During the walk around Malana's village square, Asher was silent. Somehow, the incident was still ringing in his head. To be honest, there was a bit of regret in Asher's mind, but on the other hand, Chronos' words were also true and made sense.
"Hey Ash, I know you must be thinking about that girl, right?" Chronos sighed while shaking his head. "Never mind, let's not burden your mind too much with that kind of thing. Let's just focus on buying some things we need, okay?" Chronos patted Asher's shoulder, a worried look on his face.
"Alright, you're right Chronos." Asher nodded his head at Chronos' words.
Immediately they began to search for items and weapon shops in the village square of Malana. However when they finally got there, it seemed that the shop that sold weapons didn't sell the other weapons they needed, so they decided to buy some additional items that would be very useful to them.
'You successfully purchased 4x Potion, 2x Hi-potion, 6x bomb, 1x medicine'
[Hi-potion: Returns a large amount of health points to allies]
[Medicine: An item that heals all status effects for one character except knocked out and doom, and in some cases, Curse].
"Well, I guess today is enough." Chronos stretched his arms up, stretching the muscles of his arms.
"Yes Chronos, I think so too. Alright, see you tomorrow." Asher pressed the log-out button on his screen and instantly left the game for today.
***
The television was playing quite loudly in the morning, waking Ethan from his sweet dreams. Dammit. who turned on the television so loud? He grumbled as he rushed out of his room, sprinting as fast as he knew how to to the living room to find out who the person was.
"Wait, Aunt Luna?" Ethan raised his eyebrows, seeing a long-haired woman sitting on the brown sofa. " Isn't Aunt Luna supposed to be in the hospital now?" She scratched her head, a confused look on her face.
"Oh, Ethan seems like you're awake." Aunt Luna placed the TV remote on the table, turning her head towards Asher. "Well, I just took a day off. I have a friend filling in for me, so relax." She raised both hands while stretching her body. "Being a nurse is a tiring job, especially at a time like this. I don't know how long we'll be like this," she sighed, a glimpse of frustration on her face.
Hearing that, Ethan immediately nodded his head. Aunt Luna's words do make sense. Since the pandemic, all the doctors and nurses have been working almost every day. They certainly feel a sense of fatigue, but they have to ignore it as they have important things to do. Helping other people's lives.
"Ash, while I'm on break, how about you help me buy some groceries?" Aunt Luna rose from her chair and walked into the kitchen to open the cupboards. "Look, we're running low on food and I've written down some of the groceries we're going to buy," she looked at her shopping list, making sure everything was in order.
"Okay, I will help you, Aunty. But wait, I'm just gonna get ready first. " He smiled and then immediately ran at lightning speed to his room, preparing himself first.
At the sight of that, Aunt Luna just smiled at Ethan's smile which reminded her of her twin sister, Lara. She then took her beloved yellow car keys on the table as well as a wallet that matched the color of her car keys, and they headed out of her home to the supermarket.
While in the car, Ethan continuously stared out the window, but it was still as quiet as before. He had seen a few people passing by on the street, but it seemed that they could all be counted on the fingers. He felt like the atmosphere in this city was getting more and more like a ghost town. Who knew how long this was going to last?
"Okay, now we just need to find a parking lot." Aunt Luna craned her neck, trying to find an empty parking lot. "Ah, bad luck. I can't find an empty parking lot at all," she grumbled, frustration showing on her face.
His mind suddenly flashed back to his mother's whereabouts. Strange, why hasn't Tante Luna given any news about Mom? Is she too busy working and forgetting about my mom? Those words came to Asher's mind, making him silent and daydreaming all the way.
"Ethan, I know you have thinking something, What are you thinking about?" Aunt Luna sighed while continuing to look at the road.
"Huh?" Asher furrowed his brows. 'Wait, but how does Aunt Luna know about my thoughts? Are you psychic?" He rounded his eyes, not believing the words Aunt Luna had just said.
"Psychic?" Aunt Luna burst out laughing. "No silly, I'm not psychic. But I've learned from studying that someone who daydreams is usually thinking about something." She kept nodding her head, trying to make her words convincing.
Ethan sighed, leaning his body against the body of the chair. "Well, I keep thinking about Mom, is there any news about her?"
Aunt Luna was silent for a moment, "I'm sorry Eth, but I have no news of your mother. I promise once I hear from her, I'll let you know, okay?" A look of regret crossed her face.
"Yes, Auntie." Asher nodded his head, disappointment crossing his mind. "Thanks."
Not long after, they finally entered the area of a local shopping center which was still operating during this pandemic. Apparently, during the pandemic, the economy became chaotic and many companies chose to close their businesses.
"Wait Auntie, there seems to be one empty parking lot." Ethan tapped Aunt Luna on the shoulder. "Over there, right next to that white car."
Hearing Ethan's words, Aunt Luna immediately turned the steering wheel as Ethan directed, and without any hesitation parked her car, before another car took the empty spot. Thankfully, no one had noticed.
"Well, finally. Thanks, Eth, with your help, we were able to find a parking space." Aunt Luna breathed a sigh of relief, a happy look on her face. "Now let's rush inside and quickly buy everything on the list." She slowly opened the car door. "Hey Eth, remember your mask." She put on her mask and closed the door.
They finally went inside the supermarket and swiftly picked up all the items on the list. However, some of the items on their list seemed to be out of stock and it would take a few days for them to be available.
"Auntie, so, what about the rest of the items?" Chronos raised his eyebrows, a look of confusion on his face.
"Calm down, I'll look into it later. But for now, let's get in line before the queue gets too long, Eth. " Aunt Luna pushed her shopping cart in front of her, entering the shopping queue.
While waiting in the shopping queue, not a single sound in the room was audible. Everyone in the room was quiet like a robot and only moved when the queue in front of them moved forward. Weird. But that's the way it was and has been during the pandemic.
"Eth, I'm going to the restroom for a moment. You stay in line and hold my purse." Aunt Luna whispered as she handed Ethan a yellow hanging purse, then ran silently to the restroom.
Ethan nodded his head slowly and stayed in line. Shortly thereafter, Ethan's eyes suddenly caught sight of a magazine with a rather interesting title that lay on top of the cabinet adjacent to his position in line. It said, "Siren Group will disband."
Honestly, Ethan wasn't following music trends at all, but who the hell didn't know Siren Group? The group was famous because it had some beautiful and talented ladies. This girl band was always one of the most talked about in class before the pandemic. Yet, for some reason, this famous group is going to be disbanded? Was it because of the pandemic, or was it something else?