When Max finished with the grind, the sun had almost set already. It took longer than expected.
"Phew…"
Exhaling, he took a look at his body. Sweat was ford and wet his body, making it cling to his skin. Looking at his condition, he thought.
'Let's take a shower and then get dinner at Nina's place.'
It had been a long ti since he visited the restaurant. He was curious about what she had been doing lately. Besides, he wanted to talk about tomorrow's outing to the aquarium. That sounded like a nice rest ti, and he also could livestream the outing as a vlog if Nina didn't mind.
With a quick decision, he took a shower, changed his clothes, and exited his mansion. Max always greeted the security to keep their relationship good. Who knew if he needed a key to the roof again in the future?
Walking through the street, he quickly arrived at the restaurant. It was still too early for dinner, so it was pretty much empty, with only two custors inside.
Just like when he first ca to the restaurant after he got his mories back, the short-haired waitress inside bead with a happy smile and waved her hand upon seeing him.
"Max!" She shouted energetically, approaching him while clutching on an empty tray.
Smiling, he waved his hand back at her. She stopped before him and asked.
"Are you here to eat? Or are you just visiting because you miss ?" She asked, giggling playfully.
"I've co to eat, Nina. Can you bring the spicy noodle set with grilled pork belly?"
"Ah, what a sha. So you don't miss ?"
"Well, I do." He said, "But I am too hungry to think about that right now. I skipped lunch earlier."
"Excuses." Nina pouted, making Max look troubled.
But then, she smiled and giggled.
"I was just joking, don't look like that. I know that you have just finished streaming. Ah, you can sit at your usual place." She said, turning around and showing him his seat.
He followed suit and sat down in his usual place. Following that, Nina gave him a cold water she took from the counter.
"Do you mind if I eat with you, Max? My shift will be over soon." Looking a bit hesitant, she said, "There is sothing I have to talk about with you."
"Hmm?" Max raised his eyebrows. He guessed that sothing was related to the outing tomorrow. "Sure. I don't mind at all."
"Yay! Just wait for a minute, alright? I will rush my dad to make it quick but delicious!"
After saying that, Nina ran into the kitchen. Another waitress that Chef Rush hired stepped out at the sa ti, replacing her shift.
While waiting, Max decided to contact Flexy first. He had made a decision regarding his invitation this morning.
[Breeze: Buddy, let's do that Roach Planet tournant stuff. Tell the details of the pay.]
There was no need to hesitate. The orange-haired strear already knew that he loved money. This would also make Flexy feel less indebted to his 'help.'
The other party didn't reply to his ssage.
'He's probably streaming or preparing to stream at this ti.'
Bothering him wouldn't do any good. So, he closed the screen.
At that ti, Nina appeared from the kitchen, bringing two spicy ran on a tray. She didn't wear the apron that she used to serve custors any longer. Instead, she only wore casual clothes, a long-sleeved shirt and a beige skirt.
She approached it and put those two als on the table.
"Hehe, I was also hungry, so I asked dad to make the sa stuff." She giggled and scratched her cheek. "I hope my tongue isn't burned from this."
"Just be careful and don't drink the broth too fast. You would be fine." Max assured as he took the fork and spoon. "Let's eat then. I will hear what you want to say later. I also have sothing to say to you."
"Sure. Let's eat!"
After saying that, she slurped the noodles easily. Even if she said that she was worried about burning her tongue, as the daughter of a man who owned this restaurant, she had eaten this dish many tis. Avoiding getting burned was easy for her.
"Hnn! It's still as delicious as ever. I wonder… Will I be able to match my dad in culinary skills? I guess that would be impossible, hahaha."
"Trust the process, Nina," Max said, gulping the noodle in his mouth.
"At first, I was also afraid that streaming won't work. However, I just did it and got a result. I do have a lot of opportunities presented to , so that helped, but… I believe as long as you do your best, you will be able to achieve your dream."
Not all dreams could be achieved. Max was soone who didn't believe that. There was nothing impossible.
While so were hard and borderline despairing, a person could definitely reach their dream as long as they were presented with enough opportunities combined with hard work. It was just a matter of fast or slow.
Hearing Max's words, Nina smiled bashfully.
"You're right. I should try first." She said, "Thanks, Max. I was a bit insecure about that. You see… I have always wanted to be a cook. Maybe you already knew about it. I even made my personal Lobby look like a kitchen bar."
She began to explain even though her al was half done. Max listened quietly as she seed to be slightly frustrated. The least he could do was to hear all her problems and give her a bit of suggestion.
"For a long ti, I have been wondering whether I should go to culinary school or not. My dad said that I should go, but I hesitated. It's been a year since we graduated from high school, and you know… I finally decided."
A beautiful smile blood on Nina's face. She looked like she was relieved from sothing that burdened her for so long.
"That's great." Max smiled with her. Then, he asked curiously, "Does the school require you to attend physically? I rember that so higher schools only require VR attendance."
"Yes." Nina confird with a nod. "It's cooking, so we need to learn it with our real body. No matter how advanced VR is, it still can't perfectly recreate reality."
"That's right."
He had to agree with that. Even now, he still longed to do parkour IRL because it felt different than when he did it in VR.
"Where is this school, by the way?"
"Hmm, it's southwest of the United Nations, directly opposite this city. If I use Sky Rail, then it would take around 8 to 10 hours, I think? I am not sure. And I probably will leave next week because I was already accepted. I have talked about this with dad, too."
"That's far… And so suddenly."
Sky Rail could be comparable to normal flight in his past life. 8 to 10 hours of travel showed how far that school was located.
"Hehe, sorry. I could only tell you right now because… Well, this is also a sudden decision from too. I only tried to apply, but who knows that I got accepted? It's a miracle."
Nina ruffled the back of her head. She was sad to be separated from her friend too, but she held it in.
"But, Max! We can always et in VR whenever you miss ! A call is the only thing you need."
"Are you sure it's not the opposite?" Max smirked, teasing her. Then, his smile disappeared as he realized sothing.
'That's right…' He thought, 'I have mories of being together with Nina for so long. Not being able to see her directly for so ti might feel a bit lonely.'
Sighing, he smiled softly again. She didn't show her sadness, so he also couldn't do that.
"I guess we will have to do our best to have fun together tomorrow then. I will buy your ticket to the aquarium. Think of it as my congratulatory gift."
Nina blinked a few tis before bursting into laughter. "I guess so! Let's have fun!"
Many people entered the restaurant. They were bustling with their own activities as the part-ti waitress did her best to serve them.
At the corner of the restaurant, two youngsters were laughing rrily. No one knew that behind their laughter was a painful temporary separation after being together for many years.
Still, their smiles prevail. Because they knew it wasn't an eternal separation.
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