’This girl…’ he thought, running a hand down his face. ’She’s completely different.’
He remembered how formal she’d been when they first met.
Polite, calm, calculating.
But ever since she started hanging around him more often, that image had completely dissolved.
Her smirks were more common than her courtesy now.
Her attitude was playful, teasing, and occasionally unpredictable.
“Are you going to keep staring at me like that, or are you going to ask what I want already?” Selene asked, raising an eyebrow.
Isaac gave her a flat look. “I’m trying to. But every time I ask, you say ’nothing’ and start acting weird again.”
“I’m not acting weird,” she muttered, turning her head slightly. “You’re just not paying attention.”
He leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “Selene.”
“What?”
“Just say what you want. I’m not going to bite. You’ve been circling the topic for the last ten minutes.”
She didn’t respond at first.
Her fingers fidgeted slightly with the edge of her sleeve.
Her eyes darted to the side, then back to him.
Even though she’d been teasing him earlier, the moment she was put on the spot, she shrank back a little.
“Selene,” he said again, softer this time.
She exhaled.
“Alright,” she mumbled. “But promise you won’t laugh?”
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “I won’t.”
She looked down at the table, then back at him. Her voice was quiet but clear.
“Can you… teach me how to kiss?”
Isaac almost spat the coffee he was drinking.
He managed to place the cup back down without making a scenes.
“…What?” he asked, just to be sure he heard her right.
Selene was watching his expression carefully, her face slightly red but still composed enough to hide most of her nerves.
“I saw you and Alice kissing last time,” she said, twirling a lock of hair with her finger. “I was wondering if you could let me watch so I could learn. For, uh, for when I need it in future.”
Isaac stared at her.
There were many ways a conversation could go wrong. This, however, was something entirely different.
He couldn’t understand if he should he happy she wasn’t asking him to kiss her, which he had thought first.
Or if he should be concerned, she was asking him to let her watch her sister.
He leaned back slowly.
“That’s… not how learning works.”
Selene bit her lower lip, then smiled, but not before a trace of disappointment passed through her eyes.
She caught herself and raised a hand in mock surrender.
“Got you.”
Isaac blinked.
“Huh?”
“I was joking about the kiss,” she said, chuckling. “I just wanted to see your reaction. You should’ve seen your face. Honestly, I don’t want anything.”
He didn’t respond.
Instead, he stared at her for a moment longer. That brief flicker of disappointment hadn’t gone unnoticed.
She definitely did want something.
But he wasn’t going to push that topic. If she wanted to pretend it was all a joke, he would let her.
He picked up his cup again and took a sip, ignoring the smirk she was still wearing.
They sat in silence for a little while, letting the atmosphere settle.
Outside the window, the sky was already turning dark.
The night lights of the stronghold were flickering to life, illuminating the market.
“You are doing anything else tonight?” Selene asked after a moment.
Isaac shook his head. “Not really.”
She tilted her head slightly. “Then how about coming to my place? I’ll teach you how to cook something simple.”
He looked at her.
“Today?” he asked.
“You said you wanted to learn,” she replied. “And since you are free, it’s a good time to do it today.”
He considered it.
It wasn’t a bad idea.
He had been planning to meet her for cooking lessons anyway.
And since he needed to speak with Alice tonight, meeting her at the Calloway estate today was better. They had to talk about important matters.
This would just make the timing easier.
“Sure,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Selene looked slightly surprised at how quickly he agreed, but her expression quickly shifted to a pleased grin.
“Good. I hope you’re ready to chop vegetables.”
“Can’t be worse than fighting monsters.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she said, standing up. “One of them bites your fingers. The other burns them.”
Isaac followed her out of the cafe.
They made their way to the teleportation station on the center of the stronghold.
The streets were quite filled, as it was the rush hour, and the walk gave him a few minutes to clear his thoughts.
When they arrived at the teleportation hub, Selene handed the operator a pair of tokens. The man nodded and began preparing the transfer.
“You’re paying for this too?” Isaac asked.
“Of course. I’m the one inviting you, aren’t I?”
He didn’t argue. The operator gestured, and the transfer activated. The dark cloud swallowed them.
A moment later, they were walking in a quiet plaza in the central sector.
Compared to the stronghold, this place felt cleaner, and more refined.
