Chapter 220 - Picture Or Shopping?

Ashley's eyes broadened when she noticed how vast the Galleria Mall was. Everywhere she looked around, the mall seemed endless – it was as far as her eyes could see.

On the way there, the traffic was so slow that Tanaga had become restless. 

A few minutes had passed by, yet their vehicle had not moved an inch. Tanaga couldn't hold it in any longer and irritably asked, "Sato, isn't there any other route we could use? We've been here for a while already and still haven't progressed at all." 

"Let me see what I can find, Sir Jones." Sato took out his cell phone and directly asked Siri – the cell phone assistant – for directions. 

"Siri, is there another way to go to the mall besides this road?" Sato asked the app on his phone.

A woman with a robotic voice answered, "There is another street where you can access the mall."

"Ah! There is one!" exclaimed Sato.

"So, what are you waiting for?" barked Tanaga sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

"Siri! Give me the directions, please," Sato continued asking his phone.

The phone spoke, "At the next light, turn right to Westheimer road. Straight ahead, go to the slope, and into the valet parking."

Once Sato heard the directions, he quickly exited the app and inputted the instructions into the navigation system. A few moments later, they had arrived at their destination, right at the entrance of the Galleria Mall valet parking area.

Tiny was the first one to come out and went to open the passenger side, where Tanaga was sitting. Tanaga came out of the car before reaching to help Ashley out of the vehicle. 

"Sato, we'll meet you inside! Take care of everything," declared Tanaga while making their way into the immense mall.

As soon as they had walked inside, Ashley acted like a child who just entered a candy and toy factory. Her eyes were as wide as a saucer, and she was grinning from ear to ear. 

"Oh, my God! Is this for real? Wow! Look at all those brand names... unbelievable!" exclaimed Ashley. Tanaga and Ashley held each other's hands as they walked inside the mall. They had no particular goal, but this was the beginning of their venture.

Tiny was quietly following them while they roamed around. He was recording a video of everything on his cell phone.

A few moments later, Sato had caught up to them. He was unmistakably in a rush, even gasping for air when he appeared. 

"Did I miss anything? You need to send me that video that you recorded! You should have been the one driving so that you'd be the one left behind." complained Sato to Tiny, who was still holding his cell phone to record what the couple was doing.

"Wow! This is unbelievable! Tan… Tan, let's take a selfie!" Ashley beckoned her husband while pulling his hands towards her.

Tanaga let her do as she pleased. The two of them stood beside a display window of a famous branded store. "Smile!!! 1, 2, 3!" *Click* Ashley took a few more shots before changing their location to another store's brand name and repeated the process. Tanaga always let her do as she pleased.

More than ten stores had been the background for Ashley's photoshoot before Tanaga reached his limit. "Love! Are we going to take pictures or are we going to shop? My feet are starting to hurt!"

"Hmph! Of course, we're going shopping! But first, let's take some pictures. After all, we aren't going to buy anything from these stores anyway since they're way too expensive, and I don't have that much money," retorted Ashley while pouting. She was slightly mad at Tanaga's complaint.

Tanaga looked at his wife, clearly trying to hold in his laughter. "Love, are you kidding me? Are you trying to say that you won't buy anything because it's too expensive and you apparently don't have money? Then let me ask you this: if we go to a cheaper store... are you buying? Do you have money to pay for whatever you want to buy at a cheaper place?" Tanaga bantered while trying to hold back his laughter. 

He knew that she didn't have any money and that he would be the one paying for everything, that's why he was wondering why she cared about whether the shops were expensive or cheap.

Once Ashley realized that she didn't have money because Tanaga would be the one paying, she felt her face heat up out of embarrassment. She was unable to answer her husband's questions and ended up looking at her own feet. All that time, she was getting heated over an unimportant thing.

Because of Ashley's sheepish countenance and her blatant attempt to avoid her husband's eyes, Tanaga could no longer hold in his laughter. "HAHAHA! HAHAHA! HAHAHA!"

"You are so cute... well, let's get shopping then! And please, don't think about the price. Purchase whatever you're thinking of getting, all right?" Tanaga grinned as he swung his hand around Ashley's shoulder, pulling her inside a famous branded store.

Ashley wasted no time and followed her husband. After they entered the store, Ashley went around to look for things that piqued her interest. But nothing interested her here.

"Come, let's go to another store. I don't see anything to my liking," murmured Ashley to Tanaga, while holding his hands.

"Are you sure? Maybe you're too focused on the price tag instead of the product. You didn't even touch anything and only checked the price tag," Tanaga replied worriedly.

"That's not the case! It's just that… I can't seem to find what my family wants," Ashley responded with a beautiful smile for her husband.

However, she noticed the troubled eyes of Tanaga while speaking. She thought that maybe he was concerned about her.

"Well, if that's what you've decided... then let's go to the other store. What do you have in mind to buy? We can ask someone where we can find them. Then we can go there so you won't be exhausted and, you know, our baby…." At the same time, Tanaga hugged his wife and kissed her on the forehead.

Ashley wrapped her hands around her husband's waist and kissed him on the cheeks. "Sure, let's go look at what the department store has then."

Her head turned to look for someone until she saw Tiny and Sato, who were busy holding the phone and recording the couple's moments. Ashley waved her hand at the two and approached them.

"Yes, ma'am," the two men said simultaneously when they noticed Ashley and Tanaga walking towards them. But Ashley was the only one they greeted, causing Tanaga to raise his eyebrow in confusion.

"Wait, wait a minute! Why did you only greet her? Is she your only boss?" His voice had a raspy tinge of anger, but he was only teasing the two of them. Unfortunately, the two men didn't realize this and could only frown at Tanaga's reaction.

"Tan! Stop it! I'm the one who called them, so they only greeted me, okay?" Ashley interjected, hoping that her husband would stop teasing the two.

She then stated what she was looking for, and Sato immediately searched where he could purchase everything that Ashley asked for.

~scrool to the next chapter~