The Queen.

Chapter 3: A Friendly Stranger.

Chapter 3: A Friendly Stranger.

The sun was scorching hot but it didn’t stop group of people training in sync at the barracks field. Soldiers were sweating heavily as they train their body to fight, a group were swinging their swords, some were practicing their spears, some with archery, and some were in hand-to-hand combat. The instructors were shouting at them, pushing them to use more strength and power.

“Attention!” yelled General Linus Avanzo, his arms were behind his back as he stood straight walking back and forth in front of his men.

Men who were about twenty or more abruptly stopped, they were perfectly aligned in rows, standing straight, all eyes were on front and breathing heavily because of the extensive work out.

“Are you tired?!” he shouted.

“Sir, no Sir!” they all answered in unison.

“Do you want to take a rest?!”

“Sir, no Sir!”

“Louder!” he ordered.

“Sir, no Sir,” they repeated loudly.

Linus noticed among his men, a soldier who was standing unsteadily, his face were pale and his eyes kept on blinking.

“You, Soldier! Come here!” he called the man.

The man hurriedly ran to him, “Sir, yes Sir,”

“State your name,”

“Runo Maspero, Sir!” he answered.

“Runo, do you want to rest?” Linus asked, staring at the young man.

“No Sir!” he replied but his face tells otherwise. Any minute now he could collapse.

Linus suddenly pushed him hard on his shoulder using only his hand, he loses his balance and fell to the ground. “Stand up!” he ordered the man.

Runo stood up slowly as his sight were starting to get blurry, he pushes himself to stand up.

Linus pushed him again resulting for him to fall again.

“How can you protect our country if you keep on falling with just a single push?” he asked.

“I’m sorry Sir,” Runo apologized, he tried to stand up but his body keeps on falling.

Linus looked at his men, “You can’t protect the country if you are weak but weakness is not an acceptable excuse if you can’t fight back. It’s okay to be tired but you do not quit.”

“If you fall down – you stand up. If you keep on falling down, do not stop on standing up. If you can no longer stand then crawl. If you can no longer crawl then find another way for you to survive. Until your last breath, serve your country.”

“Regain your strength and the next time you’ll be here, you should last longer!” he commanded, “Disperse!”

At once, every one scattered from their line walking towards the barracks. Linus stopped one man and said, “Help Runo.”

“Yes Sir,” the man replied and he immediately took Runo’s arm around his shoulder, helping him to stand up and to walk inside.

“Wow, the training was intense as ever,” a man commented. A man walked towards him with a bright smile on his face, unlike to anyone outside of the training grounds he was not sweating and he doesn’t look tired at all. “General,” he saluted.

“Colonel Viel,” he saluted also. “What brings you here?” he asked.

“I was summoned to get you by the others, let’s have some lunch,” Viel responded. Colonel Viel Omand was a close friend of General Linus. They’ve been friends since they were children and they entered the Royal Army together, Linus just excelled more and his rank rose up ahead of others. “They were already waiting at the dining hall,” he added.

As they walked inside and towards the dining hall of the barracks, they talked about few things like what happened at the Capital while Linus was at the Barstan and Linus also talked about the northern town. When they reached the dining hall it was already crowded as soldiers started to have their lunch. When Linus and Viel already got their food tray from the long line at the counter where their food was prepared, they walked towards the table of their colleagues.

“Morning,” they greeted as they took their seat and five people who were already at the table greeted them back also.

“What took you so long?” Lieutenant Illyrus Donelli asked.

“He was still not done training with his men,” Viel pointed Linus. “What were you talking about?” he asked.

“About why was the investigation was stop about the incident on the Queen’s chambers,” Lieutenant General Nicolao Rimbaud answered.

“The order was from the Queen right?” Viel inquired.

They nodded.

“If she says it’s no big deal then there’s no big deal, maybe we should just forget what happened and move to other cases we have,” Lieutenant General Geva Witmeyer stated.

“I’m worried,” Major Tato Gaebler pondered. “You heard rumors circling around the town?” he asked them.

“About The Crows,” Geva answered nonchalantly.

“Yes, about them. What if they got something to do with this?” Tato asked worriedly.

“I doubt it,” she scoffed.

“Tato’s got a point,” Colonel Laida Ballanger agreed, “They are notorious group that steals from country to country and they haven’t got arrested yet. If the rumors were true about them being here then there’s a possibility that they have something to do with the incident or if not – there’s a possibility that they can break in at the Palace.”

