It was around six o’clock in the evening when Sally finished cooking. She brought the food to the dining table and softly called out to David, “We can eat now.”
David closed his book and stood up to wash his hands. As David got up, Sally noticed that the black cat was sitting on top of the little puppy on the couch, pinning it down and preventing it from moving. The puppy whimpered helplessly under the weight of the black cat.
Sally exclaimed in surprise, “Coke, you can’t bully others!” She quickly approached and lifted the black cat off, and the black cat wagged its tail, walking lightly to David’s leg and stared provocatively at the little black puppy.
The little black puppy let out a pitiful cry, but didn’t dare to make too much noise. Sally helplessly said to David, “Maybe I should keep Coke away. It seems to be unfriendly to your puppy.”
David casually replied, “It’s fine, let them play.” The little black puppy is a mutant dog and quite tough, so a little beating won’t bother it. Besides, the black cat’s strikes weren’t heavy. David wondered if the little black puppy understood his words as it gave him a resentful look.
After washing his hands, David and Sally sat down at the dining table. Sally introduced the dishes she had prepared, saying, “I made stir-fried green peppers with pork, minced meat with eggplant, celery stir-fried with meat, and a meatball soup.”
David looked at the three dishes and the soup on the table. They were all home-cooked dishes and looked good. He picked up a piece of meat, tasted it, and his expression changed.
Sally nervously and eagerly looked at him and asked, “How does it taste?” 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.
David remained silent for a moment and said, “Well, there is room for improvement.”
Sally’s face turned slightly embarrassed, and she also picked up a piece of meat to taste it. Her expression changed as well, “Uh, it seems a bit too salty… well, not just a bit, it’s overly salty.” Sally put down her chopsticks and lightly pinched the corner of her clothes, feeling embarrassed.
She hadn’t cooked in a long time. Normally, she had a busy schedule with her career and mostly ate out. “I’m sorry, it’s been a while since I cooked. It’s a waste of ingredients.” Sally’s tone was full of guilt.
She also knew that at this stage, all food was precious. With zombies roaming outside, this catastrophe might not end anytime soon. The official emergency notice also urged everyone to conserve food and water.
She felt nervous, buried her head, and dared not look into David’s eyes. But to her surprise, David didn’t get angry. “It’s alright, take your time. Let’s have something else for dinner tonight.” David had plenty of food stored in his storage space.
Since he had already decided to let Sally stay with him, it didn’t matter if she wasted some ingredients to improve her cooking skills. Sally looked at David in disbelief, as if she couldn’t believe that these three words, “take your time,” came from someone like David. He showed no dissatisfaction or complaints about her wasting a table of food. He even seemed…gentle?
She couldn’t reconcile the cold and ruthless David from the supermarket with the person in front of her. David pushed aside the dishes Sally made and took out some already prepared dishes from his storage space. There was Dongpo pork, Peking duck, West Lake vinegar fish, and a pot of chestnut stewed chicken soup.
The dishes were not only visually appealing and fragrant but also steaming hot, as if they had just come out of the pot. Sally was astonished. David took out a bottle of fine red wine and asked Sally, “Do you want to drink wine or something else?”
Sally hesitated and replied, “Either is fine.”
David handed her a bottle of juice and said, “Then have some juice, it’s healthier.”
After a busy day, David was very hungry and started enjoying the delicious food on the table. Seeing Sally not touching her chopsticks, he curiously asked, “What’s wrong? Doesn’t it suit your taste?”
Unexpectedly, Sally’s eyes suddenly turned red. “Thank you, David. You’ve been so kind to me.”
David was speechless. Was this Stockholm syndrome? “Let’s eat.”
“Yeah…”
Angus had broken the anti-theft door in the room and blocked it with a cabinet. He also placed an upside-down glass bottle on the cabinet as a makeshift alarm. If someone pushed the door, the falling bottle would serve as a warning.
At this moment, Angus’s stomach was growling, and he was extremely frustrated. He and Zoe searched through the room but couldn’t find any food. It seemed that the owner of this house didn’t live here regularly. The refrigerator was empty, and the furniture was covered in dust due to a long power outage.
Both of them hadn’t eaten much all day and were now extremely hungry. Zoe thought for a moment and tentatively asked, “David and the others must have food. Should I go and ask them?”
Angus frowned. “Shut up! I can’t bear to lose face. If you want to go, go by yourself and don’t bother coming back to find me.” Zoe felt wronged in her heart. She opened her mouth to say something but seeing Angus’s gloomy expression, she ultimately remained silent.
Angus paced back and forth in the room, thinking for a while, and then opened the door. He cautiously looked around to make sure there were no zombies in the corridor. He walked to the door across from his room and knocked. “Anyone there? If no one’s there, I’m coming in.”
With no response, Angus picked up a hammer, ready to break in. Unexpectedly, a middle-aged man’s voice came from inside the door. “No, no, someone’s here. Don’t do anything rash, or I’ll call the police!”
The man sounded nervous. Apparently, the man on the other side of the door was aware of Angus’s “breaking and entering” feat and was quite wary of him.
Upon hearing the voice, Angus instantly felt angry. “Damn, what bad luck.” He looked at the staircase and hesitated about whether to go to other floors to search. But he was afraid that there might be zombies on other floors.
It was already dark outside, and the hallway was equipped with motion sensor lights. The lights stayed on for a short duration and needed sound to activate. It was possible that making noise could attract zombies. Although Angus was reckless, he hadn’t reached the level of fearlessness. “Damn it, forget it. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.” Angus, carrying the hammer, dejectedly returned to his own room.
After securing the door again, Angus threw the hammer aside, feeling a nameless anger burning within him. He grabbed Zoe and lifted her horizontally, carrying her into the bedroom and throwing her onto the bed. He pinned Zoe down forcefully, but in his mind, he imagined Sally’s face.
Sally’s exquisitely beautiful face and perfectly proportioned figure, every frown and smile seemed to possess immense charm that lingered in his mind. But soon, he thought of David. The mere thought of David being with Sally ignited an uncontrollable rage in Angus’s heart.
“i wonder what the two of them are doing now.” Angus’s anger grew stronger. He grabbed Zoe’s neck with one hand, pressing her tightly underneath him, and roughly tore off her clothes with the other hand.
“Hey, be gentle.” Zoe felt uneasy with his rough treatment but seeing Angus’s gloomy expression, she didn’t say anything more.