Ye Qingfeng crossed the room quietly, took hold of the curtains, and pulled them open in one go.
Sunlight fell directly across Nicole's face. She was lying in a position that defied easy description, hair thoroughly tangled, a thin trail of drool at the corner of her mouth. The blanket had somehow migrated to cover only her lower half, and one strap of her purple nightgown had slipped off her shoulder, leaving a generous stretch of bare skin on full display.
Nicole immediately yanked the blanket up over her head.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
The yank exposed her feet instead, which were small and neat, with a natural arch, smooth skin, and not a single flaw. They were now sticking out from beneath the blanket into the open air.
This scene played out in some form every morning. Ye Qingfeng felt he should have been entirely desensitized to it by now. He was not.
He swallowed, forcibly redirected his attention, and walked to the side of the bed.
"Sister Nicole, time to get up."
He gave her shoulder a firm push through the blanket. No response.
He tried again. Still nothing.
Ye Qingfeng pulled the blanket down just enough to uncover her head, reached out, and pinched her cheek.
"If you don't get up, Anby's going to finish your breakfast."
That produced results. Nicole's eyes opened slowly, landing on Ye Qingfeng with a groggy, unfocused look. The moment she registered the pressure on her face, the drowsiness vanished.
"Let go."
"I'm getting up right now. Get out."
"On it."
Ye Qingfeng released her immediately and slipped out of the room, pausing at the doorway. "Come down soon, okay?"
"I heard you..."
Nicole sat up, yawning and waving him off without much energy.
He glanced back once to confirm she was actually upright, then headed downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, he found Anby on the sofa, eyes locked onto the burgers on the coffee table with unblinking intensity.
"Qingfeng? Why are there four hamburgers?"
Anby turned at the sound of his footsteps, and when she saw it was him rather than Nicole, a flicker of disappointment crossed her face. If Nicole still hadn't come down, all she could do was sit here and stare at four burgers she couldn't touch yet.
"There were four fish patties left," Ye Qingfeng said, sitting down beside her, "so I used them all. No point in letting them go to waste."
"Oh! So that means I can eat two?" Anby's gaze remained fixed on the plate as she asked carefully.
She looked, to Ye Qingfeng, exactly like a puppy that hadn't eaten in days, trembling with the effort of not pouncing on the food in front of it.
He glanced toward the stairs. Nicole still hadn't appeared.
"Go ahead and start. Sister Nicole should be down soon." He watched Anby's increasingly strained expression and made the call. "Any longer and they'll get cold."
The instant she received the go-ahead, a burger materialized in front of Ye Qingfeng's face. He blinked. Following the arm back to its owner, he found Anby watching him with an expectant look.
He took a bite without entirely meaning to. Anby withdrew her arm and took a large, satisfied bite of her own burger.
"Well, well!" Nicole's voice came from the stairs. She had apparently timed her arrival perfectly. She grinned as she descended. "Young Master Qingfeng needs someone to feed him now, does he?"
"What kind of talk is that!" Ye Qingfeng objected at once. "She offered on her own! Right, Anby?"
"Mn."
Anby swallowed, confirmed this without elaborating, and returned to her burger.
"Sure, sure." Nicole dropped onto the single-seat sofa with a look of amused contempt. "You definitely bribed her into it somehow."
Ye Qingfeng picked up a fork, speared a cherry tomato, and said nothing.
"Hit a nerve?" Nicole took a small bite of her burger, watching him with interest. "Not even defending yourself?"
"If you're so sure about that, go ahead and get Anby to give you a bite of hers."
Nicole turned to Anby with great confidence. "Anby, bring that burger over here. Give me a bite."
Anby looked at her. Then, without changing expression, she finished the remaining burger in her hand in one go.
"It's gone," she said, still chewing. "Already gone."
The sound of swallowing followed.
Nicole pressed her lips together. She had, against her better judgment, held a small shred of hope. She always did, every time, and every time Anby and a hamburger were involved, that hope evaporated without fail.
It only made her more curious what exactly Ye Qingfeng had said or done to get Anby to willingly give up a bite.
"Anby, why did you give Qingfeng a bite of your burger?"
Anby was already on her second burger. She paused mid-bite and answered with some hesitation. "Because... Qingfeng said if I feed him, he'll keep making me hamburgers."
"Oh, is that right." Nicole turned back to Ye Qingfeng with a slow, dangerous smile. "Not bad at all. Taking advantage of innocent, trusting Anby like that."
She probably didn't have the full picture, but she was confident enough in the general outline.
"So what!" Ye Qingfeng said, entirely unrepentant. "I work hard every day for this household. Can't I enjoy being fed once in a while?"
"Sure you can. I never said you couldn't." Nicole held out her half-eaten burger toward him, smile still in place. "Since you've apparently been working so hard, I'll generously offer you a bite."
Ye Qingfeng studied her expression carefully, looking for the trap. With Nicole, spontaneous generosity was never a good sign. If he took the bait, it would probably cost him another month of wages.
Then again, he had never actually been paid to begin with.
That settled it. Ye Qingfeng reached out, took hold of Nicole's wrist, and bit into the burger while she was still registering what was happening. He looked at her over the bun.
"Want a bite of mine?"
Before Nicole could respond, Anby raised her hand from across the table.
"Yes!"
"You've already had two!" Ye Qingfeng looked at her, caught between exasperation and laughter. She had one eye on the burger in his hand and one eye on the spare on the plate. "Keep eating like this and you'll turn into a little pig."
"Then give me your burger," Anby said without missing a beat, pushing her vegetable salad across the table toward him. "I'll trade you."
"Not a chance."
He knew perfectly well that Anby had no interest in vegetables. Making her eat them was non-negotiable. Same went for Nicole.
Not eating vegetables simply was not acceptable.
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