eleven

                                    

                                          
Chan 
As we were walking along the aisle of carts and vendors, a simple little jewellery cart seemed to have caught her eye. I studied her expression, she seemed really intrigued by the cart, so I decided to walk up to the vendor with her in tow.
"If you want something, I'll get it for you." I tell her as a flash a smile, but she just shakes her head and walks away from me as I jog to catch up to her until I'm walking by her side "You sure? I was serious when I said that."
She just shook her head again "No, no... It's just..." She trails off before saying in a very small voice "The jewellery looked like the kind sold at Royal Bloom Jeweller, but as we approached the cart, I realized they were only knock-offs of the real thing."
"Ah..." I respond, not really knowing what to say in that moment, but I try my best with my next few words "I'm sorry if I accidentally brought up any memories of the past."
"It's alright," She brushes it off, yet I can still hear the pain in her voice "our lives are different now, but a memory every now and then doesn't really bother me. I'm fine, Chan. Really." She flashes me a sad smile, which only made my heart ache more. We kept walking in silence for a bit until I saw something and got an idea. Taking her hand, I began leading her towards a bunch of carnival games that other people were playing.
"What are we doing here?" She asks me, confused.
"I don't want to see you so down," I admit "and it's my fault you're feeling that way. But we're on a da- we're hanging out, and I don't want you to be so down while we're here. So let's have fun, yeah?"
She stared at me for a moment, surprised and full of confusion behind the lenses of her glasses. I then showed her a smile of reassurance as she nodded, eventually smiling back at me as well. My stomach had suddenly filled with butterflies that made my heart want to burst like confetti, but I remained calm and we go to play games together. After some time of having fun by playing games like ring toss, balloon and dart, duck pond, ring the bell, skee ball, and basketball. After about two hours, we finish playing the games and I ended up winning a big rilakkuma bear, which I then gave to Jia Mei. As she tried to decline, I insisted she takes it as a keepsake for this date, to which she eventually accepts as we go and get some food to eat.
As we found some food to eat and a bench to sit on, we sat down and ate in silence as we ate our food until I heard her mumble something I couldn't hear.
"Pardon?" I ask "Did you say something?"
"I said thank you." She smiles fondly towards me "I don't think I've had this much fun in so long, I'm glad I came out here tonight with you, Chan."
"I'm happy you could come with me. I enjoy making people smile, yet I don't think I've ever seen a smile as beautiful as yours."
She sat there for a moment, staring at me before bursting out in laughter and giving me a light shove "WOOOOOOW SO CORNY." She shouted as I laughed along with her.
"What? It's true. am I not allowed to compliment you?"
"No, I just wasn't ready for something so cheesy." Our laughing dies out before she then stares fondly at the bear I won for her "Thanks for winning me the rilakkuma, by the way."