"Knock, knock!"
"Come in!"
Her footsteps were a little dull, and she stood at the door of the study carefully holding a plate of food.
"The mushroom soup tastes good. Nancy also made some snacks for supper. You haven't eaten much at dinner. Would you like some?"
Behind the desk, Hans was focused on an artist training contract. He didn't look up, as if he didn't hear what Jennifer said.
Jennifer pursed her lips and said shyly, "But you don't eat supper right? Then I... I'd better take it back..."
"Leave it here."
His cold voice interrupted Jennifer's passiveness.
"Huh?" Surprise flashed across her face, and she even thought that she had heard him wrong.
Hans lifted his head from his desk. The gold frame of his glasses had lessened the sharpness in his eyes. His entire being seemed a little bookish as if they had returned to the time when he sat in the study to help her modify her final year thesis.
"Are you deaf? I told you to leave it first, I need to finish reading this contract."
"Oh... Okay..." She suddenly came to her senses and avoided his eyes in a panic.
Jennifer put the plate on the tea table lightly but it still made a clanking noise. Jennifer subconsciously turned to look at Hans, afraid of disturbing him. She noticed that he was frowning and looking in her direction.
Their gazes collided in the air. It was too late for her to retract her gaze and she did not dare to look straight at him. So they just stared at each other for a long time.
Hans was looking deep into her eyes. He was in a daze for a moment, as if everything had gone back to the time right before she graduated a few years ago when she edited her thesis day and night at home. She was so confused and didn't even know how to change the format of the thesis.
"Ahem..." Hans was the first to react. He coughed and lowered his head with his hand covering his mouth. He shifted his eyes back to the contract.
Jennifer also looked embarrassed, and there was a hint of awkwardness in the room.
In the past half a year, their physical intimacy had not allowed them to be closer emotionally. Besides the necessary interaction at work, their most frequent interaction was the abuse and humiliation Hans hurled at her for no reason. It had been more than half a year since they last had a proper conversation.
Apart from what they did in bed, they were just superior and subordinate, or maybe even strangers.
Putting down the plate, she stood in the study with some hesitation. Looking at the books covering the wall, she had a thought. "Can I borrow a book?"
She vaguely remembered that a famous writer once said that a good relationship always started with borrowing books, one after another, to and fro. It was the seed of love, and it was where love developed.
Although Jennifer did not have high hope that a book could improve her relationship with Hans, at least it could reduce her embarrassment at the moment. It was the best choice to take a book and then leave the study.
Behind her was Hans saying casually, "If you'd like."
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