Claire was surprised to hear it was a hereditary calling.
"Nice to meet you, Sully," she greeted him with a bright smile.
"Nice to meet you, too."
Sully replied, looking calm on the surface while internally panicking.
What was he supposed to do? He was suddenly meeting his buddy's fiancée and hadn't prepared a gift at all.
He truly saw Dane as a brother, having even helped him in fistfights when they were
kids.
Dane never looked down on him for being the household chef's son.
In fact, Dane always treated him incredibly well.
After completing his apprenticeship, Sully spent a few years honing his craft around the globe, and the moment he returned, he was immediately installed as the executive chef of Vertex International's corporate dining room.
Running a corporate cafeteria was grueling work, but the salary Dane paid him easily matched that of a high-end restaurant executive chef.
Sully genuinely loved working here.
The cafeteria gave him total creative freedom.
In a five-star restaurant, the customer was king, but in this kitchen, Sully ruled supreme.
He could experiment with new dishes however he pleased, and no one dared complain.
Even if the food tasted awful or bizarre, and the employees refused to eat it, Dane never scolded him for the waste.
Sully unleashed a wildly eccentric dish once a week, and the staff had long since grown accustomed to it.
Still, all that wild experimentation constantly pushed his culinary skills forward, leading to the creation of quite a few brilliant new recipes.
Sully was more than satisfied with the arrangement.
"So, uh, are you guys eating here for lunch? I've got some signature dishes..." Sully rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
Other than his cooking, he didn't really have anything impressive to offer.
After all, it wasn't like Dane was short on cash.
Claire glanced at Dane.
"How about you catch up on some sleep in my office, we grab lunch here, and then head home to see Grandpa?" Dane could see that Sully was an honest guy feeling a bit flustered.
However, he always deferred to Claire's schedule.
If she was too busy, he wouldn't push it.
Claire frowned slightly. "I can't. I still have some final wrap-up work to do at the lab."
"Then let's do tonight. Don't work late-I'll come pick you up."
"We'll head straight to the Green manor, and I'll have Sully come over too."
Dane offered a compromise.
That sounded like a solid plan.
Claire nodded in agreement and prepared to leave.
"You woke up too early. Are you going to be too tired to drive to Luminate?"
Claire rubbed her eyes. "I don't have
ach and want to t
The experiment is in itse
final
before the holidays
at
bet
She didn't want to work herself to the bone either, but she had already
spent the entirety of yesterday
taking time off
"No matter how urgent the work is, it's not as important as your health. You need to balance your time."
Dane clearly disapproved of her relentless overtime.
Claire gave him a pointed, incredulous look. "Before you lecture me, maybe you should take a look in the mirror."
Dane froze. Right. He had just pulled an all-nighter.
"My clients were pressing me. It was an emergency."
He defended himself, though the excuse sounded incredibly hollow even to his own
ears.
A soft smile spread across Claire's face. It's fine, won't nag you over one or two special cases, but you
can' make a habit of putting work
over everything else."
"I might be in the medical field, but I still want my fiancé to take good care of his
health."
"Once I set my heart on someone, I don't plan on changing my mind."
Hearing those words, Dane's heart skipped a beat.
He fully grasped the weight of what she was saying. "So... I'm your chosen partner?"
"Yes. The one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with," Claire said solemnly.
Dane squeezed her hand gently, replying with a single, resolute word. "Okay."
For her sake, he would take better care of himself and wouldn't blindly work overtime.
True to his word, that very afternoon, everyone witnessed a Mr. Green who clocked out exactly on time.