Ten minutes later, they emerged from the aquarium into the bright afternoon sun.

As they walked around Xylos’s Shopping Center, Grayson turned around and said, "One thing first."

Neville raised an eyebrow.

Grayson gestured at his own shirt with an expression of distaste that Neville had never seen before on that face.

"We probably need to change."

Neville looked down at his own shirt nightmare and remembered his ridiculous glasses.

"Agreed." He said, nodding.

What followed was an experience Neville could only describe as "shopping with a man who had no concept of a budget."

They found a nearby boutique that wasn’t as expensive as the one that Neville had been with Gloria before, but it was still expensive by commoners’ standards.

They entered one of those minimalist establishments that had more mirrors than merchandise. Grayson swept through their racks, quickly selecting items.

"This one." A soft gray sweater, cashmere blend, in Neville’s size.

"And this." A jacket that resembled the hoodie that Grayson was wearing earlier, but wasn’t as soft.

"These would suit you." It was a pair of dress shoes, made with some leather. He barely glanced at it before being added to the growing pile.

Neville watched, increasingly alarmed. "Grayson, we don’t really need this right now."

"You might need it someday." Grayson lightly said, "I’ll have them send the other stuff over to your house."

"I can also pay for my own—" Neville hurriedly turned on his light brain.

But then Grayson stopped him mid-motion. "Consider it my treat."

Neville furrowed his eyebrows, "Why would you need to treat—"

Grayson just turned away from him and spotted another shirt.

He hovered the shirt in front of Neville for a second before saying, "Here, take this too."

Neville, who caught the tossed shirt, hurriedly caught up to Grayson. "Listen, to—"

"This one is good too." Grayson, as if he didn’t hear anything, tossed another piece to him; this time it was pants.

Neville gripped the clothes in his hand and, almost shoutingly said, "As I said—"

But then Grayson cut him off by showing him two sweaters with the same design but different colors. "Which one do you want to wear right now?"

[Favorability +1%]

Neville closed his mouth in helplessness and eventually stopped protesting after being countered seamlessly by Grayson.

Grayson was really enjoying this.

Having learned from Gloria’s shopping habits, Neville resigned himself to following along and pointing out items that caught his eye, picking out the ones that he really liked.

If wealthy Grayson wanted to blow up obscene amounts of money by shopping, who was Neville to stop him?

Besides, some of these clothes were really nice.

"We should browse some more; there must be a much better option in here," Neville said as he led the search.

Grayson also selected items next to him, but always ended up picking something that seemed to match Neville’s.

Each time, Neville would shoot him a glance, asking what was going on. But then Grayson would flash this innocent expression like he had nothing to do with it.

By the time they had made their third lap around the clothing section, Neville had begun to suspect that Grayson’s "browsing" was really more calculated than he had initially let on.

"This is the fourth time, Grayson." Neville pointed out as Grayson handed him yet another accessory, this time a navy scarf mixed with white detailing.

"Is it?" Grayson’s tone was mild. "Coincidence."

"A coincidence." Neville slowly repeated.

"A coincidence," Grayson said more firmly with a cheeky smile.

"Uh-huh. Is that so?" Neville narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "You mean to say that you don’t want us to keep wearing matching clothes?"

Grayson’s ears went pink being pointed out straightforwardly like this. "I didn’t say that."

"You didn’t say you don’t want it either." Neville rolled his eyes and seriously said, "If you’re doing this on purpose, just stop. We still have another place to go."

Grayson raised both hands as a sign of surrender.

He watched as Neville continued to rummage through the clothing shop without realizing that he himself was also unconsciously matching their clothes too.

Grayson, recalling someone with the same habit as Neville, couldn’t help but comment, "You’re shopping like mother now."

Neville froze mid-reach for a scarf. "What?"

Grayson stood nearby wearing his own new outfit. It was a black turtleneck, fitted trousers, and a coat that made him look like a very expensive assassin, already paid for and worn.

He didn’t forget to clean up his glasses and wore it. Not that it would change the fact that he was still attractive behind those lousy glasses.

Grayson looked at Neville with an amused glint in his silver eyes.

"The way you browse," he clarified. "Touch everything, and then suddenly grab three items without looking at the price tags. Mother does exactly the same thing."

Neville’s face burned. "Is that... bad?" Was he being too much of a spendthrift right now?

"Not at all." Grayson’s smile turned fond and teasing. "She’s your mother-in-law, after all. It’s just right to share some similar habits."

Mother-in-law.

The words echoed in Neville’s head.

He blinked once.

Twice.

Mother-in-law? He repeated in his head. As in, the mother of his spouse.

His spouse, who, if he heard it correctly pertain to Grayson. Grayson, who was standing next to him as his fake boyfriend. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

But they were fake-dating, right?

A fake couple.

But Grayson spoke of Gloria Maxwell as Neville’s mother-in-law with such casual certainty.

As if their fake dating was... not fake?

Wait a minute.

A moment of realization came to Neville.

Was Grayson treating today as their... date?

Neville thought it was just extreme luck that he got the ticket to the aquarium with Grayson.

But then, recalling the places they had been and their ambiguous interaction... it was really hard to tell if this was just a common friendly outing anymore.

As he had read in romance novels, there was no such thing as friendship between men and women. Therefore, there was also no such thing as friendship between alpha and omega in the ABO universe.

Not to mention, Grayson didn’t want them to stop after the aquarium visit was essentially ruined. He even suggested coming to the Mecha Research Institute, which technically extended their time spent together.

Was that why he was being weird today?

Neville’s heart pounded with hopeful beats.

But we’re just a fake couple.

Aren’t we?