A Vengeful Ex-Wife
Chapter 380 I Will Become A Nun

"Okay, I'll wait for the dishes cooked by Chef James!" Maria said and believed he could cook. In her eyes, there was nothing in the world that he couldn't do, except for giving birth. James kissed her on the lips and said, "Go upstairs and take a shower. I'll call you when food is ready."

"Okay."

Maria obediently walked up the stairs, stealing a peek at him every now and then. In the kitchen, James opened the fridge and found it densely packed with ingredients. He didn't know where to start. Finally, he took out his phone and looked for the ingredients according to the recipe that he had selected.

Maria completely believed in him. After putting the Juliet Roses into a vase, she took a shower, and then went to the study to deal with some business matters.

A little more than an hour later, she received a call from James asking her to come downstairs.

In her excitement, she quickly turned off the computer and hurried down the staircase.

When she entered the dining room, however, her face changed.

Looking at the dishes on the dining table, she asked uncertainly, "James, I guess you're better at cooking Western food, right?" The Chinese dishes that were laid out on the table looked terrible.

James, who was already pale after his hour-long ordeal in the kitchen, became even more dejected after hearing her words. "I can make sandwiches," he mumbled.

Seeing his expression, Maria couldn't help chuckling. "I'll get some rice," she said, walking into the kitchen.

"Okay." With a deep sigh, James sat down at the dining table. The longer he stared at the dishes, the more he wanted to throw them away.

Finally, he decided to stop thinking and just act. He picked up two of the dishes and walked towards the trash can.

"What are you doing?" Maria shouted, spotting his movements from the kitchen.

"I'll call the chef and ask him to cook for us."

Realizing what he was intending to do, Maria hastily ran to him and said, "No, put them down. I haven't eaten the food you cooked yet!"

"Don't you think it's too unappetizing to look at?" James asked in frustration, lingering near the trash can.

"No, I don't. It might not look amazing, but it still might taste good! If you insist on throwing it away, I'll be angry at you!" Maria said, pouting. "Fine. Let's eat," James agreed, walking back to the table with the dishes.

"Okay."

The two of them sat down and served themselves. Maria bravely picked up a piece of scorched eggplant and put it into her mouth. After chewing it for a second, her mouth froze. The eggplant was salty and bitter, but she kept her face neutral and forced herself to chew and swallow the food in her mouth.

When it came to a man like James, who was not romantic in the slightest, it was a big deal for him to even offer to personally cook for her, so she didn't want to ruin the moment.

In contrast, as soon as James took a bite of a shrimp dumpling, he put down his chopsticks and threw the rest of the food in his bowl into the trash can. Then, he grabbed her hand, which was hovering over the plate of shrimp dumplings, and said, "Don't eat it."

Maria blinked lightly, pretending to be confused. "What's wrong?"

"I'll ask the chef to cook. Let's just throw these dishes away." James had never tasted anything worse in his life.

He decisively picked up the plate of shrimp dumplings and poured them into the trash can. Maria, who was eating the rice in her bowl, said unhurriedly, "Well, for me, this is a fancy meal. What they served us in prison was far worse than this. But in order to survive, I had to eat."

James, who was taken aback by the sudden change in topic, didn't know what to say. A pin-drop silence filled the room as he nervously slipped back into his chair.

"Have you ever eaten boiled cabbage and radish? Probably not. I've eaten undercooked radish and cabbage, without any seasoning. If you don't eat the food they serve, not only will you starve, but you'll also be beaten as a punishment.

Nobody would come to help you. If it happened to you once, you'd never forget that experience," Maria continued, stirring the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks.

She didn't look at James, but she guessed that he would feel guilty after hearing this. And that was exactly what she wanted.

"Mia," James called in a low voice, grabbing her hand that was holding the chopsticks.

Looking at his two hands clasped around hers, Maria smiled and looked up at him. "You know, back then, I kept thinking about who I should blame for my miserable fate. It just didn't make sense. I'm a person who believes in karma. Ever since I was a child, I had never done anything to hurt someone else. So why did I end up like that? It wasn't fair."

What she didn't tell him was that when she was on her deathbed one day, she would not have any regrets, because it was during this period of her life that she was the happiest she had been since she was a child.

She had the love of James, the care of the elders, a few good friends, and an adorable child. She never had to worry about money, nor did she have to live in the shadows, worrying about when she would get beaten up again.

"That's why I'm very grateful to Norman. He took me away from the pain and taught me a lot. He gave me things that no one else ever had," Maria pressed on. She wanted to break James' heart, so she didn't hesitate to hurt him more. "I've even thought that I should marry him. Although I had a failed marriage and had given birth to a child, I could still be a good wife to him to make up for it."

Just like she had expected, James felt like his heart was on fire. When he heard that she had considered marrying Norman, his mouth went dry, and his stomach dropped.

"What a pity," Maria said, sighing. "He already had someone in his heart." What she didn't say was that she already had someone in her heart, too.

Even though James had hurt her so much in the past, she still couldn't keep calm when it came to him.

James stood up and walked to her side. Then, he sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms. "I know I can't make up for the pain you have suffered just by saying sorry, but Mia, I'm willing to spend my whole life making it up to you."

Maria wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded. "I believe you can do it. James, promise me something."

"Go ahead."

"If one day, I'm gone-" Before she could continue, James leaned forward, crashing his lips against hers.

He couldn't bear to hear the rest of her sentence. His hands around her waist were trembling slightly. Without her, he would probably go crazy.

Maria struggled for a long time before finally managing to pull away. She stared at him in disbelief, panting for breath. "Why aren't you letting me talk?"

"I will if you say pleasant things."

"I'm just stating facts. When did you become so vulnerable?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow.

James kept silent. He had discovered that he could not keep calm when it came to her, either. Although he was in his early-thirties, he acted like an impulsive teenager around her.

"If one day, I'm gone, you have to take good care of Bob until he grows up. Don't replace him a stepmother before he grows up, okay?"

"You'll be here too. You can't die without my permission."

Hearing his childish rebuttal, Maria felt a little tired.

"James, everyone dies sooner or later."

"You're right, but you won't die before Bob gets married and has children of his own," James insisted. He would never allow her to die so early.

The life he had left to spend with her was too short-only a few dozen years, at most.

Although they couldn't control life and death, he hoped that they could both live for a long time and spend the rest of their lives together.

"If you won't let me die, I'll become a nun!" Maria snapped, pretending to be mad at him.

"Not unless I die first!" he retorted.

"No, I'll become a nun first!"

"Try it, if you dare. I'll just knock the nunnery down."