*Music recommendation - Nrg - Skeler*
"Aren't you hungry?" Cassian asked, lifting the menu and scanning its contents.
Hearing the word 'hunger,' Cixi snapped out of her contemplation, imitated his action, opening her own card, studying the delicious choices listed within.
The entire selection of dishes appeared delicious. The descriptions alone made her stomach clench with a yearning that bordered on pain. However, when she glanced at the prices, they seemed expensive.
Lowering the menu, she informed Cassian, "I don't have any money with me."
Her words drew a sharp glare from Cassian, as if she had spoken something unholy. His jaw tightened, and with clenched teeth, he clarified to Cixi, ensuring it would register in her mind forever.
"I would rather sell my organs than let a lady pay a bill." And silence lengthened.
Cixi watched him carefully, almost forgetting to breathe. The irritation in his expression had not made him look less intimidating. If anything, it added another strange layer to him.
He was not only devilishly handsome. Beneath that ruthless reputation, there existed a trace of something unexpectedly old-fashioned that resembled a rigid, almost stubborn sense of gentlemanly pride.
And to her own quiet surprise, she found that trait… strangely attractive.
"Yet you want to put a lady in a dungeon?" This time, she taunted, hoping he would remember that she was a lady and must be treated like one.
Cassian zeroed his gaze on Cixi for a second, understanding the meaning behind her taunt, but said nothing.
She scoffed internally at not receiving any positive response, then examined the prices once more. A simple latte here cost fifty dollars…
What kind of place is this, robbing people openly? Cixi asked herself.
Even if Cixi had a wallet with her, she would never have paid or ordered anything here because it was too expensive for her.
It was Cassian who was forcing her to order the food, and for God knows what reason... And if she did not eat, then he would tie her hands and legs and feed her himself.
She now studied the surroundings carefully. The warm pendant lighting, the expensive cushioned seating, and the fine polished countertops hinted that it was clearly a luxurious cafe.
She was even more astonished that people came to this place to spend so much money on something they could easily get at a lower price at another cafe. So why would they come here?
Before Cixi could go deeper into her thoughts, the attendant returned to the table, keeping a gentle smile with his electronic pen and tablet ready in his hand. "What would you like to order, Ma'am?"
"I would like everything on the menu to eat, and an Americano." The words left Cixi's mouth with the conviction of someone ordering a single coffee.
The waiter froze for a second, his pen hovering mid-air, before he smoothed his expression into professional composure and looked at Cixi with a careful smile. "Ma'am, did you just say everything on the menu with an Americano?"
"Yes, please, including dessert." She then rubbed her tummy gently. "I am very hungry," Cixi confirmed without blinking, her face perfectly still, and her tone perfectly sincere.
Cassian observed Cixi with more amusement than he had shown all afternoon, his dark eyes brightening with something that was not mockery but genuine fascination. He had the look of a man studying a creature he had underestimated.
The server nodded at once, hiding his true shock behind years of hospitality training, and then turned to Cassian. "Sir, may I take your order?"
"I will have a cafe latte. Warm." Cassian closed the menu and handed it back to the waiter, who collected Cixi's menu as well and departed with the expression of someone who had just received an order he would be telling his friends about later.
Meanwhile, Cassian remained silent in response to Cixi's wholesome order. He simply sat there and watched Cixi with bemused patience. His chin rested on one hand, his gaze following her every fidget and every refusal to meet his.
Even if Cixi had ordered every beverage on the menu alongside every plate of food, it would not have made a single dent in his empire.
However, he couldn't deny that he was taken aback by her daring nature. Was she always like this, or was she treating him differently?
At the same time, Cixi avoided looking in his direction entirely, but that didn't mean she didn't feel his gaze on her.
He has not uttered a single word, and he probably did not seem offended by being made to pay unnecessarily.
Well, she was not someone who wasted food, but the way Cassian kidnapped her again and brought her here without her permission, this little retort was nothing compared to what he had done and the threats he had made.
Cassian's eyes followed Cixi just as he had done in his apartment when Cixi was cleaning it.
"Why do you keep staring at me?" Cixi couldn't hold herself back anymore. He was making her feel nervous. So she finally decided to ask him. "Have you already fallen in love with me? Does that mean I am free from my parents' debt?" Cixi sarcastically and annoyingly questioned. "Which brings me to ask - when did my parents take money from you?"
Cixi had a series of questions to ask Cassian. And before she could add more, the waiter arrived, bringing the appetisers one after another, and the table filled rapidly.