“Aren’t you jumping into conclusion so easily?” Geva countered, “They already said that nothing was stolen so it’s not those thieves.”

“Alright, let’s say it’s not them but I’m sure they will still steal from the Palace. They were known for it, for every Kingdom they visited the Palace was always one of the victim besides if they start making commotion in every households at Balen, it will also be a big problem to us,” Tato commented.

“I heard that the reward on their head were pretty big, almost all Kingdoms were willing to pay huge amount of money if they can get caught,” Nicolao shared.

“I like what you were talking,” Illyrus grinned.

“You’re going to start a thief hunting?” Tato frowned.

“I could really use the money we can get,” Nicolao smirked.

“You’re just going to spend them all to girls,” Laida rolled her eyes.

Linus just listened to them as he was eating his meal. He already heard about the infamous criminals, though he never had an encounter with them as they haven’t got to Balen before he heard from another country how great they are for stealing things especially at those nobles and the Royal Palaces, given that Royal Palaces in every Kingdoms were the most secured and protected place all over a country.

“What do you think Linus?” Viel asked the quiet man.

“We have a tight security at the Palace but there’s still a chance that they might enter inside. The question is ‘how’, I’m thinking of making a group assigned to study their cases in every Kingdoms they’ve already stolen. Maybe we can find something helpful on how they could enter the Palace,” he answered, “If we can’t stop them from entering then we can at least prepare some traps to prevent them from escaping.”

They all nodded in agreement as Geva said, “Good point.”

Then they resumed from chatting various topics as they enjoyed their free time. Lieutenant General Geva Witmeyer was sitting in front of Linus, she was a tough woman who always sticks to the rule and loyal to her country, strict and composed that some of the soldiers were scared of her but when you get close to her you could see her caring side.

“You seemed convinced that what happened to the Queen’s chambers was just nothing,” Linus muttered at her.

She looked at him.

“It’s not just you – you always follow rules and you wouldn’t be convince easily without any evidences,” he added.

She looked at the other people on their table and they were still busy chatting and laughing, paying no attention to them. Then she leaned closer to him and whispered, “I saw her.”

“Her?”

“Queen Elysse,” she revealed then she glanced at her both sides, being careful not to be heard. “I saw her sneaking out of the Palace in the middle of the night so I followed her secretly.”

“She did that?” he was surprised on the news.

“I don’t know how long she’s been doing that but she knows what to do, on how to sneak out of the Palace,” she said, “She was jumping expertly down the roof and walls.”

Linus knew her abilities and there’s no doubt that Queen Elysse can do that. “Where did she go?”

“Just around the town,” she responded, “Though it was already night, there were still few people outside but it’s not crowded. She walked around the town but most of her time she stayed at the fountain at the town’s square, sitting there and observing everything she could see.”

“You kept that as a secret? Why didn’t you told it to anyone?” he asked curiously.

“I could show up to her that night and told her to go back at the Palace or I could also reveal it to investigation team but I couldn’t. I couldn’t steal her small freedom,” she admitted, “If you could see her how different she was while strolling around the town, how peaceful she was while sitting there on the fountain – you could feel how happy and relieved she was.”

“She’s still a girl, a young woman that was given responsibilities and she accept it forcefully. I know she’s not happy and I also know how determined she was to rule the whole Kingdom. Being a Queen is already her whole life. Even if it’s dangerous and risky, I don’t think it’s bad for her to breathe a little, to do things she wants to do, to have a break even just for a brief moment,” she said.

He could understand it, the Queen is also a young girl – a human who can get tired, who needs help, who have emotions and who needs to cry. Things she couldn’t do because it will make her look weak. Looking weak and being weak are different but others couldn’t differentiate them.

“Why did you tell me this?” he questioned, though he’s grateful to know but it was her secret.

“Just because,” Geva softly smiled, “I know you wouldn’t tell to anyone.”

***

“It was just the other night when you sneaked out of the Palace and now you wanted to do it again?!” Lady Semera exasperated with her voice so small so others wouldn’t hear her.

“It was already forgotten event,” Queen Elysse rolled her eyes.

The two women where on one of the servants quarters as they were changing their clothes as a commoner. Elysse got bored on working at the four corners of her study room so she decided to sneak out of the Palace. And Semera was not fond of it.

“What if others will look for you? They will look for you!” she reprimanded but her hands were still moving to change her clothes.

“They wouldn’t, I already ordered not to disturb me,” she replied, “If you want you can stay here and cover for me,” she offered.

