Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Chapter 36

*Third Person Point if View *

She seemed to be staring at Samuel as he read the book. They are in the book store now. They thought of looking through books when they passed a book store.

Samuel leaned his back against the wall while holding the book. Pershey is also holding a book but she thinks it is nothing but Samuel. Although he was reading, he did not notice that Pershey was looking at him.

She closed her eyes tightly and then turned to look for another book. She took a short walk while reading the book. She walked slowly. She paused for a moment when a line in the book grabbed her attention.

Meanwhile, she did not notice that someone was standing in front of her. They both stopped. With Pershey's head bowed, she did not immediately notice the man in front of her.

Moments later, her gaze hit the man's shoes so she slowly looked up to see who was in front of her.

She couldn't even blink when she saw Neil right in front of her, standing in front of her and looking at her as well.

No emotion was noticeable in Neil's reaction.

Moments later, Pershey blinked and bent down to avert her gaze.

"Excuse me," she said softly and walked away. Neil didn't say a word and remained standing, then, he turned to look at Pershey again.

"Hey, Neil, nice to see you here," Samuel said cheerfully while holding Neil's shoulder.

"You love the book now," Neil joked.

"Not really," he said with a bit of a laugh. He closed the book and returned it to where it had been placed. "You? You're going to buy a book?" he asked.

"Yes, avoid being bored as well," he replied.

"There are a lot of books in the library, aren't there? Why would you buy more? You can read there."

"I'd rather buy than-"

He hadn't finished what to say when Draek, Iries and Leighden arrived.

"Oh, Neil," Iries whispered.

Leighden looked around. Her eyes search for Pershey.

"What are you doing here?" Neil asked.

"Spending time," Draek replied. Leighden left for a while to look for Pershey.

Pershey is at the end. She is reading a fairytale story.

She walked over to Pershey and said, "Why are you here? Let's go."

Pershey is silent. She was still focused on the book.

Leighden came even closer to her and looked at the book Pershey was reading.

"Why are you alone here?" she asked without taking her eyes off the book Pershey was reading.

"You left me, remember?"

She frowned at Pershey's answer. She was also slightly surprised when Pershey suddenly closed the book, and looked at her as if deep in thought.

"We never left you," she insisted.

"Just kidding," she said softly before walking away. She stopped again but kept her back to Leighden. “I need to take a rest,” she said.

"Let's just spend some time touring this store."

"It's hot here, Leighden. I need some air."

She walked over to Pershey and looked her in the eye.

"You saw him?" she asked. Pershey was not immediately silent but she knew what Leighden meant. "He's here, Pershey. Do you want to leave because you saw him here?"

She shook her head and walked away. She thinks back to her meeting with Neil recently. Even the lines Neil told her come back to her memory.

She took a deep breath with a strong blink. When she woke up, she walked again.

Leighden followed her until they reached the location of their companions.

"Pershey, you're suddenly gone," Iries commented. Leighden looked at her sharply but she ignored her and just smiled.

“I was just looking for a book,” she would reason.

"What if ... let's watch a movie first? There's a trending movie today, let's watch?"

Some agreed with what Draek said.

"I need to go," Neil said and was about to leave when Iries spoke.

"Don't you want to go watch a movie?"

He thought for a moment about the answer to Iries' question. Iries looked at Leighden, and Leighden smiled at her, teasingly.

Pershey's attention was on something else. She avoids looking at Neil or hitting their eyes. Meanwhile, Samuel's gaze was on her.

"Join us, Neil. You'd better come along," Draek said with a little confusing smile.

Neil looked at them one by one but he didn't look at Pershey.

"Okay," he replied.

They left the store first. Iries, Leighden and Pershey are together. Iries was driving Pershey's car. They sat in the backseat.

Leighden can only feel what is bothering Pershey. She knew she had been affected when she had met Neil earlier

"Aren't you going to talk, Pershey?" Iries suddenly asked as she drove.

"Should I say something?" she asked.

