Head in the Clouds

Chapter 3: I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

"Asa, would you at least pretend to be normal?" Begged Ko softly.

As usual, Calaco's market-goers made way for Ko Suo and his dutiful servant, Asa, to travel in peace. To them, the heir to the Suo dynasty was just making his weekly rounds around the busy market causing the excitement to subdue. The path he followed seemed to be lined with his favorite merchants, the flower vendor, apple vendor, so on and so forth. If only he could get Asa to relax.

"I'm sorry, Ko," she apologized softly. Her eyes were glued to the floor before her as they traveled along the provided path, "I just keep thinking about-"

Ko rolled those enchanting grey eyes, "Can we not talk about Deidre for one day?"

Asa's eyes widened and her lips part in shock. Swiftly, she pressed it shut and scrunched her nose. 

"What now?" Groaned Ko.

"Nothing," shrugged Asa softly. Her eyes remained on the path before her unable to even look at the object of her affection now.

Ko glanced again. He knew that look. It was the same look she gave whenever he stole from someone she didn't approve of, or whenever he said something she didn't like. 

"What? Do you want me to go out and find her?" He hissed in annoyance, "Deidre is not my problem."

Asa pressed her lips together as color flooded her cheeks. Suddenly, the image she'd created of Ko riding off into a torturous land to save the helpless warrior made her feel stupid. Much worse, the idea he'd take her along with him made her want to punch herself in the gut.

"I don't expect anything from you," she muttered as they approached the first stand of the day.

She'd order the reddest red apples the vendor picked, while Sir Ko snatched some unimportant object he'd become fixated on that time. The act used to fill her with guilt, but at that point, it'd almost become routine. 

As she collected the bag from the vendor, a surge of electricity shot up her back and to her heart as Ko's hand rested at the base of it. Without so much as a word, he picked up his pace guiding the servant with him. 

"Ko-" she couldn't finish her sentence catching glimpse of the seriousness in his eye. He glanced from behind him to in front of him every few seconds forcing her to swallow her words.

"Don't look back," commanded Ko, facing forward yet again.

"What is it," she uttered terrified. 

He shook his head, "I don't know."

People stared, making Asa want to bury her head in a hole. She wondered what they thought, how they felt. It was more than a little odd to have a member of the Suo Dynasty so much as look at their servant nevermind guide them through a public place. Granted, the have been a fair share of affairs between Suo men and their servants, but that was usually kept on the hush hush.

The market's dirt path, unlike Jericho Market's concrete paths, painted the cuffs of his black pants brown and the wind disturbed his perfectly groomed crop of hair. None of these things concerned him the way it usually did though. All he could think about was the exit.

Asa disobeyed his orders for the first time as they approached the exit gate. Glancing over her small shoulder, she saw three men all dressed in the same green and black ensemble, wide-brimmed hats covering their heads. They all began standing near different stalls when they noticed her gaze, but she was already too creeped out to react.

She allowed Ko to guide her up the path to the center of the city. Apples in hand, she shook thinking about the way those three men seemed to come out of nowhere. She'd never seen them or their uniform before, so they definitely weren't a part of the Callaco Police Force.