“And also these!” Aki shrieked. She raised both of her hands holding strawberry flavored candies.
"This one too!" She was holding a pack of biscuits that had a shiny golden yellow wrapper.
"And this!"
"Shsss. Don't scream, it's embarrassing." He placed his right hand’s index finger to his slightly pouted lips and looked around them.
They were currently inside the grocery store and he wanted to hide, run away, and leave Aki there. What she was doing was so embarrassing.
"Is this delicious? Let's buy it, shall we?" she asked before putting the food she was holding in the cart that he was pushing.
"Tss. You even dared asking," he complained in a whisper as his companion continued to indulge herself.
"Let's buy this too!"
"And this!"
"More of these…"
"And—"
"Just put it here. Tsk! I'll run out of money because of you," he snapped at Aki's requests.
This was the longest he had shopped ever. When he was shopping alone, he just bought what he thought they needed. When he was with Mharc, they didn't stay too long because they only bought what was on her shopping list.
The young man was pushing the cart while Aki was just constantly getting the food with the wrappers she liked. If its packaging had a nice color or had a fancy design, she'll ask him to buy it.
“Let’s buy these as well, please?”
"That's enough. You already have so many snacks here," he scolded her as he pointed to the push cart already full of snacks. "I might run out of money. That's not a necessity anyway."
The latter just snorted and pouted her lips sadly. She was unaware but that was her frequent expression whenever she didn't get what she wanted.
Just like the last time he saw this expression of Aki, she had this effect on him again.
"Tsk. It's the last, okay? I'll give you to the owner of this grocery store as my payment if I run out of money." He took the three large chocolate bars from her hands and then pulled her to the cashier. "Let's go to the counter before you find more fancy packaging."
'It's worse than shopping with a kid,' he thought. He was still holding Aki's hand as they walked to the cashier.
"M?!"
"I'm dead," he whispered, slightly shaking his head when he recognized who called his name.
They both turned their heads in the direction of the man who shouted.
Now they were facing two other men who were roughly their age. One of them wore a mischievous look and a sly smile. While the other one just casually glanced at Aki.
"So this is why you were absent, huh?" said the man with a silly smile and followed it with a sarcastic laugh.
"Why are you here?" slight irritation could be heard in M's voice who ignored the teasing of the interlocutor.
"Cutting," replied the man with long hair. His tone was as if cutting classes was the most common thing to do at this hour of the day.
“M, introduce us to this beautiful lady you are with," said the young man with a mischievous smile before he wink at Aki. The man deliberately emphasized the word "lady''.
Aki felt her face heat up at the stranger's actions. He was very charismatic and she was quickly affected by him.
"D*mn you!" M snapped.
"Just chill, dude! If you ever get bored, just give her to me. Deal?" said the mischievous young man after laughing at M's answer to him.
"Go away! Why are you even at the grocery store anyway?"
The long-haired man laughed lightly as his eyes landed on their hands. This caused the three of them to follow where its eyes were pointing.
"Wow! Holding hands! Are you for real, dude?! Is she really your girlfriend, M?" the mischievous young man's eyes widened.
M quickly let go of Aki's hand after realizing that he was still holding it. "Tss. No," he flatly denied.
"What's your name, miss? Which school do you go to? You know what? I like you. Too bad you're already with M!" The mischievous guy said jokingly but he is not even bothered to hide his interest towards Aki. Especially now that he thought she was M's girlfriend.
"Tsk. Stop that. She's not—"
"Matthew." M was interrupted when the man with the long hair extended his hand in front of Aki and introduced himself.
"Matt," with a threatening tone, M called out his friend.
"What? I just introduced myself to your girlfriend, dude. You didn't even introduce us to each other," Matthew sulked.
"Tsk. But she's—"
"Right!" For the second time M was interrupted. "Hi! I'm Mario." He stroked his long hair and winked at Aki. "And you are?" continued the mischievous young man.
"They call me Aki."
M just sighed in defeat.
"You pigheaded jack*ss! Come on, Aki. Don't talk to these people, you'll be infected with craziness," M said then pulled Aki away from where they were.
Walking away, they heard Mario's thundering laughter. Matthew, on the other hand, just shook his head to M's actions.
"M is your name?" Aki asked as M pulled her by one hand and his other hand pushed their shopping cart.
"Why is it so short?" Aki asked again when M did not answer her first question.
In the queue at the cashier; in the car; and while walking home, Aki bombarded M with questions about all the things she had just discovered.
The two were just as surprised when they arrived at the house. They have unexpected guests waiting for them.
'What are they doing here? How did they find me? I don't want to go back with them.' She was shocked and nervous at the same time. But her stubbornness was still there.
'Sh*t! What's this? It's a good thing Mharc isn't around.'
While M couldn't help but be stunned in fear and surprise. Ever since he met Aki, in his opinion, he had become fearful. Before, he couldn't be bothered by anything even a little bit. But because of Aki, he once again experienced the real meaning of that word.
Fear.