His Eagle Eyes on Me

"There's too much food for the two of us," Shelly exclaimed.

"You can pack the leftovers and take them with you if you don't want the food to go to waste." Hayden knew that Shelly was an easygoing woman and tended to relax around her.

"That's hardly appropriate!" Shelly smiled sheepishly. "Let's try our best to finish it all! I'm starving."

"Eat more and take the fruit with you if you can't finish it. I don't like fruits."

Hayden was not in the habit of eating fruits as they were all either too sweet or too sour, so he preferred water if he needed something after a meal.

"I love fruits, but I rarely buy them," she said. "Fruits are so expensive these days."Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

"Why did you buy a fruit basket when you came to visit my family, then?" Hayden asked and reached for another piece of pickle.

Shelly's mother indeed made great kimchi, and it went perfectly with the food they were having.

"I couldn't go empty-handed, could I? It would have been rude to do so." Shelly's nervousness slowly dissipated. "My parents always taught me not to visit someone's house empty-handed. I know your family lacks nothing, but I still feel it's not right to go empty-handed."

"Well, you could have bought something inexpensive," Hayden suggested.

"That's not necessary. I'm not as poor as I was." Shelly smiled, revealing two shallow dimples. "But you can give me some suggestions. Besides fruit, what else can I bring to your house?" Hayden had no suggestions. "Fruits will do!"

"Can't you think of anything else?" Realization dawned on Shelly. "Have you not visited other people's houses much?"

"Can you tell?"

"I guessed it. You're so young, and yet you are already this successful. You must have put a lot of effort into building your company," Shelly said. "Your mother told me that you lived abroad when you were very young and that you didn't like making friends."

"I thought it was a waste of time," Hayden admitted.

"Then is it also a waste of your time to have a meal with me now?" Shelly could not help but overthink things.

"Even without you, I would still need to eat," Hayden's tone relaxed as he revealed his inner thoughts. "People change as they grow older, including what they think and feel."

Shelly understood the meaning behind his words and a smile bloomed. "That's good. You should go out more. There are many beautiful places in the world, and many of them are found in nature."

"Yes."

After lunch, Shelly packed up the uneaten dishes and fruit and took them with her.

When she returned to her cafe, Courtney looked at the leftovers she brought back and gave her a thumbs up. "I'm speechless. Can you please stop acting like I don't pay you? Courtney looked at the container full of fruits and dug in. "What do you think others will think of you?"

"He asked me to take these with me. I felt a bit embarrassed at first, but it seemed like he genuinely wanted me to take them, so I did." Shelly could not eat anything else as she was too full from lunch. "Courtney, I know you probably think it's

unbecoming of me, but I'm not in a romantic relationship with him, so I don't have to care too much about my appearance or image."