Engulfed By His Shadow

Chapter 5 : Outing

Father left for the town after a while and I tended to the new customers. We had a small yet welcoming bakery in the town of Autumnlare, which had three tables for seating and it could collectively accommodate nine people at once. I took a look around the place and an old lady walked in with her grandchild.

She and her grandson were our regular guest who often visited to buy breads and cakes. As usual, the woman asked for two loaves of bread which I packed and very likely her five year old grandson demanded the chocolate cookies.

Nodding at the child, the old lady asked for the cookies. After she left with her items, I waved her a good bye and yet another and very particular person stormed into our shop with a twisted expression.

"Welcome to Ken's Cream n Cakes. What would you like to have to lift up your mood, miss?" I raised an eyebrow at Reyna who sneered in response, "One chocolate pastry, please."

"Of course." I chuckled and prepared her plate as she pulled herself a chair, "Where's Mr. Moore?" Reyna looked around the empty shop and asked.

"He had some work in the town; he will be back anytime." I placed the pastry before her and sat on the seat next to her while watching her munch up the treat like a small child. "Mmmphgh-" Reyna started speaking with the food in her mouth.

Shaking my head dismissively, I denied, "Finish it first, Reyna."

Reyna nodded and quickly gulped it down, "I was saying that I need to buy a dress to pay a boring visit to my aunt this evening," She waved her spoon in air.

"And?"

"I want you to go for purchasing with me," She pointed the spoon towards me and waited for an answer.

"Let papa come back. If he agrees only then will I go with you."

"Leave that to me," Reyna stood up with the empty plate in her hands and looked behind me to greet my father, "Mr. Moore, would you mind if I took Crystal for some purchasing?"

"Not at all. You can take your off Crystal," Dad glanced at me and allowed to leave.

"Let's get going, Crys," Reyna grabbed my arm and I quickly took off my apron.

"Thanks. I will be back, soon," I kissed my father's cheek and left the shop after saying a goodbye.

Reyna took me to the shopping area where she carefully scanned each and every shop that lined the street and rubbed her palms before asking, "Which store should we plunder first?"

After a moment or two, she raised her arm and pointed a finger to the left, "That one!" She pulled me across the street and towards the particular shop when someone familiar blocked our way.

"Hello, lovely ladies," Joe flashed a pearly white grin and greeted.

"Hey, you," Reyna waved back and smiled, "Just on time, Joe. We needed someone to carry our bags."

"The what?" Joe's eyes widened which earned him a sarcastic eye roll from Reyna, "We are shopping. We need you to help us with it."

Joe scratched his nape and slowly took a step back, "You know what? I just realized that I had to go help my mother at home. Hope that you girls have a gala time," He whirled on his heels and began to escape but to his disappointment, Reyna grabbed his collar, "No excuses, mister. Besides, a gentleman shouldn't leave ladies alone like this."

Joe huphed at her and stopped struggling, "I hate whoever created those polite-impolite gentleman norms."

Reyna grinned in victory and I shook my head and smiled at them for behaving such before nudging them towards the shop.

We entered into the dress shop that fascinated Reyna and we scrambled around to find her the perfect outfit. After a while, Reyna had already piled up clothes in her arms and kept searching for more while I stood at the side and admired a blue dress that would suit her.

Reyna stood before a long mirror and raised a dress up to her shoulders and adored her reflection. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Joe at the other side picking up a lace chemise and inspecting it from top to bottom.

He nodded in grave agreement, stroked his non existent beard and turned to the mirror behind him. Joe pulled the chemise over his chest and pushed his bust forward in a comic way before pulling out his lips in a pout.

"Joe, trying to be Joanna?" Reyna commented from behind and smirked mockingly.

He turned back to face Reyna and lifted his finger up with a scowl and blush on his face but before he could say anything, Reyna raised her hands up in defense, "Hey, I don't judge."

The only saleswoman of the shop had been watching the scene intendly and tried very hard to control her laughter. She finally stepped up when her employer cleared his throat and snatched the chemise out of Joe's hand and walked away with it.

"Awh, look at you being sad," Reyna laughed hysterically and twirled around to sashay back along the row of neatly hung dresses.

"Reyna, I found you something," I called her out to see the blue dress that I selected and luckily she loved it, "Thanks a ton, Crystal! I am buying this."

Joe sighed loudly being ignorant to the daggers that Reyna shot him.

"Aren't you going to buy something? It's your birthday in a week," She asked me but I shook my head with a smile, "Not today, Reyna. I don't really need one."

Even though Reyna wasn't having any of it, I somehow made her reluctantly believe that I don't actually need a new dress or a fancy accessory for my birthday and if I did, I would go to buy it with her on some other day.

After we were done buying Reyna her dress, the three of us marched out of the shop and looped our arms with Joe in between, "That was one tiring job!" He remarked mockingly.

"No it wasn't. We just spent three hours!" Reyna snapped at him and I just pretended to nod in agreement.

We journeyed to the end of the street and then towards the foot of the hill as Reyna chatted casually and stared up, "Did you know that the Sapphire manor is finally sold?"

"Yes, I do. I heard my father talk about it," Joe piped in.

"Really, that abandoned manor? It surely would cost a fortune... " I curiously asked, muttering the last part to myself and saw my friends gesture a yes, "Do you know about the legend of the Sapphire manor and the white hill?" Reyna asked.

"No," Joe and I said in synchronization.

"My grandpa told me about it yesterday," She stared down at her watch and frowned, "Maybe, some other time. I really have to go now for I am late." And Reyna left a puzzled me and Joe behind in a rush.

"But I really wanted to know," I sighed disappointingly at Joe.

"Perhaps, tomorrow," He gave an apologetic smile and motioned me to walk ahead.

___________________________________

In the dark hour of the busy evening, the sky was covered by the thick sheet of hazy clouds and then fell a drop, followed by another, until a heavy downpour occurred over the town.

Mark stared at the wall clock and sighed, it was finally time to close the shop. He cleaned the counter and placed the leftover pieces of cake in a container to carefully put them inside the ice box.

The thunder roared and the lightening struck causing the lights to black out. Sighing sadly, Mark rushed to light up a candle when a hand pounded against the shop door and thus, pushed it open.

A tall and black shadow of a man barged into the shop with the untimely warning and placed his fist on the counter, "Mr. Moore?" He asked raspily.

A chilled silence prevailed and Mark responded to break it, "Yes?"

The man looked at him for a moment and spoke dryly, "My name is Geldard and I am here to take you to Mr. Deighton. He demands your presence at once."