Chapter 820
Chapter 820
In the face of Howard's sudden confession, Elaine was stunned for quite some time before turning around and walking away.
Howard was speechless.
He was being all serious earlier, but it scared her away.
Just when Howard was about to chase after her to ask for clarification, Ronan appeared out of nowhere and stopped him. "It's good to strike while the iron is hot, but you shouldn't appear too desperate when it comes to girls. Otherwise, you'll stress them out and make things worse."
Howard paused and stopped in his tracks. "Grandpa, I didn't know you're a ladies' man!"
Glaring at him, Ronan mocked, "I'm worried about you because you have such a bad reputation. Which woman wants to fall in love with a playboy?"
Let alone an introvert like Elaine. She would never take the risk to date Howard. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
Upon listening to Ronan's words, Howard kept silent.
His grandpa was right, but if he had known that a girl named Elaine would appear in his life, he would have restrained himself more in the past.
However, there was no point in regretting it now.
The next day.
Elaine went downstairs and realized that Howard was still at home. Surprised, she asked, "Dr. Perkins, don't you need to go to the hospital today?"
Shaking his head, Howard answered, "No. I took a few days off."
"Oh, I see."
Elaine nodded.
Howard beckoned her to come over and said, "Come try this. I made breakfast."
Elaine was impressed. "Dr. Perkins, I thought you didn't know how to cook?"
"I just taught myself recently. I'm quite free these days anyway, so I thought it's not bad to learn some cooking." Howard handed her a fork. "Try it."
Taking the fork, Elaine took a bite of the food.
"How is it? Does it taste good?" Howard hurriedly asked.
A dry smile spread across her face. "It's... It's not bad."
Upon hearing her answer, Howard went speechless.
"Since it's not bad, why do you look like you just ate sh*t?"
Elaine laughed. "Ew! Dr. Perkins, you are so disgusting!"
"Hmph!"
Right at that moment, Ronan came out of his bedroom and saw them standing around the dining table. Curious, he asked, "What's the matter? Howard, why are you not at work?"
"Grandpa, Dr. Perkins said he took a few days off, so he doesn't have to go to the hospital for the next few days." Immediately, Elaine walked up to help Ronan.
Frowning, Ronan asked again, "How many days did you take off?"
"About a week." Howard replied dully.
"Why did you take so many days off?" Ronan was surprised as he had never seen Howard take such a long break before.
It seemed like Howard did not want to talk too much about it. "I'm one of the top ten employees in the hospital. The director is kind enough to let me take some time off and get some rest. Why should I reject his offer?"
"But..." "Grandpa, you haven't had breakfast yet, right? Do you want to try my cooking?" Chuckling, Howard handed Ronan the fork in his hand.
"You made breakfast?" Ronan was astonished. Glancing at the poorly- presented food, he said happily, "This is great. My grandson is all grown up now. He even knows how to cook for his grandpa. That is amazing!"
Howard cleared his throat awkwardly.
Silently, the butler, who was standing next to Ronan, added, "Mr. Perkins, Mr. Howard said these are for Miss Jacob. You must be thinking too much."
Ronan went speechless.
So did Elaine.
Howard remained silent as well.
That statement caught all of them off guard.
After taking only a bite, Ronan spat out the food mercilessly. "My dear grandson, you should stop cooking. Maya can cook you anything you want. Don't waste food, you know?"
Elaine burst out laughing.
Laughing dryly, Howard said, "You surely know how to mock me."
Knowing that Howard's dishes were inedible, Maya was tactful enough to prepare an extra portion of breakfast for them.
After the meal, Ronan asked curiously, "Why is today's newspaper not delivered yet?"
The butler thought it was strange as well. "It should be delivered by now."
Maya added, "Mr. Perkins, there seems to be something wrong with the TV as well. I wanted to watch the news this morning, but I couldn't turn it on."
Ronan instructed Howard, "Howard, you youngsters know more about electrical appliances. Go and check what's wrong."
Rolling up his sleeves, Howard went to the living room. "Okay."
After a while, Howard came back. "It's nothing serious. You don't have to ask someone to repair it. I can handle it myself. I'll go and buy some tools some other day."
After that, he looked at Maya again. "You're not in a hurry to watch the TV, are you?"
Maya answered, "I usually watch them when I'm free. I don't mind waiting till noon."
Howard replied, "Okay."
In the afternoon, Maya urged him to fix the TV again. Left with no choice, he went shopping with Elaine. The both of them drove to the city.
However, when they arrived in the city, Howard had no intention of going shopping. Curious, Elaine asked, "Dr. Perkins, aren't we going shopping?"
"No."
"Where are we going then?"
"To watch a movie."
Elaine was speechless.
Seeing Howard driving towards the mall, Elaine started to panic. "Dr. Perkins, I don't want to watch a movie. We should just get the stuff you need and go home quickly. Maya is still waiting for us."
Calmly, Howard said, "There's nothing wrong with the TV."
Hearing that, Elaine was stunned, "What..."
"I broke it on purpose."
Elaine was dumbfounded, but she remained silent.
Howard asked curiously, "Aren't you curious why I did that?"
"I believe you have your reasons for doing that, so it's better for me to keep silent."
What a smart girl.
Chuckling, Howard spoke, "Something happened these few days. I don't want Grandpa to know about it, so I broke the TV on purpose. I'll fix it once everything is settled."
Upon hearing Howard's words, Elaine started fidgetting. "Is it that bad that it's going to go on the news? How serious is it? Dr. Perkins, what exactly happened?"
This must also be the reason why he decided to take a week off from work.
Howard thought Elaine was pretty smart. She saw through everything immediately.
"Don't worry. It's just a small matter. Don't worry too much about it."
Obviously, he was lying.
Otherwise, he would not have to break the TV and hide the newspaper away.
Elaine started panicking, but Howard did not seem anxious at all. On the contrary, his behavior made her even more anxious.
When they arrived at the mall, Howard took her to buy a movie ticket. Dumbfounded, she asked," Dr. Perkins, you're still in the mood to watch a movie at this point?"
"What else can I do then?" Howard looked at her helplessly.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"I've already told you it's nothing serious. Don't worry. It'll die down in a couple of days." Seeing the anxious look on her face, Howard smiled. "Ill be fine."
Since she cared about him so much, could he interpret it as love?
Elaine looked at him seriously. "Are you sure everything is okay?"
"I swear!"
Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing that she had stopped worrying, Howard started walking again. Barely had they stepped foot towards the mall when a sharp and mocking voice came from behind him. "Oh, Mr. Perkins, you said you don't have time to see me, but you have the time to bring this b*tch out for shopping!"