After May served Gwen her plate and chatted for a bit, she made an excuse to go find Peter and Ben, giving Lock and Gwen some space to be alone.
As soon as May left, Gwen's face immediately soured, and she spat out the large bite of the sandwich she had just taken in front of May.
She whispered her complaint to Lock:
"Lock, the food May makes really is as... unique as ever..."
Lock swallowed his food and said calmly:
"While it does taste bad, at least it's healthy and non-toxic. It won't be like eating fast food outside, which is basically slow suicide."
Hearing Lock's incredibly blunt straight-man remarks, even the high-EQ Gwen was left speechless.
With him saying it like that, how was she supposed to enjoy fast food ever again?
However, despite what he said, Lock still got up, went to the kitchen, fried two eggs for Gwen, and placed them in front of her.
Looking down and smelling the fried eggs on her plate, Gwen's eyes lit up as she looked at Lock with admiration:
"Why is it that you just simply added some salt and rosemary, yet these eggs smell so enticing?"
Lock said honestly, "Because you just ate something terrible. By comparison, even ordinary food tastes delicious."
Hearing this, the bright smile on Gwen's face slowly vanished. She felt completely defeated by Lock's logic.
At a time like this, shouldn't he say something like "Because of the power of love, even simple food becomes this delicious" to make her heart flutter?
Just listen to what he said! It only tastes good because the previous food was bad?
Is this even something a human would say?!
Seeing Lock continue to eat his unpalatable sandwich without a care, Gwen huffed and picked up her knife and fork, viciously cutting the fried eggs on her plate as if she were cutting Lock himself.
Stinky Lock! Stinky Lock!
Out of the corner of his eye, Lock saw Gwen's cute expression. The corner of his mouth quirked up slightly as he suddenly asked, "Do you want to go shopping together later?"
"Shopping? Shop your head! You— Huh? What did you say?"
Halfway through her rant, Gwen suddenly looked up, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at Lock.
This solid blockhead, who had been dense for two years, finally had a breakthrough today?
Lock: No, actually, it's because you've become an adult... Lock smiled slightly and repeated himself: "I asked if you wanted to go shopping together later?"
"Go... yeah, I'll go! But... why so sudden? Then I'll go back and change my clothes first. Right, I need to change!"
Gwen clearly hadn't expected Lock to suddenly smarten up and ask her out on a date.
For a moment, her face turned bright red. She stood up awkwardly, her limbs feeling out of place, and walked out with a stiff, robotic gait.
But before she could take more than two steps, her wrist was caught by a large hand.
She turned around to see Lock, the very person who had thrown her heart into such a mess.
Feeling the heat from the large hand on her wrist, Gwen stared dizzily at Lock's face—the face she had been eyeing for two years. Steam was practically coming off her head!
Is Lock in such a hurry that he wants to... right here? Should she just go with it, or pretend to be reserved for a bit before accepting?
While Gwen's inner thoughts were jumping back and forth between "accepting" and "accepting," Lock said, "Finish the eggs. Don't waste food."
Gwen: ...This blockhead's breakthrough only went halfway, for his uncle's sake!
In the end, Gwen obediently finished the eggs and didn't go home to change into pretty clothes.
Instead, she went on her first shopping outing ever with Lock, wearing her usual grey sweater, jeans, and turquoise Converse... actually, calling it a date might not be accurate, because... Gwen looked at the automobile city in front of her, her eyelid twitching violently.
Who takes a girl to an automobile city for their first date?!
Gwen looked up at Lock with dead eyes and asked speechlessly, "What did you bring me to an automobile city for? You're not planning to buy me a car, are you?"
This was the best possible outcome she could imagine in this situation.
Although she definitely wouldn't accept such an expensive gift from Lock, she would be very happy just knowing he had the thought.
Lock looked down at Gwen, who was more than a head shorter than him and had to look up to meet his eyes. Suddenly, a strange thought popped into his head.
With their height difference, it seemed like Gwen could... cough cough... Immediately, Lock shook his head, tossing the strange thought aside, and replied:
"No, I'm planning to get Ben a new car. He's been driving that old clunker since I was born; it's long overdue for retirement. I wanted you to help me pick out a new one."
Gwen let out a dry laugh, her expression saying, "I knew it."
This guy hadn't smartened up at all; he was clearly just using her as a tool!
However, Gwen could never refuse any of Lock's requests, so she just hummed and agreed anyway.
But as payment, she demanded that Lock treat her to a "pretty meal" afterward.
Gwen thought that even if this wasn't a date, she had to make Lock pay some price!
Lock naturally wouldn't refuse such a small request.
And it turned out that Lock's decision to ask Gwen for help was incredibly correct.
If he had come by himself, he probably would have just picked a newer model of the same sedan Ben used to have.
But Gwen considered that while sedans might have been popular when Ben was young, middle-aged men nowadays generally preferred practical styles like pickup trucks.
So, under Gwen's recommendation, Lock finally settled on the latest Ford F-150 Raptor R. (The release date of this car is in a parallel universe; please don't overthink it.)
The price was just over 110,000 USD, which wasn't much different from the 100,000 USD budget he had given Ben yesterday.
It wasn't that Lock insisted on sticking to that budget—he was worth hundreds of millions now, so it wasn't like he couldn't buy his old man a nice luxury car.
But if he really brought home a million-dollar luxury car, not only would the old couple give him a piece of their mind, but Ben probably wouldn't even bear to drive it out!
Around 100,000 was the limit of what Lock estimated the old couple could accept as a one-time splurge.
By the time they finished registering the car and getting the paperwork done, it was nearly noon.
Lock then drove the Ford Raptor to take Gwen to a star-rated restaurant for a "pretty meal."
The afternoon was Dr. Connors' Q&A session, and as his assistant, Gwen naturally had to go early to help out.
So, after Gwen gave Lock two temporary ID cards for Oscorp Tower, he drove her to Oscorp first.
By the time he got home, May, Ben, and Peter were already back.
As soon as Lock walked in, all three were looking at him with mysterious smiles.
Lock didn't even have to guess to know what they were thinking.
But they were going to be disappointed because Gwen had to go help at Oscorp in the afternoon, so he and Gwen hadn't gotten to know each other any "deeper" after lunch.
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