I walk back into the building and look around for Jincheng.
(Is that him? Who's he talking to?)
I walk over to them.
"Oh there he is! Ryuki meet Valerie here. She's the daughter of my friend, who is also the owner of the inn we're going to be staying at."
(You've got to be kidding me!)
"Oh Ryuki! Seems we're gonna be staying together."
"Oh so you two already met? Well that's great!"
"We sure have. Isn't that right Ryu-Ryu?", she says as she wraps her arm around mine.
"Never call me that again, please."
(I'm going to have to deal with this for an entire month? Fantastic!)
"Heh, you two seem pretty close."
"No, we literally just met."
"Hoho Ryuki, you work fast!"
…
"Well I'm going to go find my mom. We can meet back at the inn. I'll see you later Jincheng. You too Ryu-Ryu. Bye!"
She walks off.
"Hehe, Ryu-Ryu."
"Please forget you ever heard that."
"Come on. Don't you want a beautiful blonde girlfriend Ryuki? Live a little. You have to find someone eventually ya know."
"I'm only 16."
"Fine Fine. Alright let's get going. Everyone's starting to leave already."
"Yeah."
We both exit the building.
"I always wondered ever since we entered that party, how come they just let anyone in? I mean you have to wear a suit but wouldn't it be limited to like a list if it's some type of royal party?"
"Well it's because the King and Queen thinks that anyone should be allowed to join them in a party if they dress right. Other than that, I don't really get it. But I heard that, aside from the really poor, mostly everyone goes to them once in a while."
We walk for another hour before we stop at a building that looks like an inn.
"This it?"
"Sure is. Let's head in."
We both walk inside to be greeted by an older woman and of course, Valerie. The older woman looks just like Valerie but much different. She has light brown hair and seems to be a bit taller than her. Maybe Valerie's blonde hair came from her fathers side.
"Yo."
"Oh there you are. We've been waiting for you two. We already have two rooms prepared. You just need to pay."
(When in the hell did he- Know what? I won't question it.)
Jincheng walks up and places 4 silver coins on the counter and walks up the stairs.
(Maybe I should introduce myself to her.)
"Uh hello, my name is Ryuki. It's nice to meet you mam.", I say while bowing.
"It's nice to meet you too, young man. My name is Mary. Your room is right upstairs. I'll call you once the food is ready."
(The best part about staying at inns and hotels. The quality food.)
"Ryuki, I'll lead you to your room.", Valerie says running over to me and grabbing my arm and literally dragging me upstairs.
She leads me to a door.
"Well here it is."
I gently open the door.
(For some reason, I had a bad feeling in my gut when I did that. Maybe I shouldn't do that again.)
"Wow."
There's a bed, table, and a tiny sofa. I walk over to the bed and sit down on it.
"This is nice."
"I know. My parents worked really hard to get the place like this. When my dad bought the building, it looked terrible. It took a lot of work to get it like this and a lot of money, which we didn't have."
"This place is pretty solid. The room is not too small but not too big either. The bed is so comfortable. The place has a good atmosphere as well."
She walks over and sits down next to me. I sit back up and she looks at me. She looks like she's on the verge of tears.
"Is something wrong?"
"It's just... I wish my dad was here right now to hear you say that."
"Did something happen to him?"
"Yes. He died. Five years ago."
"I'm.. I'm sorry for your lost. If you don't mind telling me, what happened? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."
"No no. I'll tell you."
"He was murdered."
~5 years ago~
"Haha, man that was fun. Today has been amazing ladies."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it honey. Me and your daughter had stayed up all night preparing it."
"Yeah dad, you better have enjoyed it!"
"Don't worry my sweet little girl. It made me very hap-"
"D-Dad?"
"Honey!"
"D-D-Dad.... DAD!!!"
~Present~
"During his 39th birthday, he was killed. I don't know who it was or why they did it but they took my dad away from me. They shot an arrow right through his head. It happened so suddenly. Only a few other people saw it happen, but they couldn't do anything about it. They were already gone by the time I could even react. T-They killed him without a second thought."
"So these guys were most likely assassins."
"But why…? My dad was the most kindest person ever. He would spend time with me even if it meant he would be late for work. He always made sure me and mom were happy. He had a lot of friends who he had no problems with. So how could they. H-How could t-they just.."
She buries her face deep into my chest and continues crying. I wrap my arms around her and embrace her in a hug as she continues to cry for another minute before lifting her head.
"Heh, look at me. Crying on you like this. We just met each other."
"No it's fine."
(She must've took his death more worse than anyone else seeing as it still affects her even after five years.)
"So, those assassins never showed themselves again after that? Haven't any investigations been carried out? Have you tried looking into it."
"Yes. Multiple in fact. All failed. My mom forbids me from looking through dads stuff. I've tried sneaking in, but the room is locked and only mom has the key. I don't even know where that is. I've tried researching on my dads past outside but I ended up with nothing. The arrow that my father was shot had no traces of a human touching it. The area was searched thoroughly but they couldn't even find where the arrow was shot from. They were just too fast."
"Wow, that sounds rough. But, it's plainly obvious your mom is hiding something about your dad."
"Yeah, but for now, I can't do anything about it."
She takes a deep breath, calming herself down.
Thanks for listening to my sob story. You really are a nice guy you know?"
"I didn't even do that much."
"Sometimes, just listening is enough. Well, I'll be heading back downstairs."
She gets up and is about to walk out before she stops. She then walks back over to me and gives me a kiss on my cheek.
"I'll see you later.", she says walking out.
(At least she feels a bit better. I might as well take a nap until the food is ready.)
I lie down and drift off to sleep.