A Piece of Your Heart

I blinked. A movie?

“Pardon?” I said hesitantly. Of all the things that I thought he would suggest, it was definitely not this one.

“To be honest, I invited you here because I was lonely and I wanted to watch this new movie with someone,” Nathan admitted. “I don’t have many friends, and the only ones I do have are working abroad.”

“Oh. I mean, watching a movie is fine, sure,” I assured him. “Um… I like the idea of doing something in exchange, but this feels a little too trivial?”

“It is? Then should I add something more?” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “You’re free all day today, right?”

I nodded.

“Okay. Then, after the movie, watch one season of an anime series with me,” he said brightly.

I wanted to groan reflexively, but I quickly held myself back.

I didn’t hate anime. In fact, I loved it when I was a teenager, and I used to watch a lot of them with my siblings. Ken still loved to watch anime, while Louisa would watch it with him from time to time during the holidays.

But as time went by and I got older, I got tired of watching shows like that. Not only anime, but also movies and TV shows. I would get bored easily, especially during sci-fi and fantasy movies. I usually couldn’t watch more than two or three episodes of TV shows.

Maybe it was because I was getting old. I didn’t know.

The only things I watched were short online videos and some tutorials and documentaries. Most of the time, I watched speedpaint videos.

As for stimulating my creative brain, I would read fantasy novels instead. I had always been an avid reader, after all.

So, watching movies and anime, which was also classified as a TV show – and one whole season at that – with someone, even if it was with Nathan or my family, was probably going to end up with me falling asleep in the middle.

But this was Nathan, and I was technically obligated to do the things he asked, so I had no choice but to accept. Not only that, but he even offered me a free physical copy of Ken’s favorite game. It was a good suggestion since I don’t usually like to watch TV.

But it didn’t feel enough for some reason…

“Deal,” I told him. “But I want to add a few more since I know that the CD probably costs a good chunk of my own wallet.”

“What would you like to suggest?”

I pondered over the possibilities in my head. “How about I cook lunch for you, too? I can even throw in something extra for dinner. Have you already eaten breakfast?”

He looked visibly surprised by this. “Cook?” he repeated. “You’re offering to cook for me?”

I nodded. Then it hit me. “Oh, sorry,” I apologized. “Have you already cooked for yourself?”

“No…” he said slowly. “I actually didn’t eat breakfast yet. I was planning to order us some food…”

“What? Then what have you been eating for the past few years of living alone?” I asked in surprise. Surely he didn’t only rely on takeout food and room service…

“I order food. That’s it.”

I knew it.

“Are you a picky eater?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I like to eat meat most of the time, but I can eat anything that’s available.”

“Only meat? What about salads and vegetables?”

“I eat salads whenever I’m in a hurry.”

“That can’t be healthy. I should really cook for you in return.” I held up a hand when he opened his mouth to seemingly protest. “It’s fine. I want to do this. I just need the ingredients. Do you have some here?”

He rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. “I recall my aunt stocking up the fridge about two weeks ago. I’m not sure what exactly she put in there, though.”

“Well, as long as you have some ingredients, I’m good. I can probably whip up a few recipes. Can I use your kitchen?”

“Huh? Oh, sure. Help yourself.”

I could feel Nathan’s stare as I made my way towards the kitchen.

It looked clean. Too clean, in fact. It was pretty obvious that the owner rarely cooked in here. The cooking oil container on the shelf was full, the frying pans were as clean as if they had never been used, and the numerous spices and seasonings looked as if they had just been purchased.

Then again, he was a CEO. It was understandable that he was too busy to cook, especially for himself. So I knew that most of the time it was convenient to just order takeout.

“You don’t have any servants?” I asked as I opened the fridge. To my surprise, it really was fully stocked. His aunt pretty much went all the way.

I bet that all of them were premium ingredients, too. Damn. Rich people were on a whole other level.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“No,” he responded. “My aunt always wanted me to try cooking for myself, but I’m afraid I lack the necessary talent.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “So you’re not so perfect after all, huh?”

There was a moment of silence that I barely noticed because I was too busy sifting through the vegetables. Since they were well refrigerated and there didn’t seem to be any signs of wilting yet, I figured they were in good condition.

I took some out of the fridge and started thinking about what to cook.

Since I was used to living alone, I would only cook dishes that I could consume in one day. However, I tended not to cook too much because I wanted to save as much money as possible.

Right now, I was in a CEO’s lavish condo unit, so making a small dish was out of the question. Since there were two of us, and his palate was probably as expensive as this place…

“You think I’m perfect?”

His voice from behind me immediately snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned around with my eyes wide open and saw him suddenly standing in front of me, watching me with an odd expression on his face.

I worded it as ‘odd’ because he didn’t seem to be angry or annoyed, but he didn’t seem happy, either. It was like a line between gentle and tense, and I had no way of knowing what his thoughts were at this very moment.

“What?” I said dumbly. I didn’t quite comprehend his words the first time since I got too distracted by his voice.

“You think that I’m perfect?” he repeated.