Chapter 7: The Door to a New World

Amy’s first reaction upon entering the grocery store was: Nancy was absolutely right.

This grocery store could practically be described as enormous. There were more than a dozen full rows of shelves just for fresh fruits and vegetables. Peppers, carrots, cauliflower—under the bright produce lights, everything gleamed with a glossy sheen that stirred the customers’ desire to buy. The other shelves were equally dazzling.

After wandering around twice, Amy felt her wallet was in imminent danger.

She wanted to buy everything!

But her funds didn’t allow it.

Wanting to clear out the whole supermarket with that little money—dream on, she mercilessly scolded herself.

“Hello, new friend. What would you like to buy?”

Amy turned. Speaking to her was a man in his forties wearing a bow tie. He had to be the “Old Charlie” Nancy had mentioned.

“Old Charlie” wasn’t old at all—his hair was still thick, not a hint of baldness.

Tentatively, Amy asked, “Mr. Charlie?”

Mr. Charlie smiled. “Leslie said the new girl in town is polite and pretty—she wasn’t wrong. Let me formally introduce myself. I’m the owner of this grocery store. Just call me Charlie.”

“Hello, Charlie, it’s an honor to meet you.”

“The honor is mine.” Charlie smiled even brighter. “Where did you hear about me?”

Amy answered honestly, “Yesterday I went to the cabin on the beach to buy seeds. Nancy told me your store was big and well-stocked. Now that I’m here, I see she was right.”

No one disliked compliments. Almost instantly, Amy saw Charlie’s favorability meter jump upward.

So, Charlie’s favorability would be easy to raise.

“Amy, you really know how to talk. No wonder I felt close to you the moment I saw you… If only my son Andrew were as sensible as you, then I wouldn’t worry so much. Tell me what you’d like to buy, I can introduce some things—” Charlie’s pocket phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, then looked at Amy apologetically. “Sorry, it’s my wife Jenny. I’ll have to take this.”

Amy nodded in understanding. She heard Charlie call toward the back, “Andrew, handle checkout.”

No response. Silence.

Amy strongly suspected this “Andrew” wasn’t actually around.

As if guessing her thoughts, Charlie explained, “He’s at home. He just pretends not to hear… he’s always like that.”

The cheer on Charlie’s face dimmed, replaced by weariness. He sighed softly. “Amy, I hope you don’t mind.”

So the father and son’s relationship wasn’t great.

“Not at all.” Amy shook her head, though inside she was uneasy.

Why did she feel like Andrew’s favorability would be hard to gain?

“Jenny, it’s me… What took you so long to answer? Because a customer came in—the new farmer girl. I think you’ll like her, yes, that’s right… So what’s the matter? What?! That new batch of cabbages…”

Charlie walked off while talking, his voice fading into the distance.

Amy watched his back for a moment, then turned back to browse the shelves.

She drifted between displays while thinking about what to cook later at home.

As a single office worker, Amy not only knew how to cook, she was quite good at it.

Once, she had brought tuna rice balls to work to share. A coworker had praised her after one bite: “Amy, you’re wasted here. You should apply to be a Michelin chef instead.”

Of course, it was exaggerated flattery to make her feel good.

Even so, Amy had really considered quitting to become a baker or pastry chef, doing something she loved instead of staring at dull work and uninteresting people all day. But before she could act, she had ended up here in Hot Spring Town.

Not that she regretted it—because now, she was doing exactly what she loved.

Thinking about her past, she unconsciously slipped back into her old after-work supermarket routine. By the time she came to her senses, her shopping cart was overflowing, way past her budget.

She had no choice but to put everything back on the shelves, one by one.

That was when a cool voice came from behind: “If you don’t want it, why put it in the cart?”

Amy didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

Since she was at fault, she didn’t argue. “Sorry, I was distracted.”

She expected him to sneer more, but unexpectedly he just replied with one low syllable: “Mm.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Amy looked up.

The boy standing before her was tall, wearing a navy hoodie. His frame was slim, his skin pale, lips pressed together. Slightly long bangs shadowed his eyes, making his gaze seem dark and unreadable. Overall, he looked reserved, a man of few words.

