduced, "This is Miguel Smith, an unemployed loafer."
Just entering the kitchen, Miguel wasn’t pleased with that introduction and took two steps back, peeking his head out, "Same here!"
Nora laughed, "I earn two thousand a month and have full benefits."
A knife to the heart; hurt completely.
Miguel sulkily disappeared at the door.
Pedro frowned and asked, "Two thousand a month?"
Nora replied seriously, "My job."
Too many points of ridicule, don’t know where to start.
Clearly, Miguel was very familiar with Nora’s home.
In just a few minutes, he moved all the hot pot utensils and dishes to the living room, and laid out the ingredients one by one, with quick and practiced motions, clearly a good hand in the kitchen.
As he busied himself in the living room, Nora washed her hands, found two bags of fruit in the kitchen, and called Pedro over.
Pedro paused for two seconds before catching her meaning.
Nora calmly said, "I can’t wash them clean."
"Buddy, I trouble you," Miguel said with a smile as he passed by, giving Pedro a glance, "This woman is good for looking at, but not much for anything else."
Nora shot him a cold look.
Miguel stepped back two paces, then took a jar out of a plastic bag and proudly displayed it, "My dad’s special spicy butter hot pot base, I sneaked it over."
Nora looked up, smiling, surprised.
"Pretty loyal, right?"
Nora raised an eyebrow, confirming their friendship.
Pedro, eyes barely concealing his annoyance, poured cold water on their enthusiasm, "Is your friendship made of plastic?"
Nora replied seriously, "Worth a thousand gold."
Miguel agreed, "Solid as gold."
Nora explained with a smile, "His dad, from Mist City, loves hot pot, making hot pot bases is a family skill. But he’s not in this line of work, only makes it occasionally at home. It’s quite rare to try it."
Miguel nodded in agreement.
The two of them were animated, but Pedro, carrying two bags of fruit, positioned himself between them, emitted a chill that drove the warmth from the room to zero degrees.
Shooting a covert look at Nora, Miguel took the hot pot base and left the kitchen.
Nora followed him out.
Sidling up to her, Miguel quickly glanced back and whispered a question, "Are you rekindling old feelings with him?"
"Then why are you spending your birthday with him and bringing him home?"
Nora, baffled, replied, "Didn’t I bring you home too?"
Miguel glared at her, "What’s our relationship? Best friends! The nature of a best friend and an ex is identical, is it?"
"I owe him a meal, we agreed to eat tonight." Shrugging, Nora explained, "He lives next door."
Startled, Miguel blinked, then said nothing for a moment, placing the glass jar on the table, then stared at her intently, "Nora, you’re really single-minded, aren’t you?"
Nora shot him a frosty look.
"It’s your birthday, he invites you for a meal. He coincidentally lives next door." Miguel patiently analyzed, "Even if you don’t have feelings for him, his feelings for you must be pretty obvious, right?"
"Coincidence," taking a bite of lettuce from a plate, Nora said nonchalantly, "It’s not some irreplaceable life-or-death romance. It’s been so many years, where are there so many steadfast people?"
Miguel sighed deeply, "How can there not be? Where are there so many coincidences in this world!"
"I didn’t keep it hidden, disappearing into thin air. If he was really interested, would he have waited until now?"
Seems quite reasonable.
But what’s with the hostility he felt?
Thinking it over, Miguel also shoved some lettuce into his mouth, and after swallowing, curiously asked, "What if he really has feelings for you, what will you do?"
Nora paused her movements.