Dear Sweetheart

Chapter 38

Chapter 38 Not Spoiling The Picky Eaters

“What’s going on?”

“Good morning, Mr. Faymon,” Rayna shyly greeted the man. “I heard that you needed someone to take care of you, so I came uninvited. I hope you don’t mind.” Content is property of NôvelDrama.Org.

Despite forcibly maintaining the bright smile on her face, Rayna’s thoughts were running wild deep down. Did you really think I wanted to come? It’s because I owed you too many favors and I wanted to clear them off as quickly as I can. How terrible it’ll be to work for Faymon Group for the rest of my life!

Curtis then turned to look at Gabriel. With a smile that did not reach his eyes, he said, “Hm? Did I need someone to take care of me?”

A chill ran down Gabriel’s spine as his employer stared at him. Nevertheless, as he pushed his glasses higher up his nose bridge, he said without any changes to his expression, “Yes, Mr. Faymon. The part- time lady has said that something has cropped up at home, so she won’t be able to come for the next few days. I have many things to deal with, so I’m afraid that I might miss out on some of the tasks you’ll assign to me. Moreover, Ms. Garland is a good cook, and she’s an efficient young woman. That’s why I’ve brought her here.”

Rayna quickly nodded in agreement. “I don’t know how to make sweet soup, but I’m good at cooking. Don’t worry, Mr. Faymon. I’ll take good care of you until you recover.”

Curtis was no fool, so he knew that Rayna was there to return the favor.

Still, he said nothing about it. After all, the only person he trusted in the country was Gabriel, and Gabriel was a busy man. Indeed, he needed someone to help him with the documents.

“I understand. Carry on with your work, then,” Curtis said to Gabriel. “Ms. Garland will be here to help me out these few days. If there isn’t as much work, do clean up the secretarial department. It’s too dirty there.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Gabriel replied, understanding what Curtis meant.

Before Gabriel left, he said to Rayna, “Ms. Garland, I’ll leave Mr. Faymon’s daily tasks to you.”

Rayna hummed in response but was confused deep down.

This is such a huge mansion, and there are robot vacuums around. There’s no need for me to clean this place up at all. I’m only in charge of cooking, right? What else should I do?

Nevertheless, Rayna’s thoughts were soon proven to be wrong, for the cooking part was challenging.

Before going to the mansion, she and Gabriel had gone to the supermarket for a grocery trip. They had bought meat that was good for wound healing, but Curtis was exceptionally picky. He did not eat fish, he did not eat pork, and he did not eat cauliflower.

Furthermore, he was a little allergic to peanuts and did not like peanut butter.

His coffee had to be made with manually-grounded beans, and it also had to be freshly brewed. When he was going through his documents, he needed to have a cup of coffee.

“Mr. Faymon, you’re so…” The corner of Rayna’s lips twitched as she looked at her list of reminders. “Don’t you think you’re too picky?”

It’s a miracle that an insanely picky man like him is a hundred and eighty-eight centimeters tall and isn’t as skinny as a stick. Not even Roxanne’s this picky!

“Everyone has foods they don’t like,” Curtis said as he worked away on the laptop he had placed on the coffee table. “It’s normal and has nothing to do with being picky with food.”

Rayna was speechless as she gritted her teeth. She hated accommodating others the most.

Furthermore, bringing all those groceries back had been tiring, and it would be so wasteful to throw the food she bought just because he was picky. After all, food prices were getting higher and higher.

After a moment of contemplation, she darted into the kitchen and called her mother. “Mom, what do I do if someone is picky with their food and refuses to eat pork?”

“Is your sister picky with her food again?”

Rayna scoffed. “No. Rayna’s much better than him.”

“Then mince the pork and marinate it before making meatballs. You know how to do it, right?” Linda was a chef in the past, and she soon came up with an idea. “If you have eggplants, you can make stuffed eggplants.”

“What if he can tell it’s pork?”

“Use condiments. The meat will be tender, and he won’t be able to figure it out.”

