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It was almost sundown, and Lynn was still recklessly spending her money. She bought so many things that she had to get a pushcart to carry them all. She pulled the cart along the street, map in hand, marking the shops she'd already visited and those she hadn't.
"Looks like I've still got a few more shops to hit, and I...," she paused, realizing, "It's almost sundown!"
Panicking, she hurried back toward the meeting spot where she and Eden had planned to meet. She pulled the pushcart harder, trying to move faster, but it only slowed her down.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
She struggled to keep up, the pushcart too heavy, with some of her things falling out as she went. Exhausted, she collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily. It felt like she was on the verge of fainting.
"Oh my gosh, I can't do this anymore. I feel like I might die," she muttered, drenched in sweat. She whipped off her shirt and started swinging it around her head to cool herself off—a weird habit she'd picked up from her grandfather. It was her first time doing it in public, but at that point, she didn't care what people thought.
(She had a cute brown undershirt on, so no, it didn't count as stripping. Right? Right?)
Meanwhile, Eden sat waiting at their agreed meeting spot, growing increasingly impatient.
"Where is that idiot? What's taking her so long?" he grumbled, sitting on a bench by the sidewalk.
Time passed, and Eden was about to go looking for her when he heard someone shout, "Thief! Stop them!" Turning, he saw Lynn—shirtless (with her undershirt on)—chasing a masked man down the street.
"That's Lynn. What in heaven's name is she doing now?!"
"Excuse me, pardon me!" Lynn shouted, weaving through people as she chased the thief into an inn. Ignoring everyone inside, she was laser-focused on catching the man. Earlier, while she was collapsed on the ground, he had stolen something from her pushcart, and she immediately gave chase, abandoning her cart and her shirt.
Inside the dark inn, she lost track of the thief and bumped into something. Rubbing her head, she realized she had fallen onto something soft—too soft to be furniture. She hesitantly felt around the surface.
"Are you done?" a voice said.
Lynn jumped up. "Wait... that wasn't a pillow—it's a person!"
The lights flicked on, revealing a shirtless man with long brown dreads and scars on his shoulders. He had a scary gaze, but despite that—and the fact she had barged into his room unannounced—Lynn couldn't help but notice he was quite good-looking.
"Uh... um... sorry, I was... it was... a thief... I... hi." Her words came out jumbled, her face bright red.
"I sat on a hot stranger! I sat on a hot stranger!" she murmured repeatedly, squatting in a corner of the room, blushing and shaking.
"Are you done? Then get out," the man said, turning and pulling the bedsheets over himself.
Lynn blinked in confusion. He didn't ask who she was or why she was in his room; he just told her to leave.
"Wait a minute! You're the thief!" she shouted, suddenly realizing.
"Huh? Oh no... you led them here," he muttered.
"Me? I was just chasing a thief!" Lynn panicked, looking around as several security guards stormed the room. They had been alerted by the inn's manager when Lynn barged in.
"The madwoman's upstairs causing chaos. Get rid of her!" the manager had ordered.
The guards grabbed Lynn by the shoulders and were about to haul her out when one of them pointed to the man with the dreads.
"You! I know you—you're that troublemaker who's been causing problems around town."
"Oh great, I'm going to be rich today!" one guard exclaimed.
"This guy has a bounty on his head?" Lynn asked, dangling off the ground as the guards held her up. These men were huge, towering over her like giants, making her feet hover above the floor.
"Get rid of the girl—he's worth way more," one of the guards said, tossing Lynn out of the room before pouncing on the man. But before they could grab him, he leaped out the window.
"Is he crazy?! We're several stories up!" one guard yelled.
"Stop exaggerating, he landed fine!" another shouted as they all jumped after him, leaving Lynn behind.
"Hey! That guy stole my stuff!" Lynn shouted, frustrated.
Just then, Eden appeared and smacked her on the head.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Lynn yelled.
"For not listening, you maniac! What part of 'meet me at dusk' didn't you understand?" Eden snapped, panting from having run all over town looking for her.
"Oh my gosh, were you actually worried about me? That's so cute," Lynn teased.
"Shut up. Let's get out of here," Eden said, turning to leave.
"But what about my stuff?" Lynn protested.
"It's not worth it. We should go before..."
Before Eden could finish, more guards burst into the room, this time eyeing Eden.
"You there!" one shouted.
"Uh-oh," Eden muttered.
"What did you do this time?" Lynn asked.
"Nothing, I swear! I may or may not have barged in here, disturbed a bunch of people, and... okay, I hit some of them in the face," Eden admitted with a sheepish grin.
"You idiot!" Lynn groaned.
"Well, you're one to talk! You left your pushcart and all that junk you bought lying in the street. Unattended!"
Lynn paused, then sighed. "Okay, you've got a point. So what now?"
"Now we ask the nice, scary men to let us go. Don't forget to smile," Eden whispered, forcing a nervous grin.
Lynn glanced out the window, then looked at Eden. Eden, as confused as ever, didn't understand her plan.
"Follow me!" Lynn shouted, running toward the window. Eden followed without thinking.
"Okay, now what?"
"Now we jump!"
Before Eden could protest, Lynn leaped out the window and landed in a bush below.
"Come on, big mouth!" she yelled.
"I am NOT going to like this," Eden muttered, as he tried to jump but was caught by one of the guards.
"Oh no you don't, pipsqueak!" the guard grunted.
Eden wriggled out of his shirt and fell out of the window, screaming, "I'm going to dieeeeee!"
He landed on a tree branch with a thud, which broke and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Ouch."
"You okay, Eden?" Lynn asked, helping him up.
"No. No, I am not." He brushed himself off. "You had one job, Lynn—find us a place to stay. But instead, you blow all our money, abandon it all in the street, run into an inn like a lunatic, jump out of a window, and you even bought a stupid pushcart! Who buys a pushcart?!"
"I needed it to carry my stuff and... my pushcart!"