As soon as they reached their apartment, Wesley told Blair, "Your things are in the bedroom. Why don't you go and unpack them?"
She nodded curtly and said, "Okay." As she went to his bedroom, he walked to the kitchen.
Much to her astonishment, Blair found that Wesley had moved all her things from the company dorm to this apartment. This could only mean that he wanted to make her live under the same roof with him.
Nonetheless, she wasn't going to ask him about it. In silence, she began to unpack her luggage and sort out her things. She neatly hung her clothes in Wesley's closet.
After a while, Niles arrived, carrying bags of snacks in his hands. As soon as he entered the apartment, he looked around and said, "Wesley, where's my sister-in-law?"
Wesley cast him a stern glance. "Who are you visiting here?"
"Of course Blair, my sister-in-law. Did you think I came here for you? Don't make me laugh."
Wesley was speechless. 'Didn't he say he missed me and wanted to see me a while ago?'
Paying no heed to Wesley's sullen face, Niles quickly left the plastic bags on the table and went to look for Blair. "Oh Blair, my dear sister-in-law, where are you?"
Despite his anger, hearing Niles address Blair as his sister-in-law was like music to Wesley's ears that immediately made him feel better.
Blair was inside the bathroom, putting her toiletries in order. When she heard Niles' voice, she popped her head out for a second and responded, "I'm here!"
Niles scampered into Wesley's bedroom and hopped up in front of her like a naughty boy. "Blair, come with me. I've brought a lot of snacks for you. Let's eat them together."
Niles wasn't always so enthusiastic of people. Only the ones he was fond of.
Blair didn't have the heart to turn down his hospitality. She nodded with a smile and said, "Okay, but…" Suddenly, she stopped talking and tugged at the corner of his shirt to stop him.
Niles turned around, looking at her in confusion. "What's up?"
"Um… Please don't call me 'Sister-in-law' anymore. Your brother and I…" Her voice trailed off as she felt the pain stabbing at her heart. There were still many unresolved issues between them. She wasn't sure about their future.
The happy smile on Niles' face faded away. He became serious, brows furrowed, and asked, "What happened between you and my brother? Do you want to talk about it?"
What they didn't know was that Wesley was standing at the doorway. He felt more and more uncomfortable with each minute Niles spent alone with Blair, so he put down the vegetables he was washing and quickly strode to the bedroom, looking to get Niles out.
However, the second he reached the door, he heard Blair asking Niles not to call her "Sister-in-law" anymore.
Still oblivious of Wesley's presence, Blair replied, "Nothing happened. It's just that we haven't thought about what we will do in the future. He'll get tired of me one day, and when that day comes, I'll surely leave him." It seemed as though she had thought this through. She loved Wesley very much, but it was starting to feel like a curse. Despite the fact that she hadn't forgiven him, she knew that she couldn't completely forget him. Nor could she escape from him. So, perhaps, all she could do now was let it be and wait until the day they got tired of each other.
"Leave? You want to leave him? Where will you go? My brother's finally come back home. You've waited so long for him. Why give up now?" Niles' tone was laced with anxiousness.
Blair was about to reply, but Wesley's voice suddenly rang from the doorway. "Niles, come here and peel the garlic."
Niles and Blair were startled by the voice. When Blair met the soldier's eyes, his face was devoid of any emotions. She couldn't help but wonder if he had heard her words. However, since she was only expressing her true feelings, Blair wasn't afraid of making eye contact with Wesley.
Niles could sense that something was wrong between the two. He nodded at once, "Okay, Sis— B-Blair, you can eat the snacks first."
"Thanks!" Blair smiled at him.
Niles walked past Wesley and quickly fled to the kitchen.
Wearing a calm face, Blair also attempted to leave the room. When she walked to the doorway, however, Wesley grabbed hold of her wrist, all of a sudden, and pulled her inside. He whispered to her ear, "Blair, quit your stupid idea. I won't ever get bored of you. Not now, not ever."
