SHOPPING STILL

Isir watched them leave then after standing there a while, thinking of what his thoughts at the moment were, he concluded that he just couldn't give up so easily. No, his feelings won't let him.

"What's wrong with me? I don't even know her background," he said to himself and chuckled then left to find his sister. Even as he left, he couldn't help but wonder if Ara and Mozrael were hiding something from him. Besides, who was he that they would hide something from him?

He was still searching for his sister, or so he thought when he heard a voice shout up ahead. Another shouted back and he recognized it as his sister's. He rushed towards the racket and before he got there, he saw Ara and Mozrael standing still, watching something. He got closer and he could now hear the voices arguing more clearly. He looked and saw Iris and Lia arguing heatedly.

"You useless brainless creature! That is mine and that's final!" Iris screamed at Lia.

Lia frowned and pointed at a white dress behind Iris. "That dress there is mine, so shut up and get out of here! I won't waste my time on you so just get away from my dress!"

"And who said it's your dress?! I got here first and saw it first! You only saw it later and wanted to get it!"

"Who cares what you saw or think?! I said I got here first and even if you were here already, too bad I didn't notice you, since you're so irrelevant! Get away from my dress you disgusting thing! You'll defile it!!" Lia screamed and took a step forward. Iris took a step back as well and stretched out her arms protectively over the dress.

"Stay back you…That dress is even bigger than you, shorty! It's my size, so what's wrong with you?! Stay away!"

"Hmph!" Lia crossed her arms and looked around. She smiled when she noticed an attendant standing to the side. "You, which of us got here first? Me, or the dressed maggot?" She asked the attendant. The attendant looked at the two and was not so sure what to say.

"Hey watch your tongue you fly! You're just bugging people's lives you know?!" Iris shouted at Lia deeply offended that she was just called a maggot but Lia laughed when she heard Iris' words.

"Oh did you even hear yourself? You just called me a fly!!" Lia laughed hard, hugging her stomach.

"Are you crazy? What's so funny about being a fly, you look even more stupid laughing at something that's not funny." Iris said calmly but was secretly thinking whether she had said something silly.

"You don't just get it, do you? I just called you a maggot, and you called me a fly hahaha. A fly is the grown and mature version of a maggot, so you just told me I'm superior to you without even noticing it, how stupid hahaha," Lia laughed, even more, pointing out the flaw in what she just said.

Iris was getting more and more embarrassed. First the auction house, then this shop?

"You know, I'll make you regret all this! Anytime you appear, you only try to make me feel bad, you want to make me feel or look stupid. I hate you. You don't even know what I can do, yet you try to provoke me. What's your problem?" Iris just couldn't understand this girl. What was her problem anyways? That was when she noticed they had an audience. She looked at Isir, then Ara and Mozrael, and gritted her teeth. Revolting people, she thought then glared at her brother.

"What's it with you? You're supposed to be on my side, but you're just standing there watching this mad girl say dumb things," she said to her brother.

Ara looked at Isir who was confused about what to do when his sister was pissed, then thought of something. "But Isir, I thought you wanted to be friends with us. You told me you liked Mozrael, right? Why, are you scared? Mozrael is huh?" Ara stopped and looked at Mozrael who'd grabbed hold of her hand. "Mozrael? Is...something wrong?" She asked but Mozrael stood still. "Oh come on, Mozrael it won't hurt to be friends with a boy. You-"

"No," Mozrael cut in, shaking her head

"What? I thought that would..."

"No, I don't want to be friends with another boy. Are you...trying to push me away? You can tell me if...if you don't want to have me around anymore since I'm not related to you directly by blood." She said with her head lowered, and let go of Ara. Ara didn't know what to do at that moment. What did I say wrong? She looked at Mozrael's face, noticing it was slightly red but when she tried to look at her, Mozrael looked away, refusing to meet her eye.

"Come on Lia, Let's go." Ara decided and took Mozrael's hand, leading the way.

"Hey wait for me!" Lia shouted and followed them.

