"Xue Ning, can you help me get the noodles? I can't see them anywhere."
"Huh? Right, sure. No problem," Xue Ning said, hastily collecting herself, reluctantly tearing her eyes from his behind. She had to focus! Shaking her head, she squeezed next to him in front of the fridge, bumping his hip on the way. Jingwei let out a pleased sound and pressed closer to her.
"The noodles are inside the fridge, right here," she pointed to one of the airtight tupperware containers wrapped in plastic bags at the corner of the fridge.
Jingwei took it out and opened the large tupperware, only to be disappointed when he looked inside it; there were only two measly bunches of noodles! "That's all?" How was he going to feed eight people with this?
"These are most likely the leftover ones that were made three days ago. Before the restaurant got attacked." Xue Ning explained, frowning. This was a sad inventory indeed. No wonder her parents had to close the restaurant completely! They couldn't do deliveries if there was not enough food to deliver!
"I'll go tell Mom that I'll buy some pre-made noodles from the supermarket or something," Xue Ning continued. "There's no way you can feed all of us with this little!"
"No need!" Jingwei declared, determined to look on the bright side of things. "I have an idea! I'll just make more noodles. There are eggs here - I'm sure you guys have flour?"
"We do… but since when do you know how to do that?" Xue Ning asked, befuddled.
"I just learnt it from videos. It's a lot harder than making a pizza base, I'll tell you that." Jingwei shrugged, as though that was a completely normal thing to do and not mind boggling incredible.
"If you say so," Xue Ning could only take his word for it. Her culinary expertise was barely present - she ate to live most of the time, with her limited budget, while for Jingwei it was the opposite.
He lived to eat!
So Xue Ning just pointed him to the sealed bags of flour on the floor and admired the way his muscles flexed as he lifted one of them onto the kitchen counter without any trouble. Then her traitorous brain couldn't help thinking how easily he could lift her up on the kitchen counter so she could wrap her legs around his waist and kiss him -
"Xue Ning? Xue Ning!" Jingwei called out, waving a hand in front of her to attract her attention. "Are you listening to me?"
"What? Sorry," Xue Ning apologised, flushing at the thought of being caught unaware again. She had to stop daydreaming like this! "Can you repeat what you were saying?"
"Can you get me some salt? And eggs? And cooking oil? Do you also have a mixing bowl and a smaller bowl?" Jingwei asked, looking at Xue Ning carefully.
Xue Ning blinked, as though just registering his words. She had seemed oddly distracted so far since she came home! "Or you can just point them out to me and I'll get them," Jingwei said, feeling his heart ache for her. Xue Ning must have been so tired that she lost focus!
They hadn't gotten a moment's rest since they arrived, and Xue Ning had to deal with her family members, seeing her family's restaurant destroyed, evil people who made her life a living hell… all of this must have taken a toll on her!
"It's okay, I can do it," Xue Ning said, hurrying around to do just that. Her parents had never changed the kitchen layout, so she could still find what Jingwei wanted. She even dipped a clean finger to taste the salt, just to make sure she had given him the right condiment instead of sugar.
She was going to be a helpful assistant! Or at the very least, she had to stop lusting over Jingwei in the confines of her family's restaurant kitchen. It seemed almost blasphemy to think such thoughts in her mother's territory!
'It's fine,' Xue Ning mentally reassured herself. 'That was just a moment of weakness. You are stronger than this.'
Then Jingwei easily rolled up his shirt sleeves to reveal his muscular forearms, and she had to stifle the squeak that tried to escape. She had forgotten that making noodles involved kneading dough, and kneading dough involved Jingwei using his arm muscles.
"Xue Ning? Is everything okay? Do you want to sit down? Are you tired?"
She let out a garbled sound, as though she choked on a piece of chicken. No, everything was decidedly not okay, and it was all Jingwei's fault. She didn't want to sit down. She wanted to climb him like a tree!
But of course she wasn't going to say that. She merely waved off his concerns, but Jingwei narrowed his eyes and approached, putting his hand on her forehead.
"Your face is red, and your forehead feels warm," Jingwei said worriedly. "I really think you should go home and rest. I can handle things here!"
"Nonsense!" Xue Ning regrettably took his hand off her forehead. "I feel fine. Besides, I want to watch you make noodles from scratch. Have to make sure you produce something that my parents can eat without getting the runs."
"Ye of little faith," Jingwei replied. "But since you are my girlfriend, I don't mind if you want to watch me sexily knead dough!"
Jingwei waited for the tell-tale denial and for Xue Ning to smack him, only to be greeted with her red face. Her eyes refused to meet his, possibly due to embarrassment.
Oh. Oh.
Xue Ning wasn't feeling hot because of a fever. She was feeling hot because of him!
"I see," Jingwei said smugly, pulling her close to him by her waist. "How could I have forgotten you had a thing for my arms?"
"Maybe it's not your arms. Your chest is nice too," Xue Ning grumbled, still embarrassed that JIngwei found out.
But it was a relief too - she didn't have to hide her feelings (horny or otherwise) from him.
"Maybe I just like men who cook? Seeing that I'm not good at it."
"Fair enough," Jingwei said cheerfully, planting a kiss on her lips before spinning her around so that her back was pressed against his chest, facing the newly created lump of dough in front of her.
"In that case, you should pay close attention," Jingwei murmured in her ear, giving it a quick nip that made her shudder with want. "I'll teach you personally how to make this dough rise."
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