Five Years of Marriage to Mr. Bradford (by Koi Fish) novel Chapter 98

Vance certainly knew his way around a kitchen, but outdoor settings were a different story.

Starting a fire proved to be his greatest hurdle. Even after his face was caked in layers of soot and ash, success continued to elude

him.

Rebecca was different. Her summers spent back in the village had taught her a wide array of practical skills–from kindling fires and climbing trees to hunting for eggs alongside her friends from the area. She had done it all.

Positioned in the group adjacent to his, she eventually couldn’t bear to watch him falter any longer. Stepping in to help, she cleared out the clogged stove and successfully kindled a blaze.

He gazed at the lively flames dancing before him, appearing momentarily dazed. Perhaps he was keenly aware of his messy, unkempt state that he didn’t even utter a word of thanks.

But after that, he settled into a rhythm. The way he cooked proved his genuine expertise in home cooking, and that was the only time she had ever tasted his cooking.

Their group was decent enough to recognize that the success of the meal largely depended on him, so they rewarded him with a drumstick.

But rather than keeping it for himself, he dropped it onto her plate as he walked by her group. That little gesture made her heart skip a beat.

The drumstick seemed to gleam before her like some kind of precious treasure. She barely dared to touch it at first. Just staring at it felt overwhelmingly intense.

In the end, it took her a full half–hour to nibble it away bit by bit, savoring each morsel without ever truly registering the flavor.

That was one of the few connections she had shared with him.

That very night, her dreams were filled with images of him: his face streaked with soot, his fingers deftly chopping vegetables, and the intensely focused expression he wore while cooking.

The following day in class, she found herself staring at his back from her seat, absentmindedly scrawling his name across an entire page of her notebook. The paper eventually vanished, but those characters were forever carved deep within her heart.

She once mentioned that she had asked him a question in class. She really had, though he might have long since forgotten.

It occurred right after a parent–teacher meeting, when the teacher publicly listed the names of students whose parents had been absent. She was one of those called out.

“Vance, you ranked first in the exam. Why didn’t your parents show up?” one curious boy asked. “If I had grades anywhere near yours, forget just my parents, my grandparents would be fighting over who gets to attend the meeting. The seven of them would come together.”

Rebecca blinked in surprise. “But that would only add up to six people. Where does the seventh come from?”

Rebecca laughed, momentarily forgetting the sting of her situation. The other students soon piled on with similar questions. ” Vance, with scores like yours, why would your parents skip the meeting entirely?”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group immediately, but Rebecca could sense that it was a lie. If it had been true, he wouldn’t have phrased it in such a casual and dismissive manner.

That afternoon after class, she inadvertently witnessed something deeply private, which gave her a glimpse of the answer to her

unasked questions.

He was positioned at the school’s back gate, tucked away in a shadowed corner, when a luxury car pulled up beside him. The window rolled down, and a wad of cash was hurled at his face.

The bills were scattered across the ground. From inside the car, a finger jabbed out accusingly. “All you care about is money! Take it and be done, you worthless leech!”

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