He loved her and also all her shortcomings and merits. In his eyes, Blair was perfect for him.
Wesley could never get tired of her.
Blair's heart skipped a beat. The look in his eyes was genuine and resolute. After all, he was a man of his word. At that moment, she felt as though she would never be able to escape from him. "I… I'm hungry," she said quietly, eager to leave the room now. The suffocating atmosphere was too much for her to bear.
Wesley gave her a kiss on the lips, and whispered suggestively as he caressed her cheek, "Hungry? You can have me as much as you like. Would you like a bite?"
His flirtatious words broke the oppressive atmosphere, and filled the air with romance. Blair's face turned beet red. "No, no. What are you thinking? I want to eat Niles' snacks."
Fascinated with her shy look, he couldn't help but lower his head to taste her lips, her mouth and her tongue.
Although he wanted her then and there, it wasn't the right time. For now, a kiss would have to suffice.
Just as the couple was kissing passionately, a shrill cry from the kitchen interrupted them. "Ahh! Brother… The pot is on fire! Help! Call the fire engine!"
'Oh no! I'm cooking porridge!' Wesley let go of the woman in his arms and dashed towards the kitchen.
Breathless and gasping for air, Blair leaned against the door and watched his receding figure, clutching her chest with her hand.
The porridge was burnt. A strong odor floated in the kitchen. Wesley sighed helplessly and looked for a container because he wanted to ladle the upper part of the porridge to a container and pour the burnt part into the bin.
However, as he was looking for a container, Niles held the pot and began to pour all the porridge into the bin. "Brother, I don't think you are good at cooking either. If you can't do this, let Sister-in…um no…I mean, let Blair do the cooking," he suggested.
Wesley wasn't happy to hear that Niles stopped addressing Blair as his sister-in-law. As he turned around, ready to give the boy a piece of his mind, he was shocked to see Niles pour out the whole pot of porridge into the bin. With furrowed eyebrows, he yelled, "Who told you to pour it out?"
"What? The porridge? It's burnt. We can't eat this," Niles said, shrugging his shoulders.
Wesley kicked him in the shin. "You're such a waster! Couldn't you see that the upper part of the porridge was still fine?"
Niles, however, felt wronged. "But it was overcooked. That's not good for your health."
"So what? What's the problem with eating a little burnt food? You should go on a mission with me. You'll come to learn that even a tree bark can be delicious food." In truth, he wasn't going to let Blair and Niles eat the porridge. He was going to make them another pot and leave the burnt one for himself.
Wesley wasn't happy about wasting food.
Niles got goose bumps. He could never forget the horrible training he went through last time at the military base. 'Go on a mission with him? No way!' He shook his head dramatically. "No, I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm a fragile man. I can't suffer something like that."
Wesley rolled his eyes at him. "If I see you waste food again, I'll beat you to a pulp. Now get out of here!"
"Okay, okay. I'm going!" Niles hastily dashed out of the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Blair just pried about a box of cookies with her nails. When she saw Niles come out, she raised a cookie in her hand and said, "Want some?"
Niles vigilantly turned around to look at the man in the kitchen. He was busy with the cooking again. Heaving a sigh of relief, Niles took a cookie and casually asked, "What do you think of my brother's cooking?" Wesley wasn't happy about Niles throwing out the overcooked porridge and even blamed him for being wasteful. Niles, however, thought that Wesley was just being too mean.
He wondered what kind of life Blair would have with his thrifty brother. 'Is this why Blair wants to leave my brother? Sounds like it! I would want to leave him too if I were Blair!' Niles thought.
He looked at Blair with sympathy in his eyes.
"I think it's edible… Hey, what's that look in your eyes?" Blair stopped eating the cookie.
"Sister…no…Blair, maybe I should help you escape from my brother."
'Help me escape?' "How and where would I go?" she asked curiously.
