By noon, Eric turned his attention to her.

“Feeling hungry?”

He couldn’t recall ever traveling by high-speed train before. He ventured a guess.

“There should be a dining car on the train, right? Want to grab something to eat?”

“I’m not going.” Hadley shook her head, keeping a vigilant watch on Andrea’s movements.

“I need to keep watch here.”

What if she left and something unexpected occurred? One could never predict what might unfold.

She gestured dismissively.

“You go ahead.”

“Absolutely not.” Eric shook his head with firm determination.

“If you’re not going, I’m not going either.”

He insisted on remaining by her side, refusing to leave her alone.

Recognizing his resolve, Hadley didn’t pursue the argument further.

“Then let’s just grab something simple to eat later.”

Just then, a stewardess approached with a food cart.

“Let’s just have some sandwiches.”

“Alright.” Eric didn’t hesitate, flagging down the cart.

“Could we have two sandwiches, please?”

He paid for their meal, took both sandwiches, and placed one in front of Hadley.

“Eat up.”

Eric also purchased a water bottle for each, unscrewed the caps, and set one within Hadley’s easy reach. Then he began eating.

Eric fell into complete silence at his first bite.

“What’s wrong?” Hadley watched him, amusement dancing in her eyes.

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“Not tasty, right?”

Eric remained silent. It wasn’t merely unappetizing—it was dreadful. The taste was utterly revolting. In the five months of his fragmented memory, he had never encountered anything so dry and tasteless.

“Just get by.” Hadley chuckled, taking another bite of her sandwich.

Eric stared at her in bewilderment.

“You can stomach this?”

“Yeah.” Hadley nodded.

“Having something to eat is already good enough. I’ve endured much worse.”

Something in her tone caught Eric completely off guard.

“What’s wrong?” Hadley knew he couldn’t remember the past and assumed he doubted her words.

“You think I’m making it up?”

“No.” Eric felt stunned and shook his head again. He didn’t question her honesty. He just sensed that her words… It felt like someone had spoken those exact words to him before. Had it been her?

He wanted to ask, but wouldn’t she accuse him of overthinking? She had already insisted countless times that they had never met. The question rose to his lips, but he forced it back down. He took another reluctant bite of his sandwich.

The train swayed rhythmically as it rolled forward. Outside the window, daylight slowly faded into dusk.

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