To The Market

12

They choose a quiet, empty table away from the mass, right by the shop window, situating themselves there.

"Whew, we'll be safe here from that vicious crowd." Jinhee breathes, holding her chest.

Jinhee slips the receipt from under one of the milk drinks, skimming it over. Dino, who sat opposite from her, simply let his eyes wander around the area.

He was still trying calm his beating heart, while trying to get over the touching moment they shared.

"Ah nice!" Jinhee suddenly fist pumps, making Dino jump in his seat.

"Ah, what what?" She immediately flips the receipt, pointing her index finger at the ink inscription to show him.

"We've saved three dollars and eighty cents!" She happily says, her eyes sparkling.

"I can't wait to tell Hannie, when I get back.." Dino ears perk at the name.

"Hannie?" Jinhee looks up from her receipt.

"Hannie? Oh, he's just my older brother." She simply says, folding the receipt into her pocket.

"Oh, that must be nice, having an older sibling and all..." He murmurs to himself, twiddling his fingers.

"I guess." She shrugs, holding her cheek comfortably in her hand. "So, how about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"Ah, no..?"

"No?" She chuckles. "So you're an only child?"

He becomes flustered again upon seeing her laughing at him.

"A-ah well, I used to have a pet corgi, if that works.."

"Aww, what was its name?" She asks, with interest twinkling in her eyes.

"Uh.." He blinks with peachy cheeks. "His name was Marco.. He kind of ran away when I was still in elementary, so the memories of him are kind of a bit blurry. But, I do remember Marco was a pretty, good companion to have during the bad times. There's some times when I wonder if he were to come back, even though odds of that happening is unlikely.." He explains, shyly glancing down at his lap before making brief eye contact with Jinhee then repeating.

"Ah, I can relate." She says thoughtfully. "But, instead of a dog, we used have a small parrot back home, Button was her name.

"Oh, that sounds cute."

Jinhee agreeably nods at his compliment, smiling.

"My brother and I would always try to teach her words in our language and set her free from her cage time to time. She was such a playful yet tamed bird, but just one day, she went missing from her cage."

She softly sighs, drawing small circles on the table.

"For a while, we placed up signs and asked around the area for any sightings of our bird, but we got nothing in return. It was a pretty busy time, with people tending to their farms and whatnot, it was then decided that she was gone. Weeks turned into months and we soon moved into this lovely, idle town. We met new people and made acquaintances, well, mainly my brother did cause he was the talker between the two of us, and not me, cause I was a bit shy back then. Now, I think I've grow a bit better than before."

She lightly hums to herself and abruptly realizes that she had rambled off to her stranger friend who was sat in front of her, getting an earful of everything.

"B-but yeah, enough nonsense about me." She awkwardly laughs. "Here, excuse me for a bit, I almost forgot to get napkins."

Jinhee hands Dino his fork, and stands up to go elsewhere. Dino watches until she was no longer seen, holding his fork securely in both hands, then stares at the cake slices in front of him.

There was a strawberry slice and a carrot cake slice.

His shoulders suddenly relax.

'What she said wasn't complete nonsense, but I don't know...' He turns his head to stare out of the bakery window.

There were different people passing by, making brief eye contact with one another, and simply going about their way.

Small kids were running on the opposite side of the street and having a grand time, running after each other in a game of tag.

As while, there was an elderly woman walking the opposite direction of them, taking graceful strides as she walks her beloved, well groomed cat.

The kids rambunctiously run by the woman, breaking their peaceful stroll and she exclaims a string of curses at them, shaking her fist.

The kids continue to run, ignoring the old woman's yells, and enjoy their youth.

Dino sighs, holding his cheek in his hand, slowly shutting his eyes to daydream.