16. Company

Vivian stared at Victor as he asked her that question. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒎? 𝑯𝒎𝒎...she thought for a few minutes before blinking her eyes at him.

"Are you just gonna look at me and blink? Haha."

"I was just thinking, now let's see...I think that he's cold but still can be kind and cute sometimes? I bet he has a nice personality underneath all that icy block of him." Vivian stated out all the things she thinks of Gavin but there were still some more she didn't want to list out.

"Yea, he can be nice but cute? I have never heard anyone call him that for a long time since we were young." Victor chuckled as the two continued walking around the town. Vivian stared at her almost finished crepe, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝑮𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒅...

"Hey Mr cabbage, do you guys have any younger photos of yourselves?" Vivian asked, blurting out the cabbage word again at Victor but he didn't want to say anything so he kept quiet about it.

"Yea, we do have some younger photos of us somewhere in our photo album?" he replied, looking a little unsure with his statement as he, himself, has not looked at their photo album for a long long time.

𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔...𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆.

𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕...Vivian thought as she took the last bite out of her crepe and threw her rubbish in a nearby dustbin.

Victor cast a random spell, making a photo album appear on his hands. He flipped open the book trying to find a picture to show Vivian.

"Well, there is one."

"Let me see!" Vivian excitedly peeked over as Victor showed her the photo of him and Gavin when they were younger kids.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔...𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒘𝒘, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔~! Vivian admired the photo as she looked at it with pure admiration.

"How about you? Do you have younger photos of yourself?" He asked making her smile fade, 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝑰?

"You don't have to show it to me if-"

"What? I don't think I even have younger photos of myself to show haha." Vivian chuckled as Victor looked at her with a surprised face.

Vivian was right, she doesn't have any pictures of herself when she was young and she didn't know why. She did try asking her family about it but they dismissed the question or tried to change the subject.

"Why don't you have any? Don't your family take photos of you?"

"I don't have a clue but I do have pictures of myself on my phone." Vivian took out her phone and searched for pictures to show Victor.

Even though she doesn't have any younger photos of herself but she does certainly have an incredible amount of pictures of herself now.

Vivian picked out a random photo and showed it to Victor but when he saw the photo, he blinked multiple times, squinting his eyes to see.

"What am I suppose to see...?"

"I'm in the picture! Here!" Vivian pointed at the black figure with two purple eyes on the screen doing a non-visible peace sign, in a dark room with no lights on.

"This is...unseeable with no lights on whatsoever Vivian..." he pointed out to the background lighting as it was the picture she took just a few weeks ago in her room.

"My eyes are seeable though and there's visible light coming from the window behind." She smiled sheepishly at him before keeping her phone back into her pocket and took a look around the town area. She has seen the place before but it wouldn't hurt to see it another few times.

"Where are you planning to go to?"

"Probably the nearby pet store that is just at the end of the path?" Vivian pointed down the long pathway that they were walking down. There were many shops around and he didn't know which one she is pointing to.

"Okay, then shall we go?" Victor smiled as Vivian walked ahead of him and he followed behind her. They took a small walk around the town before making their way to the pet store.

"Hey Victor, what rank are you?"

"What do you think?" He asked back, making her look at him and examined him from head to toe. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅...𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏, 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎.

"A golden?"

"A golden?" He repeated what she had said, making her look at him in confusion. 𝑰𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌? She stared at him with a poker face, waiting for his reply.

"Am I wrong?"

"Pfft...haha."

"What are you laughing at?" She stopped walking and frowned at the man in front of her who was just chuckling at her. 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒐𝒇𝒇...𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅.

"Sorry sorry, your face was just funnily cute haha."

"Shall I leave you muted for the rest of your life?" Vivian asked as she raised her fingers and some sparkling magic was shining, making Victor stop his laughter and looked at her.

"Woah Woah, calm down little bunny. I don't mean no harm here." The magic faded away as she put down her fingers and continued to walk.

"Yes yes, I'm a golden rank just like Gavin isn't that obvious?"

"Is that why both of you have your hair in golden blonde?" She joked but no one was laughing as he just stared at her with a 'are kidding me' face, making her let out a small chuckle.

"That's not how it works-"

"Well you guys are born blonde and are golden ranked...what else. Ah a cabbage non the least, there's one there." Vivian pointed at one of the side path stores that sell cooking ingredients and there were many vegetables displayed which had a yellow cabbage.

"Stop comparing me to a yellow cabbage, I look nothing like one..." Victor sighed, making Vivian look at him, tilting her head.

"Whatever you say Mr cabbage~," She said happily before picking up the puppy from the ground and continued her walk to the pet shop while he stood in spot, staring down at the actual yellow cabbage. 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆...

"Excuse me, madam, I want to ask. Do I look similar to that yellow cabbage you have over there?" Victor asked the store lady, that looked at him weirdly before taking a glance at the cabbage and back at him. 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈...

"A little in terms of hair color...but your shining brighter than that cabbage will ever be."

"T-thank you I guess..." Victor walked away, feeling a little disappointed to hear that from someone he doesn't know, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒎 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔~.

He thought as he proudly smiled to himself before noticing that Vivian was already gone from his sight.

"Where did she go?!" He looked around the area but she was nowhere to be seen, then he remembered that she said something about a pet shop down the end of the pathway.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓- Victor walked off, down the path to find Vivian and that pet shop she was talking about.

When he was walking down the path, he saw something that caught his eyes and stopped, going over and took a look at the item. He picked up the thing he saw and admired it, it was shining brightly as it reflected the sun's shine.

"I'll take this."

"Here, it's 7 dollars~" the lady packed up the thing he saw into a nice small blue box and passed it back to him kindly. He took out the money from his pocket and paid the lady. 

"Thank you, have a nice day!" he gave a small thank you to the shop lady before walking off to find Vivian again.

When he walked to the end of the path, he found the pet shop that she was talking about. 𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆...he stood outside the window and peeked into the empty shop that had no sign of Vivian or anyone.

Victor walked into the pet shop but jumped as the sudden sound of the chime scared him, 𝒈𝒐𝒅...𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆? he looked up at the chime hanging on top of the door that he didn't notice.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" he yelled out, hoping that someone would reply to him but to his dismay, there wasn't a single response from the shop. The place was like the usual, not having anyone to tend the front of the shop.

𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑? He took a detour around the shop, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚...𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓. He sighed before a shrieking scream escaped his mouth.

"AHH!" Victor screamed as he turned around from the last aisle that he was at, to be met with a sudden appearance of a terrifying monster in front of him.

It made him take a few steps back, hitting a few boxes that were placed on the ground and thus, falling onto the ground with a thud. 𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆...𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕.

The monster took a few steps towards him, making him cast a safety barrier around himself to prevent the monster from attacking him. He didn't know what to do with the monster and so he thought of the impossible.

"Did you eat my friend by any chance?" He calmly asked, not looking at the thing in front of him. Instead, he was looking at the feet of the monster which he soon found weird of the monster. 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕, 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕? He looked up and a sinister laugh could be heard from it.

"What..."