Plans

Inside the car, Stacey had a terrible expression. It was a struggle reaching this area. The street was filled with people that it was very hard to drive. Fortunately, the people were also considerate enough to move aside so she was able to arrive here. However, she still thought that it was a struggle.

Knock! Knock!

She was suddenly awakened from the sudden knock on the car's window. She looked up and saw Roland on his simple shirt.

'Handsome,' she thought as she saw Roland's face up close.

Roland gestured with his hand. Stacey recovered from her stupor as she hurriedly unlocked the front seat.

Roland tried to open the back seat but to no avail. It was only when he noticed Stacey gesturing to the front that he became aware that she opened the front seat instead of the backseat.

Yesterday, Roland sat in the back seat. He thought that he would still be sitting there now. He did not expect that Stacey would actually offer the front seat.

Roland did not mind and just shrugged his shoulders before he went inside.

"Where to?" Stacey seemed to have recovered from her emotions earlier as she said with a smile.

"Let's eat breakfast first. Do you have any place in mind, nothing too fancy though," Roland said with a pondering expression as he fastened his seatbelt.

"Alright, leave it to me."

Stacey stepped on the accelerator as the car moved away. And of course, with the busy street, it took them almost ten minutes before they managed to get out of that hellish place.

"By the way, I looked up some places earlier this morning. I have some suggestions, but I don't know your taste. I just based it on your words being 'nothing too fancy'. I'll fill you up about it later in the restaurant," Stacey stated while driving.

Hearing that, Roland felt a little awkward. He actually forgot to tell Stacey that he already has a 'house'.

"I've troubled you this time," Roland said with an apologetic look.

"Actually, I already bought a house yesterday. I was not able to sleep so I decided to look up some houses online. One house caught my attention, so I bought it."

"Actually, it's the place that I was talking about. I'm really sorry for troubling you."

"It's alright, it's no trouble at all," although Stacey seemed to be a little disappointed, she did not dwell with it for long. At least, Roland still asked her to accompany him.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a simple restaurant. Just like what Roland requested, it was nothing too fancy.

It was just a small restaurant.

The two of them went inside as the owner who personally cooked, and served the dishes greeted them with a smile. She seemed to be familiar with Stacey already as she was especially warm towards her.

After ordering, Roland and Stacey waited at a wooden table.

Roland was curiously looking around. He was trying to search if there was any 'target' nearby. Unfortunately, he was bound to get disappointed this time as the other people minded their own business.

Even the waitresses who served other customers were polite too.

'Nothing less from a restaurant with a humble origin, I guess.'

Although he was a little disappointed for not finding any target, Roland did not mind it as they waited for the dishes to be served.

A few minutes later, the store owner served them the dishes with a heartwarming smile etched on her face.

"Your favorite, dear Stacey," she said as she laid down the dishes they ordered.

The dishes they ordered were nothing fancy either. Just some rice and braised chicken for both of them.

"You're a handsome young man, you must not hurt her feelings and must take care of her alright?" The store owner suddenly stated.

"Auntie Estela, it's nothing like that…" Stacey blushed at the store owner's or more precisely, Estela's sudden remark.

Estela was an aged lady about fifty to sixty years old. Her hair that was wrapped in a net already has a lot of white hair. Her wrinkled face also spoke volume to her age.

"Girl, I know you. You won't just bring anyone here, alright? Stop complaining and eat to your fill, this time, it's on the house, alright?" Estela said with a knowing smile.

"Haha- don't worry about it, auntie. And don't worry about the meal auntie, I am supposed to be treating her," Roland suddenly interrupted with a smile.

He saw that Stacey was blushing from Estela's remarks, so he decided to add fuel to the fire.

Stacey blushed even more after hearing him say that. It was no different from saying that they were dating.

'W-wait, are we already dating?' She could not help but pose this question inside her mind.

She recalled the novels he read before, 'I-isn't this too fast?'

'N-not that I mind…' thinking about these things made her face even redder. Her fantasy was slowly turning into reality, or so she thought.

On the other hand, Roland was also aware that what he said might raise some ideas from Stacey.

Roland was not dumb. Based on Stacey's way of approaching him, he was aware that Stacey has a thing on him.

On the other hand, he also finds Stacey to his liking. It just so happened that he desperately wanted to move on as soon as possible, Stacey was the perfect outlet for him to use on his plans.

He wanted to court her, at least slowly, until the two of them developed real feelings for each other.

As for whether it would truly develop and when, only time would tell.

Seeing that Stacey did not react to his teasing, he was even more sure of his speculation.

Since young, Roland was aware of his asset, that was his looks. All these years, he was also observant and was self-aware and knew if a person had a thing for him or not.

Anna was once perceived like this by him too. However, in the long run, it seems that he got buried deep in the emotion called love that he slowly started to become unaware of what was going on in his surroundings.

Or perhaps, he already saw signs of Anna no longer liking him, but he was so blindly in love that he chose to ignore it. He belatedly realized that he became a simp without knowing it. It was only when he saw the very obvious thing that he was awaken from his delusions.

This time though, Roland has no intention of going to the same fate again.

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Bonus Chapter: 2/2

As promised, I released 2 chapters as bonus for reaching our goal.

Goal #2: 200 Power Stones= 4 chapters