Capítulo 86: A sweet gesture

Left with no other work to do, Elion returned to his dorm.

It was empty, quiet. It's been a long time since he had the space alone--- at least it felt like it.

He went straight to his bed, his feet fidgeting, his thoughts flying elsewhere--- specifically to the body he buried earlier. He did not even know if it was a man or a woman, an elderly or someone his age. Or what his name, her job, or if he has a family that was currently looking for him.

He sat up as if bolted by lightning, he was tossing his head to the side as if to push the dark thoughts away.

He stood up on his bare feet. He knelt and peeked under his bed--- there were no trash hidden. He scanned the room and began opening drawers, but there were no clothes in need of folding. Even the bathroom was sparkly clean--- Chef Will turned out to be clean and organized.

Elion sighted.

Who would have thought that he would find cleaning addicting? Somehow, it helps him empty his mind--- it became some sort of a drug.

Still having more than half of the day for himself, he decided to take a stroll around the palace--- a way to help him be more familiarized with its layout. The palace is simple, the hallway is fairly identical in every floor--- which made Elion's job much easier.

He thought he was walking aimlessly, but his feet brought him at the hallway he was most familiar with--- the princess' aisle.

Elion walked back and forth in front of the princess' room, pondering if he should knock or not. He finally stopped and stood still in front of the door after ten minutes. 'This is a good thing.' he was convincing himself. 'This is the perfect place.' He wanted a place to clean after all, and the princess' room would surely not disappoint him.

He knocked once--- there was no answer.

He knocked twice, thrice. Still, no voice of the princess to invite him in.

He finally gave up and traced his way back where he started.

The princess might be taking a nap—which was a small probability--- or she was outside playing with lady Kiva.

Now that he had time for himself, he had no idea what to do with it.

But a sudden thought came to him, maybe it's the perfect time to visit the capital.

***

He went back to his dormitory to retrieve his basket of fruits—the ribbon still wrapped around it.

Chef Will pleaded every night to Elion that they eat them, reminding Elion that they will soon overripe and rot, turning it into waste. But Elion turned his head and ignored the warning from the chef--- the basket was for Luppy.

But the chef was right after all, the skin of the fruits was actually beginning to show black patches.

Elion took a risk and went straight to the gate despite not filing his day off in advance. The basket on his right hand, he walked casually towards the gate. To his surprise, the guards did not stop him. They did not ask for his pass, nor inspected him in case he stole precious items, they just nodded to him and allowed him to go--- maybe it was the badge on his chest that signified he was working under Dr. Natalie.

The guards probably though he was running some errand for the Doctor.

The guards nodded to him as if they were friends until he was out of the palace.

Just to be on the safe side, Elion took a stroll at the main plaza, he saw the familiar pastries on display. He laughed as he remembered the princess forcing him to eat. The passersby looked at him weirdly, making his laugh turn into coughs.

He may have had enough sugar for a month, but the princess was different. He passed by the pastry shop and walked till the end of the street, entering a chocolate shop.

The bell clang as he opened the door. "Welcome!" a young girl smiled.

The shop smelled of strong cocoa.

Elion scanned at the shelves and shelves of chocolates. There were chocolate bars wrapped with different colored papers, boxes from the size of his palm to the length of his arm.

"For what occasion?" the girl saw that Elion was wearing the palace's uniform. "A gift for your lover?"

"No." Heat flushed onto his cheeks as he waved his empty hand profusely. "Not like that."

The girl was confused. "You did not take a day off to visit your lover?"

"No, no." Elion responded a little too early. "I'm here to visit my brother."

"Ah," the girl clasped his hands. "for a brother, maybe dark chocolate?"

"Er…" Elion frowned--- he was not an expert when it comes to chocolates. "Whatever's good."

"Okay, your brother will like this." The girl slapped a bar of chocolate wrapped in blue foil. "That's for three rigs."

