Mia's plan to make Yana forget the encounter with Luka was quite simple yet hugely successful. As long as Yana could satisfy her glutton tendencies then nothing else mattered to her.
"Mia, try this! Really good! The flavour's coming out very well," Yana munched away as she held three skewers in each hand while the owner of the stand nodded.
Mia poked the inflated cheeks of Yana and sighed, "This is already our sixth stand. Bloody hell, how much are you gonna stuff your face? An explosion gonna happen soon. Who will clean up your vomit? Not me."
"C'mon!" Yana held a skewer in front of Mia and pried her lips open with the wooden tip.
Mia reluctantly opened her mouth and chewed, "We're here to shop!"
Even though Mia wanted to distract Yana, she hoped Yana didn't forget their initial reason for coming here and that was the bags upon bags of clothes.
"Ok, ok, let's go," Yana swatted Mia towards the clothing stores while her hands still held the skewers. As expected the clerk didn't let Yana in, so she had to wait outside until she licked her fingers clean and looked her part.
It was a tiring trip accompanying Mia to buy her clothes. Now Yana remembered why she always tried to evade Mia's attempts to have her tag along to go shopping.
It was an exhausting ordeal. From the beginning until the end, Yana's eyes had to play judge to see what clothing would make Mia even more gorgeous than she already was.
In truth, Yana knew what Mia was trying to do, distracting her so she'd forget Luka. Yana'd be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat when Luka so tenderly looked at her, so cautiously touched her. But in the end, Yana had no idea how sincere Luka was towards their friendship.
Maybe Yana should give Luka a chance after all to explain himself, so they could clarify the misunderstandings and return to their old days. Yana did miss the time she had spent with him.
In this glossy and marbled interior of the shopping centre, full of expensive and high-end retailers, Yana, in her eye-catching red dress, was dragged around like a trash bag.
This was literally how she felt. Dead and exhausted inside. Her feet and legs were hurting and her arms were sore from carrying Mia's large shopping spree results.
As they left the shopping centre, the setting sun dyed everything in a red and orange shine that seemed to go on forever.
"Dear, you wouldn't mind helping me bring them home, right?" Mia rarely gave a sheepish smile and it was only when she needed something from Yana.
However, Mia rarely asked for favours so Yana agreed. Mia's home was in the middle of the centre of the city. A place where only the richest of all the powerful people lived.
It was a white marbled small area with mansions looking like crystals on top of a cloudy mist that glistened in the far. It was the complete opposite of a metropolitan city with its glassy skyscrapers and modern technology.
But it had the air of ancient gods residing in the human world. Each time, Yana came she felt out of place and couldn't help but gape at everything.
"Come in," Mia held the door open to her magnificent mansion but Yana only shook her head. Mia's family was rich, of course, being politicians were the most acclaimed jobs one could have.
But the idea of having to withstand their interrogation always made Yana feel like she was asking for Mia's hand.
"I'm fine! Fine, I'll go back, sorry I'm tired," Yana quickly excused herself and made a run out of the posh area.
The night sky was refreshing but once again Yana didn't like walking alone. It always told her to look out for danger but as she came across a red light, Yana was reminded of the times she used to walk with Luka and how secure she felt.
Just when Yana thought of him, her phone vibrated. Only now she realised that she put her phone on vibrate and missed several calls from Luka. She stared at her phone screen for a bit before finally resigning herself to answer it. Yana, after all, wanted to make up with him.
"Yana?'' Luka's deep voice melted like honey in her ear and she involuntarily gripped her phone tighter.
"Yes?" Yana made sure she sounded as natural as possible. She didn't want to come as overly eager or reserved.
"Thanks of picking up," hearing his relieved and a little bit sad voice, Yana's heart suddenly tied a knot. Luka sounded like an abandoned puppy that was picked by its owner again.
"Just say what you want," Yana might sound cold but she anticipated every word of his.
"Are you still meeting with Mia?"
"No, just parted."
"Then... are you free now?"
"Why?"
"Have you eaten yet?"
Now that Luka mentioned it, apart from this afternoon, Yana hasn't eaten anything after Mia started her shopping spree.
"Not really."
"Then…" once again Luka made a nervous pause as if he was afraid of Yana's answer and didn't want her to ignore him again, "Do you want to have dinner and talk? I know that I-"
"Ok," Yana didn't wait for Luka to finish.
If he wanted to apologise, she preferred if he did it in person.
"Really?" Luka's tone immediately became happier.
"Yes," Yana had to suppress her giggle hearing the hopefulness in his voice.
"I'll text you the details," right after Luka hung up, Yana received a message from him with the details of the restaurant. It wasn't far from Yana's current location.
The red light turned green for the fourth time and Yana quickly crossed the streets but just as she arrived on the other side, a hand pulled her to the right. Shocked, Yana quickly turned around to see the strange guy that was with Luka this afternoon.