The Haggle Man

The town square seemed festive, with every bake stand decorated to catch people's attention and the music which made people tapped their feet. People from far and wide knew about the famous bake fair that occurs every year, some weren't aware of the event happening every year, they were only drawn by the festivities they saw happening in the town.

Aside from the merry people, the musical band and dancing, the air Isabelle inhaled was a combination of many baked pastries and the best part about it was that they would be trying out every single one of those pastries as promised by Jia who seemed to be enjoying today more than everyone else. Every bake stand in the town square had a little crowd formed around it, with people showing their interest, even the music stand where the band was playing had some audience.

A poorly decorated stand in the corner caught Isabelle's eyes, it had no attention which the other stands got. Its owner didn't look as festive as the rest of the people in town making Isabelle wonder why. Her curiosity led to her approaching Jia.

"Jia? Why is that bake stand not getting the same attention as the rest?"

"Stop pointing will you!" Jia swatted her hands and Isabelle held it close to her chest glaring at Jia.

"She will know you are talking about her." Jia said in a hushed tone.

"So then you know her."

"I attend the bake fair every year. That's Mira and the reason people are not as excited to go over to her stand is because she has the most horribly baked pastries any one has ever tasted. Believe me when I say horrible." Jia commented scanning the environment for his usual go to stand, he hadn't seen the owner since he stepped into the town square.

Unbeknownst to Jia, the man had to set up his stand elsewhere so as not to deal with Jia this year.

"That was harsh. But then why does she still have a bake stand every year if she is as horrible as you say she is?"

"I guess some people don't know when to stop and frankly the town is tired of giving her chances."

"Give her another ch ....

"Pass." Jia cut her off and walked up to a bake stand that caught his attention. He pulled out a small bag of coin. The owner of the stand recognizing him gasped because Jia had seen him, he was slightly irritated when he saw the smile of Jia's face and immediately pulled out a board that stated 'No haggling allowed'.

He couldn't push Jia away because he was the highest paying customer every year, the others just held out peanuts.

As Jia got the pastries he wanted with his haggling skills that wasn't allowed but the owner eventually gave in, Isabelle caught his eye and without using his powers he knew what was on her mind. He took out a few coins from his coin bag and walked up to Isabelle.

"Here, go get yourself a burnt pastry." He held out the coins.Isabelle's eyes lit up and he could've sworn he saw sparks in them."How did you..." She paused and collected the coins making her way to the poorly decorated stand.

Mira, who had seen Isabelle walking directly towards her stand didn't know if she should be excited, she wondered why she was being approached.

"Or maybe she is here to mock me like the rest of the town." She muttered to herself.

"Hi, I'm Isabelle, I'd love to buy a few of your pastries." Isabelle placed about three silver coins on the stand.

"But why?" Mira asked, still in a confused state. "I hope you are not buying out of pity are you?"

"Of course not, I just wanted to give your pastries a try. This is my first time attending the bake fair and my companion told me I could get as many pastries as I wanted, so I wanted to try them all."

Jia pinched the bridge of his nose from where he was after Isabelle made that statement.

"I'll just give you a few to taste just so it wouldn't seem as though I ripped you of."

A few people had noticed a person conversing with Mira and began wondering who could've dared to have approached her knowing quite well how horrible of a baker she was. As they saw Isabelle pick up a pastry about tasting it, they began discussing the aftermath of what was going to happen.

"Poor child would end up with a stomach ache."

"I can't wait for her to start demanding for her money back."

"She will spit them out anytime soon."

But none of these things happened. Isabelle tasted the pastry and her face lit up, she pushed the silver coins on the stand forward and asked for more.

"D.d...Do you like it?" Mira asked not expecting this turn out of event.

"It is simply divine." Isabelle said with a full mouth.

"Wow really?"

Isabelle responded with a nod. Mira looked excited, she couldn't believe someone actually loved her pastry, she was finally given a chance after all these years. She packaged a few more and offered them to Isabelle.

A few people walked up to Mira's stand to buy some pastries, they all had nothing but good things to say this time and very soon Mira was the talk of the town and it was all thanks to Isabelle, she told her parents.

"Who is this Isabelle?" Her father asked.

"A creature from another village." Mira lied, she didn't want her parents to find out that Isabelle was human.

"How do you know his shop would be closed?" Isabelle asked as she and Jia were heading back to the carriage.

"Because cobblers close their shops early." Jia said without a hint of lie and she believed him.

"Why do you want to give him pastries anyway?" Jia thought the idea was absurd.

"He seems like a nice person and every nice person deserves pastries."

"So you must have some for me then."

"No! You're not a very nice person." Jia's smile faltered although he was expecting nothing.

"Miss Isabelle!" Stanley's voice echoed down the street.

She turned and gasped as she saw Stanley walking towards her.

"That was rather unexpected." She looked at Jia.

Jia didn't comment, his eyes were rather fixated on the pastel box in the hands of Stanley. "You left your shoes at my shop." He handed out the box to her.Jia's brows furrowed, he had his and Isabelle's shoes kept in the carriage unless....

"These aren't mine." Isabelle opened the box.

"Well when you accept them, they become yours." Stanley was gifting her a pair of shoes.

"They are so beautiful, thank you" She paused then asked. "Why are you giving me these?"

"Well you seem like a nice person and all nice people deserves a gift."

Jia couldn't believe he had heard two people say the same ridiculous words in one day. "Well then you must have a gift for me as well." Jia asked Stanley to which he responded with a small smile.

"Oh I have something for you as well." Isabelle brought out the small bag of pastry and handed them over to Stanley.

Jia couldn't believe he was wasting his time watching this, he rolled his eyes."Isabelle, it is time to leave." He walked out.On their way back to the mansion, Isabelle asked.

"When next would we be visiting town?" She hoped to see Stanley again. 

Jia didn't give a response but he knew that would never happen again, at least not while he was still around.