ᴇꜱᴄᴏʀᴛ ᴍᴇ

2.3

"Is that why you want us to cook together?" You asked impulsively, chuckling. "So, did you feel my love?"

Hollis smiled in contempt. "I'm sure your heart knows the answer to that question better than my tongue."

At his sarcastic way of telling you he couldn't taste shit, you suddenly found your food to look rather aesthetic as you avoided his eyes, eating in silent. You inwardly scolded yourself for being so comfortable around him that you ended up forgetting what you are. After a few minutes, your eyes glanced back to him; at least he doesn't seem to be angry.

"You know, Hollis, you really helped me a lot," you said all of a sudden to break the silence. "Even though you were rather demanding at first, telling me that you wanted my 'love,' you never forced me to love you, aー and you helped me with my study. You even helped me improve my cooking, so um, thank you. I'm sorry I'm such a useless client, I can't even provide my escort a full stomach."

His movement stopped, eyebrows raised. "Why the sudden flattery and self-awareness?"

ーbecause you felt guilty.

Your relationship with Hollis was built with impure intention and although you were never going to follow what the Founder told you to, it doesn't change the fact that you felt guilty, more so when you hadn't actually done anything for him at all.

"I just... genuinely value your presence," you answered after a long moment of contemplation. "So if there's anything I can do to show my gratitude, please let me know."

He remained silent for a while, as if thinking.

"I see, then hold my hand," he outstretched his hand, catching you off guard. "You seem to have a lot of appreciation for me at this moment, touch me before that feelings go to waste."

Recalling that Amorii fed on loveーeven if that love is akin to a love an owner would give to their petーyou had a guess that positive emotions such as appreciation is also included in their meals so you obeyed, placing your hand on top of his.

He then frowned after squeezing your hand a few times. "Be honest, do you really value me?"

You smiled helplessly, expecting that this would happen. "I know that you might think that I'm lying but I do like you. It's just... I've been told that no Amorii can ever feed from me."

His fingers then intertwining with yours, squeezing it in a tight grip. "And who said that?"

"The founder," you inwardly convinced yourself that what you're saying isn't a lie but instead ignorance of your true identity, brainwashing yourself that you are a human and not a spirit to lessen the guilt of your dishonesty. "I guess there's just something wrong with me... maybe I'm not capable of producing love?"

He frowned, as if disliking your self-deprecation. "There's no one in this world that's not capable of producing love. Even a narcissist can loveーalbeit themselfーso why can't you?"

He then let go of your hand. His usually indifferent expression turned serious. You noticed that he would always turn restless whenever the founder is mentioned. Does he has bad blood with her perhaps?

"Darling, I will make you produce that oxytocin so please cooperate with me," he said. "I know it's unbefitting of me as an escort to be asking you this now but what's your likes and dislikes?"

You blinked twice, not knowing how to answer. After all, you've never think about it before.

"I don't really know but," you tried to recall anything recent that made you feel happy and immediately found one. "The other day, when you made me that pretty flower gelatin for dessert, I really like it."

He nodded. "Anything else?"

"I like how you would occassionally telling stories of your clients to relate to my studies so I can comprehend those boring books better."

"And?"

"I like the fact that you're aware that you're a walking air conditioner with no 'on' and 'off' button so when your body started emitting that cold heat, you would always take extra caution to wrap myself with more clothes so I don't get sick."

His expression then subtly change and you can see a hint of fluster in his eyes. You giggled slightly, knowing that no one would dislike being praise, regardless of one's race. Hollis must have been shy.

"I like your cooking."

"I like the ingtriguing contrast between your caring nature you and your aloof demeanor."

"I likeー"

By the time you were done listing your likes, his ears were red, to which he blame it on the cold.