Chapter 7 Close at Hand

Bob was eating fried rice spoon by spoon, so he was at a loss when he heard his brother's voice. In order to conceal his "embarrassment", he threw the plate on the ground in a panic and broke it.

Hearing the crisp sound in the room, Joy opened the door and rushed in before the people inside answered, fearing that Bob might be in danger.

They hadn't seen each other for a long time, yet they met again in such an embarrassing scene.

Joy saw the rice on the corner of his brother's mouth, the pieces of the plate fragments and the residue of the fried rice scattered around the bed, feeling a little at a loss.

In his eyes, his eldest brother had always been perfect enough to make him feel bad since he was a child. How could he have become...

"Brother, when did you like fried rice?"

In his memory, Bob never liked fried rice. He had heard Bob personally say that fried rice would be too greasy if it was delicious, or tasteless the other way around. For simple meals, he preferred milk with sandwiches.

But Bob was really hungry, so he treated fried rice as a big meal. He didn't expect Joy would break in suddenly. So when he saw Joy, he was a little bit awkward, but he still tried his best to pretend to be calm.

"You are back." Bob kind of said hello to him.

"Yes, I come back to see you, but I have to leave tomorrow. There is a concert for me to participate in."

"Well, you should go. I'm fine," Bob said blankly.

Joy had long known that Bob didn't want to see anyone, but he did not expect that he would even be turned away.

"Don't you want to chat with me? I am available at the moment."

"Go out. I don't have the strength to talk." Bob supported himself to the bed with both hands, moved down a bit, and then covered himself with the quilt.

Joy looked at his eldest brother's depressed appearance, feeling somewhat helpless. He shrugged, leaned over, and squeezed Bob's ankle through the quilt, "Then you have a good rest. And if you want to talk to me, anytime."

"Um." Bob let out a slight answer, and didn't roll over until he heard the door closing. Seeing that he was alone in the room, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

After seeing Joy leaving in the kitchen, Emma finally dared to show up. She still felt regretful about her gaffe. Why did her meeting with her idol become like this?

Originally, she wanted to ask him for an autograph, but now she might should just not embarrass herself in front of her idol. After all, in his eyes, her current identity seemed to be a pure grubby woman who only worshipped money. Maybe he didn't want to have such a low fan at all in his heart.

After washing the bowl in the sink, Emma thought of Bob. She didn't know whether he had eaten or not. If he didn't eat it, it would be cold.

Emma walked to his room, opening the door like she was here to check in on him.

Given Bob's previous bad attitude, Mrs. Turner felt worried, so she removed the lock directly, for fear that he might commit suicide but nobody was allowed to find that out. Therefore, his room was unblocked.

That was also what made Bob feel extremely depressed. How could a person live without privacy?

"Ah, why did you break the plate again?" Emma asked angrily, staring at the mess on the ground.

Bob was like a kid who had done something wrong, his eyes dodging, pretending to be calm.

Seeing the rice at the corner of his mouth, and there didn't seem to be much fried rice on the ground, Emma realized that he had eaten a lot.

She squatted down and began to clean up the pieces of cutlery, "You broke it accidentally, didn't you? It's good you have had the meal. You are so thin. You should eat more. But you must be careful later. Don't always break things, and remember to finial your meal. Don't you know every rice is valuable?"

Bob felt that she was long-winded, so he rolled his eyes against her and looked away.

Emma handed him a tissue, "Wipe your mouth. You've got it stained."

Bob was stunned for a moment, then he took a paper towel and wiped it from his mouth. Seeing the oil stains and rice attached to it and thinking of the meeting with his brother just now, Bob was more depressed for feeling embarrassed.

"Get out," He said to Emma firmly.

Emma stiffened and then looked up at him. After they stared at each other for a few seconds, she stood up and said courteously, "I won't. Why should I go just because you ask me to do so? Don't you know how to respect people?"

Bob glared at her.

"You want to know who has bigger eyes here? I may not lose!"

Emma left with the pieces of the plate. After a while, she came in with a rag to wipe the floor, muttering at the same time, "Look, I'm here again. What can you do to me?"

Bob picked up a pillow and threw it at her, "Get out."

Emma escaped in time, then jumped onto the bed with the pillow in her hand. She even started jumping. The mattress was very elastic, and Bob was so overwhelmed that his nostrils were almost venting fire in rage, "I will make you leave tomorrow."

Hearing this, Emma felt like she was struck by lightning, and she immediately thought of the agreement, which clearly stated the breach of the contract clause. That meant, what she was doing right now was enough to make her in debt in her next two lives.

During her distraction, Bob grabbed the corner of her skirt and pulled it hard. She lost her balance and staggered onto Bob's body.

Fortunately, Emma reacted in a timely manner and did not hurt Bob. But she only supported herself on the bed with both hands, so the two of them looked at each other face to face close at hand.

He was embarrassed, she was, too. He blushed, but she did not, because now there was something more important than shyness.

Emma hurried to the ground and bowed very reverently, as if she was saying goodbye to the remains, "Please don't drive me away. I don't have money to pay the liquidated damages. What happened just now is my fault. I apologize. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Bob's lips moved a bit, but after a long while, he only said to her briefly, "You can go out."

Emma didn't dare to refute him anymore. She quickly grabbed the rag and ran away.

Bob lay on the pillow expressionlessly, as if the scene just now was still in his mind: they both could smell each other's breath, face to face.

She smelt good.

He suddenly felt that he had suffered a great loss, and muttered, "She, how dare she!"