Chapter 16 Hubert Experiences Ordinary Life
"After I meet your parents this weekend, I'll go back to my hometown, cut two bamboo pieces, and drag them back."
Hubert said indifferently, "No need. I'll have someone come tomorrow to drag the bamboo."
As the daughter-in-law of the Donovan family, how could Teresa go all the way back to the village to cut two pieces of bamboo and bring them back just to dry her clothes? How could she come up with such an idea?
"Alright. Thank you."
"This is my home too."
Teresa muttered back to him. Then she walked towards her room with her clothes in her arms. She pushed the door open, turned to Hubert, and said, "If you like, you can take out your changed clothes after taking a shower. When I do the laundry, I can help you with it."
"No, thanks. I'll have two washing machines sent over tomorrow. I'll place a washing machine in the bathrooms of both rooms. It will be more convenient that way."
"That's fine. Tell me how much you spent on washing machines. I'll give you half the money."
He had already given her a bank card saying that it was money to spend in daily life. If he bought another washing machine, she didn't think he should pay for it.
Hubert said lightly, "Two washing machines won't cost me much. It will only cost a few thousand dollars. I can still afford it. Besides, it's the furniture I bought for our apartment."
He was afraid that she would think he was not frugal, so he explained, "I am usually busy with work. I leave early and come home late. And I take my clothes to the dry cleaners, so I didn't buy a washing machine."
It wasn't that he wouldn't be frugal. It was that he didn't think that much about it. And he didn't know what he needed in his daily life. For the past thirty years, he had lived a privileged life.
Although he would do what he could, he hadn't done any laundry.
"I understand that."
Teresa also knew that many high-class white-collar workers were busy with their work and did not think about these daily chores all day long.
"Mr. Donovan, go to bed early."
Teresa walked into her room, closed the door behind her, and locked it.
When Hubert heard the sound of her locking the door, his eyes darkened. He felt that she was wary of him. However, when he thought that he also slept at night with the door locked and the windows closed, he was just as wary of her. Then, he felt even with her.
Moreover, he thought he was getting along well with her now.
They both had their own boundaries. And they respected each other and gave each other plenty of free space.
Mostly, she didn't expect him to do his duty as a husband.
After a few moments, Hubert took out his cell phone and called his housekeeper, Mr. Vega. When Mr. Vega answered the phone, Hubert ordered in a low voice, "Mr. Vega, arrange for two washing machines to be delivered to Florence Garden tomorrow. It doesn't have to be too expensive but not too cheap either."
Mr. Vega respectfully agreed.
Soon, Hubert hung up the phone. When he looked at the closed door, he got up and went back to his room.
They never spoke again that night.
The next morning, at 6:00 a.m., Hubert was awakened by a voice call.
He reached for his phone and saw that it was Teresa calling him. He was a little angry, but he held his tongue and answered Teresa's call.
"Mr. Donovan, are you awake? Didn't we agree to go to the flower shop at six to buy flowers?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll wait for you. Hurry up."
"Okay."
Hubert had agreed to Teresa's request last night. Even though he was still sleepy, he got up quickly and changed his clothes. After washing up, he went out the door.
Teresa was carrying a small money bag with her cell phone, keys, and the bank card Hubert gave her. Later, she had to go to the teller machine to check how much money was on it.
She would have to buy something based on how much money was on the card.
"Let's go."
Hubert said as he walked over.
Teresa muttered a response and followed him.
Hubert and Teresa walked together and didn't say anything. Teresa wanted to talk to him, but he looked serious. And she felt that his handsome face always looked tense and unapproachable. Therefore, Teresa lost interest in talking to him.
Teresa thought, 'He should be a teacher in school. He was so serious that he could certainly make a class of children obey him.'
After a while, they arrived at the market. Then Teresa directed Hubert to park the car in a vacant lot. When she got out of the car, she said to him, "Come on. Let's have breakfast first."
Hubert remained silent and followed her in silence.
Hubert was uncomfortable with his first trip to the market, but he followed Teresa without letting her see that he was uneasy.
Then each of them ordered a bowl of rice noodle soup at the restaurant. Teresa ordered the steamed dumplings. She had a good appetite, so she didn't think a bowl of noodle soup would fill her up.
Hubert ate the soup slowly. Teresa thought Hubert looked especially decent when he had food. As she watched him eat his food, her appetite became better. She could have ordered ravioli and dessert if she hadn't been afraid Hubert would dislike her for eating too much.
"If you're not full, you can go ahead and order what you want."
Hubert could see that she wanted to keep ordering food to eat. Given her big appetite, he didn't think she would be full if she only had soup and ravioli.
And she had been eating food for over an hour at the party last night.
What's more, she had even bought and packed stinky tofu to eat at home.
He thought she looked like she had a slim figure, but he wondered how she could eat so much. He wondered why her body didn't absorb the nutrients.
"I'm full. When I watch you eat, I get hungry easily."
Hubert frowned.
"Don't be mad. I mean you eat in a decent table manner. When I watch you eat food, I feel like you're eating delicacies, and I can't help but want to eat it too."
Hubert looked at her a few times and then remained silent. Then he looked down and ate the noodle soup.
He ate it slowly because he was not used to eating it.
When the couple was full, Teresa took Hubert with her. She didn't go straight to the flower shop. Instead, she went to the 24-hour teller machine not far away. Then he saw her pull the bank card he had given her out of her little money bag.
Teresa had a very good memory. She read the code he wrote and then remembered it.
Then she inserted the card into the teller machine, entered the code, checked the balance of the card, and saw that the balance was only 20,000 dollars.
The money was enough for her to buy a lot of furniture.
"If you don't have enough money, tell me. I'll transfer money into this card."
"That's a lot of money. There are only two of us in our family, so we won't even spend that much. I want to see the balance on the card in case we go over budget when we buy things."
After buying the furniture, she still had to keep some money for living expenses.
She checked her delivery and saw that she would be receiving the goods tomorrow.
Anyway, on the day she met her in-laws, she would cook a lot of food for them.
"Come on, let's go to the flower shop."
Teresa slipped her bank card back into her money bag and led Hubert to a flower shop not far away.
There were several flower shops near the market, and their businesses were thriving. This flower shop was near the market, and people usually went to the market in the early morning and evening to buy groceries, so the flower shop near the market opened very early.
Teresa asked Hubert first and knew he didn't want flowers, so she bought many potted flowers she liked and bought two flower stands to take home for installation.