40 Feeling Shy?

At first, when Zero followed her to the kitchen, Lily had told him to wait in the living room. However, right after she said it and saw his rather dejected look, she realised that it would be better for him to eat in the dining room.

After all, the coffee table in the living room wasn't comfortable nor suitable for Zero to be able to dunk the cookie into the glass of milk.

"Fine, but sit at the dining table, okay?" Lily told him but Zero shook his head.

"Let me help," Zero replied.

Lily laughed a bit, "It's just taking the cookies out of the cookie jar and warming up the milk."

Zero shrugged, "So? I can still help."

When Lily saw how serious he was, she relented. Even though it really wasn't much to do. Perhaps it really was because he couldn't wait?

"Okay," Lily replied, then pointed at a cabinet, "Take a plate there and help yourself to the cookies."

Zero grinned and did as he was told. As he got out a small plate, he asked her, "How many would you like?"

"Oh, none for me, please," Lily replied as she took out the milk, "I can't have sweets at night."

"Okay," Zero said, closing the cabinet door and opened the cookie jar. He kept telling himself not to take too much but it was just so tempting. All those goodness.

No. He had already eaten too much for dinner so he must refrain.

Oh heck.

He already needed to do some extra workouts because of dinner, so what's wrong with just adding a few more minutes to that .. right?

While Zero was having his internal debate as he took the cookies, Lily poured a glass of milk and then poured the milk into a small saucepan. She had the heat on low as she didn't want the milk to curdle when it was heating up.

Zero, having taken his treasure, went up behind Lily and observed what she was doing. Lily gulped while maintaining her steady stirring of the milk.

Did Zero not know how distracting he was?!

Just having him behind her made Lily completely nervous.

She was really glad he was behind her rather than in front of her for she would not have been able to handle that. She was becoming more and more aware of him and that may not be a good thing.

Or was it?

If it wasn't for the fact that her mother wasn't being so obvious about pushing them together, it wouldn't be so bad. As it was, she was now too self-conscious.

Lily seriously admonished herself.

She was acting like a teenager.

It wasn't as if she had never dated before, or had never had a boyfriend.

Yet, for some reason, Zero affected her more than any of her previous crushes or flings. Well, they weren't really flings for she had been serious in them but it just never worked out.

Perhaps it was because Zero really was rather innocent in a way, but he was also so, so hot.

The moment some bubbles started forming at the sides of the pan, Lily switched off the heat and took the pan off the stove.

"Is it hot enough?" Zero asked curiously. Didn't the milk need to be fully boiled?

"Yes," Lily replied, "You just want to scald it, not burn it. Any more and the bottom of the pan will have burnt milk."

Zero's mouth formed into an 'O'. No wonder his milk always stuck to the bottom of the pan. The taste of the milk wasn't burnt, but it was rather tedious to always have to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Sometimes he had to throw away the pan because he had forgotten about the milk. Thus, the bottom layer was caked with burnt milk that couldn't be cleaned out.

Seeing the slight steam from the cup of milk, Zero eagerly took it and went to the dining table.

Lily couldn't help but have the stupid grin on her face as she watched Zero be like a little kid, after getting a new toy or something equally precious.

"I'm seriously going to need extra work-outs for the next few days but it's oh, so worth it," Zero said, rather uncharacteristic of him for saying so much. Yet, it was more to himself as he took that first bite, feeling like he was in Heaven.

��I could try and make healthier versions, if you like," Lily said, "Instead of butter, I'll use vegetable oil, dark chocolate …"

"No, no need," Zero said as he continued munching, "It's my one vice. Don't take it away from me."

Lily laughed softly but still thought in her heart that she would figure out on creating healthier - or at least, lower-calorie type biscuits and cakes, that would still taste very nice.

Little did Lily know, that her random thought and desire to do it for Zero created a whole new line for her that boomed. It filled a niche that was sorely lacking, and though many did try to follow her idea, not many could produce the same mouth-watering goods.

However, that was in the future.

For now, the utterly contented look of bliss on Zero's face was enough for her to be happy while seriously thinking of the various recipes in her mind.

After a while, with both of them in total silence, Zero asked as he dipped his cookie, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Zero couldn't help but ask for it really perplexed him.

She didn't have any malicious gaze upon him, so he had ignored it. But as time went on, it got to be a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't like he was a stranger to people staring at him but somehow, with her, it was different.

It was intense yet, not in a negative way?

Actually, to say that he was uncomfortable was a bit inaccurate.

He wasn't uncomfortable in the sense that he was disturbed by the gaze but rather, he was uncomfortable because he wasn't used to it.

The looks he got had always been malicious or full of killing intent - or the other side of the spectrum, which was lust, or admiration.

This?

This was … loving? Warm? What?

He couldn't figure it out.

Worse, the longer she looked at him, the more he was starting to feel … shy about it?

What the heck?!