𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - ★彡[ᴀʟʜᴀɪᴛʜᴀᴍ]彡★

𝟏𝟏 - 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑

 "So... what you're telling me is... you've never eaten anything besides protein bars for breakfast?"

My brain still hadn't caught up with what he was saying, so instead, I just found myself listlessly staring down at what I had made for him.

"Yes. I am not hesitating because the food is poorly made, it's simply because I have never consumed it before in my lifespan," he picked up his fork, "but that doesn't justify my cowardice. It was, with no doubt, rude of me to avoid eating your cooking. I will apologize for my actions with finishing everything served to me on this platter." 

"Uhh, there's no need for that," I replied immediately, "if you've never eaten anything but a protein bar for breakfast, you might want to start out eating slow, right? Finishing the whole plate and getting a stomachache wouldn't be very good."

"You're right," he nodded, "but I had already factored that in when making that previous statement. Based on the deductions from case studies done recently, a decent amount of the population doesn't eat breakfast due to extreme nausea or weak stomachs. I couldn't find anyone online with a similar situation for me even after emailing several of the heads of the studies, so morning nausea may not apply to me. Anyhow, it's worth it simply for testing matters. The meal, presentation-wise, looks adequate, at least in the higher fiftieth percentile in terms of how this exact dish was made."

I sighed. "Mr. Alhaitham, there's no need to get so scientific... I appreciate it, but I really don't want you to become ill. Don't we have to meet with Mr. Ayato again today?"

After a moment's consideration, he receded his protests. "Fine. But you cannot stop me from eating this breakfast."

"I wasn't going to...?"

He somewhat sulkily picked up the fork and knife, slicing into the first pancake and delicately shoving it into his mouth. Alhaitham chewed it thoughtfully for a few seconds before swallowing.

After a few seconds, he nodded.

"I've never had a breakfast besides protein bars, and this is certainly an upgrade." His gaze lifted upwards and met mine, and to your very surprise, his lips curved slightly upwards into a small smile.

Otomes. What exactly made them so appealing to me again? That's right, I could experience love entirely unlike anything that could be experienced in real life. It was a form of escapism, a rather cowardly way of fulfilling my neverending sense of misery and complete utter loneliness. I read and replayed them whenever any conflict happened in my real life so I could escape into that world and relive a love story between two characters. Whenever I played these otomes, I never changed my name aside from the default. Seeing my name in the game reminded me that I was indeed just viewing a story, that this was just something that I was experiencing through media. Most people said that love in real life will never be as grandiose as it is in otomes. There was an appeal in avoiding all of the problems that came with a real relationship, as it was much easier to just say, 'hey, at least I have my fictional men.' Maybe that was really all I needed at the time– something to complete my completely dreary and awful love life without having to put the effort in. After all, whenever I tried to put my effort into real life, it was always pointless. It's much easier to throw in a couple hundred and spend my weekend sucked into a fictional world. My obsession was rather embarrassing, but it was mainly just because I never experienced a relationship in real life. Nothing could truly make my heart fly out of my chest besides confessing. No simple action meant anything in the grand scheme of things, and I found myself talking to men with slight interest but not enough investment to make my world flip over.

However, I practically dropped your utensils in surprise at his unfamiliar smile. The warmth displayed in his expression was extremely unfamiliar, and completely out of character. But saying that was selfish in itself right? After all, I could only judge his character from what I had experienced.

Perhaps I was just being selfish.

As I was about to open my mouth to say something, he spoke; cutting off everything going on in my mind simply something that meant everything and nothing and something all at once.

"Thank you, (Y/n)." 

hey guys, honestly writing this is pretty rough since im still getting over my rejection lol but i hope you enjoyed! alhaitham is starting to warm up to our little mc hehe

<3, wasabi