Chapter 16 - Alarms and Dinner.

Amelia didn't think it was possible, but she tried her possible best to arrive back home early in record breaking speed. She managed to beat traffic too.

Xavier was already waiting for her in the living room as she walked him. He was on the large couch, still in his work clothes and there was a frown on his face. His suit jacket was lying on the hardwood floor. Amelia watched how his muscles deliciously bulged out of his shirt.
Even his shirt could not contain his muscles, there was no denying that he was ripped.

She smiled at him nervously while he glared at her. Her fingers twirling in her clothes out of nervousness. She had cleaned up herself and also changed back into her old clothes before she left her studio apartment.

"Where the hell were you?"

He asked as Amelia moved to the bar, she suddenly felt the urge to have a drink. She always dealt with Xavier best when she was drunk.

"I went out. To see my friends. It was fun."

She replied cheerfully as she poured herself some smooth Bourbon, one of her personal favourites.

"And you couldn't think of a decent time to come home?"

"Have you forgotten that you're a married woman?"

He growled as he watched her with an unbelievable stare.

"Well, in my opinion, that's going to take some getting used to. How was work?"

She asked cheerfully and Xavier rubbed his temple. He looked stressed out.

"Fine."

Amelia downed the shot of bourbon all in one gulp and savoured the warmth that it brought to her throat and insides.

"Why haven't you changed?"

Xavier shrugged.

"Oh well! Maybe it's because I haven't had dinner yet. And I was worried that something had happened to you."

"Well, thanks for caring. I'm fine. "

Amelia rolled her eyes as she picked up her phone.

"Want me to order takeout for you? Pretty sure some restaurants would be open at this time."

Xavier shook his head.

"No, it's too late to eat heavy takeout food. Make me something to eat."

Xavier said as he stood up from his couch, he slung his jacket over his shoulder as he started to walk towards the guest room where he slept.

"Excuse me? I can't cook Xavier!"

Xavier turned and gave Amelia a look.

"Your father told me that you're an excellent chef."

"Ugh! My Father lied! He probably said that to impress you, I can't cook to save my life."

Xavier rubbed his temples again. He looks exhausted from the conversation already.

"I'm tired. Just make me something to eat. It can't be that hard."

"If it isn't you should come do it yourself."

Amelia murmured as she watched Xavier leave.

She walked angrily to the kitchen, picked up her phone and googled simple dinner meals to make.

Spaghetti came up more frequently than the others and Amelia found a recipe for an Italian pasta stir fry. She checked the fridge and found out that they had similar ingredients to the original recipe. She was still busy labouring over the steps in the recipe when a brilliant idea came to her.

"I'll just cook it all in one pot! That's brilliant."

She couldn't find most of what she needed anyways. The kitchen was large and thoroughly organised. Amelia didn't want to go through the stress of finding a pan and leaving a mess for Mrs Leticia.

She nodded her head as she considered the possibility of cooking it all in one pot. Restaurants normally served food in less than fifteen minutes, they must have been using a kind of short cut, Amelia wondered as she added the spaghetti in the water. She chopped up the vegetables as best as she could but they turned out uneven.

The onions had given her a hard time and finally Amelia had to give it a few rough chops and ran out of the kitchen when her vision became blurry with onion induced tears.

She went back to her room and washed her face, eyes still teary and red from the onions.

She looked at her red eyes in the mirror and frowned, she had no idea cooking was so hard or painful.

She went back to the kitchen eager to finish what she was doing as fast as she could poured a whole can of tomato paste in the spaghetti water and decided she would add the vegetables later so they wouldn't get too soft.

She was still doubting the way she was preparing the food when a thought came into her mind. Xavier might not like the food. The few times that Amelia had cooked, they didn't turn out great either. So she decided it was best she ordered some food anyway just in case it turned out bad.

"You know, just in case this turns out to be horrible, I will just order something."

She murmured as she went to the service phone and called the Kohn Pendersen's kitchen. The building came with a restaurant and most times, they provided delivery services to the people in the building by doing door to door delivery.

Fortunately, they were still open and they were willing to take an order and it would be ready in thirty minutes.

"Let's just hope this turns out well." Amelia thought as she watched the mixture bubbling in her pot. She had added the vegetables and they were swirling around in her pot. She didn't have a lot of things from the original recipe so she had substituted a lot.

She didn't have parmesan cheese, so she used cheddar cheese and the basil and oregano that she also didn't have was replaced with peppers and Asian spice mix.

