Learning About the City

Anastasia sat on the empty white chair next to me. On the other side of the table were the two main leads. The story has changed letting the main leads find the female lead before entering the Academy.

'So how do the two of you know each other?', I pointed my gloved finger on the two guys sitting side by side in the dainty white café chairs.

'We know each other from a young age. He's sort of my best friend.' Cedric said in a very nonchalant way all the while smiling that stupid grin of his.

Alex on the other hand just sipped his tea that was placed on the glass table in front of him like nothing happened. I felt like he was ignoring me which ticked me off a little, but that's the ego of a main character right?

The street around us were noisy with chatter but I quite like the atmosphere. There were little kids in rags running around tagging each other probably playing a game of some sort. I was reminded by how Cedric was in the orphanage house before, what was he doing there?

It's none of my business of course. I should focus on the problems I have and not other people's lives.

I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding and noticed the awkward atmosphere around the four of us. No one was talking. Anastasia was too busy fiddling with her apron. Alex was admiring his tea like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. And even Cedric was looking inside the store for no particular reason.

I could almost here the clock in the store clicking. Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

I was the first person to break the silence with a little cough.

The three of them turn their eyes on me. What the heck was I supposed to do now? I didn't know what to say.

'Uhm... Why don't we take a walk around the city?', I suggested. It was the first thing that popped into my mind.

'Let's do it!', Cedric exclaimed. Well at least I got one supporter, whereas Alex and Anastasia was quiet and did not respond to me.

We left the café and started walking around the city. It was a nice view. We were walking pass by a marketplace there were sweet snacks being sold. The scent of oily street food wafted through the air and there were laughs from children holding their mother's hands.

I told Lisa not to come with me since we didn't want any servants following us. I was between Cedric and Alex while Anastasia walked beside Alex.

They were giving each other sweet short glances throughout the whole time we walked through the street. I could already hear cupid's arrow being shot.

They don't even know each other yet they acted as if they were each other's soulmate. I wanted to puke.

Cedric seemed to get what was happening, he probably heard from Alex about our engagement. Here we are my fiancé was making googly eyes at another women while I'm given the look of pity from my business partner. What could possibly go wrong?

'Oh! That's cute!', Anastasia pointed to a stand that had masks. They looked like masks made for a masquerade ball. We walked to the stand and I picked up a mask from the table. It was purple and white which matched my dress. We were looking through the selection when the vendor told us something interesting.

'There's going to be a masquerade festival in the streets tonight. Everyone will wear masks to hide their identity and they say the person you are dancing with at midnight will be your one true love.'

Geez how cheesy can festivals be? I put down the mask I was holding and left the stand. Anastasia followed after me which in turn made Alex and Cedric follow after her.

'Umm Elaine, you don't like festivals?', a small voice as pure as a bird sounded behind me.

'Not really,' I replied. I didn't know how to explain to her that not everything is a fairytale. Take this world for instance. The king had to turn back time before everything went to sh*t and he asked me to break up the magical love between her and Alex.

'Well I like them, why don't we all go?', she turned walking backwards to Cedric and Alex. Both of them had a soft spot for Anastasia, they seemed to always agree with what she says, which means...

'Sure!'

'That sounds fun.'

Why am I not surprised?

We walked through the market until we saw everything there is to see and noticed the sky had gotten dark.

'We should probably get back soon. It's getting dark and the streets could be dangerous,' Cedric said.

'Yeah you're probably right...', Alex looked to the sun which was setting down for the evening.

Well I was getting tired from walking in these heels the whole day. Maybe getting back wasn't such a bad idea.

'No let's join the festival! Come on guys!', she took both of the guys by their hands and dragged them back to the stall that sold the masks. Of course neither of them said anything to discourage her.

At least we still had the guys to accompany us, knowing my luck something bad is going to happen I can feel it. We should be fine, I did tell Lisa that I would be back before night time, but I guess I was going to have to break that promise.

It's good to be civil now, I need to make sure in the future neither Alex or Anastasia will want to chop my head off.

We bought the masks and I chose the purple and white mask that I had seen earlier.

Music started to play, you could hear smooth jazz from every street musician playing in the corner. New stall were being set up and the smell of food wafted through the air. The night had come which left the only sources of light to be from street lamps that were lit every few meters.

The energy of the festival was surprisingly nice. I never participated in events like these since I was mostly working or studying alone. But having friends isn't that bad.

'Hey look at that!', Anastasia pointed to a person on the stage doing a play. She took my arm in hers and dragged me to see it. Isn't she a delight?

There was a huge crowd in front of the stage and when the play ended I realized that we had gotten separated from the guys which left only the two of us together. I was turning around to look for them but I saw no sight of them.

In the matter of seconds that I took my eyes off of Anastasia I heard a high pitched scream. I turned back to see Anastasia gone from my side and was being dragged away by two large burly men.

I quickly ran after her and was shouting for help but no one could hear me over the noisy crowd clapping for the play.