41 Vivian

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Aiden and I barely see each other for the next two days - we are both consumed by work.

On the third day, Grace decides to take a well-deserved day off and leaves me at home too.

"I'm going to give you and my grandson a cooking class tonight," she announces over breakfast. "Cooking skills won't be superfluous," Grace winks good-naturedly at me. "But first we need to do grocery shopping."

Closer to lunch, we get out to the nearest superstore together.

"I usually don't have a time to go to the store on weekdays," she shares, "I have to buy food for a week or two ahead when I take a day off."

I hesitate, not daring to ask a question, but can't help it eventually.

"Grace, isn't it hard for you to work in such an exhausting mode?"

She looks at me with a smile.

"Honey, when you're passionate, when you're burning with what you're doing, you don't know fatigue. You want to try harder and harder to see the result and feel proud and satisfied with the realization that all the efforts made earlier have paid off."

We enter the building and head for the carts.

"It used to be even more difficult. I was torn between work and family," Grace continues after a while. "That's why I support the way you clearly allocate your priorities. I learned it quite late."

An hour later, our cart is full of groceries.
I have no idea how we are going to fit it all into Grace's little car.

"It's capable of much more, kitten," Aiden's grandmother replies, laughing softly, when I carefully express my concerns to her.

To my surprise, there is even room left in the trunk.

"What are we going to cook?" I ask eagerly.

"To be honest, I haven't decided yet," Grace says. "We'll do according to the mood."

Until the evening I have time to continue studying the art books Aiden bought me.

Every time I read, I lose my sense of reality.

It doesn't matter what it is, fiction or non-fiction, I don't notice how time passes anyway.

I guess books are what I'm passionate about, like Grace is passionate about her work in a flower shop.

I've been an escapist since I was a kid.
Maybe that's why I ended up in another world in my reality?

Aiden's car pulls up around 5 pm.

"Vivian, come down quickly, we won't waste a minute," Grace joyfully shouts, standing on the second step of the stairs.

When Aiden walks into the house, his face shows utter amazement.

"What is it? Did you come to meet me?" he asks.

"No, we came to inform you that you will have to cook dinner yourself," his grandmother says with a sly smile.

He glances from Grace to me and back again.

"We have a cooking class today," I explain, wishing not to torment him anymore.

"We're going to make mushroom risotto and sponge cake," Grace proudly declares.

We both look at her, not hiding our terror.

"Maybe we should start with something simpler?" Aiden is the first to recover from the shock.

"There is no maybe. Let's get down to business!" she commands.

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