That was Amy’s first impression of Andrew.

Even after she returned the last bottle of Italian chili sauce, Andrew still hadn’t left. Amy couldn’t help but remind him, “I’ve already put back everything I don’t want. What’s left, I’m buying.”

In other words: you don’t need to stand here watching me anymore.

“Okay.” He answered, but still didn’t move.

Amy: “…” What on earth was he doing?

“Why are you still standing here?”

He couldn’t be shopping too—this entire store belonged to his family.

A flicker of confusion passed over Andrew’s blank face, making him look more puzzled than Amy. “Don’t you need an introduction?”

“An introduction?”

“My dad just said—if you wanted to buy something, he could introduce it to you.” Andrew explained flatly.

Amy finally understood.

Charlie had left to take the call, so Andrew had come to introduce the goods in his place.

“No need, no need,” Amy said quickly. “I know what these are. Don’t trouble yourself.”

Honestly, she hadn’t understood why Charlie even said that. Onions and pumpkins didn’t need introducing… but she went along.

Andrew turned and walked away without hesitation.

Watching his tall back, Amy thought: what a hard man to figure out.

After picking out almost everything she needed, she wheeled her cart to the counter to queue.

Several women in checkered headscarves were chatting.

“You should try mixing foie gras and truffles into a paste, stuffing it inside a roast chicken before baking… The taste is devilishly divine.”

“Oh my God, you’re making me drool!”

“I made apples soaked in mead. Come by my house to try them. We haven’t had a gathering in ages, have we?”

“Yes, of course! We’ll definitely come!”

“….”

Amy, thinking of the plain little pot back at her place, didn’t join in.

When would she ever be rich? She wanted an oven so badly.

The women left laughing and chatting with their arms full, and soon it was Amy’s turn.

Eggs, salad dressing, lettuce, olive oil, seasonings… Altogether, 273 gold.

A lot of money, but these were daily essentials. At least they would last three days, which made it worth it.

In two days, the lettuce she planted would be ready. Then she wouldn’t need to spend money on food for a while. A few days after that, the tomatoes would ripen.

Life was looking promising.

During checkout, Andrew’s expression never changed, as if the customers’ money wasn’t going into his family’s pocket at all.

Determined to raise favorability with everyone in town, Amy forced herself to say, “Your store’s goods are very fresh, and reasonably priced. I’ll definitely shop here again.”

“Mm.”

Amy: “…”

A rough start.

Never mind, she decided to try again.

“Even though I didn’t need it, thank you for offering to introduce the items to me earlier.”

“You’re welcome.”

The favorability bar didn’t move.

“….” Amy gave up.

She couldn’t manage it.

If it were his father, Charlie, she could praise him for being warm, generous, hospitable. But Andrew… better not.

Amy said goodbye and was about to leave when something struck her. She turned back and said, “Has anyone ever told you, your eyes are really beautiful?”

It was the only compliment she could think of. If it didn’t work, she’d have to come up with something else later.

Yet Andrew still showed no reaction. He only lifted his gaze to her, and this time didn’t even reply with a “Mm” or “You’re welcome.”

Amy didn’t wait for an answer. She gave an awkward laugh. “Goodbye!” Then hurried out of the store.

On the way back to the farm, her emotions were tangled. She regretted saying those words. What if he thought she was harassing him? Did this game even have negative favorability points?

Only after returning to the farm did her mood calm.

Her farm seemed to hold a magic that always settled her heart.

What was done was done. No amount of regret medicine could change it. She decided to put it aside and check her gains for the day.

Opening the panel, she saw: Linda’s favorability +½ heart, Ryan’s +¾ heart, Charlie’s +1 heart, Andrew’s… wait.

Amy thought she was seeing wrong.

Andrew’s favorability had also risen by half a heart?!

But he’d been expressionless the whole time—how did it increase?

So… when she praised his eyes, his blank face was actually hiding delight?

Amy felt like she had opened the door to a new world.