"Er…" Elion pointed at a green box in one of the displays—it reminded him of the eye color of someone. "Can I have one of those too?"

"You like your brother too much, do you." The girl smiled knowingly. "That one's for twelve Rigs."

Elion's face turned beet red once again.

He spent a quarter of his monthly earnings for chocolates.

"Thank you, come again." The girl smirked. "Hope your brother likes them." She waved goodbye.

Elion had never been this red before, not even when killing zombies.

***

Elion walked on and on until dawn, window shopping, observing the everyday lives of people before he went to Luppy's place.

Elion was welcomed by a dark room, turning the lights on, he cannot help himself but to laugh. He placed the chocolates and the basket of fruits on the small table--- right next to a similar basket of overripened fruits. Apparently, the two brothers were thinking the same thing--- to share it with each other. Now, they had too many fruits for themselves.

Maybe Elion should have listened to Chef Will and shared it with him after all.

The door opened with a bang. "You're here," Luppy's eyes widened. "with a basket." He walked towards the table and lifted both baskets, as if measuring if they weight the same. "I knew it, I should have brought mine home."

"You can bring it home tonight. They will finish this in no time, we haven't had fruits in a while."

"You're not gonna sleep here?" Luppy inspected the basket more closely, his eyes traveling towards the chocolates at the side.

"No, bud." Elion messed up Luppu's hair. "Just delivering this to you. How did you get yours?"

"Some orange haired gal gave it to me." Luppy grabbed the chocolate bar. "Are these for me too?"

"Yes."

"And this? For back home?" Luppy waved the green box of chocolate in the air.

"No!" Elion took the box from Luppy a little too quickly. "No, I mean." He was shocked with his own action. "I have to take this one back to the palace." He was rubbing the back of his head, embarrassment kicking in.

"Ah," Luppy sat down. "The princess gave you an errand?"

"Well, not really." Elion sat down adjacent to Luppy, placing the green box to the side. "just thought of buying it to…"

'Why did I buy it?' Elion does not know the answer.

"…to earn her favors." Luppy finished the sentence for him. "A good strategy." he began unwrapping the bar of chocolate, devouring it. "This is good."

"Can you carry all of these tonight?" Elion changed the subject.

"Nah, my bag would explode." Luppy scratched his head. "We better eat a few."

"I guess our dinner would be banana and…" Elion inspected the most ripened ones. "Banana?"

"Yeh, not a bad idea. " Luppy began unwrapping the basket.

"So, is it true? What they're saying on the street? They say that the zombies reached the palace, that nobody is safe anymore."

"Yes," Elion was peeling his banana. "The guards were not prepared. It was a massacre."

"If that's the case…" Luppy starched his arms. "I better spread the truth to more people."

Elion ate dinner with his brother and returned back to the palace carrying a pineapple for Chef Will.

***

"Too sour." Chef Will's face crumpled. "Too sour."

Elion was lying on his bed, facing his back towards the Chef.

"A banana would have been better than this one," Chef Will smacked his lips. "You have to taste one." He stood up from the floor and walked towards Elion, offering a piece.

"I don't---" Chef Will shoved the fruit on Elion's mouth.

Elion immediately sat up straight, his palms open in front of him, to keep the juices from dripping on his white bedsheet.

"Do you need something sweet?"

Elion looked up, seeing Chef Will, offering the box of green chocolate to him, Chef Will eating a piece of chocolate.

"No---" Elion was about to reach up for it, but he gave up in the middle. "That's for the princess."

"Oh, how come you did not tell me." Chef Will took another piece. "This is well made, very high quality." and another. "Definitely quality price too." he was chewing slowly. "There." Chef Will closed the box and handed it to Elion. "That's enough for the princess to enjoy."

Elion tilted the box from left to right, the contents moving.

No way he could give this to the princess like some kind of leftover. "You can have it." He sighted and gave the box back to Chef Will.

"Oh, thank you."

Chef Will finished the pineapple together with the chocolate.

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