“Absolutely not!” Semera strongly declined.

“Alright, let’s hurry up so we can go back early,” she chuckled.

After they finished dressing up, both wearing a thin cloak that has a hood that barely covers their face. They quietly and carefully went out of the room. There were people walking on the halls, servants, people working on Court Offices and soldiers. They blend with them as few people were wearing the same clothes. It was already late afternoon and some of the workers were starting to go home so the entrance gate were busy. They sneak out of by blending with them and as the gatekeepers were busy checking people’s certificates, they didn’t noticed two suspicious people walking out of the Palace Gate.

Once they were outside they breathed in relief especially Semera who could never really get use to their sneaking out. They walked towards the town’s market which was still busy with people.

“Do you have any specific place you want to go?” Semera asked.

“Nowhere in particular,” Elysse shrugged.

Suddenly they heard loud music coming from the town’s square, some people around them ran towards the sound especially children.

“What was that?” Semera wondered. They were looking at the direction where the jolly sound came from.

“Let’s go,” Elysse muttered. They walked towards the town’s square where there were a crowded of people beaming with laughter and clapping their hands accompanying the beat of the music.

In the center was a small stage where few people were performing, some were dancing while others were playing instruments. Their music could bring happiness to people as they enjoyed their performance.

Elysse’s were looking at the performers and the audience it was a nice feeling to be part of something that everyone likes, though she’s indifferent and can’t bring herself to have fun like others she likes to look at them enjoying.

“This is fun,” Semera laughed as she dances with the crowd.

Elysse looked at her and smiled, happy that she was enjoying despite of them sneaking out of the Palace. Suddenly, her line of sight caught something – a man was standing behind a woman, who was busy dancing, and was trying to steal from her unattended bag. Her smile vanished as she intently looked at the crime.

The man who was about to pull her purse out of the bag looked around first and noticed Elysse looking directly at him. Their eyes meet. It was awkward as he was caught in the act and the intimidating stare of the woman who he doesn’t know bring chills down his back. He aborted his mission and hurriedly ran out of the scene.

Elysse quietly sighed, she knew that thieves were everywhere but she also know that they have reasons why they need to steal.

“Let’s go,” she said to Semera as she started to walk out of the lively crowd. Along the way she bumped into someone she briefly looked at him and apologized, she then continued to push herself out of the crowd.

“Let’s go around the market,” she offered but the person that was supposed to be on her side was missing. She looked around but she can’t find Semera, maybe she was still busy dancing she just hope that she watch over her belongings so that it won’t get stolen.

Since Semera was already missing, Elysse wouldn’t spend her short freedom just to look for her, she’ll do it later and will just have fun right now. She walked further more towards the market when she saw a fruit stall, those red apples were looking delicious. A boy interrupted her sight as he stood in front of the stall then without any hesitation he stole some apples, but the owner saw him – forcefully grabbed him as the stolen apples fell from his grip.

“What do you think you are doing?!” the owner angrily yelled, “You stupid thief!”

“Let go of me!” the boy screamed as he was squirming to be out of his grip. Few people were already looking at the commotion.

“Call the soldiers! I’ll make sure you will be thrown in the dungeons!”

“Hey hey, wait wait wait,” they were interrupted by a man with shortcut golden brown hair, heavily built body with warm skin. “Let’s calm down and put the boy down first,” he said.

“Put him down?! Are you an i***t, Gervis?!” the owner roared, “He stole from me and he needs to be punish!”

“But he’s just a young boy,” he insisted. “He just need to be taught the right thing to do.”

“He needs to experience the consequences of his actions so that he will learn that it’s wrong! If I let him go he’ll surely steal again!”

“Give the boy a second chance,” he appealed.

“I’ll let him go if you’ll pay for those apples he stole,” the owner coldly stated. He won’t let go of the boy if he won’t receive any money. A business is still a business and he needs to earn some profits.

The man pulled his money out of his pockets, a few coins. He’s not a wealthy man and his earning were always just enough for his family. He hesitantly thinks if he should just pay for those apples.

“I’ll pay for them,” Elysse suddenly interjected.

They were surprised for a sudden appearance of a woman when they were still in a heated argument.

“W-what?” the owner startled.

She took a small purse of silver coins, “Is this enough?” with those coins she could already buy a basket of apples.

The owner was surprised but he would be grateful to accept the huge payment, he let go of the boy and beamed at the woman, his hands were itching to accept the purse. “It is more than enough, Miss.”

