Red String theory

thirty-ninth brood

it was warm. Very warm.

unusually warm in fact.

I was irritated cuz of it, and took my leather jacket off to save myself from becoming a heater,

I stepped into the shade of the shop's roof. My mint scent must be heated into sweat now.

there was a fan in the shop, a small one that gave plenty more air than the huge one at my apartment did. I sighed in relief, then looked at the small store's counter where there was no one, until there was someone.

black fur popping up from below the table of flowers, jumping onto the counter. A black cat emerged, with sunflowers on its nose. But then, with a suspicious silence, a loud sneeze came through. Oh, the cat was allergic to the flowers.

then, some girl stepped out from somewhere in the back of the store and quickly grabbed the cat, scolding along the lines of something like 'you stupid cat'. I snorted.

she looked at me, and had me realise all of this was happening a lot faster than I initially thought it was. Anyhow, she looked at me and greeted me, throwing the cat down or something. I'm not sure, I just remember the cat scowled at her a bit before rubbing at her feet, probably for milk or whatever cats demand, idk.

"I'm looking for roses. Red roses"

I spoke, taking my hat off too, now my jacket and hat were in one hand, the other tucked in my jeans' pocket. "giving it to a lady?"

she asked, tucking her open hair behind her ears while she looked at the set on the counter, collecting some into a bouquet. "the princess, yeah. I've got a chance with her"I grinned, and lied, of course. Because who and how would anyone have a chance with the princess?

she snorted, because she wasn't so stupid either. "sure. Are you gonna give it to her on her hand or to her knight, to a messenger.....?"

she trailed off, clearly joking, but it annoyed me. I sighed, and then took out my wallet.

"how much for the bouquet, lady?"

she was annoyed at my reaction, ironically and then after a quick moment, she answered: "80 won"

I paused, shocked and insulted at her attempt of trying to get me pay so much for just some measly flowers.

"don't joke now, I'm not in the mood at all. What's the price?"

"I just told you, 80 won"

well, the last time I gave flowers as an admirer, they weren't so expensive. Had the market raised the price again or something?

"yeah right, it's not that much. That's too much"

"you won't find such fresh flowers anywhere else, if it's too expensive for you, go buy it from the vendor down the street" she shrugged

well, I would most certainly do that but her easy dismissal of the fact that she may be losing a customer annoyed me to no end and motivated me to buy it from here just to prove I could afford it (I doubt you could) (I'm speaking right now, don't interrupt me)

I handed her the money, and took the flowers. She scoffed, then muttered a 'have a good day' and let me off.

how annoying.

Today's the princess's birthday, and I was hoping that perhaps today, things would go better for me. At her celebration ceremony, I, along with many other peasant suitors tried giving her flowers, and the knights took them, but then plucked all the petals right off and then serenaded her with that.

wow, not even a bit of mercy? So I returned to my usual bench and took a seat there. Just like every other man, I sat in my disappointment and probably my thirty-eighth trip to brood here.

but, I unfortunately, had witnessed the sight of something even worse. That awful lady from the flower shop, kissing someone on the bench adjacent to me. Even SHE had someone? perhaps I was just unlucky in love.

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