Chapter 39

"You bought already?"

Halle's face coloured. "Yeah. You?"

"No . . ."

"Let's check on Yui." said Halle. "I hope Shizuka is wrong."

Arien tried for a smile. "Yeah."

She regarded him. "Is something wrong?"

"What? No. I was looking for something to buy, but I don't know what anyone would like."

"I'm bad at remembering them too," she showed him the bag with all the presents nicely packed. "I just bought something I thought they wouldn't hate. If someone buys something for you, it means they remembered you. Doesn't matter what you buy, it shows that you remember them and I think that's all that matters."

Arien stared at her baffled. He didn't expect to hear this.

"Who did you want to buy for? Do I know them?"

Arien's ears coloured. "Uh . . . no."

"You're going to buy or no?"

Arien shook his head. "We're not that close."

She elbowed him. "You're hopeless. Let's get Yui first."

Seeing Yui, Halle was horrified. Arien laughed so hard he had to lean on stands to keep his balance. Yui managed to fill an entire cart with stuff and she looked as guilty as a thief.

"We said one thing, Yui." said Halle calmly. "Pick one and we'll go."

"I . . ."

"We don't have money to buy all of them, so you have to pick one."

Arien opened his mouth to say something. Halle leaned close to him. "She'll at least pick 3 and say she can't leave without it. So don't increase the count!" she whispered.

Yui took 5 minutes looking at all of the toys she'd picked, scrutinizing each one slowly.

A random customer chuckled. "Having a tough time with your child?"

"She's not my—" Halle stopped herself. They don't care what the story is anyway. She nodded.

"She looks very cute." she said.

"Yes, she does. She looks just like Shizuka."

The customer looked at her like she was crazy.

"Sorry, I'm not her mom she's my friend's daughter."

"Oh. Sorry!"

"No problem." Halle said with a smug smile and turned to Yui. "You decided what you want, Sweet pea?"

Yui shook her head and showed her. "I want this one and this one. I don't know which one to pick. I like them both. They're pretty."

"We'll take the two, okay?" Arien said before she could say something. "One of it will be my gift. Which one do you want packed?"

"Gift?" Halle looked at him. "You bought a lot of stuff for her already . . ."

Yui gave him the pink toy. "This one."

Halle stared at Yui and shook her head. The smile went away from her face. "Maybe I'll take only the pink one and you don't have to pack it." Yui said quietly. But why does she have to make her feel guilty about it?

Arien raised an eyebrow at her. "You pay for the pink one," said Halle as she took the other toy from Yui's hand. "I'll pay for this."

*I'm so dead today.*

They paid for both separately. Arien didn't speak after that. He took all the bags from her and carried it himself. Was he angry at her?

Unexpectedly a store caught her eyes. She pulled him by his sleeve. "Hey, look at that!" she turned to Yui. "Let's go to this next, Yui."

"A scarf store?" asked Yui.

"Yes, you don't want one?" asked Halle. "It will make you look cuter."

Yui nodded. "I want a purple one mom hasn't bought me a purple scarf yet."

Arien blinked at her. Halle winked. "Come."

Yui started picking all the purple scarves that were there and started going for the darker shades. "It would suit my hair." She'd said. Arien still hadn't picked a single scarf.

"Did you fight with your mom or something?" asked Halle. "Why aren't you picking anything?"

"She has a lot of them . . . I don't know which one she'd like."

Halle examined all the scarves and picked a deep blue scarf with blood red speckles on it and light golden flecks. Her eyes glittered looking at it. "I think this looks good, what about you?"

He touched the soft cloth and murmured. "Sure, anything you like."

Halle hesitated. "Alright." She took it in her hand. "Let's check on Yui."

Arien looked up and nodded with a small smile. "You got something?"

"None of the colours are deep enough!" muttered Yui.

Halle crouched. "Then we'll come here another time?"

Yui nodded solemnly.

Arien looked at the time. "There's still half an hour left. Wanna check any other store out?"

Yui shook her head.

"What about we have something to eat?" Halle suggested.

"What do you think Yui?" asked Arien.

Yui nodded.

"Okay, I'll pay for the scarf." said Halle. "Wait here."

"No, I . . ." Halle stared daring him to continue. Arien smiled. "Then, I'll be paying for the snacks."

Halle nodded smugly. "Sure."