Rayna then searched through the bottles and cans before finding the condiment that her mother had told her about. Then, she noted down the steps for marinating meat before asking Linda how she should cook the fish. As it turned out, she should make them into meatballs or stuff the fish meat into steamed eggs.

After that, Rayna put on her apron and began her work in the kitchen.

She used every method her mother taught her, and soon, she was done with the pork and the fish. Subsequently, she made a beef dish and two other vegetable dishes. Once all those dishes were cooked, lunch was ready.

Rayna even taste-tested it and made sure it didn’t taste like pork before bringing it out of the kitchen.

“Mr. Faymon, lunch is ready.”

Curtis closed his laptop and went to the dining room to take a seat. When he saw the scrumptious dishes on the table, he curled his lips in satisfaction.

It seems like she’s good at cooking.

However, when he saw the patties, he frowned and said, “Didn’t I tell you I don’t eat pork?”

“It’s not pork. It’s beef.” Rayna put some spaghetti on his plate before taking a seat at the side. She then lied without batting an eyelash, “I’ve already ‘dealt’ with the pork. You can try it out if you don’t believe me, Mr. Faymon.”

At the sight of Curtis’ reluctance and dubious gaze, Rayna swore, “Mr. Faymon, it definitely isn’t pork. If you taste pork in it, I’ll leave right away.”

At that, the man gave her a glimpse and finally took a piece of the patty after a few seconds. Then, he took a big bite of it.

It was soft and fragrant and didn’t taste like pork.

“It’s tough to make beef taste like this. You’re indeed good at cooking,” Curtis remarked as he stared at the patty. If she was unskilled, the beef would not have tasted as tender and smooth.

Rayna let out a sigh of relief inwardly, thinking about how she had made the right decision to call her mother.

The soup she had made was mushroom soup, and the dishes had bits of pork and fish in them. When Rayna saw that Curtis had finished them all without complaint, she felt accomplished.

So what if you’re picky? There are always ways for me to deal with you!

There was a dishwasher in the kitchen, so Rayna didn’t have to do the dishes manually. She only needed to toss the plates and utensils into the machine.

In the afternoon, Curtis moved his work to the study. Occasionally, he would hold video calls to deal with matters regarding his company overseas. Rayna would then quietly sort the documents beside him after serving him coffee.

Rayna was used to working on challenging tasks in the translation department, so she easily skimmed through the documents Curtis handed her and noted down all of the difficult terms. In other words, she only needed around five minutes for each document.

Both busied away—one behind the desk, and one in front of the desk.

“That’s all for today. Dismissed.”

Curtis took off the microphone clipped on his shirt. The one-and-a-half-hour meeting had tired him out, and it was only then he realized there was a steaming cup of coffee by his side, along with documents that were sorted out.

When he raised his head, he saw Rayna, who had thrown herself into her work. She was fully focused, and whenever she encountered words she couldn’t recall the meaning for, she would bite the tip of her pen and cock her head in contemplation. Curtis had to admit that she looked a little cute.

He smiled.

No wonder Mr. Lawson always compliments Rayna. She’s indeed efficient, and when she works for others, she knows what they want and will be able to deliver it on time. I underestimated her ability when I thought that she was merely a translator.

“Rayna.” Curtis tapped his fingers on the table and asked, “If the opportunity arises, would you like to go to the Norham branch? The company will prep a house for you.”

“The Norham branch?” Rayna was not expecting that question, so she had to take a while to register it.

Curtis nodded. “That’s right.”

He knew that Rayna would shine if he were to provide her with a stage. The branch at Norham would be perfect for her.

He would not suffer a loss by giving her this opportunity if she could settle that collaboration for him.

“Thank you for considering me, Mr. Faymon, but I don’t need it,” Rayna rejected in the end. “I still like the headquarters better. I might not be able to adapt to working at the Norham branch.”

Rayna had her own plans as well.

Even though she had been in Faymon Group for a while and was thriving in the translation department, she did not have many achievements and was not old enough.