Chapter 136 - Jess The Heiress

"This concoction of your witchcraftcy is extremely delicious!" He spooned more of the sticky sauce over his rice, mimicking how Jess did it. 

"It is called chicken adobo," she said in a quiet voice. She was feeling nostalgic eating adobo. It had been years since she had one. 

She didn't expect Luke to like the adobo since she cooked it because she wanted to get even to his non-stop complaint about not going to eat anything other than pasta because it's the only thing she could cook. 

"This chicken adobo is good. I don't mind eating it every day. " He said, getting himself another bowl of rice. "The sweetness of the pineapple, the saltiness of the soy sauce, and the sourness of the vinegar, cooked together, created such an amazing taste that was simply divine." 

She softly laughed at Luke's praise for her adobo. 

"Not a lot of people cooked it with pineapple, though. It was just with soy sauce and vinegar, and other spices. I do not like the taste of vinegar in my food, so when I was a kid, my nanny put pineapple on it, which happened to be my favorite fruit. 

"Oh, but the pineapple gives it this sweet caramelized flavor in the sauce. I hope you gave that nanny a bonus for creating such a marvelous dish." 

"Hmm," she just hummed a reply. She finished eating and watched Luke scrape the adobo sauce onto his plate. "What is your plan?" she asked, standing up from her chair. 

She walked towards the island counter to turn on the coffee maker. She loves drinking coffee after a full meal. "Do you want some?" she asked Luke, who had not answered her previous question. He must have loved the chicken adobo so much. 

"I would do what I was supposed to do," he answered after swallowing the last spoonful of rice with the delicious adobo sauce. "Yes, I would love to have a cup of coffee, please," he answered her first question.

While she waited for the coffee, she brought all the dishes to the sink to be washed later.

She then returned to preparing coffee. She had two cups of steaming black coffee brought to the living room. "Let's talk on the couch," she said to Luke, who still has no intention of getting out of the chair after eating so much. 

He followed her back to the living room after she had already set up the coffee and she had pineapple tarts for dessert. 

"Siena told me that your furniture was already delivered to your apartment." she sipped her hot coffee and dragged a footstool to put her foot up. 

"She sent me an email as well. It was a good idea to give her my apartment key so they could deliver the furniture to my place while we were on the island." 

"Hmm, since you have most of your furniture, what are the other things you need for your apartment?"

"Now that the furniture was delivered. My apartment is now livable. It was furnished with all the necessary appliances, and it had a fully equipped kitchen, so there was no need to worry about anything," he glanced over his shoulder, "thank you for sponsoring half of my apartment." 

"You're welcome. If you are still uncomfortable with the fact that I paid half of your apartment, you can pay me on your own terms." 

"Nope! I won't pay for it. It used to bother me, but not anymore," he grinned as he leaned back on the couch backrest.

"It's nice to know that you're filthy rich Little Miss Jessie. Now I don't feel guilty about the money you spent on my apartment because I know it won't affect your bank account." 

"You just broke your shoulder and you became more shameless!" She scoffed sarcastically. 

"Yup, I will consider it as payment for breaking my shoulder." 

"I still have enough money in the bank to break your other shoulder," she said in irritation.

He laughed, "Nah, I'm good. By the way, how did you learn to break shoulders?", he asked out of curiosity. 

"It was part of the things I had to learn when I was a kid. It was just as important as learning math." 

"You do quite well." He nodded, recalling how Jess broke his shoulder in such fluid motion despite being asleep. "You must have practiced those moves a lot for your body to remember them even in your sleep." 

"I still practice," she said, putting down her empty coffee mug.

"Seriously?" 

"When?" 

"When I have the time. Before going to the lab or after. If I'm not sleepy enough." 

He shook his head in amazement, "I thought I know your everyday schedule." he said in a low voice.  "I mean, you play computer games — even compete and I had no idea about that. While I knew you had money, I was still shocked by the extent of your wealth." 

"Do you feel bad that I have hidden so much from you?"

"Not really. We didn't hang out together because of what you have or who you are," he scoffed, "...we just happened to be two bitches in a pod." 

She laughed, "Thank you, Luke. You are a good friend. But the playing game was because of Ellise, and I no longer play. We are too busy with school. In regards to my so-called wealth — I never considered it as mine. With the exception of the money I got from my mother, I did not participate in the family's finances." 

"So you are not filthy rich?" he asked jokingly. He never expected Jess to answer so seriously. 

"No, I'm not. When it comes to finances, I am comfortable, but not filthy rich. My family name, however, is a different story." 

"That's too bad. I was going to leech off of your money." 

"I will introduce you to my cousins if you want," she laughed. 

They were still laughing when they heard a buzzing from the front door. They exchanged wondering glances.