Elysse handed him the purse and she looked at the boy who was still confused on what to do, “Take your apples,” she ordered.

He nodded, “Thank you,” he muttered as he hurriedly pick the fallen three apples, and took one more from the stall, and ran away.

Elysse also continued on her way. She don’t know what’s happening in this day that she encounters stealing activities. The first one she can try to ignore since he was unsuccessful but the second one she can’t overlook because the thief was just a young boy and the situation he was in was a bit interesting. It’s not all the time that anyone was willing to help someone who was in the midst of trouble, especially if that someone did something bad. She saw how people wouldn’t like to be at their disadvantages especially if money was involved. They are greedy for money and power. And she also saw someone who have nothing but they still tried to defend the person who being oppressed – in this day everyone calls it stupidity.

She continued to walk along the busy streets but as she was minding her own business she can’t helped but to noticed someone was following her. She halted, turned around and faced the person who kept on following her.

She stared at the man, the same man who defended the young boy earlier, “I don’t like being followed.”

“Oh, you noticed,” he smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, “I’m not a bad person,” he clarified.

“So what should I think of you?” she asked.

“A good person who’s only following you because I’m giving your excess money that you gave to the fruit stall owner earlier,” he replied with a bright smile, he showed her purse.

Elysse was looking at the purse curiously.

“What you gave to him was more than enough for just few apples, you shouldn’t just give huge amount of coins just like that,” he added.

“You took it from him?” she perplexed. “How did you do it?” she took the purse that was now half empty.

“It was a bit hard,” he grimaced, “The owner doesn’t want to give back the change but I was able to sort of force him.”

“I don’t really mind if I don’t have it back since I already gave it to him willingly,” this man exert some effort just to retrieve her money and he didn’t even keep it for himself.

“You must be rich,” he chuckled.

“Sort of,” she shrugged, not really wanting to tell him that she is the Queen.

“For someone who is rich it’s easy to spend money but for someone who got nothing, well there’s nothing to spend it’s even hard to earn,” he said, “There are better things or people you should spend your money with, those that were really worthy.”

She smiled, “Very well said,” she agreed.

Her face was half covered with the hood of her cloak but he could still see her beauty, a face he never seen before. “What’s your name?” he asked unconsciously.

Elysse was hesitating whether she should tell it or not. There may be a lot of Elysse in the world but will she take the risk? Though the man has a good intention but she still doesn’t know him and what she learned from her experiences – the most dangerous people are those who you thought was a good person.

“I’m sorry if I’m asking for your name, you can choose not to answer that,” he was startled on what he blurted and tried to relieve the awkwardness. “I just thought that you’re not from here because I haven’t seen your face before.”

She don’t know how to answer that but she said, “I have trust issues.”

“Oh, I understand. Trust should be gained,” he nodded in understanding. “Maybe I could gain your trust?” he asked hopefully.

“How would you do that?” she challenged.

He thought for a while then he beamed, “Let’s spend your money, I’ll show you how to spend money wisely.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“We don’t know each other – let’s settle for that,” he explained, “We don’t need to know each other, we could be strangers and we can use each other as a tool to have fun. Take a risk to trust me, just give me a small amount of it.”

This man is pretty persistent. All she wants to do is to take her time strolling around the town peacefully but this man will wanted to change her plans. He’s annoying.

“And you trust me that easily?” she asked, even though he looks harmless she wanted to just get away from him.

He nodded, “I just have this feeling that I could trust you.”

“You’re being too careless,” she muttered in annoyance.

“So are you in?” he insisted the smile on his face wasn’t vanishing.

She sighed in defeat, “Where will you plan to go?”

His smile grew larger as she finally agreed. “This way.” He waited for her to walk beside him then they walked furthermore inside the market. Then they stopped at a bakeshop, which somehow was kind of familiar to Elysse.

She was hesitant to enter but the man already went inside so she doesn’t have any choice but to follow. Though the shop was already half empty of bread because it was already afternoon, the aromatic smell of bread still lingers around the place.

“Good afternoon!” the baker greeted his customers.

“Good afternoon,” the man beamed, “Are there still some freshly baked breads?” he asked.

“We have but only few left,” he replied. It was near their closing time so they already stopped baking new batch of bread.

Elysse just stand awkwardly at the back of the man hiding herself from the eyes of the baker, she keeps on checking her hood to securely hide her face.

“We’ll take what was left,” he said.

