Ethan used his phone to jot down those two numbers.
"Here." He handed the old phone back to Nora.
Immersed in the anxiety that "a hundred dollars for groceries at the mall probably won't be enough," Nora completely ignored what Ethan had just done. She took the phone in confusion, her fingers unconsciously stroking the thin bill in her pocket.
The supermarket on the ground floor of the mall was brightly lit.
As soon as she stepped into the fresh food section, the dazzling array of products and bright lighting left Nora somewhat lost.
But Ethan had a clear goal, pushing his shopping cart straight to the high-end ingredients section.
"Splash—" Boxes of beautifully packaged, translucent large green shrimp were swept into the shopping cart.
"Click!" Several packs of prepared, plump snow-white squid rolls also fell in.
"Thud!" A large piece of imported steak, beautifully marbled and bright red, was placed steadily.
Ethan seemed to transform into a shopping machine, loading high-quality meat and seafood into the cart with crisp and decisive movements, not even looking at the price tags.
Nora followed closely behind, watching the high-end ingredients rapidly piling up in the shopping cart. The packaging she had only seen in TV commercials made her heart race.
She opened her mouth several times, wanting to say something, but timidly swallowed it back.
Her fingers tightly gripped the cash in her pocket, sweat forming in her palms.
Finally, when Ethan's hand reached for a piece of exquisitely packaged beef in the refrigerated case, with a label clearly stating "New Zealand Grass-Fed Ribeye, $45 per serving," Nora could no longer hold back.
She couldn't help but gently poke Ethan's arm with her finger.
"Hmm?" Ethan stopped what he was doing, turned his head in confusion, and looked at her.
Nora's cheeks instantly flushed red. She lowered her head, a bit embarrassed, and said, "If you buy so much, I won't have enough money to cover it..."
"Hmm?"
Ethan was stunned at first, then quickly reacted. Looking at the girl before him, embarrassed and uneasy because she worried she couldn't afford to pay, he was stunned, then a surge of indescribable laughter and deeper tenderness welled up in his heart, finally turning into a low, magnetic, silent laugh.
So this was what Nora meant earlier when she said she wanted to go to the store to buy some groceries!
Seeing her like that, Ethan couldn't hold back any longer. He reached out with an unprecedented gentleness, gently rubbing Nora's head. Her hair was a bit dry, but surprisingly soft to the touch: "Who said you were paying for it?"
She said a bit embarrassedly, "I've been cooking lately, and you didn't come back to eat, but I ate a lot of the food you bought..."
She paused, as if recalling something Ethan had said before, her tone even more stubborn, as if defending a certain principle: "Didn't you say you don't like taking advantage of people?"
This time, her gaze didn't drop.
She bravely lifted her head and met Ethan's deep gaze with determination.
Although her bangs still covered her forehead and her figure remained slender, the timidity and avoidance in her eyes seemed to have been diluted by something.
That night, the words about "courage" echoed on the field, like a seed slowly yet realistically sprouting a tender green shoot in her closed heart.
Looking into those eyes that dared to meet his gaze for the first time, Ethan clearly felt that subtle yet undeniable sign of growth.
Ethan grinned, then reached out his hand.
"Hmm?" Nora looked at him in confusion, not understanding the meaning behind this gesture.
"Didn't you say you were going to bring money to buy groceries and make it up to me?" Ethan replied matter-of-factly, "Where's the money? Give it to me."
"Oh! Alright!" Nora seemed to wake from a dream, quickly pulling the hundred-dollar bill she had gripped warmly and with slightly curled edges from her pocket, and solemnly and carefully placed it in Ethan's hand.
She still kept her head down, her voice tinged with embarrassment: "But this definitely isn't enough to buy those things just now..."
"It's enough." Ethan interrupted her decisively, pulling his fingers back as he casually stuffed the bill into his pocket. "What you ate is worth this much. Let's go, pay."
He pushed the cart loaded to the brim, giving her no chance to hesitate.
Back in the car, he stuffed the groceries into the trunk.
Ethan didn't start the car immediately. Instead, he exclaimed, "Oh no!" and frowned, pulled out his phone, and seriously pressed the power button a few times. The screen showed no response.
"Damn! My phone seems to have died."
Ethan looked at Nora in the passenger seat: "Let me borrow your phone for a bit. I need to make a call to confirm something."
"Alright." Nora didn't suspect anything and immediately took the old phone out of her pocket and handed it over.
Ethan took the phone, said, "I'm going to the restroom," and quickly walked into the mall's restroom.
A few minutes later.
Ethan returned empty-handed.
He opened the car door, his voice low: "Sorry, Nora. My grip slipped and it fell into the toilet."
He gestured, as if he could still see the moment the phone sank to the bottom.
"..."
Nora froze instantly, her mind blank.
She stared blankly at Ethan's empty hand, then instinctively touched her equally empty pocket.
That old, cheap phone that couldn't even receive spam texts was the only thing she had that looked like an electronic device.
Though it wasn't worth much, it was the extremely faint thread connecting her with her distant mother and grandmother.
A wave of overwhelming loss and helplessness instantly overwhelmed her.
A few seconds later, she finally seemed to regain her breath, shaking her head in panic: "It's okay, really it's okay! That phone was already very old."
Ethan's tone was resolute, carrying a determination to take responsibility to the end, and said, "No! It matters! It definitely matters!"
Jokingly, his carefully planned "accident" was for this very moment!
Otherwise, how else could he get her a new phone? The last time he couldn't get through, he'd noticed the battery was swollen and started thinking about getting her a new one.
Ethan opened the car door and pulled her out onto the mall's escalator.
Head straight for the brightly lit, high-tech electronics section on the first floor.
When she saw the rows of smartphones shimmering with metallic sheen, huge clear screens, and stylish designs inside the glass counter, Nora instantly understood Ethan's intention!
"No! Ethan! I really don't need it!" She suddenly tried to pull her hand back as if burned, her voice filled with unprecedented urgency and fear. "That phone really isn't worth much! If it's lost, so be it. I don't need you to pay for it! Really!"
Her face flushed bright red from anxiety and embarrassment.
There are 130 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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