New home (3)

Just as neighbor King disappeared behind closed doors of unit 12B, the elevator opened. Aiden and doorman Ben walked out with hands full of grocery bags.

"Are you so hungry, that you are waiting outside?", Aiden was surprised to see Sarah in the hallway.

"Yeah, I'm sure that is the case." Sarah laughed awkwardly. Her eyes were going towards the door with 12B on them.

Aiden and Ben entered Sarah's apartment, and headed to the kitchen to leave groceries.

"Ben..." Sarah looked at the doorman.

"Yes, Miss Hill?" Ben turned to face Sarah.

"The person who lives in 12B. What do you know about him?"

"Mr. King. You met him?" Doorman Ben looked surprised.

Sarah nodded, "Yes, he stopped by to introduce himself."

"He lives in this building for two years, alone. I don't see him going out often, and I didn't see any visitors. Other than him being a solitary man, I don't know much else." Ben shrugged helplessly. He is a man who loves to gossip, so not being able to have much to talk about made him dispirited.

"If he is taking elevator to the parking, would you know when he is coming and leaving?"

"Good point!" Ben acknowledged. "If that is the case, then I would not know about it."

Sarah thanked him for the information.

Aiden tipped the doorman and he happily left.

"You meet the neighbor?" Aiden was curious to find out more.

"I guess I did…" Sarah had a complex expression. "We didn't talk much. He just stopped by, introduced himself as King, and mentioned that we will talk more later." She didn't have a good opinion of King, but she didn't want to reveal that to Aiden. He would just worry, probably for no reason.

Sarah looked at the small mountain of groceries on the kitchen island. "That is a lot."

"Your fridge and pantry are empty, and I got groceries for lunch." Aiden started arranging things into the fridge.

Sarah was uncomfortable. "You didn't need to get things for pantry and fridge."

He looked at her seriously. "Housewarming gift. Also, did you forget what we agreed upon? We will not separate. So, technically, I got groceries for us."

Sarah was all flustered, not sure what to say. 'It's one thing to be together, but when he says it like that, I feel overwhelmed.' It took her a minute to calm her emotions and she smiled.

He took her smile as an approval and continued arranging groceries.

She saw a lot of vegetables and frowned. "You got too many vegetables." Sarah eats a lot of junk food. If it's up to her, she would eat only chips and instant noodles. Her dietary habits are poor, and JoAnna is frequently reminding her that if she does not fix her diet, her health will suffer.

"Don't worry, I also got some ice cream and soda". Aiden teased her. He observed her eating habits already.

Sarah was speechless.

"Do you want to decide how to arrange things in the pantry?", she heard him ask.

"I leave that up to you." She looked at him handling groceries. He knows what he is doing, and she does not care much, anyway. 'As long as I can find chips, I will be fine.'

Sarah went back to set up things for Eve. Each piece of equipment has a serial number. Sarah turned it on, then over the phone contacted Eve asking her to ping that piece of equipment and confirm that she can establish connection. Once Eve confirmed, Sarah would place the equipment in place and inform Eve about the location, such as "Camera E12B3 is in the North-West corner of living room facing toward dining area and kitchen on the South-East." Each piece of equipment is small and has an attachment that allows Sarah to secure it to walls or to shelves at an any angle she wants.

Sarah finished with living area, study and master bedroom when she noticed appetizing fragrance coming from the kitchen. 'Oh, now I'm even more hungry', Sarah frowned. She went to see when the lunch will be done. But Aiden just shooed her out of the kitchen, telling her to be patient. Sarah was not happy and went back to her work.

Sarah went to study room and turned on the PC. She started taking notes on what else she needs to do. She will get few electronic locks, so that Eve can handle locking the doors. 'I also want Eve to be more involved in security, and I need to add logic for her to be more proactive.' Thinking about that neighbor, King, Sarah felt unsettled.

When thinking about Eve's proactive actions, Sarah remembered when she kissed Aiden and Eve warned her about her heart rate increasing as a danger to her health. 'That was embarrassing. Funny, but also embarrassing.'

Sarah called out. "Eve!"

"Yes, Master", Eve's voice was heard.

'Good to hear your voice', Sarah thought, and then addressed the topic at hand, "When I'm with Aiden, turn off monitoring of health indicators."

Sarah moved on to draft plans about enhancements for Eve and got immersed into it. Soon she had detailed plan in the making which included what changes she will make, where they are in code, points to pay attention to, integration points, dependability, performance impacts, etc.

Sara didn't notice that Aiden got into the room and called her to come and eat. Only when he licked her neck from behind, she snapped out of it.

"What are you doing?" She screamed and jumped out of the chair.

"You didn't hear me calling out, so I must use extreme measures.", he said with a straight face.

"You... you scared me." She patted her chest.

"Now I'm scary?", he looked offended.

"No, no... I was out of it and got startled. Why did you call me?"

"Food is done, come eat."

Then she remembered that she is hungry. "Yes, yes... food. Let's go."

She saw him sulking like a child and stopped. "What is it?"

"You yelled at me…" He looked like a five year old who didn't get a candy.

She could not believe how childish he is acting. "Sorry about that."

"Just sorry is not enough."

She knows that he is up to something but decided to play along. She sighed. "What should I do to make you feel better?"

"Kiss might help." He looked her in the eyes.

She gave him a light kiss on the lips.

He pulled her into a tight hug. "That was not enough."

She smiled and shook her head. "How about I give you more after lunch? I'm hungry. I need energy."

He flashed a smile. "Energy, yes. Let's eat." He pulled her toward the kitchen.

...

They ate at the kitchen island.

"You cook really well." Sarah praised him.

"How about next time we cook together?"

"That sounds acceptable." She smiled. Sarah enjoyed the thought with two of them cooking together.

When they finished with food, he loaded used dishes in the dishwasher. She wanted to help, but he told her to sit and relax. Everything around lunch, including cleanup was part of his home warming present for her.

"When you put it that way, I will let you do it." Sarah was sitting at the kitchen island, with hand under her chin as she watched him get busy with dishes. 'I find him attractive even when he is handling dirty dishes.'

He saw her staring at him dazed and smiled.

When he finished, he sat next to her. "What do you want to do now?"

"How about we shower?" Sarah voiced her thoughts.

"Together?" Aiden had a big smile.

Sarah blushed and nodded. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her on the lips. He started gently, carefully and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. Their lips didn't part as he carried her to the bathroom.