Gloria said it so sincerely that it caught Neville off guard.

She continued, "Shopping alone is dreadfully boring."

"I... enjoyed it," Neville honestly said. He really did enjoy it, if not for the pain in his feet. "Parts of it, anyway."

Gloria laughed, crinkling the corners of her eyes. "The parts where you weren’t roaming around, you mean?"

Since he got caught, Neville could only shrug and said, "Those parts, yes."

Their tea arrived, carried by a server who moved silently and efficiently. It seemed to be the common standard for living employees in this kind of high-end establishment.

The Moon Blossom tea was served in translucent cups that seemed to glow faintly from within, the liquid a pale pink that shimmered with tiny, suspended particles that looked like actual flower petals.

Neville took a careful sip.

It was... actually quite good.

He tasted the subtle taste of flora without being overwhelmed. It also had a hint of sweetness that lingered on the tongue.

"This place is as lovely as always," Gloria said, cradling her own cup between her palms. "I haven’t had a proper shopping day in ages. Eason’s father is wonderful, but he has absolutely no patience when it comes to these things."

"The man can negotiate a billion-star coins contract without breaking a sweat, but ask him to choose between two tie colors, and he looks like you’ve asked him to solve math in his head." She complained as it was, but shook her head fondly.

"As for my friends?" She paused for a second before waving her hand dismissively as if remembering an annoying thing. "Most of them only care about one-upping each other with their purchases. Who has the newest designer, whose jewelry costs more, whose anti-aging treatments are working better? It becomes tedious to calm them down and be the middleman, to be honest." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Neville could only imagine. After all, the world of upper-class socialites wasn’t something he had much exposure to. If anything, he had read enough to know it was often as cutthroat as any corporate boardroom.

"I’m glad I could accompany you," he said honestly. "Even if I’m still not entirely comfortable with—"

"With being spoiled?" Gloria gave a knowing smile, playing on her lips. "You’ll get used to it."

"I’m not sure that’s a good thing."

"Perhaps not. But it’s a thing nonetheless." She took another sip of her tea, watching him over the rim of her cup. "You know, Eason mentioned not pressure you too much last night."

Neville nearly choked on his tea. "Mr. Maxwell said that?"

"Among other things." Her smile turned mysterious, and Neville decided he absolutely did not want to know what "other things" Grayson had said.

Their pastries arrived, and Neville’s stomach dropped.

The "traditional pastries" turned out to be an assortment of items that looked deceptively normal. But to Neville, these were clearly victims of interstellar cuisine’s twisted fate with food.

The centerpiece was something the server proudly announced as "Budin Pie1". It was in the form of a disc. Neville recognized the base as a pizza-dough bread filled with something that glistened ominously in the light.

Gloria didn’t move. She stared and watched what Neville would do with barely concealed anticipation.

Oh no.

Neville stared at the plate. The pie stared back, its glossy surface seeming to mock him.

Gloria was still watching, waiting.

He couldn’t refuse because that would be rude.

Neville forced himself to pick up a small piece and have a very tiny bite.

Even if it was just a tiny bit of it, the taste hit him like he had been run over by a truck. The bread, as he had already suspected, was a pizza dough base. Since it was slightly fluffy, it absorbed the obviously thickened nutrient solution filling like how a sponge absorbs water.

That bite released a flood of that all-too-familiar warm version of chemical-slick flavor across his tongue. The texture was somehow both soggy and grainy. The "filling" oozed out the sides to drip onto his fingers with a viscosity that was fundamentally wrong.

Neville’s stomach lurched; he had the urge to puke. Every survival instinct he possessed screamed at him to spit it out and to hell with anyone watching him.

But one glance at Gloria and Neville decided to force himself to swallow it.

"How is it?" Gloria asked, innocently.

Neville opened his mouth to lie, to say it was fine, to somehow salvage this situation—

But his hand was already moving.

He opened his bag and put his hand inside it, making a hidden purchase through the system mall. His fingers flew across the interface with desperate speed.

A moment later, a pouch materialized in the bag, a lemon juice in a container that looked exactly like a standard nutrient solution refillable. The moment he could feel it, he grabbed it. He took a long sip until it was gone and went ahead to get another.

As if it wasn’t enough, he fumbled with the plastic of cookies that he made earlier to give to Gloria as a snack. He forgot about it until this moment.

The buttery sweetness of the cookie hit his tongue like salvation and overwrote that horrible taste.

He felt like crying.

But he could hear Gloria laughing.

The sound drew glances from neighboring tables.

"I knew it," Gloria managed to say between giggles, one hand pressed to her chest. "I knew you had some of those hidden away. You made the same face Eason made the first time I served him that pie."

Neville stared at her, cookie crumbs on his lips and lemon juice still clutched in his hand. "You—you did that on purpose?"

"Oh, absolutely." She didn’t look remotely apologetic. "I had to see if the rumors were true."

"What rumors?" Neville felt like he had walked into a trap.

"That you like to secretly bring food with you all the time." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Mind giving me some of that and that drink?"

"I’m not—" He fumbled for an excuse, but Gloria’s expectant expression left no room for escape, and sighed. "I prepared these for you anyway."

Neville gave the unopened one that he separated as a gift to Gloria. It was just that he missed the timing. Either way, he managed to give it, so it was all good.