Chapter 167 - Hungry

Jade felt a sense of pride and satisfaction in herself when she saw the surprise which briefly flickered on Harry's face before it was replaced by something else. Primeval male appreciation. 

Although she had felt very insulted by all he had said earlier, she had also admitted to herself that she looked a mess, and needed to clean up. Hence, she had taken her time to wash her hair and thoroughly look through her closet for something nice to wear before having her bath. After dressing up she had taken her time to apply make-up on her face, covering up all the blemish, and giving her face the color she had lacked earlier. Seeing his reaction now, she felt like gloating.

How dare he look at her like she was undesirable and ask her not to worry about him touching her? How dare he try to hurt her feminine pride? Well, seeing the way he was staring now, she felt triumphant.

"Are you going to just stand there and stare?" Jade asked with a smirk when Harry remained by the door staring at her. 

Realizing that he had just been caught staring, and seeing the smirk on her face, Harry raised a brow, "I guess make-up can cover up just about anything," he said in an easy voice as he walked in and dropped his suitcase beside the couch. 

Jade who had been expecting at least a compliment, and not such a subtle insult narrowed her eyes, "The wonders of makeup," she said with a saccharine smile as she crossed one leg over the other and watched him. If he was trying to get on her nerves, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her mad. 

"Isn't that the dress you wore that night?" Harry asked thoughtfully as he eyed her short zip-up floral outfit which looked very familiar to him.

On hearing that, the side of Jade's lip pulled up. So he still remembered what she had worn the first night they met? Impressive.

"It's called a romper, Harry. And yes, you are right. You must have a really good memory," she said, standing up and swirling around so that he would have a proper look at her.

"So what do you think, big brother?" She added the last part with a trace of sarcasm in her voice as she looked at him. Who had he been kidding asking her to take him as an adopted big brother? Her brothers would never stare at her the way he had done some minutes ago. 

"I think it looked better on you four years ago. Change into something else let's go get something to eat," Harry said with a bored expression on his face as he dropped on the couch and took out his phone.

"Do you have a problem?" Jade asked with one hand positioned on her waist, and a glare in her eyes. She knew she had told herself a moment ago that she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her riled up, but she couldn't stop herself. Here she was trying to act nice and be accommodating considering how far he had come just to make sure she was okay, yet he was set on being rude. 

"Yeah. I'm hungry," he said without glancing up to look at her as he could guess from the tone of her voice that her hazel eyes which were very much like her brother's own was probably blazing with anger. 

Why was he being this way? Although he was usually brutally honest, he knew he was being mean, and he didn't understand why he was being mean to her. Maybe it was because he didn't know how else to treat her. Being nice wasn't exactly his thing, and he felt things were going to be awkward between them if he tried acting nice. He wasn't her brother, he wasn't her friend, he wasn't her colleague or anything. He was just here to make sure she was fine like a bodyguard or a babysitter, so how was he supposed to treat her? He shouldn't have agreed to Tom's request. This was going to be really awkward.

"I mean, do you have a problem with me?" Jade asked, wondering why he had bothered to come to stay with her if he was going to give her such attitude.

"None that I can remember. Why do you ask?" Harry asked, still pretending to be busy with his phone since he didn't want to look at her.

"If you're not going to be polite to me then you had better use the door! You're not going to stay under my roof and talk to me like I'm some damned employee under your payroll," Jade hissed at him, and Harry's lips curved in a smile as he raised his head to look at her. 

"I suppose you've come to terms with the fact that I'm staying under your roof, then?" Harry asked with a slightly raised brow. 

"I haven't said that," Jade said defensively.

"You don't have to. Get dressed, Esquire. Let's argue about it over lunch. I'm usually very mean when I'm hungry," Harry said as he returned his attention to his phone.

"I don't know why you bothered coming over here if you're going to be busy with your damned phone," Jade muttered under her breath loud enough for him to hear before walking away. 

Harry raised his head to watch her as she walked away, and he couldn't help wondering the same thing. Why had he agreed to Tom's request despite knowing that it wasn't going to be easy watching over a full-grown woman like Jade? He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing by living here with her. 

He could have just lodged in one of the company's hotels. But then again he couldn't leave her here all by herself... Or maybe he didn't have to leave her here, Harry thought and sat up on the couch when an idea hit him. He could move her to the hotel and get her a nice suite over there, then hire a bodyguard to watch over her. That way he could easily travel back and return to his job. Why hadn't he thought of that? 

He raised his head when Jade returned to the living room, this time dressed in a brown-colored short-sleeved bodycon turtle neck top which was tucked into faded jeans shorts, with her handbag white sling bag in one hand, and a pair of white sneakers in another hand. 

Without sparing him a glance she sat down on the couch beside him to wear her white sneakers, "Are we taking my car, or yours?" She asked in a flat and emotionless voice. 

"Mine," Harry said as he watched her get off the couch and straighten up. 

"Alright. Let's go," she said, turning her back to him and leading the way to the door.

"Esquire?" Harry called hesitantly before she could open the door, and she turned to look at him, expecting an apology or something close to it. 

"You should probably zip up your shorts before stepping out," he said, jerking his head to the front side of her jean shorts.