When they returned to the Fifth Sector, it was already noon.
However, even until getting off the vehicle, Aerith still seemed not to have sobered up, so Aiden still carried her back home.
Since Elmyra had already gone out, there was no one to open the door for them, so Aiden had no choice but to pat Aerith's face, wake her up, and ask, "Did you bring the key?"
Aerith, half-squinting her eyes, lightly nodded, and after searching herself for quite a while she finally found the key.
Aiden took the key, opened the door, went inside, and directly placed Aerith on the sofa. After that, he found a blanket and covered her body, and then entered the kitchen, preparing to make something for Aerith to eat.
However, at the moment he entered the kitchen, Aerith opened her eyes. In her bright pupils there was not a trace of drunkenness; in fact, she had already sobered up when they were still in the vehicle.
Looking toward the direction of the kitchen, Aerith's mood was very complicated, and at the same time a trace of struggle flashed across her face, as if she was resisting something.
But very quickly, she became relieved.
"Perhaps... this time it really can change." Aerith muttered to herself.
Not long after, Aiden came out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of oatmeal porridge, inside which he had also added some honey.
Of course, given Elmyra's conditions, or rather, the slum's conditions, there was no honey in the kitchen. This was something Aiden had brought himself. High-calorie honey was not only a very good seasoning but also a great way to quickly replenish energy.
"You're awake?" Coming out of the kitchen, Aiden saw Aerith looking at him with open eyes, so he moved a chair over and sat in front of her.
"Drink a little something."
Aiden handed the bowl over, but Aerith did not move.
"I seem to still not have much strength." Aerith slightly lifted her hand, then put it back down.
"So... I feed you?" Aiden thought for a moment, then squeezed out this sentence, "Or wait for you to..."
"Okay, you feed me." Aerith interrupted Aiden's next words, looking at him with a face full of expectation.
This made Aiden a little troubled. He originally wanted to say, wait until Aerith rested enough and drank by herself, but the other party agreed too straightforwardly.
"Alright then, come, I'll help you sit up first." Aiden put the oatmeal porridge to the side, helped Aerith sit up, then scooped a spoonful of porridge and brought it to Aerith's lips.
Looking at the steaming hot porridge, Aerith glanced at him, lightly humming, "It's a bit hot, aren't you going to blow on it first?"
Aiden was stunned for a moment, hesitated a bit, but still followed Aerith's suggestion.
"Very sweet." Aerith ate the spoonful of porridge that was once again brought to her mouth, nodded in satisfaction; the taste of honey made her mood brighten up.
After finishing the whole bowl of oatmeal porridge, Aiden was sweating all over, not because he was tired, but because he was a little uncomfortable.
It was his first time doing something like this. Even though the other person was Aerith, he was not good at taking care of people.
"I'm full." Aerith lightly patted her belly, then lay back down again. Her nimble actions made Aiden frown.
Just now, it seemed like she was scheming against him?
Letting out a slight sigh in his heart, Aiden didn't bother about it, carrying the empty bowl back to the kitchen. It was time to make something for himself to eat.
———
In the afternoon, Aerith, who felt a little embarrassed from resting too much, got up from the sofa. After simply tidying up her personal hygiene, she said to Aiden, who was sitting by the window lost in thought, "Aiden, are you interested in accompanying me to a place?"
"Where to?" Aiden withdrew his thoughts, looking at Aerith.
"Follow me and you'll know." Aerith pulled Aiden's arm and walked out of the house.
Very quickly, they arrived at the church not far from Aerith's home.
The church had long been abandoned. Without any congregation, the building had lost all vitality. But as Aiden and Aerith entered deeper into the church, inside the structure that should have been used for worship, they saw a small flowerbed.
'FF7's classic place.' Looking at the flowerbed, Aiden subconsciously raised his head, but because the plot had not officially advanced yet, naturally there was no large hole knocked open by Cloud.
"What are you looking at?" Aerith curiously asked him.
"Nothing. I'm just a bit surprised that under these conditions, such lush and bright flowers can grow." Aiden withdrew his gaze and looked at the flowerbed. Of course, he was asking knowingly.
"Because, I am very special." Aerith bent down, scooped a handful of soil from the flowerbed, walked in front of Aiden, then closed her eyes.
Then, the green white magic stone on her headband emitted a faint glow. Immediately afterward, an invisible energy appeared from her palm. Slowly, from the handful of soil, a sprout grew out.
Of course, Aerith had not fully mastered her own power yet. Just making a sprout grow from the soil already caused beads of sweat to appear on her forehead.
"Look, isn't it very special?" Aerith raised her hand in front of Aiden, looking at him full of expectation.
"Yeah, it's truly unbelievable." Aiden nodded, "No wonder the flowers here grow so lush, while on the streets outside, not even a weed can be seen."
