Chapter 2

Freya and Tyler arrived early, carrying large bags of groceries.

"Cleo, we specifically bought the food you love most. Stop being angry, okay?" Tyler apologized to me first.

I didn't answer.

When dinner started that evening, Freya had all her favorites right in front of her—barbecue ribs, seafood boil, and mac and cheese.

Freya let out a gasp.

"It's everything I love! Thank you, Tyler, for taking a detour to buy the groceries, and thank you, Andrea, for specifically making them just the way I love them!"

Yet in front of me, there was only a single white porcelain bowl.

I lifted the lid, and inside was a bowl of escargot.

I nearly threw the bowl out.

In elementary school, some boys stuffed a bunch of snails into my schoolbag.

When I reached in to get my books and pinched that disgusting slimy texture, I cried from fright.

They even gave me a nickname, "Snail Girl".

From then on, I began to fear snails.

However, when Mom found out, she started forcing me to eat escargot.

"Eat them, and you won't be afraid."

I took a bite and vomited until my gastrointestinal tract went into acute stress, landing me in the emergency room.

Tyler sneaked in to visit me, stuffing a chicken drumstick into my hands.

"Cleo, come to my house next time. I won't ever force you to eat things you're afraid of.

"It's okay to be a little scared."

His earnest face back then made my simple heart fall for him.

But now, he picked up a piece with his fork and dropped it into my bowl.

"It looks scary, but it's actually really nutritious."

I stared at the piece in my bowl, then picked it up to put it into Freya's bowl.

"Then have her eat it."

Yet Tyler blocked it with his utensil.

"How can you do that? Freya finds it disgusting. She gets goosebumps just looking at it."

Mom also slapped my hand with her fork.

"Don't dawdle while eating. Who are you showing that sulky face to?"

I lowered my head, looked at it for a long time, then put the escargot into my mouth.

Though I felt like vomiting, I endured it.

It turned out it wasn't actually that scary.

They looked at me with gratified expressions, as if looking at a successful experimental product.

The dining table continued to be lively with eating.

Tyler peeled shrimp for Freya while Mom spooned her pasta. I, on the other hand, was like a redundant ornament.

Halfway through the meal, Tyler suddenly spoke up.

"Right, for your group's project presentation tomorrow, how about letting Freya go instead?

"You get nervous and stammer when speaking in front of so many people."

For once, I was quick to pick up Tyler's meaning.

He claimed to be worried about me, but he also knew that the project was important. He wanted to give Freya the opportunity.

However, I had pulled three all-nighters to work on that project.

I didn't care about being in the spotlight, but I wanted to try to stand at the front for once.

"I want to present it myself."

The dining table fell quiet for a second.

Tyler frowned.

"Are you sure? There will be quite a lot of people tomorrow. Don't go up on stage and find yourself unable to speak."

Mom also gave me a disappointed look.

"You can't even speak smoothly in front of relatives, so why go up there? It's fine if you embarrass yourself, but don't embarrass Tyler."

I stared intently at them. "Don't you guys always hope that I can be bolder?"

Freya smoothed things over. "It's really good that Cleo is taking this step. I support you."

That night, I practiced ‌the PowerPoint presentation by myself until two in the morning.

But I didn't expect that when I went up on stage the next day, several key pages of data would be blank.

I froze on the stage.

Tyler sat in the front row, looking at me calmly for two seconds.

"Having the courage to stand on stage is the first step, but professional capability lies in the mastery of data and on-the-spot improvisation."

Freya also lowered her head to press her phone and send me a text message.

[Tyler and I specifically deleted these two pages of data for you. In the future, there will be plenty of special situations when facing clients. Once your on-the-spot reactions are trained, you won't panic.]

Dozens of pairs of eyes looked at me.

My hands could not stop shaking.

There was no PowerPoint presentation or data pages…

I closed my eyes, then took a deep breath.

I stuttered and stumbled three times in the middle, and although it wasn't brilliant, I finished presenting.

When it ended, the expressions on Tyler's and Freya's faces were somewhat stunned.

Walking down from the stage, I received a text from Elsie.

[We are really going into the mountains the day after tomorrow. Have you thought it through?]

[I have. I've already bought the tickets.]