The Princess's Secret

Chapter 25

Becky lead the way to the market as Freen and Nop followed alongside making conversation. "If you are a Princess, do you get to wear a crown?" Freen and Becky looked at each others smiling at the hundreds of questions Nop kept asking Freen on their walk to the market. "Sometimes, but it's called a tiara." Nop looked up at her with awe and admiration as he skipped alongside them.

"One day I want to wear a crown and be king." He stopped midway down the path putting his hands on to his sides and puffing out his chest proudly. Freen smiled and ruffled his hair. "If you study hard enough, you might one day be king of the land." Becky gave her a look, knowing that was an unrealistic promise but did not say anything as she did not want to  bring his hopes down. Freen smiled sheepishly and held her hand rubbing the backside of it with her thumb.

"Are you two friends?" Nop questioned as he looked at them holding hands. Becky's facial expression changed to one of surprise and quickly pulled her hand from Freen's grasp. Freen frowned at her and turning to smile at Nop, she kneeled down beside him and said, "Sometimes being a princess can be lonely so I don't have many friends, but I would like all of you to be my friends." Nop smiled and quickly yelled, " I can be your friend! And so can Becky and mommy and daddy and Irin too!"

Freen smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks buddy! And a great thing about being friends is we can hold hands." Freen offered her hand to him and he took it quickly, giddy with excitement. Freen stood and turned to Becky offering her other hand to her. Becky smiled nervously as her cheeks flushed. She took her hand and couldn't wipe the smile off her face from the cuteness she had just experienced. Freen was great with kids and she couldn't help but think what a great parent she would be. They continued their walk to the market hand in hand singing and laughing as Becky and Freen stole glances at each other and played with their fingers as their hands intertwined.

As they came up to the entrance of the market, Nop broke free and ran ahead of them excited to look at all the vendor stands. "Don't run off too far!" Becky yelled after him as he slowed his pace. "Wow... this is amazing." Becky laughed at her amazement and dropped her hand as they came up to the first stands. "I'm still amazed you haven't seen a market before." Freen looked up at her and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have a need to go to one when everything I ever need is brought to me." Becky shook her head in understanding. "Ahh. Well, stick with me baby and I can show you the world." She winked at her as she made her way deeper into the market.

Freen stopped at nearly every stand admiring the foods and goods the vendors were selling as Becky pulled her away before the vendors could coerce her into buying every product. They passed stalls of fruits, clothing, jewelry, meats, spices, sweets, drinks, perfumes and so much more. Each stand had a vendor offering their goods and prices to everyone walking by making the market very busy and loud. Nop came up on one of the stalls with many small toys and stood admiring a palm sized blue car. The vendor was an elderly man who sat in his stall working on crafting a new toy car.

"You like that one?" Nop smiled nodding his head timidly. "Made it myself. It's a beautiful car and it rolls very fast." Nop stared in awe at the car as he pictured himself playing with it one day. "Nop! There you are! Come on we need to go find the fish market stall." Becky came and took him by the shoulders as she began guiding him away. He looked back at the car and the man and smiled sadly as he waved goodbye. Becky led them to the fish stall nearby as she waited her turn to make her order. She noticed Freen was no longer behind them and she looked around in hopes of finding her.

"Nop did you see where Freen went?" Nop shook his head no as he walked away to look at the fish in the tank nearby. Becky shook her head as she continued to look around. "I hope she didn't get lost or worse, get persuaded to buy unnecessary things from these vendors." She mumbled to herself. "Hello miss how can I help you?" Becky walked up to the heavy set man and greeted him. "Hello, I would like to buy 2 filets of salmon please." The vendor began packaging her order as she waited patiently occasionally looking over her shoulder for any signs of Freen. The vendor handed her the packaged fish and held out his open hand to her. "That will be 15 chinka." Becky raised her eyebrows at the price and began looking in her small coin purse.