Chapter 11
I stared at Seth, waiting for his story to continue. He looked me in the eye, and held my arms tight. I just realized the situation we were in. “Hey. How about your stall? You’re working after all, right?” I asked, scared that he might get into trouble.
“Ah yeah. That’s right,” he realized.
“That’s..surprising. I can’t believe you’re actually working. I mean, the guy who actually motivated me to steal is now working,” I giggled. I realized how girly I sounded and immediately composed myself.
Seth saw my actions and smirked. “I’ll be back. I’ll just close it. And anyway, it wont be long. I’m not planning on working forever. That’s way too boring.”
I tried to suppress my smile but failed. “Wait. Close it? Wont your boss get angry?” I asked.
“Nope!” he chirped. I took a few steps back, surprised at how lively he replied. “I actually own it!”
My mouth fell open at his words. “Is this a joke?”
He pouted at me and crossed his arms on his chest. “So mean! I really do own it. I only sell eggs though.”
“B-but how? Did you mug someone?” I asked in horror. He laughed through his nose.
“Ha-ha. Very funny,” he rolled his eyes at me. “Well, as expected from my girl! You’re partially right,” he grinned.
“You..You really did mug someone?!” I almost screamed. He covered my mouth with his hand, resulting my words to be muffled.
“Erin, relax. You know me. I wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he said. He removed his hand from my face. “Besides, I just robbed one chicken,” he grinned. My eyes widened at how big of a deal this is. A chicken?! Seriously?
“That’s..so cool! I cant believe you got away with it! Haha!” I laughed, slapping his arm gently.
He grinned even wider. “I know! I’ve leveled up big time!” I couldn’t help but smile. He’s still the same as before.
“Ah. Wait here. I’ll just close the stall,” he told me.
“W..Wait! I have a reason why I’m here you know!”
He stood there in silence, observing me for a second.“..Its to see me, right?” he guessed.
I shook my head. “I’m here on an errand. I need at least 30 eggs.”
To my surprise, he lightened up at this. “Well, you’re in the right place then!”
He lead me back to his stall and went under the table. He later emerged with a crate full of eggs. “How many did you need?” he asked.
“About 30.”
He went under his table again and emerged with about 3 egg cartons. He placed 10 eggs in each carton and placed them in a plastic bag. “Here ya go, Erin! That’ll be about 15 Amis!”
“Ah. Here,” I gave him the 20 Amis Manny had given me earlier. He grabbed his tiny safety deposit box and gave me the 5 Amis change.
“It really is weird seeing you do a job,” I smirked.
We exchanged swiftly. He suddenly looked at me with suspicion. “Speaking of jobs, you’ve got one too, huh? I mean, 20 Amis is huge,” he observed.
I flinched at his sudden observation. This isn’t good. I should make my words small and simple. “Ah yeah. Just a small job, nothing major. Haha,” I laughed, trying to act and look natural.
Seth continued to look at me with suspicion. He narrowed his eyes at me. “Though I’m curiou—”
“Anyway, hurry up. Aren’t you supposed to tell me the story?” I cutted him off, steering the topic somewhere else. He blinked. “Oh yeah..”
“Ahaha. I’ll just wait for you over there,” I pointed at the tree that was about 5 meters from his stall. If I stay any longer, he might start small talk. He nodded his head in agreement. I strided to the tree and waited for him, holding the plastic bag with the 3 egg cartons inside.
He walked over to me in a flash. “Done. Let’s go,” he exclaimed.
I gave him a questioning look. “Go? Go where?”
“I think we should talk about my story somewhere else,” he suggested.
I nodded in agreement. A market really is a weird place to sit down and talk about something really important. After all, it was pretty noisy. I mean, I don’t think you’d want to hear goats, people, or even poultry disturbing your conversation. It would just be awkward.
He held my hand, pulling me away from the crowd. I followed behind him, trying to catch up to his speed. We arrived at the park. It was getting a bit cloudy. I saw a couple that strolled around the park. Kids were running around as well. As I scan my surroundings, I realized that it was getting quite hot under this robe.
I swallowed hard at the situation I’m in. I’m dead if Seth finds out I’m actually working for the Royal Household. He should really hurry up with his explanation. Manny will kill me for being this late!
“U-um. Seth. I think you should be quick with your explanation. I still have someplace to go to,” I told him.
“Oh. Right. Sure. I’ll make it as quick as possible,” he smiled.
We found a fountain that had a bench in front of it. As we sat on it, I made sure we were in a good distance from each other. He noticed this and shrugged it off.
“All right..Where was I?” he asked, scratching the back of his head.
“It was during November,” I answered as I felt warmth spread in my cheeks.
“Right,” he remembered. “So it was during November. You know..your birthday was near and all..”
“Yeah,” I smiled, feeling giddy that he remembered my birthday. November 7th.
“And I think you remember our relationship back then,” he started.
I nodded my head, feeling glum all of a sudden. “So right, we were dating back when we were only 16. It lasted for almost a year. And so, I wanted to get you a gift on your 17th birthday. Somehow a celebration of our one year anniversary as well. Since..you know..we dated right after you turned 16 and.. yeah,” he said sheepishly, turning red from remembering everything back then.
I blushed harder at how much he remembered. “Okay, go on,” I told him, feeling impatient.
“And that scene you saw..it really is just a misunderstanding,” he started. I stared at him, waiting for him to explain what happened that time. He bent his head low, getting ready to speak.
“Well, so it was nearing your 17th birthday and I just had to find a gift. It was pretty lucky I found about 50 Amis on the floor. I grabbed it and ran to one of those jewelry shops you used to drool at. I went in and tried finding something that suited you,” he said, now looking at me with a strong gaze.