"Just drive, Iries. Don't mind her, none of your business, Iries," Leighden replied. Iries was driving slowly as she stared straight into the mirror.

"I just noticed something," she said. "Why can't you look at Neil? Are you avoiding him?" she asked.

"She's tired, Iries. Don't ask any more questions," Leighden replied.

She chuckled a little at what Leighden said and then said, "I'm not talking to you, Leighden. Can you just shut up?"

"And can you stop asking?"

"You're not the one I'm asking, Leighden, so you shouldn't answer. I'm talking to Pershey so she should be the one to answer and not you, you understand?"

Pershey just listened to them, sitting quietly while eating gossip. She drank a coke then put it down and looked at the two of them who were both silent.

"Oh, I remember something, Pershey," Leighden said. "I bet you were wearing it before. Where did you buy it?" she asked startling Pershey.

She looked in the mirror and Iries was looking right.

"Umm ..." she tried to think fast but she was speechless when Iries smiled at her while looking in the mirror. That wasn’t Leighden’s attention.

“I was the one who gave her the dress she wore earlier,” Iries said so Leighden shifted her gaze to her. The expression on her face showed shock. "You shocked, why?"

She could not speak in panic, even Pershey was speechless. She had expected that this would be Leighden's reaction when she found out that Iries had provided the dress she had worn to the rehearsal earlier.

"It suits her, doesn't it? She's nice when she's wearing it," she said.

"You gave? For what?" Leighden asked.

"For her practice. She needs proper outfit so I bought her at a famous shop for what she will wear," she explained. "Look at her necklace," she said then looked in the mirror. Leighden looked at Pershey's necklace. Only now did she notice the necklace she was wearing. "I bought that in a jewelry shop, worth 20k or more than, I forgot," she added.

"I'll return it to you later, Iries," Pershey said.

"No need, Pershey. You're my cousin so you don't need to return that to me."

"She can buy her own expensive and fancy necklace, Iries, you know that."

"I know, Leighden, you don't have to remind me 'coz I know that she can buy her own EXPENSIVE and FANCY necklace. I just bought that for her practice today, that's all," she explained calmly and didn't look any further in the mirror. She stopped driving when they were opposite the mall.

They also watched Neil, Draek and Samuel get out of the car.

They got out of the car and then walked towards them so that they could enter the mall at the same time.

Iries walked first. "Let's go? The movie is about to start."

They entered at once except for Iries who had walked in first.

They chat as they walk and wait for the pop-corn they buy to be cooked. Pershey was just quiet next to Leighden. She noticed Pershey was quiet so she lightly patted Pershey's arm.

"What's bothering you?" she asked. She just shook her head in response. "Aren't you comfortable?"

"What?" weak but startled she asked.

"I see," she said softly.

The pop-corn was handed to them and then they paid. They immediately walked to the cinema.

Iries is already inside the cinema and just waiting for them. When they entered, the show had just begun.

They advised to walk until they reached Iries' location. Pershey sat down late and so did Neil. There was an empty seat next to Pershey and that was just the vacant seat because the cinema was already full of people. Neil, in fact, was standing and looking for a seat. Iries, Draek, Samuel and Leighden were looking at him but Pershey was just focused on the movie she was watching.

"Sit," Iries said softly as did Draek and Samuel.

Since there was no other vacant seat, he sat down next to Pershey. Pershey was silent and didn't pay attention to Neil sitting next to her.

She didn't notice the disgust when Neil sat next to her. She just grabs and eats pop-corn while busy watching.

She had eaten quite a lot and she couldn't buy water or even a can of juice so her throat was clogged with saliva. She grabbed her by the neck and stopped eating pop-corn.

"Are you okay?" Leighden asked. She nodded in response.

Neil's attention was also focused on what he was watching but he still noticed Pershey so he handed her a bottle of water.

Pershey was confused of what he was doing. Later on, she understand what he meant.

Thought, she was slight shy to take it, she have to because she's thirsty and her throath needs water.