Darling | All16 | ✔

TEN

Instinctively, I track the van's speeds and turns until we finally stop and Victor turns the van engine off. Finding the buckle, I slip out of my seat and feel the warmth of the sun as it shines down on me. The noise and bustle of the mall fill the air and I smell all the different smells, the smell of food cooking, the smell of the gasoline, the smell of the people, the smell of the perfume shop to my left. 

The scent of moss and berries and the sound of Victor draw near as he walks closer to me. Gabriel joins us and we walk to through the entrance together. I don't have a sash around my eyes, but the sunglasses that Gabriel gave me helps me feel normal by blocking people's view of my eyes.

I shrink into the boys as the noise swells and threatens to overwhelm me. This is a huge reason why I don't go out very often. School is hard to handle, but I am surrounded by people like Jade and Rocky and others who are kind enough to help me out.

"Come on, Sang," Victor murmurs in my ear. "Gabriel is going to drag you to store after store. If you get even a little bit tired or overwhelmed, you say something, okay?"

I nod and Gabriel exclaims, "Quit talking about me!"

"What are you talking about?" I ask him in French, tilting my head.

"You speak French?!" He blurts out in French.

"Yes, of course, I do. Otherwise, I wouldn't be speaking it, silly," I tease.

"But how did you know?" Gabriel presses, switching back to English.

I shrug. "Same way I know that Victor knows Japanese, but isn't as fluent as Sean. North knows a bit of Russian along with German and Greek. Silas knows Greek, Raven knows Russian, Nathan knows Spanish, and Corey knows German."

I hear them inhale and know that they are about to ask more questions so I quickly change topics.

"So what are we shopping for?"

"Everything," Gabriel answers mysteriously. Well, he tries to be mysterious.

"Just clothes today," Victor replies smoothly.

I nod my head and smile. Victor and Gabriel take my hand at almost the same time, confusing me for a second. I don't know why they want to hold my hand, but their hands warm my hand up so it's okay. Gabriel's hand is slightly rough and his palm is larger than Victor's slender hands. The difference in their hands makes me feel off balance, but I like it, as silly as it all may sound.

The turn in our path and the change in sound tell me that we are in a shop now. Music plays in the background. One thing about being blind is that you have to use your other senses to survive. Whenever you cross the street, you need to be able to know if there is a car coming. If you can't see, then you need to have another way of knowing. What becomes background noise for others, is like a channel for me. I can't ignore anything, I just have to be able to sort through the different channels of noise until I find the sound that will help me out. It is the same with scents and textures.

I finger the fabric of a shirt that Gabriel holds out to me, having let go of their hands when we walked in.

"Pick out whatever you want," I tell Gabriel softly. "Just make sure to keep track of the price so that Father can pay you back. We have more money than we will ever need, anyway."

Victor sighs, but I can't tell why.

Gabriel quickly leads me to a changing room and heaps a pile of clothing in there for me to try on.

"Just the basics to get your size," He announces cheerfully.

I grab a fistful of fabric at random. Feeling it, I'm pretty sure it is a shirt. I hope Gabriel doesn't expect me to wear something this short as a dress. I shudder at the thought. I have no problems with my body, but I definitely believe that some things should just be left to imagination. Modesty is not dead.