"I’m sorry, Ms. Blackwood. I really am." Dr. Kian apologized again and Grace could no longer blame him. He was just a pure soul who still hadn’t seen the worst hide of humans. It wasn’t his fault that he ended up getting robbed by greedy and selfish people.
She took in a deep breath before she fixed her gaze on his and spoke, "I should be the one apologizing here. It was because of me that you have to take such a big risk by coming here."
This time, he was the one dismissing her apology. "We both know what might have happened to me if I have stayed in the Capital City. I might haven’t survived there. And even though my journey to here was full of dangers, since I have made it to here, I know that my future is pretty much safe for the time being."
The two of them fell into silence for a few moments before she found herself asking, "Why did you come here?" It might sound like a weird and stupid question, but she genuinely wanted to know his answer.
Even if he was confused by her question, he didn’t show it on his face. His expression was calm as he replied, "Have you forgotten that you were the one who asked me to come here?"
"It’s not that." She answered. "What I’m asking is why you listened to me in the first place? Would you have come if it was someone else?"
"No." Dr. Kian didn’t miss even a second as he replied in a serious voice. His gaze was intense and serious as he said, "I came only and only because it was you making that offer."
"You trust me that much? Even though we barely know each other?" Grace asked, surprised by his confession.
A small smile made its way to his lips as he answered, "For some unknown reason, I do. Even I have been asking myself the reason I decided to accept your offer, but I have no certain answer. It’s just that from the moment we first met in the hospital that afternoon, I have been feeling some sort of familiarity with you. A part of me trusts you even when my head thinks that I’m being absolutely foolish."
Grace wasn’t expecting to hear such a genuine confession from him, and it made her smile a little as well. Maybe his trust in her had something to do with their previous lives, but she wasn’t sure about that.
"Whatever the case, you have accepted my offer and you are already here. It means that you are one of my people from now on. Just like I promised, I will protect you from now on. Stay here and recuperate. We will talk again once you will be feeling better."
Once she finished speaking, she stood up and headed toward the door. Just as she was about to step outside, she heard him speaking.
"Can you unblock my number at least?"
Seconds, it only took merely seconds for her cheeks to feel the warmth of embarrassment covering them. Without looking back at him, she hummed a positive response and quickly stepped out of the room.
* * *
[Congratulaions!]
[New partner added: Dr. Kian]
[Points earned: 4.5 Million]
[Total Points: 10,936,555]
Grace felt extremely happy as she received the notifications from the system once she confirmed Dr. Kian as her new partner. Looking at those 10 Million points, she couldn’t help but feel excited.
She might haven’t feel this happy after seeing this much money, but seeing those points was making her feel like she had achieved some sort of great success.
Removing the huge smile that was playing on her lips, she quickly shifted her attention to work. Since she had earned so many points, it was time to use some of them.
She first opened more land area for farming and planting orchards. She then opened an area for setting up a vineyard. Finally, she opened a stream, a pond and a cave that was located nearby the farmhouse and the fields.
After 2025 informed her about the pure energy present within the cave and the hot spring there, she had been looking forward to unlocking that place. It felt like such a luxury to have a private hot spring of her own. She was looking forward to making use of this luxury.
Since there wasn’t much time left before Davian’s arrival at her apartment for their daily task of cooking food, she decided to step out of the space for the time being.
About ten minutes later, she and Davian were working in the kitchen, preparing another set of delicious dishes. Once they finished dinner and he left her apartment, she immediately returned inside her space to start working.
She first set up the orchards that took her about two hours of the space’s time. She grew more apples, mangoes, and oranges, followed with - banana, strawberry, pineapple, watermelon, blueberry, cherry, papaya, peach, pear, pomegranate, lemon, raspberry, avocado, plum, and finally persimmon.
Once she was done with the orhards, she started working on the vineyard. She grew all types of grapes. She started with table grapes and planted red seedless grapes, green seedless grapes, and then black seedless grapes.
For wine, she planted red wine grapes, white wine grapes, and then rośe grapes. Finally, she planted raisin grapes and finished her work.
Since she was feeling tired, she decided to take a bath in the hot spring. Though she knew that taking a bath there would be healing, she was left stunned at just how good the hot water felt.
All her muscles loosened up and she almost drifted to sleep as the therapeutic atmosphere of the cave made her relax way too much. Half an hour later, she climbed out of the hot spring and got dressed before stepping out of the space.
With how relaxed her body was feeling, she wasted no time as she climbed into the bed and hid under the blanket, falling asleep almost immediately.