Chapter 260 Do You Want It or Me?
The place fell quiet.
After pushing Rita away, Ebony went to the kitchen, soon came out with a bowl of porridge, and placed it in front of Lloyd.
Oblivious to everyone's gaze, he scooped a spoonful, blew at it, and sent it into his mouth.
He tasted it and said, "Delicious."
Ebony casually said, "You bet. I had half a pot of it when I was stewing it."
Lloyd was stunned.
So were the others.
Then the dining room became much quieter.
When everyone finished his breakfast, Rita suddenly looked at her phone and said, "Teri has arrived at the airport."
At ten o'clock in the morning, Teri arrived at the wedding house.
They were thrilled to see each other, and Rita hugged her tightly.
Teri stroked Rita's head and smiled at Ebony and Lloyd. "I've brought you a wedding gift."
Ebony froze and instantly looked at Teri happily.
Teri went back to her car and took out a large box.
Ebony saw how big it was. Her eyes were glittering.
In fact, Rita and the others had also brought their gifts, which were fruits, snacks, and the like.
Teri's gift, however, was wrapped up in an exquisite box.
At a glance, people could tell it was expensive.
Ebony hurried over to carry it. After putting it on the coffee table, she touched the gilded box and asked with smiling eyes, "What's inside?"
While opening the box, Teri replied, "It's a silk quilt."
Ebony was baffled.
Teri pulled out a part of the quilt, showed it to Ebony, and said, "It's woven with pure silk. I asked my mother about the gifts for the newlyweds, and she said money. I found it cheesy and asked her about the objects. My mother said a quilt. In her generation, people like to give each other quilts as gifts. Under the same quilt, the couple will be blessed to grow up together. It's meaningful, so here I am with one."
Ebony didn't know what to say.
The others were also silent.
No one uttered a sound.
The silence was eerie until the sudden chuckle of a man broke it.
Everyone looked over and found it was Lloyd laughing.
His dark eyes were in the shape of a crescent and filled with interest.
Ebony turned her head, glared at him, and kicked him in the calf.
Confused with their silence, Teri asked, "What, did anyone give you the same present? It's fine. The quilt will not rot."
"T... Teri..." Rita gingerly went over, held Teri's arm, and asked hesitantly, "Which ... one of them are you going to give the gift to?"
Teri replied, "What do you mean? They're already married. Of course, they will share the same quilt."
Rita was lost for words.
Jacob asked awkwardly, "Teri, what kind of relationship do you think they're in?"
Teri replied, "Husband and wife. They secretly got married and announced it on the show, didn't they?"
Jacob was stupefied.
So was Rita.
She patted Teri's arm and asked in a subdued voice, "Who told you that?"
Teri was confused. "They didn't?"
Rita replied, "Of course not! It's a simulated marriage of a variety show, and they happen to be paired up."
Teri was dumbfounded.
She studied Rita's face and then looked across the table at Ebony, who was expressionless.
Realizing that they were not joking, she immediately blushed and hurriedly apologized, "Sorry, I was muddleheaded. The closed filming has isolated me from the outside world. I heard about your wedding yesterday and thought that I had missed out on something huge. I searched online but found that no one was talking about it. That's why I believed you were going to announce it on the show."
Teri was embarrassed for making such a stupid mistake.
Ebony was devastated. She hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
Lloyd looked at the quilt and mused, "It may be useful in the future."
Teri hurriedly pushed the gift box over and said, "Consider it a gift from me. The silk is good in quality, and the quilt will come in handy when you get married."
Lloyd took the gift, glanced at Ebony with a smile, and said, "Thank you, Teri, on behalf of my future wife."
Teri waved her hand and hoped that everyone would stop mentioning the matter. It was just too embarrassing!
Then it was time to prepare lunch.
Ebony decided to go grocery shopping with Lloyd and let Moses entertain the guests.
In the supermarket, she hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are they ... coming at noon? Should we ... prepare more food?"
Aware of who she was referring to, Lloyd frowned and replied, "That won't be necessary."
Ebony froze and immediately asked, "They have left?"
Lloyd hummed with a calm look.
Ebony heaved a sigh of relief and immediately cheered up.
Lloyd saw how happy she was and asked, "Since you don't like it, why didn't you just tell them?"
Ebony scratched her head and faltered, "It's not that I don't like it, but..."
"Not used to it?"
With her head low, she fiddled with the vegetables on the shelf but said nothing.
Lloyd let out a light sigh, stroked her hair, and said, "It's okay. You can tell me when you're feeling uneasy next time."
Ebony glanced at him and immediately sulked, "Come on, you were busy chatting with my brother and others and paid no attention to me. I was looking for you, but you didn't even have a look at me."
Lloyd was lost for words.
Then he said helplessly, "That was out of my control."
Ebony snorted, gave him a cold shoulder, and continued to select vegetables.
At lunchtime, the Gibsons didn't come.
After lunch, the guests left one by one.
Justin was going back to the hospital for a checkup. Moses would take him back. Rita and Jacob had other work to do. Teri had to go back to the filming site.
After seeing everyone off, Ebony and Lloyd were both tired. They went back to their separate rooms to take a nap.
In the afternoon, Lloyd came out of his room and found that the window of the garden on the first floor was open.
He went out of the house and saw Ebony sitting on the high fence outside the garden. With her legs dangling from the fence, she was tearing the jerky into pieces for an orange kitten.
The cat was small and probably a few months old. It was athletic enough to leap onto such a high fence though.
Leaning against the door frame with his arms folded on his chest, he watched and chuckled, "Where did the cat come from?"
Ebony looked down and saw that Lloyd was awake. Bracing herself against the wall, she jumped off and replied, "I have no idea. Just now, I heard it meowing in the yard and then baked some meat for it."
The kitten followed her to leap off, meowed around her, and nuzzled up against her feet.
Ebony found it cute, picked it up, and carried it in her arms. "It's better looking than a monkey, isn't it?"
Lloyd chuckled and reached out to pet it.
Meow!
The kitten fiercely meowed and suddenly bared its claws to scratch him.
Lloyd quickly retracted his fingers and avoided its claws.
Ebony was startled and then relieved to see Lloyd unharmed. She taped the kitten's head and reprimanded, "Why are you suddenly so aggressive?"
The kitten shrank its neck but soon nuzzled up against her finger.
Ebony readily stroked its head.
The scene made Lloyd narrow his dark eyes. He suddenly said, "Throw it away."
Ebony was surprised to hear that.
Lloyd repeated with a sullen face, "Throw it away."
Ebony faltered, "Lloyd..."
Lloyd was livid. He looked at Ebony and asked coldly, "Do you want it or me?"