After they finished eating, Lila stretched her arms over her head, looking completely content. “Ahh, that was perfect. See? Shopping and dessert—what a fulfilling day.”
Elias, who had done nothing but follow her around, raised a brow. “I fail to see how this was productive.”
Lila gave him a deadpan look. “Elias. Not everything has to be about productivity.”
“Efficiency is important.”
“So is enjoying life.”
Elias didn’t argue, but he still didn’t quite understand. Enjoyment was not something he sought out. If he completed what was necessary, that was enough.
Lila, however, seemed determined to challenge that mindset.
—
As they walked through the mall, she suddenly stopped in front of a store.
“Ooooh, a stationery shop!”
Elias watched as her eyes lit up like a child seeing candy.
Before he could react, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
—
The store was small but filled with colorful notebooks, pens, stickers, and various other items.
Lila immediately began browsing, picking up different pens and testing them on the sample notepads.
Elias stood there, watching her. “You already have pens.”
“Yes,” she said, drawing a little heart with a pink gel pen, “but new pens have a different feel.”
“They all write the same.”
Lila gasped, clutching her chest dramatically. “Elias. That is blasphemy.”
Elias blinked. “I was not aware stationery had religious significance.”
Lila groaned. “It doesn’t! But—ugh, you have to feel the difference!”
Before he could react, she grabbed his hand and shoved a pen into it.
“Here,” she instructed. “Write something.”
Elias looked at the pen in his hand. Then at the sample notepad in front of him.
Slowly, he pressed the tip to the paper and wrote a single word.
“Lila.”
He wasn’t sure why he wrote her name instead of something random. But when he glanced up, Lila was staring at it with a surprised look on her face.
Then, slowly, a soft smile spread across her lips.
“You wrote my name.”
Elias frowned. “It was the first thing that came to mind.”
Lila tilted her head, her smile growing. “Oh?”
Elias felt like she was reading too much into it.
Before he could say anything, she picked up another pen and wrote on the same notepad.
“Elias.”
He stared at it.
Lila grinned. “Now we’re even.”
Elias wasn’t sure why, but seeing his name written in her handwriting felt… different.
Not bad.
Just different.
—
They left the store with Lila carrying a small bag of new pens and stickers.
As they walked, she glanced at him. “Hey, Elias.”
“Hm?”
She twirled one of the pens in her hand. “Do you really not enjoy anything?”
Elias considered the question.
“I do not seek enjoyment,” he said finally. “I complete what is required.”
Lila puffed out her cheeks. “That sounds so boring.”
“Efficiency is not boring.”
“Efficiency is cold.”
Elias blinked. Cold? He had never thought about it that way.
Lila sighed dramatically. “We need to find something you like.”
Elias didn’t respond.
Because, for some reason, the first thing that came to mind—
Was the moment she smiled after he wrote her name.
