When Cosette arrived home, Conrad's car had also arrived when she was by the entrance. She looked back and the side of her lips stretched into a huge smile as soon as she saw Conrad leaving his car.
"Papa!" she called and waved when Conrad turned his head in the main door of the mansion. Since she wanted to ask him something important, she jogged down the small steps and met her father halfway.
"Papa, did you eat your lunch?" she asked as soon as they were facing each other.
Conrad glanced at his assistant, Warren. Seeing his father's gesture, Cosette turned to the tall, lean man with glasses. Warren tilted his head down and greeted Cosette.
"Everyone was shocked when Mister Chairman brought his lunch box during his lunch meeting," Warren shared the interesting event that happened today. He could still remember everyone's faces when they saw the heart shape on top of Conrad's rice. But the most hilarious thing was, Conrad's expression didn't change.
Cosette bit her tongue as she gazed at her father awkwardly. "You ate it during an important lunch meeting?" she knew Conrad would eat it, but not in a situation where he could eat something fancy! She was a bit worried about her father's reputation.
"It's good," was what Conrad said, noticing the concern in her eyes. "What I eat doesn't affect my judgment."
Despite his explanation, Cosette still shifted her eyes back to Warren for confirmation. Knowing her, who was always concerned about the company's reputation, Conrad raised his hand to pat her. But he curled his fingers halfway, hesitant to do it.
'It'll be fine...' he told himself as he mustered his courage and patted her head.
"I said, don't worry about it," Conrad repeated as he rubbed his fingertips against her scalp. To his relief, Cosette just gazed at him and sighed.
"Miss Cosette, just as the chairman said, bringing a lunch box doesn't affect his judgment nor it will sully the company's reputation," Warren reassured with a smile until his eyes squinted into mere slits.
"Does that mean I can make you more lunch boxes?" she asked, which caught both gentlemen off guard. Only a second later did Conrad recover and smiled, nodding in response.
"As many as you like."
Her brows rose as she bit her tongue. She just asked to confirm if they were telling the truth, but she didn't expect her father to respond that way. Well, it was not like she wasn't having fun making lunch boxes. After all, she planned to continue her feeding program with Maxen throughout the entire school year. She just had to make another extra for her father.
"I'll take my leave now. Have a good night, Chairman, Miss Cosette." Warren slightly tilted his head down politely while Conrad nodded and replied with an unaffectionate, "take care on your way."
Cosette only waved him goodbye before she hooked her arms around her father as they walked inside the house. As they headed in, Conrad remembered something important. He glanced at his filial daughter and spoke.
"One of our business associates invited me to their company's annual party." Cosette raised her brows at Conrad's remarks, waiting for more information from him. "It's the Quinn Holdings' yearly party."
'Quinn Holdings?' her brows creased as she pondered where she heard it, only for her eyes to widen a second later as she remembered it!
It was the Quinn family business! She looked at Conrad in shock while the latter took her expression as a mix of shock and excitement.
"They always invite me to their annual company party, but I was always busy. I agreed to come this year since it will be discourteous if I don't come," Conrad explained as they headed in. "You can refuse if you don't want to..."
"I'll go!" Cosette didn't let him finish his sentence as she hastily voiced out. "How can I let my father attend without a date?"
She pouted and raised her chin, making Conrad chuckle faintly. Although that was one of her reasons, her main reason was, she was able to meet more characters! Asher's brother and best friend would surely be there, so Cosette was determined to meet them for once.
Conrad let out a sigh of relief, misunderstanding that his daughter would always be inclined into these things even though she drastically changed from the past month. He rocked his head, as that was their plan.
"The party will be on the 20th, one week from now." Conrad informed her and she answered with a cheerful, "yes!'
*****
Days before the annual company party of the Quinn Holdings...
Cosette spent the past few days waking up early to make lunch boxes for Maxen, Conrad, and for herself. Maxen had been staying in the classroom, so she hadn't been skipping classes.
"Here." She smiled brightly as she placed the lunch box on Maxen's desk. The latter knitted his brows as he gazed at the lunch box he would always refuse, but ended up eating out of guilt. She was just so persistent that he felt helpless about it.
He cocked his head in her seat, raising a snack he bought in the convenience store on his way to school. "Take that lunch box away. I have food."
"What...? But that won't fill your stomach!"
"How did you know that? I've been surviving with crackers." Maxen raised a brow, as he wasn't entirely lying, although that was an exaggeration. Cosette pressed her lips into a thin line, darting her eyes from the cracker to the lunch box she made for him.
"Alright." She nodded, reaching her hand out to him. But instead of taking the lunch box, her hand veered in his hand and snatched the cracker away. "Mine now!"
"Give it back." Maxen's tone grew bitter as he crooked a finger, but she sprung up to her seat while holding it behind her. "You..."
"What? You have a lunch box full of healthy food personally prepared by a hardworking student who wakes up early in the morning for it," she argued stubbornly, pointing at it with her chin. "How can you choose a cracker over the food made with love?"
Love... what an unfamiliar term.
Maxen's shoulder tensed up as his eyelids drooped, expression turning even colder. "Give. it. back."
Cosette swallowed down a mouthful of saliva at his coldness. This time, he truly looked pissed, but if she gave in now, he would continue eating crackers just to refuse real food. So, she mustered a lifetime of courage and tore the cracker before shoving it inside her mouth in one go.
His jaw fell open, staring at her puffy cheek with a mouth full of biscuits. She was saying something, but all her words came out gibberish.
"You..." Maxen let out a scoff as he glanced at a few students who were inside the classroom. They were all looking at the two of them, but Cosette didn't seem to care about the attention they were garnering. Instead, she was talking with a full mouth and eyes on him.
"Shom won. Bow chan yu boo dis to mi?" [Come on! How can you do this to me?]
Cosette glared daggers at him, growing bolder by the day. She didn't know when did it start, but somehow, her relationship with him was improving. They would talk more now and her distance, whenever they would walk home, grew shorter. She was now walking behind him at arm's length.
'What the hell is she saying?' he wondered in irritation before he clicked his tongue.
"Fine, fine, goddammit...!" Maxen ground his teeth as he let out a sharp breath, gazing at the lunch box like it was his enemy.
Cosette carefully narrowed her eyes as she studied him, watching him take out the lid of the lunch box to see another smiling face decoration on top. When Maxen glared up and shoved a piece of sausage inside his mouth grumpily, she finally heaved a sigh of relief.
'God... I thought he will kill me.' She mentally patted her chest. But before she could sit down, she finally noticed some students looking at her.
Her brows rose, seeing them whispering at each other. Noticing this, Maxen glanced up at her and expected her to get affected by it. After all, none of his classmates wants anything to do with him as he was the worst of the worst.
To his surprise, Cosette just shrugged before taking a sit. As soon as she sat down, she grinned at him and happily opened her pink lunch box.
"Eat well, Maxen~!"
A shallow breath slipped past his lips as she started eating. Was it a sigh of relief? Or a sigh of distress? Maxen didn't know, but what he realized was Cosette was unbothered by almost everything.
The only thing that would make her react so strongly was during lunchtime; that was, every time he tried to refuse her free lunch.
'Really, Maxen... I told you not to get swayed...' he grumbled internally, but his eyes still softened after taking another bite. '... don't... get... swayed...'
Maxen looked away, facing the window on his side with a very subtle smile on his face.