Sakura Eyes

Chapter 40

"Ah," Justin suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Are you hungry? I just realized you didn't eat breakfast yet," Justin looked at me.

"We don't have money on us though," I replied.

Justin reached inside the pocket of his cloak and brought out a huge wad of cash. I stared, wide-eyed at the bundle.

"Where did you get all that money? From Catherine?" I asked incredulously.

"Nope. I just stole a little from Gray while we were squeezing through the walls," Justin smirked, obviously pleased with himself.

"Hey, you should give that back. Gray will find out and come for us," I scolded.

"Eh. He'll figure out late enough for us to use all this money," Justin grinned. I stared at him with a reprimanding expression. Justin noticed the look on my face and shrugged.

"Okay, maybe this isn't the best thing but trust me, Gray will let me off for today. Just for today," he said, starting to walk ahead.

"Why? What's so special today?" I asked, jogging up to keep up with him.

Justin didn't answer and instead, pointed to a food stall. "Let's order some food from there."

"Mmmm," I pouted, irked he was avoiding my question.

I soon forgot that feeling though, as Justin handed me a bowl of fried rice. Just the smell of it made my mouth water. Justin scooped a spoonful of rice for himself before he began to thoughtfully chew.

"Not bad," Justin nodded.

"Give me," I grabbed the spoon from Justin and dug a spoonful for myself. The flavors exploded in my mouth, and I couldn't help my smile with pleasure. Food always made me happy. Wanting more, I began to shove more and more into my mouth.

"Hey, hey," Justin blocked the fifth spoon from going into my mouth. "There won't be any left for me if you eat it all."

Taking my hand, he steered the spoon into his mouth and nodded his head in approval. "The old man does make it well."

I frowned. Was it normal for people to just pass off the same spoon? May and I did it, but that was because we were family. I glanced over at Justin.

Well, I suppose if he's so nonchalant about it, there isn't anything to worry about. 

As I passed him the plate and the spoon, my eyes fell on a stall selling shrimp dumplings. Standing up, I raced over to the woman cooking them and inhaled the mouth-watering scent. May and I used to crave for these—although I was a little allergic to shrimp—

"Excuse me, miss?"

I turned around to see two friendly looking boys standing in front of me with a smile. Tilting my head to a side, I reciprocated a polite smile back to them. "Yes?"

"Do you like steamed pork buns?" one of them asked.

"Oh? Um, yes, they are good," I answered, feeling a little confused at the abrupt question. "Why do you ask?"

"Would you like to get some with the two of us?" the other boy said.

I took a step back. "Oh...oh no I'm fine. Thank you though..."

I turned around to go back to Justin when I felt a hand grab my wrist. I turned back to see them grinning at me. "Come on, miss. It's just for—"

Another hand suddenly intercepted his grasp and pulled me away. Without looking up, I recognized the woody scent as the person pulled me towards his chest and immediately felt safe. I quickly realized, though, he was angry as livid waves emanating off of him.