The road was busy, as it was the rush hour of the evening. Inside the car, only the music that was played on the radio was heard accompanying them on the drive. Ashton couldn't take the silence longer, even though it was comforting just to be in the same space as Phoenix. So he decided to be the one who will start the conversation.
"You don't have to wait for me every time. You can just take your time, and I'll text you when I arrive."
Phoenix moved her eyesight from the side window to the front, while her fingers on her lap were fidgeting.
"It's okay. I'm used to it. I don't want to trouble other people by making them wait for me."
"Well… I don't mind waiting for you. There's no trouble at all," said Ashton.
"Okay." She could only respond with her usual response. What else could she say?
"Do you mind if we stop at the Supermarket first? You promise to cook for me, right? I'm out of ingredients, so we need to go to the supermarket and buy ingredients to cook."
"Yeah. Sure. We can go to the supermarket first, and yes, I'll cook. Do you have any particular dishes that you would like to eat?"
"Hrmm…. What other dishes can you cook?"
"I can only cook simple dishes. What do you want to eat?"
"How about you surprise me?"
"Okay. If you said so."
"Are you coming to Ethan and Tiana's engagement celebration tomorrow?" Ashton asked, wanting to keep the conversation going.
"Yes. I will," Phoenix nodded.
"Why don't we go together?" Ashton inquired.
Phoenix shook her head, and looked at Ashton with an apologetic look, "It's okay. Ms Mia will be picking me up tomorrow."
Ashton was downhearted, but tried dismissing it with a smile, "Owh. Nevermind then. I'll see you at the party."
"Yeah. Sure."
They arrived at the Grand Grocer Supermarket within The Grandeur area. Ashton parked his car, and they both exited the car and walked towards the supermarket entrance.
Normally, it was not Ashton's job to go and stocked up his pantry. He had people assigned to do that. But what could he say? He just wanted to stretch his time to be with Phoenix as much as he could. He wanted Phoenix to be comfortable with his presence. So he would use all sorts of excuses and grab all the opportunities that he had to be with her.
Don't get him wrong, he wasn't madly in love with her; it was still far from love. This was just his way of getting to know her better. Was it too fast? So what? He had known someone half his life, but he still failed to understand her, and she had managed to run away and left him clueless. What was wrong if he wanted to be progressive this time?
Ashton confidently walked into the supermarket and headed to the fresh produce section. He stood in the middle of the lane and turned around, only to see that Phoenix wasn't with him. He searched around until his eyes fell on Phoenix, who was pushing the trolley towards him.
"You forget the trolley. Do you plan to carry all the stuff in your hand?"
Ashton smiled sheepishly and rubbed the tip of his nose in embarrassment.
"Let me push that," he took the trolley from Phoenix, "You can fill in the cart with the ingredients that you need."
Phoenix nodded and started to walk towards the carrots and broccoli that were on display. She scanned the produce and when she saw the one that looked promising, only then she picked it up to look at it more carefully. When she was sure of her choice, then she would pack it in plastic bags and send it to be weighed.
She picked up a few more vegetables, while Ashton watched her. Watching her focus on her task had become one of his favourite things to do. Her movement mesmerised him, even he himself didn't understand why.
Phoenix then walked towards the seafood and meat section. She looked at the seafood that was available, there was fish, tiger prawns, squid, clams, crabs. But then her eyes fell on the red meat that was next to the seafood and she froze. Her nose becomes sour, and she felt like something was stuck in her throat. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After all these years, she thought that she had overcome this trauma of the raw bloody meat but she still felt suffocated by the sight of it.
Ashton noticed Phoenix's discomfort, he walked towards Phoenix;s side and speak closely to her.
"Do you know how to make butter prawns?" he asked, trying to distract Phoenix.
Phoenix snapped her eyes open and turned to look at Ashton, who was standing close to her. The look in Ashton's eyes was like sending her a signal that said, 'everything is fine. You are fine.' It gave comfort to Phoenix's turmoil mind, and the wretched memories instantly vanished from her brain.
Phoenix bobbed her head, "Yes. I do. You want to eat butter prawns?"
"Yes. I like seafood." Ashton said. But that was a lie. He liked steak and chicken more, but he had nothing against seafood, and he had noticed that Phoenix didn't eat red meat, thus he wanted to put Phoenix out of a dilemma. He knew Phoenix was considerate of others, and she might think that he wanted to eat meat.
"Do you want dry butter prawns, or wet butter prawns?" she asked.
Ashton was confused at first, 'there's a difference? But after thinking for a minute, he answered, "Dry butter prawns."
"Okay." Phoenix looked at the tiger prawns on display and chose the fresh ones. She picked it up and put it into the plastic bag. She then picked up some squids, and she gave both the plastic bags containing the prawns and the squids to the worker to be weighed, and put it inside the trolley.
Ashton and Phoenix then walked around the supermarket and picked on a few more items, like a newlywed couple who came to do their grocery shopping. Both of them looked good together and since both of them had a regal aura, they both managed to catch other people's attention.
While selecting an egg tofu in the dairy section, a promoter approached them.
"Sir and Madam, you both are so handsome and pretty. You both looked so good together. Would you like to try this new yogurt drink? It's high in calcium and rich in iron. We have a promotion right now, if you buy two bottles, you can join a lucky draw for a trip to Country Z!"
The promoter was just doing her job of trying to entice customers to buy her product, so she threw in a few complimentary words to make customers feel better about themselves. But she really meant what she said to Ashton and Phoenix. They both are good looking specimens in her eyes.
She handed them a taster in a small paper cup, and Ashton and Phoenix took it from her. It's free, why would they reject it?
The promoter leaned into Ashton and whispered, "Sir, your girlfriend is so beautiful. Your baby will be as gorgeous as both of you.Why don't you take a few bottles, who knows, you might be lucky and win a trip to Country Z. You can take your girlfriend with you for the trip."
Ashton didn't need to have to have luck to win a trip to Country Z. With his wealth, he could fly to Country Z whenever he liked, but the promoter had called Phoenix his girlfriend, and somehow that made him feel good, and the trip gave him an idea. So he took ten bottles of the yogurt drinks and put them in the trolley. He would like to buy all of it, but it would be a hassle to bring it back.
"Do you like yogurt drinks that much?" Phoenix asked, looking at the ten bottles of yogurt drink in the cart. 'He must like the drink, it can't be that he was desperate to win the trip to Country Z. He's a billionaire!'
"Oh. I want to share it with my helpers. They have worked hard taking care of my house, this drink is good for their bones."
Phoenix accepted Ashton's reasoning without a question.
Phoenix had taken everything that she needed for cooking tonight's dinner. She turned to Ashton and asked if he needed anything else. Since he was not the one who usually did the groceries shopping, he shook his head and they proceed to the cashier counter.
At the cashier counter, they have a dispute on who should pay, but Ashton won and Phoenix relented. She was not the one who would fight for this kind of thing, as she knew it would be fruitless. They both loaded their purchases into the car trunk and drove towards The Grandeur neighbourhood.
They stopped at Phoenix's detached house first and checked on the completed work. The job was done perfectly, and she was satisfied with it.
With that, she only needed to clean the house and bring in the furniture and she can finally move in.
They didn't stay there for long, as she needed to cook for their dinner, so they went back to Ashton's villa.