She also didn't have a zucchini but since it closely resembled a cucumber, she felt Xavier wouldn't notice the difference.

Then she left so it could cook together. There was a nagging feeling in her chest that the food was going to turn out horribly but she ignored it anyways. She already had a backup.

Amelia got carried away for quite a long time as she laid in her bed engrossed with her phone. It wasn't long after the sound of the smoke alarm tore her attention from her phone as she ran towards the kitchen.

Xavier was already there first, pulling the pot away from heat and throwing it straight into the sink. The food was already burning badly and there was smoke in the kitchen. Not enough to make an actual fire, but the smoke alarm went on, blaring nonstop.

Xavier turned on Amelia with anger in his piercing blue eyes. He had ran out half naked. Wearing nothing but pants and half of his body was left exposed.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't do anything right."

He snapped and Amelia's scoffed as she walked past him.

"I told you I couldn't cook. Why are you so surprised?"

"Is that why you want to burn down my kitchen?"

Xavier retorted and Amelia turned to look at him.

"Ohh? It's your kitchen now? Maybe you should have learned to cook too so this wouldn't be happening."

"Go fix your smoke alarm."

She added as she turned back to her pot. It was a gooey mess that had started burning seriously at the sides of the pot. There were so many things wrong with it and it looked completely inedible.

Amelia frowned as she looked at the ruined food. The same time the smoke alarm went off was when there was a doorbell indicating that someone was at the door.

"Oh! Thank God."

She murmured in happiness as she practically ran to the door. She knew it was the restaurant that wanted to deliver her order.


"Thank you very much. You just saved me" Amelia gushed out as she took the food from the delivery staff and tipped him generously.

She walked back in the living room with a renewed sense of pride. Xavier on the other hand was fuming as he watched her. He had managed to put off the smoke alarm.

"Don't look so mad. I got your dinner already."

She said as she dropped it on the dining room table.

She walked to the kitchen eager to find pretty plates to serve it in when Xavier's voice busted her happy bubble.

"I'm not hungry anymore."
he murmured as he started walking away.

"Not hungry anymore?!!! What do the hell do you mean?"

She asked as she pinned him down with a glare.

"I said I'm not hungry anymore!"

"Not hungry anymore! Are you trying to say that I've wasted the past one hour doing nothing?"

"I was in that kitchen struggling to cook for you when I didn't even have a fucking clue of what I was doing. Sorry, it turned out horribly but I ordered you something else and now you don't want to eat?"

Xavier turned back in a frown.

"Your efforts set off the smoke alarm and would have burned down my kitchen! I've already lost my appetite so throw it all away. Because I don't care."

"Fine! But this will be the very last time I'd cook for you. I swear it!"

Amelia spat out in anger as she angrily dumped the food she ordered in the bin. She decided that she didn't care if he went to bed hungry. He had refused the food she made and she wasn't going to beg him to eat it.

More so, he had made her efforts seem like a complete waste of time so it was his fault if he wanted to sleep on an empty stomach. She didn't care.







The days passed by and Amelia and Xavier seemed to always find something new to bicker about. From Amelia's loud pop music to Xavier's late night piano playing.
Amelia's daily routine was also already making her tired and bored.

All she did all day was paint at her studio apartment or visited her friends. But her friends had lives of their own too so there wasn't much she could do.
She decided she was going to tell Xavier that she'd like to work.

In her father's company.

"I'd like to start going to work now. I'm bored of staying at home all day." She said out of the blues during one of those rare days that she and Xavier managed to eat breakfast together.

Xavier barely looked up from his phone.

"That's good. At least you'll have something to do. You won't spend so much time antagonising me."

He replied and Amelia glared at him incredulously.

"Antagonise you? I think you're exaggerating."

"Yea well... Whatever you say."

Amelia took that as her cue to continue.

"Anyways, I'd like to work in my father's company. So, you'll be seeing less of me since I'll be too busy working just like you."

Xavier finally looked up, his blue eyes pinning down Amelia with an intense stare.

"So, you want to work for me?"

Amelia scrunched up her face.

"Eww. I never said I wanted to work for you. I said I want to work in my father's company. I don't even know why I'm telling you."

Xavier smirked as he folded his arm and watched Amelia with a knowing look. It made Amelia feel suspicious that there was something Xavier knew that she didn't.

"I'm guessing your father never told you?"

"Told me what?"

Xavier shrugged.

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news but your father's company no longer exists. It has been fully and completely integrated into Carlton Inc."

Amelia's jaw dropped.

"Whatever is left of your father's company, is now mine."