Broken Memories [I Did it for You - Book 2]

15

"What do girls like....?" Seven pondered, his slender index finger poised at his pursed lips as he scanned the aisle in the supermarket that was at least half an hour's drive from the safe house. He let out a long sigh as nothing, in particular, came to mind.

Chewing on his bottom lip, Seven paced the numerous aisles, almost colliding with every customer who batted him with frustrated side-eyes, making the young hacker's cheeks flush as he waved numerous apologies their ways. He pulled his hood over his head, wishing he could shrink into nothingness as he felt all eyes on him, something he always hated his entire life. He wished something with Scarlett's name would pop up so that he could buy it and get out of there in a flash.

He scanned the cookery aisle, lifting cute serving dishes with flowers painted within the enamel in orange and pink. He picked one up, the smooth surface sliding in his sweating fingers as he gripped it tightly. He realised then that he'd need a basket before he had to pay a fee for breaking something. With the serving plate in his hand, he made his way over to the pile of baskets and hooked one around his arm. Placing the plate in the basket, he turned, only to blink in surprise when several staff members eyed him suspiciously. He frowned back at them all, wondering what their problem was before he suddenly realised that the baskets sat right next to the shop's entrance and he'd just walked right towards it while holding something he hadn't bought yet.

Biting down hard on his bottom lip, Seven grinned sheepishly at them, his cheeks burning red as he pulled his hood even tighter around his face before speeding away from them and vanishing into a different aisle. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and cleaned the lens of his glasses that had begun to fog up and tried to focus back on finding things that Scarlett might like. He knew he had to do more than buy her a simple serving dish. Trying to find something she liked and that would mean a lot to her was the only way he could think of getting through to her that he wasn't some sick freak that Mint Eye had played him out to be. In any normal circumstance, he wouldn't have cared whether anyone liked him or not, brainwashed or not. His full-time job was all about not being liked, by living life as a detestable cockroach that everyone desperately wanted to squish and get rid of. However, everyone in the RFA was like his family, a family he'd never had, and he owed so much to each of them, especially Yoosung and Emjay. But now, Scarlett being targeted even though she was completely innocent and suffered because of him meant that he had to fix it. He had to. For her.

As Seven walked, he swayed the shopping basket to and fro frantically before it collided with a shelf, knocking over boxes of chocolates that crashed noisily to the floor.

Seven silently cursed at himself as he knelt and placed the boxes back, trying desperately to ignore the multitude of eyes burning at the back of his head. As he was about to place the last box that had fallen back onto the shelf, Seven paused, finally paying closer attention to the details. He smiled, seeing that the chocolates had been made in the shapes of seashells ranging from different shapes, patterns, and sizes. And scanning them, he thought it'd be worth a try and decided to place the box into the basket along with the serving dish. Seeing them next to each other, Seven began to wonder if he should take some of the chocolates out and place them on the serving dish for Scarlett. Would she find that cute? She had to, right?

Just before Seven was finally about to leave, he spotted a section in the middle of the shop that kept freshly cut flowers wrapped in colourful bouquets. He grinned as he sped over to them. But just as he reached the section, he heaved out a sigh, realising that he had no idea what kind of flowers Scarlett liked. Did she even like flowers? She was bound to, right? Every girl liked flowers, right? Debating with himself, Seven decided Scarlett loved flowers and picked out a bouquet ranging from flowers with the colours of baby pink, lime green, and white that looked the least rotten out of the rest of the bouquets. They didn't have a strong smell to them as he had hoped, but he decided that the beauty of them would outweigh the absent smell.