Chapter Six

Juley sipped from her cup of tea as she stared at Gary who was seated opposite her. They were at a little café which was quite comfy, had good service and clear windows which gave an excellent view of the streets.

Juley couldn't even remember the last time she had had a proper breakfast. Since she had ran away from home, she had survived on scraps and whatever was available. So of course, she didn't slow down or blink an eye as she dug into her food.

"You seem really hungry," Gary commented.

"Y-y-you have no idea," she replied and continued stuffing her mouth. "T-t-this is quite good. Y-y-you have excellent t-t-taste in food I can say."

They both chuckled at her last statement, and ate in silence for the rest of the meal.

As they walked out of the café, Juley belched. Her hands immediately flew to her face, trying to hide it. Her face turned pink from embarrassment.

" I-I-I'm s-s-sorry. I s-s-swear that w-w-was unintentional."

But Gary just laughed it off. "I don't see anything wrong with that. As you said, it was unintentional. You can't cheat nature."

With her hands still on her face, she backed him and asked, "D-d-do you t-t-think many people heard it?"

Gary looked around and saw no one looking at them, meaning no one had heard her belch. But he decided to tease her and rather said, "Actually, I think it's best you keep your face covered. You've caused quite the spectacle. Everyone is now looking at us."

"R-r-really?" Juley turned around and removed her hands for a brief instant to see if he was right. When she noticed no one looking at them, she lifted her hand to hit his shoulder, but he was quicker and ran away. She chased him, shouting under her breath, "No f-f-fair. I'll get you f-f-for t-t-this."

Gary laughed at her as he continued running, "Catch me if you can."

Juley continued chasing him, oblivious to the attention they were attracting. People stepped out of their way to allow her and Gary run through, and they occasionally got insults or exclamations from people who they mistakenly hit or nearly collided into.

Juley was already running out of breath, and realized that she wouldn't be able to catch up with him. She needed a way to get his attention. After thinking for a moment, she smiled when a thought popped in her head.

She abruptly halted, and cried out, "Ouch! My ankle!"

As she speculated, Gary immediately turned around as he heard her cry. She pretended to hunch over in pain, and even sat on the pavement, massaging her left ankle. Gary stooped beside her, and moved her hand, trying to inspect the ankle.

" I-i-it hurts s-s-so much," she said in a fake pity voice.

After his inspection, he raised an eye at her. "But I don't see anything out of place."

As he finished speaking, Juley gave him a solid punch on his shoulder. He lost his balance due to shock and ended up equally seated on the ground.

"What did you do that for?" he asked.

"That w-w-was p-p-payback." she replied mischievously.

"Oh! I now see what you did. There's nothing wrong with your ankle, is there?"

She poked out her tongue at him and gave him another punch, but a lighter one this time. Then she tried to stand up, but Gary dragged her back down and stood up. She looked up at him questioningly.

" That was payback," he said and poked out his tongue at her.

She gave him a murderous glare, and tried to punch him again but he was out of reach.

"N-n-no fair. You w-w-were the one w-w-who st-st-started it," she complained.

"So I decided to end it," he smirked.

He helped her to get on her feet and she immediately punched him again.

"Now we're even," she smirked.

Gary just rolled his eyes at her as they walked down the street.

* * * * *

They spent the next hour doing eye shopping, trying out some street food, and getting some ice cream. Juley was actually enjoying herself more than she had expected, and realized that she really liked Gary's company. He was very jovial, fun and polite. It seemed he was quite popular around here, because he had already introduced her to several people in such little time. But Juley reminded herself that he lived around here, so he had to know almost everyone.

They were in front of the window of a jewelry shop, doing the usual eye shopping, and licking on their cones of ice cream.

"I haven't even gotten you a birthday gift yet," Gary commented.

Juley turned away from the window to look at him. "Isn't t-t-this t-t-tour already my gift?" She asked.

"Sort of, but I still want to get you a proper gift." He took her hand in his and walked into the shop with her.

"W-w-what are you doing?" she questioned.

Gary waved at the sales clerk, before turning to her and answering her question. "I'm getting you a birthday gift. Go ahead and choose what you want."

Juley laughed as a crazy thought popped into her head. "I w-w-want a 24k g-g-gold ring."

Gary caught on the joke, and they laughed together. "Something within my means," he said.

"Okay."

She ended up selecting a simple silver chain with the letter J as it's pendant.

"J for Juley," she explained.

As Gary wore it round her neck for her, Juley couldn't explain the nice tingling feeling she got. This was really nice of him.

Meanwhile on Gary's side, he was trying his best to muster his control as he stared at the smooth skin surrounding Juley's neck. All he wanted to do right now was just put his lips against her nape. He quickly shook away that thought, not wanting to imagine how Juley would react if he did that.

"T-t-thank you. T-t-this is s-s-so nice." Juley said when he was done.

"Don't mention it."

Out of the shop, they continued their walk, having an idle conversation. Suddenly, Gary halted and Juley turned around to see what had caught his attention. She saw him eyeing some rental bicycles that had been chained at one corner.

" Do you cycle?" he asked her.