The Cursed King

"What are you thinking about?"

Alex's words moved Elise from her reverie. She fluttered her lashes and smiled sheepishly before she shook her head. Elise hoped Alex didn't notice she was daydreaming earlier.

What was she daydreaming about? Ahh.. the handsome man who had been helping her a lot.

As she turned her gaze away from Marc's office, her eyes caught sight of the cute lunch box on her desk.

Loriel truly spoiled her with good food. He even prepared lunch for her with the excuse that they had leftovers from the previous night's dinner. This made her feel so happy.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about the task you assigned to me," said Elise with a smile. She went back to her computer and asked Alex to repeat her instruction. Alex narrowed her eyes and looked at Elise suspiciously. 

"Are you sure?" she asked Elise. She turned to look at Marc's office and then at Elise. Why did she feel there was a special relationship between Elise and her boss?

"Yeah... I am sure," Elise replied. She made herself busy with her research and pretended not to notice Alex's suspicion.

Finally, Alex left her to do her job. Elise was grateful because Loriel took the time to teach her how to use the internet and also ways to get the best results when searching for information.

After she had her phone, when she was alone, Elise often tinkered with her device and asked questions about anything to the search engine.

She would get lost among so many articles. It felt a lot like being surrounded by books in the library and drowned in them. She loved it!

She could learn so much. In a matter of days, she had searched about many things and absorbed so much knowledge. She no longer felt strange and confused by day-to-day things that she was not exposed to before.

Elise made a point to learn new things every day and catch up with the world. Maybe, someday she could also find out why she didn't remember the first twenty years of her life.

*** 

"Hey, aren't you going to the cafeteria for lunch?" Linda from HR knocked on Alex's door and entered. 

Alex looked up from her computer and then checked her watch. "Oh, you are right. It's lunchtime already. Let me turn off my PC and go with you."

She rose from her chair and took her phone and wallet.

"Are you coming with us?" she asked Elise who also turned off her computer but didn't seem to make a move toward the cafeteria.

Elise shook her head. "No. Today I brought lunch from home."

"Why?" Alex asked. "Isn't it wasting time to prepare food from home? Our cafeteria has many options."

"No, this is leftovers from dinner," Elise explained. "Besides, I want to save my lunch money."

"Oh… " Alex and Linda already saw the Hello Kitty lunch box on Elise's desk. Alex shrugged. "Okay then. See you later."

"Have a good lunch," said Elise to Alex and Linda who left her to go to the cafeteria.

"You too, Elise," Alex replied.

After the two ladies went out, Elise opened her lunch box and got ready to eat her lunch. Some staff from the cubicles around her rose from their seats to go to the cafeteria too.

They all looked at the woman who chose to eat alone at her desk. They had heard how Elise brought lunch from home to save money.

With that information, they concluded that she was not the daughter of some high-class family who entered the company through nepotism.

She must be poor if she wanted to save money that badly, that's what they thought.

"Hmmm... What is this?" Marc, who just left his office to go out and eat lunch, was attracted by the smell of familiar food and his nose led her to Elise's desk.

He sniffed the air and had to swallow his drool when he saw the food on her lunch box.

Elise already opened the lid and he could see cooked veal and risotto on the separate containers.

Marc immediately remembered the food Loriel cooked for dinner when he was invited to come last week. They smelled sooooo good.

The risotto tasted awesome too. Unfortunately, Marc didn't have the chance to try the veal because Loriel subtly kicked him out of his penthouse. Marc left Loriel's home feeling so hungry.

And he didn't initially realize this, but the fact that he didn't get to try the veal after smelling the wonderful flavor made him become obsessed with the dish, that he kept thinking about it when he smelled food.

And now, Elise actually brought the exact same dishes as the last time?

Marc almost drooled. He licked his lips and tried so hard to remove his eyes from the lunch box.

"Is that your lunch?" he asked the woman. 

Elise nodded. "Yes. Do you want some?"

She asked him the question innocently. Elise just thought it was nice to share. That was why she offered him to try her lunch. She had seen him licking his lips. Marc seemed so hungry.

In addition to feeling sorry for Marc, Elise also remembered Loriel's words to pay forward the kindness she received from other people.

Well, today she received Loriel's kindness by providing her with lunch in a brand new and cute lunch box. So, she felt that it was only right for her to pay it forward by offering Marc some of her food. 

"Ar-are you offering me your food?" Marc couldn't believe his hearing. His heart never pounded for food before, but apparently, there was always the first time for everything.

"Yes. If you want some, I can share it with you," Elise replied with a sweet smile.

Marc felt ecstatic when he heard her offer. His face was beaming with happiness.

Ahhh.. finally! He could know what the veal tasted like. He could finally stop thinking about it.

"Ah.. please, thank you so much," Marc gushed. He waved to the office attendant and asked him to get him a plate and cutlery from the pantry.

Ten minutes later, the CEO already sat next to Elise and enjoyed the heavenly dishes together.

Gosh, he didn't know his grand-uncle was so talented in cooking. Welp, maybe that's one of the perks of being an immortal, he thought. Loriel must have perfected his cooking techniques for centuries.

Marc had never tasted food this good before.

Everything was perfect! All flavors blended perfectly and they melted in his mouth. 

Elise chuckled when she saw him eat voraciously. "If you want, I can bring extra tomorrow."

"You can bring extra?" Marc was so impressed.

He could clearly see how special this woman to Loriel was, that his grand-uncle cooked for her a lot and made her bring lunch from home, specially made by the former king himself.

Elise nodded. "Yes. I think so. If not, we can just share my food. I don't eat a lot."

She treated him casually because Elise felt comfortable being around Marc as she would to a friend when they were not around other office staff.

It was because Elise first got to know the man as Loriel's friend and not her boss.  Marc also didn't treat her like his subordinate when they ate together just now. 

She liked that he seemed to really appreciate the food, unlike some people who looked at her way with a mocking expression just because she brought lunch from home. 

"No.. don't. I will only eat your food if you have extra. Next time, no need to share yours," said Marc, albeit reluctantly. 

Even though he loved the food, Marc wouldn't dare to take her share if she couldn't bring extra. He could imagine Loriel's wrath if he found out Marc took food from his favorite person in the world.

"Ah, you don't have to stand in ceremony with me," said Elise with a chuckle. "We have a lot of leftovers from last night. Had I known that you would want to eat the food, I would have asked Loriel to give me more, so we wouldn't waste food."

"Well.. if you insist, I won't say no, then," said Marc with a grin. He got up from his chair and took his plate and Elise's lunchbox. "Let me wash this and return it to you since you already shared your heavenly food with me."

Before Elise could say no, the big boss already disappeared with her lunch box.