James Black watched Jane Sampsonâs elated demeanor and couldnât shake the feeling that he had done something wrong.
But after pondering, he hadnât imposed any rules or expectations on his wife, so she didnât need to be a housewife, and in fact, James preferred that Jane had her own job and things to do, so that her time wouldnât be hard to pass when he was at the team base.
After the meal, they left the restaurant, James still driving, and Jane sat in the passenger seat, in much higher spirits on the way back than when theyâd come.
Although she wasnât so overjoyed as to hum songs with abandon, Janeâs mood was indeed just like that.
They were stuck in traffic for nearly an hour on the road, and by the time they got home, it was past nine oâclock. The first thing Jane did upon arriving home was to take off Jamesâs coat and stand stiffly in front of the air conditioner, basking in the cool breeze.
After James parked the car and entered the door, what he saw was Jane behaving this way, hands on her hips, long skirt hem clutched in the palm of her hand, lifting the hem to reveal her legs, which she stood on in a âcharlie chaplinâ stance, still shivering slightly, obviously unaware that he had parked the car and entered the house.
Even James, who doesnât surf the net much, could find a word from his vocabulary to describe present Jane: she was quite an eyesore.
"Go take a bath first," James said, slapping Janeâs hand away from her dress.
One had to admit, Jane had the assets worth showing offâfair skin, long legs, which seemed even more enchanting against the red dress, causing Jamesâs gaze to darken slightly.
"Wait a minute, Iâm so hot, let me cool down first," Jane protested, unwilling to move. But after James spoke, she ultimately didnât lift her skirt again to cool her legs as well.
After saying this, Jane sneakily turned back to observe Jamesâs expression and, seeing him standing behind her with a stern face, she pouted and made her way to the bedroom.
Although she outwardly agreed, deep down she was really annoyed.
Since before dinner, James had given her the suit jacket to wear, and in this hot weather, while he stayed cool, she was about to go mad from the heat. Now back home, he was truly nitpicky, not even allowing her to enjoy the air conditioner for a while.
Grumbling all the way, Jane made it to the bedroom, picked up her pajamas and bath towel, and went into the bathroom.
In the living room, James sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. He bent over to open the tea tableâs drawer to prepare for tea brewing, only to find, to his surprise, it was not his tea sets inside but a pile of snacksâbiscuits, potato chips, even spicy strips.
James took a deep breath, glanced toward the bedroom, then silently started gathering the stuff out of the drawer. Only then, in the far corner of the drawer, did he find his tea sets, squeezed almost out of place and leaning askew in the corner.
He looked at his tea sets, then at the snacks on the table which he equated with trash, furrowing his brows, uncertain whether those things belonged to Jane.
He didnât recall Jane ever eating those types of things and had never seen such stuff in the house when he came home in the past.
When James went to the kitchen to get tea leaves from the refrigerator, he simultaneously swept all the things from the table into the trash can. When he came out of the kitchen, all his uncertainties had turned into certainties.