Finishing the final work for the day, Aaron glanced at his wristwatch. It was already 2 in the morning. "Good work, everyone. We've finally covered most of the damages. From tomorrow, you won't have to do extra shifts. Thank you for all your hard work." Aaron addressed his staff members. 

***

Reaching home, it was almost 3, Aaron sneaked into the kitchen and scanned through the refrigerator. He didn't want to wake anyone up for his dinner as he just wanted something to put off his hunger, just enough to help him sleep. 

Taking out some fruits he moved to the dining area, but the sight in front of him made him halt. "Ciao Signore Aaron, please have a seat," His fiancee greeted him with her most sincere smile. 

His brows quirked up, "you're awake?" 

"As you can see," She shrugged her shoulders, "come on," she gestured. 

Aaron blinked in confusion as he sat on his chair as Ai uncovered the lids of the dishes. She had made some traditional Italian meals. "well this is my first time making these. They might not be as good as your chefs, but they're edible, I promise." She gave him a nervous smile.

"Hope you like it," She said as she served him the first main course of the dinner. 

Aaron was speechless.

She gestured him to try, he nodded. He closed his eyes as he savored the food, 'Not bad for the first try' he thought. 

As he opened his eyes, his gaze met her curious eyes, "So?" She asked.

"I..." he didn't know what to say, "You didn't have to, you know... do all these..." His hand rubbed the back of his neck. 

"I didn't have to, I agree but I wanted to," She replied, "If you remember the things I wanted to do with my fiance list, I wanted us to have at least one meal together in a day." 

"Ah yes, the list," He nodded, "Sorry, I was too busy these past few weeks, but now the situation is much better so we can continue marking the things off the list." He smiled at her. 

"tsk, tsk," She clicked her tongue as she shook her head. 

He raised his brows at her.

"You're losing the point here," She said, "You seem to have misunderstood something, I didn't give you that just to mark them off, I don't want it to be done just for the sake of doing them... but wait, handing off the list like that may have made you think that way, hmm..." she pondered, "Actually all my life I've never got time for anyone else in my life just my family, my bakery and my friends, but whenever I looked at the couples coming to my bakery, my friends with their partners, I sometimes wondered if I could do things like that with my partner too, so I just took few notes of the things I'd like to do with my partner, that eventually turned into a long list. So when my mom wanted me to go through this arranged marriage I thought even if it's an arranged marriage I'd like to do those things with you. So there's no meaning if you're feeling forced to just tick them off the list, I think I just wanted us to get closer through those things and just that."

"I see, sorry about that."

"I'd rather have the feedback on the dishes than sorry," She rested her chin on her palms and looked at him like a curious child. 

"They're g-good," He stammered, "Sorry, I mean really good." He smiled at her. 

"thank you," She smiled back at him, "have some more then," She served him another dish. 

While he was eating, she looked at him happily, he cleared his throat as he felt awkward being watched. 

"Have you had your dinner?" He asked. 

"Nope, I'll have it after you," She answered.

"So you can keep staring at me?" He asked her sarcastically. 

"yes, I enjoy when others relish my dishes like this, I've always been like this I love to feed people and I enjoy seeing them have their meal especially when I'm the one who made it." 

"that's so absurd," He rolled his eyes, "That's a no-no" He picked up a plate and fixed the dinner for her. 

"But-" She tried to resist.

"It's a little lonely eating by myself, so please let's have this dinner together?" He asked her.

"Ah, okay you win," She smiled.

"And also about that list, we can continue, you wanted to do those things-"

 "No, no, it's actually fine if we just let that list remain a list, because I just realized it, doing the things on the list won't make us understand each other, but I've found another way to do it." She replied.

"And that is?" 

"Have a talk over dinner? Like we're doing right now," She told him. "a meal once a day with a little bit of tini-tiny talks? better isn't it?"

"Hmm, I guess," He nodded.

"So let's start with... how was your day today?" She directed the conversation.

"Busy... good... a mix of both," he replied, "You'd know you were there, weren't you?" He looked at her.

