“Mr. Perkins, please don’t get so worked up. The doctor said you must avoid extreme anger,” Victor advised gently.
James had fought his way through a hail of bullets and mountains of corpses, forging a notoriously fiery temper. But after marrying Grace, he learned to restrain his temper, for fear of frightening her.
His married life with Grace was wonderful. They had three children. Before the accident happened, the family of five enjoyed a period of warm and happy times together.
Ever since that incident, the relationship between James and Yannis had changed. Yannis was no longer the little boy who would beg James to carry him on his shoulders.
After stepping down from his position a few years ago, James had mellowed out a bit while enjoying his retirement at home. Yet Yannis could always effortlessly ignite his fury.
Yannis looked over and said coldly, “This coffee table cost me 10 million. If you break it, you’ll pay for it.” His lips, once tightly pressed, slowly relaxed as his eyes dropped, veiling a hint of inscrutable emotion.
The overhead light cast across his face, showing not the slightest trace of fear.
James snorted, “Like hell I’m paying you! Didn’t you just refuse the money Victor tried to transfer?”
James fumed, his anger caught between an outburst and surrender. He shot Yannis a fierce glare, but deep down, the tension in his heart quietly loosened. His hand trembled slightly, his knuckles turning white from the pressure.
“I don’t take handouts. But if you damage my property, you pay for it,” Yannis said coolly.
Then he picked up Zinnia’s unfinished glass of milk and took a sip. The sweetness of the milk washed away the bitterness in his throat. He added, “But since the table’s fine, let’s just drop it.”
Yannis felt the fury in his chest get stuck. Staring at Yannis, he thought, ‘This brat has changed a lot.‘
Victor watched as the flush slowly faded from James’s face and let out a quiet sigh of relief. He thought, ‘It takes Yannis to calm him down.‘
“Don’t you try to change the subject on me,” James said, his graying,eyebrows shooting up.
Yannis downed the milk in one go. Then he shot James a look and said, “Aren’t you the one changing the subject? Just get to the point, old man. Zinnia is waiting for dinner.”
James said, “Can’t I just have a meal here? You cook for Zinnia, yet in all these years, I’ve never even tasted a single thing you’ve made.” His anger dissipated as he cast a skeptical gaze at the glass in Yannis’s hand.
He thought, ‘I never knew this brat would touch someone else’s leftovers. And if I’m not going deaf in my old age, did I just hear him say he’s going to
cook?
‘What the hell? That little bastard had never even entered a kitchen in his life. Since when could he cook?‘
“Fine. Eat, then you can go,” Yannis said with a sigh. It hadn’t been long since they’d last met, and Yannis couldn’t help but notice there was much more gray in James’s hair.
James respected the natural cycle of life and death, never bothering with artificial tricks like hair dye. The deep wrinkles carved by time were visible on his face, and his hair and eyebrows had turned completely gray.
“Let’s see what you’ve got. I’m your father. What, you think you can throw me out?” James said. His anger was already gone, replaced by anticipation. He was dying to see what kind of food Yannis could whip up in the kitchen.
He thought, ‘I’m his father and I didn’t even know he could cook. If Zinnia gets sick from his food, how would I ever explain that to Henry? I have to see it
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with my own eyes today. Only then can I answer him.‘
“Make yourselves at home,” Yannis said as he stood up and headed to the kitchen. He thought, ‘Zinnia is waiting for dinner. She is growing, she needs proper nutrition. I can’t keep her waiting.
Yannis had originally planned to have someone deliver food to Zinnia, but later, he started to worry about her.
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Deciding to leave the office early, he called to cancel the delivery and headed home right away. He also texted Zinnia that he’d come back to cook for her.
As Yannis disappeared into the kitchen and the door closed, Victor said softly, “Yannis has grown up
now.”
In the past, any mention of Grace would have led to heated arguments between Yannis and James. But today, Yannis no longer quarrels with James. Victor thought with relief, ‘It’s a good thing to see. Mr. Perkins is getting old and simply can’t handle that kind of emotional upheaval anymore.
‘Mr. Spence said that Mr. Perkins has accumulated many old, lingering injuries, some of which can’t be fully healed, so all he can do now is rest and recuperate.‘
James murmured, “Yes, he’s grown up. If only Grace could see this, she’d be so proud.”
James slumped back on the sofa. His gaze lingered on the figure moving methodically behind the frosted glass kitchen door.
Yannis had always been ridiculously picky about everything since he was little. At the slightest inconvenience, he’d give one those teary puppy–dog eyes, looking all wronged and pitiful.
Grace had her hands full with Yannis back then. As a kid, Yannis never even knew what a kitchen looked like, let alone set foot in one.
Seeing that Yannis could cook now, James was left with mixed feelings.
Yannis didn’t make a big deal out of it. He just whipped up six dishes and a soup.
“Dinner’s ready!” Yannis called, then headed to Zinnia’s room to fetch her.
They settled around the new round table, instantly closer than the old long one ever allowed. Gone was that inexplicable sense of distance; now, everything felt naturally intimate.
James took the seat of honor at the round table, with Victor to his left, Yannis to his right, and Zinnia settling in beside Yannis.
“Yannis, how did you learn to cook?” Victor asked warmly. Having served alongside James for decades since their battlefield days, he was more family than retainer to the Perkins family.
As soon as they tasted the food, Victor and James exchanged a glance, their eyes widening with undisguised surprise. The food was quite good.
Yannis said, “I picked it up while I was overseas. When there’s no one to cook for you, you just figure it out.”
His words rendered both Victor and Yannis speechless.
When Yannis graduated from university, he insisted on starting his own company. James had everything set up for him in the family business, but Yannis stubbornly refused to follow James’s plan. After a fierce argument that night, Yannis stormed off overseas.
Furious, James ordered that all financial support for Yannis be cut off. No one was to give him a single cent, or they’d be opposing the Perkins family. Back then, whenever Devin and Layla sent Yannis money, James punished them.
James had thought that cutting off all financial support would force Yannis to come back. But to his surprise, Yannis was stubborn to the core.
After two years abroad, Yannis had learned to roll up his sleeves and cook, and he became pretty good at it.
James lowered his head. The dishes were perfect in every way, yet to him, they carried an inexplicable bitterness.
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Chapter 134
For a moment, no one spoke. Zinnia sensed the atmosphere felt a bit off, but she held her tongue and didn’t chime in recklessly.
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