Chapter 26 - Where Is The Monsters' Home, Ma'am? (2)

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I brushed off all the dirt of my clothes and started traveling again.

The river. It was far off from the city center I was in right now. It'd be a long but necessary journey. This journey I needed to undertake. For my own sake.

Or so I thought I'd do, heh.

During this journey, I'd come by the commercial alley. And that's precisely where it all turned around and took a direction I wouldn't have foreseen.

How to reach out to the river? I needed to come all the way back to it. And indeed, the commercial alley was part of the ride.

I went by the commercial alley. I mean, I already was there.

Trudging along the road--sometimes working my way between the people of the crowd with difficulty, some other times plainly walking along the road trying to reach my goal--I'd come by several stands.

My old friend's stand? I'd passed by it already. And many others, too.

Now, walking by them, I could see and smell their different varieties of food.

Drool accumulated in my mouth and eventually even leaked out as I craved their food. My stomach also cried for some. I could understand him. Without a problem, yes, he was my stomach, after all.

Still, I wouldn't get to eat. I was only painfully bearing with it. I'd need to have money in order to afford food. Thing that I didn't have.

But needless to say, this commercial alley, it was long. Very very long.

In this commercial alley? There were lots of food.

Yes, I know I already mentioned it, but that was just to precise how abundant the food was, in this place.

And I? I was hungry--No, I was starving.

Passing by yet another stand, I came to a stop. Hesitantly, I glanced at the fruits. Red, glowing fruits.

Aren't these the ones called 'apples'? I gulped.

And at this point, I couldn't just help it.

It only took me thinking, why not go for it…?

I mean, right now, I was a thief, correct?

Was I a thief...?

I was a thief.

I would be a thief.

My hand went on its own. It wrapped itself around one of the unfamous apples and immediately snatched it away.

"Hey, you!"

According to the script ... now was time to run!

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

My footsteps weren't failing me … it was good news!

Or that's what I thought, once again.

Indeed, as pathetic as this desperate tentative could have been, well to that was only to be added up even more patheticness.

Pathetic on top of pathetic and you got the scene.

I stumbled upon something--No, I didn't even stumble on anything, I think. My legs weren't just top notch. I'm sure their best was far behind them.

They just broke down in the middle of my run.

Thud!

And I was sent flying away before abruptly scratching myself onto the ground.

"You think I wasn't watching you, heh?!"

The apple rolled down to him. The apple merchant. He was standing in front of my lying body. Crouching down, he took his merchandise back.

Crap.

Step by step he got right before me. His shoe was then to be placed on top of my hand. He stomped on it.

"Keep your hands to yourself, sneak thief! You keep them to yourself! Next time, remember th--"

"You should stop, I believe the kid's understood."

Crap, I really thought I was done for. To my surprise, someone helped me.

"No! He hasn't! You're too kind with them, Miss Angena, you should know better, really."

"I'm pretty sure he has. And even if it was the case as you pretend it to be," Angena crouched down to me and helped me up to a sitting position, "I don't see any good in treating them the way you do."

Was I finally being lucky?

"You're too kind to them, Miss Angena! One day, it'll come back at you and blow up in your face!"

Ignoring what the merchant had just said, she looked in my direction and shook her head. She wasn't really looking at me, just towards me.

Quickly though, her eyes met mine. A smile then appeared on her face, progressively.

Not knowing what to do nor say, I just, in response to that beautiful smile adorned on this beautiful middle-aged woman's complexion in front of me, smiled back awkwardly.

It didn't take long for me to undo that smile, though.

As she had observed that, though, she put a hand to my head and patted it. She then got up to finally present me her hand.

I grabbed it and lifted myself, with the kind ma'am's help.

Even after I was up, she didn't let go of my hand, though. Maybe it was because I didn't let go of hers first. Who knows.

She didn't say anything. And just like that, she began moving, afterward.

And I? I just followed her, my hand into hers.

To be honest, I didn't quite understand what was happening. I mean, what was the point of her doing that? Being overwhelmed by her kindness, however, I didn't think too much about it.

Following her, I went from one stand to another. Each one coming after the other. I did, or rather, we did that with five, six stands.

I didn't ask questions, I just followed her lead.

She seemed to do the supply of every little thing. Ingredients and seasoning, mainly.

At some point, she did let go of my hand, and, having both of hers filled up with so many things. Seeing I still was following her, she also started to naturally hand over some of her items to me.

I didn't even know why I was doing that myself.

In any case, I didn't refuse them, she didn't impose them on me.

Rather, it was as if she was entrusting them to me. And with her doing that, I couldn't just leave now.

What's more, it didn't stop.

The same exact routine was to be continued with one and a second stand. And our itinerary was over, I think.

Oh, no, there was yet another stand she was stopping by right now.

Nobody was behind the counter, though. Weird.

I thought it was weird. Well, it was uncommon.

Arriving at this stand,she put all she had in her arms on a table there. She then turned to me and crouched down.

"Will you give me those?" She smiled at me and extended her hands.

And with two hesitant nods of my head, I did say yes.

Next thing I did was just as she kindly asked, I extended my arms to her and let her pick up everything she'd previously given me.

And she did just like before, that is to say, take all that up into her arms and put it all on the table with the other items.

Quickly, she turned yet another time to me. We were facing each other.

She would now talk to me.

"See, today, kiddo, we worked," she started to explain, the same beautiful and refreshing smile on her face. "And it was painful … right?!"

Truly overwhelming me with kindness, this ma'am is. Had you seen her expression through my eyes, you'd understand. She truly was radiating with cheerfulness and kindness.

It was sufficient to make me smile back at her. Way sufficient, I'm telling you.

Still didn't understand where she was going, though.

"It was really, really painful, aren't I correct? Yet, you stuck to it and actually helped me with all these items," she said as she grimaced playfully and peered at her items in the corner of her eyes.

"Yes, yes. Today, we worked. It was boring and painful, but you stuck to it. You had all these ingredients of mine within your hands, too, yet, you were being honest and chose not to run away with them."

"I know you're hungry," she took something out of her pocket and gently placed it on top of my head. "Being hungry is tough, huh. Here, take this, you earned it. Everything has a price, and today, you just earned your price."

Oh, I understand, now.

She must be educating me.

After she'd finished her preach, I simply smiled.

I truly was happy to hear all that she said.

I couldn't be happier, in fact.

Still, though, the facts remained.

"Say, ma'am,"

I still was a monster.

"Where is the monsters' home, ma'am?"

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