Mistakenly Eaten

49. Irritated by Beard

“God! Can you not just get your other foot injured or something?” Fiona groaned, as she walked down the staircase with Althea.

Althea was taking her time and slowly climbing down the stairway, holding on to the railing and gently, taking one step down at a time.

Salva had called for a doctor from the town nearby and the doctor had asked Althea to be careful, since her muscles had torn and her bone was quite swollen.

Althea simply chuckled at Fiona’s words, who was helping her get down the staircase.

Fiona had been there for her, throughout her whole recovery period and even slept at nights in her room, making sure that Althea always remained comfortable.

“Come on, we already got a week off. How much time off from the competition do you want? Isn’t that, why we all are here for? Besides, three of us have already left and got eliminated. We should be more careful now and focus solely on the competition.”

Althea scolded the girl, who finally helped her climb the last step down.

Fiona held Althea’s arm over her shoulder and helped her towards the kitchen.

“But can you even cook in this condition.” She asked Althea, who nodded.

“I once cooked and catered for an entire party with a fractured leg, that was covered in plaster, so don’t you worry about me. But you need to be careful and focus on your cooking and don’t stare too much at Garry.” She teased Fiona, as her cheeks immediately turned red.

Fiona felt the weight on her shoulders lessened and she turned around to find Salva holding Althea’s other arm and threw it over his shoulder.

“It’s fine! you can let her go. I can take care of her.”

Althea let Salva take hold of her and as the three entered the kitchen, everyone chimed in happiness that Althea was able to make it back.

Especially Andrew, was beyond ecstatic that Althea was cooking again.

Because he had been burning through his skin over the past entire week, whilst Althea was resting, trying his best to cook something for Nicholas but the man refused to eat anything at all.

Nicholas was also glad when Serena informed him that Althea insisted on resuming the competition once again, stating that she was better than before and would be precautious and not insert much pressure on her feet.

Nicholas got out of his office, excited to see Althea in the kitchen.

He didn’t know why but watching Althea cook and create magic with her hands somehow made him feel excited.

He was a bit raged at his own self that he was somewhat responsible for Althea’s injury and that’s why every now and then at night, he would visit her room, simply check up on her to see if she was alright or not.

He would usually find her sleeping peacefully and the sight of her soft skin touching the satin sheets, somehow brought an unwilling smile to his face.

He walked inside the kitchen but paused when he saw Salva holding Althea and standing so up and close to each other.

Wrinkles of worry appeared on his forehead, as he wondered what the two were doing.

Salva was holding on to Althea’s arms and she also held him back, if anyone were to see the two in such a manner, they would assume them to be a romantic couple and the analogy didn’t fit in to Nicholas’s mind at all.

He felt a bit disturbed and perhaps a little ticked off.

He walked closer to see what the two were up to and Althea finally held on to her counter, sighing in relief and Salva also let go off her.

Nicholas’s feet halted, as he realized that Salva was only supporting her physically and helping her stand up straight at her station.

Nicholas walked up to her and cleared his throat, grabbing her attention.

Althea looked at Nicholas and her cheeks suddenly grew hot. The pits of her stomach churned with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

She didn’t know what exactly made her feel so anxious and yet what exactly made her feel so excited in Nicholas’s presence.

Her mind flashed through the moments that they had spent together, the last time they interacted.

They were hot, together and obviously bothered and eager to kiss each other.

Althea remembered the way Nicholas pushed her back but she also couldn’t forget the way, his hands slid up against her back, reaching up for her neck and grabbing a chunk full of her hair and pulling up and against him.

The way her breasts pressed up against his rock hard chest and the way their breaths became rhythmic, whilst Nicholas’s lips hovered right above Althea’s, gently touching her and teasing her.

He knew how to handle a woman, he knew just where and when to touch to get a woman’s urges sparked with fire and fueled with desire.

Nicholas also rested his eyes on Althea for a moment, studying her face for once.

There was a sense of innocence yet a delightful note of mystery on her face. Nicholas could never guess how harsh days the girl had seen in her life, given to the gleam that shined through her eyes, that was very evident. She felt like a radiating and like a glowing star, that might break on its own to travel some place far away, all the while burning ferociously but would make sure to fulfill everyone else’s wishes, who so ever would wish upon it.

Serena entered inside the kitchen, asking everyone to take their positions and Althea also began arranging her counter.

Nicholas stood by the very entrance of the kitchen, his eyes only resting at Althea, noticing how she was focusing on preparing her station, before she began preparing whatever magical dish she had in her mind.

Nicholas couldn’t help but smile slightly, imagining Althea to be an onion within herself.

So much complex with so many layers.

As the cook off began, Nicholas and Salva decided to visit different stations but their biggest motive was to only and solely visit Althea and see what she was making.

Serena kept a close pace behind the two and as the two took a longer pause at Althea’s station, who didn’t even bother to look up at them and continued cooking her dish, Serena tapped on to Salva’s shoulder.

As the guy turned around she gasped with a little surprise.

“Oh! I am sorry! I thought you were Nicholas.” She giggled, “because of the beard, you two look almost identical.”

Serena’s words were finally able to catch Althea’s attention as well and she looked up, to finally notice that even Salva had grown a thick beard around his face, like Nicholas.

“Oh yeah! You two look almost the same.” Althea also pointed out.

“Yeah, well I haven’t been to the town for a while, so I didn’t get a shave.” Salva shrugged.

“Well, your girlfriend must approve of that look.” Althea chuckled, as she continued beating some eggs and Nicholas couldn’t help but snicker at her words as well.

“What? I don’t have a girlfriend.” Salva immediately defended himself and Althea couldn’t help but laugh back at his reaction.

“Relax, I just said that because you know girls do tend to have a problem with their guys keeping beards and all. Because it irritates them at times. My best friend Lur, she has this huge pet peeve, she would deliberately choose guys with beard to date and then have them shave up for her. It just gives her some sort of mental satisfaction and…”

Althea continued talking as she kept on preparing the dish but stopped when she realized how casually she was talking about some very intricately intimate things.

She immediately bit her tongue and Serena and Salva laughed, walking past her, leaving Althea behind, standing in front of Nicholas, who was smirking widely and mischievously at her.

Before Althea could’ve said another word, Nicholas walked ahead, reaching the spot next to her and standing in the opposite direction to her, he gently brushed his arm over her shoulder and leaned in to her ear, whispering ever so softly, breathing hot air over the skin of her ear. Leaning down further, he rubbed his cheek over hers, emphasizing on what he was about to say.

“So, you also get irritated by beard?”

------------------------------

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3