Emily sat on Vincent's left, and Sydnee was on Emily's right. While they were eating, Emily and Sydnee lowered their heads and chatted about the Tea Manor. Eliot and Lynn, who were beside Sydnee, simply listened to them and occasionally echoed. On the other side, Emma was talking with Janessa and the others, and Randy was chatting with Jaquan and Ferne. Everyone was having a good time with their idle chatter.
Emily realized that she had been paying little attention to Vincent when she finished the meal, so she immediately picked some food for Vincent.
Vincent was quite a picky eater. There were many things that he wouldn't take a second bite after the first one. However, with Emily's favorite food, he would always take some himself after he put the food on Emily's plate as if it was a pleasure to him to eat the food that Emily liked with her.
"Mr. Vincent, what else do you want to eat?" Emily asked lightly after putting vegetables and meat on Vincent's plate and pouring him some tea.
Vincent stared down at the food on his plate. He picked up some to eat and looked at Emily. "Surprise me."
Emily thought for a while and put everything she liked into Vincent's plate. She loved shrimp, ribs, and all sorts of meat. Of course, she enjoyed vegetables as well, except broccoli and nori.
There were several dishes of fish on the table. Emily preferred salmon for its tender texture. She picked up a piece of salmon and was about to put it on Vincent's plate when Vincent leaned in to take it with his mouth.
"Emily, you are a wonder," Ferne exclaimed from the other side, "Our boss doesn't like fish. Well, he dislikes most of the food with only a few exceptions."
Emily looked at Vincent suspiciously. "Why? Fish is delicious."
"Eating fish is a waste of time," Vincent said nonchalantly.
Ferne was stuck for words.
That was not what you said, Vincent!
"Ferne was right. There aren't many things Boss likes," said Randy as he unfolded the fan. "Take cheese for an example. He finds it cheesy."
"What?" Sydnee raised her head to ask.
"You know, cheesy." Randy folded the fan and grinned.
"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked.
Randy looked around and lowered his chin with a cough. "Forget it."
Everyone was left speechless.
There was an awkward silence.
"Do you get it?" Ferne asked Noah.
"Shut up." Noah kept a straight face.
Ferne soon zipped his mouth and pouted when he was about to laugh at his own joke.
After the meal, it was sweets and afternoon tea time. The people separated into groups. All the girls went to the sofa in the inner room and leaned against it with pillows held in their arms. There were two sofas facing close with a small coffee table in the middle. The floor was covered with clean cashmere carpets. The girls took off their shoes and stepped on the carpet barefoot. They sat there to chat while eating pastries.
Apart from Stephanie and Lynn, everyone there was married. Their chatting was mostly about their husbands and children. Of course, Emily sat at the side and rarely talked, simply listening to the people.
Janessa and Stephanie were knowledgeable and voluble people. They quickly livened up the atmosphere. Emma didn't really talk, but people could tell from her words that she had a wealth of experiences.
Same with Christy, who had started supporting herself since adolescence? She was a book full of stories that not everyone was allowed to read.
However, Christy never talked about her past. She listened to Janessa and Stephanie talking about their past and smiled, but Emily could see that there was no sign of hope but darkness in her eyes.
Lynn mentioned that her parents called her during the holidays and asked her to go home, but she ignored them. She talked about how Eliot and Sydnee went to save her back then. It was something that just happened last year but seemed such a long time ago now. People sighed after listening. Just then, Sydnee suddenly raised her head and looked at Eliot, who was on the sofa.
Eliot's legs were having a slow recovery. He still needed to walk on the sticks. However, sitting there and being talkative, Eliot still radiated like the sunshine he was, but with a more stable character. Eliot looked much more reliable than Ferne and Randy, who were sitting next to him.
Emily followed Sydnee's gaze and found out that she was staring at Eliot. Emily quietly took a picture with her phone and sent it to Eliot.
On the other side, Eliot happened to catch a glimpse at their side and met Sydnee's eyes before he checked the message. Sydnee smiled at Eliot and turned back to listen to Lynn.
Eliot opened his phone and saw the photo taken by Emily. He stared at it, and a smile lit up his face.
"What are you smiling at?" Jaquan patted Eliot's shoulder. "Did you hear what Trevor just said?"
"Sorry, I didn't catch it," Eliot said as he raised his head.
Jaquan shrugged and said to Trevor, "Never mind, I'll repeat your words for him. You go ahead."
Trevor sat on the single sofa with his laptop in his arms. Next to him was Vincent playing chess with Noah. Ferne watched them play, holding half a watermelon in his arms.
"Trevor said that he can help fix your legs with machinery so that you can walk normally." Jaquan added, "There is no need for surgery. That machine will be placed on your heel to provide the strength for you to lift your feet. It probably wouldn't be noticeable with your pants covering it. It would still be cool even if people saw it, though. Have you watched Robocop?"
Eliot never watched those kinds of movies, but he nodded anyway.
"Think about it." Jaquan finished and sat back to crack the peanuts. Those were Emma's favorites.
Armando was cracking walnuts. The two expectant fathers seemed to be full of expectations for the coming child. They got faster and faster cracking the peanuts and walnuts and somehow turned it into a competition to see who could get more nuts cracked.
Randy was checking the gaming time length of his teammates and soon dropped his phone to volunteer as a referee when he saw Armando and Jaquan starting a competition.
Men could be really childish sometimes.
"What do you think?" Janessa asked Sydnee.
The girls burst into laughter, and even Lynn was smiling.. Sydnee blushed, choking on her words.