My grandmother fell asleep soon after our conversation ended. I realized that she was indeed tired. Without realizing it at first, I was starting to realize that she had started dozing off to sleep earlier each time that I visited. It was like she was constantly tired and had difficulty staying awake and active for long periods of time.


    I was concerned; however, I trusted the doctors to tell me if anything was seriously wrong.


    I knew that my grandmother was old and ording to the doctors, some treatment may be too harsh for her body. That meant that it was already great that she was in quite a stable condition. During my ride back to the penthouse, I wondered if Hayden was going to be there. Then I started asking myself if I wanted him to be there.


    Although I was hesitant, the final answer that I got was that I wanted him to be there. I wanted to see Hayden. I wasn’t sure how to face him or what we would do or talk about but…I still wanted to see him. There’s only 7 days left so what’s the point of running and hiding at this point?


    "Wee back,"


    Hayden greeted me immediately after I arrived back at the penthouse. He was sitting leisurely on the sofa like he had nothing to do. I wondered if he was waiting for me toe back. That couldn’t be, right?


    "Have you had dinner?" I asked casually.


    "No. I’ve been waiting for you. Dinner’s ready…" Hayden said as he got up from the sofa and led the way to the dining table.


    He was right, dinner was ready and alreadyid out on the table. There’s too much food as usual. Auntie definitely went above and beyond to prep us an amazing dinner. I thanked her silently in my head as I took my seat opposite Hayden at the dining table.


    Now that he was sitting right in front of me, I didn’t know what to say. I felt like there were many things that we needed to talk about, but no words woulde to mind. Silently, we both started eating to kill the time. I nced at him a couple of times as I stuffed food into my mouth. Hayden was eating patiently like nothing was bothering him at all.


    "There’s seven days left," Hayden spoke up suddenly after he ced his utensils down on his te.


    His words took me by surprise. I never thought that he would be the one to speak up first. Neither did I expect him to know with so much uracy the number of days that were left in the contract. I guess, I wasn’t the only one that had been keeping track.


    "Yeah...you’re right," I replied softly.


    I felt my brows knitting together and realized that I had started frowning at the thought of our contracting to an end in a week’s time. Contrary to me, Hayden just smiled and beganughing softly. He seemed so carefree that I was jealous.


    "There’s no need to overthink things…" Hayden said casually.


    "What do you mean…by that?" I asked, not sure how to take his carefree attitude and words.


    "Nothing special. Let’s just act normal like we’ve always done until time runs out, ok?" Hayden proposed before smiling warmly at me.


    "…Ok" I replied in short because I couldn’te up with anything else to say.


    …


    The next morning, I woke up to the sound of loud banging on my bedroom door. It was so loud that I was sure that the door would break down in no time at all. I didn’t need to guess who was at the door. Obviously, it was Hayden. Who else would be here? Who else would bang on my door this loudly?


    "Morning!" Hayden said brightly once I opened the door.


    He’s already fully dressed and seemed ready to go out. Since when did he be such a morning person? I had no idea what time it was, but my heavy eyelids told me that it was too early for me to be up and about.


    "It’s so early…" I muttered as the light from the hallway stung my sleepy eyes.


    "Let’s go on a date!" Hayden dered enthusiastically.


    He’s got too much energy and I couldn’t keep up. Sleeping in would have been nice but now that I think about it, we’re down to six days left now. Thinking that I didn’t have much time left with Hayden, I shut my mouth before I would let out words ofint. Instead, I nodded.


    "Sure. Let’s go," I said with determination.


    Haydenughed joyously before he told me that he’ll be waiting for me in the living room. Sleepily, I fumbled my way to the bathroom where I took a quick shower. I put on a simple andfortable dress and somefortable sandals before I went to meet up with Hayden in the living room. Seeing that he was dressed inid back clothes, I did the same.


    We’re probably not going anywhere where we’ll need to dress up today.


    "Where are we going today?" I asked once I settled down in the passenger seat of his sportscar.


    Hayden was humming and his light blue eyes seemed so clear and peaceful today. He was clearly in a good mood, and I wanted to keep it that way.


    "Is there somewhere you want to go?" he asked.


    Now that I think about it, I didn’t have a ce that I wanted to go. I guess when I was younger, I used to dream of going on exciting dates to the aquarium, thearium, and other simr ces. However, that younger self of mine had long disappeared.


    "Not…particrly…" I replied slowly.


    "There’s a lot of time left…" Hayden mumbled as if he was speaking to himself.


    It was still quite early in the morning, so of course, we had a lot of time on our hands today. Perhaps, I should suggest something before Hayden would drag me on another shopping spree again. That wasn’t how I wanted to spend my day with him.


    "What do you like apart from art?" Hayden asked suddenly.


    "Oh…fluffy animals?" I replied with the first thing that came to my mind.


    --To be continued…