A Love Trap

Francis looked down at the vegetable in his hands. 'Did I do something wrong?'

"What's wrong?" he asked innocently.

Looking at his handsome face, Ellie couldn't find the words.

"Ellie, what's the matter?" Ashley came in from the living room. When her eyes fell on the vegetable in Francis's hands, her mouth twisted. She had been away to fetch something just for less than a minute. How could he mess up a simple job of washing vegetable?

Only the stems remained in his hands and the leaves were torn into pieces and scattered all around.

"Can you tell me what kind of vegetable you are washing?" Ashley came over and looked at the stems in the basket. She stared at his innocent face resisting the urge to punch it.

"Isn't this how you're supposed to wash it?"

"Then what is it?"

Francis looked at the pile of leaves in another basket and said, "Oh, you meant these? These can't be eaten, right? I have removed all the leaves. I will throw them away."

"Who told you those can't be eaten?" asked Ashley.

"But I have never eaten those. Can they really be eaten?"

Judging from Ashley's and Ellie's expressions, Francis could tell that he must have goofed up.

Ashley slapped her forehead. "Okay, I will take it from here. You go rest in the living room," she said in resignation.

And this time she didn't listen to Francis' explanations. She just pushed him out of the kitchen. If she allowed him to stay in the kitchen any longer, there wouldn't be any dinner today.

Francis was puzzled at being pushed out of the kitchen. He asked Ashley for the name of the vegetable and searched it online.

water convolvulus, angiosperm, known to have

Internet. You could cook the leaves, or you could

mumbled, "So

a whiff of the aroma,

piece and tried it. His eyes lit up. He turned to Ellie and

briefly but didn't say anything.

like. We have work for you to do

didn't hear her. He was totally immersed in

living room feeling lazy and satisfied. He had tasted

you have eaten so much for free. Are you going to do

immediately, "I'm always

the dinner table

on the couch comfortably and started watching TV. Ashley stroked her stomach and said, "I think

deserve it. Why did you compete with him at the dinner table?" Nevertheless, she started

so much and so fast, she, too, was infected by his zest. She ended up eating more than she

the direction of the kitchen from time to time. She was amused. "Why? Are you worried

said, "Why would I worry about him? I'm just

just washing the dishes. He won't

there was a loud crash from

sentence, there was another loud

slap in her

found Francis standing in front of the sink with a pile of broken

moved away from the broken dishes and said, "Ashley, your dishes are poor in quality. They break as soon as they are dropped to the floor. Next

a genius in coming up with excuses.

were dropped to the floor? What the hell