``` Chapter 34
“Here, Zinnia, the shrimp you wanted.” Yannis set a plate of shrimp in front of her.
Zinnia had just stuffed a beef taco into her mouth. The spicy flavor and the sour cream made her squint with satisfaction. She was about to try something else when she saw Yannis place the shrimp in front of her. “Thanks,” she said.
“Zinnia, why are you so cold to me? Did I do something wrong?” Yannis raised an eyebrow, noticing her attitude. The smile in his eyes faded a little.
She was clearly not as warm to him as she was to Jackson and Perry. Yannis frowned slightly, wondering if it was because Zinnia still remembered what happened last time.
But that was just an accident. He didn’t think she should treat him differently because of it.
“Well, you did tease her before,” Perry laughed. “Zinnia, don’t mind Yannis. Just tell me what you want, I’ll get it for you.”
“I’m sorry,” Yannis said. “I’m just treating her like a child.”
Yannis had planned to tease Zinnia a little when he came over. But when he saw her blank little face, the urge to joke just vanished. Her clueless expression made it hard to mess with her.
Still, he didn’t want to admit that, so he said seriously, “Zinnia, you look like a generous person. Don’t let Perry’s bad influence rub off on you. He’s just a clown.”
He even threw in a jab at Perry, since Perry had teased him before too.
“I won’t,” Zinnia said, pressing her lips together. She thought Perry was childish and Yannis was kind of dumb.
Yannis looked a little awkward. He could tell she didn’t think much of him.
“Alright, enough joking around. Aren’t you guys hungry? Come on, eat. I’ll take care of Zinnia,” Jackson said as he pushed a plate with two chicken wings in front of her.
“Of course I’m hungry. I skipped lunch. But I can take care of Zinnia too,” Perry said.
“Your appetite problem again?” Jackson looked at Perry, who had been anorexic for some time.
Perry’s hand paused around his fork for a second, but then he smiled. “Nah, just didn’t feel like eating. But now that I’ve got you guys here–especially ‘cute little Zinnia’–I suddenly feel hungry again.” Then he started eating some potatoes.
Zinnia slowed down as she gnawed on her chicken wing. She glanced across the table and noticed that Perry really didn’t look well. His smile seemed relaxed, but his face was pale and his lips almost colorless. He clearly wasn’t eating enough.
She made a mental note to make him some digestive pills when they got back.
Perry managed a few more bites, then put his fork down. He really didn’t have much appetite.
“Here.” Yannis passed him a glass of juice and stopped him from grabbing a drink.
Perry looked at him and gave a bitter smile.
“Zinnia can’t eat lamb. She’s allergic,” Jackson said quickly as Yannis set down a plate of roast lamb in front of her.
“Alright. If she’s allergic, we’ll skip the lamb. Don’t want her to eat it by accident,” Yannis said. “If she had a reaction, someone would definitely come after me.”
He waved at the waiter to take the lamb away and checked the table for other lamb dishes, having them all removed.
Zinnia was eating shrimp when she heard her name. She blinked in confusion, clearly having no idea what they were talking about.
Yannis looked at her and almost laughed. She gave him this weird mix of being clueless and clever at the same time.
“Zinnia, are there any other foods you’re allergic to?” Yannis asked. “You should let us know, so we don’t end up bringing you something you can’t eat later.”
She didn’t answer, so Yannis turned to Jackson. If Jackson hadn’t reminded him earlier, he might’ve ended up serving Zinnia something she couldn’t have.
“She doesn’t eat onions or garlic. She only eats lean meat, no fat at all…” Jackson listed off a whole bunch of things. This was why he had let Perry and Yannis go ahead and eat, while he stayed behind to look after Zinnia.
Jackson had forgotten to mention Zinnia’s dietary restrictions earlier, so there were quite a few things she couldn’t eat on the table. Some of them Zinnia didn’t even remember she didn’t like, but Jackson did.
For a moment, she felt like she was back with her master, who had always been so careful about her diet.
In truth, Zinnia wasn’t that picky. There were a lot of things she didn’t like, but if something she didn’t like appeared on the table, she wouldn’t say anything about it.
If she didn’t like the food, she’d just eat a little less. If she liked it, she’d eat more. If nothing she liked showed up, she’d just nibble on some bread.
Back at the Shaw residence, since the Shaw family preferred light foods, Zinnia hadn’t really had a proper meal for a long time. She used to just eat a little, then stop.
But after moving to the Lynn residence, there were more dishes she liked on the table, and her appetite gradually increased.
A few days ago, she hadn’t eaten much spicy food because her throat was bothering her from a cold. Today, when she saw the spicy tacos at the chili con carne, her eyes lit up immediately.
“Wow, Zinnia’s so picky! I’ll have to be careful choosing where to eat with her from now on,” Yannis said.
After mentally noting down everything Zinnia couldn’t eat, Yannis looked at her and thought, ‘No wonder she’s so small. It must be because she’s so picky.’
Zinnia actually wanted to tell him she wasn’t picky, that she’d be fine with just some bread. But then she thought it wasn’t really necessary to explain that to Yannis since they weren’t close. So, she just gave him a faint nod.
Yannis glanced at the food on the table and then brought over a plate of steak for Zinnia. The steak had no fat at all and was very tender.
“Yannis is right. Zinnia, you’ll have to be more careful eating out in the future. Allergies are no joke.
“If you ever come to this mall again and want to eat, just come to me. I’ll give you a free meal, and I’ll let the waiters know what you can’t eat,” Perry added, nodding in agreement. Eating out could never be too careful.
“Yannis, how’d you end up here? Aren’t you busy? Did you go see your dad after coming back?” After talking to Zinnia, Perry turned to Yannis.
Yannis had been abroad for a couple of years and had only just returned recently. Perry didn’t understand why Yannis had come to him.
“Go back and what? Let him beat me?” Yannis lazily picked up a taco and added more sour cream on top. Seeing Zinnia across from him, he lowered his gaze and took a bite of his own taco.
It did taste pretty good. ```