The sun was high in the sky. The streets were thronging with tourists and office workers. Both of them were on the search for quick meals to tide over the afternoon. Sharon, of course, was eating lunch at the diner again. As usual, it was busy and loud, enticing scents were drifting into her nose. As usual, she was shoving food right into her face. And, as usual, Cameron was eating right in front of her.

Now that she was settled into her new apartment, she was able to establish a routine similar to when she had been in Scott's apartment. It had been tough at first as she had to squeeze in a morning jog as well. She had to exercise but it was difficult to do it as she had used to. There was the lack of equipment and funds to actually join a gym. But slowly, she was making it work.

With that out of the way, she could fully focus on her job. Returning to office after literally being dragged out by Cameron, the office had been looking at her in suspicion. Many were questioning her credentials as it was clear that she was close to Cameron and Logan. They were watching her every move, listening to her every word, judging her every action.

At first, it was unnerving but she eventually got used to it. And it helped that Cameron came by to accompany her for lunch every single day. Without fail, whether it was rain or shine, he would be waiting for her at the lobby and they'd head to the diner. While she was admittedly peeved at his insistence at first, she got used to this arrangement. It gave them the time to talk, like they used to. Although time was extremely limited, this break was much needed.

Only now, as the third week of them doing this rolled around, she was beginning to get concerned about his health. Since they were only meeting for lunch, the only meal she knew he was eating was lunch. She had no idea what he was eating for his other meals. Knowing him, though, she had a feeling it was similar to what he ate during lunch. Greasy, artery-clogging rubbish. She wondered whether it was her place to worry but she worried regardless.

This was the fourth day he had accompanied her. It had all started the day after they returned from the short trip. Even though she knew it was delicious, they wouldn't exactly be the poster boy for healthy eating. Knowing what she did now about the way athlete's trained, she wondered whether this was going to affect him.

As much as she enjoyed this time with him, she still wondered what he was doing there. Trying to keep the frown from her face, she had thought that they were done after her clear distrust that afternoon. On top of that, after that unexpected visit from her sister, she had been more than ready to cut off anyone related to her. That also included Cameron.

But as much as she wanted to chase him away again, she just couldn't. She'd wanted to when he had followed her the past few times but the words died in her throat. Was it because of what he said in Atlantic City? She had no idea.

Even though she wanted to forget about him, in the depths of the night, those words always came back, as if haunting her. And she couldn't help the longing that filled her. Despite what he had done, she had never stopped liking him. Her feelings were just buried under all the bad things that had happened in a bid for self-preservation.

But they couldn't stay buried for long. Even though she was mad at him, he was always there. No matter how much she wanted to push him away, he always returned. And if she was being honest, he had been there for her when she needed someone the most. Even now, he was still there for her but in his own unique way. That short getaway was one such example.

She wasn't sure what her feelings for him were but she managed to settle something within her heart. That last thing she had wanted was to see the man who had deceived her. Just thinking about Tony had made her heart beat in anger and pain. She had thought these feelings would remain for the rest of her life but that lunch made her see him in a new light.

Seeing him again and knowing the things he had done to her, she realised what feelings she had for him was far different from what she had for Cameron. With Tony, it felt like a schoolgirl's crush. Shallow and fake. Even though they had gone out a couple of times, under the guise of work, she didn't know any more about him as she did when she had first met him. In fact, she knew even lesser.

But with Cameron, she knew him well. The things she knew about went further than just the surface-level. And she knew she could rely on him. He was the one who had fought for her to get the job she had now. Even though she hadn't appreciated it then, she knew that if he hadn't done that, Matt wouldn't even entertain the idea of giving her the position. He would have fought harder against the lawyer's demands. And then, he had shown his vulnerable side.

She could never forget how earnest he had looked when saying that. A smile came to her lips just thinking about that. He had looked so adorable, being all honest and open. But she wasn't able to appreciate it then, much to her regret.

Having been a mass of turbulent emotions at that moment, all she'd felt was disbelief, anger and a small smidgen of joy. They had all coalesced into a muddy mess of emotions. Something she couldn't process at that time. It wasn't until they had visited the Boardwalk where things became a bit clearer.

"Why are you smiling like that?"Cameron asked around his huge bite of burger. Giving him a look of disgust, she overlooked this breach of table manners when he pushed his basket of fries to her.

"I'm not smiling at anything. I'm just wondering whether this is healthy for you,"she responded, going back to her initial concern for him. "I mean, you're eating such greasy, heavy food every day. Aren't you getting sick of them?"

"I can ask you the same question. You come here every day, too." His eyes were challenging her but she wasn't going to deny the truth. That was an exercise in futility.

"Well yeah. But I don't order the same kind of food all the time. You order the burger every single time. Aren't you bored of it? Plus I have a perfectly good, healthy dinner at home. So it kind of balances things out,"she countered, looking down her nose at him. He only gave her a disgruntled look, taking another bite of his burger. Hiding her smile, she returned to her sandwich.

