You Are The Apple of My Eyes
Chapter 495 Kabe-don

Nina was breathless with anticipation.

She didn't know why she was so excited. She seemed to remember seeing his face before. However, John had never shown his face in front of her. He was always hidden behind that mask. She wondered why she thought she knew what he looked like.

Besides, she always felt that the mask John wore had something to do with the holes in her memory. Those holes would be filled if he took off the mask.

She felt familiar with him. She knew how he'd react if she told him something, the things he did when he thought no one was watching, even the pattern of his footfalls. She seemed to have heard his footsteps many times in her dreams.

He drove her crazy. She told everyone she hated him. But for some reason she was drawn to him at the same time.

Nina's loving gaze was what John looked forward to. And seeing her like that gave his heart a tingle. 'Who says she's forgotten me? She looks at me the same way she did in the past.'

He took off his mask.

"What? You wear two masks?" Nina saw that John wore two black masks and the corner of her mouth twitched. "I can't believe it."

Cali raised her head in confusion. "Eh? Sean, how will you eat?"

John ignored her.

Cali looked down sulkily and pursed her lips.

John never talked to her. She really envied Nina. The princess could even tease him.

"Cali, just ignore him. Whether he eats or not is not our business." Now thoroughly annoyed, Nina dug into her food.

Cali took a bite without thinking about it, and caught a glimpse of the chopsticks in John's hand. She raised an eyebrow. "Sean?"

Nina also raised her head, put a glass of fruit juice to her lips and watched him quietly.

He had a mask on. How on earth was he going to eat?

John picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks. Cali frowned and worried if he was so pissed off by Nina that he went crazy.

Nina kept on sipping her fruit juice. She didn't take her eyes off him. Would he finally take off the mask to eat?

She saw John put the piece of fish near his mouth, then a crease in the mask became a crack. It widened. He popped the fish in his mouth through that slit in his mask.

Nina couldn't see his lips, only his pearly-white teeth.

The princess giggled a little bit. It was funny.

And because she was drinking, she choked on her juice. Fortunately for her pride, only a little juice spewed out. The rest of her pride fled as she starting coughing uncontrollably. Her face was as red as the evening glow in the sky.

As a servant, Cali had learnt to stay calm no matter what. When she saw John's trick, her eyes widened.

When Nina started choking, she stood up, walked over to her, and patted her on the back.

"You okay, Your Highness?"

She looked at Nina carefully. Nina's face was red, so Cali directed one of the servants to call the doctor.

"I...I...I don't..." Nina coughed violently.

In a panic, John stood up and said, "Let's go." He was going to drive her to the hospital.

But he still wore the mask, and the crack in the mask moved with his mouth. Nina started giggling again, causing her to cough even more violently. "Ahem! You...you..."

"Cut it out. You'll just keep choking." John reached out to hug her.

Nina shook off his hand and said, "You...you shut up!"

John, startled by her words, opened his mouth a bit. The mask followed suit, and she could see his teeth again.

It was funnier than a frog with its mouth open.

"Shut up! Stop talking!" Nina shouted at him. She slowly stopped coughing, but her face was still red.

"Feeling better?" Noting that Nina had stopped coughing, Cali went to pour a glass of water. "Drink this. It might help." Nina took it and took a sip, finally calming down.

She had never seen something like John's mask before. It made her feel like laughing every time she thought of it.

"You are just too funny, Sean. We can't help laughing," Nina said, panting. "Cali, ask them to prepare another meal and bring it to Sean's room."

"I'm on it." Cali looked at John and then ordered others to head to the kitchen to help.

John hadn't even thought about it, and was sad that he made Nina choke. He put on the intact mask and blamed himself. "I'm sorry."

He did sound genuinely sorry. Nina's heart ached. She said with a half-smile, "No, I just think it's hilarious. Very creative."

"Enjoy." John turned and left.

Watching him leave, Nina was lost in thought. "I think he should do standup. What do you think?"

"And make everyone laugh to death? That would be cruel."

Nina laughed too. She felt blessed to be part of such a light-hearted group. She paused for a moment and smiled. "Almost. I really wanted to laugh, but I was too busy trying to catch my breath." Cali rubbed her forehead and said, "Me too."

The two of them looked at each other and laughed together.

That night, after putting the children to bed, Nina went back to the study. She picked up a pencil and worked on her designs.

It was so quiet in the study she could hear the scratching sounds of her pencil dragging along the rice paper. She was so engrossed in what she was doing she almost missed the sound of footsteps approaching. Almost.

The sounds got ever closer, Nina paused for a second and then went back to what she was doing. She kept her eyes on the paper, pretending not to notice.

Nina could tell he was close. So she clenched her pencil and spun around, threatening him with the pencil. He backed into the bookshelf, trying to avoid her attack.

"Sean! What are you doing here?"

John was taken aback. "How did you know it was me?"

"You think I don't know the sound of your footsteps?" Nina asked seriously.

Those words made his heart tingle again. He loved hearing that.

"I'd know that sound anywhere," she continued.

"I know it's you when you get close to me."

These two sentences made his heart jump. She could see a glint of joy in his dark eyes.

All of a sudden, she felt a headache coming on. She quickly lowered her head and tore her gaze from his eyes.

Nina said, "I can smell you, too." He sniffed his underarm self-consciously.

She giggled when she saw that. "Not like that. No one else smells quite like you."

John's heart skipped a beat and tears welled up in his eyes. He remembered she mentioned that to him on her birthday last year. "What? Are you surprised?"

"Maybe a little."

"You have a very unique smell. I'd recognize it anywhere."

"Is there a stink of sweat on my body?" John asked. He remembered he had asked Nina the same question in the past.

"No." The scent was familiar to Nina, but she couldn't tell what it was. It was faint, light, not at all cloying. She needed a minute to even figure out it was his.

Nina paid close attention to his smell that she didn't realize how close they were.

John was tense. He put his hands on Nina's shoulders, and they traded places.

With her back against the bookshelf, Nina faced John's strong chest and his two powerful arms were on either side of her, fencing her in.

Kabe-don!

"Hey! What the heck?" Nina looked at him vigilantly. Kabe-don meant exactly this. There was an expectation of kissing and perhaps more involved in the act.

Nina said calmly, "Quit it. You know what the penalty is for disobeying a princess? You could rot in jail for this."

"You did it a long time ago." His slender fingers slid onto her face and pinched it.

He liked doing that. Her skin was as soft as before.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