Chapter 400
A Breakfast
“What are you doing?”
Cadence looked up sharply from where he was standing by the stove, the wooden spoon in his hand stilling in the saucepan. The sight of the person walking in made his jaw tighten. Why did it have to be him?
After last night, he had no idea how to talk to Dr. Jung anymore.
Because the man hadn’t been wrong. Yes, he and Elias had been friends once. Best friends. But somewhere along the years, Cadence had stopped treating him like one. He had turned their friendship into something clinical, cold-always talking to him like a patient seeking advice from a doctor instead of a man talking to someone he trusted. And having Elias say it out loud had hit him harder than he expected. It had been like someone holding up a mirror when he wasn’t ready to look.
Breathing in slowly, he pushed all that aside and pointed to the saucepan.
“I’m making Melody’s favourite porridge,” he said, keeping his voice even. “I made extra so you can also join in.”
He risked a glance at Elias, hoping for something-maybe a nod, a word that told him things weren’t as broken as they felt. But all he got was a quick look from Elias at the saucepan, his expression unreadable, before he said flatly, “I don’t feel like eating porridge. I’ll make eggs for myself.”
The words stung more than Cadence wanted to admit. He felt his fingers clench tighter around the spoon as Elias brushed past him to the counter. It was clear he was still holding a grudge.
Cadence opened his mouth, almost calling out to him, but before he could speak, footsteps sounded behind them. Melody walked into the kitchen.
All his attention snapped to her at once, even though he knew he wanted to talk to Elais before breakfast.
“Melody,” he said quickly, his voice softening in a way it never did for anyone else. “To apologize for ruining our date last night, I made your favourite porridge… with cornmeal and cheese.”
Melanie paused mid-step, her brow furrowing. Favourite porridge?
She didn’t even like porridge. How did he not know that?
And then it hit her. She remembered watching Melody eat cold cereal every morning, remembered Marianne laughing once and saying how her sister hated porridge since childhood.
“I hate porridge,” Melanie said finally, shaking her head. “I prefer cold cereal in the morning. Where did you get the idea that I like porridge?”
The spoon froze mid-stir. Cadence blinked, his hand tightening around the handle. He looked down at the saucepan like it had betrayed him. Had he… remembered wrong?
Before he could say anything, Elias’s voice cut through the silence. It was soft, almost absentminded, but it hit like a hammer.
“This porridge used to be my favourite,” Elias said quietly.
The words landed heavily in the small kitchen. Cadence stilled completely, his thoughts scattering. This porridge… it wasn’t even Melody’s favourite?
It was Elias’s? But how did he remember it so wrongly?
While Cadence was still shocked, Melanie smiled a bit. Who would have thought that her target would end up presenting himself with a bulls eye on his head so early in the morning. With a smile, she looked at Elais Jung and then Cadence,” Well, just goes to show how much Cadence loves you, Dr Jung. Even more than me.”
With that, she proceeded to ignore the two men who were now staring at each other with complicated looks. But even as she took a seat and poured some coffee for herself, she could not help but think that this was like watching a BL series live.
And with that, she had another idea,” Why don’t you go ahead and kiss him? Look how kissable those lips are…”
That caused both the men to turn their head and look at her sharply at the same time. She gave them a small smile,” What are you panicking for? I was just teasing you guys. Anyway, Dr Jung, Cadence, lets have breakfast soon. Dr Jung, please have the porridge. You can give the eggs you made to me. Since Cadence has made the porridge with so much love, I cannot bear to see it go waste.”
When both men remained frozen, Melanie sighed, stood up, grabbed two bowls, filled it up and placed it in on the table, gesturing for them to sit and then conveniently grabbed the plate of eggs for herself before walking out,” I’ll eat in bed. I’m feeling too lazy. Thaks for the breakfast.”
The two men stared at each other before each sat in front of the bowl, staring at it intently. Almost mirroring each other’s action, they then picked up a spoon and sipped it slowly.
Through the meal, the only sound was that of the soup being slurped until finally, Dr Jung stood up to pour some more for himself. In that moment, Cadence forgot his awkwardness, gratified that Elais had at least taken another serving of the soup. He vowed to never make such a mistake again.
Just then, He asked Cadence,” Do you want more?”
Cadence shook his head and looked at Elais eagerly,” No. You can take the rest.”
But, much to his disappointment, Elais did not take more. Instead, he moved around, grabbed a thermos and started ladling the rest of the porridge into it? “Why are you packing it? I’ll just reheat it for you later.”
“Its not for me. Last night, I mentioned to Max that I like cornmeal and cheese porridge, but he has never tasted it. Now that there is some left, I’ll take it for him to taste…”
All the excitement and happiness that he had felt over him finishing the porridge disappeared. Angrily, he stood up, grabbed the porridge thermos from his hand and said,” This is mine. I did not allow you to give it to anyone else. If you don’t want it,I will feed it to the dogs.”
“Cadence.Why are you being petty? Give it to me…” Elais walked behind the man…