“Alright!” the baker started to place the breads on a basket. When it was already time to pay for the breads, the man stepped aside to let Elysse pay them.

She was startled as he suddenly stepped aside and made a sudden eye contact to the baker. The baker smile slowly vanished as he started to recognize who was the person in front of him. His eyes widen.

“She’ll pay them,” the man who was oblivious said.

The Baker Wilham was surprised, how dare this man ordered the Queen of the country and why is she alone with him?!

Elysse stood in front of him and looked at him directly at his eyes, so intent and serious. She slowly shook her head as if saying not to reveal herself and just go with the flow. “How much?” she asked still not averting her eyes.

Baker Wilham immediately get what she was trying to convey but he was still nervous in front of the Queen. “J-just three silvers,” he stuttered.

The man looked at him in disbelief, those bread are definitely not just three silvers, “Three silvers?!” he surprised.

“It was on discount since we are already closing the shop,” he laughed awkwardly, he can’t ask money at the Queen.

“Oh,” he said in understanding, “I guess were lucky,” he smiled at her.

As she was taking three silvers on her purse, the helper of the bakeshop suddenly appeared from the kitchen, “Mr. Wilham, I’m off for today!” he informed as he was removing his apron, “Do you need anything else before I go--,” he asked him but his eyes wandered towards the person who was wearing a cloak, he immediately noticed the covered woman. Like his employer, his eyes widen and he gasped, “Quee-!”

But his mouth was suddenly covered by the hand of the baker, preventing him to speak more. The young man struggled to be free but the baker tighten his gripped, “Ray! Have you finished cleaning the ovens? I saw some dirt under the tables, and there are more things to do at the Kitchen, you better go back and clean them properly,” as he pulled Ray back towards the kitchen. “Just leave the money at the table!” he shouted at them.

The two customers was surprised but Elysse sighed in relief, she was saved.

“What was that?” the man wondered.

She left the coins at the table as what the Baker told them, “What are we going to do with this bread?” she asked.

The man took the basket and grinned, “You’ll know.”

They leave the bakeshop and then walked again through the market, some of the shops and stalls were already closed and some were starting to close. Few people from the Palace were already on their way home so Elysse was being careful not to be discovered.

“Is this your first time here at the town?” he asked, wanting to start a conversation with her.

“Not really,” she replied, “I’m not just familiar with some of the places.”

“I know every places and corner here especially the market. And most people here know my name so whenever you need my help just find me,” he offered.

“Are you like an official?” but she highly doubt it with the way he wears.

“I’m not qualified to be one, I’m not educated enough and I couldn’t passed to be a soldier also,” he replied. He has a heavily built body, she’s sure that he can be a soldier but there are other requirements that a person needs to pass and comply before they became a soldier.

“How come they know you?” she asked.

“I have multiple jobs, I almost work in every shops here,” he answered.

“Isn’t that difficult?”

“It is, but I need to earn money and having one job isn’t enough to feed my family.”

“You already have a family?” she was surprised, he looks young but most people marry early.

“Don’t we all have? I’m the breadwinner of my family. My mother can’t do heavy jobs since she’s sick, and I have younger siblings which are still young to find jobs,” he explained.

“Oh,” she nodded in understanding, “What about your father?”

“He died in a war, he was a soldier,” he replied.

“I’m sorry.” Many people already died in war and it’s something that inevitable, it’s not a good way to have peace but people believe it was. It only take lives and continuous sorrow for those who left behind, even if you won a war the scars and trauma it left will never be forgotten. As the Queen of the country, she seen many deaths in front of her – to protect her, to protect her kingdom. Her life was the price for a million of deaths, she didn’t kill them but she’s responsible for their lives.

“It’s okay,” he gave her a small smile, “He was just one of the unlucky people who didn’t came back after the war. We can’t be dead because he died, we must continue to live so that the life he sacrifice won’t be all gone to waste, after all he didn’t fight for what was right, he fought for those he left.”

“How many were your siblings?” she asked, changing the sensitive topic.

“I have three, twin boys and a girl,” he said proudly. “Orion and Orius were thirteen years old and they’ve been really good and responsible brothers to Jezebel, she’s seven years old. She’s the princess of the family, only girl so we like to spoil her but she’s so cute little munchkin who doesn’t like to be spoiled,” he laughed.

Elysse listened but she wondered why he is so comfortable with her, he’s spilling too much information about his life. Is this how people normally acts?

