'How come a stupid Ken managed to get her?'

He answered in a confident tone, "I'll take care of Rita. She is loyal to me, so you can be rest a.s.sured that the Kens won't get any information about us from her. I can vouch for her. She'll remain silent whatever happens."

"Just – make sure - Rita won't spill anything about our group or I will have her shut off!" the Old Man continued with a threat as he turned his back.

The Boss gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist. He knew that Old Man Skull was not joking about it. But, he was confident about Rita and her loyalty so she was safe from him.

Then he sighed. Of all the people to get involved with, just why on earth it be a Ken? He shook his head as he convinced himself that everything was just coincidental.

There's nothing he could do for Rita now, except to trust her loyalty.

He was aware there was a possibility that the Kens already knew his ident.i.ty. So, there's no way he could keep on hiding himself forever, but he has to wait to expose himself to them, until he was ready to appear in public. He would then fight one on one with Ryu Ken.

Besides, he was hiding since he didn't remember when… Ever since he was a child, darkness had surrounded him and he had struggled for almost everything…

=====

KEN MANSION….

"You don't know how to cook?" Dean blurted out. It's their first morning at the Ken's Mansion and his back was already aching hard.

Rita's eyebrow arched. Of course she did not know how to do household things. She was trained and groomed in a very different manner both physically and mentally. She was taught how to deal with the underworld and their things mostly riots and business deals.

Meanwhile, Dean made some stretching with his back as soon as he stood up because Rita made him slept on the couch and it was uncomfortable for him like h.e.l.l.

'What a mean woman!' He shouted inside but chose to remain quiet seeing Rita's harsh glare at him.

"Alright come with me, I will teach you how to cook. You need to prepare the breakfast from now on. Didn't Butler Omni brief you well?" Dean said with a creased forehead.

"Well he told me that and the rest I should watch out for. But what can I do when I don't know how to cook? Anyway I plan to follow instructions from some cooking sites on the web and cook the breakfast, so never mind I can handle this alone. Cooking shouldn't be that hard as business…" Rita said while she rose from the bed to fix herself before going to the kitchen.

"Nah, don't be stubborn. You don't know how picky my grandpa is when it comes to food. So it's better if I teach you how to make breakfast… Everything should be perfectly cooked and spices must be added properly…" Dean said smiling widely at her with his enthusiastic aura as he spoke.

He looked very charming that moment.

Rita's heart was thumping loudly and beating irregularly seeing that handsome smile and she unconsciously threw a pillow on Dean's face…

"Hey what's that?" Dean said frowning when the pillow hit his face.

"Opps, Sorry. You still look sleepy so I just wanted to make sure that you're fully awake…" Rita said as she quickly ran inside the bathroom.

"Geez, why can't she just admit that she was star struck with my handsome morning face just now," Dean said with a grin as he whistled loudly.

He was happy because his quick eyes had noticed Rita's blus.h.i.+ng face before the pillow smacked at his face.

'Sooner or later you will fall to my charms whether you like it or not!' he said dreamily full of positive vibes.

=====

In the kitchen, Dean was making his little advances while he was teaching Rita how to cook. He stood behind her and grabbed her hand stirring the vegetables lightly while almost falling on her back. He held her hand and stuck his arm with Rita's.

He was trying to be touchy in a very subtle way.

"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? Why are you standing so close and hugging me from behind?" Rita hissed as she made a light elbow strike to Dean.

"Ouch, that hurts… What hugging? I'm teaching you how to stir the ingredients properly. Don't you know that there's proper technique on how you move the ladle so every ingredients will be mixed properly and will taste good. Geez… you and your malicious mind..." Dean said while pouting and made face.

Rita looked at him and was cheated by his innocent looking face and said, "Okay, just don't get too close..." She couldn't concentrate well with Dean's body almost sticking on her back.

She was getting distracted by his scent and although she didn't want to admit but his each touch sent s.h.i.+vers down her body and while Dean was trying to teach her how to cook he was holding her wrist and Rita's brain function had already started to betray her…

She sighed and tried to ignore unnecessary things she was feeling and a.s.sumed that it was probably because she was stressed out lately.

Dean smiled wickedly behind her when he noticed that Rita had believed him and is no longer complaining.

"If she really kept getting deceived by my innocent face and is trapped in my charm my success is not very far away. She will soon accept me in her life." Dean thought. Yes! All he needed to do was to charm Rita and show her his sincerity for her and their relations.h.i.+p.

He was also suppressing his urge to not to hug her completely he didn't want to look like a pervert in front of her, but if she only knew her effect on him she would definitely kick his b.u.t.t out any moment.

"By the way, I'm just curious, how come at your age you don't know how to cook even you don't know the simple frying of egg?" he asked simply while he tasted the soup they made.

"I was adopted and I'm sure you are already well aware about my background. You must have seen in my profile about what teachings I received and how was I trained… What's the use in asking things you already know?" Rita answered in mockery and she wrinkled her forehead hearing Dean chuckled on her words.

"Hmm... I guess you're right but still I would like to hear your story from your own mouth. Reports are not usually reliable enough… I want to know my wife better. That way we can live in a harmonious relations.h.i.+p as husband and wife." Dean explained with a serious tone this time.

Rita paused on what she was doing because she was dumbfounded with Dean's last words.

She was taken aback by the seriousness and sincerity in his words and she glanced at him to find out his expressions…

'Is he really sincere about me and not just getting revenge for what had happened to his cousin?' that thought suddenly crossed her mind making her more confused with her current situation.