They called for a car from the Calloway estate.
The drive came within a minute. Thanks to it, they reached their destination fairly quick.
Isaac entered the familiar Calloway estate.
He followed Selene through the halls, past servants who took sneaking glances at him.
The house was huge, far bigger than what he was used to, but Selene didn’t seem bothered by the scale.
They reached a smaller side wing. She opened the door to a spacious kitchen and flipped the lights on.
“Welcome to my humble test kitchen,” she said with a smile.
Isaac looked around. The place was stocked like a professional chef’s dream. Dozens of spices, well-maintained tools, premium-quality ingredients.
“People have test kitchen these days?” he asked.
“You do when you are rich” she chuckled.
Isaac rolled up his sleeves.
“Alright. What are we making?”
Selene handed him a chopping board and some vegetables. “Let’s start with something easy. Stir-fried rice with mana herbs.”
Isaac took the ingredients without complaint and started chopping.
The vegetables were crisp and fragrant, and the mana herbs gave off a faint shimmer, their color shifting slightly as the blade passed through them.
He focused on keeping the slices even, just like she had shown him earlier.
To her credit, Selene didn’t hover. She watched from a short distance, only stepping in when he made a mistake.
“Not that thin,” she said at one point, lightly tapping the board. “You’re not making soup. Stir-fry needs texture.”
He corrected it.
“Good,” she nodded. “Keep that up.”
Despite all the teasing earlier in the day, her tone now was calm and practical.
Every correction was delivered clearly. Every instruction was brief but precise.
She didn’t treat him like an idiot, just someone who was new to the kitchen.
And Isaac appreciated that.
For a while, neither of them spoke much.
The only sounds were the chopping of vegetables, the hiss of heated oil, and the occasional clink of metal.
It was peaceful, in its own way.
Then Selene leaned against the counter with her arms crossed and watched him with a strange look on her face.
Isaac didn’t notice it right away.
He was focused on moving the contents of the pan just the way she showed him—keep it moving, don’t let anything burn, heat should be even.
But eventually, he glanced over and caught her expression.
“What?” he asked, not slowing his movements.
“What are you doing?”
He blinked. “Cooking?”
She tilted her head. “That’s not what I told you to cook.”
Isaac frowned slightly. “Pretty sure it is.”
Selene walked over and peered into the pan.
“Mm-mm,” she said, pointing with her spatula. “I said stir-fried rice with mana herbs. You added moonroot paste, changed the herb ratio, and used flame salt instead of mountain salt. That’s not the recipe I gave.”
He gave a small shrug, still holding the pan steady.
“I thought of a way to improve it,” he said. “So I made a few changes.”
“You’ve been cooking for ten minutes. How can you improve dishes already?”
“I have high stats.”
“And?”
“I also have the Mind Echo title. I can remember the taste and texture of everything I eat, and recall anything I read or hear. It’s easy for me to predict how things will taste if I mix them in a different way.”
Selene paused, then raised an eyebrow.
“You used Mind Echo to improve a basic stir-fry?”
“I figured it was a good chance to test it.”
There was a brief silence. Then, without saying anything,
Selene picked up a spoon and took a bite from the pan. She chewed slowly. Her face was unreadable.
Isaac waited.
When she finally swallowed, she set the spoon down and gave a small nod.
“It’s good,” she said, not looking him in the eye directly. “The changes make sense. But… for now, stick to the recipe I give you.”
He blinked. “Even if I can improve it?”
“Yes. You’re still learning. Once you’ve mastered the basics, then you can experiment. Otherwise, you’ll skip steps without knowing what you missed.”
Isaac thought about that, then nodded.
“Fair enough. So should I cook again?”
“Obviously,” she said, already moving back to the prep station. “I’m not going to let you ruin your fundamentals because of a title.”
He put the pan aside, setting the finished stir-fry on a separate plate. He figured he’d eat it later—after he was done with the proper recipe.
But when he turned back a few minutes later to wash the pan, he noticed something.
The plate wasn’t where he left it.
Selene had already grabbed it and was eating straight from it with the same spoon she’d used earlier.
She was leaning casually against the edge of the counter, chewing with her usual calm expression.
“…?”
“I thought I should finish it while it was hot.”
Selene started eating faster when Isaac noticed her, as if she didn’t want him to taste his own dish.