“The twins wanted to help me to earn money and they entered the Palace to work like assistants to the servants, I don’t want them to work but you can’t survive if you don’t have money. I agreed but they should only work at the Palace and no more sidelines. At least at the Palace, I know they are safe and they like working there because they could see the barracks where the soldiers train, they have interest to be soldiers,” he added.

“Aren’t they scared that what happened to their father might happen to them?” she wondered.

“They see soldiers as heroes who will sacrifice their lives for the betterment of their country. They think they are amazing people and they are not wrong. If I was not rejected I might be a soldier right now though the only reason is because they pay really high.”

“They were young when your father died, right?”

He nodded.

“I guessed back then, they understand that he’s not coming back but they don’t understand the concept of death. Now that they grew up, they understand death but don’t apprehend the concept of living,” she said, “Isn’t it better that instead of dying for the country they should’ve live for it? We should aspire to live for our love ones not to die for them.”

Living is so difficult, there are a lot of ups and downs that there might be come to the point that it’s tiring to live. However, dying is easy, it’s easy to take one’s life. Her life were full of death threats, there are no assurance that she can still open her eyes after she fell asleep. Every day is a tiring battle for her life and because she’s the Queen of the Kingdom her purpose of living is her country.

“I understand that, being left behind isn’t a nice feeling,” he agreed, “But if it’s what they wanted to do then as their brother all I can do is to support and guide them.”

“It must have been so lovely to have you as their brother,” she commented.

“Are you a single child?” he asked.

She thinks it’s safe to answer, “No, I have a younger brother.”

“Where is he right now?”

“At home?” she hesitantly answered.

“Are both of you close?”

“Somehow,” she shrugged, “When we were children our parents were busy running their business so they’re kind of busy always. He is also the only boy so it was expected that he’ll be the heir that’s why at a very young age he was already trained to be the next master of the household.”

“That must have been hard,” he sympathized.

“It was, he can’t be like any ordinary child because of the responsibility that was given to him.”

“So you make him feel that he’s still a child, you helped him to lessen his burdens,” he concluded, “I feel like you’re that type of person.”

Jonathas was attached to her when they were children, he always follow her around. She feels bad for him because she could see how he really wanted to play outside with the other kids, when he cried whenever he’s tired because of his training and how he wanted to just have fun. She knew he never likes those trainings but he never complained and when it was announced that she will have the throne, it was not disappointment Jonathas felt – he feels like he was freed from the chains that was bound on him.

But now, all the chains were bound to her and their gripped were so tight that she couldn’t breathe anymore.

The man chuckled, “It was still the same, huh. Whether you’re poor or wealthy, living was still a struggle.”

“Move! Move!” a loud yell suddenly roared, “Look out!”

In the middle of the street, a horse who was running crazily fast with its owner following it behind as he was shouting for everyone to get out of the way. People on the street were confused and startled then immediately they started screaming as they ran for their safety. Things fell as the horse keep on bumping into those who were on its way.

Elysse and the man stopped on their tracks as they saw the scene happening before them, the horse was running so fast that it was just a few meters away from where they were standing.

She pulled the man out of the street, which the man didn’t anticipate and losses his balance, he tripped on his feet and was about to fall to her but he was quick enough to change their position so that he will be the one that will meet the ground instead of her.

On the process of their sudden fall, they bumped on the piled of boxes that were next to a stall where they were standing. It began to shake dangerously, expecting it to fall on their heads. Elysse hit the boxes using her arm, with full force and power to stop it from moving and to prevent it from falling.

With a close distance between them, her other arm were on the side of his face supporting her body from the fall, he could see her face up close. Some of the strands of her black hair were peeking from her hood, her pale skin that was so fair, he could see his reflection on her hazel eyes and he could feel her breathing as their body were touching each other. She was beautiful and he never seen such beauty before. It’s so mesmerizing.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking at him.

He couldn’t answer. No, he couldn’t hear her words.

“You can let go now,” she said as his arms were around her waist. Her eyebrows slowly meet as he didn’t comply. She tapped his cheek, “Hey, let go now.”

And with that he woke up from his trance, “Oh, yeah sorry sorry!” he immediately let go. Elysse stood up from the ground and helped the man to stand up.

“Thank you,” he smiled shyly. Embarrassed for what he did earlier.

“Aren’t we there yet?” she asked as she get rid of the dust from her clothes.

“Oh, we’re almost there!” he exclaimed then he remembered something. “The bread!”

The basket was lying on the ground as he lose his gripped earlier. Good thing the bread were still inside, nothing gone to waste.