You More Than Anything In The World

“Lunch's ready!” Shaun said with a smile. Arissa, engrossed in her novel, didn't notice Shaun.

“I'll be there in a moment!” Benjamin nodded at Shaun, wrapping up his work.

“Arissa, food's ready!” Shaun called out to Arissa before heading to the dining room.

“Huh?” Arissa looked up just in time to see Shaun's disappearing figure. She turned to Benjamin. “Did Shaun just tell us lunch is ready?”

“Yup! Give me a moment!” Benjamin didn't even lift his head as he tried to finish his work quickly.

Only then did Arissa notice the aroma in the air, her stomach growling in response. She couldn't help but take a few deep breaths.

“Wow, it smells great!” She gulped, put down the novel, and sat up on the couch, waiting for Benjamin.

After Benjamin finished his work, he closed his laptop and walked over, asking, “Are you hungry?”

Arissa nodded, her smile radiant as she looked at him. “Aren't you hungry?”

“A little!” Benjamin's lips lifted slightly as he bent down to pick her up and walked out of the study.

“I need to use the bathroom first!” Arissa whispered.

Benjamin cast a glance at her, noticing her evasive gaze. He chuckled lightly, finding her shyness amusing.

“You didn't seem like you wanted to go earlier, though?”

Arissa rolled her eyes and chuckled awkwardly. “I was holding it in!”

She was obviously too engrossed in reading and was unwilling to move, which was why she held it in.

A twitch played at the corner of Benjamin's mouth, and he gently patted her bottom. “Don't you know it's bad to hold in your pee?”

Arissa gave him a silly smile and spoke up to stop him. “Could you please not hit me? I can hardly hold it in anymore. Hurry up!”

With a light laugh, Benjamin quickened his pace toward the bathroom.

Arissa's face was flushed red. She would have run to the bathroom long ago if she could.

After both of them had attended to their urgent needs in the bathroom and washed their hands, they proceeded to the dining room.

Darius, Edwin, and Mary were all busy serving dishes and setting the utensils, while Shaun was in charge of ladling soup into bowls.

Seeing the two of them approach, Darius greeted them with a smile, “Please, sit down and eat. Today's lunch is quite a feast!”

Arissa looked at the table full of dishes. All the fish dishes she had mentioned earlier were there. There was spicy fish head stew, fried chicken, baked fish and mushroom, mushroom soup, garlic butter steak, cocktail shrimp, and salad on the table.

A feast was spread out on the table, the delicious aroma wafting in the air. The dishes were all her favorites.

She leaned over to take a whiff of the enticing aroma, then smiled and said, “It smells wonderful. Thank you all for your hard work!”

“Why stand on ceremony among family? Come, have some soup first!” Darius personally served her the soup, his affection for her evident in his actions.

“Careful, it's hot!”

“Thanks, Dad!” Arissa was overjoyed. Holding her bowl, she took a sip. “Delicious!”

Darius chuckled as he watched her. “We thought you were tired of mushroom soup, so Edwin added something different this time. Does it taste different from what you had before?”

“Yeah!” After taking a sip, Arissa realized something. “Did you add coconut to this?”

“Correct, you have such good sense of taste!” Edwin praised her with a hearty laugh.