Chapter 12: Breakfast.

Laura went to get herself something to eat and went back to the dining area to watch the excitement. She was quite amused by how the guys joked around and how down to earth her idol actually was. When she appeared with her food, Jason took the initiative to help her carry it back to the table and even pulled the chair out for her again.

“Can’t you lot be like Laura? She at least knows how to appreciate my efforts,” Jason said as he glared at his friends.

“Looks like you have been too idle recently. Already making trouble so early in the morning,” a deep voice was heard at the entrance of the dining area and Jason, who had been joking around, paused for a bit and slowly turned to see his older brother.

“James, you are awake,” Jason said and stepped away from Laura, who had been chewing her food while watching them in amusement.

“Mmmh,” James said and dragged the chair next to Laura and sat down. This was his usual seat, and Jason had made Laura sit next to it so that they would be sitting together when his brother came out.

With James’s arrival, Jason, who made the place lively, disappeared suddenly, and the place was filled with silence.

“Sparkling water with ice. A lot of it,” James said when he saw a server walk in his direction. The man turned around and went to prepare what James ordered immediately. James groaned and rubbed his temples as he closed his eyes.

“Hangover?” Laura asked him as she sipped on her warm milk.

“Mmh, did you sleep well?” James asked her, finally turning to look at her.

“Like a baby,” Laura answered with a bright smile. Besides the groggy feeling she had when she woke up earlier, she was feeling fine now.

“That’s good,” James responded, and furrowed his eyebrows before rubbing his temples again. At this time, the server returned with James’s water.

“Can you bring some painkillers?” Laura asked the server, and the man nodded before leaving. As the waiter left, Jason returned and tossed a sachet of painkillers toward James.

“Take these and lighten up. You look like the world owes you a hundred million,” Jason said to his brother. He knew him well and knew that if he did not resolve his headache, he would be the one to suffer.

James took the medicine and downed it with the cold water. When the server appeared at the entrance again, Laura shook her head and pointed at James’s glass instead. The waiter understood and went to get him more water.

As James nursed his headache, everyone else slowly arrived and the place became lively again. When her friend Jen didn’t see anything she wanted to eat, she decided to go fix something up for herself. Seeing James sit with only a glass of water in front of him made her feel bad and she offered to make him tea. Without waiting for his response, she left directly. Laura watched her friend’s departing back and stood up too.

“I’ll go help her,” Laura said and left too. Rachel looked at Laura’s disappearing figure and shook her head in disbelief. She had lived with Laura for five years, and she could count on two hands the number of times she cooked. Now she was taking initiative? It was quite unbelievable.

Laura walked into the kitchen and saw her friend already opening the cabinets as if trying to familiarise herself with where everything was.

“Oh? What’s this? Looks like someone had fun last night,” Laura said and pocked the reddened skin at the back of Jen’s neck. Jen shrunk her head and glared at her friend playfully and quickly raised her collar to hide the hickey.

“What do you want?” Jen finally asked as she took out a medium-sized pot.

“I want to make him tea,” Laura answered and looked at her friend with big green eyes.

“James? I saw you two by the pool last night. How did it go?” Jen asked her, her brown eyes full of teasing.

“Hehehe, I just want to make some tea,” Laura responded, clearly avoiding the question.

“I guess nothing happened. Otherwise, you’d brag about it,” Jen commented with a smile. But she was not too surprised. Even though she had also only met James a few times, she could tell that he was someone that took everything seriously. He did not joke around, now was he super extroverted like his younger brother Jason.

He also wasn’t as amicable as her boyfriend. He knew what he wanted and it was impossible to pressure him into doing otherwise, he was also quite cunning which was a trait that was very useful when navigating the entertainment circles. And with her friend’s simple personality, she was going to be in for a ride.

“Nothing really happened. Are you happy now?” Laura said with a frown, but continued with her task of brewing tea.

“Why would that make me happy? Don’t you know I’m rooting for you? For the first time since I've known you. You are the one taking initiative to chase after someone,” Jen said with a laugh. Laura quickly finished making him some ginger tea and left with the mug.

“No goodbyes?” Jen asked from behind her and laughed again when her friend casually waved at her. James and Laura, it would either work really well, or end up in a disaster, she thought to herself before getting back to doing her tasks.

Laura brought back the tea and silently placed it in front of James without anyone noticing. James looked at her and then the mug in front of him before picking it up and taking a sip.

“Thank you,” James said to her once he put the mug back down. He was already starting to feel some relief.

“Your welcome,” Laura responded and turned to hide her face. She had ended up staring at him and when she saw him lick off the droplets of tea from his lips, her mind fell into the gutter turning her whole face red. She felt that she needed to be saved.