Cixi stared at the spread with widened eyes, looking at the sheer volume of what she had ordered and becoming a physical reality before her very eyes.
"Ma'am, once you are done with all this, I will bring the rest, and then more," the waiter informed her with a smile that carried equal parts professional grace and private bewilderment, clearly unable to comprehend why a woman of her size had ordered enough food to feed an entire birthday party.
Cixi nodded and then looked back at the table, and then she looked at Cassian to gauge his reaction.
He was simply watching her, saying nothing, and this time his gaze shifted between the table full of food and her face like a man watching a film he had no intention of pausing.
"Start, Cixi, or else we might have to sit here until tomorrow morning if you delay any longer," he remarked slyly, a faint smile pulling at one corner of his mouth.
Cixi could tell he was enjoying this.
She reached for her Americano first. She took three slow sips, letting the bitter warmth settle in her chest. Then she pulled the cheese-grilled sandwich plate closer to her. She took her first bite, and as soon as it touched her palate, it melted in her mouth.
The bread was soft with a golden crust. And the cheese was smoother and tastier than any she had ever had, stretching between her lips and the bread in thin amber threads.
How? How was it so delicious? She closed her eyes, chewing slowly, savouring each layer of flavour as though the sandwich might disappear if she ate it too fast.
She now understood why people came here to throw their money away. Because it was worth it.
She was so caught up in her hunger that she didn't realise when she polished off the whole plate and reached for another.
Club sandwich.
She took an eager bite, then paused and looked up at Cassian.
"You can eat too," she offered him, her tone grudging but genuine.
"All this is for you, Little Lamb. You need to be well-fed before I get you ready for the sacrificial altar."
Cixi's face instantly turned grumpy, her brow creasing and her jaw tensing, but she did not say a word and kept eating. For now, she let it pass because the food was too good and she would rather enjoy her meal than argue with him.
She finished her club sandwich and then chose to try a dessert called tiramisu. But before she could take a bite, she caught Cassian's gaze. "You still haven't answered me." She complained, realising he hadn't responded yet.
"About me being in love with you?" He raised an eyebrow, and Cixi rolled her eyes. "You do realise that was a rhetorical question, right?"
A faint smile appeared on his face, but he said nothing. And when he didn't respond, she pressed on, "When did my parents borrow money from you?"
If Cixi thought it would be easy to make Cassian answer, she couldn't have been more mistaken. "Which parents are you referring to—the kidnappers who pretended to be your parents, or your biological ones?"
Cixi bit down on her inner cheeks, feeling frustrated.
Is he really still insisting that she had different parents?
"Why should I believe you?" Cixi wanted to be clear with Cassian. "What about my biological family? Where are they? I don't see them here!"
She turned her gaze from one person to another, searching for a hint of them in a mocking manner. "Usually, parents rush to meet their lost child, but it seems the ones you are talking about aren't interested in their daughter—or perhaps they simply don't exist." Cixi dared him to prove her wrong theory. "Are you trying to convince me that my parents owe you money so that I accept being your slave? Just like that?"
For a long stretch, they held each other's gaze.
Cixi glimpsed Cassian's once-soft eyes begin to darken, and his smirk grew even stronger than before. He leaned forward slowly, his aura changing into something dangerous.
"I don't need to lie to make you my slave, Cixi. I could just inject you with drugs until you become addicted, until you can't live without it. And when you ask for the drugs as if your life depended on it. I won't give you...
You will beg, kneel, cry and scream to do anything in return for the drugs, and that moment I would make you do whatever I want, and you won't be able to resist because your need for that substance will overpower everything else—your morals, your shame, your dignity—all thrown out of the window in a matter of seconds." His voice dripped with a husky, malicious edge, sending an icy shiver racing down her spine as if a cold hand had gripped her heart.
Leaning back, he cocked his head to the side. "So now, do you still think I would lie to you?" His voice softened.
But Cixi's eyes moistened, and her lips quivered in fear, just like her fingers.
Cassian wasn't wrong. It would be an easy way to get people to listen to him. But did he really have to deliver it with such cruelty?
She only wished to know if he wasn't fooling her into believing that she still had parents, which she thought she had lost three years ago, and that there might be someone whom she could call family... That this feeling of emptiness in her heart would vanish, knowing she was no longer alone in the cruel world that had never been nice to her.
Summoning her wounded heart, she spoke, "Forgive me for doubting you. For trying to protect myself from people." She dragged her gaze away from Cassian, attempting to look anywhere but at him.