Mistakenly Eaten

27. A Call For Help

Althea gulped hard, as Nicholas’s hold around her hands tightened and he held the jar firmly, making her squirm underneath his touch.

Everyone looked at the two, as they looked in to each other’s eyes, ignoring the whole world.

A burning sensation sparked their bodies followed along a burning smell, that hit Althea’s nostrils, who sniffed a bit more and gasped, as a sensation dawned upon her.

She looked at the stove and her eyes bulged, as she saw her sauce burning and sizzling in the pain.

She immediately let go off the jar, that Nicholas held up, stumbling up a bit but didn’t drop down.

Althea immediately removed the pan from the stove and added more cold cream in her sauce, in order to bring down the temperature and began mixing it up.

Nicholas watched the girl, cooking like a craftsmen, working perfectly well.

She looked like a magician, performing her act so cleanly and beautifully. She might not look like so, but her craft was very sleek, something that definitely caught Nicholas’s attention.

When she had first seen Nicholas, she was obviously scared and was about to drop the jar of flour but the moment she saw her recipe was at risk, she forgot that he was even there and continued working on her sauce.

The crunchy aroma, the sizzling sound and the beautiful bright colors of the sauce hit Nicholas’s sensory nerves, igniting an impulse in his brain that triggered him to continue watching Althea cook.

He didn’t say much and simply took a step back, watching in sheer bewilderment and joy, as Althea continued cooking the dish for him.

Well to her, she was cooking as part of the competition.

Nicholas looked at the rest of the contestant for a moment and noticed that some of them were serious with what they were doing, whilst some just passed their time off until their cooking time was over.

But he once again looked at Althea and he just simply couldn’t take his eyes off her.

There was just simple magic in what she did when she cooked.

Her hair were tied up in a messy bun and her looks were the last thing that concerned Nicholas, since all he saw were her hands that worked in an unimaginable fashion, with such smart and calculated moves.

He wondered if she was a top Michelin chef and was a high profile cook and that’s why everyone at the island had to put up such a huge effort.

He was simply in awe of the way that she cooked.

Salva and Serena stood by the door of the kitchen, watching Nicholas gawk at Althea, who continued cooking, unaware to Nicholas’s presence, who was easily able to tell that cooking was something that was of great importance to Althea.

Salva waled up to Nicholas, tapping on his shoulder and pulled him out of his trance.

Nicholas looked back at Salva, snapped out of thoughts and when Salva waved his hand up, asking him what he was thinking, Nick simply shook his head, passed him the flour jar and walked out of the kitchen and back to his office.

The smell and the aroma, of what Althea was cooking, reminded him of Gragnano, the moment he thought was the perfect one to propose Cheryl and somehow, every time he ate that pasta, that he had at least twice in the past two weeks, not even for once he was reminded of Cheryl.

If anything, he was simply reminded of the time, when his life was simple, free of any scathing pain that his heart had ever felt and only felt for the past six months.

Somehow, that food and its taste, took him back to the time when he had not been too vulnerable and had not proposed to Cheryl. Maybe that food reminded him of the time when he still was free to make a choice, a choice that ruined his heart and his life for worse.

A choice, that didn’t drag him down the aisle to the edge where he was left alone, heart and humiliated.

A choice where he could’ve had the pasta entirely and not care about someone’s feeling.

But that pasta and it’s taste didn’t make him feel hateful or vengeful at all, instead it made him feel soft at heart and free.

All of the gushing feelings that he had in his heart, confused his mind and it only made him more and more confused.

He groaned, perching down on his chair inside his office and held his head in his hands, placing his elbows on the table.

He squinted his gaze sharply on the mahogany desk in front of him, rubbing his temples sharply, trying to assimilate his feelings and conclude what his heart truly felt.

He had gone inside the kitchen, to tell Althea the truth and stop the craziness and façade that everyone on the island was doing behind his back.

He had thought that he would be the better person, but he couldn’t be.

It was unlikely of him to do so.

He was someone, who always did the right and rational thing, how could he be ever wrong?

He wondered, as he got up from his chair once again, to go and tell Althea the truth, determined to do the right thing but once again, something in him stopped him, making him sit back down on his chair.

His feelings were in a puddle and his mind was entirely clouded. He needed to make a better conclusion and judgement but he couldn’t do it on his own.

Of course he was not going to consult with Serene or Salva, who would obviously give him a suggestion that would be inclined in their favor, since they were the ones who had ended up creating the whole trouble to begin with, by trying to do the right thing and actually help Nicholas.

He sighed, knowing that there was only one person that he could trust in such matters and only someone that he had shared his true feelings with, if not entirely and even slightly, in the past six months.

Feeling dejected, he picked up his phone and punched in the number of the only woman he trusted with his whole heart.

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Who do you think Nicholas called?

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