Chapter 85: Girls Should Protect Themselves Too
After lazing around in the cabin watching TV for a while, Leon only got up when it was time for dinner. He finally started rummaging through the fridge for tonight’s ingredients.
At noon, Sandy had treated him to a lavish barbecue feast in the Calico Desert, so Leon wasn’t planning on eating meat again anytime soon. Instead, he scooped a bowl of rice, planning to make some porridge to fill his stomach.
That was the excuse he told himself—not that the fridge was nearly empty or that he was simply too lazy to cook anything more complicated. Of course, he’d never admit to having a chronic case of laziness.
He used hay as kindling to start the fire, then placed split logs on the rack as fuel. Hanging a pot with the water-to-rice ratio already set, he sat quietly beside the roaring flames.
The crackle of burning wood filled his ears, while his eyes followed the sparks carried upward by the rising heat. Leon felt perfectly at ease.
It reminded him of childhood, when he and his friends in the village would find discarded cans, fill them with water, stuff them with weeds, and then use matches stolen from the kitchen to light a small fire—pretending they were busy cooking a grand meal.
Even better now, if he just lifted his head, he could see the stars scattered across the sky. Without light pollution, the night was pure and vivid. The stars shone so clearly that if there had been a pair of soft thighs nearby for him to rest his head on while gazing upward, the moment would have been perfect.
“What tasty thing are you cooking?”
Just as Leon was lost in this fantasy, Abigail appeared by the fire. She casually lifted the not-yet-boiling pot, peered inside at the simple mix of rice and water, and frowned in obvious distaste.