Chapter 1416: Zoren’s brag

"We didn’t properly welcome you to the neighborhood last time, so we’re doing it right tonight!"

Nina and Finn stared at the big smile plastered on Penny’s face, speechless as the couple stood right by their doorstep. They couldn’t help but wonder if Penny and Zoren had overheard any part of their conversation from moments ago.

"Penny?" Nina snapped out of her daze and walked closer to the front door.

Penny raised her brows and moved the cake closer to them. "A welcoming gift."

"Uh..." Nina took the cake, casting Finn a quick look before facing the couple again. "Thank you. Why don’t you come in, hm?"

"Thanks!" Penny nodded, giving Zoren a light elbow poke before stepping inside with him, following Nina and Finn.

As they walked in, Nina forced a smile. "I’ll just take this to the kitchen and get us some slices."

"I’ll come with you!" Penny raised a hand, and before anyone could react, she had already jumped to Nina’s side. "I really want to try it. Come on, let’s do it quick."

"Uh... sure." Nina smiled back, and with that, the two of them walked to the kitchen, leaving Zoren and Finn alone—again.

Zoren and Finn watched them disappear before Finn snapped his eyes back to Zoren. Now, this felt like it was another horror episode for Finn.

"Is there... anything else I should know about why you and Penny are here?" Finn asked bluntly, assuming there was more to this visit.

No one could blame Finn.

This was too random. Besides, knowing Zoren, Finn doubted he would waste his time on small talk instead of locking Penny in a room just to have her to himself.

"My wife thinks our little ones are gaining too much weight," Zoren shrugged indifferently as he walked toward the living room, casually taking a seat on the divan. "So we went out for a walk, and then she remembered that Nina lived nearby."

Zoren leaned back and lifted his eyes to Finn, who had taken the other seat. "We ended up stopping by a bakery to buy a cake. She said it’s a nice gesture to welcome new neighbors with a cake."

"I think she just said that so she could eat some cake while still calling it ’exercise,’" Finn blurted out. At this point, he had a decent grasp of Penny’s character. He didn’t need to analyze too deeply—just looking at how Penny’s eyes had never left the cake since handing it to Nina was enough.

"Makes sense." Surprisingly, Zoren nodded in agreement. "I thought the same initially, but my wife is no hypocrite. This is purely out of the goodness of her heart."

"..." Finn tried to smile but failed miserably.

He was competing with Zoren to be the best husband and make Nina the happiest woman in the world. However, he had to admit—he hadn’t reached this level of delusion.

While waiting, Zoren glanced toward the kitchen where his wife and Nina had disappeared.

"Tonight, I made a special dish for her," he said out of nowhere, snapping his eyes back to Finn. "Do you want to see?"

"Just send it to me. I know you’re itching to show it off."

"I am not," Zoren corrected as he was already sending the photo. "What I am ’itching’ to do is not show you what I made but to find out what you made tonight."

DING!

Finn heard his phone ping in his pocket but didn’t reach for it. Instead, he just stared at Zoren, mentally preparing his rebuttal when the man inevitably realized he hadn’t cooked at all. But before he could speak, Zoren narrowed his eyes and studied Finn from head to toe.

"Based on your suit and the lingering yet faint scent of your cologne, you either just arrived home and haven’t had dinner yet, or you just arrived and are about to eat dinner," Zoren deduced. "I’d say it’s the latter. Meaning... you didn’t cook anything for your wife tonight. Instead, you let her cook for you. Worse, you’re eating take outs."

Finn’s brow twitched, but he still forced a smile. "Nina came home early, so she thought of making me dinner."

"Hah." Zoren raised his brows and rocked his head. "I see. How kind of her."

There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with Zoren’s words, but his expression told Finn he was judging him. And honestly? He was.

"Ah, god..." Finn exhaled and leaned back. "Mr. Pierson, just because my fiancée made me dinner doesn’t mean I’m a terrible partner."

"I didn’t say anything to make you so defensive, Mr. Davis."

"No words are needed when you’re giving me that look," Finn muttered under his breath, feeling slightly stressed over Zoren’s obsession with painting him as the lesser partner. He wasn’t—at least, he was trying his best not to be.

"I don’t think letting my fiancée cook for me is a sign of being a bad partner at all," Finn huffed. "It just shows how much she values me—that she wants to cook for me as well, even without me asking."

He paused, watching Zoren arch a brow. "And Nina isn’t lazy."

"Penny is not lazy."

"Then, tell me—does she make you dinner?"

"..." Zoren blinked, then blinked again, watching Finn’s face twist into a smug look.

Penny had tried to make dinner before, not just for him but for everyone. However, despite uncovering the mystery of how she always managed to ruin her cooking, everyone was too traumatized to let her try again.

So traumatized that whenever Penny headed toward the kitchen, people would stall her, while others scrambled to hide every utensil she could use to concoct her poisons. If that didn’t work, a line of people would form outside the kitchen, begging her to stop.

Which was why Penny had developed the habit of going to the kitchen just to mess with them. She had fun watching all the drama unfold. It was... cute.

At least, in Zoren’s eyes, it was.

"I see." Satisfied, Finn smirked and shrugged. "I guess, even with all that effort, the food is only good in pictures but not good enough to make her want to reciprocate—"

"Who says she doesn’t reciprocate?" Zoren cocked his head to the side, his right brow rising. "It’s true my wife doesn’t cook—for a lot of reasons. However..."

He smirked, making Finn narrow his eyes suspiciously.

"My wife lets me eat her instead," Zoren added proudly. "And it is far more satisfying, more irresistibly delectable, and fulfilling than any dish a human could ever make. But I guess you wouldn’t know since you haven’t tied the knot yet."

"..." Finn almost threw up blood upon hearing that gloating, hitting a nerve that stung so painfully.

Did he really have to say that just to win an argument?!