Chapter 7: Chapter 7

"You really don't like him?" Maeve tsked and gave her sister a warning gaze before prepping the steak Hillary had requested.

Afraid that her sister would change her mind about that steak, Hillary shut her mouth and even gestured zipping her lips. It didn't take long before Maeve finish cooking as Hillary set the table for the two of them.

"What is it?" Maeve asked her sister as she cut her steak into tiny tidbits. She noticed the frequency of those stolen glances her sister was giving her while they ate.

Hillary cleared her throat and set down her utensils before she faced her sister seriously.

"What do you think of Mr. Thorne?" Maeve's cutlery stopped upon the mention of the last name she hated to hear lately.

"Can we just stop talking about him?" She asked with a gusty breath.

"I'm just asking, he seems... genuine." Maeve paused for a while before she returned her sister's stares.

"I know he's genuine, Hillary. I'm not dense." She confessed.

"Then---"

"He genuinely wants me, Hillary. He wants me. Like a thing to be possessed, something he can own, that's how he sees me." She explained even before Hillary can reason out for September.

"How 'bout you?" Her forehead creased in confusion with the question her sister thrown back at her.

"What do you mean?"

"How do you see him?" Hillary asked while her curious eyes ran around her sister's face.

"I don't like him, if that's what you were insinuating." She immediately defended which earned an amuse chuckle from her sister.

"Of course not! I'm just asking! You're too defensive!" Hillary said in between her chuckles before she picked up her utensils and once again digged into that delicious steak in front of her.

Maeve just snorted at the subtle teasing before she too, focus on eating.

Hillary stayed for a while after dinner before her sister literally threatened her to go home.

Maeve just finished taking a quick shower and is already preparing to go to bed, when the doorbell of her apartment rang. Her forehead creased as she look up to the digital clock attached on the left portion of her wall.

The clock says it's almost midnight. Who the hell would pay a visit at this hour?! Her irritation turned down a bit when she saw Hillary's cardigan on the couch. She sighed, took her silk robe from her room to cover up her white silky nightwear before heading to the door with the cardigan on her arms.

"Why are you so forgetful---" her scolding came to an immediate stop as soon as she realized that her visitor wasn't her sister.

"What are you doing here?" September looked down, trying to avoid her eyes.

"I'm hungry," he whispered but loud enough for her to hear.

"My apartment is not a restaurant, Mr. Thorne."

"Restaurants were closed already," Maeve's irritated face started to turn into a confused one when she realized that there's something wrong with his voice.

"Are you sick?" September immediately shook his head as he turned his face sideways to avoid her gaze.

Maeve sighed heavily before she took a step closer to him and put her palm above his forehead to check for his temperature.

"Where's your shadow?" She asked when she realized that he's alone.

"Shadow?" He asked a little disoriented.

"Your butler." She clarified.

"Oh. His family needed him."

"Your sick." She pointed out.

"No. I'm just hungry."

"You're burning." September didn't respond and instead just stared at her hopefully.

"Your chefs?"

"Falcon." Maeve shut her eyes tightly after hearing the name of the absent butler.

Just why would he leave without preparing any food for his sick boss?!

"For goodness sake September, food delivery is only a ring away!"

"I... I didn't know how." He said softly with his head down. His image of being a ruthless business man was nowhere to be found, instead he now looks like a kid being scolded by her mother for not knowing something that had been taught to him for a long time.

Maeve massage her temple as she stared at the pitiful state of the supposed to be the great manipulator in the city.

September silently watched Maeve busy herself in the kitchen of her apartment.

"Stop staring," she commented without looking back to the guy who was seated on the highchair just behind her.

"You look so wifey," he muttered dreamily.

"You sure is sick." She said which was then followed by a 'tsk' sound. She turned around after turning on the stove, she leaned back on the kitchen counter as she stared at the man in front of her.

September's brown hair was lazily done unlike those brushed up style that he usually wears at work. He was also wearing a casual plain gray shirt and black trackpants. His gray eyes were almost half-closed as he stared back at her, making him look so drowsy.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she walked towards him and check for his temperature once again. She sighed when her palm was immediately assaulted with the heat coming from his forehead. She left the kitchen to get the thermometer from the medkit on her bathroom.

"What were you doing? Why did you get sick?" She asked as she seriously look at him while waiting for the thermometer to work.

"I'm just hungry." He repeated. That's true though, this is quite normal for him. That's why Falcon had been keeping an eye on his food for he can't skip a meal or else he easily catches a flu or something. It just so happened that Falcon's daughter was sent to the hospital so he needed to leave asap.

"Stubborn asshole," a small smile appeared on his lips with Maeve's muttering. Both of their attention was directed to the thermometer that was place on his armpits when it finally made a sound. Maeve immediately took it and shook her head after seeing his current temperature.

"Wait here. You need to eat first before you drink any meds." She said before she left him to attend to the food she was cooking.

"How was it?" She asked as September took a sip from the broth soup she had made for him.

"It's warm." It feels extremely warm in his heart. Falcon's food was delicious but it never brought him this warm feeling inside.

Maeve was puzzled with his response but she was even more amuse after seeing the threatening tears under his eyes.

"Wait... Don't tell me this is your first time eating a broth soup?" She asked.

September took another sip before he looked up with a soft smile on his face as he shook his head.

"No. But this is my first home made meal." He confessed.

"You said Falcon was your chef?"

"Yes." He answered before taking another spoonful of the soup.

"What was he cooking?" She asked curiously.

"Something similar to the foods prepared in hotels and some restaurants."

Maeve was speechless as she watched him gracefully enjoy eating the food she had prepared for him.

"It's delicious." He said after a while of silence between them.

Maeve had been hearing this compliment almost from everyone but why does it sounded different coming from him?

"I know." She fired back which earned a chuckle from September.

When she realized that he was almost done eating, she stood up and retrieved some flu meds and put it down in front of him along with a glass of water.

September internally scolded himself when his vision blurred from the tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

He was touched. Extremely touched at that. The woman he likes was taking care of him while he was sick. Who wouldn't be emotional?

"Thank you," he said sincerely while staring directly at Maeve's eyes.

Maeve was caught in a trance for a while before a small smile appeared on her lips. It was very different from all those recent sarcastic grins she was giving him, this smile is merely visible but then he saw. He saw that he smiled at him without any hint of irritation and sarcasm.

"A'ight. Finish your food and drink your meds. Rest for a while then before you drive home. The meds might caused you some drowsy feeling." She said before she turned around in an excuse to go to the bathroom.

When she finally closed the bathroom door, she immediately leaned behind it as she held her left chest where her heart was rapidly and noisily beating. She closed her eyes tightly as she tried to calm down the unsteady beating of her heart.