"So you're still using the slow cooker?"he suddenly asked, making her choke on her sandwich a bit. Indicating for him to wait, she faster chewed and swallowed.

"Yeah. It's easier for me to not worry about dinner after getting through the rush hour."

"Man, I miss your food. Haven't been eating anything good at all."

"Then why don't I come and cook for you one day?"she offered blithely. She hadn't meant anything much by it. She was just happy about what he said. But he reacted like she had given him a million dollars.

"Yes. Great. How about this Friday? You don't have anything planned right?"

"No. There's no game or anything-"

"I'll pick you up after work then. Same spot, same time."

"A-alright."

She was still puzzling over his reaction but realised that this was an opportunity to rein in his unhealthy eating habits. She was more than happy. That was until he said those dreaded words.

"We'll have to go to the supermarket first."

---@@@----

"I still don't know why you just have to buy all those frozen food,"Sharon complained, putting down the groceries on his kitchen counter. Cameron just smiled even as he put away her ten tubs of ice cream. She aggressively began putting away the stuff. There was a particularly hateful glare at his frozen pizza before she shoved them into his freezer.

The supermarket trip had been as contentious as ever. They had fought over every little thing. But he couldn't believe the contentedness of doing such a simple thing. They had just gone to the supermarket. It wasn't a particularly romantic thing but he was deriving so much pleasure and delight from it. It was as if they had gone on a great date together.

In a way, it was a date with her. And this felt like a validation of his feelings for her. The emptiness, the feeling that something was missing that he had been haunting him, was gone. The coldness that had seeped into his body, his soul, was dissipating with only warmth remaining.

And he had had a hunch that she was feeling the same thing. There was a spark of joy in her eyes that had been missing before. She seemed happier and livelier. Even as she was stomping around his kitchen and figuring out where everything went, she appeared more curious than annoyed. She was having so much fun that he didn't have the heart to tell her where to put what. He just shadowed her and put the things away in the right place.

"Can you stop doing that?"she burst out, having caught sight of him correcting her mistake. Then shoving the bag into his arms, she looked away with her nose in the air. "Since I'm making so many mistakes, why don't you do it yourself? This is your apartment. I mean I'm the guest. Why am I evne doing this? Why are you making do this? And, and some of the shelves are too high."

"Didn't you come here to cook for me?"he reminded even as he took the bag from her and continued where she left off. She just huffed and grabbed a can of soda before leaving to the living room. Smiling, he looked around his messy kitchen.

It was weird to see his shelves and fridge being filled with food. He rarely came to the kitchen apart from using the microwave or getting a beer. And he had been fine with that.

But after living with Sharon, he had gotten used to seeing food behind whatever he opened. There was the added perks of her frozen homemade meals. He could eat delicious meals whenever he wanted. It could be said that he had gotten spoiled.

There had even been a huge surge of envy when she told him of her homemade dinner. Of course, she would be cooking for herself. It was just that he missed them so much. And now that he was going to get some, his mouth was watering endlessly. Shaking his head, he resumed the work. But he couldn't help looking around. Finding the whole chicken in the sink and the ingredients set aside, he was already picturing what she was going to cook.

While he was fantasizing about dinner, the chore became much easier and ended much faster. He was that eager to have her start cooking. Then he began taking out some of the appliances that he had. It wasn't much. Wondering how she was going to make it work, she entered the kitchen.

"Hey, these are all the things that I have. I don't know where I got them from or when I last used them but I think they're fine. But are they enough for you?"he asked.

"S-sure. I'll make do. But, ah, Cameron, is there someone else here?"she asked. The fear in her voice grabbed his attention and alarm blared in his head when she said that. He knew she wasn't given to flights of fancy so this was a legitimate question. What made her say that?

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just heard something from your room. Not like something falling or anything but something moving." There was a tremble in her voice made him more alert. Wondering whether he should investigate or call the police, a female voice suddenly shouted.

"Cameron?"

"Holly?"

AN: Hi guys. Hope you're well. How's your day been? And for my Muslim readers, how has your Ramadan been? As usual, I'm barely doing anything out of the ordinary, just fasting and the Terawih prayers. But I'm curious to know how Ramadan is for you? Any special food or traditions? Let me know.

So how did you like the chapter? They're spending more time together now and this time, their feelings are out in the open. I am curious to see where this will go. Should she play hard to get? Or they talk about it and get together? So many things are in my head right now. 

Anyways, please VOTE and COMMENT if you liked the chapter. Do follow me on Wattpad, Twitter and ko-fi for updates. Don't forget to check out my book, Accidental Babies, on Amazon.

THANKS!!!

P.S. I received a feedback that some of you might not get the update when the chapter goes live. Would you guys like me to do an announcement? Let me know this too.