Maliciously

Cora couldn't believe what she was hearing. Ace really worried about her that much?

He had said multiple times that he just wanted to know she was okay. Being her emergency contact would certainly accomplish that.

He had already helped her multiple times. And she did need to rely on people more instead of overdoing it so she didn't have a repeat of her ankle situation. She could make that work despite not understanding why he bothered to care.

"Okay," Cora said, ignoring her racing heart.

She was still freaking out about this even though it had gone far better than expected. She really needed to go home and do something to calm herself down.

Ace smiled at her. "Cool. Do you want to finish this off?"

He was gesturing to the pork belly and she thanked him as she put it on her plate. This place was delicious. She would have to tell her coworkers about it to get it put into the rotation of restaurants they went to.