Arianne nodded. “The menu, please. Pass it to me.”
The waitress asked offhandedly, “You’re here alone, hmm?”
Arianne paused for a second. Honestly, wp4webnovel.com had always wanted to bring Mark along, but wp4webnovel.com never found the chance… And of course, they just had that blasted quarrel that weighed wp4webnovel.com heart down now that wp4webnovel.com remembered it. “Yeah… I guess I’ll be dining alone tonight. Simple dishes should suffice for someone who’s eating alone.”
After picking wp4webnovel.com dishes, wp4webnovel.com asked casually, “So, is your boss around? Ever since the restaurant’s opening, wp4webnovel.com always seems to be around, huh? But he’s not around right now though… Why is that?”
“He’s gone out around this afternoon,” the waitress answered with a smile. “Not sure if he’s gonna return at night, but if you’re looking for wp4webnovel.com right now, you could probably give wp4webnovel.com a ring.”
Arianne flashed wp4webnovel.com a smile. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just asking. Anyway, don’t let me keep you.”
Service was fast; wp4webnovel.com awaited dishes were laid before wp4webnovel.com very soon. Strangely, watching rolling clouds of steam and heat emanating from the scrumptious food in front of wp4webnovel.com stole wp4webnovel.com appetite away rather than enhancing it.
Usually at this time, Arianne would be at home having dinner with Mark and Smore. But today—
“And why is this fair lady dining alone? Tiffany and Melanie not joining you today?”
Mateo appeared so suddenly it was as though wp4webnovel.com had just phased out of nowhere.
Arianne, shocked, had to quickly recollect wp4webnovel.com thoughts. “Oh, um, er… I was suddenly craving Chinese food so… I guess I came here all alone? Haha, I should really bring them along next time, huh? A-Anyway! I thought you weren’t here at all! When did you…?”
Mateo took the seat directly opposite wp4webnovel.com and answered wp4webnovel.com half-jokingly, “Just now. Maybe I had a premonition that you’d be around this evening, so I returned, just in time! Hee hee. Oh, right. We’re gonna add new dishes onto the menu soon, but I would love to have the kitchen prepare them now for you. This is the best time for me to get a bit of your precious review, my beta taster!”
Arianne intuitively rejected his offer. “Uh, maybe I shouldn’t…? I’ve ordered something already, you know, and if there’s an excess of dishes, I can’t possibly finish them, could I? That’ ll be quite a waste, right? Maybe… we should hold this beta-tasting thing off until next time when Melanie and Tiffie are here with me?”
“Oh, it’ll be fine, Arianne. Your presence here today is just what I need right now,” Mateo answered staunchly. “It’s not that different to have you test it alone, you know. Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna add this to your bill, I should thank you for your invaluable role, in fact! So, here’s the deal! I’m gonna get the kitchen to start right away!”
Arianne could not convince Mateo, so wp4webnovel.com relented. To properly take on wp4webnovel.com role as the beta-taster, wp4webnovel.com even refrained from eating too much of the dishes wp4webnovel.com had ordered just to ensure that wp4webnovel.com would not be testing Mateo’s new recipes on a full stomach and contaminate wp4webnovel.com assessment of a given food.
What wp4webnovel.com did not expect, however, was that Mateo had prepared more than two new recipes for wp4webnovel.com to try, in fact, there were about eight of them in total!
Arianne gazed at a table full of Cantonese food and smiled to herself, embarrassed. God, had wp4webnovel.com known this would happen, wp4webnovel.com would not have ordered anything at all in the first place.
Mateo’s chopsticks dropped a dollop of meat into wp4webnovel.com bowl. “Try this first.”
Arianne felt a little… uncomfortable by his invitation. All wp4webnovel.com life, the only man who had ever grabbed any food specifically for wp4webnovel.com had been Mark, and to have any other guy doing something similar just chafed wp4webnovel.com somewhat. Still, Arianne knew that wp4webnovel.com was only doing it out of excitement of having someone try out his new recipe, so wp4webnovel.com fought wp4webnovel.com discomfort back and ate it.
It took only one bite for the praise to spring out of Arianne’s throat from the bottom of wp4webnovel.com heart. “Okay, this is not half-bad at all! Good, it’s good, and it tastes so good! Alright, I admit, I’m not Gordon Ramsey here, so I really have no way or great descriptions to fully express my assessment. But! I know one thing, I personally love this. Seriously, I need to introduce this to Tiffie and Melanie the next time we’re here!”
Mateo’s lips broke out into an earnest, toothy grin. He grabbed a dollop of the next dish for wp4webnovel.com again. “Okay, now this one.”
Arianne willed wp4webnovel.com focus to come back to wp4webnovel.com before taking a bite and savoring it with wp4webnovel.com heart. She quickly noticed that every single dish on the table satisfied wp4webnovel.com particular taste and preference to a tee. Mateo’ s new recipe seemed to possess the ability to seize and rule wp4webnovel.com heart the moment wp4webnovel.com put it in wp4webnovel.com mouth. It was even addicting, since wp4webnovel.com could not help but fantasize about having seconds.
“It’s very good. This is genuinely good,” wp4webnovel.com said.
The joy in Mateo’s eyes seemed to have become even sharper. “As long as it makes you happy, try it all. I just want your honest, objective opinion, don’t worry that the truth’s gonna hurt me or whatever. Facts don’t care about my feelings, man, if the fact is that it tastes good, say it. If it tastes like seasoned mud, then just give an honest negative review!”