With her wallet under her arm, and each of us in each hand, my mother led the two of us down the Market and towards the street food section.
Different from the part of the Market that usually held shop owners selling food ingredients, this area of the Market was where people either invested in shop spots to build restaurants, or set up their tiny little carts to sell snacks.
The whole Market was shaped like a semicircle. The long stretch on top made out the ingredient selling area. Attached to that strip was a road that curved one long round to rejoin the grocery street on the other end. In the middle of that semicircle were several blocks that made up shops, like the furniture shop we went to, that required quite a large amount of space to do their business.
Turning left from where we left the furniture shop, which was located not far from the semicircle stretch that sold food, we walked past several food carts before stopping at a familiar face.
"Ivan?"
Hearing my questioning voice, Ivan slowly turned his body to face us.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Elaine and Dan! What are you two doing here?"
Smiling as he stroked his white beard, he cackled.
"Ivan, here's your money. Also, stop laughing like that! It's misleading."
Stepping out from his food cart, the man behind Ivan threw a pouch of coins at him as he complained.
"Fine, fine. Then I'll get going now."
With a grumpy tone but a happy smile, Ivan sneaked another gaze at the two of us before heading off.
Sighing, the owner of the food cart shook his head at Ivan's back. Turning his gaze onto us, the man smiled gently at us before moving his gaze to my mother.
"Elaine! Long time no see!"
"Jasper! Same to you!"
Smiling as he moved to give my mother a hug, he then retreated back to his food cart and took two sticks of Fish sticks.
"On the house. As a present for visiting me."
Handing Oliver and I the sticks, Jasper then gave us a gentle grin.
"I see that your family was the one who got chosen. Congratulations!"
Gesturing subtly to Oliver, my mother laughed and waved her hand.
"You're slightly wrong. It was Oliver who chose us. He said that he read about the incident 2 years ago, and so the first family that came to mind was ours."
Nodding his head, Jasper made an impressed expression before grabbing another two sticks.
"If that's the case, then have another two sticks as a congratulatory gift."
Kneeling down to give them to us, Jasper whispered to Oliver.
"You sure have a good eye, choosing Elaine's family."
He gave a wink, before straightening up and continuing his conversation with my mother.
Sneaking a peak beside me, I saw Oliver give a small smile before biting onto the Fish sticks.
"How is it?"
Waiting a couple of seconds after his first bite, I then asked him.
Turning his head, Oliver licked the oil from his lips.
"Tasty."
Seeing him take another bigger bite, I gave a silent sigh of relief at his slightly pleasant expression.
"Speaking of which, we just visited Vicky and Sky to buy some furniture. Before the three of you come over, do tell me so I can cook some dishes for all of us. Just like the old times."
Taking out a couple notes, my mother pushed them onto Jasper despite him waving his hands in rejection.
Sighing as he finally decided to give up and take the cash, Jasper gave an opened mouth smile to my mother.
"If you don't mind. But if the workload is too much, sky would be happy to go down and help out. She'll do anything if it means she can skip out of work."
My mother gave another laugh and nodded her head. After a couple more words, the two adults waved goodbye to each other and parted ways.
"Next is the Weed crackers."
Walking past Jasper's food cart, the three of us continued walking until we reached another food cart. This cart was run by a short-haired woman with a bandana.
Noticing us as we approached her, the woman gave a large wave while frying her snacks.
"Elaine! Dan! Here for some Weed crackers?"
Smiling enthusiastically as she conjured two Weed crackers out of thin air, she leaned down to pass them to me. However, as she leaned down,. She finally noticed Oliver and her simple eyes widened into large saucers.
".....Ohhhhh."
Her shocked expression immediately turned into an understanding one, and she passed one Weed cracker to me and the other one to Oliver.
"My Weed crackers are the best in the market. Next time when the two of you come by, make sure to buy some."
Winking at me, she took the notes from my mother and gave her back her change.
Eating the crackers with large bites, we headed to a shop that was close to where the semicircle road joined with the straight one. Stooping in front of another food cart, we greeted the a large built man fanning his flames
"Hank! Two stir fried flowers please!"
Turning his head at my mother's voice, Hank nodded his head and looked down onto the ground. Sitting on a chair, a small girl was holding an almost bare flower crown in her hands.
"Order for two stir fried flowers received!"
Jumping off her chair, the girl put down her flower crown and reached into the food cart to take out two small bags of flowers. Receiving the flowers from his daughter, Hank poured them onto his small wok and proceeded toaster fry them.
"The stir fry will take some time. Why don't the two of you hang out with Jasmine for a while. I can also use this time to catch up with Hank."
Looking towards Hank, the big guy gave a small nod of his head, his eyes never leaving the wok. But the small tilt of his lips proved that he and my mother got along.
Jasmine, nodding her head at my mother, grabbed both our hands and pulled us away from the cart and into the cluster of shops that made up the inner semicircle of the Market.
