Evelyn laid bare his lie. "Joshua already has my phone number. How do you think I know you were waiting here?"
"Fine, don't give it to me. At least, let's have lunch together. If you don't want to eat out, I'll cook for you," Sheffield offered.
She wanted to continue refusing him, but seeing the pleading look in his eyes, she finally gave in. "Okay."
He was about to kiss her when she added, "Invite Joshua."
"Why? He's probably on duty now," he said in a displeased tone.
"He is my boyfriend. If I go to your house alone, he might feel uncomfortable. Besides, it's noon now. He should be off duty," Evelyn insisted.
To be with her, Sheffield reluctantly called Joshua.
Before calling his friend, Sheffield stretched out his right hand in front of her. There was a packaged plum in his palm.
He opened it for her and put it into her mouth regardless of her objection. "I bought it specially for you, so you have to eat it. If you spit it out, I will not invite Joshua, and I'll drive you to my place right away and have sex with you!"
Evelyn rolled her eyes. "How childish you are!"
The call connected in no time. Both of them could hear Joshua's voice in the quiet car. "Dude, why do you keep calling me all the time? Are you in love with me? Leave me alone. I'm taking my girl to lunch."
Sheffield turned to Evelyn. "Did you hear that? Your boyfriend is such a dick. He's going on a date with another girl."
Evelyn didn't respond.
"Who is with you, Sheffield?" asked Joshua.
"Your girlfriend. I'm going to cook lunch for her. Do you want to come? If you don't come, I will sleep with your— Argh!" Evelyn pinched his waist.
"What was that pitiful cry? Are you already sleeping with my girlfriend?" With a wave to his colleagues, Joshua got in his car.
Sheffield grabbed onto Evelyn's hand and yelled into the phone, "Screw you. Are you coming or not?"
"Of course, I'm coming. Maestro Tang is cooking a meal. How could I miss it? Tell me, when was the last time you cooked for anyone?" Joshua couldn't remember when he had last eaten a meal cooked by his best friend.
"Shut up. We're gonna drop by the supermarket first. You go to my place and wait for us there."
"All right."
After hanging up, Sheffield kissed Evelyn on the cheek while she wasn't paying attention. "Let's go. Get in the front seat."
They parked the car next to the supermarket near Sheffield's place.
They arrived at the seafood section, and Sheffield started looking for the best fish. Evelyn couldn't help asking, "Can you really cook?"
"I can. When I was in the U.S., I convinced my master to accept me as his disciple by cooking just one dish for him—braised fish sticks with celery," Sheffield said as he picked out a perch.
But then, after he had successfully convinced his master and learned his skills, Sheffield had never cooked that dish to please his master again.
Thinking back, Sheffield felt guilty. It was time for him to pay his master a visit.
"What master?" Evelyn asked curiously.
"Oh! Traditional Chinese medicine. My grandfather and my master were disciples of the same master. But I ran into my master out of pure coincidence." He saw a fish he liked, and grabbed the net to catch it. He continued, "Back then, although my grandfather had been in touch with my master, they hadn't seen each other in decades. Then, I met my master and decided to learn from him."
Evelyn looked him up and down once and asked, "You know traditional Chinese medicine?"
"Yes. Here is the thing…" Sheffield leaned in and whispered, "I had access to my grandfather's secret notes and learned a lot from it. So, if something happens to yo— I mean, if you have any questions about traditional Chinese medicine, you can ask me." He was going to say, "If something happens to you," but that sounded like he was cursing her.
The shopkeeper came over to take the fish that Sheffield had caught, and gut it on the spot.
"I don't know anything about traditional Chinese medicine. So, I have no questions to ask," replied Evelyn.
"Okay, that's fair. What other seafood do you want? We'll finish this and then go to the vegetable section." He pulled her aside.
"I'm not a picky eater." But she liked Chinese food very much.
"What about scallops?"
She shook her head. "I don't want that."
"Hairy crabs?"
"Okay."
"I will give you some choices," he said with a grin. "Do you want to eat stewed trotter with plum, raw salmon slices with plum sauce or fried lotus root with plum?"
"You can cook all of those?" she asked. If that was really true, it was truly admirable.
"Of course, I can! Stop doubting me." He had read the recipes and had tried cooking them himself. If he hadn't practiced cooking them, he wouldn't have suggested cooking them for her. "But I don't think we can cook all three of them now. Let's have the stewed trotter with plum, and the next time, I'll cook the raw salmon slices with plum sauce for you. What do you say?"
Evelyn raised her eyebrows at him suspiciously. "I wonder if you really know how to cook them. Are you making excuses?"
He sighed and said, "Okay. I'll make two dishes today—the stewed trotter with plum and the radish salad with plum. I'll cook the other one next time. Okay?"
"Fine. Two dishes."
"Deal."
Saying that, he went to pick up the fish, grinning from ear to ear. Staring at his back, Evelyn realized that she had made a big mistake.
She was totally tricked by this man! They hadn't even finished this lunch, but she had already agreed to another one.
Sheffield placed the fish into the cart and held her hand while pushing the cart forward. They walked to the vegetable section together.
Evelyn tried to break free, but afraid that she might run away, he held her hand tight. She followed him and reminded him in a low voice, "Sheffield Tang, I'm Joshua's girlfriend now. You can't take my hand."
"No, you're not his." She was his woman, and she could only ever belong to him.
Evelyn fell silent.
She had thought that being with Joshua would make Sheffield give up. But it turned out that he didn't take her and Joshua' relationship seriously at all.
After leaving the supermarket, they went to his apartment. When they got there, Joshua had already arrived. He was on the sofa, talking on the phone.
Upon seeing them, he stood up and greeted Evelyn without even sparing a glance at Sheffield. "Hey, Evelyn."
Evelyn nodded, "Mr. Fan."
When he heard how she addressed him, Joshua grinned broadly. "Evelyn, I'm your boyfriend. It sounds weird when you call me 'Mr. Fan'."
Sheffield rolled his eyes at him and said, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"No. My parents already know that we're dating. They said they wanted to meet Evelyn's parents in a couple of days." Joshua was pretty worried about it.
But Sheffield didn't even look at him. He put the shopping bag on the table and said, "Talk them out of it."
"What should we do?" Joshua asked Evelyn.
Staring at Sheffield's back, Evelyn thought for a while and answered, "Let them meet."
