Serena laughed at Luca’s expression as he tried for the nth ti to perfect the sweet balls.
She had been here for three days now, and instead of exploring the city like a typical tourist, she found herself coming back here—to eat. After that first night, when he had served the most unforgettable dish, everything the poor chef had tried since just couldn’t asure up.
Luca had taken it as a personal challenge. He’d started sending her all sorts of pictures and videos, asking what she might want to eat next. As a result, she now eagerly anticipated every al he prepared. And while everything he made was undeniably delicious and worthy of an international chef, there was still sothing missing—sothing she couldn’t quite put into words. So, here she was, watching him try and make whatever caught her fancy.
"Thankfully Dale is not as fussy as you or I would have fired him from his position as my best friend long ago." Luca said as he shook his head in exasperation and threw his hands up, almost having the dough for the balls thrown in his own face.
Serena could not help but giggle at his exasperation and his actions while she asked curiously," Really? How is my brother like then? I have seen him eat and he doesn’t even treat food like food. He treats it like fuel. Just for energy. In fact if you were to ask him what he ate, he might not even know."
Luca threw his head back and laughed. "You’re probably right about that! Your observation skills are sharp, you know. I think that cos from Dr. Brown Senior. From what I rember, his adoptive dad was exactly like that. I hated eating at his house as a kid. Everything tasted the sa... like logs! Sotis bricks, maybe. But honestly, you’ve been a good influence on Dale."
?" Serena asked, startled. "What did I do?"
Luca paused in the middle of rolling another ball of dough, his hands covered in flour and gave her a surprised look. "You don’t know? Since you’ve been coming here, your brother has been asking to send him everything you eat. And then he quizzes about your feedback on each dish. I swear, he’s probably tried more flavors in the past three days than in the rest of his life combined!"
Serena blinked, taken aback by the revelation. It wasn’t sothing she had consciously noticed, but now that Luca ntioned it, it all made sense. Just this morning, Dale had been content sipping his usual coffee, only to set it aside and grab a bowl of the cereal she had taken out for herself. He didn’t say much about it, of course, but the quiet way he had mirrored her actions had caught her attention. She didn’t quite know how to feel about it, but... it was kind of cute.
anwhile, Luca was still talking, his tone teasing but thoughtful. "You know, there’s only one other person I can think of who’s like Dale. Talks less, doesn’t care much about what’s happening around them, always in their own world. Though from my recent interaction with him, he seems to have found love and changed a bit."
Serena tilted her head, her expression thoughtful. "Do people really change when they’re in love? Or is it just... a temporary infatuation, driven by physical attraction?" Her voice was soft, almost as if she were asking herself the question rather than Luca.
Even as the words left her lips, her mind drifted to the man she had almost married. She found herself thinking of him more often than she cared to admit. Why wasn’t he looking for her? Surely, if he had cared even a fraction of what she once believed, he wouldn’t have given up so easily. Or had she been completely wrong about him from the beginning?
A bitter thought crossed her mind. Had I really fallen in love with a man so ruthless that he would rather see dead than marry ? The idea left a sour taste in her mouth, and she clenched her hands in frustration. Had she been blind or was that man so kind of an actor.
Lost in her spiraling thoughts, Serena didn’t notice Luca had stopped working until he sent her a curious look. She blinked, raising an eyebrow in question.
"You ask deep questions, Miss Serena," he said, though the corners of his mouth twitched in amusent. With a small sigh, he leaned against the kitchen island, wiping his flour-dusted hands on a towel. "But you’re not entirely wrong. Most people don’t really change in love—they just pretend to. It’s easier to act like soone you think your partner wants than to truly beco a better version of yourself. But then there are people like Dale and my other best friend."
Luca’s voice softened, and he gestured vaguely as if painting a picture in the air. "For n like them, it’s not about changing. It’s more like... they’ve been waiting. Waiting for soone who brings color to their world, who makes them feel alive. It’s less about transformation and more about finally becoming who they were always ant to be."
"Take your brother, for example. He’s spent most of his life being a man of logic and discipline, always focused on work, never really allowing himself to care about anyone too deeply. But now? He has a younger sister. Soone to dote on, soone to protect. All his attention is centered on how to make you happy. So, there is still hope for him that when he does fall in love, he will be willing to accept that as easily as he has accepted you."
"Similarly, my other friend married for convenience, practicality. But then, sowhere along the way, he fell in love with his wife. And now, his entire being revolves around her. She loves to eat, so he cooks for her. He’s always looking for new recipes, trying to find ways to surprise and delight her with his cooking. So, that is not him changing. Simply evolving around her, for her."
Luca turned back to his task and as he rolled another dough ball, he spoke again, almost as if thinking aloud. "You know, now that I think about it, it’s strange. Both Dale and Aiden are my best friends, but they’ve never even t. Isn’t that odd?" He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully with flour-streaked fingers. "Maybe I should invite Aiden and his wife here soti. It could be fun. I’m sure they’d get along. I’d get a kick out of watching them all interact."
He turned to Serena for her opinion and then realized that she had turned pale as she asked," Aiden?"
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