The Journey to Freedom: Path to WW3

Chapter XXXVII

Old friends become bitter enemies on a sudden for toys and small offenses.

Robert Burton

We walk through the food court and nobody even notices us. I kind of liked the attention that was put on us when we were at the hotel lobby. It was ok, maybe being incognito was better so that we can be alone for a while. We walk to a jewelry store and I ask for engagement rings. The clerk shows us a selection and I see a few. I notice one that is bright blue like Evelyn's eye.

"I like this one," I say out loud.

The engagement ring had a clear diamond in the middle and one blue stone on the left and one green stone on the right of diamond. Evelyn comes over and says, "Its gorgeous babe!"

I tell her that it matches her eyes, and that's why I liked it. She flutters her eyelashes at me and I just blush. I put it on her ring finger and it ends up being a bit big for her ring finger. I give it back to the clerk and ask her if they have one in her size, they measure her ring finger size and tell her that she has size seven ring finger.

They show me rings in her size and I tell Eve, "Ok ballerina, pick your poison. Whatever fits you, I will get it for you."

She tells me that they are all beautiful and that she wants the one that I had originally picked. I tell the clerk to give the lady what she wants. They tell us that they have to send it out to make the ring a little bit smaller I tell them that they have two days and to put it in a rush order.

"Overnight it if you have to," I tell them.

I want her to have it before she goes back to DC. They tell me that it will be ready by then. I thank her and ask Eve to come with me. We walk inside the mall and go to Build-a-bear workshop and tell her that we're going to make bears for each other. She squeals and says that that is so romantic. She runs to the empty bears.

She picks out a brown bear and yells, "this one is you! Because he's got brown skin like you! Plus your grandpa calls you 'osito', and well you are a teddy bear to me."

I laugh out loud and say that only my grandpa is allowed to call me "osito". She comes to me very slowly and calls me "Osito" and gives me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Where's your bear?" She asks.

I go over to the bears and see one that is white with a red heart on the chest. I pick it up and say that the bear is her. The reason that the bear is her, because of her big heart. I grab her hand and we walk to stuff the bear. The bear stuffer tells us to grab a heart, make a wish, give it a kiss and put it inside the bear. I ask the attendant if they had any recording devices that can go inside the bear. He gives me one and I tell him that I needed two of them, one for each bear. He hands Eve one also and I tell her to record anything she wants and that I would do the same. I walk away and record my 10-second message. I walk back and give it to the attendant. I tell the guy that I wanted the recording devices on opposite bears, my message would go on the bear that she grabbed and her recording device would go in my bear. I grab three hearts and tell him that I was willing to pay for the other two. He tells me that it was ok, that it was on the house. Evelyn comes back and tells me that she's done. I tell the attendant that I am getting three hearts because one heart is mine, one heart is from Ayeka and the last one is from Melfina. I kiss all three and tell Eve that I made three wishes. And she smiles and hopes that all three wishes come true.

I say, "I hope so too."

She makes her wish and puts the heart inside the bear. The attendant puts in the hearts and the recording devices inside the bears and starts to stuff them. He asks us if the bears are soft enough and I tell him that the bear is to my liking. Evelyn tells the guy that she wants it to be more firm. The attendant stuffs the bear a little bit more and she tells the man that it is perfect. We go to give the bears a fake bath and I stand my bear and turn it around and pretend its walking to her bear and pretend to wash its back. She laughs and says that bears aren't supposed to do that.