Iris watched till they were out of earshot before going to stand before her brother with a frown on her face. "And what was that about being friends with them? That girl, Ara even said you liked her sister. What's it with you? How can you like her, are you mad?" she was fuming, but Isir still kept his cool to not reveal anything.

"There's no way that could be the reason. I was only trying to know who they were. With their pride and character, They must have some good background to act like that," he said so matter of factly.

Iris squinted at him, trying to see if he was putting up a front, but she found nothing off about him so she just accepted the explanation he gave. " I'll forgive you for that for now though. For now, you can forget about them. We'll deal with them later. We can just tell dad and he'll help us find them and punish them for offending me."

"Hey, where are we going? Why are we leaving?" Lia asked Ara but Ara ignored her and only Focused on moving forward. The carriage they'd taken earlier was still there waiting for them. Lia had paid him to do so. Ara got in with Mozrael and after a short while of contemplating, Lia also entered it. She sat opposite Ara, frowning the whole time.

"What's with that frown, Lia?" Ara asked, but Lia didn't answer. she glanced at Ara's hand which was still holding Mozrael's and then back at Ara's face.

"You're so mean. You always treat Mozrael special but you're always pushing me away. Meannn!"

"Whatever," Ara ignored Lia and looked out. Once again, as they were going she noticed that same peculiar face she'd seen earlier among the crowd looking directly into her eyes.

By noon, they had visited eight shops, buying things at each shop. For lunch, they went to a restaurant under Lia's guidance and ordered some food. Ara felt a bit awkward as she ate.

From the eye of a bystander, or a bysitter since they were in a restaurant, it seemed a normal sight, Three adorable little girls eating their lunch gracefully like the aristocrats they are, but a closer look and one would notice the odd thing about the scene, and once you saw that you couldn't tear your eyes off. They were all eating with the same grace and practice but it seemed a bit odd how Mozrael was eating faster than the average human. It was odd how fast she was finishing her food but it didn't look at all like she was eating fast at all. Weirdest of all was the biggest unanswered question; Where did all the food she ate go off to in that small body of hers?

This was what made Ara feel uncomfortable; the way almost everyone in the restaurant was looking at them like they had seen creatures from another land. Lia was also trying to match Mozrael's speed by eating a little faster and that worried Ara.

"Take your time, Lia you might choke on your food," she told Lia. She wasn't entirely worried about Lia choking. It was because if Lia finished, she would let them leave the place, but she'd wait for Mozrael first before leaving and Ara was afraid she might not finish her's before then. Not so long after, Lia had finished her bowl and was taunting Ara while waiting for Mozrael to finish. Luckily enough, Ara finished before Mozrael and was wiping her mouth with a handkerchief when Mozrael finished and they left the place with eyes boring into them. Mozrael was able to finish six bowls, Lia with two, and Ara finishing one. [Yeah, that's how fast the shy little girl eats lol.]

Once they were outside, Lia decided to check how much money she had left from what she'd allocated for the day's shopping.

"Hey big sister, guess how much I have left? I think I've spent half the money I had today," She said smilingly.

"What? Shouldn't the money have been finished by now?" Ara exclaimed in shock. If the money wasn't finished, when was Lia going to finish it for them to go home?

"Well, I took the usual amount but dad added some more and said we should go have fun," Lia said.

I should have known. I have to kill him before I can have some peace. The dress is even starting to get more uncomfortable. I wish some thief would come and steal all the money. No that won't work, Mozrael would kill him if Lia doesn't do so first.

"What are you thinking about?" Lia asked

"Nothing!"

"Hmm...I don't know where to go no-Barky!" Lia suddenly exclaimed and was walking off. She crouched to pet a black cat and Ara and Mozrael followed closely, but just when they got close,

"Hey! Come back here!" Lia shouted and gave chase to the cat who'd just taken her bag in its jaws and had taken to its heels.

"It's getting away! Quick catch it!!" And with that, they were all chasing after the cat with a bag in its jaws.