CHAPTER 446: HEIREN’S WOES

"Coco left without eating this morning." Heiren stated bluntly as he stared blankly on his tea.

Jonathan blinked and continued chewing on the snack that Heiren prepared for him, feeling slightly concerned at how he got into this situation.

He remembered dropping a box of vegetables by the Hughes household because Jacques asked him to, but the moment he was about to step away from the front door after Heiren accepted the basket, the second husband of Coco Hughes had grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him inside.

Out of the five Hughes living in the house, Coco is the only he’s familiar and friends with.

So being dragged and served with a delicious snack was quite a surprise, but he won’t complain out loud because whatever he was eating at the moment tasted delicious.

"I woke up this morning to see that the left side of the bed where she slept last night was empty." Heiren continued telling his woe to the mediator before him. "I had already planned what I wanted to cook for her and what to pack, but she wasn’t there when I woke up."

Jonathan chewed the chewy snack that has chocolate and nuts in it before he nodded his head. "How tragic.."

"Not only that, Quizen and Alhai told me that I was being selfish because they thought that I asked Coco to leave without eating anything." Heiren let out a huff, his eyebrows furrowing in a frown.

"They did?" The scarred faced mediator blurted out, not expecting for the four friends to be fighting like this.

They seem to be bestest of friends so a little fight and an accusatory statement thrown towards Heiren sounded a little surprising for Jonathan’s ears.

"They did!" Heiren confirmed and sighed loudly. "Since my wife didn’t eat nor had something packed for her to eat something for breakfast or lunch, I was thinking of going there with a packed lunch."

"Today?" Jonathan raised an eyebrow, picking up the last piece of chewy snack and shoving it in his mouth.

Heiren snapped his eyes to look at the scarred faced mediator which caused Jonathan to flinch in his seat and almost choke on his snack.

"Isn’t it obvious? Of course, I’m planning to do it today! When else would I bring her packed lunch to her work? Tomorrow?" Heiren sassed and slammed his palm on the table, making her displeasure known to the other mediator.

Jonathan chewed the unnamed snack as fast as he could and swallowed it. "Calm down! I was only asking!"

"That was a dumb question." Heiren sighed and shook his head. "You could have asked something else, but you just have to ask that instead, huh?"

"It was because you didn’t make your story clear." Jonathan tried to defend himself, but he felt like he only dug his own grave by the way Heiren sent a dubious look in his direction, a puzzled expression settling on his face.

"Are you serious?" Heiren asked with a laugh that sounded too forced and so done. "Whatever, I only wanted to ask what you think about my idea."

Jonathan nodded his head slowly and pushed the plate away from him. "Uh.. Just to be clear, this idea you have was you thinking whether you should bring Coco her lunch today or not, right?"

"Yes." Heiren affirmed bluntly.

"Well, Coco’s a licensed hunter now, isn’t she?" Jonathan started with a thoughtful look on his face. "Let’s say that you did bring her lunch at the guild.. Are you certain that she will be there once you arrive?"

"Why wouldn’t she?" Heiren retorted back with a raised eyebrow.

"Because she’s a hunter." Jonathan rebutted with a matter-of-fact tone. "As far as I know, hunters like her don’t stay inside the guild and will go out of the city gates to finish their missions, no?"

Heiren paused at that, a look of realization crossing his adorable features.

"I’m guessing that you haven’t considered this possible scenario." Jonathan said with a small smile. "The fact that you’re only worried about Coco not having her meal this morning and lunch is admirable."

Heiren flinched and looked away, his face flushing at the words Jonathan dropped.

"You’re incredible, Mr. Hughes." Jonathan complimented him and laughed heartily. "But I’m sure Coco will be upset if she finds out that you waited for her for who knows how long."

"But she hasn’t eaten anything today yet.." Heiren mumbled, frowning and puffing his cheeks out like a child throwing a quiet tantrum. "I know she has money to buy food, but those foods aren’t as nutritious as the food I cook here at home."

Heiren’s fingers fiddled with the teacup handle, his gaze lowering to the dark liquid of his now cold tea.

Jonathan observed the way Heiren acted as he poured out his thoughts with a solemn glint crossing his chocolatey irises while worrying about his wife.

"Coco already has a lot on her plate and I just wanted to help ease those stress by feeding her good food.. But how can I help if she doesn’t want to wake me up to cook something for her?" Heiren murmured, circling his finger on the rim of the teacup.

Jonathan stared and felt his heart swelling with happiness at the sight of his friend’s spouse looking so concerned for her well-being.

".. You really love her, huh?" Jonathan couldn’t help, but asked aloud.

Heiren froze in his seat and stared at the dark liquid in front of him, his heart beating fast inside his chest as he dwells on the question that was asked to him.

With the loud and slightly stretched out pause, Jonathan felt like he had crossed a boundary he should have crossed.

So, while panicking, he spoke up. "Hey, it’s alright if you don’t answer, I was merely—"

"No, no, no.." Heiren laughed and cut Jonathan off, a small smile on his lips. "That question of yours just made me realize that I indeed love her.. That I love Coco."