“So I found a really cute pendant that changes color,” he grinned. “I thought ‘this is perfect!’ So I went ahead and bought it.”
“But then, right when I went out, Layla was there,” he smiled sheepishly, trying to comfort me. I gave him a death glare. How can I forget that scene? The scene that made me want to just avoid Seth for the rest of my life. It was the scene that really changed my view of him. I might sound like I’m overreacting, but it really did hurt me.
“Don’t mention that name. Ever,” I threatened. Layla was enemy no. 1 on my list. I’ve hated her since childhood. I tried being friends with her, but she refused profusely. She’s the reason why Seth and I had stopped our relationship.
“All right,” Seth obeyed. “So she was there. Always following me. She saw I held the cutely designed paper bag from that shop. She took it from me and held it out far from my reach,” he gritted.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Aww Seth! I cant believe you had the money to get this!” Layla squealed. She took the bag from me and held it behind her back, away from my reach.
I tried taking it from her but failed. Even though I was taller than her, she was flexible enough to keep the bag away from me. “Layla, give it back,” I ordered.
“Nope!” she persisted. “I don’t want to,” she pouted. I rolled my eyes at how childish she was trying to be. It was disgusting. I hated it when girls did that. I tried getting my gift for Erin from Layla though she still held it away from me. I scowled at her. “Giving up?” she smirked.
“What do you want?” I gritted. “Just give it back and leave me and Erin alone. You’re so annoying.”
“Aw,” she pouted. “C’mon, Seth. Leave that rusty Erin and be with me instead. I think I can satisfy you more than her,” she smirked, coming closer to my face. I felt her body getting closer to mine. I took a few steps back while she did the opposite.
“No,” I protested. “Just give the gift back,” I gritted. She came closer to me with a pouting look.
Before she could argue back, Erin suddenly showed up. Her eyes widened at the scene before her. “What are you—”
“I love it Seth!” Lyla chirped, clearly cutting Erin off. “Thanks for the gift! ” But before I could retort back, I felt her lips on mine.
Out of the corner of my eye, Erin ran back from where she had come from. I pushed Lyla away from me, pissed off. “Stupid! Look what you’ve done!”
“Hm,” she smirked. “I don’t think you should be saying that. I think you should chase after her. Wouldn’t you think so too?”
I glared at her. I took the gift from her hand and chased Erin. “Erin!” I yelled after her. “Erin! Wait! Listen! It’s a misunderstanding!”
I finally caught up to her but she didn’t stop running. “Hey! Stop!” I yelled.
I caught her wrist and held them tight. “Let go! You..you..traitor!” she blurted, struggling from my grip.
“Listen to me!” I insisted.
“No! Stop! I get it now! I can see Lyla’s body is much more satisfiable than mine! You should've said so, Seth!”
“Erin!” I yelled with a hard voice. She didn’t flinch at my voice. She still squirmed around under my grip.
“Won’t you just stop and listen to me?” I said, getting closer to her.
“No!” she screamed. “I..I don’t want to!” Before I could say anything else, tears started streaming down her face. Her eyes were closed, simply showing she didn’t want me to know how she felt.
“Erin..” I started but was cut off when she opened her eyes. My eyes shot open at how colorful her eyes looked. They were a mix of red and orange and had a slight tint of green.
She found this as a chance to get away from me while I was distracted. She did so and ran away from me. I closed my eyes at how messed up this was becoming. I thought about the colors she showed. Red..she’s angry. Obviously. Orange..she’s nervous or even scared. And that tint of green..I always saw that color in her eyes whenever I was with other women. It took me a while to find out what it meant. Jealousy. Sometimes even envy. I shook my head. Now why is it me who feels like crying?
~~~~
I stared at Seth, my mouth gawked at his story. “That little..”
“Sorry, Erin. I didn’t intentionally do it. I promise you. I would never—”
Slap.
“There. I feel all right now,” I told him. My hand stinged at how hard I slapped his cheek.
“What did you do that for?!” he yelled.
“Revenge,” I answered simply.
“Revenge for what?” he asked, holding his now red cheek.
I gazed at him with a hard look. “For kissing that stupid Chihuahua. Do you know how much pain I went through? Thinking that you betrayed me?”
“But I tried explaining it to you! You wouldn’t listen!”
“Don’t blame me.”
“You were so stubborn! And until now, you still are!” he commented.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Whatever.”
I breathed in the fresh air around me, processing everything he just said. This is a lot to sink in. So I was wrong all along, huh? I’m such an idiot. Now what’s gonna happen? Are we going to go back to how we used to be? Somehow..I don’t want to. It feels like all the hatred really has been erased but, I don’t feel like being back into a ‘couple’ with Seth. There’s still so many things I have to absorb. And that includes what Nate had told me.
“All right,” I started. Seth looked at me with his grey eyes. “I forgive you. It’s that stupid Chihuahua I hate.”
Seth grinned at me. “I second that.”
I stood up from my seat and looked at my watch. Crap. I’m dead. I’m running late. “Ah. Seth, I have to go. I’m really late. See you,” I dismissed. I ran back to the castle but before I could leave the gates of the park,
“Erin! Wait!”
I stopped and looked behind me to see Seth standing a good few meters away from me. “See you tomorrow?”
I felt my cheeks hot at what he said. He grinned at my reaction. I nodded. “Yeah. See you,” I waved.
-------------------
Author’s note:
Hm hm hm? What? It was cliché? Sorry xD But hey, at least you know why Erin had avoided Seth. You think they’ll be a couple again? Hm? xD Haha. I'll try to refrain it from being cliche. :D Sorry. I just..felt like using this xD
Thank so much for the three votes! :’’> Ahaha. Love you guys! Here’s your reward xD