Chapter 573 - Teacher

"I can't believe this…" Angelo muttered, his eyes following the two figures heading towards the office's kitchen where they would eat. 

Although Cora kept a safe distance, Angelo was in disbelief at the atmosphere surrounding the two. He had never seen Ivan acting too clingy even to Zoey; their relationship was not even close as this one.

"Zoey needs to know about this." Angelo snapped his tongue and searched for his phone inside his pocket.

Without a second's hesitation, Angelo tried to call Zoey's number but to no avail. He tried and tried, but he couldn't reach her as her phone was turned off.

'Ughh!' Frustrated, Angelo sucked air through his gritted teeth as he pivoted on his heel, holding himself back from throwing his phone due to frustration.

For some reason, despite that he held himself back from throwing a fit, everyone in the office had their eyes on him. Angelo cleared his throat upon sensing their weird gazes as he forced a smile on his lips.

"I'll go get some breakfast." Angelo blurted out, which was out of character for him as he wouldn't usually announce what he was up to.

But Angelo ignored that fact as he hastily headed towards the kitchen. It didn't take him long to reach where Cora and Ivan were having their breakfast.

"My name is…" 

When Angelo arrived at the office's kitchen, he heard Ivan trying hard to speak Mandarin. He glanced at the table, seeing a note right beside the food containers.

Angelo glanced at Cora's side profile, nodding her head as she patiently waited for the struggling Ivan to finish his sentence. This was not what Angelo expected as it were only the two of them inside the kitchen.

He expected to see them flirting. But his expectation was completely different from the current occurrence. By the looks of it, they were… studying?! 

"Oh, boss gelo!" Just as Angelo was staring at Ivan in disdain, he snapped back to reality upon hearing Cora's voice. "Are you going to have breakfast as well?"

She asked, smiling as always. Seeing her like this, Angelo almost felt guilty for having immoral thoughts involving Cora. How could he even think that Cora would do something like those scenarios in his head?

Well, he wasn't sure about Ivan as Angelo had only seen him like this. However, there was this feeling that Ivan may or may not do something unforgivable if left unsupervised.

"Uh, no. Just… coffee." Angelo explained, in spite of it being obvious that he was not there for just coffee as he had already had not long ago.

"Oh…"

"You can drink your coffee outside and maybe light a cigarette. No need to stalk us." In a lazy manner, Ivan was evidently not pleased by another person's presence inside the kitchen.

How could Ivan make his love advances if there were other people?! Not that he was shy to express himself as using words were useless at this point. But his concern was Cora!

She's already too shy and reserved; she only relaxed whenever they were alone. But with other people around, Cora couldn't even think of speaking her mind. What a troublesome personality!

"I'm not." Angelo responded as he headed for the coffee maker and started brewing his coffee. "So, you're studying?" 

This time, Angelo spoke in Mandarin as he was talking to Cora as he glanced at her. Cora nodded with the same smile on her face.

"We're teaching each other so we can communicate better. But he's struggling to learn Madarin and I don't know how to explain some words in English because my vocabulary is limited." Cora explained and sighed lightly.

Angelo nodded in understanding while Ivan arched his brow, wondering what they were talking about as he noticed the disappointment in her eyes.

"What is she saying? Don't say something silly to her or you're dead." Ivan warned Angelo. The latter didn't pay him any attention as he poured himself a cup of coffee and perched across them.

"Well, it will take you two forever, or rather, he will take forever learning the language as he's a slowpoke." Angelo shrugged as he humored her.

"Haha! I don't think that's the problem, though. Our knowledge is limited and communicating is already challenging." Cora chuckled briefly before she pointed at the main dilemma of their lessons.

Ivan and Cora had been surviving with one word sentences with the help of the dictionary. However, not every English word could be translated to Mandarin as it may give another meaning.

It was a complicated situation and Cora was aware of this problem in the future. Thus, since Angelo and Ivan were close friends, she stared at him with hopeful eyes.

"You want me to teach him?" Angelo asked, raising his right brow higher.

Ivan, who couldn't understand what they were talking about, frowned. For someone who hears alien words with him being the only one who was left out of the conversation, he couldn't help his anxiety and annoyance to resurface on his face. 

'He's surely talking crap about me.' Ivan assumed internally, staring at Angelo, who was hogging Cora's attention, in disdain.

"Well, you two are friends. You might as well teach him one thing or two?" Cora pursed her lips in a thin line, tilting the tip of her lips up as she shrugged her shoulders.

"What is she saying?" Ivan finally chimed in, couldn't hold back his frustration as he never envied Angelo. But this time, he did because they could understand each other while he struggled to talk to her.

Although he had advantages, Ivan now thought there were more disadvantages than the benefit of this language barrier. It's so unfair!

"She said, you're a slowpoke and wants me to teach you." In a matter-of-fact tone, Angelo indifferently explained with a little add ons.

"What?"

"You know this lesson will go nowhere since both of you struggle to speak each other's language." Angelo cast Ivan a lazy look as he blinked his eyes ever so slowly. "Right?"

Angelo asked, turning his head to Cora who nodded as if she understood him completely. Well, what Angelo was saying was more or less what Cora and Angelo talked about briefly. Meanwhile, Ivan was obviously displeased at the idea, but he knew deep down, Angelo had a point.

"I've decided." After a brief contemplation, Angelo nodded and darted his eyes from Cora to Ivan. "I'll be your teacher."

Angelo announced in Mandarin for Cora to understand. He then shifted his gaze back to Ivan and repeated it in English for him to understand.

"Huh?!" Ivan gasped in disbelief as he peered at Angelo in disdain. "No way!"

"Do you want her to understand you and vice versa?"

"..."

"Then, that's settled."