"I'm so sorry, I did disturb you, didn't I?" She hung her head apologetically.

"Looks like you misunderstood something," he cleared his throat, "What I want to say is, yes busy it was but thanks to someone I slept like a log." He chuckled.

Ai frowned in confusion.

"I'm saying you were the good part of the day," He replied bluntly.

"Eh?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Ah... I... I mean..." He stuttered, "I don't usually fall asleep in the office, but I did today, thanks to you." He explained.

"I see, that's a good thing right?" She asked.

'Are you kidding me?' He thought raising a brow at her, he literally just said 'the best part of the day'.

"I wouldn't thank you for the bad thing, would I?" he looked into her eyes.

"Oh... yeah... of course," She replied flustered by his gaze.

"So will  you be having breakfast tomorrow with us?" She asked him to change the topic.

 "Yeah," He nodded, "We overcame the crisis and now will be shifting back to our regular schedule, so I can join you for the breakfast." 

"Grandfather was right, you really can do anything once you've put your mind to it," Her gaze reflected admiration. 

"uh-huh? so he did tell you what he put me through?"

"yeah... well, I asked." She shrugged.

"I bet it was 'the Satan' feeding him those ideas." He rolled his eyes reminiscing everything he had to go through, in the past few months.

"You mean Rihito's grandfather?" Ai asked.

"You know him?" He was surprised.

"Not personally but I've been a witness to what he 'can and can't do' things." She remembered all the past events. 

"Rihito and Rina." Both said in unison.

"and now us too," Aaron added.

They continued their talk as they walked to their rooms, "He is indeed a very scary person," Ai heaved a sigh.

"He is scarier in person," Aaron replied.

"Really? But he doesn't sound scary when Teresa talks about him." 

"Oh yes, your best friend isn't any lesser." Aaron scoffed.

"She's the nicest person I've ever met," Ai replied in her defense.

"uh-huh?" He raised a brow at her. "How did you end up being friends with them anyway? Rina and Teresa, I know they've been schoolmates but..."

"Of course, I couldn't afford to be their schoolmate," She laughed it off.

"I didn't mean-"

"I didn't say anything," She retorted. "I don't mind your question, don't worry, it's only natural to ask anyway, so yes, Teresa had this really weird habit of getting lost even in a familiar surroundings, so one day on her way to school she lost her way and ended up in front of our bakery, and you know Teresa's love for sweets..."

"Yes, Ryouma was nearly hospitalized, I've heard." He nodded.

She laughed, "yeah, so she loved our bread so much that next day she dragged Rina along with her, I still remember it very clearly, during that time my father used to run the shop, it was a really small shop, nothing fancy, nothing eye-catching but Teresa, she took the marking in her hands, she was just a stranger but the heights she went to promote our shop..." She chuckled reminiscing, "And yeah, that's how we became friends." 

"Hmm..." He nodded, "must have been hard for you, after your father..."

"To be honest, not really, I mean, losing my father, the pain was tremendous, it was hard taking the responsibility, managing the house, managing the shop, but if I didn't have Teresa and Rina then I might not have been able to run the business so smoothly."

"Friends that are more like family... always hits different, don't they?" 

"hmm... okay now, my turn, how did you meet your friends?" She asked.

"oh don't remind me," he shook his head.

"Why?" 

"Well-" He was about to speak but was interrupted.

"How long are you going to chit-chat in the passage?" Alice opened the door rubbing her eyes.

"Oops," Ai muttered. They didn't realize but they had been talking right outside her room.

"I don't mind you guys bonding over small chit-chats but people need to sleep you know," Alice complained.

"hmm... sorry about that," Aaron apologized.

"Sorry," Ai muttered. 

"Whatever, now kiss each other goodnight and retire to bed," Alice yawned as she went back inside the room leaving the door open for Ai.

They blinked at the girl's words and smiled awkwardly. 

"Good night, then." Ai blurted out abruptly and rushed inside the room closing the door behind her.

"... Good night." Aaron whispered to the closed door in front of him.