The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 115

Chapter 69-2

She looks at me, and raise both hands.

“I said irritating,” I say.

“That’s worse.”

“It’s more accurate.”

Dad clears his throat, but he’s fighting a smile. “Everyone sit down before the food gets cold.”

We gather around the table, and for the first few minutes, we concentrate on food. Cartons pass from hand to hand. Mayhem takes enough crispy beef to feed three people, and Jade smacks his wrist with a serving spoon.

“Leave some for other people, you pig,” she says.

“I’m building strength.”

“For what?”

“Dessert.” He grins at her. “Later. At home. With you.”

“Ohhh,” Jade says pertly. “Well, in that case…” She deposits her own portion of beef to his plate. “Eat up, big guy.”

Willow watches them with an amused expression, then she turns to Jade. “This tofu is wonderful.”

“I wasn’t sure what you liked.”

“Anything with vegetables.” She deftly plucks a piece of bamboo from the chow mein. “Except yellow peppers. For some reason, I just don’t like them very much.”

Mayhem watches Willow expertly use her chopsticks. “You’ve definitely done this before.”

She looks up. “Eating?”

“Using chopsticks.”

“Yes, well.” She takes a sip of green tea. “I lived in Singapore for about eight months.”

That catches all of us by surprise.

“You did?” I ask.

“I’ve travelled for years,” Willow says. “Though I’ve never stayed in one place very long.”

“Where’ve you been?” I ask.

She starts counting on her fingers. “Singapore. Bali. New Zealand. Peru. Parts of India. Morocco for a while.”

Mayhem nearly drops a spring roll. “Peru?”

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Chapter 692

+spent six months with a family in the Sacred Valley.”

‘Doing what?”

She answers as though it’s the most ordinary thing in the world. “Learning.”

‘Learning what?” I ask, intrigued.

‘Medicinal plants. Traditional healing. Astrology. Meditation. A little Quechua.”

Silence. Mayhem blinks, I blink, Dad blinks. Jade simply nods as though she’s decided to accept whatever

comes next.

Mayhem looks at her. “You’re not reacting.”

‘I’m trying very hard to be supportive,” Jade tells him.

“Yeah?” Mayhem says. “And I’m trying very hard to understand what any of those words meant.”

Willow laughs. “I appreciate the effort.”

“So,” Mayhem says. “No university then?”

Willow shakes her head. “I thought about it, but then I understood that I wasn’t looking for qualifications.”

‘What were you looking for?” Jade says.

‘The best teachers.”

‘And where’d you find them?” I say.

‘Usually not in classrooms.”

The answer is so simple, so matter-of-fact, that nobody quite knows what to do with it.

“I’ve always found wisdom lives in people more than places,” Willow continues. “If someone knows something beautiful, I’d rather sit in their kitchen than a lecture theatre.”

Dad studies her over the rim of his glass. “I suppose that explains the travelling.”

“It does.”

“So,” I say, absolutely invested in this conversation now. “What else have you learned how to do?”

“Let’s see.” She thinks for a moment. “I can bake bread in a clay oven. I can deliver a lamb. I know enough Chinese to argue with taxi drivers. I can identify about six hundred medicinal plants.” She pauses. “Oh! I can shear a sheep.”

Mayhem stares at her. “… Why?”

“Because sheep needed shearing,” Willow says matter-of-factly. “It’s just the cycle of the seasons.”

“Ohhh-kaaaay,” he says slowly. “That’s fair, though also weird.”

“I can also milk a goat,” Willow adds. “And build a compost toilet.”

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Chapter 622

“Yeah, no,” Mayhem protests. “You’re just making things up now.”

“I’m really not.”

“But,” Dad says. “Can you fix anything?”

Willow thinks seriously. “Relationships, sometimes.”

“Right,” Jade says. “But if the dishwasher breaks?”

“I’d call Zara.” Willow gives me a brilliant smile. “She’s the engineering type.”

Mayhem looks at me. “I can’t decide whether she’s the least useful person I’ve ever met, or the most useful.”

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