Separated

5:Coincidence

ENTRY 5
Zai still hasn't apologized to me yet, which I am not taking well. I've known him since I was a child! It's sad for me to see him avoiding me, I'm not used to it.

As stated in my entry, Zai won't talk to me at all. He keeps glaring at me, not approaching me, anything that has to do with not making contact with me. Jesi is worried about it as well, but she just says that it takes longer for boys to forgive others. Since I no nothing of boys, I take her word on it.

"... hey, uh, Zai?" I call out to him from behind his room door, "do you not want to apologize? ... was it because I ran out? I'm sorry if I did."

I don't get a response, which in turn I just decide to leave him alone for now. Livi and Jesi are talking about who should go buy food since Zai clearly doesn't want to go out right now. We all don't have an idea, but I raise my hand and volunteer to go anyway.

"Are you sure? You've only been here for a few days-"

"A week! ... and five days!" I say with a smile, "I'll be fine! Nothing bad is going to happen to little ol' me."

"... if you say so," Mel sighs as Trin nods her head in agreement.

"Okay! I'll just take this-" I reach my hand over to the shopping list Mel was holding and "yoink" it right out her hands, "-and I'll be on my way. Bye!"

After my quick departure, I jog my way over to the food market. Once I arrive, I find that it's, again, full with people. That strange presence is nearby again, which bothers me; I try not to let it get to my head, which is obviously easier said than done. As I wander around, looking around for what I'm supposed to be buying, I bump into the one and only prince.

"Hey-! Watch where you're goi-" My voice fades off as I realize who I've bumped into. The prince stares down at me with an intimidating look, which I shy away from.

"We meet again," he simply says, which I nod to, "my bodyguards aren't with me today, as I decided to see how I'll manage by myself."

"Ah, good to know," I smile a bit nervously, unsure with why he was telling me this, "uh, have fun with that."

With that, we part ways.

I come across the jewelry again and decided to enter the store. The same lady was behind the counter with that same, obvious customer service smile as before.

"Welcome back! Did you decide to come back and buy the amethy-"

"Nope, just wanted to stop by," Interrupting her felt oddly good.

Aside from her occasional talking of some gem I stop and stare at, it was pretty quiet. Well, until I bumped into the prince for a second time.

"Oh, it's you again," he says when he notices me in the store, "looking for something?"

"... no," I answered hesitantly, "what about you, huh? 'You looking for something to buy?"

"It's getting made and inspected as I speak," he answers, walking past me, "right, storekeep?"

"Yes! Of course, it'll be done in two days time," the lady says with a slight nod.

Me, as a very curious person, wanted to know what the prince bought the day before, "What did you even buy?"

"That is none of your concern," he answers, causing me to sigh heavily.

"Let me guess, a ring?" I questioned as I looked up at him. Surprisingly, he nodded.

"It's preparation for when I find a spouse," he answers, an almost deadpan look in his expression, "something a commoner like you shouldn't be worried about. Unless you're fit for the role?"

"Never in a million years," I frowned at him, "or an eon, or a millennia."

"Then I'll wait," he smirks, in which my face gets heated.

Before he could say anything else, I make a beeline to the exit and leave, swinging the door open full force and dashing out.

"Did he just flirt with me!? No way, that's unbelievable," I shake my thoughts away as I keep walking away from the store.

As I walked, I almost forgot that I was in the market to shop, not to get seduced by some stupid prince. I take the shopping list out and read it from top to bottom.

"More pasta, more sauce, more... uh, marinara? ... is that not a type of sauce?" I mutter to myself as I wander around the market. Eventually, I find the stand where that nice lady was selling sauces.

"Uhm, hello," I greet the lady a bit nervously as she looks down at me.

"It's you again! Is Zai not with you today?" she questions, glancing around in hopes of seeing Zai.

"No, he's... a little under the weather," I half-lied as she nods, her smile almost dropping.

"Oh! That's unfortunate, please let him know that I wish him a good recovery," she says almost solemnly, "but let's not linger on that for too long. Now, tell me, what did you need to get this time?"

"Er," I look back at my shopping list and show it to her, "it just says "more sauce" and "more marinara"."

"Ah, I see. Give me a second to find those," she ducks down behind her stall to (I assume) find her other jars of marinara and the like. When she rises back up, I see a few jars in her hands.

"Here 'ya go, that'll be two Kera," she says, holding a hand out. I stuff my hand in my pocket to see if I had any, and luckily I did. I drop the green currency into her hand as she puts them in her own pocket. Afterward, she pulls a box out to place the jars in.

"What's your name by the way?" She questions which placing the jars into the box, "my name is Sophi."

"I'm Jay," I answer as I watch her place something on the box to seal it shut, "thank you, Sophi."

"You're very welcome!" she smiles brightly at me before I leave. The next place I had to go was a stall that sold pasta, and I found one rather quickly.

"Hey there little girl! Did you need anything?" the man who was behind the stall asked.

"Uh, can I have this?" I asked, holding up a box labelled "pasta."

"As long as you pay you can," the man says jokingly, "that'll be four Kera."

I take out four Kera from my pocket and hand it to the man. He thanks me before I walk away. And that makes me realize the beauty in kindness. Not that I haven't before, but that kindness is kind of hard to come by for some reason. While I pondered, I almost fell into the water, had it not been for the hand that caught me by my shirt. I turn around slowly and come face to face with...

"You should really watch where you're going," the face of a- the prince, right in front of my face.

"You again???" I really couldn't believe my luck. Would I be lucky or unlucky to come across the prince three times in a day? I say that I'm unlucky. He pulls me back as I stumble a little, making sure I had the boxes secure in my arms.

"Don't tell me you were following me," I frowned, causing him to give me another almost deadpanned look.

"Of course not, why would I be following some little girl I barely even know?" We both go silent for a little, with the silence being broken a minute later from me sighing.

"Well, uh, thanks, I guess," I shrugged, looking back at the prince to see that he was already walking away.

"Where did he even come from???" I think to myself, brushing it off as him just being near where I was, again.

EXIT 5
I did grocery shopping! And surprisingly, I ran into the prince three times! That's really a coincidence if you ask me, or maybe it's just my luck.

End of Chapter 5