Rewrite The Stars - 4 Walking on Eggshells

Leo collapsed into the couch with a groan and buried his face into the pillows. Even after Regulus told Carina to make an appointment, she still barged into his office somehow and it had taken all his willpower to not lunge across his desk and wrap his hands around her neck.

Regulus promised that she would be barred from entering the office building unless she gets a pass. “It’s disrupting the working environment.” he justified to her and shut the door in her face.

Leo felt that a pay raise was long due for his assistant and he made a mental note to give him a bonus every time he annoyed Carina by not allowing her into the building.

Yawning, he got up lazily to go cook something for himself. Looking around the empty house, Leo noticed that Adeline was nowhere to be found. Should he make something for her? Leo was hesitant to because she might interpret it wrong but he didn’t want to appear rude.

Adeline opened the door to the house, dreading seeing Leo and having to pretend to still like him. Walking in, her eyes immediately landed on him holding a egg and crushing it in his hands. She cringed watching the shells and yolk drip into the pan. As much as she didn’t want to help him, Adeline could not allow him to disrespect food like this.

Leo was startled when he heard footsteps and turned to see Adeline marching towards him with murder in her eyes. He instinctively took a step back when she got closer.

“What the hell is that?” Adeline zeroed in on the egg in his hand. “Do you not know how to crack an egg?”

“Err…” Leo surreptitiously glanced at the destroyed eggs in the trash. “I’m working on it.”

Adeline rolled her eyes, “I can’t watch you do this. It hurts my heart.” She nudged him out of the way. “I’ll cook.”

“Oh um it’s fine I can figure it out..”

“And waste more food?”

“Alright you can do it.” Leo surrendered the kitchen and sat on the counter to watch Adeline. He watched at she skillfully glided her way around the kitchen and swiftly made the food.

While Adeline was in the midst of cutting onions, she looked down in the trash and saw all the other ruined eggs and immediately wheeled on Leo and pointed the knife at him, “You are never to step foot in a kitchen again.”

He flinched when the pointy knife was directed in his direction and nodded. “Yup got it. I will remember.”

Adeline came from a not really well off family and she was taught never to waste food. Whatever extra food they could scrounge up, it was given to the less fortunate. Her mother told her it wasn’t their fault to be born with that fate and they should be helped when you can.

“It’s good to help them,” she had said, “but only if you can take care of yourself first.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

Leo thought that Adeline was going to start crying over the broken eggs as she had stared at them for a good minute without moving.

“Um..” he said carefully like he was treading on eggshells. “You okay?”

Adeline appeared to not have heard him but she looked at him and said, “If you want to learn how to cook I can teach you so you don’t waste food.”

Leo was startled and blinked. Did he hear right? “Uh yeah that would be good.” he said awkwardly.

Adeline wanted to smack herself. She shouldn’t have offered that because now she had to hand around awhile longer. She sighed. It wasn’t like she could take it back now.

To fill the silence that was hanging between them, she put the cooked food on a plate and handed it to Leo. “Here. It’s done.”

“You aren’t going to eat?” he asked, looking at the plate.

“Ate already.” she said curtly.

“Oh alright. Thanks.”

“Yup.” Adeline quickly escaped the room and ran upstairs.

“Oh this is good.” Leo said startled. He began quickly shoving all the food in his mouth like he was afraid someone was going to snatch it.

Adeline flopped into her bed and sighed. How was she supposed to bring up a divorce if she was the one who just offered cooking classes. Picking up her phone, she called Emilie to vent her frustrations.

“… I get why you offered but really Adeline? You know he’s rich now and can afford to you know, hire chefs?” Emilie said.

Adeline moaned, “I didn’t even think about that. Great now I look stupid.”

“I think you are stupid.” Emilie said bluntly.

“Thanks.”

“So when are you going to bring up divorce to him?” Emilie asked.

“Honestly I don’t know now. Maybe after he learns to cook a dish. Hopefully he’s a fast learner.”

“Alright. I’ll relay that to Sirius.”

“Sirius?”

“He’s the lawyer that’ll be helping you.” Emilie said. “Oh I never did tell you his name..”

“That same Sirius from school that always argued with the teachers?”

“The one and only.”

Adeline laughed, “Fitting for him to become a lawyer. He did always win the arguments.”

“You should see him now. He is really well known now for how good he is and I don’t think he’s ever lost a case yet.”

“That’s reassuring.” Adeline yawned. “I should probably be going to sleep. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Leo rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. It was a little past one. Yawning, he made his way to the bathroom and paused by the door to Adeline’s room. There was no light and Leo guessed she was asleep. Walking quietly to the bathroom so he doesn’t disturb her, he brushed his teeth and went to bed.

He had a very weird dream that night. Carina was in it and she had taken over the company that he had built from the ground up. He watched in growing horror as she somehow manage to destroy everything that he had worked for.

And then he saw Adeline. She was working in a restaurant andthe owner handed her a paycheck. Her face brightened and the dream changed to him and Adeline. She handed him the check she got without complaint and with a smile on her face. He remembered that she had given him money multiple times so he could start up his business.

He had not thought much of it at the time but now he started wondering just how much had she done for him that he didn’t know about? Did he really still believe that his debt to her was repaid?