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CHAPTER 227

Her gaze landed on the tray of food in his hands. There was a plate of 6 sliced pieces of bread, another plate of fried eggs, then a cup of coffee, another cup of milk and a small container of sugar as well as a jar of Apricot jam and her cutleries.

Slowly, Li Jing peeled her eyes off the tray in his hands and looked right back at him. He had a warm smile on his face that made him look more godlike than he had ever been to her.

She could not believe that he woke up, just to get breakfast set for her first before she woke up. A part of her felt guilty that she made her guest do the cooking while she was on a call.

She was not used to people preparing breakfast or any type of meal for her especially on a festive day like this. So this was a first time and she was more touched than Ye Cheng could ever imagine.

"Hello, Li Jing! Are you there?"

It was not until her friend called out her name that she recalled she was on a phone with someone.

"Huh…" With her lips still slightly parted she tried to form any useful words to tell Yin Lifen but none was forth coming.

Ye Cheng smiled at her before entering the room to keep her food on the table in her room and going to close the door.

"Li Jing!"

"Fen Fen, I would call you back." That was all she said and she ended the call. Slowly she made her way to where he stood close to the table staring down at the food and closed his eyes from behind.

"I knew you were coming."

"Happy new year, Ye Cheng. Thank you."

"It is nothing really. You deserve all these." Seeing as she still failed to free his eyes from her hand blindfold, Ye Cheng smiled and then reached up to pull them away before turning to face her.

"Happy new year to you too and thank you."

"What for?"

"For helping me out at night. I slept soundly right after." Truthfully he had slept well having her by his side. It was something he was having a hard time with ever since but now, he felt happy.

"Happy you did. This would be the first time I would taste your cooking. What should I expect?"

"Well, I am not spilling. I would let you have a taste first and then tell me yourself."

"Deal." Ye Cheng pulled out a chair for her to seat down and when she did, he went to take his seat opposite her on the table too and watched as she took the first bite of bread with eggs.

The moment she took the first bite, Li Jing closed her eyes to feel and savour the taste of the eggs fried with different veggies.

The taste wasn't as she had imagined. It was way better than what she had thought of it. This was superbly nice.

After chewing and swallowing, she did not say anything when she opened her eyes and instead took a second bite and then a third and a fourth till she finished the slice of bread in her hand.

All through, he gave her his attention as he watched her chew and savour the taste before diving in for another one.

"It is simply spectacularly nice and tasty just the way I like it."

"Hahhaa…. What were you thinking? That this CEO does not know how to cook?"

Li Jing smiled at him. It was his day. He had all right to feel himself. "Enjoy the compliment while it lasts," Li Jing advised him.

"I will. I know it taste swell. Mother personally taught me how to cook before she left."

"That's nice." She quickly spread the eggs on her bread again before doubling it and took another bite. "Tell me, I know I never have asked but where is your mother exactly? Why did she leave you?"

Ye Cheng kept quiet for some time before speaking. On a norms, he would not bother to answer anyone who asked him about his mother.

She was like a sacred topic and not one he always touched. She was his joy and his sadness. She was everything and anything to him. He only wished she chose to be stronger for him as well rather than giving up on his father and leaving him too.

He took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. All through, Li Jing had watched is behavior and knew she touched a part of him she shouldn't have but she wanted to know and her curiosity got the best of her.

"She lives abroad."

"Oh. What happened though?"

"It is a long story but something tragic happened. She lost someone very close to her and ever since then, mother spent her time and resources in finding the person but to no avail. Apparently, it had shut her down and ever since the disappearance of that particular person, mother started withdrawing from the family and her relationship with my father destroyed."

"I am sorry." She dropped her bread on the plate and reached for his hand from across the table and gently rubbed his hand.

"It is okay. No need to apologize. Irrespective, father only tried to reach out to her apparently in the first two months and after that he just gave up on her. I wished he had still followed through, then perhaps he would be able to reach through to her and not just let her be."

"True but perhaps he needed her too."

"No, Li Jing. You do not know him. He is just selfish. About a year later, she found out he was cheating on her. It was definitely not what she needed then but my father was too busy chasing pleasure to care and that had further made her withdrawn from their marriage. A few years later, she left totally and went to reside abroad away from him."

"I am sorry you had to go through that," Li Jing sympathized. It really was a sad event and not one anybody should go through.