Every day Aiden came to Sophia's house, cooking her breakfast and dinner. Among the Aristocratic heroes, he was the only one who knew how to cook. Initially, she refused his offerings and belittled his efforts, but then when she learned that all the dishes he cooked had ingredients that were carefully selected by Aiden's nutritionist, she felt more appreciative.

Her assistant got her food from the best restaurants around town. Those were always either fried or too spicy, which made up for the taste but not the benefits. Which meant all the food she's been eating was not good for her digestion.

Working long hours, skipping meals, and not drinking enough water had given Sophia gastric problems. Her doctor had prescribed her something to ease the pain, but that was not a long-term solution.

Aiden was preparing home-cooked meals that included a lot of veggies, less salt, and much more nutritious. Sometimes protein like meat would be added to the meals, but they were always smaller in proportion to what she usually ate.

Sophia sniffed at the soup Aiden had just served her, it smelled different. He said it was medicinal herbs that will help her digestive system recuperate. His attentiveness was making her uncomfortable. Aside from her parents, who have long since passed, nobody has cared for her this much. Maybe her assistant, but that only because she was afraid to lose her job.

She was in the living room typing something up when Aiden's phone rang. He was in the kitchen washing the dishes and pots that he used to make dinner with.

"Aiden! You got a call," Sophia yelled to let him know.

"Answer it," Aiden replied back.

Sophia tried to ignore the ringing phone, not answering it because she might be picking up a personal call, but it rang too much to break her concentration from work, so she gave in.

It was an unknown number in an area code that she recognized to be somewhere in the city.

"It's about time you answered my call. Where are you? How many times do I have to call you before you reply to my messages?

Why did you move? And why didn't you give me the new address? Are you scared I'll visit you?

Tell me, if I didn't call you from another number, you probably wouldn't have answered, right?" the voice rattled on angrily.

"Hello! Answer me," Sophia was taken aback by the rapid-fire of questions from a woman that seemed to be looking for Aiden.

"Uhm… Hello, who is this?" She asked, and her question was met with silence for a few seconds.

"Is this Aiden's number?" the woman asked.

"Yes, it is," Sophia answered.

"Who are you, and why are you answering his phone?" the woman pried.

"I am Sophia, his…," Sophia was interrupted before she could even say, his neighbor.

"Hubby! Hubby! Hurry come, our son has been lying to us," she heard the woman scream on the other end of the phone.

"Son?" Sophia asked.

"Yes, son. I am Aiden Cooper's one and only mother," the woman replied enthusiastically. This made Sophia drop the phone on her lap, her fingers felt nerveless, she just talked to Aiden's mother.

"Hello? Hello?" Aiden's mother was still on the phone, and in her fear, Sophia ended the call.

"Oh no, why did I answer the phone?" she looked at her watch mortified, "It's almost midnight, his mother must think I live here. Oh no..."

Angrily she marched to the kitchen and snapped at Aiden, "Do you know that I just picked up your mother's call?"

"Oh, okay," he replied as if nothing happened.

"Seriously, that's your response?" she was miffed.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked.

"I dropped the call on your mother even before I told her I was your neighbor. She sounded very mad. Call her back and explain that you are in my house and not the other way around," she commanded.

"I'm busy right now, I'll call her later," he shrugged as he rinsed the pot in his hand.

Sophia sighed, "Why didn't you save your mother's number? She complained that you are not responding to her calls?"

"I ignored her because she told me to come home, I wanted to be near you, so I told her no. I haven't confessed to you when she learned I moved out here. I feared telling her about you might cause her to get excited, for sure, she was going to meddle between us, and I did not want her to do that. She used someone else's phone when I kept disregarding her calls." Aiden knew that his mother would talk to Sophia the minute he got wind of her existence, and since Sophia was not like all the other women he's known, he knew that his mom stepping in would probably blow his chances.

He was planning to take it slow with Sophia. Give her the romantic courtship she deserves, and when the time was right, propose to her about marriage. He did not want to scare her with talks about marriage right away, even though he was sure that she was the woman he wanted to spend his life with. Knowing his mom, the minute she met Sophia, she would start talking about getting married, planning the wedding, and asking about babies. He did not want to scare Sophia right off the bat. But now that the cat is out of the bag, he had to deal with it.

"She said she hasn't seen you for a long time, so maybe you should go home and see her. She probably misses you a lot," Sophia suggested.

"I'm not going. I'm going to miss you if I go," He denied her request.

"Aiden!" she warned.

Aiden leaned his head onto her right shoulder, the one nearest him, "But you'll be all alone." He tried to plead.

Sophia lifted his head. In a stern tone said, "I am not a kid Aiden, I was fine before you came into my life. Your parents are requesting you to go home. Go visit them tomorrow."

He huffed, "Fine. I will listen to you," he said in a pouty kind of way which made Sophia roll her eyes.

"Would you like to come with me?" he asked.

"No way," Sophia ran out of the kitchen as fast as she could. Aiden's loud laugh followed her to the living room.