"That's why I've always been selling flowers. In Midgar, flowers are very valuable." Aerith put the soil back into the flowerbed, clapped her hands and said.
"But only the rich people in the upper sectors would buy them. People in the slums even have trouble putting food on the table; very few would buy flowers from me." Aerith said regretfully, "And even those rich people don't seem very interested in flowers. They seem to look down on things that wither easily."
"That's because they don't know how to take care of them." Aiden squatted down, gently caressing the flowers in the flowerbed, and said, "If you take good care of them, they can live for a long time. And even if they wither, they will return to the soil, become nutrients, and then nurture new life, repeating endlessly, life never stopping."
"Is that so?" Aerith's green eyes shone brightly upon hearing Aiden's words.
"Then... Aiden, what is your understanding of life?" Aerith asked again.
"Understanding of life?" Aiden was slightly stunned, a little confused, but still voiced his thoughts, "I might not know very clearly. I just know that no matter what kind of life, it's very fragile, but also very strong, short-lived, yet also brilliant... Aerith, why are you asking me this?"
"Nothing." Aerith shook her head, but her face already showed a smile, she had gotten the answer she wanted.
Afterward, Aiden and Aerith did not leave the church but began tending to the flowers in the flowerbed.
Even though Aerith's ability could promote the flowers' growth and make them tougher than normal flowers, nutrients and water were still necessary.
"So, Aiden, work hard for a bit, okay?" Aerith handed the watering tool to Aiden, smiling brightly at him.
Of course, Aiden could not refuse. He was now living and eating at her house, doing some work was nothing. Besides, the size of the flowerbed was not very big. Aiden only needed one trip to bring over enough water.
'Having a capable man at home really is nice.'
Watching Aiden watering and weeding, a thought suddenly popped into Aerith's mind.
'Ah, what am I thinking?' Aerith was startled by her own thought, hurriedly shook her head, trying to throw that idea out of her mind.
But once such a thought appeared, how could it be easily discarded? For a moment, Aerith fell into inner conflict, until Aiden finished organizing the flowerbed and she snapped back to her senses.
"Aerith?" Aiden put down the tool, stretched lazily, and said to her, "Is there anything else to do?"
"For now, no." Aerith shook her head, "After we have dinner later, let's come back again... Aiden, you don't have any other plans for tonight, right?"
"Of course not. What could I possibly have to do now?" Aiden asked strangely.
"For example, going to that bar to drink. That Tifa girl was very warm toward you." Aerith's eyes flashed with a smile.
"…"
After a moment of speechlessness, Aiden said helplessly, "I only met her once, and mainly it was because of Marlene that she was that enthusiastic, okay."
Seeing Aiden's helpless expression, Aerith covered her mouth and giggled. After a while, she said, "Since you don't plan to run around tonight, can you accompany me to the upper sector to sell flowers? Now that there's another mouth at home, and it's a man's mouth, just relying on my and mom's salary won't be enough."
"Sell flowers?" Aiden was stunned again, then pointed at himself, "With my appearance, is it okay?"
"Why not?" Aerith looked Aiden up and down, "You look very pleasing to the eye."
"Alright then." Aiden enjoyed Aerith's praise and immediately nodded in agreement.
"Then let's go home first."
After saying that, Aerith directly grabbed Aiden's hand and pulled him out of the church.
When they returned home, Elmyra had also come back, sitting at the tea table drinking tea.
When she saw Aerith holding Aiden's hand back, she was momentarily stunned. The hand holding the tea cup froze mid-air, and she looked at the two of them with a strange gaze.
"Mom." Aerith noticed Elmyra's gaze and immediately let go of Aiden's hand. After calling out, she ran into her own room.
"Looks like you two got along quite well today." Elmyra glanced at Aerith's tightly closed door and said with a smile.
"Cough, it was alright." Aiden coughed lightly and said.
"Marlene has gone home, right?" Elmyra asked again.
Aiden nodded, "We personally handed her over to her father."
"That's good." Elmyra nodded slightly, then took another sip of tea.
After that, she put down the tea cup, got up and walked toward the kitchen, saying while walking, "Sit for a while, I'll go cook dinner for you guys."
"Alright, Ms. Elmyra." Aiden nodded.
During dinner, Aerith told Elmyra about her plan to sell flowers together with Aiden.
"You two are going to sell flowers together?" Elmyra put down her spoon and looked at Aerith.
"Mom, you're not against it, right?" Aerith thought Elmyra would oppose her taking Aiden along.
"No." Elmyra shook her head and smiled, "On the contrary, I totally support it. When you used to sell flowers alone, I was always worried. Now that someone is accompanying you, I'm happy, not worried."
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