"Hhaaaha."
Taking deep breaths, Star and the rest continued their journey on top the snowy mountain.
Many slaves had fainted and died on their way on top the mountains.
'about ten had died.'
"Atchooo."
Star sneezed.
He rubbed his right shoulder on his mouth.
*Rumble*
*Rumble*
His stomach continued to growl.
He was now getting more and more hungry as time goes on. He also exhausted, extremely exhausted but he continued to move on, even though he kept staggering like a zombie, he continued to push forward.
He couldn't afford to be useless or it would be the end of him.
He tried to let his mind wander while walking in order to forget about the hunger and exhaustion.
He started thinking about his childhood. Were there any memorable moments in his childhood except the ones filled with pain and hopelessness?
Star tried to search through his memories. After a while, he found one funny memory.
Have you ever been madly in love before?
Well, I have and it was love at first sight.
The whole thing happened on one Monday morning.
'well am not exactly sure it was monday.'
Anyway it was morning, I went out to buy some groceries at the market near our street, the market was close to my parents house.
After walking around the market, I stopped in front of a shop.
"Good morning uncle Joe," I greeted.
"Hehe, hello Star my boy," the shopkeeper greeted back.
"How are you doing today."
"Am fine sir."
I replied.
"Good." The man said, nodding.
"So what does my little Star want."
"I want five cups of Similioun beans and ten Shilling worth of old Darski Vegetables."
"Coming right up."
The shopkeeper replied enthusiastically.
"Excuse me."
That was when she walked in, the girl that blew my mind.
"Eh, yes," the shopkeeper awkwardly replied.
"I would like to buy fruits, fresh fruits."
'fresh fruits? Isn't that like rich man's food.'
I who didn't have any interest on the customer before suddenly felt my interest peak.
I turned to take a quick look at the customer.
Meeting a rich family in Ombri village was quite rare.
(Rich by Ombri's standards)
Star wanted to take glance but then his mind went blank as soon as he laid eyes on her.
"Oh yes, we have them. What kind do you want? Or do you have any references."
The shopkeeper asked since she didn't mention any name of fruits.
"I want all kinds," taking a brief pause she said."I want the kind that are very healthy for the body."
She answered.
"Ok."
"Which do you have?"
"I have all kinds young princess the ones that will grow strong bones and beautiful skin."
"Hehehe," she laughed."I will have those."
I was memorized by her smile.
"Coming, let me just settle this our customer."
The shopkeeper said, turning towards me, who was still looking at the customer.
"Star."
No response.
"Star."
Still no response.
"SSTAR!"
"Ahh, yes daddy."
"Pfft."
The girl held back her laughter, her right arm clench her lips.
"Am not your daddy, don't you know your father again," the shopkeeper said, chuckling and shaking his head.
I felt embarrassed.
"Em sorry, I got lost."
I quickly apologized.
"Yeah you got lost staring at our beautiful customer."
My face flushed red.
"If you like her so much, why not ask her her name and then maybe take her on a date or you can go visit her parents. Maybe they will allow you to marry her."
"Uncle the beans."
"May the God Of Light bless you."
For the entire day, I kept thinking about the about the girl. I even came back to the market to check if I could see her.
To no avail, the entire night I kept dreaming of her. She was even better than my dream girl.
'well, that's what I thought at that time, sigh, oh well.'
I never saw the girl again until few days later, when I went out at night to feed the pigs.
I was in the farm feeding the pigs when i heard someone singing.
Female!
I recognize by the voice.
At first I paid no mind to it, I just continued feeding the pigs and the person kept singing.
I subconsciously started listening to the melody.
'this girl is good, not bad.' I thought.
∆∆∆∆∆∆
"Alright, all done."
I said, closing the barn.
I took a turn towards home, I was on the street returning to my parents house which was very close by when suddenly, a girl from nowhere came running towards the direction where I live holding a lantern.
It looked at the strange girl who seemed to be heading towards the area I was headed.
'It's her.'
Star immediately froze at that moment.
The girl he has been thinking of ever since that day. The girl who gave him sleepless nights and always appeared in his dreams whenever he closed his eyes.
"It's her, it's really her."
Star wanted to jump and he almost felt like dancing but he held himself.
He watched the girl get into a house near his home.
"She is my neighbor."
Dumbfounded.
I later found out that she was my new neighbor.
After that, it was a few bit of stalking.
I mean there is no way you had ever had a crush on someone and you have never stalked him/her, that is downright impossible. Especially when you are madly in love with her.
Sometimes I watched her go to the market, sometimes I listen to her conversation with her friends and at times I watched her play.
'a twelve years old loverboy I was.'
Close to half a year, I mustered my courage to talk to her. Before it was just...
"Hi."
"Hey."
"Hello."
Queen, her name was Queen. I few days after discovering she was my new neighbor, I did my homework and discovered that her was Queen.
So one day I walked up to her and introduced myself.
"Hi."
"Hey."
After a few talks, I asked her her name even though I knew her name.
"My name is Queen."
"Queen??"
I asked, pretending that I didn't already know.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
She asked.
"No, emm...ahh it's....it's nothing."
I replied.
"Okay, so what's your name?"
She asked.
"Well."
Scratching the back of my head.
"Emm eehhh emm," pretending to be lost. "I–I–I don't know how to say.
She looked at me intensely.
"Just tell me your name."
"M–My name is King."
I lied through my teeth.
I didn't know what came over me