Sia

"Boss, give me twenty skewers in one bag. What do you want?"

Sia glanced at Shui while ordering so he hastily replied, "Just one."

He had eaten from food stands before, but he was still a little wary of this place so he only asked for one. In a short time, the man prepared the skewers and put twenty in a brown bag and gave Shui one.

"That's four silver and twenty bronze."

It was a little bit more expensive than the food stands on the main streets, but Shui obediently paid. Shui and Sia stepped away from the food stand and each started eating a skewer. After one bite, Sia closed her eyes and savoured the flavour while Shui looked at it with wide eyes.

'This is, delicious.'

The smell alone told him that he would be in for a treat, but the taste was so good that despite its appearance, it could be in a fancy restaurant.

"Woah, do you usually eat this?"

"Only when I can make extra money or on special days. This'll be dinner for tonight."

Normally, Shui wouldn't agree with eating something this oily for dinner, but he honestly considered it. However, since his mother would likely scold him for doing so, Shui quickly gave up on that idea. When both of them finished a skewer and Sia was picking out another one, Shui tried to continue their conversation.

"Uh, so are you famous here or something? Those adults backed off pretty easily."

It was embarrassing to admit, but though Shui was about five feet, Sia who was around four feet was more intimidating than him. So he wondered if there was reason for it.

"It's just because those people are weaker than me and don't want uneccessary trouble."

"They're weaker than you?"

"Yeah, I cultivate. I'm just in the Mortal Realm though."

"Woah, you can cultivate?!"

Shui was sceptical when she said she was stronger than those rough men, but once he heard that she cultivated it made perfect sense. Even if it was just in the Mortal Realm, anyone in the first level in the Mortal Realm would be as strong as a well-built adult. The moment Shui heard she could cultivate, his interest in her rose through the roof and his excitement actually managed to make her flinch.

In everyday life, Shui didn't spend all of his time wishing he could cultivate, but the desire was always there. Like how many boys wanted to be heroes, Shui wanted to be able to cultivate.

"Uh, yeah. My brothers do too. If we didn't, we probably wouldn't be alive right now."

"Ohh..."

Sia's comment reminded Shui of their circumstances and stamped on the feeling of envy he was starting to breed. Just like he wanted to cultivate, she probably wanted to live a normal life. It wasn't even a situation where he could confidently say he wouldn't mind them being born in each other's position. Even if she could cultivate, she probably didn't love it like he did. Not because she took it for granted, but because cultivating was only a means to an end for her. If she wasn't strong she wouldn't survive.

Thinking of it like this, Shui stared her profile, her dirty brown hair and the spots of dirt on her face, as she ate the skewer with a small smile on her face. Eventually, Sia became more conscious of his gaze and looked at him with an irritated glare.

"What is it?"

"Oh, well, I-I it's kind of late so," Shui said while scratching his head.

Her annoyed tone and frowning face shook him out of his thoughts that were starting to lean towards pitying the girl; her eyes told him that she had no need for that. Feeling as if the pity he was leaking had been shoved back into him, Shui awkwardly looked up at the sky and turned around to leave. He planned to leave by himself but had forgotten the rough men that were still in the area. Both luckily and unluckily for him, Sia walked with him back to the entrance of the alleyway which they met.

When she lead him there, she stayed in the alley with a skewer in hand and Shui finally found the courage to say one more thing.

"Uh, so can I come here again to talk?"

"I'm never in the same place at the same time."

"Oh, uh, well-"

"But, you still have a bit left of the money you gave me so if you want to talk again, I'll probably swing by here tomorrow a little after noon. It won't be for long though."

"That's fine! I'll, meet you then."

"Okay."

Shui waved bye and then left after looking behind at her several times. When he was finally out of sight, Sia revealed a small sign of a blush. While waving bye, the sweet smile that was on Shui's face made even Sis who was mostly stone-faced during their conversation to have a change in expression.

After leaving from Sia, Shui happily skipped back to Fairies Wardrobe. Anyone who spotted him wondered what made him so happy but no one wanted to disturb the sight of this cute boy skipping by asking. When he was in front of the Fairies' Wardrobe building, Shui finally tried to hide his joy but a joyful smile was still evident on his face. When he was about to walk past the receptionist, the beautiful lady that was there called out to him.

"Young President, did something good happen?"

"Huh? Is it still showing? That's embarassing...It was nothing much really."

Shui looked surprised that his mood was still showing and revealed an embarrassed expression before quickly escaping. However, this reaction that wouldn't be very significant if it was anyone else, started a massive rumour in the store. That the Young President fell for someone.

Shui continued to meet Sia and he even wondered if one silver was really worth this much. But by this time, even if she asked him to pay again he wouldn't mind doing it. Most of the things he asked Sia either got really dark responses or were secrets so he mostly asked her about cultivator stuff. Though he knew a lot of cultivators, they were all the type of people who he found it hard to bring up cultivation to. For example, if he asked his father about cultivation then his Dad would worry if he was depressed because he couldn't cultivate or would make cultivation seem worse than it actually was because he didn't want Shui to think he was missing out.

And so, Sia was the only one who he could talk about cultivation with. She didn't have much experience in it, but he didn't want to know about the thoughts of a strong cultivator. Shui just wanted to know how it felt to cultivate, what she liked about it, what she didn't like, just simple things like that. Sometimes, instead of asking her things, he would complain a little bit about his job and talk about his own life. He didn't hide from Sia that he was the successor of Fairies' Wardrobe but she didn't change the way she treated him. She already knew he was a rich kid so she didn't care about whose kid he was.

On one day while the two of them talked over meat skewers, a pair of identical teens walked towards them. They weren't as scary as the other men that lingered around the slums, but their thick limbs that came out of their patchwork clothes gave them an intimidating atmosphere. Around the same time as him, Sia also noticed the two boldly approaching them. She didn't hide her displeasure but Shui could also tell that she was familiar with the twins.

'Are they...?'

"Wow, can you believe this bro? She's been eating here without us and giving us her scraps for dinner."

"I know right bro. And we gave her the biggest share because she brought it too."

The twins pointed at Sia while complaining. Their demeanour seemed childish compared to their appearance, but at the same time, it fit them. From what they were saying, Shui understood the situation as well as who they were. After they complained, SIa sighed before responding.

"What do you two want?"