Choices Of The Heart

Afterwards, Sofia swiftly prepared breakfast and prepared to head for work.

Sofia's job as a sous chef required her to typically work both day and night shifts; during the day, she might be involved in menu planning, ordering supplies, prepping ingredients, and overseeing lunch service. In the evening, she takes charge of the kitchen during dinner service, ensuring that dishes are prepared to the restaurant's high standards and managing the kitchen staff. 

Her passion and dedication have propelled her to a Sous chef position within a high-end restaurant like the Celestial Dining.

While Sofia's career was soaring, Elias struggled to make ends meet. His meagre $24 per hour earnings were enough to cover his basic barely allowed him to add to his savings. There were days when he could accumulate hundreds of dollars in tips, but they were few and far between.

The rest of the time, he had to be frugal with his pocket and help with the basic needs at home.

"I'm heading out. I prepared something for you to eat at the table. I'll be back this evening after my shift!" Sofia announced before leaving and closing the door behind her.

To her, Elias had become the closest person she knew, so she wasn't worried about leaving Elias alone at her home.

[ Update! Sofia's affection for you has increased by 5% ]

Elias observed Sofia leaving, and he blinked in surprise when the notification appeared, indicating that Sofia's affection for him had increased. He couldn't help but wonder what had suddenly caused her to feel this way.

It certainly wasn't the story, was it?

Unable to come up with a proper explanation, Elias sat on the couch and proceeded to check on his main status.

┏━━━━━━༻✾༺━━━━━━┓

Name: [ Elias Benjamin ]

Age: [ 24 years old ]

Current Relationship Status: [ Casually Dating ]

Relationships:

[ Emily Hawthorne [ Developing Affection - [ Medium ] ]

[ Sofia Okoye Reyes [ Developing Affection - [ Medium ] ]

Current Bank Account Status: [ $390 ]

┗━━━━━━༻✾༺━━━━━━┛

Witnessing the starling readings on the holographic blue interface, particularly Sofia's name that appeared under his list of relationships, Elias couldn't help but acknowledge that Sofia had fallen for him when he saved her life. He mentally clicked on her name to expand her status.

┏━━━━━━༻✾༺━━━━━━┓

Name: [ Sofia Okoye Reyes ]

Age: [ 27 years old ]

Current Affection Percentage: [ 23% ]

Affection Level: [ Medium]

Current multiplier: [ x4 ]

┗━━━━━━༻✾༺━━━━━━┛

X4 multiplier! Elias read through Sofia's status, bewildered. He hadn't actively done anything to capture Sofia's heart or make her develop affection for him, so he couldn't help but be confused when he saw that her affection almost reached the same level as Emily after their first successful date.

Was the impact of saving her from the accident so great?

Did his story about his murdered parents touch her so deeply that she couldn't help but fall for him even more?

Of course, they had known each other for a long time and worked together, so Elias knew they might have shared a deeper connection than he and Emily. However, he also understood that there has to be a reason.

Elias suddenly began to ponder using her x4 multiplier, as, coupled with Emily's x4 multiplier, he would surely be able to secure enough money to deal with some of his problems. However, when he thought about using a close friend like Sofia in such a way, he swiftly shook the thought out of his head, torn between his needs and his moral compass.

Elias swiftly closed the status screen and picked up his phone to switch it on. He saw that his phone's battery was low before quickly noticing the multiple messages Emily had sent him last night. Elias swiftly responded to all of them before his phone switched off again.

Elias quickly found a charger in the room and plugged his phone before heading towards the dining area to eat.

After eating, he went to the kitchen to drop his plate. Witnessing the number of dirty dishes and the slight disorderliness of Sofia's apartment, he decided to take care of the dishes and clean the whole house, understanding that she knew she might not have the time to clean it up because of yesterday's incident.

…...

"Thank you. Come again next time," Emily smiled at a customer as she left her store with a book she had purchased.

After the customer was gone, Emily took her phone. Seeing the new unread message, she swiftly unlocked and opened it.

..

Elias: Good morning, Emily! Sorry for the late reply. I saw your messages and wanted to respond sooner, but my phone died last night.

–Just wanted to let you know that I had a great time yesterday. How are you doing today?

..

Emily swiftly responded after seeing his reading message.

..

Emily: No worries! I'm doing alright. How about you?

– By the way, I'm excited about the book signing event this week! Thanks again for getting the tickets. What time should we meet up?

..

After replying to the messages, Emily thought she had typed a bit too much, so she reread them before deciding to send them. She patiently waited for a reply, but seeing the single grey check mark at the bottom, she understood that his phone was still switched off, so he had yet to receive her message.

Emily took up a book to distract herself and get some rest. She had deprived herself of sleep by fantasising about yesterday's event when Elias had given her second-hand embarrassment from confessing his feelings in public.

However, the more Emily tried to distract herself, the more her thoughts drifted off into imagination.

…....

"I'm home," Sofia announced tiredly as she stepped into her apartment and locked the door behind her. After removing her shoes, she was about to call Elias when she immediately noticed the room had been tidied up.

She hadn't cleaned up yesterday, nor did she have the time to do so this morning because of what had transpired last night, so she was immediately bewildered as she checked the entire apartment and saw that it was spotless.