As the rays of the early morning sun seeped in through the little gap between the curtains in Zhang Liling's bedroom, she squinted her eyes a little bit, as the corner of her lips raised in what looked like a smile.
Squinting her eyes a bit, she gradually opened it and sat up on her bed. Slowly stretching her upper body, her smile became more profound, but only managed to last for a few seconds before it changed to horror.
"OMG! How could I wake up now!"
It seems that it was now she was realizing not just where she was, but her duties as well.
Zhang Liling quickly put on her slippers before rushing to open the windows. Next, she rushed into the shower and emerged back in her bedroom 15 minutes later, fully dressed in a formal dressed in black pants and a printed shirt.
Glancing at the table clock to see it was almost 7:30, she picked up her phone and put it in her pants before rushing out of her bedroom.
She was guessing Mr. Fang must be concluding with his exercises, so she quickly made her way there.
Although she didn't know how to cook, she thought it wise to ask him what he would like for breakfast. At most, she could order them from a high-end restaurant.
Zhang Liling's guess was right. Mr. Fang had just concluded running on the treadmill and was wiping his sweat off with a face towel while panting softly.
The soft Egyptian cotton towel moved from his forehead to the remaining part of his face, before making its way to his neck, drying up his perspiration in the process.
Mr. Fang looked like a handsome muscular lad while working out in the gym. He looked nothing like the serious lecturer or business mogul everyone saw outside, his looks were completely different.
His hair looked a little dishevelled as he walked back to sit on the chair at one corner of the room and just then, a series of soft knocks landed on the door.
Mr. Fang didn't need to say anything because Zhang Liling opened the door after the third knock. She knew that according to the rules, 3 knocks were enough before she can open the door, as long as it was not his bedroom.
"Good morning, Mr. Fang." Zhang Liling greeted him with a smile a small smile as she made her way toward him. She didn't want to be obvious with her emotion so as not to look like she was fawning over him.
Mr. Fang slowly moved his gaze from the floor to Zhang Liling without responding.
Seeing that breath-taking face and the different look she has never seen before, Zhang Liling lost her composure and stared at him in awe.
Was this the Mr. Fang she has been seeing all along? He didn't look mature as he normally did at school. His well defined toned muscles that got illuminated with the help of his sweat, made him look sexy and caused her to drool over him.
Mr. Fang frowned at that heated gaze ogling at him and had to speak to gain her attention. "Miss Zhang?"
His baritone voice would make any woman mesmerized, but this was a signal call to Zhang Liling who immediately recollected herself.
"Mr. Fang, what would you like for breakfast?" She asked with a perfect smile on her face.
Mr. Fang got up from his seat and casually wiped his arms with the towel while saying carelessly, "It looks like you are just getting up from bed."
'Huh! How did he know?' Zhang Liling thought to herself while seemingly looking a bit apprehensive. By the time she came back to her senses, Mr. Fang had already walked past her and was heading for the door.
She quickly turned and followed after him.
Mr. Fang heard the rushed footsteps behind him and knew that she was coming after him. Without looking behind and stopping in his steps, he answered to her previous question.
"I need a quick breakfast. Soft boiled eggs, a cup of tea and two slices of toasted bread. Find me in my study once you have served them."
Zhang Liling was still going through his breakfast menu in her head when he opened the door and left. If he had asked for a cup of tea and two slices of bread, that would have made her life easier. Why did he have to be specific about the kind of drink and bread he wanted for breakfast?
He was unknowingly making things difficult for her!
She didn't know how to cook a lot of things. She doesn't drink tea, so she doesn't know how to make them. She hates eggs, so she doesn't know how to boil or fry them either. As for the toasted bread he mentioned, there was no harm in giving it a try.
Zhang Liling felt that her life would have been a lot easier if she had found the perfect opportunity to mention that she didn't know how to cook. Since he has allowed her to stay and work for him, surely, being bad at cooking wasn't enough to get her sacked.
Zhang Liling groaned, opened the door, and made her way down the hallway. She was going to try her luck at making breakfast for Mr. Fang.
If those things he wanted to eat could be easily ordered, would she be here wasting her strength lamenting on how she was going to go about them?
Mr. Fang returned to his bedroom to wash up and changed into his work outfit before going to his study.
He hung his suit jacket at the back of his chair and rolled up the white sleeves of his shirt before sitting down and turning on his laptop.
After what seemed like 30 minutes of war, Zhang Liling came to the study to find Mr. Fang. Following the normal protocol, she knocked thrice before helping herself in.
"Mr. Fang, your breakfast is served."
There was no smile on her face as she made that report because she didn't find her battle in the kitchen funny. She lost the momentum to smile and fawn over her Master's good looks.
The disinterested Mr. Fang glanced at her and said, "I thought you were going to miss your classes today in the name of preparing breakfast for me."
It looks like Mr. Fang still remembered that she was a student and not just that, he has been waiting for his breakfast since, but didn't react only because he got buried inside the lecture notes for the day.
"I'm sorry for taking your time," Zhang Liling apologized with a slight bow, before leading the way.
In the dining room, Zhang liling pulled out a chair for him before stepping aside. When Mr. Fang came over, he took his seat and glanced at his 'breakfast' which was served in front of him with furrowed brows.
The only thing he could see in front of him was burnt bread and scrambled grey eggs.
"Is this my breakfast?" He asked as he turned to look at Zhang Liling as lines appeared on his forehead.
Zhang Liling briefly glanced at the 'breakfast' on the table before shifting her gaze back to him. "Yes Sir, is something wrong with it?"
'Is something wrong with it?' Mr. Fang thought to himself as anger swelled up in his chest. She had the cheek to ask him if something was wrong with his breakfast, was she blind or what?
Nevertheless, Mr. Fang went on to ask her a few questions just to test if her brain was still functioning properly.
Pointing at the toasted bread, he asked, "Why is the bread black in colour? Instead of the usual light brown?"
Zhang Liling followed his finger to the toasted bread and replied with a forced smile, "I think something is wrong with your toaster!"
She didn't even want to remember how many slices of bread she threw away just for her to get this one out.
'How could something be wrong with the new toaster he bought?' Mr. Fang thought to himself.
The toaster was amongst the new appliances he bought before moving into his villa, so how could there be a fault with it?
Ignoring that one, he moved his finger to the grey coloured scrambled eggs and asked, "I asked for soft boiled eggs, what is this?"
The look on his face changed, and he looked like he was almost glaring at her. She didn't even follow his instruction on how he wanted his eggs.
Zhang Liling noticed that he was starting to become annoyed and couldn't even bring herself to force a smile anymore. She directly answered him, while trying to keep a straight gaze.
"I wasn't sure of the duration boiling an egg is supposed to take, so I decided to scramble it just to be safe."
'In essence, you don't know how to boil an egg?'
Mr. Fang took deep breaths to calm his raging emotions before going on to continue with his interrogation.
"Why do your scrambled eggs have this grey colour?"
A slight frown appeared on Zhang Liling's face. "I'm not too sure, but I think it's because I used soy sauce."
Mr. Fang lost it with her, but before he could berate her, she added while pointing at the cup of tea in front of him, "But the tea has the right colour."