"Where are we going?"
Taking large strides to catch up with the deceptively fast young girl, we were dragged through many turns and twists until we reached a cozy little dead end. The little corner was filled with mattresses leaking filling, as well as dirty soft toys and boxes. However, the owner of the place was obviously very well-kept as aside from the dirt, everything was placed neatly, leaving lots of room to move and walk despite the mountain of items present.
"Cale?"
Walking boldly into the area as if it were her second home, Jasmine turned her head left and right, searching for someone. Following her, the two of us also decided to keep a sharp eye out for anything person-shaped, even though we had no clue what this Cale person looked like.
Reaching near the end of the corner, Jasmine suddenly exclaimed in excitement and rushed forward to a sofa near the end. Following her, we saw her lift the sofa seats to reveal the cushioned space within.
"Cale?"
Dropping the seats, she revealed a sad and dejected expression. Walking forward, I reached out to put a hand on her and comfort her when I heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards me. Before I knew it, I felt a hand pull me aside as a shadow jumped into the space I was in.
Lifting my head, I saw a young and skinny boy stretching out his arms, separating us from Jasmine.
"Cale!"
Hearing a cry of excitement from behind the guy, I saw his eyes shift slightly to the side, but never leaving us.
Oliver was currently holding my arm, his grip tight and his body tense. Sneaking a peak at him, I noticed that he was on edge and his expression was extremely serious.
"Cale!"
Turning my attention back to the boy, I saw a small hand extend out from beside Cale, before he shifted a hand to quickly but gently tuck Jasmine behind him.
"Be careful."
I heard Oliver whisper from beside me, and flickered my eyes to his face, only to see his expression deepen.
"Cale has MDVA."
Whipping my gaze over to Cale, I saw him immediately snap his eyes to mine, his face getting more aggressive as he instinctively got into a pouncing position.
"Cale! Stop it!"
Jasmine shouted from behind him, which seemed to temporarily cause him to freeze.
"Who are you two?"
Speaking in a threatening tone, Cale shifted his gaze between Oliver and I, only to finally lend on Oliver.
"Our parents are friends."
Oliver declared with full confidence, but not once did I feel his grip loosen. Similarly, Cale slightly narrowed his eyes at us. He obviously didn't believe us.
"Leave."
Growling out that word, Cale puffed out his chest and took one step towards us. Feeling the pressure, we both took one step back.
"Cale! "
Sniffling from behind Cale, Jasmine finally couldn't take the pressure anymore and started crying. In an instant, I saw Cale's pupils dilate as he shifted a hand behind him to comfort her.
Caught in this stalemate, the tension was finally broken when Jasmine started explaining the circumstance between tears. Then, once Cale dropped his vigilant stance, I felt Oliver's hand loosen and we both shifted to a more comfortable posture.
The moment we moved, Cale's eyes snapped to us again.
"Idiot."
Jasmine called out to Cale, and his gaze instantly returned to Jasmine.
"So this is what MDVA looks like."
Observing the two of them, I muttered as I felt the tension warm up. From the corner of my eye, I could see Oliver turn his eyes towards me.
"Have you never seen it?"
Facing him, I shook my head.
"No. When Leo was diagnosed, my whole family was shocked because none of us even thought that he had it. If we did, there was no way we would have brought him to a government doctor."
Observing Oliver, he closed his eyes and nodded his head in understanding.
"From what I read, MDVA is not usually noticeable unless the victim or their loved ones are placed into extremely stressful or dangerous situations. It's not weird that you never noticed.'
Finishing his sentence, Oliver turned his attention back to the two. Following him, I saw Cale gently rubbing the tears away from Jasmine's eyes. It would have been an incredibly cute and sweet scene if it weren't for the fact that one of them had a serious illness that would get him killed if it was found out.
"What do we do?"
Watching as the two finally calmed down, and Jasmine had grabbed Cale to drag him towards us, I asked Oliver in a small voice.
"That...I don't know."
Hearing the helplessness in Oliver's voice, I couldn't help the heat that gathered in my chest.
Arriving in front of us, Jasmine gave Cale a glare , to which he responded by looking at us and bowing a little.
"Sorry."
Clearly dissatisfied with the curt apology, I saw Jasmine pull on Cale's sleeve and increase the intensity of her glare.
"I'm very sorry."
Receiving this insincere apology from Cale, Oliver and I waved it off as Jasmine looked at us with pleading eyes,
'It's fine. It was our fault for entering his space without him around."
Smiling, Oliver then extended a hand towards Cale.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Oliver, and this is Dan."
Looking wearily at the hand, Cale nevertheless shook it and introduced himself.
"I'm Cale. Nice to meet you."
Beside Cale, Jasmine smiled and seemed pleased with Cale's introduction. Then, with Cale's permission, the four of us headed deeper into Cale's territory.